Why Product Managers can make great CEOs

Before they became the CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) of Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, respectively, Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and Marissa Mayer had one thing in common: They all spent time as Product Managers.

I believe the Product Manager role demands a diverse range of hard and soft skills that make it a perfect stepping stone for the C-suite. Product managers need to be empathetic but also data-driven. They need to lead through influence, not merely authority. And they need to obsess about the customer.

A report by the consulting firm McKinsey explained that product management is emerging as the new training ground for future tech CEOs. Let’s look at why.

Product Managers know the data

Data dominates the corporate landscape like never before. It is used to guide decisions about marketing and branding, feature retention, release timelines, resource allocation and so much more. Today, there is barely a decision that is made in the senior levels of business that is done on instinct alone without reference to an ocean of data points that leaders use to make intelligent decisions.

In my opinion, no one knows data better than a Product Manager. They know how to acquire data through user testing. They know how to analyze data and deduce trends. They know how to communicate this data to different people in a clear and compelling manner. And they know how to use this data to drive decisions.

Product Managers know the customer

Companies fail when the CEOs (Chief Executive Officer) get bogged down in finding solutions and forget about the fundamental problem the company is trying to solve, and why. The result is that they build products the market doesn’t need, neglecting the customer and sabotaging their own bottom line.

Product Managers are both trained and selected for their ability to obsess about the customer, to merge data and empathy and to arrive at a complete picture of what the end user’s life looks like and what role their product serves in the real world. They focus on their team, revenue and customers – as does a good CEO.

Product Managers know how to lead

When you become a Product Manager, you are charged with leading a multidisciplinary team and held accountable for its success or failure. Yet you are not given the authority to pull rank and lead by decree. Instead, Product Managers learn to lead through influence and diplomacy.

Google Product Manager turned venture capitalist Ken Norton advises new Product Managers of the importance of building « political capital ». Product Managers need to foster strong relationships with engineers, designers, finance people, marketers, and more. All of these people work toward different KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), and sometimes their immediate needs may be in conflict. For example, an engineer wants a new feature, but the designer can’t accommodate it without taking funds away from the marketing department. Balancing all these various interests while sticking to your road map and shipping your product on time is a microcosm of the CEO role.

Today’s Product Managers are tomorrow’s leaders

I, too, am a current CEO and former Product Manager. This pathway used to be unusual, but it’s becoming an increasingly common sight. When I speak to CEOs of other firms today, I hear time and time again that their ability to perform in their role and inspire the confidence of their employees is, to a large degree, down to their previous experience as Product Managers.

If you are passionate about the customer, love data, and have a gift for empathy, then pursuing a career in product management may just carry you all the way to the top.