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14. Article 2 Product Strategy

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21. Article 3 Product RoadMap
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29. How to Build a Brilliant Visual Product Roadmap??
Building roadmaps is a crucial part of a product manager’s job. Yet most product
managers still use outdated tools for roadmapping—Excel, PowerPoint, wikis, etc. It’s
painful. The good news is that there’s a better way.
Executives have a vision of the future. Sales and marketing teams want to be heard.
And engineering is waiting for those detailed requirements and user stories. Great
product managers must walk a fine line between managing inputs and distilling a plan.

30. The best product managers start with a ―goal first‖ approach and work to build
consensus before building and sharing their roadmap. To accomplish this and get to a
plan of record, you need a collaborative roadmap that offers ongoing visibility.
Here are a few easy steps to help you create a brilliant visual roadmap.
1. Define your product strategy.
To start, you must clearly define your strategy by setting product vision, goals and
initiatives for each product. Since major initiatives drive your goals, link them together.
When this step is complete, you can see the relationships between your product lines,
products, goals, initiatives and releases all on one screen. This helps you find orphan
goals or initiatives that can’t be linked to high-level objectives.
2. Customize your roadmap based on who will view it.
Select which features to highlight and choose whether to present internal or external
data. The external release date can be different than your internal release dates. It can
also be rounded to a broader timeframe to be less precise (e.g. show releases by
quarter).
For customer views, you can show the theme of the release and key features in which
they will be interested. Internal stakeholders will want to understand the strategic
importance, conveyed through goals and initiatives. You can also create views for
specific customers, allowing your audience to see roadmaps that are relevant to their
specific business objectives.

31. Roadmap to Revenue
Shifting your organization from company-centered (marketing and selling) to
customer-centric (supporting the customers’ buying process) makes perfect sense.
Your customers are driving the buying process. They are in charge of the interaction.
They know what they want and how they want to buy it. They hold all the cards. They
can walk away at any moment.
If what you say and do supports the way they want to buy, they will stick with you
through the process. You will make the sale. If you don’t support their process, they
will simply take their money elsewhere.
Making the shift from company-centered to customer-centric is a journey.
After you make the shift, you won’t be marketing and selling anymore. You’ll be
supporting the customers’ buying process, systematically removing barriers to the
sale and selling more.
The Work Ahead
You can’t make the shift from company-centered to customer-centric without
interviewing your customers. But there is more to it than just finding out what they
want to buy from you and how they want to buy it.
You have to analyze that knowledge, turn it into an action plan and get everyone in
your company involved. If you don’t, you won’t really be making the shift. You’ll still be
marketing and selling, while trying to make the shift. You’ll still have all the same
problems, plus the complication of everyone thinking, ―The Boss wants us to do this
shift thing, but I’m not clear what I should do, and I have a deadline to meet right now.‖
You’ll be confusing matters instead of bringing new clarity to your revenue-generating
activities.
The entire roadmap to revenue process includes three basic steps.
Step 1: Discover.
Find out what they want and how they want to go about buying it.
You will interview customers to find out what they need and how they want to buy.
During the interviews, customers will also give you additional critical information, such
as their perceptions of your company, products, services and website; trends they see;
how they’re using technology to make purchases; and what they think of your
competition.

32. The information gathered in the initial interviews will be turned into two reports: a
conversation report and a summary/recommendations report. The conversation report
will contain the customers’ comments, categorized by subject. The
summary/recommendations report will contain summaries of what your customers
said and recommendations on how the company can solve the problems raised by
customers.
These reports will reveal what is broken and what is working. You will know what
customers want to buy from you, how they want to buy and which aspects of your
product or service they find most appealing.
It is never what you assume; customers will say things that surprise you and make you
realize you’ve been moving in the wrong direction in some areas of your business.
Step 2: Debate.
Resolve the differences between what they want versus what you have to sell, and how
they buy versus how you sell.
Once your brain trust has read these reports, it’s time to hold a brainstorming and
planning meeting. On the first day, you will:
 Analyze, discuss and prioritize what customers have said. The findings of your
customer research will be presented to the people in the room (usually
consisting of top management, sales, marketing, product management and web
folks). List the issues most important to customers and all of the other issues,
trends, perceptions, needs and buying-process data uncovered in the
interviews. Everyone in the room will now be aware of what customers want,
the problems that need to be solved, your strengths and weaknesses, and
barriers to the sale.
 Agree on the essence of your promise to customers. Customers are attracted
to companies and their products or services because they expect to find a
solution there. Promises are made by the company, to the customer, about the
company and its products. The customer expects those promises to be kept.
This is where you will identify and articulate the promises customers want you
to keep—and ones that you can keep.
Step 3: Deploy.
Document your customers’ buying process so you can support them every step of the
way, then build an action plan.
On the second day of your brainstorming and planning meeting, you will:
 Build a buying-process roadmap. Using the information gathered in
interviews, and the experience of your salespeople, marketing people and web
people, you will build a buying-process roadmap for each of your products and
services. The roadmaps will show the different stages of the customers’ buying
process. For each stage, you will list who is involved in the buying decision,
the concerns they have and the actions they take, as well as the tools you will

33. use to address those concerns, answer their questions and make it easy for
them to take the next step. The buying-process roadmap will align your sales,
marketing and web teams. Everyone in the room will understand their role in
supporting your customers’ buying process.
 Build your revenue-growth action plan. You’ll want to fix what is broken and
improve what needs improving. You will create a master to-do list. Each item
on the list will have a description of the issue, the recommended solution, the
steps involved, the owner, the due date and the status.
As you go forward, with the buying-process roadmap as your guide, you will build,
implement and then fine-tune your lead-acquisition and lead-conversion activities. You
will institute methods for obtaining customer needs and preferences data. After the
initial meeting, you’ll have weekly meetings where everyone can report on their
progress (or completion). If anything is falling behind schedule, you’ll figure out how to
get it moving again. The action plan must include the processes and systems for
continuing to interview customers and gather data from customers when they interact
with your customer-facing people. Processes must then be set up so the data leads to
action.
The revenue-killing momentum caused by insider mentality is like a boulder that must
be pushed up a hill. Stop pushing, and it will roll over you. Over time, as you make the
shift from a company-centered mentality to a customer-centric mentality, the boulder
will decrease in size. Don’t be surprised if it takes a year for the shift to take place.
Don’t relax even then. There will always be negative forces at work trying to separate
you from your customers’ realities. You can’t afford for that to happen. Customer
realities drive your revenue.
Of course, even the small, immediate changes you start to make will make it easier for
people to find you, understand what you are selling and buy from you—even before
you have fully instituted the shift. Their questions will be answered in a way that
satisfies them and takes them comfortably to the next step in their buying process.
One by one, their concerns will be addressed and eliminated, and they will gladly make
a purchase.
The initial, incremental changes in the way you market and sell will move your revenue
needle in the positive direction.

34. Article 4
Ten Things that Product Managers Need to Know
About Sales.
This article discusses how Product Managers can better support the sales process
and sales reps.
'The sales team is one of the most critical success factors for a product. The sales
team touches the customer directly, and the product manager must take responsibility
to provide the sales tools and attitude needed to ensure success. Smart companies
know that the information that comes back from the field is often just as important as
what you send out. Best practices that encourage active participation between sales
and product management and marketing can give your products the necessary edge in
highly competitive technology markets.'
David Hickman
ActivePortal Product Line Manager, TIBCO
Product Managers Are Not Sales Engineers
Product Managers (PMs) are at the epicenter of driving the product and therefore the
hub of product knowledge. However, direct product support of the sales process is the
sales engineer's (SE) job, not the PM's. If a PM is constantly dragged into sales cycles,
he will become an SE. One of the consequences of this is losing the necessary
perspective for managing the product. Yes, PMs need to work with and support the
sales force but more as consultants than full time participants. One may point out that
in many companies, PMs are called in to help with specific sales cycles. While this is
the case and many times necessary, PMs rarely have the training for this. It's the PM's
job to support the sales group, not to support individual sales processes.
The above withstanding, make sure that your reluctance to be dragged into an
SE role is not seen as arrogance or unwillingness to help drive the bottom line.

35. Help, Don't Preach--Your Sales Rep is on the Front Line and They Need Help Now!
The sales rep is in many ways is similar to a frontline soldier. Just as on the battlefield
where soldiers need air cover, sales reps need product, marketing and other types of
support. The analogy goes further. When a sales rep calls for urgent help to save a
sale, the PM needs to do anything they can to help. While in theory, PMs are not
supposed to support specific sales cycles, no one cares less about theory when a sale
is at risk. Help the rep first, examine and fix the process that got him to need urgent
support later. Coming to the rescue of a sales rep when he's under fire, doesn't mean
becoming their SE.
 Create effective communication channels with the sales force. Set up a
Sales Support SWAT Team. Hand pick your members from the various
groups that include, Product Management, Product Marketing,
Engineering, Customer Support and QA. Make sure to have
representatives from the field such as Sales Engineers.
 Hold weekly conference calls to keep everyone up to date and keep
everyone informed about the latest developments in the field as well as
with the product. Use the forum to share new leads, opportunities and
outstanding issues.
 Other effective communication tools are email aliases and archived
discussion groups.
David Hickman
ActivePortal Product Line Manager, TIBCO
Know the Difference Between Demoing and Training
Too frequently, product managers turn product demos into training sessions. A demo
is a presentation of the benefits the product will deliver. A demo becomes a training
session when the presenter describes how the promise of the benefits is realized, what
the user needs to do to achieve these benefits and how the product behaves.
Understanding the difference between these two presentations of the product is critical
issue when in front of decision makers. Decision makers are interested in the benefits,
not about how the product works. Or as the Chinese say: 'It doesn't matter if the cat is
black or white as long as it kills mice.'
Rule #1 of Demos: Know thy Audience

36. Sometimes, Feigning Ignorance is a Good Thing
'About 30 minutes into my presentation, one of the programmers in the back of the
room raises their hand. I called on him. I knew the answer and shot it back at him with
my very impressive answer. This happened several times and the result was the same.
My confidence was building... I noticed however that my sales manager didn't appear
as happy as I thought he should be under the circumstances.
'At the half-way mark, we took a break and my sales manager pulled me aside and
asked me what I thought was going on with the questions. With full confidence, I told
him the guy in the back just wanted to test to see if I really knew my stuff. He said 'No,
that's not it. He's trying to show the chief that he's worth the money he's paying him by
stumping the sales guy. The next time he asks you a question, instead of giving it to
him, why don't you try saying 'good question. I'm not sure... let me make a note of it
and get back to you.''
'When I began the second half, it wasn't long before a hand shot up in the back of the
room. I knew the answer. This time however, I answered with, 'good question. I'm not
sure... let me make a note of that and I'll get back to you.' What surprised me was the
fact that I saw this programmer, who had been asking all those tough questions, look
over at the chief, and the chief nodded in recognition! This guy never asked me
another question during the remainder of the presentation. My sales manager was
right! He was just trying to prove his value to his boss.'
Don France, Principal SalesNavigation
Some prospects' behaviors are motivated by concerns that are foreign to advancing
the buying process. As in the example above, the programmer was out to prove his
worth to his manager by stumping the sales rep, not to learn more about the product.
By not answering the programmer's question, the narrator was able to end his stream
of disruptive questions and make himself look better to his manager. By feigning
ignorance, the sales rep was able to move on with the presentation and increase the
chances of closing the sale.
Other times you should consider feigning ignorance:
 When the prospect asks about the product roadmap and you don't feel
comfortable sharing it with them due to confidentiality concerns or that you
know that the prospect's wish list is not part of the roadmap.
 If the prospect asks about pricing. Pricing should always be left to the sales
rep.

37. Know When Not to Speak
PMs are brought into meetings with prospects as product experts to collect input and
to learn about their needs. Before a PM joins a sales call, it must be very clear to all
those involved exactly what the PM can and cannot say. One example of counter
productive enthusiasm is to tell the prospect about great new features on the roadmap
only to have them defer their purchase until these features are available.
When talking about the product, if you get to a point where a prospect says 'this is
perfect' or 'this is great', that's a signal to stop talking. From the prospect's
perspective, you can only go down from here. Describing additional features and
functionalities cannot improve upon this statement and they risk generating
objections. Overselling the product can wear the prospect down and dampen their
enthusiasm.
There is a basic difference between knowing the product and knowing how to
explain it to advance the sales process.
KISS (Keep it Simple...)
Sales reps are very selective in how they apply their intelligence. If they don't see how
the information you are presenting them as having a direct bearing on their sales
efforts, they will tend to forget it. So... whatever you train them with, keep it simple and
relevant. The same goes for communicating with them. Keep it simple and
straightforward. Always make sure that it is clear to the reps what benefits they are
getting out of your communication to them. Just as with prospects, presenting sales
reps with more information will tend to dilute the message.
How to test your message for complexity--If the sales reps understand what you
are saying, great. But that's not good enough. They have to be able to explain it
in their own words to a prospect that is even less knowledgeable then they are.
That's the criteria that matters.
Don't Put Lipstick on the Pig
Marketing should understand better than anyone what the competitors are doing and
help the reps sort out the product's strengths and weaknesses vs. the competition.
PMs should provide the wording for the 'spin' but start by letting the reps know the
whole truth. Reps hate getting blindsided by something the competition really does
better that they didn't know about. Getting blindsided at a prospect looks extremely
unprofessional and blows any credibility a rep might have for a consultative sale.

38. Keep the Sales Materials Timely and Accessible
Sales materials get outdated very quickly. Continuous effort must be made to ensure
that the reps have the most up to date materials. Don't rely on reps to 'pull' this
material from a central repository. If you can push materials to their desktops, great.
But if not, use a portal server with a notification feature to update the sales reps when
new sales materials are posted.
'Keeping sales tools up-to-date is always a challenge, especially when you deal with as
many products as we do in Higher Ed. Therefore our marketing Intranet site (for
internal use) is synched with our electronic sales manual. Consolidating information in
a database format that can be presented in a browser is huge for us, especially now
that we are carrying laptops or Tablet PCs on campus.'
Chad Douglas, Pacific Regional Manager
McGraw-Hill Higher Education
I Need This Feature to Close the Deal?
Sales reps tend to see everything from the perspective of their current sales cycle. As
a PM, you must recognize that the sales rep is passing on his understanding of what
the prospect wants. The problem is that most sales reps do not have the tools to
understand what the prospect needs vs. what the prospect claims she wants. Nor do
they have the ability to accurately explain it the pain to you. It's your job to contact the
prospect, via the rep, and get a better understanding of her needs.
A common problem is that the feature the rep 'needs' to close a deal may be forgotten
by the customer the day after its delivered and it is the PM's job to investigate,
understand and add the correct perspective to their request.
It's the sales rep's responsibility to avoid getting to a point late in the process where a
prospect raises an objection about a missing critical feature. Critical features in this
context are either environmental features such as the OS required to run the product,
font support etc. or cultural features such that accommodate local cultures such as
localization. Without support for these features, the rep will not be able to sell in a
specific market.
Re. other, less critical features, when a prospect raises an objection because of a
missing feature, this is usually a cover for another point of discomfort that the
prospect is not verbalizing. A good sales rep will identify these objections and diffuse
them.

39. Summary
To be as effective as possible, PMs need to understand the sales process and how to
effectively support sales reps and the sales process.
Good hunting!
Article 5
The Exceptional Product Manager: What is the Right Stuff?
What makes an exceptional product manager? I was struck by this very question many
years ago when I first became a manager. When it came time for the company’s annual
performance review process, it seemed that managers could agree most of the time on
who the top performers were, but when asked to articulate the reasons why, the
answers invariably were phrases like ―high output, high-quality work,‖ ―displayed
leadership,‖ and so on, with an example or two given. While true, these reasons were
too ambiguous and did little to guide people. Intuitively, we all know a star performer
when we see one, but we are often at a loss to succinctly say why.
Hence, I asked myself: ―Why is so-and-so a star and what makes him/her stand out?‖
What emerged was a list of attributes that were essential to not merely fulfilling, but
exceeding, the requirements of the job. Star performer s invariably scored well on
virtually all of them, while others scored lower.
I use the list of attributes as a complement to the standard company performance
review forms to both assess an individual’s performance and to coach them. In so
doing, keeping the list to a single page ensures maintaining focus on the key
attributes. Employee feedback has been consistently positive because it provides

40. specific goals in performing the job, practical assessments and tangible improvement
ideas.
I found that about a third of the list is common across all jobs, not just that of product
manager: for example, exhibiting a good attitude is universal. Other attributes, such as
good communication skills, are also universal but their importance and the degree to
which they are used varies by job function. Still, other attributes are unique to the
product manager job itself.
So, what is the ―right stuff‖ for product managers? Here is my list of exceptional
product manager attributes, forged and honed from 15 years in high-tech product
management.
Attitude: Foundation for success
Attitude is the first attribute on the list because it is what drives individuals to achieve
results and improve their performance. This is especially important for product
managers because they must be self-starters and leaders who must constantly move
their products and organizations forward.
ATT1 Is enthusiastic, sees problems as opportunities, and proactively develops
knowledge and skills needed.
ATT2 Perseveres through any and all situations with indomitable spirit and
professionalism, keeping perspective and displaying a good sense of humor.
I remember being told as a young engineer fresh out of school that if the boss said, ―I
have an opportunity for you,‖ to run for cover because it was probably an undesirable
problem. With many ―opportunities‖ under my belt since then, I have learned that
problems—while admittedly sometimes painful to have to deal with—truly offer
opportunities to improve. For example, customer objections to purchasing a product
often require sharpening the value proposition and/or competitive positioning. Or, by
clarifying the objection, an alternative solution may emerge that is much easier to deal
with.
In a world that is increasingly global, competitive, and perhaps uncertain, how we
handle adversity can determine the winners. In short, product managers are highly-
visible role models: they are looked to by other members of the company for direction
and, when times are tough, for how they respond and for assurance that the right
things are being done to ensure success. Humor is an especially effective tool. After a
particularly difficult call with a customer, I recall my manager slowly shaking his head,

41. and saying with a resigned smile, ―In the next life, I want to be the customer!‖ That
instantly broke the tension we all felt and allowed us to get on with addressing the
customer’s issues.
Knowledge: Applying what is learned
Knowledge provides a groundwork for most of the other attributes and its application
helps product managers excel at them.
KNOW1 For each product managed, intimately understands its features and
capabilities, how they relate to customer benefits and uses, and how the product
compares to competitive or substitute products and solutions.
KNOW2 Understands key applicable market, customer, industry, competitive,
environmental, regulatory and technological forces and trends.
KNOW3 Is well-versed in market requirements and product definition using best
current practices, and the end-to-end product realization process from conception
through discontinuation.
As a product manager, I spend a lot of time being an ―Information Broker‖ since I am
constantly called upon to provide information to engineers, the sales department, and
customers. Engineers want to know: Why is this feature or requirement important?
Why must this be developed by such-and-such date? What is happening in the market
or with a particular customer? Sales and customers want to know: Why is your product
superior to competitive solutions? When will this feature be available? How does this
feature work? And, so on. The fact is, knowledge inspires confidence and confidence
breeds success. Knowledge is the source of a product manager’s ability to influence
and lead: engineers will be confident in the decisions we make, Sales will be confident
in the ability to sell the product, and customers will be confident in both the product
and the company.
Communication: Engaging others
All jobs require some communication, but effective, proactive communication is
especially important for product managers, who must engage a wide variety of co-
workers, partners, customers and industry colleagues. Product Management is about
communicating with others to both learn and convey what is—and is not—important,
and what should be done, and why.
COMM1 Superb, empathetic, open-minded, active listener; asks good questions.

42. COMM2 Demonstrates clear, articulate, and well-organized oral and written
communications style.
COMM3 Proactively interacts and establishes rapport with people of diverse styles,
backgrounds and job positions/levels.
The previous section on knowledge discussed examples of communicating
information. However, effective communication begins with listening: ―Seek
understanding before seeking to be understood.‖ In communicating, nothing is worse
than conveying information that the other party is either not interested in or cannot
understand. When called upon to make presentations to customers, for example, I
always try to find out as much as I can about the audience and what they want to know,
as well as what we, as the vendor, want to accomplish. At the meeting itself, I also seek
to have the customer talk first and I ask clarifying questions. All of this allows me to
target what I present and how I present it to the customer’s specific needs.
Customers: Being the customer advocate
―It’s the customers who pay our bills‖ is an old and very true saying. The product
manager’s fundamental role is to ensure the bills keep getting paid by identifying the
intersection between what customers value—and are willing to pay for—and the
organization’s distinctive capabilities to satisfy them better than anyone else.
CUST1 Understands, empathizes with, and can articulate customers’ viewpoints and
perspectives. Understands what problems, challenges and opportunities customers
face in their businesses and how customers use, or could use, the product(s) to
address them.
CUST2 Translates customer wants and needs into concise technical marketing
requirements.
CUST3 Synthesizes and prioritizes across customers’ wants and needs, balancing
them with company capabilities.
Having an engineering background, I have seen first-hand how easy it is to become
enamored with technology and the tendency to add ―bells and whistles‖ because it’s
fun and because it can be done. As product managers, however, we must realize that
the limited resources available to us must be laser-focused on solving customer
problems and opportunities. Simply put, to be successful, help make your customers
successful. At the same time, customers sometimes want the world and it is up to the
product manager to qualify this, make the necessary tradeoffs to fit within company

43. capabilities and timeframes, and drive ambiguity out of what needs to be done via
articulate technical marketing requirements.
Managing: Passion for results
Exceptional product managers are extremely results-oriented, doing whatever it takes
to achieve the desired objectives.
MANG1 Establishes appropriate goals. Plans and manages toward achieving goals,
anticipates problems and issues and proactively drives their resolution.
MANG2 Handles many tasks at one time and prioritizes among them.
MANG3 Able to lead a team and be a team member. Instills a winning, ―can-do‖ spirit
among co-workers and team members, bringing out the best in them and lifting their
level of play.
The first two attributes, here, are important yet basic ―Management 101‖ concepts. The
third attribute is less obvious and crucial. As a product manager, you are, by definition,
the Chief Cheerleader for your product. You must believe passionately that your
product is a winner and be able to communicate crisply why it is. You count on your
teammates in engineering to build the product (to your specifications) and you count
on your teammates in Sales to sell the product (using materials you have developed).
As a result, you have a great ability—and responsibility —to enable others to do their
jobs well.
Decision-Making: The essence of product
management
The best, most succinct definition I ever heard as to what my job as a product manager
entailed was: ―Your job is to make decisions.‖ Product managers face a never-ending
progression of decisions that range from the very specific and tactical, such as, ―What
words or letters should go on a label?‖ to the highly strategic, ―What markets do we
want to go after two years from now?‖
DEC1 Understands the problem to be solved, the issue to be addressed and/or the
need to be satisfied.
DEC2 Determines the criteria (business, technical, economic, customer impact, etc.) to
be used in making the decision and formulates the path leading to the decision.

44. DEC3 Makes sound decisions in a timely manner knowing when to get more
information and when to proceed with incomplete information, avoiding ―analysis
paralysis.‖ Accepts responsibility and accountability for decisions made and their
consequences.
DEC4 Envisions possible future scenarios and outcomes and develops appropriate
business and product strategies and contingencies.
A typical decision product managers face is to decide which features—and which
capabilities within a feature—to include in a software release for Development. That
release may take 6-12 months to develop and another 6-12 months before it is
deployed and used by customers. That means it could take 12-24 months before it is
known whether the decision was a good one—a lifetime in most markets where much
can change. Waiting to get more information to make the decision can help reduce
risk, but it can also delay the release (and associated revenues), possibly missing the
market window. Unlike the engineering world I started out in where things are ―black
and white‖ and answers are ―right or wrong,‖ most decisions product managers face
are in a world of ―gray.‖ One of the most important lessons I learned came from an ex-
CEO professor in business school who said: ―There are no right answers, only
intelligent choices.‖
Conclusion
Product management is a demanding discipline because it requires making sense out
of a changing and uncertain world in which, as we have seen, there are often no ―right‖
answers. It requires leadership, to relentlessly drive one’s organization and product
forward in an increasingly challenging and competitive world. Yet, the joy and rewards
of winning in the marketplace and seeing one’s product address a customer problem
or need better than any competing solution are incomparable. By using the list of
attributes, product managers can improve their effectiveness–and their managers can
better coach them so they develop and have the ―right stuff,‖ and, in turn, more
frequently experience those joys and rewards.

45. Article 6
5 Ways to Become a Respected Product Leader in the C-Suite
What does it take for ambitious product leaders to become executives? Here are five
things product team members can do to improve their odds of joining the C-suite.
1. Leave Your Comfort Zone
Depending on your background, your comfort zone might be engineering, design or
something else. But to be taken seriously, you must be able to speak the language of
executives.
When I was chief product officer at XING AG, I often felt uncomfortable when peers
asked me to push business topics. I refused to talk about recruiting business or
advertising because I believed I wouldn´t add enough value to the conversations.
Every time the group of senior executives discussed those topics, I remained quiet. I
only spoke up when the discussion focused on product and product strategy.
Later, I realized that my thoughts about business weren’t so bad. By focusing solely on
my function, I appeared less senior than I was and limited my sphere of influence.
Avoid making the mistake I did; share your thoughts.
2. Care About Strategy
Challenge your company to plan for the future. If there isn’t any planning yet, start
working on it. Lead the process. Don’t let go. In one of my previous companies, I was
too willing to accept what was available. I focused on driving my product and
managing my 50-person team. I missed an opportunity to drive strategic thinking and
set the agenda for the overall company.
Only after a senior corporate director came on board did I realize the gaps in strategy
that I had ignored. By then, I’d lost valuable time and my product strategy no longer fit
into the larger context. It became impossible to explain how our product could serve
the company’s needs. Find out your company’s plans and if none exist, create some.
3. Sell the Value that You Add
You do yourself a disservice when you fail to understand the value you bring to your
job. I sold myself short on a consultancy project because I thought I wasn’t
mainstream enough. During the final presentation of my results, instead of talking
about the points I truly believed in, I tried to translate my findings into business-speak.
The result was a diluted message that left me disappointed in my delivery.

46. During the final feedback meeting, my client explained that his company had hired me
because I wasn’t mainstream. He helped me realize that I’d made a mistake trying to
act like other consultants instead of focusing on my unconventional thinking and
personal background. The same is true in how we present ourselves at work.
4. Stay Focused on Your Customers
A good CEO always appreciates hearing customer insights so it’s important to view
everything you do as a service to your customers, and position yourself as the voice of
your users. When I worked at Nokia we debated a lot around product, but without really
any focus on our users. When a new product manager—who grounded her work in
user interviews—shared her insights during a presentation, that’s who earned the vice
president’s respect. You can do the same.
5. Deliver More than Data
It’s important to do things that are tangible and experiential, not just talk in data points.
For example, an employee wanted to reduce the number of different types of gloves in
use at his company. He tried various methods and reports without success. But when
he placed the different glove models on a boardroom table, he was able to break
through to the executives. They saw the gloves pile up and immediately approved the
cost-cutting proposal. Remember to share the story, not just the data.
Entering the executive ranks requires you to shift your perspective, and not everyone
is up for that. In fact, it’s more than okay to continue focusing on delivering great
products. But if you are aiming for the C-suite, these five tips can help you get there.