From recent mentoring session, "I want to advance my #prodmgmt career and step away from individual contribution but am not sure how to do it in my current company". The eternal challenge! For me it's not (just) about job titles, but proximity to strategic decision making 🧵
If you have ambitions to be a product leader (and let's assume you know what types of thing that involves & have identified it's where you want to be) in your current company you have to ask yourself ... what's my path in this current company?
Job titles don't matter (idealistically) but job titles also really matter (in the real world). Who's in front of you? If you have a Senior PM then a Head then a VP then a CPO then, hey, there's a path but all the places are filled. You're probably in for a wait!
And that's fine, you'll be learning stuff along the way. But then it comes down to timescale. When do you want to be where you want to be? Let's get realistic. Map out your next 18 months - what does success look like for you at the end of those 18 months?
Then you have to have an open conversation with your boss & work out where they're expecting you to be in 18 months, and whether they seen any need for you to be in that position. Be open, honest but firm - you are in charge of your own career after all
But you have to have the conversation. A wise man once told me never to assume other people are thinking about your career as much as you are. And they're not. You need to identify the golden path for you to get where you want & see if that path actually exists.
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