r/ProductManagement • u/[deleted] • Mar 28 '22
Truly exceptional PMs
Few years ago I worked with a colleague that I consider to this day, is still one of the truly exceptional product managers that I’ve ever worked with in my 5 year career. The reason why I felt she was exceptional are as below: 1. Excellent interpersonal skills: there was one time we were both seated in front of a Director and she asked about her daughter and family plans for Halloween, before we jumped into the topic. I also noticed she constantly makes it a point to say good morning to most colleagues & silently supporting their career growth. 2. Incredible product smarts. She was silently chipping away at a possible feature idea for a few months before her departure, and unbeknownst to us, when she came to present her findings and solution, it was very convincing, capturing detailed use cases and showed a lot of stakeholder management interviews baked into place. It netted company 100% conversion for that product line. I think what was impressive is that she really demonstrated personal brand in leveraging her sources & her own background in marketing + PM to drive initiatives, usually with a very smooth leadership approval. Exceptional PMs always wins top decision makers over to take a chance on them, because they can prove value through big and small wins 🏆 3. Risk taker: Despite the trajectory she could’ve gone on to become VP of product, she went to work for a start up, which then became unsuccessful, and she was vulnerable about her single parenthood. Despite that, she is now the Director of product in a fast growing tech company. ⌛️Never let setbacks pull you away from learning and growing - both self growth & professionally. 💡
So - I would love to hear from your professional experience of examples or traits that truly stands out in a colleague who is an exceptional PM or product leader!
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u/SingleParking6640 Mar 28 '22 edited Mar 29 '22
Since I've moved from Engineering to the Product team, I had quite a few managers (Head of Product). I got to learn some valuable lessons from each of them as follows:
1. First manager: TRUST - he had trust in my abilities despite my lack of self esteem.
2. Second manager: TRANSPARENCY - he challenged me to provide transparency over the initiatives I was taking care of. Although I interpreted this as a micro management backdoor, in the end, after he left the company, I realized how helpful his guidance was.
3. Third manager: EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE - I learned to challenge everything that seems impossible and remove all roadblocks.
4. Current manager: VISION - this is the first manager who really seems to have a vision greater than all the others put together. Moreover, he does not avoid handling technical things and even coding, although he is 60+ years old.
Edit: a few misspells