TEI 217: 50% of what makes product managers successful that most are missing – with Paresh Shah

Learn how to go from “gear head” to “group head.” Two spheres of capabilities are needed for product managers to be successful. One is competency in the processes, practices, and tools of product management. That is where I spend much of my time helping product managers and teams. The other sphere is competency in what is often called the soft skills and aligned with leadership. It is this sphere that many people find more difficult to master, especially those of us from technical backgrounds. But, without these competencies, you are severely limiting your potential. My passion is inspiring and equipping product managers and leaders. To that end, this is one of the most important discussions we have had yet on this podcast. At one point in the discussion with our guest, my passion for helping you and other product managers came out in the form of a few tears. Hopefully, that will make sense when you hear it. My guest is Paresh Shah, who is pursuing his passion of helping engineers transform into innovators, intrapreneurs, and inspiring leaders. Paresh taps into his experience as a mechanical engineer, Harvard MBA, serial entrepreneur, leadership coach, and other roles to inspire you to future-proof your career, innovate more efficiently, and advance faster. Summary of some concepts discussed for product managers [3:02] Tell us about your program and how it came about. Product managers are the nexus in companies because they work at the intersection of many functions from engineering to marketing. As companies want to become innovators, one of the primary areas we advise CEOs to look to is product managers. Product managers are the least appreciated, most overworked, and most talented resources many companies have. Few people know what they do and they rarely have management authority over the people they’re expected to corral. They are the people who can create innovation and transform a company’s culture. [11:55] How do you help product managers become leaders? We have created the 7 7 7 leadership transformation model. The idea is to transform gear heads into group heads. Group heads are leaders in an organization, the people that others always go to for help, even if they don’t have direct reports. We help organizations solve four big problems every organization faces: disruption, employee motivation, customer trust, and alignment of purpose and social responsibility. Only 3 in 10 employees are motivated and engaged by their work. Group heads are the most motivated people and create an innovation environment around them. They also have a likability and a believability that resonates with customers and vendors. [17:15] What is a lifter leader? Lifters exhibit the mind shift of consequences and are attuned to authenticity. We help people get out of their own heads and develop empathy to listen to customers and authenticity and integrity to inspire people who work for us. In the future hopefully, we’ll be able to monitor these skills just like we can analytics on a dashboard. Lifters are ordinary leaders who elevate their customers, their coworkers, their community, and their companies in the process. We identify the 7 great strengths and the 7 blind spots that gear heads have, and deliver the 7 essential upgrades that are needed to go from gear head to group head. [23:12] What are the 7 great strengths? Gear heads are great at problem-solving, being detail-oriented, analysis, innovation, working independently, being action-oriented, and critical thinking. We love solving problems and getting into the weeds to figure out what’s going on. We like putting things together and seeing our products out there in the world making a difference, but we’re often not as skilled at working with people, who are much more variable than products and technology.