Product Managers Are Not “CEOs of the Product”

The first introduction that most people have to the role of a Product Manager is through the description of them acting as “CEOs of the product”. This phrase has been circulating for decades, and couldn’t be further from the truth.

First, and perhaps most importantly for anyone considering entering into the field of product management, while a CEO has ultimate say over all parts of a company, a product manager has nearly no direct, hard power or control. This is really, really important and, frankly, should be mentioned in every product management job interview because any individual that is actively pursuing a role where they can dictate and own all decisions is uniquely poorly suited for the role. While PMs are certainly the most central figure in the launch and maintenance of a product, the reality is that there are a dozen different roles that actually have ownership over the specific details of features.

Focusing on the fintech industry, if you were hired to be a Product Manager for the launch of a new credit card, you may undergo customer research and determine that the highest priority for their customer is a low interest rate (shockingly, this actually is *not* true). This is something that is important for you to remember and cater to, but remember:

• The credit/ underwriting team determines the credit ranges and interest rates that the card will cater to
• The marketing team will determine the market positioning and tactics for who the company will be targeting
• The design team will be creating the visuals and experience of the card and payment portal
• The engineers will be physically creating the products within the specs that the design team determine
• The finance team will be determining how many designers, engineers, product managers, etc will be associated with the initiative, as well as the P/L goals and targets
• The partnerships team will be determining the specific partners associated with the card, including the potential rewards that can be unlocked
• etc, etc, etc

The role of the Product Manager is important, not because they are responsible for telling all of these teams what they are supposed to do, but because they are responsible for *influencing* these teams through generalist knowledge, good communication and a commitment to the customer. If your user research has shown that interest rate is the most important thing to the customer, then it is your job to influence each of these different groups to care about that. If a PM’s job consisted of making declarations to these teams of what they need to solve, then the job would not only be far easier, but the product would actually be far, far worse.

Which brings me to the second point about why this should be clarified in the job interview: Not only are PMs that are under this impression going to be disappointed when they start on their job, they are also displaying a dangerous combination of arrogance and ignorance.

A PM that is under the impression that he can do the job of marketing, design, research, credit, finance, etc better than they can is not somebody that will bring value to a team. One of the greatest joys of product management is never being the smartest person in any room. In nearly all of your meetings, you should be interacting with people with specializations far, far beyond your own. The sign of a great PM is not whether they can outsmart these individuals (how on Earth can they do that?) but if they can harness that expertise and align on a vision of goals.

In summary, the “Product Managers are the CEO of the Product” phrase is one that has overstayed its welcome. It is not only incorrect, but is setting up new PMs to be disappointed in the realities of their role, and potentially attracts “mercenary” type applicants instead of collaborative “missionaries”.