Defining your PM Superpower

How to lean on your strengths to land your first Product Management job

Every month, I have the privilege of speaking with folks aspiring to land their first PM role: a marketing whiz looking to make the transition to Growth PM, a new college grad who’s been locked on it since freshman year, or someone switching careers completely.

One common piece of advice I offer is to crisply define your Product Management superpower. In the absence of a track record of building product, this gives the hiring manager a sense of what she can trust you with on day 1. You may even find that your strength is exactly what her product team is sorely missing. **

But…how? How does someone who hasn’t been a PM yet define what they’re uniquely good at in the role?

1. List the powers you care about

There are many frameworks that outline what makes a great Product Manager (here, here, and here) so choose your favorite scheme. Here’s my spin on them:

• Customer empathy — unique ability to channel multiple viewpoints, and deeply understand the problems of others.

I recently spoke with an aspiring PM who’s been teaching middle school Computer Science for 7 years; his unique experience of empathizing with students will serve his future customers (and company) well.

• Effective facilitation — PM’s are the ultimate dot connectors, achieving results through others. They align the team towards the ultimate goal and guide the team’s journey there.
• Impact mindset — clear focus on outcomes over output. Understands the business model and levers required to drive the top level outcomes: business results, customer happiness, or (likely) some combination of them.
• Product taste — knows the difference between B, A, and A+ product experiences, and what’s needed to move to the next level.
• Technical fluency — can speak to the technical considerations of a product, and effectively collaborate with engineering partners.
• Data fluency — ability to analyze and synthesize market segmentation, product usage, A/B test results, survey responses, or any other key data.

This was my in. I majored in Statistics and started my career as a data analyst.

• High agency — gets things done without excuses. Shreyas Doshi has a fantastic thread breaking this down.

2. Score yourself on each power

That’s a long list of traits. But for aspiring PM’s, the beauty is that none of them are entirely unique to product management! Meaning that there are many ways to exhibit each of these skills outside of prior PM experience.

For each of the powers, give yourself a 1–5 score based on your gut. Don’t over think it.

3. Ask your inner circle where you spike

Find the most honest feedback-givers you know, and ask them what you’re good at. Ask them to be specific and cite examples — you don’t want hand wavy praise. These anecdotes will be useful to confidently speak to your superpower when looking for PM roles.

💡Did your network validate your scores or make you reconsider? Defining your PM superpower is an exercise in building a narrative, but there has to be substance behind your claims. So listen carefully to outside perspective on this.

4. Hone your superpower

Write down your superpower and have 2–3 well-honed supporting anecdotes ready at all times. Collect or create online artifacts that showcase your power, and share them in cold emails and throughout your interview process.

5. Be transparent about your growth areas

No one likes a braggart. After articulating a clear, confident narrative of where you’ll excel as a PM, follow-up with where you need to get better. This exhibits a growth mindset that will serve you well on your Product journey.

Even though I’ve been at it for a few years, this process has helped me take stock of where I’ve grown, and where I still need to put in work. Hope it helps you hone your superpower as well.