Paying it Forward. The Best Way to Give Back.

Thank you, Ed.

I have told the story of how I fell into product a few times. My old boss, Ed, took a chance on me, sending me to London to teach an office full of sales traders and research analysts at Jefferies how to use our proprietary CRM. I was hired to enable our force as a product marketer for a few months, get my licenses if I wanted to, and become a sales trader or someone who made lots of money doing all those fancy things with numbers (numbers are not my style, but in New York, you kinda make it yours if you can).

I got to London 4 weeks after I started my role and sat down to train a research analyst, while still learning the product myself. I watched him try to use the widget on the home page of our product that we felt he needed for his day-to-day. I had an aha moment. Our product was just a part of that moment, and a small piece of his world. We needed to fit into his world. He was picking up the phone and saying things quickly, he was answering his assistant who popped in and out of the office, and he was combing through chat and email trying to keep track of who on his team made what calls already that day. I realized he needed different information on that widget almost literally at his fingertips. And so we built it for him. The next morning.

I remember telling Ed how incredible it felt to see that analyst excited to use our product and help spread the word, and I remember him telling me I’d just become a product manager. I didn’t want to do anything but build after that.

Fast forward to a few years later. I had my first kid and came back to the office completely out of sorts. And Ed decided it was time to make me a manager. Literally the day after I got back from maternity leave. I panicked, and he talked me down - saying this was a good time and I can handle it. Never mind the new baby, a new normal, the fear of being behind from being off for months, and me now taking on a team of three humans and impacting their careers while still growing mine. “It’s fine”, he said. And it was, because he pushed me to do more than I thought I could, coached me through it and made sure I had what I needed to feel supported, seen, and compensated so my family was taken care of.

One day I asked him how I could repay him for taking a chance on me and changing my life. He said “CI, I just want you pay it forward whenever you can. That’s how we give back.”

Ed put me on a path that made me who I am as a professional today. He believed I could be a good PM, and he believed I could be a great leader. I’ve built my career off these two things - building product and creating a space for teams to be healthy in. This is why I continue to be passionate about both the Product Manager and the Product Ops roles and what magic the two can deliver together for their larger product team, their organizations, and of course, customers.

I realize I’ve been incredibly lucky to have worked for some really great companies and build products and teams that have helped me get to each next level. At Pendo, I’m most grateful for the chance I had to build Product Ops from the ground up. The product community all felt a common pain around the same time in 2019, when we were experiencing hyper growth in SaaS. This was when I had the opportunity to serve in a different way than building product. I was able to share our learnings and insights to help others build their practice while we were building ours. I have been fortunate to have been asked to discuss my learnings with customers, and share insights on webinars, at conferences, customer events, and podcasts (even Lenny’s!).

Today, I get to work closer with our customers and our growing Mind the Product community, helping them fall in love with, and hone in on the craft of product. I also get to do this alongside another great boss, who reminds me what I’m capable of when I’m questioning myself. He embodies what leaders should be like - encouraging diverse perspectives and ideas, seeking to understand before seeking to be understood, focusing on the end goal together, and creating a safe space to do so. Don’t ever take a great leader for granted. Thanks, Ben.

I’ve watched our product community handle so much over the last two years, dealing with layoffs, expected to do more with less, and being pushed to breaking points as businesses try to stay afloat. We’re also now figuring out how to partner with AI throughout uncertainty. No matter where advancements in technology put us, we’re still a community of product people trying to build better together. And sometimes all we need is that one nudge and that one chance.

Why am I sharing this? Well I’ve met some pretty amazing product people who many of you have likely not heard of. I’ve always learned something from them, or at the very least, gained some perspective that I would not have without having this much engagement and connection with the community. This is a community unlike any other. We thrive off learning and taking risks, and we help each other along the way because there is absolutely no “I” in Product Management. So one night while writing about our product space, I realized some of my late night creative energy should be going to product people. Yes, the thought crossed my mind re: podcasts, but between a full-time job, and kiddos…maybe one day? (That’s my way of asking you to read ;-) )

The stories I’ll share are from people who have worked for big names, and not-so-big names. While important, let’s work on focusing less on the big names, and more on the individuals who have created the experience. My hope is to pay it forward by amplifying these voices so we can all learn a bit more and look at things differently as we navigate change and embrace a new norm. After all, isn’t that what product is all about?

Stay tuned for a few spotlights of some pretty cool product people.