Product Management is becoming increasingly one of the most sought after professions. There are more and more classes, courses, conferences helping people get to PM careers. I have been a PM, worked with several PMs, hired PMs and groomed PMs. Over the years I have noticed some unique traits that set the great PMs from the rest. These same traits also set great leaders apart from functionally good PMs. I believe that mindset trumps skillset and the following are what set great PMs apart.

Customer first

A great PM is always focused on solving for a customer. She is passionate about doing the right thing for the customer by trying to understand their needs, anticipating potential problems and designing potential solutions. A great PM has a customer first attitude. Being customer centric is not just about interviewing customers. But it is more about always trying to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and solving for the right customer problems even when it doesn’t seem to be the most viable. It is about always learning about the customer. You can learn more about being customer centric here

Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck in her book “Mindset” talks about “Growth mindset”. People with a growth mindset believe that they can improve their skills and intelligence through effort and persistence. People with a growth mindset make better PMs because they spend a lot of time learning and growing themselves, embracing challenges and persisting through obstacles . They are inspired by other good PMs. They are always looking to learn more about their customers, more about their products, more about their function.

Servant leadership

PMs are often told that they are the CEO or GM of their product. But before starting to feel like PMs “own” their product, they should remember they are responsible and accountable for their product but their biggest job is to serve. Robert Greenleaf defined the concept of Servant leadership which is a leadership philosophy in which the main goal of the leader is to serve. When a PM shifts their mindset to serve and put the needs of the customers and the team above everything else, their teams operate better and achieve better success.

These three traits in PMs become even more important during the Covid-19 situation. It becomes even more important for a PM to be customer centric because customers needs are changing drastically during this time. Growth mindset allows them to learn on how customer needs might be changing in the future, learn how to operate in a new world, etc., Servant leadership is most important because it ensures that leaders are operating with empathy first. Simon Sinek’s says that “The true value of a leader is not measured by the work they do. A leader’s true value is measured by the work they inspire others to do” This is totally relevant for PMs and product leaders. This is the time for all of us to step up and serve. As PMs, let’s serve our customers, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities and our world. Let’s do just that!

Radical Change Makers

Mindset over Skill set makes a great PM