Product managers — you are not the CEO of anything "Product people - Product managers, product designers, UX designers, UX researchers, Business analysts, developers, makers & entrepreneurs 21 December 2021 False Leadership, Product leadership, Mind the Product Mind the Product Ltd 1136 Woman,Shows,The,Direction,Of,The,Crowd,,3d,Illustration Product Management 4.544
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Product managers — you are not the CEO of anything

When Ben Horowitz wrote his groundbreaking memo good product manager, bad product manager nearly 20 years ago he described a product manager as the CEO of the product. While this has gotten a lot of people excited about the job I couldn’t disagree more. Unless you’re the founder and the product manager at the same time, you are not the CEO of anything. In this post, I’ll explain why.

While you could argue that a product manager is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of a product in much the same way the CEO is ultimately responsible for the success of the business, even that similarity is a stretch. A product manager ultimately has a CEO behind them somewhere, and can always pass the buck. Now, most product managers don’t pass the buck, and this ownership of the problem and willingness to make the hard decisions is where a product manager gets closest to being a CEO. However, there is a massive difference between having someone behind you or actually having the final say.

Where the two roles differ completely is in authority. Product managers simply don’t have any direct authority over most of the things needed to make their products successful — from user and data research through design and development to marketing, sales, and support. Even today’s most senior product leaders only have hiring and firing control over their direct reports — other product managers. Does that sound like any CEO you know?

Watch this Fireside chat on Interpreting the product Venn Diagram with Matt LeMay and Martin Eriksson where the role of a product manager is discussed in depth. 

A CEO, on the other hand, stands truly alone, with ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of not just the company but every product in it. The CEO also controls all the resources of the company — with hiring and firing prerogatives across the company and having a final say on the budget. Does that sound like any product manager you know?

Not just semantics

This may seem like mere semantics but the distinction is important. Too many product managers I meet buy into this trope of CEO-of-the-product and believe their role is to act as an authoritarian CEO, often with disastrous results. These product managers tend to believe they have all the answers, that they produce the best solutions and designs, and that their teams should just do what they’re told. They’re mini-CEOs after all!

Lead, don’t command

Truly successful product leaders instead embrace their lack of authority. Instead, they lead their teams and the wider company through communication, vision, and influence. Product managers focus on collaborating across the company, bringing together the best people to move the product forward, and setting those teams free to execute on their product vision.

In Daniel Pink’s book To Sell is Human, he refers to this skill as the ability to “move” people from one mindset to another. Successful product managers and leaders spend a significant portion of their time engaged in these ‘moving’ activities. They bring everyone together around a shared understanding of the customer problem so that everyone can be involved in helping solve it to further the business goals.

Product management is a team sport after all, and the best teams don’t have bosses – they have coaches who ensure all the skills and experiences needed are present on the team, that everyone is in the right place, knows where the goal is, and then gets out of the way and lets the team do what they do best in order to reach that goal.

Read this post on Building extraordinary product teams by Federico Iglesias

Youre-not-the-boss-of-me-GIF

As Ken Norton, Product Partner at GV, says in my upcoming book Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Great Products and Build Successful Teams, “When you’re a product manager, you’re generally not the boss. You need to gain authority through your actions and your leadership skills, not your role.”

Most of the product leaders we interviewed for the book echoed sentiments like this. “A lot of people say the product manager is like the CEO or the captain of the ship — I don’t really think of it that way. When you describe things like that, it makes it seem as though you’re making all the decisions or driving how everything works together, and you’re not,” adds Mina Radhakrishnan, the first Head of Product at Uber.

Watch this AMA session with Mina Radhakrishnan

You are not the CEO

You are not the CEO of your product, you are not Steve Jobs, you are not a lone genius designing a product from your ivory tower. Never forget that as a product leader you are only as good as your team. Setting them up for success and giving them the space and air cover to do their best is ultimately how you and your product will be successful.

Just because you can pass the buck to someone higher up the chain of command, it doesn’t mean you should. You should live and die by your product’s success and failure, because giving it your all is important whether you’re the CEO or not.

But one day…

“I think actually product leaders, not surprisingly, are often seen as great potential candidates for the CEO or COO when they get further on in their career. That’s because at an executive level, all the product management attributes are relevant. As a product manager, you’re focused on the money, the users, the data, and on the future” says Tanya Cordrey, Non-Executive Director & Digital Adviser at the ‎Schibsted Media Group.

So while you may not be the CEO of anything right now, the funny thing is Product Leaders make for great CEOs. Some CEOs could maybe even do with acting more like Product Leaders. All those skills of leading without authority, moving mindsets, and setting your team up for success are what define great CEOs too. If you want that title, keep working on those skills and who knows where you might end up!


Product Leadership BookEnjoy what you’ve read? Good, because there’s an entire book full of this stuff!

I’ve been working with two masters of product Richard Banfield and Nate Walkingshaw on writing a book that all product professionals can benefit from. Partly out of curiosity and on the back of our own experience, we’ve interviewed almost one hundred product leaders. Their insights and experiences will open up the conversation and take the lid off the mystery of great product leadership.

The Product Leadership book is being published by O’Reilly and will be out on shelves in May 2017 but you can pre-order the book on Amazon today!

You can follow us at @rmbanfield, @bfgmartin, and @nwalkingshaw.

Comments 18

I believed I was the CEO of my product for a minute, then I woke up ;-). There are overlaps sure as were mentioned in the comments, but the moniker leaves too much ambiguity to be helpful and can be easily misconstrued. Are there attributes of a CEO that a PM should try to emulate? Yes. A good PM should be concerned with everything that is necessary to make their product successful. In the same way a CEO should be concerned with everything that is necessary to make the company successful. The accountability and authority for making that happen is where the buck stops.

The flipside of the PM=CEO argument is interesting: CEO=PM. Can you view the CEO as the Product Manager of the company?

I doubt many CEOs take this perspective, but there are so very many correspondences between the two roles.

For what it’s worth, I’ve found the PM=CEO guidance to be most helpful with PMs that take little ownership of their products and focus only on particular functions within product management. It’s really the only time it’s ever come up.

All that you are saying is that you encounter douches who think that it’s a CEO’s role to engage in authoritarian practices and order minions around. This is an outdated mentality for CEOs and indicative of a CEO who will not be successful. However, it does not contradict the statement that a PM is the CEO of the product. One can be a CEO and have empathy and be in the trenches with his/her team and listening rather than delegating orders. And if these character traits are emphasized, there seems to be no issue saying the PM is the CEO of the product. Therefore the case can still be made for that description of the PM’s role.

An actual conversation, circa 1999:

My New Boss: I’m reorganizing the team. Tell me what you do.
Me: Well, I set strategic product direction, coordinate what’s in each release, determine the business requirements and confirm that the final product will meet customers’ needs.
MNB: Oh, you’ll be the Product Manager.
Me: What’s a Product Manager?
MNB: Well, you’re in charge of everything about the product–what it does, whether or not customers like it, and whether or not it makes money.
Me: Wow! So how many people will work for me?
MNB: No one.
Me: That job would suck.

Thankfully, it didn’t suck. It still doesn’t. But I completely agree that the “CEO of the Product” metaphor is a real stretch. The role is more like a UN Ambassador who’s a member of the Security Council: Your job is to get a diverse group of people with completely different agendas to somehow join together to do what you need them to do. Maybe we should tout a new “UN Ambassador of Product” meme to see if it catches on?

Great post and very true! I agree with the paragraph that starts with “Where the two roles differ completely is in authority.” as the first line. Product Leaders are more like the captain of a team. You get things done by leading and making the team, who generally does not report to you, do what it takes to make your product successful.

I understand how this analogy can be misconstrued from an authoritative perspective, but I actually found it very useful in understanding my role as I was transitioning a few years back.

To address your primary concern about using this comparison to abuse authority, I get how that could be confusing if you take this analogy EXTREMELY literally. But if a potential PM is thinking “Wow, CEO of the product! That means I get to hire and fire, control all of the money and make decisions in isolation right?” That person probably needs to take a business fundamentals course before taking on any PM role anyway, as those are not the primary responsibilities of a CEO.

So how would you describe the job of a CEO? Personally, I think of it as something along the lines of.. “The CEO is responsible for leading the development and execution of the company’s long term strategy with the goal of maximizing shareholder value, as their primary liason.” Phrased that way, does that remind you of another role at a product based company? Substitute product for company and stakeholders for shareholders and this could be the first line in a generic job description of a PM.

Yes, CEOs can do things PMs can’t like hire and fire and control the budget, but those responsibilities are a means to an end, not the primary goals of the role themselves. The point of this analogy is, “the primary responsibility of the CEO to the company is very similar to the primary responsibility of the PM to the product.”

Like any analogy, if you take it too far, it breaks down pretty quickly. But just like any good analogy, it is an easy way to grasp a new concept at a high level. I respect the intent of your post, but I have never seen the risks / downsides of using this particular analogy materialize as you have warned, and personally found it useful when I was seeking to understand the profession.

“Too many product managers I meet buy into this trope of CEO-of-the-product and believe their role is to act like an authoritarian CEO, often with disastrous results. These product managers tend to believe they have all the answers, that they produce the best solutions and designs, and that their teams should just do what they’re told.”

This is not healthy behavior for a CEO either.

hahaha – I’ve always thought of product managers as being the “CEO of the product” except without any authority! So the game is to influence – again, without any of the authority. It doesn’t take long to find out otherwise if you have any misconception.
CEO’s have told me also it’s much better to use influence rather than authority in that position, since no one is motivated much when they’re told what to do.

Sometimes I wish I never even used that expression because it’s become so incredibly blown out of proportion. The post has a more accurate slant on the idea, yet, there are a couple of points that I’d like to make:

1. My 20+ years of benchmark research with leaders of larger, more complex companies asserts that product managers who think like a general manager or a CEO tend to do a better job at leading, influencing, strategizing, and a host of other competencies.
2. The research also finds that less than 10% of product managers fit the bill for this product manager.
3. Many leaders are frustrated that product managers are too tactical – that they do pieces of work without fully understanding the big picture. CEO’s and GMs always have the big picture in mind when cultivating their vision and strategy.
4. Many product managers don’t really pay attention to the numbers (financials) and other KPIs. This means more of them are making decisions without the proper context.

Look at product success – or more – business case success rates. Still hovering in the 25% range after decades.

So I’d like to put something out there. Take a hint from successful CEOs and GMs. What makes them successful? Then – think about your success as a product manager.. and the actions you take.. and the outcomes you produce.

Don’t get caught up in terminology. Get the job done, deliver the goods, and you’ll make your way to the C-suite.

Steven Haines
Author, The Product Manager’s Desk Reference

Well, it’s not always about PMs that think, they are a CEO of product. Sometimes the CEO advertises the position in such way, then suddenly he tells you “I’m not giving you budget for this”. And many times sales people sell your product under the price you have calculated to be profitable. It’s very sad, but it happens in many companies. The only way to be sure that you are CEO of your product is to leave and ground your own company around your product.

Excellent post Martin. I’m glad more people are joining in debunking the myth of the “CEO of the Product” or even “mini-CEO” (what does that even mean?).

I am convinced that this analogy is very harmful to our profession because it gives aspiring PMs the wrong idea of what the job really is about. I also wrote about it some time ago. Thanks for keeping the conversation going.
https://techproductmanagement.com/ceo_of_the_product/

I offer a different view. We all learned that successful products come from listening to users needs, fitting, scaling, and shaping our companies back from this. So far, the product turned to be the business model, not the software. Because only considering marketing channels, revenue streams, op activities, together with the value proposition that continuously morphs into our software, we can serve a sustainable innovation to users and customers. And oh yeah, this is being a mini-CEO for the product, and Ben is still up date.

People who have little to no experience being a product manager are easily misled by the ‘mini-CEO’ moniker. That is why many of us dislike the title.

Ben cautions “Warning: This document was written 15 years ago and is probably not relevant for today’s product managers.”

But we know that understates the document’s current relevance. I don’t think Martin was putting Ben’s document on trial here, but I side with his caution against using the mini-CEO title. It isn’t necessary and isn’t useful.

Aspiring product managers will be better prepared for the role if they pay more attention to the skills and techniques the job requires and less attention to a potentially misleading title. I personally wish I’d never come across it when I was learning the role.

Thanks for the great article Martin!

Yes, if only Product Management could be ‘simply’ defined or ‘boxed’. I think there is a really important point here about Leadership and what a good leader is and I have just started reading a book called Legacy by James Kerr. It’s less about companies but how the All Blacks rugby team worked to achieve world domination in Rugby. Haven’t finished it yet but I have found all the Product Management books are quite similar. So a nice change basically.

As a final point, there are sometimes where command is necessary, hence the need for Product Managers with high levels of emotional intelligence to be able to identify this and use the whole artillery of skills appropriately.

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About the author

When Ben Horowitz wrote his groundbreaking memo good product manager, bad product manager nearly 20 years ago he described a product manager as the CEO of the product. While this has gotten a lot of people excited about the job I couldn’t disagree more. Unless you’re the founder and the product manager at the same time, you are not the CEO of anything. In this post, I'll explain why. While you could argue that a product manager is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of a product in much the same way the CEO is ultimately responsible for the success of the business, even that similarity is a stretch. A product manager ultimately has a CEO behind them somewhere, and can always pass the buck. Now, most product managers don’t pass the buck, and this ownership of the problem and willingness to make the hard decisions is where a product manager gets closest to being a CEO. However, there is a massive difference between having someone behind you or actually having the final say. Where the two roles differ completely is in authority. Product managers simply don’t have any direct authority over most of the things needed to make their products successful — from user and data research through design and development to marketing, sales, and support. Even today’s most senior product leaders only have hiring and firing control over their direct reports — other product managers. Does that sound like any CEO you know?

Watch this Fireside chat on Interpreting the product Venn Diagram with Matt LeMay and Martin Eriksson where the role of a product manager is discussed in depth. 

A CEO, on the other hand, stands truly alone, with ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of not just the company but every product in it. The CEO also controls all the resources of the company — with hiring and firing prerogatives across the company and having a final say on the budget. Does that sound like any product manager you know?

Not just semantics

This may seem like mere semantics but the distinction is important. Too many product managers I meet buy into this trope of CEO-of-the-product and believe their role is to act as an authoritarian CEO, often with disastrous results. These product managers tend to believe they have all the answers, that they produce the best solutions and designs, and that their teams should just do what they’re told. They’re mini-CEOs after all!

Lead, don’t command

Truly successful product leaders instead embrace their lack of authority. Instead, they lead their teams and the wider company through communication, vision, and influence. Product managers focus on collaborating across the company, bringing together the best people to move the product forward, and setting those teams free to execute on their product vision. In Daniel Pink’s book To Sell is Human, he refers to this skill as the ability to “move” people from one mindset to another. Successful product managers and leaders spend a significant portion of their time engaged in these ‘moving’ activities. They bring everyone together around a shared understanding of the customer problem so that everyone can be involved in helping solve it to further the business goals. Product management is a team sport after all, and the best teams don’t have bosses - they have coaches who ensure all the skills and experiences needed are present on the team, that everyone is in the right place, knows where the goal is, and then gets out of the way and lets the team do what they do best in order to reach that goal.

Read this post on Building extraordinary product teams by Federico Iglesias

Youre-not-the-boss-of-me-GIF As Ken Norton, Product Partner at GV, says in my upcoming book Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Great Products and Build Successful Teams, “When you’re a product manager, you’re generally not the boss. You need to gain authority through your actions and your leadership skills, not your role.” Most of the product leaders we interviewed for the book echoed sentiments like this. “A lot of people say the product manager is like the CEO or the captain of the ship — I don't really think of it that way. When you describe things like that, it makes it seem as though you're making all the decisions or driving how everything works together, and you’re not,” adds Mina Radhakrishnan, the first Head of Product at Uber.

Watch this AMA session with Mina Radhakrishnan

You are not the CEO

You are not the CEO of your product, you are not Steve Jobs, you are not a lone genius designing a product from your ivory tower. Never forget that as a product leader you are only as good as your team. Setting them up for success and giving them the space and air cover to do their best is ultimately how you and your product will be successful. Just because you can pass the buck to someone higher up the chain of command, it doesn’t mean you should. You should live and die by your product’s success and failure, because giving it your all is important whether you’re the CEO or not.

But one day...

"I think actually product leaders, not surprisingly, are often seen as great potential candidates for the CEO or COO when they get further on in their career. That's because at an executive level, all the product management attributes are relevant. As a product manager, you're focused on the money, the users, the data, and on the future" says Tanya Cordrey, Non-Executive Director & Digital Adviser at the ‎Schibsted Media Group. So while you may not be the CEO of anything right now, the funny thing is Product Leaders make for great CEOs. Some CEOs could maybe even do with acting more like Product Leaders. All those skills of leading without authority, moving mindsets, and setting your team up for success are what define great CEOs too. If you want that title, keep working on those skills and who knows where you might end up!
Product Leadership BookEnjoy what you’ve read? Good, because there’s an entire book full of this stuff! I’ve been working with two masters of product Richard Banfield and Nate Walkingshaw on writing a book that all product professionals can benefit from. Partly out of curiosity and on the back of our own experience, we’ve interviewed almost one hundred product leaders. Their insights and experiences will open up the conversation and take the lid off the mystery of great product leadership. The Product Leadership book is being published by O'Reilly and will be out on shelves in May 2017 but you can pre-order the book on Amazon today! You can follow us at @rmbanfield, @bfgmartin, and @nwalkingshaw.