Succeeding as a Product Executive
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Today, I'm going to talk about what it takes to succeed as a Chief Product Officer.
Maybe this is a role you're new to or one you're aspiring for.
This is THE BIG job. The biggest in product management and indeed in the commercial success of any product.
If you're a first-time CPO or aspiring to get there, you need to understand what it takes to succeed in the role.
Unfortunately, most first-time CPOs struggle or fail because they either treat it as a title step-up from a VP or "head of product" role or act like a "super product manager."
If you report up to a CPO, understanding what the senior most product executive in your organization needs to focus on can make an enormous difference in how you approach your own decision making, both for your product and your career.
Because what your CPO focuses on is completely different from what you focus on.
Being a CPO is not about product management.
A CPO actually focuses less on the day-to-day mechanics of product management and looks far more broadly than the product.
The role is actually about the success of the company at large.
The CPO's job is to balance the long-term business vision with short-term priorities and set the right organizational conditions for success.
This involves everything from...
- collaborating with the CEO and the other senior executives, to...
- organizational structure, to...
- setting top-line goals and team incentives, to...
- customer and partner management, to...
- dealing with the Board and key investors, to...
- people coaching.
It is the ultimate political job.
Now, not all CPO jobs are created equal. For example, a CPO at a startup will be more hands on, more short-term focused, and have fewer people reporting up to them than a CPO at a multi-billion dollar global enterprise.
That said, there are some common fundamental truths for any CPO role regardless of the company size or stage.
So let's talk about 10 things a CPO needs to do to ensure they'll succeed in the role.
1. Be a good communicator.
99.99% of the job is communication. Whether it's to your team, middle management, cross-functional departments, other executives, the Board, customers, strategic partners, or the entire company.
In fact, you need to over-communicate, and be willing to do via multiple channels - email, Slack, face-to-face, in-person, online, presentations, documents, or anything else.
You need to get your message across succinctly with the intent to keep the train moving forward collaboratively.
And be prepared to repeat that message over and over, multiple times, in different ways.
2. Understand the business inside-out.
As a core member of the executive management team, you need to understand how the business makes money. How its business model works. From the customer segments being served to how the product is being positioned to the sales model to key cost levers.
You need to keep a pulse on margin and ROI. Even if the company's short-term priority is revenue growth, brand promotion, or even just market validation (.e.g., for an untested innovation), you still need to keep an eye on the ROI of not just product efforts but organizational efforts. You need to be the advocate for healthy growth and healthy margins.
You need to use this knowledge to help drive decision making at all levels of the company. The "language of money" needs to roll off your tongue.
3. Wade into the hardest problems in the company.
This goes beyond the product and your product team.
The CPO is a key collaborator at the highest level of the company. You're expected to make an outsized impact. This isn't the time to play it safe.
So get engaged with the biggest challenges in the organization, whether they're product related or not, and get going helping to fix them.
4. Develop a sense of urgency.
The CPO is a key player in moving the company forward. If you move slow, both the team and the business aren't going to reach their highest potential. And, on a personal level, you want to make your mark quickly.
This doesn't mean speed for the sake of speed. A thoughtful approach is always valued. Having a sense of urgency means constantly finding ways to move the ship forward. Being a constant problem solver. Honing in on a handful of key achievable goals and reinforcing those. Prioritizing ruthlessly. Communicating those goals and priorities relentlessly. And encouraging and incentivizing everyone in the organization to operate with the same sense of urgency.
Urgency is key for a CPO.
5. Focus on the forest, but mind the trees.
You're probably a great product manager and know the product management discipline inside-out.
You're probably a good manager and leader too, with an ability to motivate teams and communicate with other executives - skills which got you into the top position.
But the CPO job goes beyond the product, the technology, the processes, and the team.
It's about the business, the strategy, alliances, and politics.
So, while an attention to detail is crucial, don't get stuck in the weeds. Your job is to ensure the right destination is set, ensure conditions are set for a successful journey, grease the wheels, and keep the train moving.
6. Continuously connect the dots.
The CPO needs to ensure not just their own team, but every employee, feels like their work matters. Again, the focus is beyond the product team, beyond the R&D team, to the organization as a whole.
- Provide strategic context often.
- Continually "connect the dots" of their daily work back to company strategies and goals.
- Share stories of how their work is making an impact.
The CPO needs to constantly provide context and make everyone feel valued.
7. Be a poop umbrella.
The Product team has a lot to do and is always asked to take on more. The CPO needs to ensure the team is protected from distractions and divergent priorities.
And if you have lieutenants (Directors, VPs), you need to support their efforts to protect their teams.
Additionally, the CPO needs to be prepared to be the fall guy if something goes wrong or expectations aren't met. If a team member drops the ball, follow-up with feedback privately. But outwardly, the CPO needs to be prepared to take the bullet for the team. The buck stops here.
Your team is more likely to stick with you if they know you have their back.
8. Push. Hard.
At the same time, your job is to push the team. Set bold goals and then push them to meet them. Push them to think beyond their own limited worlds. Push them to achieve more.
You don't want to be a task master. You need to strike the balance between setting what may seem to them unattainable goals and being reasonable in your own expectations on what the team can achieve.
Your job is to deliver performance. And that means pushing teams to do things beyond what they think they're capable of.
9. Be a mentor. To everyone.
The best leaders are mentors, and the best CPOs are expected to be excellent mentors.
CPOs are mentoring at multiple levels:
- They are mentoring their own team members.
- They're mentoring their lieutenants (Directors, VPs), who may one day become senior executives themselves.
- They're mentoring others in the organization at every level. This may not be formal mentoring relationship, but a good CPO is actively looking for ways to bring the best out of everyone in the organization.
- And as a CPO, especially in a startup or scale-up, you may be mentoring the founders too!
10. Celebrate achievements.
You work hard. Your team works hard. Product managers excel at getting things done and quickly moving on to the next priority or deliverable. But remember to take time to celebrate achievements, big and small.
I always started every team meeting with 5-10 minutes of sharing accomplishments and key wins. This could include obvious things like a release or a product launch or achieving some important company metric; but it also included things like having a requirements document ready, fixing a bug, winning over a key ally from another department, or a successful executive presentation.
You've hired some really smart, motivated, ambitious people. They're much more likely to go the extra distance for you – without you even asking – if they feel a sense of accomplishment and that their work is recognized.
You also need to go beyond this and celebrate the achievements of everyone in the organization. Sales closes an important deal? Celebrate it. Support saves a customer? Celebrate it. Marketing has a successful campaign? Celebrate it. Engineering resolves long-standing tech debt in a "bug bash" session? Celebrate it.
Evolve beyond the "super" product manager.
So, there you have it. My 10 best pieces of advice for succeeding as a Chief Product Officer.
- Be a good communicator.
- Understand the business inside-out.
- Get involved in the most difficult challenges for the company.
- Develop a sense of urgency.
- Don’t get lost in the weeds.
- Continuously connect the dots.
- Be a poop umbrella.
- Push hard.
- Be a mentor to everyone.
- Celebrate achievements.
So get started on these today.
Best of luck!
