When I started Infinify five years ago, I announced that I am offering product consulting services. It was deliberately vague, partly because that’s all I could say on day one. I knew more or less what I was aiming for – for example, I knew that I was not interested in freelancing as a hands-on product leader, but I couldn’t yet articulate it as clearly as I can now.

And so I started to get calls from many people who were interested in my services. But since the term ‘product consulting’ could mean very different things, I got a variety of leads with various needs. One of the things I noticed right away was that entrepreneurs who needed product help often approached me with questions about their UX. That’s what the word ‘product’ meant to most of them. It’s easy to fall into this trap since the UX is the tangible part of the product. But the product – and the product manager’s job, let alone the product leader’s job – is much more than that. 

Unfortunately, this misconception about the responsibility of the product leader manifests itself even more clearly (and more painfully) when you decide to hire a product leader. It starts with the job description itself, the roles and responsibilities you want this leader to have, and it continues throughout the interview process and the final decision-making, into the onboarding and day-to-day conduct with the hired leader.

Last week I wrote about the blind spots that product leader candidates have during their interviews. Today I want to talk about the blind spots that hiring companies have since they are at least as important for the ability to hire and succeed with the person that will help your company fly.

Send this to your CEO friends so that they know how to hire the right person the right way.

It’s Not About the Plumbing

When we work with startups it’s usually a long-term relationship. We help them with their product strategy as well as building a strong product organization. That, of course, includes helping them hire the right people, and specifically the right product leader.

The problem is that companies often hire a product leader when they feel the load of product work and get that they need additional people on that front. They usually want someone who can be hands-on and take the load off their shoulders, but they also understand that they want someone experienced who can help them think. That’s why they are looking to hire a product leader and not just a senior product manager. 

But hiring leaders is hard. Finding someone who can do it well is not easy, and even if you have them in your pipeline it’s much harder to interview for strategy than to interview for hands-on product skills. Many companies simply don’t test for the right things and focus mostly on hands-on product skills – because that’s what they know. But if you hire someone for their hands-on product skills alone, don’t be surprised if they can’t be the strategic leader you were looking for. By the way, that also sends a wrong message about the type of work you would be expecting them to do, and I have seen talented product leaders walk away from job opportunities because the interview process focused too much on the tactical and operational side of the job.

That’s why I use a home assignment when I hire product people (if you decide to do it make sure you give home assignments the right way). These assignments are very revealing (especially the discussion that comes after the candidate presents their work). I have hired people who have done an imperfect job with the assignment because I realized that I can work with their weaknesses. But often when the candidates’ weaknesses are revealed, the hiring managers tell me that there is a problem with the assignment. 

I get that: They saw someone they liked, they feel that person can take the tedious part of the work off of them and they really need help, now. This might be a tradeoff you would be willing to make, but you need to make it knowingly. 

The reason you wanted to hire a product leader and not a product manager was that you needed someone who can partner with you on strategy and leadership, not just someone who can manage the work. Remember that as you prepare your interview process, and most importantly, before you make a decision. 

The Broader the Better

The product leader’s role includes much more than managing the product team and the product work. Their responsibility is to make the product a business success, not just a great product for the users. They need to think about all aspects of the business and help the leaders of all other teams succeed.

But as I said above, the perception is often that the role is bounded by the product boundaries. That’s a problem that would come to haunt you down the road when the leader is already onboarded, but it starts during the hiring process.

When the companies I work with hire a product leader I sit in the home assignment presentations. I like to have a broad discussion with many people who would be working with the candidate, and they usually ask great questions. But every now and then there is a question from the other participants that makes me realize they don’t get the role that they are interviewing this candidate for. 

One such example was when a candidate talked about pricing, and someone in the room was very surprised to hear that. The subtext was “how are you related to pricing? It’s someone else’s job”. 

The product leader’s role has very little to not any “someone else’s job” angles. They used to say that the product manager is the CEO of the product. People no longer use it that commonly, but when it comes to the product leader – that’s the role. As a CEO everything is your concern. Unlike a CEO, as a product leader it is not necessarily your direct responsibility, but you want a leader who can see the bigger picture and facilitate the right discussions to make sure the entire company takes the right direction.

Being Nice Is Not Enough

Everyone wants people that they would enjoy working with. Since the product leader’s role is so central in the organization, this is an angle that most companies get and look to see during the interview process: would that person work well with the other stakeholders in the company? How challenging would they be?

This is definitely an important aspect to consider, and if you can’t work well with someone you can’t have them on your team. But working well with others doesn’t mean always keeping everyone happy. 

The product leader’s role is at the heart of almost any conflict you would have in the company. The role comes with a unique perspective that connects almost everyone in the company together, a perspective that only the CEO has.

As such, your product leader needs to have a varied skill set and needs to know when to use each. It’s a fine balance between maintaining a positive and productive environment and facing the hard truth. The real decisions you want the product leader to make or help the team make are the hard ones – the ones that have no clear answer, the ones that need to take multiple perspectives into consideration and still find a way to address all of them. These decisions can’t be made by a product leader who is too nice, or who only brings the nice side into action.

Look for someone who can challenge you and the team, and someone who can drive decisions and action. There is a professional way to do it, but make sure you give them the conditions to demonstrate these qualities and not just their nice side.

Hiring a product leader is a big decision. Make sure you hire the right partner, the one that you can truly rely on to help the company grow. You will most likely need them more than you think, sooner than you think.