There is no 'I' in Product Management

One of the best pieces of constructive feedback I got very early in my career was to eradicated 'I' from my vocabulary and to replace it with 'we'.

While speaking with clients, I had developed the bad habit of speaking in the first person regarding thoughts and decisions that the team I was on had made together. 'I think it would best if we took direction X with regards to the UX,' or, 'I'll make sure that Y gets prioritized and done'.

This habit made me look unprofessional at best, and egotistical at worst. The part that bugs me the most was that I was doing it subconsciously, and didn't realize just how much I had been doing it until it was pointed out to me during a performance review session.

The most interesting outcome that has emerged from my effort to undo this habit over time is that I also have come to think differently overall about my role as a Product Manager. My job isn't to tell the team what to do or to be the one who comes up with all the ideas, rather it's to help the team achieve consensus on what to do in a way where everyone is bought-in to the problem we’re trying to solve for and are invested into the direction that we've elected to go.

Leading through persuasion is a tricky skill to master, but the benefits of doing so mean that the outcomes of your work will be that much stronger given that it was reached through the orchestrated efforts of a cross-functional team, rather than from one person's limited skillset and perspective.

Ultimately, A product manager is nothing without their team and, by definition, cannot act alone.