Product Managing for a Cause
I recently joined a startup that does climate risk analytics for financial services companies as well as corporations, and I feel that after a period of rebellion, I have returned home. I spent 10 years in the sustainability industry but spent the last 15 months in a totally different field. In my “gap” year, I learned about an entirely new product, a new industry, and worked with wonderful colleagues some of whom will remain close friends.
But the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic made me pause to reflect on my own impact as a product manager and as a global citizen. Since the start of 2020, for example, we have been confronted with serious, if not existential, threats, from the wildfires in Australia, to earthquakes and heavy flooding, an abnormally warm winter (remember the spring-like temperatures in February?), a heatwave in the Arctic, and of course the pandemic. The call to work on solutions to these problems became louder and clearer.
Modern life has a high environmental and social footprint and the uncomfortable truth is many businesses, despite lofty corporate missions, contribute to global problems through their operations, their supply chain, the activities of their employees, or their products. The more uncomfortable truth is we as employees and consumers bear a share of that footprint.
But the good news is we can do something about it. As product managers, we can be intentional in the products that we take on so that these products actively contribute to solutions. We have reached a point where “do no harm” no longer cuts it.
There are numerous products and companies that create positive impacts and advance the public good. There are companies that support the efficient delivery of public services and promote public safety, products that advance healthcare and education, applications that enable efficient charitable giving, platforms that support small businesses and enable employment, systems that help reduce poverty, or facilitate effective disaster response in underserved areas. But because of my professional experience and skills, the most logical career move would be to go back to an industry where I had spent a decade.
Sustainability is a broad term that captures environmental action and social responsibility. Because of the breadth of this field, there are numerous opportunities for product managers. Let me share a high-level overview of opportunities that I am most familiar with.
Responsible Investing
Responsible investing is defined by the UN Principles for Responsible Investment as “a strategy and practice to incorporate environmental, social, and governance factors in investment decisions and active ownership.” (You can read more about responsible investing in the UNPRI website.)
Over the last 10 years, responsible investing has become a complex ecosystem of standard-setting bodies, reporting frameworks, rating agencies, data providers, and think tanks as shown in the illustration below by Nossa Capital. For a PM seeking a new opportunity, this complex web of players presents several interesting opportunities.
Product management in the responsible investment space means PM-ing products that are used by financial services companies to reduce environmental and social risks in their investment portfolios. Such a product may be in the form of ratings or assessments produced by rating agencies or specialized data providers, or it can be a fund that asset managers offer to clients who would like to invest in a more sustainable and socially responsible portfolio of companies.
In a rating agency, for example, a product manager typically oversees the research product and will, for the most part, own or manage the methodology. This PM will typically work with different business units such as research, marketing, client relations, and sales, as well as the software product and development team. In larger firms, the platform that processes and renders research and data to subscribers is managed by a separate product manager. Another product manager may own the backend system that ingests raw data and the system that research analysts use to produce the research. Another product manager may own the data products that are sold to clients.
If you have a background in finance, you will be in a good position to manage a sustainability-focused product within a financial services firm, such as an asset manager. Product management in this area means working very closely with financial analysts to integrate sustainability in financial analysis, with portfolio managers, possibly investor relations, communications, marketing, and business development. It also means working closely with research and data providers.
Corporate Sustainability
Another opportunity is to work within a company to develop sustainable products. For example, apparel companies are increasingly using recycled materials for their products and there is an opportunity to manage a company’s gradual shift towards sustainable products. Or you can work in a company that has integrated a social purpose into its business model, such as a B Corp (think Patagonia).
For many publicly-listed companies, non-financial reporting has become the norm. In addition to doing their annual financial reporting, companies have added sustainability and social responsibility reporting as well. Reporting has become more sophisticated and data-driven in a form that is digestible to the investment community. But to do credible sustainability and social responsibility reporting, companies need to collect data from all its business units and suppliers. There is an opportunity to manage the collection and visualization of data to help management set corporate strategy and make decisions that integrate sustainability.
Corporations are also increasingly using products that help them manage their exposure to environmental and social risks. A number of companies are now offering SaaS tools to help corporations track and manage environmental and social issues that may have an impact on their bottom line, their reputation, or their operations.
The sustainability space is not without its challenges and employers in this field are not immune to dilemmas that affect other companies. The industry itself is a work in progress but the sustainability ecosystem is united in the mission of making the world more sustainable and responsible. The positive impact of this industry is undeniable and as a PM, you will have the opportunity to manage products that ultimately lead to sustainable business practices and advance causes bigger than ourselves.
