Product management is a complex job, and even more so at the top levels. Many product leaders seek my mentoring to simply know that they are doing it right. One of the most common insights they get is that it’s not necessarily about doing things correctly, but rather about the entire definition of their role. More specifically, their responsibility for the business level and not just the product. The response I get at this point is usually either “what, how?” or “sure, I already do it”. 

The first response (“what, how?”) is typically when they feel they don’t receive the required information, or when the CEO does not involve them enough. For some of them, the business side is a complete blind spot. Another, more concrete obstacle that is also common, is time: people tell me that they must attend to their more direct responsibility – the product and “feeding” the R&D – before they can make time for their broader responsibility. This cannot be farther from the truth! At the company level, it is your broader responsibility that matters. Every now and then I get to work with CEOs alongside their product leaders. When this topic comes up and I tell the product leader that they must make time for their business responsibility even before they rush into their execution-related responsibility, the CEOs nod their heads in agreement. Every time. Remember it the next time this thought about priorities runs in your head.

The second response (“sure, I already do it”) usually comes from higher-level product leaders, who consider themselves engaged on the business level. From my experience, even when they claim to do it, many of them still don’t get the full depth of the level it needs to be done at.

As a product leader, unlike what you might have experienced in previous roles, you are no longer just responsible for building a product that your customers love. Your responsibility now includes making sure the product is a business success. This guide includes four steps to help you ensure you have this covered. 

Note that this is not something your managers will ask you to do, so you shouldn’t wait for them to request it. Take the initiative, and start doing it today. They will be happy nonetheless.

Step 1: Know What’s Going On

To be able to make an impact on any subject, you first must know what is going on in there. It sounds trivial, but I see many cases in which product leaders allow themselves to simply not know anything about the business side of the company. It’s easy to get there: you are not always exposed to the information, don’t necessarily understand how the processes work, and honestly, don’t have the time or willingness to do anything about it. But this is a privilege you no longer have. 

So, what should you do to get started? First, you need to ask questions. Start by meeting the salespeople, understand their jobs, and comprehend their big picture. You can also ask them (or the CEO, or check the various dashboards the company has) what the sales goals are and why they are appropriate. Make sure you read the financial reports and market analysis. You might not understand everything at first, but you should start somewhere.

Make it your point to know what’s going on. Ask around and don’t be shy. Remember, without your initiative, nothing will happen, and even if the CEO wants you to be involved in these areas, they wouldn’t necessarily actively pull you into the discussion. It’s one of those things that you need to show up and start the flywheel going.

Step 2: Understand How Others See It

After knowing what happens in the company and why, you must ensure you understand it and that it makes sense to you. Always make sure you comprehend the end-to-end picture, and that there are no hiccups from your perspective. It is also important to know how and why others operate. For example, what are their interests? What are their goals? And how do everyone’s goals and perspectives fit together to meet the company goals? 

You must be able to tell the story well and have an intelligent conversation about it. Ask more questions until you understand everything, even from other people’s perspectives (you don’t have to agree or disagree with them at this point). 

Step 3: Develop Your Own Perspective

After understanding how others view things, it is important to form your own opinion about it. This is the only way to become a leader – in order to lead the way you cannot simply follow others. It doesn’t mean that you need to constantly object to what other people say just for the sake of it, but it is important to develop your critical thinking skills, and after you understand (in step 2 above) everyone’s point of view, you need to develop your own.

Remember that you are in a unique position that combines everyone’s perspectives, and therefore what you think matters and will surely add to the conversation. To get there, start by telling yourself the end-to-end story and identifying gaps in it. When things don’t seem to add up, it could be either because you didn’t understand them fully (so ask around to make sure you are not missing anything) or, as it often happens, because no one tried to connect these dots fully before. Doing so is not trivial, as you will soon find out, and that’s why it is even more important that you take it upon yourself to compile the bigger picture at all times.

Step 4: Stir the Discussion

Eventually, a discussion is the only way to make an impact on any area that you don’t fully own. It starts by sharing with the management team your insights and your perspective fully, start to finish. Don’t worry about whether or not they already know it, because from my experience even if they know most of it, they probably haven’t heard it in such an organized manner that simply makes sense. 

Sharing it with them, along with your insights, will help them on two significant levels: 

If your story makes sense to them, they will agree with you. There might not be too much of a back and forth discussion, but usually, people will feel it was productive. Even if the CEO says they heard nothing new here (which is usually not true), remember that most people don’t have the CEO’s point of view. Just the fact that everyone now has the same perspective, and can get on the same page, will create a new language for the business, and be extremely valuable for alignment. 

In most cases though, either you will find gaps in the story that you want to bring to the discussion table or they will find their own gaps once you share the full story with them this way. This is a great and important step in your ability to change anything. You want the debate, it is invaluable. Remember that by sharing your compiled story you have already done a great service for the team since it is much easier for people to improve an end-to-end story that someone else told them than to write it themselves from scratch.

Once you created alignment with management, remember to share it with the entire company. They also need to hear it end to end and understand why you are doing things the way you do as a company.

Remember that it’s your job to ensure there is a discussion, but you don’t have to provide all the answers. Having said that, you need to own the process; make sure that the questions are answered, that the solutions are adequate, and that they make sense to you from the big picture perspective. The dialogue itself will lead to change, but make sure you own the outcome of the discussions as well. 

When you discover gaps in the story, you need to do the entire process again; go back to the beginning and ask questions (step 1), make sure you understand how people see it (step 2), share your own perspective (step 3), and discuss the gaps you find (step 4).

Grow the Spiral

If it sounds a lot and too far away from where you are today, you can start small, even with just a specific aspect of the business or product. Once you’ve completed all the steps discussed here, you’ll likely find that in step 4, the gaps increase, uncovering cracks in other, more significant areas as well. Then you’ll need to start again from step 1, but you will come to it with a broader knowledge base already, which might make you feel more comfortable doing so.

This process is a never-ending spiral since there is always a bigger picture to understand. Either because there are things you don’t yet know, but more commonly because when you connect the dots there are always deeper levels of connection that need to be discussed. In my journeys with companies I see this time and again – it’s not the lack of knowledge that keeps you going, it’s the new bigger picture that you now need to comprehend, time and again. And once you feel you have reached a decent strategy, it is most likely time to look further into the future, which opens the discussion yet again. 

The spiral will grow larger so you will always need to keep asking questions, but so will your impact. As you involve others with your insights (in step 3), they will see the value you bring to the business and strategy discussions, which will lead them to ask for your opinion and keep you more involved in the future. The only effective way to become a leader is to lead. Don’t wait to be called upon, start your journey today.