Sachin Rekhi gave the talk about "How to Master Influencing Without Authority" at Lean Product Meetup on June 24, 2021.

1. How to Master
Influencing Without Authority
Sachin Rekhi
@sachinrekhi
sachinrekhi.com
Founder & CEO, Notejoy

2. After 15 years of product management I realized...

3. Substance
60%
Style
40%
Great product management is...

4. Substance
60%
Great product management is...
● customer discovery
● prioritizing a roadmap
● deriving insights from data

5. Style
40%
Great product management is...
● communication style
● executive management
● influence w/o authority

6. What it feels like when
you can’t influence
without authority...
All my great ideas and hard
work aren’t appreciated
Too many cooks in the kitchen
are hindering my process
instead of improving it
We have a consensus-driven
organization and getting
decisions made is slow

7. How do you actually improve your
influence?

8. By learning the art of...
making a compelling argument

9. f ● Substance
● Style
● Audience

10. f ● Substance
● Style
● Audience

11. f ● Substance
● Style
● Audience

12. Product
Manager
Software
Engineer
Designer
Tester
Product
Marketer
UX
Researcher
Sales Support
CEO
VP
Product
Legal
Core Product Team

13. Product
Manager
Software
Engineer
Designer
Tester
Product
Marketer
UX
Researcher
Sales Support Legal
Product Peers
Product
Manager
VP
Product
CEO

14. Product
Manager
Software
Engineer
Designer
Tester
Product
Marketer
UX
Researcher
Sales Support
CEO
VP
Product
Legal
Shared Resources

15. Product
Manager
Software
Engineer
Designer
Tester
Product
Marketer
UX
Researcher
Sales Support
CEO
VP
Product
Legal
Executive Stakeholders

16. f ● Substance
● Style
● Audience

17. FRAMING
Present a particular perspective to steer
the audience to a desired conclusion
SOCIAL PROOF
Leverage the shared opinion of others to
convince key stakeholders
GOAL SEEK
Redefine your initiative in terms of a
decision maker’s own goals
The elements of style of a compelling argument
INCEPTION
Make another believe the idea was her own
CITATION
Share data, A/B test results, voice of
customer to support your argument
NARRATION
Recast your argument as an engaging story

18. FRAMING

19. FRAMING

20. SOCIAL
PROOF

21. GOAL
SEEK

22. INCEPTION

23. CITATION

24. NARRATION

25. FRAMING
Present a particular perspective to steer
the audience to a desired conclusion
SOCIAL PROOF
Leverage the shared opinion of others to
convince key stakeholders
GOAL SEEK
Redefine your initiative in terms of a
decision maker’s own goals
The elements of style of a compelling argument
INCEPTION
Make another believe the idea was her own
CITATION
Share data, A/B test results, voice of
customer to support your argument
NARRATION
Recast your argument as an engaging story

26. By learning the art of...
engaging in product debates

27. The best product
debates...
Help refine our solution
Make us better as product
managers
Are intellectually stimulating

28. But how come they rarely feel like that?

29. First, seek to understand
Find the fundamental difference
Choose your words wisely

31. While we know that we disagree
on a product direction or a
product trade-off, what’s the
fundamental difference?
Are we optimizing for differing
goals?
Are we focused on solving for
different target audiences?
Do our perspectives differ on
a fundamental assumption?

32. Psychological safety
a sense of confidence that the team will not
embarrass, reject, or punish someone for
speaking up

33. I'm not so sure. My perspective
is
I see where you are coming
from if our goal was X, but I
think that goal Y is the more
pressing one
I think a key assumption you
are making is X, but I think
that's actually not the case
What I've been hearing is
actually quite different from that
I disagree
You are wrong
You don't understand
You're missing the point
I'm the expert here

34. Substance
60%
Style
40%
Great product management is...

35. f ● Substance
● Style
● Audience

36. FRAMING
Present a particular perspective to steer
the audience to a desired conclusion
SOCIAL PROOF
Leverage the shared opinion of others to
convince key stakeholders
GOAL SEEK
Redefine your initiative in terms of a
decision maker’s own goals
The elements of style of a compelling argument
INCEPTION
Make another believe the idea was her own
CITATION
Share data, A/B test results, voice of
customer to support your argument
NARRATION
Recast your argument as an engaging story

37. First, seek to understand
Find the fundamental difference
Choose your words wisely

38. Want to learn more?
150+ product essays, videos, podcasts at
sachinrekhi.com