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Bosses and coaches often tell product managers that in order to be effective at their jobs, they also have be good leaders. When we interview product managers, however, they’ll admit that they’re not sure what makes a good leader. Given their workload, they don’t want to spend the time or energy learning about it, either. But let’s face it, as a product manager you are expected to lead, so how do you reconcile the “what” of leadership with the real challenge of “how can I improve my own leadership skills?”
Although becoming an effective leader takes work, product leadership doesn’t have to be a mystical art or an
insurmountable set of challenges. To begin your journey, you’ll need a leadership roadmap, patience, and time.
Why time? Leadership development is personal and it’s transformational.
Because the topic of leadership itself is so huge – you can literally find dozens of books on it! – we’ll focus on only a few of the basic and fundamental elements of leadership: how you think and act, the functional or technical skills you possess and share, and your work experience.
HOW YOU THINK AND ACT
How you think and act can be reflected in your commitment to continuous learning, strategic thinking, and delivering results. Product managers with a leadership bent don’t just read books about product management, they also learn about the business and its products, the marketplace, and its customers.
The effect of continually learning new things leads directly
to strategic thinking – the more you understand about your own products and the challenges those products solve for your customers, the more likely you’ll be able to visualize the future for your product. The more you can visualize the future, the better equipped you are to derive the right strategy. The better strategy you have, the better your results. And, the better your results, the more you become a true leader. Success breeds success.
FUNCTIONAL AND TECHNICAL SKILLS
Another key attribute of leadership involves how you help others in your organization and on your team. As product manager, you fulfill a particularly important role on the team – that of product and market expert.
In a 2007 survey of product managers by Sequent Learning, just under 40% of product managers surveyed stated they proactively communicate findings on their industry, competitors and customers on a frequent basis, such as daily or weekly. In fact, 11% said they didn’t communicate their findings at all!
Although you may think sharing information leaves you in a “weakened” position, the opposite is true. To evolve your leadership profile, you must take what you know and share it with others so that they understand your area of expertise and how it contributes to the differential advantage of the product. In turn, they learn and grow, too, a win-win for everyone.
CAREER EXPERIENCE
Finally, your experience across your career matters quite a bit, but how do you know if you have the right experience?
One way to create some structure around your career experience is to develop an experiential roadmap to help you establish some solid goals. To create a roadmap, you need to do three things: take a personal skills inventory, share the results with your boss and/or trusted mentor, and then define tasks based on your findings.
To develop your leadership skills, follow successful leaders: assess the situation, sift through your technical and business skills and experiences, and try to come up with creative ways to solve problems and help other people. Ultimately, you’ll be seen as a ‘go-to’ resource – and more importantly, others will see you as someone they should follow.
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