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There is a lot of bad advice on how to be a good product manager:
Be Agile (with a capital “A”)
Get a certification
Go deep on technical skills
Have a “product mindset”
Develop “product sense”
🙄
What does it actually take to be an insanely good product manager?
By “insanely good,” I mean one who:
Makes a real impact
Is valued and sought after
Advances more easily, even between jobs
Enjoys the financial rewards that come with it
Today, I’m going to share my honest advice on what it takes if you want to have a successful career as a Product Manager.
Warning: If some of this will sound tough, it's because it is.
Everything in life has a price. If your goal is to build a wildly successful PM career, you need to be clear-eyed about the price you’ll pay. If you’re willing, go for it. If not, you can still have a solid career that pays the bills.
The point is: this is your life. You get to choose.
If you want a successful career in product management and a good life, you need to understand the game you’re in and how to play it — with intention, not default.
Ok, let’s go:
1) Always create value.
Like it or not, in business, what's valued most is business results.
Your career progression is a direct byproduct of the value you create.
You don’t get rewarded for working hard. You get rewarded for making an impact.
Deliver outcomes that matter to the business. Understand what’s valued in your company. Tie everything you do to those results. Then—humbly—brag about them.
2) You are not owed anything.
Social media is full of entitled people.
"I worked really hard this past year. I deserve that promotion."
Yeah? So did Sally, Jose, Priya, and Mark. They can't all be promoted.
You don’t deserve advancement. You fight to keep your seat at the table by constantly proving yourself.
And when you get promoted, you haven’t “arrived.” You’ve just earned the right to prove yourself again.
3) Results beat being the nicest teammate.
A company was facing a round of layoffs as a result of a merger. Redundant roles had to be eliminated.
There were 2 PMs. One was liked by everyone. Nice guy. Always available. But a bit slow to execute. It took him over a month to develop a roadmap for his product.
The other was generally well liked, but had some areas of improvement in terms of her personal relationships.
But she had a clear roadmap, was delivering on her goals, and impacting customers and revenue.
When time came, the CEO/Founder chose to let him go instead of her.
“Great guy. Everyone liked him. It was a really tough decision to let him go.”
Her track record of results helped her win. With mentorship and coaching, her personal relationship skills improved as well.
I don’t mean you should be a jerk. Don’t be a jerk.
But when layoffs happen, companies don’t keep the “nicest” PM. They keep the PM who delivers results.
Don’t confuse being a good teammate with being endlessly available — answering every Slack ping, joining every sync, jumping into every initiative. That makes you a commodity. It dilutes your influence.
Be collaborative. Be professional. But never trade results for “being liked.”
4) Ignore FAANG, MAANG, and Silicon Valley noise.
Don’t waste energy worrying about what Silicon Valley VCs or entrepreneurs think product management should be.
Don’t waste energy worrying about what some head of product or Sr PM at FAANG / MAANG are declaring how they do product management.
Focus on how to 2–3x your impact where you are. Figure out what it takes to succeed in your local area.
Track the macro. Act for the micro.
5) Own your development.
Your employer is not responsible for your career. You are.
Corporate training programs are mostly retention tactics.
Find out what skills you need. Invest in them.
Find out what outcomes are valued. Prioritize them.
6) Know the game you're in.
Every company has dysfunction.
Your job isn’t to rant about it on LinkedIn. Your job is to understand how your organization really works — what’s valued, how decisions are made, who advances and why.
Then play to win that game.
If you don’t like it, you can:
Try to change it (hard).
Find a new game (easier).
Create your own (hardest).
7) Startup = limited work/life balance.
Startups sound sexy: innovation, disruption, stock options.
Reality: In a startup, growth comes first, second, and last. There’s no 9-5. No clear org chart. No well laid out career path.
Maybe you get a weekend off... unless the system goes down, a big customer is super upset, or you're in the midst of a major launch.
If you want stability and predictability, don’t join a startup.
If you want outsized impact and can thrive in chaos, lean in.
Startup life is different. It just is.
8) Big company ≠ job security.
Higher pay, better benefits, predictable career ladder, and free snacks don’t guarantee your job.
One bad quarter, and you can be cut — no matter your performance.
That’s why you need to keep growing your skills, building a resume of results, and nurturing your network while you’re employed. It’s much harder once you’re not.
9) Salesmanship is more valuable than intelligence.
You need to learn to sell:
Yourself.
Your work.
Your ideas.
Your vision.
Your value.
Your team.
The best PMs aren’t always the smartest. They’re the ones who know how to get to “yes.”
10) Promotions require impressing the right people.
Call it politics if you want, but promotions are made by humans.
Understand:
How promotion decisions are made
What skills and results are required
Who you need to impress.
Pro tip #1: It's not everyone.
Pro tip #2: It's always your boss. If you don't like your boss, get a new one.
11) Time is your most valuable asset.
When you're young, you have limited skills, networks, resources, or money.
Time is all you have to give.
So, trade your time for learning new skills, knowledge, experiences, networks, and impressing the right people.
As you get older and more experienced, optimize for impact, leadership, and nurturing relationships.
And always: spend more time in the market than in Jira or Slack.
12) Show energy and excellence in everything.
Top performers show up with energy for small tasks as much as big ones.
They don’t whine or blame. They move forward.
You don’t need passion. But you do need energy. Energy gets things done.
When you have energy for something, you figure it out. And you succeed.
If you're in the top 10%, you know it.
If you're not, find out why and fix it.
13) Extraordinary input drives extraordinary outcomes.
Bring:
Market and customer insights.
Actionable data.
Foresight and planning.
Bold strategies.
Relentless execution.
14) Be consistently reliable.
A mentor once told me: “You'll achieve much more by being consistently reliable than being occasionally extraordinary.”
People want to do business with people they can rely on. Reliability is a durable competitive advantage.
15) Be likable.
People want to work with people they like.
This doesn’t mean pleasing everyone. It means being pleasant, professional, empathetic, and solution-oriented.
It means your attitude and approach with people.
Said more plainly: don't be a jerk.
Being likable is a massive differentiator.
16) Build a reputation for figuring it out.
My most valuable employees were the ones to whom I could just toss a problem and they'd just figure it out.
Most expect their boss, manager, company to tell them what to do or provide direction.
The most valuable PMs don’t wait for someone to tell them what to do. They take ownership in ambiguity.
Don't ask for permission. Ask key questions, get it done.
People will fight over you.
17) Self-perception can be your biggest liability.
If your perception of your own value exceeds reality, you’ll stall.
Your lack of self-awareness and ego will cause you to constantly be chasing "more" — something that seems tantalizingly close, yet so very far.
Manage your own expectations carefully. Know your true value. If it's not to your liking, swallow your pride and get to work fixing it.
18) Know your market value.
Your value is what the market says it is. Not what you think it is.
Test the market regularly. If it values you more than your employer, you have leverage. If it doesn’t, reset your expectations and close the gap.
19) Live well below your means.
The ability to live well below your means is a huge advantage for achieving long-term financial stability.
Before seeking more pay, grow the gap between your income and expenses.
Live on a budget. Stick to it.
Not fun, but it works really, really well.
Have a joyful week, and, if you can, make it joyful for someone else too.
cheers,
shardul
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Shardul Mehta
I ❤️ product managers
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