Don’t be a Product Manager. Be a Product Leader.

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

Unlike Engineer, data scientists, and designers, Product Management, as a nascent role in tech companies (mostly internet companies), does not have a uniform definition across every company/organization/product team. Even worse, not every company or team has a product manager role. Nevertheless, if you look at every successful product, you will always find one or more product leaders. There are a lot of conversations regarding the differences between product managers and product owners, yet we all clearly know how product leaders should look like:

• Product leaders unite people around a vision

They exemplify the product mission, paint a clear picture of what success looks like, and get their team excited and devoted towards the north star.

• Product leaders strategize a path forward

They breakdown the ambiguous space into actionable pieces and set measurable milestones along the way.

• Product leaders demonstrate ownership

They are responsible for end results. They would do everything to de-risk their plans and get things done. They can act as the “shit umbrella” that shields the product team…