BYOMSPM

In this post I compiled a bunch of tips related to being better leader and product manager.

Grade I gave myself for this assignment: 90/100

Leadership Tips

First, as it relates to being a product manager, I found some tips on how to get respect from engineers (Norton, 2015):

• Clear obstacles
• Always take the blame
• Ask smart questions
• Explain the “why”
• Empathize

Norton also explains that, when trying to get a time estimate from engineers, good product managers will ask not just how long they think a task will take, but also what the quickest that it could take if everything goes perfectly, and what the longest that it could take in the worst case scenario.

I also read through an article on being a leader from the perspective of a newer CEO that I think is applicable to being in any leader-type role even if you aren’t the official manager of the people you’re leading (Lew, 2017). Here are some tips from the article:

• As a manager or leader, you’re not meant to manage or control what the people you’re leading are doing, but rather to create an environment that optimally supports what they’re naturally able to do. To this end, avoid micromanaging. The article explains the philosophy that they’ve adopted: if someone can do a task 70% as good as you can, then let them do it.
• As a manager or leader, it’s critical that you’re clear about expectations; moreover, you need to make sure everyone understands why you’re working on what you’re working on.
• As someone in a leadership role, it’s important that you create psychological safety by being vulnerable yourself. In line with this, know that people notice how consistently you uphold your own standards, and this contributes to the culture and environment that you create.
• Lastly, as a leader it’s worthwhile to focus on building rapport and relating to teammates as a human rather than just a coworker or manager.

Influencing

Next, I read an article on the art of influencing and being compelling (Rekhi, 2018). He argues that being a product manager is 60% hard skills and 40% soft skills, or what he calls “style” in the article. His argument is that most product managers don’t focus enough on the soft skills, but one way to do this is to use elements of a compelling argument in more of your communication.

These are the elements of a compelling argument that he lays out:

• Framing – what you choose to center an audience’s attention on
• Social proof – leveraging the shared opinions of others in order to support your argument
• Goal seek – identifying your audience’s goals and making sure to align your argument as closely as you can with them
• Inception – involving an audience as much as possible in the development of an idea or argument to garner more support for it
• Citation – the logos of an argument
• Narration – utilizing engaging storytelling to make the argument

source: Rekhi, 2018

I followed this up with another article on the art of influence and persuasion from The Review. A key portion of the article is outlining how to appeal to various cognitive biases of an audience in order to be more compelling. These are the biases:

• Availability – things that come to mind easier are more familiar and feel safer/more correct. How this affects an argument: you might accidentally assume that an audience is just as familiar as you with an idea that you deal with often, but you should verify this. Also, you can make your product/argument seem more familiar or safer by incorporating as many familiar concepts as you can in your presentation.
• Anchoring – the first big idea/number you present will stick with people, and they will judge subsequent ideas/numbers in comparison to this one. How this affects an argument: take a lot of care to pick the first main idea or number (often a price) that you throw out.
• Representation – people remember random pieces of information, so in a long talk people are much more likely to remember a single point reiterated repeatedly rather than a bunch of separate points. How this affects an argument: keep it as simple as possible, as extra details might distract or deter from the main argument.
• Coherence – people like to have a fully coherent opinion of things, which makes it hard for people to be told they’re wrong. How this affects an argument: If you’re trying to convince people to change their minds, gently present it as a way to be right going forward rather than an admission of having been wrong.
• Framing – people will make the comparisons that you set them up to make. How this affects an argument: clearly outline the reference point that you want an audience to use in any comparisons they make.

Navigating Conflict

Lastly, I looked into some advice on navigating conflict. The following are “5 hard questions to ask yourself during a conflict” that I found online, which I also think are often applicable to ask during forms of conflict outside of a work setting, such as a political debate. These are pulled directly from the article by Zhuo, cited in the Works Cited section:

1. Do I actually disagree with what the person is saying?
2. Can I fairly articulate the other person’s point of view?
3. Did I make myself clear?
4. Would I be comfortable saying what I’m saying to the other person in front of a group?
5. What would happen if I lost?

Thanks for reading.

---

Works Cited

Lew, Claire. “What the best leaders do.” Signal v. Noise. 12 June 2017. https://signalvnoise.com/svn3/what-the-best-leaders-do/.

“Master the Art of Influence — Persuasion as a Skill and Habit.” The Review. https://review.firstround.com/master-the-art-of-influence-persuasion-as-a-skill-and-habit/.

Norton, Ken. “Leading Cross-Functional Teams.” Ken Norton Executive Coaching. 21 November 2015. https://www.bringthedonuts.com/essays/leading-cross-functional-teams.html.

Rekhi, Sachin. “The Art of Being Compelling as a Product Manager.” Sachin Rekhi. 1 October 2018. https://www.sachinrekhi.com/the-art-of-being-compelling-as-a-product-manager.

Zhuo, Julie. “5 Hard Questions to Ask Yourself During a Conflict.” Medium. 16 April 2013. https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/5-hard-questions-to-ask-yourself-during-a-conflict-f4a91bab347a.