5 Practical Tips on Career Reinvention: Building a PM Portfolio Career

Welcome to the latest issue of the Product Management Learning Series - a series of live streaming events and newsletter articles to help you level up your product career! ??

In our 50th installment, our speaker was Raphael Leiteritz, a seasoned former Google Executive, leading products that served billions of users and generated billions in revenue. Raphael co-founded Peak Product (an advisory and recruiting firm) and the Product Management Festival in Zurich and Singapore, which boasts a community of over 20,000 members, helping organizations establish strong product practices and amplify individual PM impact. Raphael is the creator of the Product Management Executive program at INSEAD and serves as a personal coach and advisor to CPOs, Heads of Product, and other senior leads. Raphael has invested in over 200 startups, including 20+ unicorns.

If you missed the event, you can watch the full event recording here.?

Below are the main takeaways from the conversation I had with Raphael:

Raphael emphasizes hands-on experience in PM roles, valuing real-world application over theory, while advocating for unwavering commitment and proactive engagement for career success.

For those with a decade or more of experience in another field who want to pivot to PM, Raphael highlighted that while the PM function has matured and offers a promising career, it's a challenging role that requires hands-on experience. He emphasized the importance of gaining practical experience and suggested side projects or pro bono work to get a feel for the job. Reading books, while beneficial, cannot replace real-world application. The role demands delivering results, understanding product nuances, and navigating its inherent chaos. For those looking to transition into PM, Raphael advises diving in, gaining hands-on experience, and building credibility.

In pursuing a successful PM career, Raphael underscores the importance of unwavering commitment and the ability to consistently deliver results that make a tangible difference to the organization. He passionately advocates taking full ownership of one's role and responsibilities. This not only means embracing immediate tasks but also actively seeking out and capitalizing on opportunities that align with the company's objectives. Furthermore, Raphael believes in the value of direct engagement, suggesting that PMs should regularly communicate with customers, especially in a B2B context. Such interactions provide invaluable insights and can guide product direction.

To build empathy with executives, Raphael suggests PMs manage expectations, reframe discussions, and prioritize transparency over guaranteed outcomes.

Raphael delved into the challenges PMs face when explaining the intricacies of their role to those outside the product function. Reflecting on his time at Google, Raphael noted that many of his discussions moved from product-specific topics to wider business communications. Central to his advice is the need to manage expectations and articulate the unpredictable nature of PM effectively. Using the concept of product discovery as an illustrative point, he emphasized the risk of miscommunication when PMs delve into details that might appear overly exploratory to executives. To address this, Raphael suggests reframing the process transparently. This includes setting a clear innovation timeline, ensuring regular touchpoints, and prioritizing transparency over guaranteed outcomes. This strategy not only demystifies the PM process but also engages and values executives in the journey. Raphael's insights underscore the pivotal role of clear communication in bridging understanding gaps and synchronizing with overarching organizational objectives.

Raphael believes in empowering product managers, trusting their expertise, and avoiding micromanagement in his leadership approach.

Raphael's leadership approach emphasizes the balance between being deeply involved and empowering those he manages. Drawing from his experiences at Google, he noted that there's a tendency for senior leadership to be deeply entrenched in every detail. While this deep involvement has its benefits, such as ensuring a comprehensive understanding of complex issues, it also has its downsides. The significant time commitment can be overwhelming and can risk disempowering team members if they feel their decisions will always be questioned or overridden. Instead, Raphael champions a model where he entrusts product managers, viewing them as closer to the product and often more knowledgeable. He maintains a role in questioning and challenging, but his overarching aim is to cultivate a sense of ownership and expertise among his team. His perspective underscores the significance of trust and empowerment in effective leadership.

When it comes to building a portfolio career, Raphael emphasizes deep initial focus in one domain before diversifying to ensure meaningful growth and balanced fulfillment.

Raphael, reflecting on his 13-year journey at Google, highlighted the intense commitment and sacrifices demanded by such roles. Despite loving his position and climbing the corporate ladder, he eventually confronted the question of what he might be sacrificing in terms of personal life and well-being. This introspection led him to consider the value of diversifying his career. While still at Google, he began to explore other ventures, founding the Product Management Festival and engaging in angel investing. He emphasized the importance of these side projects not distracting from his main job but rather providing additional avenues for fulfillment. Raphael's transition to a portfolio career was a deliberate choice, made after achieving significant success in his primary role. He cautioned against pursuing a diversified career too early, suggesting young professionals should first immerse themselves deeply in one domain to maximize learning and growth. Once they've established a strong foundation, they can then consider branching out, ensuring that each venture complements the others, creating a harmonious career portfolio.

Raphael stresses balancing deep tech knowledge with a diverse investment approach, using the "right versus controversial" framework and recognizing the tech "hype cycle" to identify true trends.

Raphael underscores the crucial interplay between deep technological understanding and a diversified approach to idea generation in identifying genuine tech trends. He introduces a compelling framework often used by investors, emphasizing the intersection of being "right" and being "controversial." Simply following a mainstream or uncontroversial idea may not yield significant benefits since such paths are often well-trodden. The real opportunity lies in pursuing ideas that are both right and defy conventional wisdom.

Raphael emphasizes the importance of striking a balance between diving deep into technology and maintaining a diversified portfolio of ideas. Reading extensively and connecting diverse areas of knowledge, such as the intersection of economics and neuroscience, can provide unique insights. It's about pushing oneself to understand technology at a deeper level than the average person. Raphael notes the existence of the "hype cycle" in technology, where new trends are overhyped, then experience disillusionment before potentially becoming impactful. Being aware of this cycle, avoiding over-investment in early-stage hypes, and revisiting mature ideas can help differentiate between fleeting trends and substantial technological shifts.

Additional Gems from Raphael:

?? The Apple TV is Raphael’s current favorite product. ?

?? Google Earth founders, John Hanke and Brian McClendon, had a profound impact in Raphael’s product career.?

?? Raphael advises early-career individuals to prioritize joining high-growth companies and finding supportive managers over optimizing for factors like location or salary. Such environments offer immense growth opportunities and valuable feedback for dedicated professionals.?

?? If you want to learn more from Raphael and other product leaders, join this year’s Product Management Festival! Unite with over 1,000 talents in Zürich to learn from industry titans, elevate your skills, and transform your products and teams. Don't miss out! Learn more here.

Next up, join us for an insightful conversation with Sami Ghoche hoche, CTO & co-founder of Forethought ought, a leading generative AI company revolutionizing customer service automation. In this special series, we'll explore the origin story of Forethought, the challenges and successes of gen AI product development, and perspectives on market differentiation, ethical considerations in AI, and vision for the future of generative AI in customer service.?

?? RSVP here (Replay available upon registration)

Next up,

• Sep 27: Building the Future of Customer Service: Forethought Spotlight
• Oct 4: Text to Video: Future of Generative AI with Synthesia's Head of Product
• Oct 13:? Pioneering the Future of Generative Productivity: Copy.ai Spotlight
• Oct 20: Generative AI in Microsoft Teams & Nonobvious Career Insights?

More sessions coming… subscribe to stay tuned!?

Learn more about the Product Management Learning Series and view past recordings here.