Burnout Isn't What You Think
Burnout does not come from the workload. It's the leadership pattern underneath it.
Read More »Every company says they want innovation.
What they actually reward is predictability.
I help product leaders escape that trap.
Work With AndreaThe Problem
Your team is busy.
Nothing's getting done.
Tickets are moving. Your calendar is full. But somehow, nothing meaningful is shipping.
This isn't a productivity problem.
It's a strategy problem.
After building a category-creating product that got acquired twice and spending years as an enterprise VP, I learned something most teams overlook:
Breakthrough innovation requires fundamentally different decision-making, not just better execution.
This experience led me to develop the Beyond Incremental: Breakthrough Leadership Framework, a model for helping leaders create clarity, focus, and momentum that lasts.
Explore the framework→Andrea Michalek – Strategic Advisor to Product Leaders
Creator of Leadership Advantage and the Beyond Incremental Framework.
Most product leaders get stuck perfecting execution inside a broken system.
Breakthrough leaders transform the constraints themselves.
Who I Work With
I work with product leaders navigating impossible trade-offs:
Startup founders scaling fast, building strategic foundations that last, and keeping product vision ahead of the chaos.
Enterprise product leaders launching new categories, navigating acquisitions, or breaking free from systems that reward predictability while demanding moonshots.
Leadership teams and organizations ready to shift how they think about constraints, innovation, and breakthrough work.
Through the Beyond Incremental Framework, a decision-making model built from real operator experience, we create clarity on what matters, confidence in high-stakes calls, and momentum that actually ships.
The work looks different depending on your context:
- Sometimes I'm embedded as a fractional CPO/CTO.
- Sometimes I'm coaching you through the specific decisions that will define your trajectory.
- Sometimes I'm helping your entire team see what breakthrough leadership looks like.
I'm always focused on transformation that lasts beyond my engagement.
How We Can Work Together
I provide both strategic guidance and hands-on execution across leadership, team building, and product strategy.
Fractional CPO / CTO
Flexible executive leadership for startups, growth-stage companies, and enterprises navigating change. Strategic product and technology leadership, without the full-time hire.
Read more»Leadership Coaching & Masterminds
Build confidence in high-stakes decisions through one-on-one coaching. Join the Leadership Advantage Mastermind - a private peer group for senior product and tech leaders.
Read more»Workshops & Keynotes
Master the Beyond Incremental Framework through interactive workshops. Energize your organization with keynotes on breakthrough leadership and strategic thinking.
Read more»Leadership Advantage
Weekly insights to help product leaders like you think beyond incremental. Practical, personal, and a little provocative.
Great leaders don't just lead well, they know exactly where they're stuck
Most leadership advice pushes you to do more: More clarity.More delegation.More velocity. But doing more doesn’t help when you’re solving the wrong problem. You don’t need more output. You need a better diagnosis. Great leaders don’t just lead well. They know exactly where they’re stuck. That’s what makes forward movement possible. It took me months to […]
Read More »
Design Your Next Breakthrough
Every leader knows the rush of inspiration: the all-nighter, the surge, the just one more thing moment. Last week, I shared one of mine: the 48-hour build that became the first version of my Beyond Incremental website. But breakthroughs don’t come from bursts of energy alone. They come from creating systems that make that energy repeatable. This week, I put my […]
Read More »Get these insights in your inbox
Join 650+ product and technology leaders who receive the Leadership Advantage newsletter every week.