Perspectives from an unconventional CPO – Yuelin Li (CPO, Onfido)

In the closing keynote session of the Pendomonium + #mtpcon London roadshow, Yuelin Li, CPO at Onfido, shared key lessons from her unconventional journey to becoming a CPO. Watch the video in full or read on for key insights from her session.

Yuelin explained that having a meandering career means maintaining a curious growth mindset. Not being afraid to ask questions and being content with not knowing everything provided her with the toolkit for a new CPO role at a growth-stage scale-up.

There are different types of CPO roles, she says. The top skills for a growth-stage CPO are:

• Strategic vision
• Financial skills
• Leadership and communication
• Managing external stakeholders

Literacy vs reality

Yuelin joined Onfido during an economic downturn and said that despite taking courses and consuming all the product literature about managing growth during a downturn, the reality was different. She had to focus on retention, existing clients, and increasing customer demands, with fewer resources."There are fewer resources on both sides," Yuelin said.

While product teams often sit between external and internal stakeholders, Yuelin explained how it’s never been more critical for product teams to sit at this intersection.

“Being relevant is amazing, it’s hard, but amazing,” she said.

Being intentional

Yuelin noted that balancing the needs of the executive team with doing what’s right for the business while also motivating and inspiring the product team is very challenging and rewarding.

Yuelin stressed the complexity of the CPO role. "A typical day is high stakes all day," she said.

The sheer volume of content can be overwhelming. “To be the product person I wanted to be, I had to be much more intentional with how I operated my day,” she said. “I needed to understand my energy, my weaknesses, and how I operate.”

Choosing to show up with intention requires working on three areas, Yuelin explained:

• Manage energy
  • Sleep well
  • Manage your calendar
  • Carve out time for reflection
• Mitigate weaknesses
  • Understand your weaknesses
  • Discuss them with others
  • Actively create systems to mitigate them with your team
• Delegate and empower
  • Delegating is a leadership superpower
  • Trust and empower
  • Get out of the way!

The evolving role of product

The craft of product management is growing, Yuelin said. More CPOs are in Fortune 1000 companies, 70% manage a P&L, and CPOs are owning the AI agenda.

She said product is becoming more prevalent in functions such as marketing, sales, technology, and finance. Product people need to collaborate with these functions to drive product success within the business. It means product teams must embrace new knowledge, responsibilities, technologies and ways of working.

Finally, Yuelin elaborated on the power of an unconventional career. It encourages continuous learning, seeing other perspectives, and embracing change, she said.

“The CPO role offers a unique opportunity to have a squiggly career before and as a jumping-off point for wherever you want to go after,” Yuelin said. “We can define what the role looks like and where it’s going. Which is scary but exciting.”

Yuelin left with some parting advice for CPOs of all types:

• Understand the reality of what you’re operating in
• Be an intentional leader
• Stay open-minded and curious about the future

Read the full recap of our day in Amsterdam on the Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow