Product managers often lack formal control over engineering, design, sales, and marketing. Influence — built through credibility, relationships, clarity, and collaborative processes — is the practical skill that produces commitment and outcomes.
Influence is the primary leadership skill for product managers who lack formal authority.
Influence happens before public meetings: individual conversations, early feedback, and relationship work shape outcomes.
That logic seems reasonable until you look closely at how modern organizations actually operate. The most effective product managers often have no direct authority over the people they depend on most. Even senior product leaders frequently find themselves responsible for outcomes without possessing formal control over the teams required to achieve them.
The challenge is that they often compete for attention, resources, and investment. The second product manager brings stakeholders into the conversation earlier, incorporates feedback, surfaces concerns, and creates shared ownership throughout the process. They are shaped by incentives, experiences, risk tolerance, and organizational priorities.
A CEO has influence because of their position. A manager has influence because they control resources. An executive has influence because they make decisions.
Influence without authority Every firm draws the line differently. Some administrators run their operation with real autonomy, budget, hiring, the works. Meanwhile, others are stuck somewhere I call “influence without authority,” where you carry the responsibility but not the title to match it. Most of us land somewher
<p>A conversation with author and entrepreneur Pamela Meyer on five ways executives can indirectly assert themselves.</p>
Yesterday’s #MakeYaMove Monday Kickoff Question asked, “Who is your influence — and why?” I explained that most of us can easily identify… Continue reading on Medium »
CEO Expectations From Product Leaders Author: Akansha Chauhan – Product Marketer Most product leaders spend years mastering a single discipline: understanding customers. They become skilled at identifying unmet needs, prioritizing opportunities, balancing tradeoffs, and guiding teams toward better products. Those capab
Business Storytelling for Product Managers Author: Akansha Chauhan – Product Marketer A product manager can walk into a meeting with customer interviews, product analytics, research findings, and a carefully prioritised roadmap, and still struggle to get everyone on the same page. The problem is not always the quality
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.