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Managing Up: How Product Managers Can Influence Senior Leadership

Table of contents

  1. The Art of Leading Without Authority
  2. Building Your Case with Data
  3. The Workshop Approach to Alignment
  4. Balancing Vision with Validation
  5. Creating a Culture of Mutual Respect
  6. The Power of Cross-Functional Alignment
  7. Looking Forward: The Evolution of Product Management

Want the full story? Listen to my complete interview with Kari Ostevik, where we discuss how product managers can influence decisions without authority and more.

Managing up is one of those skills that nobody teaches you in school, but it can make or break your career as a product manager. After interviewing Kari Ostevik, who has led product teams at startups that have raised a combined $500 million, I’ve gained some fascinating insights into how successful PMs navigate the complex dynamics of influencing senior leadership.

Here’s the thing about managing up - it’s not about manipulation or playing politics. It’s about building mutual respect and creating alignment between your product vision and company goals. As Kari shared from her experience teaching English in France, “If we just had real mutual respect, and I listened, we got things done, we were on the same team.” This same principle applies whether you’re managing a classroom of unruly students or trying to influence your CEO’s product decisions.

The challenge for many product managers is that they’re often caught in a unique position of leading without direct authority. You need to guide decisions and influence strategy while technically not being anyone’s boss. But as we’ll explore, this constraint can actually become your superpower.

The Art of Leading Without Authority

Product managers occupy a fascinating space in most organizations - they’re responsible for product outcomes but often don’t have direct authority over the teams building those products. As Kari explains, “Product managers we’re always talking about how we’re leading without authority, and that is a tricky place to be in.”

This dynamic requires a different approach to leadership. Rather than relying on positional power, successful PMs build influence through expertise, relationships, and data-driven insights. “When I start with a new team, I try to have one on ones with everyone,” Kari shares. “I am a bit of an umbrella for you. Like I see part of my job as making sure that you can do your job.”

The key is establishing yourself as a trusted partner rather than just another stakeholder making demands. This means being clear about expectations, respecting others’ time, and ensuring every interaction has a purpose. As Kari notes, “If you’re gonna take people’s time, make sure that you have a plan for it and that there’s a clear outcome.”

Building Your Case with Data

One of the most powerful tools in managing up is the strategic use of data. In sales-led organizations, Kari notes that “decisions are made by like who’s the loudest customer or even who’s the loudest.” To counter this, product managers need to bring compelling evidence to the table.

This doesn’t mean drowning leadership in numbers. Instead, it’s about creating a narrative supported by data. “It is about like doing the groundwork, like doing proper user interviews, looking at whatever data you can have and creating a story,” Kari explains. She recommends leveraging multiple data sources:

The Workshop Approach to Alignment

Rather than trying to convince senior leadership through presentations alone, Kari advocates for a more collaborative approach through structured workshops. “I love working sessions,” she shares, “getting a cross functional team together to talk about what that prioritization should be.”

The key to successful workshops lies in their structure and execution. Here are some of Kari’s proven techniques:

Balancing Vision with Validation

When managing up, there’s a delicate balance between respecting leadership’s ideas and ensuring the right solutions are built. “I think most important thing is making sure they feel heard and you are excited about their suggestions,” Kari explains, “but also being clear about how you’re gonna do that work.”

This means approaching leadership suggestions with enthusiasm while maintaining your commitment to validation. As Kari puts it, “Often it’s getting an idea and having to validate it and then report back on that. Just being clear that like, yeah, like being excited and then going to do the work and bringing data back.”

Creating a Culture of Mutual Respect

Just as Kari learned in her teaching days, neither being overly nice nor extremely strict leads to the best outcomes. The sweet spot lies in establishing mutual respect and clear communication channels.

This applies equally to managing up. When working with senior leadership, focus on:

The Power of Cross-Functional Alignment

One often overlooked aspect of managing up is the importance of building alliances across different departments. “It’s really important to be working with those salespeople and marketing people so that we are all on the same page,” Kari emphasizes.

This cross-functional alignment serves multiple purposes:

Looking Forward: The Evolution of Product Management

The role of product management continues to evolve, particularly in how PMs interact with senior leadership. “I think the role of a PM is shifting towards more of your job is evaluating Build vs. Buy because there’s just so many more products than there were 10 years ago,” Kari observes.

This evolution means product managers need to be increasingly skilled at:

Want to hear more insights from Kari Ostevik, including her thoughts on product-led versus marketing-led growth and the future of product management? Listen to the full interview here.