Product managers are often asked to lead without authority. The speaker discusses different leadership styles he employed throughout his career, from leading via expertise as a new product manager to a less effective style of gap-filling. He learned that traits common in product managers, like intelligence and competitiveness, can hinder leadership if not applied properly. The key ideas discussed are that leadership requires being other-centric rather than self-centric, trusting and empowering team members, and helping followers accomplish goals in a supportive environment. An effective leadership approach is serving others by understanding their needs and removing obstacles.

1. Presented by
Dustin Levy
May 27, 2015
Leadership and Influence for Product Managers

2. Product Managers are often asked to Lead Without
Authority
Our Challenge:

3. • A MANAGER is task-oriented and has the authority to control behavior
through compensation
• A LEADER is people-oriented and has the ability to guide work efforts,
create a feeling in others that they are valuable contributors, and
provide the support and freedom needed to succeed
• An INFLUENCER has the ability to gain agreement or support for an
opinion or perspective without having to exercise authority
Working definitions for this session:

4. • Family
• Friends
• Cultures
• Religion
• Teachers
• Athletics
• Military service
Our experiences shape our leadership styles…

5. …but, leadership styles developed early in our careers
may or may not make us effective Product Managers

6. • Graduate School/Postgraduate Research
▫ Expertise, publications, being the smartest person in the room
• Product Developer/R&D
▫ Expertise, task execution, with a dash of collaboration
• Product Manager
▫ Bringing products to market, cross-functional execution
• Product Management Director
▫ P&L ownership, people leadership & development, best practices
My career path, and measures of success along the way:

7. “Countless books and advisers tell you to
start your leadership journey with a clear
sense of who you are. But that can be a
recipe for staying stuck in the past. Your
leadership identity can and should change
each time you move on to bigger and
better things.”
Herminia Ibarra, HBR Jan-Feb 2015
The Authenticity Paradox

8. • Applied as a researcher, developer, and first-time product manager
▫ Worked well as a researcher, okay as a developer, not at all as a PM
• What it looked like:
▫ Lots of answers, weak listening, made sure people knew how smart I was
• Where it limited me and my team:
▫ Too little attention paid to others’ ideas…I didn’t have all the answers
My First Style: Leading via Expertise

9. • Applied after taking my first lumps as a product manager
▫ Made strong individual contributions, but weak team leadership
• What it looked like:
▫ Worked hard, but not necessarily smart, focused on outworking peers
• Where it limited me and my team:
▫ Only some individuals respond to this leadership style
My Second Style: Leading via Example

10. • Applied as a struggling product manager with poor team performance
▫ A combination of leading via expertise and example
• What it looked like:
▫ “I’ll show you how to do your job the right way”
• Where it limited me and my team:
▫ Poor team accountability, neglection of my other PM responsibilities
My Third (& Worst) Style: Leading via Gap-Filling

11. • People who become Product Managers share some common traits:
▫ Intelligent
▫ Self-motivated
▫ Hard-working
▫ Competitive
▫ Rewarded in the past for superior individual performance
• These traits, when mis-applied, make us less tolerant of others’ ideas,
work styles, motivators, and behaviors that are incompatible with ours;
all to the detriment of team performance
Personal traits of Product Managers:

12. Leadership and influence requires us to be other-centric
instead of self-centric
Big Idea #1

13. Regardless of past or current performance, your team
members are good people, with certain unique talents,
want to do a good job, and will do a good job when they
have a conducive work environment
Big Idea #2

14. Followers follow leaders because leaders help followers
do and get things they couldn’t without the leader
Big Idea #3

15. • What it looks like:
▫ Leaders serve followers instead of trying to control them
▫ Leaders understand the personal needs of their followers
▫ Leaders help followers accomplish what they couldn’t on their own
▫ Leaders remove obstacles to let their followers’ talents to shine through
▫ Followers earn greater autonomy and creative freedom
▫ Followers take ownership and are held accountable
▫ Followers are rewarded for great performance
▫ Followers make the leader look good
▫ New leaders emerge, allowing the existing leader to move on to bigger things
My Fourth Style: Leading via Service

16. • The Exceptional Leader, Zenger & Folkman, 2009
• Influence without Authority, Cohen & Bradford, 2005
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,
Goldsmith & Reiter, 2007
• The Servant, Hunter, 1998
Suggested Reading

17. • No single leadership style works in all situations
• Leading via expertise, example, gap-filling, or other styles is performed
best in the context of Servant Leadership
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with new styles, particularly when the
stakes are low
• Trust yourself, trust your people; take some risks, let others take risks
Final Thoughts: Developing a Leadership Toolkit