The essence of product management and building trust through competence and reference customers

Product management is a certificate of appreciation earned by solving problems so well that customers give something back.

The role is not about features or roadmaps but about delivering outcomes customers love and that work for the business.

Why: Trust and influence flow from demonstrated competence in understanding customers, data, industry, and business better than anyone else.

"the real essence of this job is that you wake up on behalf of someone else to solve a problem for them... you have to do it well enough that they give you something back in return"

People dislike product managers when they lack deep competence in customers, data, and business.

When PMs cannot answer value and viability questions better than others, teams revert to sales- or exec-driven decisions.

Why: Competence is the currency of influence; without it, PMs are seen as roadblocks rather than enablers.

"most people don't like product managers, often because they haven't experienced good product managers"

Accelerate competence by apprenticing under the most trusted, knowledgeable person in the company.

Ask to be taught or offer to help; this transfers their trust to you while you absorb tacit knowledge.

Why: Learning in public builds visible credibility faster than isolated study, and relationships compound trust.

"you're going to find the loudest, most influential person in your organization... and you're gonna ask them to teach you"

Value risk is the most important and most overlooked of the four product risks.

Teams given feature roadmaps skip the question of whether anyone will buy or choose the product.

Why: Without validated value, all other risks are irrelevant; the product is not worth building.

"value is probably, it is the most important and the most overlooked"

Create 6–8 B2B or 15–25 B2C reference customers who love the product enough to stake their reputation on it.

These early evangelists become living proof of product-market fit and ignite word-of-mouth adoption.

Why: Social proof lowers adoption friction; prospects trust peers more than marketing claims.

"the holy grail of product work is really a reference customer... somebody that has used your solution... loves it enough to tell people about it"

Get out of the building and stay with real customers until you solve their problem.

Pressure-cook discovery by living the customer’s environment, iterating live, and validating willingness to pay.

Why: Direct observation collapses assumptions and reveals true behavior versus stated preferences.

"if you truly, truly want to solve a problem, get out of your building... stick with them until you discover a solution"

A manager’s day job is coaching—getting people better at their craft every day.

Just as athletes practice daily under a coach, PMs need deliberate practice and feedback loops.

Why: Continuous improvement compounds team performance and retention; lack of coaching breeds mediocrity.

"getting better at product management is the manager's job, is the coach's job"

Assign new hires to shadow the most influential leader for a week to inherit trust and networks.

The leader becomes accountable for the newcomer’s success, accelerating relationships and credibility.

Why: Trust transfers socially; proximity to respected figures signals competence and opens doors.

"I take Lenny to the loudest, most influential person... I would love for you to teach him some things"