Influencing People
Influencing People
Rally people around the team’s work.
The ability to build relationships with the right stakeholders, understand their requirements, and create the alignment needed to deliver the best possible product.
The ability to manage and mentor direct reports with the goal of enabling them to successfully deliver in their areas of ownership, continuously improve against these competencies, deliver meaningful business outcomes, and achieve their career objectives.
The ability to leverage senior managers and executives in the organization to help achieve goals, deliver meaningful business outcomes, and positively influence the strategic direction of the team and the company.
The best product builders know they are only as effective as the people around them. This applies even to solo builders, who need trusted people to help them see around corners and distinguish good from bad in unfamiliar areas.
The three Influencing People competencies describe how product builders radiate leadership in every direction: horizontally to stakeholders, directly to the people they manage, and upward to leaders throughout the organization.
These builders view themselves as connective tissue within the organization. They foster strong relationships with cross-functional peers and leaders. As their scope and responsibility grow, they learn how to grow and mentor strong product teams. That shift changes what they build:
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Product managers build products.
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Product leaders build the teams that build products.
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Product executives build the systems that build the teams that build products.
Each step increases leverage. As an individual contributor, you create impact through your own decisions and work. As a leader, you create impact through the judgment, growth, and collective effort of other people. Your job is no longer to be the best builder in the room. It is to create an environment where many people working together can do the best work of their career.