John Federico

Summary

The Vacuum Cleaner Philosophy: How Breaking Things Taught Me Leadership 🚀 You know how it starts—you're 11, home alone with chores and the promise of pocket money. Vacuum the house before Mom and Dad get home. Simple enough, except for one tiny problem: the vacuum doesn't work. Not in the "performing below expectations" way. In the "this thing is completely dead" way. Mom's been eyeing a new one anyway, so what's a resourceful kid to do? If you're like me, you think: "Let's break this thing open and see what makes it tick." So there I am, screwdriver in hand, vacuum guts scattered across the floor like some bizarre mechanical autopsy. And wouldn't you know it—I found the problem! Fixed it, reassembled it, and finished my chores. My parents still got their new vacuum eventually, but they saved some cash that week. And me? I got extra allowance plus something way more valuable: the rush of solving a problem everyone else had abandoned. That moment—dust-covered and triumphant—sparked my obsession with figuring things out. It's the energy I bring to everything now: finding solutions when others see only problems, calming anxiety during chaos, building bridges when people want to burn them, and creating alignment when stakeholders are pointing in completely different directions. When there's a vacuum of leadership (pun intended), I naturally fill it. Sometimes because I'm asked, but usually because somebody has to. Vision missing? Communication failing? Transparency gone? Empathy absent? I'm your person—a force multiplier when teams need it most. I help nail down product-market fit, tackle new markets strategically, align stalled projects, improve communication when everyone's talking but nobody's listening, and mentor others to do the same. Direct reports love working for me. Executives enjoy working alongside me. They say I'm "easy to work with"—boring as it sounds, that's actually a superpower many overlook. So here's the question: Need a senior product leader who isn't afraid to break open problems and rebuild them better? Got a project circling the drain? Let's talk. Because sometimes, the best qualification isn't on a resume—it's in an 11-year-old's fearless approach to a broken vacuum cleaner.