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Traditional wisdom over the last 20 years has advised PMs to 'Act like the CEO of your product'. While helpful, I feel this is flawed. You need to act like the Chief Product Officer (CPO). This will set you up for maximum success as a product leader.

In a guest post for Ethan Evans' LEVEL UP community, I talk about how your experience in a career changes as you transition from an individual contributor, to manager, to executive. Each level will reorient the direction you manage and get managed. https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/

While leading people and product, one thing separates people who do the job from people who lead. That is sharing your voice on product topics including your vision, your strategy, and your confidence. Sharing comes with criticism, and that only makes you better.

Attrition during COVID has been on the rise, causing managers to need to backfill more frequently. Though disruptive, attrition creates an opportunity for PM managers to build stronger, more diverse teams with some focus and creative search strategies.

Based on a long career in product management, these are 12 PM career traps to avoid. It's natural to learn and improve at PM over time, but it's better to sidestep the avoidable traps. This post covers role and product selection, working with coworkers and customers, and knowing what you do and don't own.

Moving into a PM managerial role means adding a new kind of product to your responsibilities. Your team is a product that you must build, grow, and maintain. Think about team profile and how each person is uniquely shaped to contribute to the whole as they grow.

Building first and hoping to make money later requires effort, time, and investment. As pursestrings tighten in a down economy, this business model may be on its way out.

If you like archeology you know that foundations and walls once built can last generations. Company culture is similar. The patterns laid down early can be long lived. Trust your gut when meeting new companies and potential managers.

When you're a PM, everything can look like a product, and a wedding is no exception. Defining your true stakeholders and customers is the key to building a product that will succeed. Fun as it is, not every problem can be reduced to a script. Also, one seldom misses what you don't tell them didn't show up.