Product Management Without Direct Reports: Leading Through Influence

Want the full story? Listen to my complete interview with Kari Ostevik, where we discuss how teaching English in France shaped her leadership style and more.

Leading without authority - it’s the peculiar paradox at the heart of product management. You’re responsible for the product’s success, but unlike traditional managers, you often don’t have direct reports. Instead, you must guide cross-functional teams through influence rather than authority.

This challenge became crystal clear during my conversation with Kari Ostevik, a product leader who has guided teams at startups that have collectively raised over $500 million. Her journey from teaching English in France to leading product teams offers fascinating insights into the art of influence-based leadership.

As Kari shared with me, “When I start with a new team, I try to have one-on-ones with everyone… I just have to set the stage that we’re on the same team. I am a bit of an umbrella for you. I see part of my job as making sure that you can do your job.” This approach - focusing on service rather than authority - forms the foundation of effective product leadership.

Building Trust Through Mutual Respect

The journey to effective leadership often starts with understanding what doesn’t work. As Kari recounted from her teaching days in France, “I was like really nice to everyone and they just walked all over me. I had no control of this class so then I was super strict. And they were even worse like that.”

This experience taught her a fundamental truth about leadership: neither being overly nice nor strictly authoritarian creates the right dynamic. Instead, she discovered that “if we just had real mutual respect, and I listened, we got things done, we were on the same team.”

This principle translates directly to product management. When working with engineers, designers, and other stakeholders, establishing mutual respect creates a foundation for productive collaboration. It’s not about being the boss - it’s about being a trusted partner who can help the team achieve their collective goals.

The Art of Cross-functional Collaboration

Leading through influence requires mastering the art of bringing diverse perspectives together. One of Kari’s most effective tools is the structured workshop - but not just any workshop. “Some companies are really not used to working in like a working session sort of way,” she explains. “So it really is just the most senior, the loudest person in the room… those are the ideas that get pushed.”

To counter this, Kari employs specific techniques to ensure everyone’s voice is heard:

• Giving people dedicated heads-down time during meetings to leave comments
• Playing lo-fi music during individual work sessions
• Keeping meetings short and energy levels high
• Using tools like “Crazy Eights” for rapid ideation

As she puts it, “One of the things I’ve learned to really appreciate is giving people heads down time in a meeting to leave comments. If you send people documents, do they actually read it? Are they gonna read it on time?”

Data-Driven Decision Making (Without Being Data-Obsessed)

In today’s product landscape, data plays a crucial role in decision-making. However, Kari offers an important caveat: “I have worked one place where I felt like we were too data driven… when you’re so focused on certain metrics in certain time frames, I think you can be a little bit short-sighted and lose like the holistic prop of the product.”

This balanced approach to data involves:

• Using behavioral analytics tools like Pendo, Mixpanel, and Heap
• Conducting user interviews and watching sales calls
• Maintaining a strong product vision while validating with data
• Avoiding the trap of optimizing purely for metrics at the expense of user experience

Creating Alignment Across Teams

One of the most challenging aspects of product management is creating alignment across different departments, especially in sales-led organizations. “Often like, I feel like decisions are made by like who’s the loudest customer or even who’s the loudest,” Kari notes.

The solution? A combination of:

• Conducting proper user interviews
• Looking at available data
• Creating compelling narratives around feature priorities
• Working closely with sales and marketing teams on go-to-market strategy

Teaching as a Leadership Laboratory

Interestingly, some of the most valuable leadership lessons can come from unexpected places. Kari’s experience teaching English in France proved to be a perfect laboratory for developing leadership skills. The immediate feedback from students helped her understand the importance of finding the right balance between authority and collaboration.

This experience translates remarkably well to product management, where you’re constantly working to:

• Build mutual respect across teams
• Navigate different personalities and working styles
• Maintain control while fostering creativity
• Create an environment where everyone feels heard and valued

The Future of Product Leadership

As the role of product management continues to evolve, the ability to lead through influence becomes increasingly critical. “I think the role of a PM is shifting,” Kari observes, noting that modern product managers need to be adept at everything from evaluating build vs. buy decisions to facilitating cross-functional collaboration.

Success in this evolving landscape requires:

• Strong communication skills
• The ability to build trust across teams
• Data literacy combined with strategic vision
• Flexibility in leadership style based on team needs

Want to hear more insights from Kari Ostevik, including her thoughts on running effective product workshops and navigating sales-led organizations? Listen to the full interview here.