This document discusses how to lead as a product manager without direct authority. It provides tips on effective leadership including empathy, active listening, transparency, and humility. It also discusses understanding different stakeholders and their goals, organizational structures, and using influence tactics appropriately with different personalities. Product managers are measured by product success and team alignment, so communication, transparency about strategic goals and priorities, and personal connections are emphasized.

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How to be a Leader without Authority
by fmr Intel Analyst

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9. PM : Guiding the Success of a Product
PMs are measured by the success of their product and
how well they can align to the company’s goals.
• Strategic to Tactical
– Strategy, Roadmap, and Feature and Priorities.
• Leading the cross-functional team that is
responsible for improving the product.
– Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and Support teams.
Is the PM the CEO of the product?

10. “No one wants to be managed,
but they do want to be led” - Simon Sinek
Leadership is about Influence, not Control
Leadership Behaviors: Empathy, Active Listening,
Transparency, Personal Connections, and Humility
Great Communication
• Nurtures alignment on activities, resources, and
priorities.
• Promotes the sharing of results, insights, and
recommendations.

11. Improving your Influence
• Mapping the Terrain – Know the environments.
• WWW – Who Wants What : Aligning stakeholders.
• Personalities – Interacting with different types.
• Influence Tactics – Models, psychology awareness.

12. External Environment
• Regulations
• Customers
• Market
• Trends
• Politics
• News
• Economy

13. Events : Media, Ceremonies,
Formal communication
Patterns: Rules, Practices,
Rewards, Stories
Mental Models: Beliefs, Traditions,
Assumptions, Values
Structures: Authority,
Governance, Relationships
Visibili
ty
Internal Environment
Culture “The way we do things
around here”

14. Organizational Structure
• Hierarchical Structure (Command and Control)
– Employees simply wait for the directives to trickle
down from the top.
• Flat Structure (Matrix) :
– Leaders are more engaged with employees.
– Promote a culture of creativity and innovation.
– Encouraging experimentation and learning.

15. Internal Org Challenges : Debt
Technical Debt
Accumulation of short-term solutions that collectively
burden the performance of a business over time.
Organizational Debt
Accumulation of organizational
changes that leaders should have
made, but did not.
A lot of Energy/ Effort/ Resources invested in status quo.

16. Rewards Drive Behavior
Get Aligned
• Know your boss’ goals
How your boss is measured helps you understand what is
important to them and upper management.
• Rest of the Stakeholders
Understanding how each team (individual) is measured tells
you what leverage to use.
Decision making is derived from
performance goals.

17. Executives, Investors, Board Members
• How your product strategy is contributing to the company’s
larger objectives. (How are they measured)
– Revenue, Market Share, Competitive Advantage, Brand, …
» Focus on the Big Picture!
Keep the details to a minimum, unless they
ask you specifically.
• Give them a reason to be excited.
Positive attitude and mindset, but honest.
Tell them a story instead of just updates.
• What are you doing = What problem
are you solving?

18. Engineering Stakeholders
» First explain your broad strategic objectives. Then dig deeper
into how those strategies translate into tasks.
Be available and approachable, but don’t hover.
Build Trust » Do not micro manage.
They want to know:
• What the PM wants and expects from them, clearly.
• How their work contributes to the product’s overall strategic
goals. (NOT How to do their work)
Their motivation: Technical capabilities advancement, not
necessarily the user/market needs.

19. Sales Team
• Interested in how the work will give them
a competitive edge.
» The impact on sales numbers.
• Be ready with evidence to support why prioritizing
your initiatives will help the team’s sales numbers.
• Their motivation might not align perfectly with the strategic
interests of the company.
• Use your “Sales” filter. Don’t jump at everything.
- Will a feature they request really bring new customers, or just
one of their large prospects.

20. Marketing
What’s so special about your product?
Collaborate with marketing early in development.
» Develop the emotionally powerful story/messaging.
» Make sure it is consistent with companies brand.
Similar to engineers, Don’t micromanage the details
Share Your Strategy
» Get to know your target user
identities.
» Market fit and what problems it
will solve.

21. Customers (Internal)
• Think about when you have to under deliver, give
their demands lower priority, delays, or just make
them happy with an alternative.
• Need to get Buy-in, Feedback, and earn Trust.

22. Transparent Vision and Strategy
Enables a group to execute as a team because it
provides direction and inspiration to reach a goal.
1. Every Individual knows how their work directly
contributes to achieving the company’s vision.
2. Every Individual can explain the rationale behind
the strategy of how we are approaching the goal.

23. Challenges : People Motivators
Personality : Set of behaviors, cognitions, and
emotional patterns that evolve from biological
and environmental factors.

24. Communicating with different Personalities

25. Dale Carnegie (1936)
• Bait the hook to feed the fish.
» See what others want and align to what
you want.
• Make people like you by being genuinely
interested in someone's life.
» Deep rooted connections.
• Own a mistake and punish yourself, therefore the other
needs to defend you.
Admit wrong doing quickly and emphatically.
Influence and Persuasion

26. 6 Principles of Persuasion - Dr. Robert Cialdini
1. Reciprocity - People are obliged to give back » Be the first to
give. (Make it personalized and unexpected)
2. Scarcity - (FOMO) What is unique about your proposition and
what they stand to lose if they pass.
3. Authority - People follow credible and informed experts. Signal
to others what makes you credible.
4. Consistency - With what was previously said or done.
5. Liking - People who are similar to us, pay us compliments, and
cooperate towards mutual goals.
6. Consensus - During times of uncertainty, people look to the
behaviors of others to determine their own.

27. What Makes People Listen?
1. Can I Trust Them?
2. Are They Knowledgeable?
3. Do I Like Them?

28. Summary
• PM : Not the CEO, but a significant leader.
• Leadership » Communication, Transparency,
and Personal Connections.
• Internal Environment » Structure,
Iceberg, and Organizational Debt.
• Different StakeHolders » WWW.
• Personalities » Being aware of types.
• Influence » Models, Tactics.

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