How Storytelling Can Catapult Early Stage Product Managers to Success
Tips for early stage PMs on how to leverage storytelling in different contexts and get better with it
Hello Hello 👋
If you’re new here, I write about everything product management, be it hiring and interviewing, developing essential skills, and navigating the twists and turns of a PM career. Drawing from my experience, I offer practical insights and valuable tips to help you succeed in this dynamic and exciting role. Don't miss a beat - subscribe to my newsletter today and never miss a single post!
In my ~5 years as a Product Manager, one piece of feedback that I have received time and again from my mentors, peers, and well-wishers is: improve your storytelling, and everything else will fall into place. And over the period of time, it's become clear to me that mastering this skill is the quickest route to growth in this role. I'm deeply grateful to those who have offered me this guidance and helped me along my journey of creating awesome products! 🙏🏻
And here are some quotes from seasoned industry professionals who would agree on the importance of storytelling for product managers:
"Great products are built on great stories. As a product manager, you need to be a great storyteller to create products that resonate with your customers." - Nir Eyal, author of "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products"
"Storytelling is a critical skill for product managers. It helps you connect with customers, build empathy, and communicate complex ideas in a way that resonates with your audience." - Ken Norton, Product Partner at Google Ventures
"Storytelling is the key to product success. It helps you create a compelling vision for your product, build alignment across stakeholders, and ultimately deliver products that your customers love." - Marty Cagan, author of "Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love"
Let’s start with the basics first: What constitutes a good story?
A clear and compelling plot: A good story has a clear and engaging plot that keeps the reader or listener interested.
Relatable characters: Characters that are well-developed, relatable, and have clear motivations are essential to a good story.
Emotional resonance: A good story should evoke emotions in the reader or listener, whether it's joy, sadness, fear, or excitement.
Conflict and tension: A story should have some level of conflict or tension to keep the audience engaged.
Resolution: A good story has a satisfying resolution that ties up loose ends and provides a sense of closure.
Authenticity: A good story should feel authentic and true to life, even if it's a work of fiction.
Relevance: A good story should be relevant to the audience, whether addressing a common struggle or illuminating an important issue.
Now, how can a product manager leverage good storytelling? 🛠️
Influencing decision-making: Use storytelling to influence decision-making by presenting data in a way that resonates with stakeholders, and by using narratives that demonstrate the potential impact of different options.
Selling new product ideas: When selling your product ideas to leadership and investors, don't bore them with a lengthy slide deck - instead, use storytelling to craft a captivating narrative that highlights the pain points, showcases your solution, and delivers the wow factor.
Evangelizing product vision and strategy: To communicate product vision and roadmaps to different audiences, storytelling can create a clear and compelling narrative that resonates with each audience's unique perspective.
Delivering customer and business insights internally: Elevate your stakeholder meetings from dry data dumps to captivating storytelling sessions by weaving in real-life customer stories and anecdotes. Let your insights come to life and leave a lasting impact.
Saying no: PMs often have to make tough decisions and say no to certain ideas or requests. However, saying no can sometimes damage relationships with stakeholders. An effective story can provide a compelling and empathetic explanation for their decision-making process. By providing context and demonstrating the impact of the decision, PMs can not only maintain relationships but also build trust and credibility with stakeholders.
Fostering collaboration and driving alignment: Connecting team members to the bigger picture and highlighting shared goals and values, a good story can create a sense of ownership and motivation.
Navigating hard conversations: Delivering bad news to the team or providing feedback to an individual, can be made easier by using storytelling to create a safe and empathetic environment for the conversation.
Resolving conflicts and disagreements: Use the power of storytelling to bring people together, connect on a human level, and find a shared resolution that satisfies everyone.
Storytelling is a subjective skill; how can you tell if you're excelling at it? 🚀
If your audience is on the edge of their seats, teetering on the brink of an emotional outburst, then you're doing something right!
Jokes aside, here are some signs that you might be a good storyteller:
Your stories stick: If people remember the stories you tell them and reference them later on, it means that your stories have made an impact.
You influence people without authority: You are able to get buy-in, and ultimately, achieve your goals, even when you don't have direct authority over the people you're trying to persuade.
You receive positive feedback: If people consistently give you positive feedback on your storytelling abilities, it's a good sign that you are good at it.
You can adapt your stories: If you are able to adapt your stories to different audiences or situations, it's a sign that you have a good understanding of storytelling and can make your stories relevant to your listeners.
People seek inspiration and guidance: People not only remember your stories but seek advice on how to craft compelling narratives and engage audiences with their own stories.
You are the defacto spokesperson: You frequently represent your team in front of diverse audiences, including customers, external stakeholders, and leadership!
If you only check a few boxes above, how do you get better at storytelling? 🧗
Practice makes perfect: The more you practice, the more polished and powerful your stories will become. Look for opportunities to tell stories in everyday situations, such as in meetings or when presenting to stakeholders especially when you are trying to drive critical outcomes or actions.
Observe others: Pay attention to how other people tell stories and what makes their stories compelling. Is it their tone, timing, or choice of words?
Know your audience: Crafting a story is like crafting a bespoke suit - it should fit your audience perfectly. Consider what will resonate with them and what they need to hear to support your vision and product.
Bring it to life: Use visuals to make your stories more interesting and interactive. Bring your stories to life with pictures or videos. Make sure not to overload your audience with too much text-heavy information. If people are busy reading text, they may not be actively listening to you.
Be authentic: Share personal experiences or anecdotes that are relevant to your story. Authenticity adds depth and dimension to your stories and makes them more memorable.
Edit and refine: Every time you are about to deliver, practice editing and refining your story to make it more concise and impactful. Cut out unnecessary details and focus on the most important points.
Get feedback: Ask for feedback from your peers, colleagues, and mentors to improve your storytelling skills. Learn from their constructive criticism and apply it to your future tales.
Some caveats worth calling out 🛑
Don't lose authenticity in order to create a good story: While crafting a story, it's crucial to ensure that the message remains authentic and true. Over-emphasizing or exaggerating a message can lead to mistrust and damage your reputation.
Don't let your audience get pigeonholed into a single narrative: It's important to acknowledge that different people have different perspectives, experiences, and values. Creating a single narrative that appeals to a specific group can alienate other stakeholders and limit the potential impact of the story.
Don't dismiss good research and data for a good story: While storytelling is a powerful tool, it's important to back up the narrative with good research and data. Ignoring key insights and relying solely on a compelling story can lead to poor decisions and negative consequences.
Don't oversell something: While storytelling can help create interest and excitement around a product or idea, it's important not to oversell or make promises that can't be delivered. Overselling can lead to disappointment and loss of trust.
Keep it simple and easy to follow: When crafting a story, it's important to keep the message clear and concise. A complex or convoluted narrative can lead to confusion and disengagement from the audience.
So keep honing your skills, and who knows - maybe one day you'll be the one delivering a TED talk on the power of storytelling!
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See you all in the next one 👋
Tanay