Craft your Product Career:
Product Manager to Product Leader

What happened this week?

This week, a key product release got me to rethink my transition from Product Manager to Product Leader, with a focus on leading a PM team. Navigating a high-stakes release highlighted the shift from task management to strategic leadership. Now, I'm eager to share insights on developing leadership skills to drive both personal growth and the success of the entire PM team.

At each stage, understanding the rules of the game you play, allows you to bend that reality in your favor and that’s what I have always done.

And today, I’ll share some insights on bending that reality to get to a Product Leadership position.

🐙 New course launch.
Craft Your Career with Intention: Roadmap to Leadership

My vision remains the same: Accelerate your product growth to increase your impact on the world. That said, I’m putting together a live course to manage your career with intention. Join my Founder Round below:

People often ask me about my career journey and how I landed roles in the companies I've worked for. Reflecting on this, I often recall crucial mid-career advice from a mentor: "What got you here won't get you there." This advice deeply resonated with me, prompting pivotal changes that have shaped my path ever since. These changes not only influenced my daily work tactics but also how I build cross-functional relationships and set/manage my goals.

Entering the field of Product Management poses its own set of challenges, and steering through the critical skills, relationships, and conversations for career advancement can be even more daunting when on your own. Often, Product Managers discover themselves in a sort of career limbo when striving to progress from where they are to where they aspire to be.

You are stuck in this position and you think you’re doing everything right, which is also true.

The success factors that worked well as a Product Manager may not guarantee success in the transition to a Product Leader role. What's not explicitly mentioned is that these transitions demand careful navigation, involving necessary leaps and being aware of potential pitfalls.

What is The Career Land Mine?

Embarking on the journey to become a Product Leader involves navigating a land mine filled with challenges:

1. Achieving Alignment and Buy-In (the most draining for me!)

2. Managing Complex Stakeholder Relationships

3. Stretching Too Thin

4. Repeating Tasks Without Seeing Progress

5. Working Long Hours

6. Feeling Stuck Without a Clear Path

7. Regularly Shipping Features with Limited Impact

Transitioning from a Product Manager to a Product Leader is like conquering a challenging summit, a journey demanding a shift in mindset, skillset, and approach. Your career path hinges on a crucial decision between two tracks:

- the Individual Contributor (IC) path, delving into expertise,
- or the Manager path, overseeing both products and people.

Reflect on your gut feeling to make an informed choice, you can always change later. I will cover this in my new course too.

Both paths lead to Product Leadership, and mastering key areas is vital for upward mobility. Let's explore the five pivotal challenges and strategies that will confidently guide you through the opportunities in your product journey.

I want to make sure this is clear here, Leadership can be learned!!!

1. Shifting your mindset: As you move up in your Product career, it's not just about delivering products anymore. Now, it's about understanding the big picture – the market, customers, and business goals. Make sure your product roadmap aligns with the company's overall strategy and keeps the team focused on the long-term vision.

2. Mastering Strategic Product Planning: Product Leaders shape the product strategy, requiring deep market insight and adaptability.

3. Stakeholder Influence and Alignment: Product Leaders engage diverse stakeholders, building trust and communicating vision. Effective negotiation and influence are key in gaining support from executives, customers, sales, marketing, and engineering teams.

4. Continuous Learning and Personal Growth: Transitioning to a Product Leader is an ongoing journey. Actively seeking learning opportunities, staying updated, networking, and embracing feedback foster resilience and accelerate personal growth.

5. People Manager Track (if chosen): Build and Empower High-Performing Teams: This may be the only difference. Product Leaders, especially those on the people manager track, create collaborative environments. Developing leadership skills, effective delegation, coaching, and fostering a culture of innovation and learning are vital for team excellence.