Product Managers

Product Managers: Becoming Dispensable, Becoming Invisible

“When the Master governs, the people

are hardly aware that he exists.

Next best is a leader who is loved.

Next, one who is feared.

The worst is one who is despised."

- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

The founders are the first Product Managers in an internet product venture even though they dont take on that title. They decide what value the product will offer to a user and how the user has to interact with the product to extract that value.

But as the product scales up it begins to handle more consumers, it needs to cater to multiple use-cases and, as a result, grows more complex. The product begins to have more pages, multiple algorithms, multiple user-flows and numerous touch points to communicate and engage with the user (such as the PC site, mobile apps, mobile site, blogs, emails, SMS, App notifications, surveys, feedback, service desk, out bound calling, inbound calling etc). The tentacles of the product spread wider and deeper. The number of teams involved and stakeholders increase too. Soon enough, no one person knows everything about how the Product works and no one person knows best what to do next either. The knowledge gets increasingly fragmented across multiple nodes in the organisation. This is especially true in a space where technologies, devices, design philosophies, sales strategies and business drivers change frequently. For successful decision-making this knowledge needs to be continuously de-fragmented.

That’s where the Product Management team enters.

Product Managers will not know everything either, but it’s one of their jobs to make sure that all the nodes in the organisation that do know different aspects of the product and business are well connected. Much like wires that are conductors of  electricity, Product Managers are conductors of information and decisions between the multiple teams and stakeholders. The less Product Managers hold on to, the lesser the resistance they offer to the information they conduct. How can Product Managers reduce the resistance organisations offer to the flow of information and insights? The first thing to do is to learn and know more than anyone else does, and then give it all away. Product Managers should consistently put out all that they know on the table, and ask others to do the same in subtle ways. It is as if their job is just to ask three questions to other stakeholders: “Here is everything we know. Is there anything else we need to know? What can we do to make it work better? Who do we need to involve to make that happen?” This leads to faster decisions. 

In effect, Product Managers should share relentlessly and frequently so much so that there is nothing that they know that others don’t. This creates inclusion, cross-pollinates ideas, sparks bottom-up innovation, and fosters collaboration in the organization in ways more elegant than what structures and processes achieve. And this happens best when the Product Management team works hard at making itself dispensable every day.

But then, that’s not enough.

Faster decisions need not be better decisions. Better decisions do not automatically result from mere exchange of information and data. Data and Information have to be catalysed by Product Managers into time-bound actions that are specific and whose impact is measured doggedly. That is achieved by, among other things, proactively interpreting information from data, preparing actionable presentations, conducting effective meetings, managing stakeholders for buy-ins, and breaking projects down into smaller chunks that are chewable by Engineering, Design and QA. The challenge then moves beyond the level of addressing information asymmetry and speed of execution. It moves to the level that matters the most: How to get all teams involved in steering the destiny of the product. And how to get them to operate at peak levels of their contribution and motivation while doing so.

Just like a great product is one so smooth and intuitive that it may seem that not much effort was spent to make it, catalysing decisions can be so swift that taking the most effective ones may seem effortless. If the Product Manager lays a good ground, in the end it may seem that the Product Manager was not even required for the decision.

As internet product companies in India move towards maturity and complexity, their Product Management teams may well operate in a way that brings impact, innovation, collaboration and motivation to the forefront, while they themselves blend into the background – appearing to become dispensable and invisible.

Written byNishant Pandey

Hollywood and its Lessons in Marketing

I have always been amazed with the pulsating world of Hollywood and its steady stream of movies in various genres catering to the world’s appetite for Fantasy, Drama, Romance and Action. What is commendable is the fact that their movies are created for global audiences. I don’t need to remind you of the struggle that marketers in India are facing to cut through the complexity of diverse cultures, languages and religious divides. Juxtapose that with Hollywood and imagine how their movies need to counter a similar scenario, albeit on the world stage.

What this goes to show is the success of such films in cutting through basic traits that drive humankind in general. Fundamentals of psychology will tell you that we are all driven by qualities such as passion, emotion, anger, pride, jealousy, etc.

Mapping this further give you the Five Personality Traits established by experts which include Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. These personality traits are also often referred to as the psyche of a human being. 

Successful movies in Hollywood cut through all the overlaying clutter to relate to these basic qualities. This no doubt requires ample skill, experience and insight in creating a winner despite the multifarious hurdles. Success can only come from clever scripting, exhaustive research, skillful direction and smart post production work among others to complete the complex formula.

Some Movies that stood out for me:

• Action - Avengers, Die Hard, Terminator, Matrix, Bourne Series, Bond Series, etc.
• Romance – Titanic, Pretty Woman, Gone with the Wind, Notting Hill, Pride and Prejudice, etc.
• Science Fiction – Star Wars, Star Trek, Gravity, Martian, etc.
• Animation – Madagascar Series, Nemo, Minions, Shrek, Despicable Me, Toy Story, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, etc.
• Fantasy – Avatar, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Ho to tame your dragon, Narnia, Willy Wonka, etc.

The movies listed above give you a snapshot of the caliber of Hollywood films. Each movie on careful introspection will reveal how it successfully appeals to the five personality traits in different degrees, while remaining neutral enough to cut through languages and diverse cultures.

No doubt that the budgets for these films are on a much larger scale as compared to industries like Bollywood. However what it also mean is that the bigger the budget the bigger is the risk. Success eventually boils down to superior creativity and planning.

Approximate revenues generated by some of these blockbusters globally:

• Star Wars: $12B
• Cars: $10B
• Transformers: $3B
• Frozen: $5.3B
• Toy Story: $2.4B
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: $450M
• Batman: $2445M
• Despicable Me: $230M
• Spiderman: $155M
• The Avengers: $150M
• The Franchise Force of “Jurassic Park”: $65 Million, marketing campaign included licensing deals with 100 companies

Lessons for Marketers

Creativity

Creativity is at the heart of any successful rendition. Identifying a theme that relates to the larger audience and developing a plot that works for them is probably the biggest learning from Hollywood. How do you create a billion dollar film that goes on to become a brand is a fundamental question to be asked. Creativity naturally is pivotal to this success and every business must infuse creativity in its growth path.

Identify your audience

The huge budgets and the resultant revenue go to prove the successful audience targeting by the makers of the film. Every brand must have a methodic and scientific understanding of their customers and their preferences. It is also widely accepted that audiences are dynamic and there are several variables that influence them that can keep changing. Understanding and keeping in synch with these shifting paradigms is important for marketer.

Insights that appeal to distinct personality traits

It has been established that successful movies relate to distinct personality traits of their audiences. Successful marketing will also depend on the successful mapping of the personal traits of your model customer. Marketers have to therefore work hard in identifying these insights that drive their audiences. Products and Campaigns must be purposed to suit these traits that drive them.

Story Telling

The underlying secret for any Hollywood Blockbuster is successful story telling. It is no different for brands who need to use the art of storytelling through all their initiatives. It is a known fact that even a drab story when presented well will become engaging to its audiences. Storytelling applies to every instance of a brands journey starting from its vision, to the way it is marketed, to internal communication with employees, to product collateral and more. It is hence the onus of marketers to engage their audience through successful storytelling that in turn resonate the image of the brand and its offerings.

Setting

Each and every film has well planned scenes that sets the context for the presentation. Each film has a unique setting that correlates to its script and also lends into each of the characters and their role. Similarly I think each brand should be able to build a visual image of a brand and its environment in the customers head. Apparel brands in general rely on this medium extensively. Successful brands like Levis, Van Heusen or Louis Philippe recall distinctive settings and imagery when mentioned. Even telecom brands like Vodafone have managed to build on this over the years.

Casting

The importance of casting in a film to suit each role is no secret. Can you imagine the movie Rambo or Rocky without Sylvester Stallone or likewise Pretty Woman without Julia Roberts. Similarly the casting of key business representatives and drivers is crucial in building a business. In terms of a company this can be two fold, one in terms of the correct hires that can take the brand forward while instilling confidence in their peers. Secondly it could mean the individuals that you would want the brand to be associated with for the outside world.

For instant take a moment to think of who comes to mind when you hear of these Indian brands – Infosys, Wipro, Harpic Cleaner, Kent water purifier, BJP, Congress, etc. This goes to the show the importance of casting key heroes for any brand.

Struggle

Every blockbuster has a struggle that tugs at your heart. Take for instance Titanic and the spontaneous love affair that heads to tragedy or in the case of Avatar the struggle between the ethnic group and humans. While I do not mean that businesses should have tragedy to tell their story, what this means is that evergreen brands become relatable when there are human interest stories around it. This is possibly where PR can play a role in ensuring transparency for a brand.

One argument is that brand Maggi possibly emerged stronger from the controversy as consumers ended up empathizing with them. Crafting careful messages that tells a brands story that in turn relates to human emotions and struggles is another learning from Hollywood.

In Summary

Full credit to the Americans for having built a robust industry that rules the entertainment media world. Incidentally such films not only help with entertainment and money making, it is also a powerful tool for propaganda and strategic messaging. Setting aside the possible vested interest angle, the success of this industry can be simply attributed to superior film making.

Marketers at their end grapple with challenges every day and look forward to learning and adapting from industries around them. As is evident, there are ample learnings from Hollywood that can be applied to marketing challenges to suit any situation or environment.

In the words of the iconic Sir. Walt Disney – “Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.”

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Note: Information pertaining to Hollywood sourced from internet research

This article was first published on Marketing Buzzar.

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  Written by

  DC Priyan

Future of Work

Future of Work: In the Age of Disruption, Disrupt Yourself

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In this series, professionals debate the state – and future – of their industry. Read more here, then write your own #MyIndustry post).

I’m at the hospital today. Testing the density of my bones. Again.

Lots of people grapple with the loss of bone density later in life, typically after 75 years of age. That’s osteoporosis. Trouble is, I’m only 46.

Turns out I was born with a genetic condition akin to osteoporosis, a related but less severe form of bone density loss. So, like my older counterparts, my skeletal integrity is compromised. That means my bones are prone to fracture with even very little pressure. When the condition erupts into a “bone crisis,” I can break a bone during routine activities, like walking down the hallway, or opening a bottle. Thankfully this extreme kind of bone crisis happened only once in my life. And it’s unlikely to happen again, because I’m now on medicine that’s quite good at preventing such unpleasantness.

Still, here I am, laying on a scanning machine at Massachusetts General Hospital. A place I’ve visited many times before. And will again. Because inner fragility is serious business.

Leaders are Fragile, Too

My “industry” is leadership, and the state of leaders today is like the state of my skeleton, without the medical diagnosis. Their inner stability is compromised, leaving them vulnerable to crack under pressure. While the world falls apart around them, the internal structures of many leaders is dangerously fragile. Strong bones provide support inside the body. Leaders also need a strong internal constitution to keep them going. That’s why the most frequent advice I give to leaders is this: You win in the new game of leadership by strengthening what’s inside of you.

Paradoxically, inner strength for leaders in the new world requires flexibility and adaptability, not inelasticity. To stay with our metaphor, bone formation doesn’t create unyielding rigidity. Bone is a living tissue, constantly renewed by cells that break down and cells that replace them. Reinvention is what healthy insides do. In the physical body, and in individual leaders, too.

The No. 1 imperative in my industry today is to learn the inner path of leadership, what I’ve called “winning from within.”

That means that as the world transforms all around you, you need to change, too. Think about it. Uber is upending taxis. Hotels lose ground daily to Airbnb. Google threatens to replace everyone, even automakers if they scale the self-driving car. What happens to industries that fail to innovate in these times?

To stay competitive and thrive in today’s world, companies need to release expectations from the past. To open themselves to entirely new mindsets about what their brand means. To let their very identity evolve. The same is true for you.At the core of my work with people is helping them to ask “who am I?” and “who can I become?” Then together we use “winning from within” methodology to discover new answers.

Re-build your inner order

In the Age of Disruption, the new game requires leaders to disrupt their inner order. As the world reinvents itself, the only way to win is to reinvent yourself, too.

I advise CEOs to embrace this principle: no business can stay a leader in its field without reinvention, and the same is true of individual leaders. If you continue to function according to past expectations, you will fail.

The inner “order” or “structure” I’m talking about is the story you tell yourself about who you are. Your personal myth. In roles of influence, that story becomes your leadership myth as well. In my work with top teams, I’ve called each leader a “Voyager,” because, to paraphrase Deepak Chopra, your life is not like a quest; itis a quest. Releasing old myths that no longer serve you, and replacing them with a new, more expansive story about who you are, is the process of “reinventing” yourself.

Consider two leaders with powerful personal myths. The first is Steve Jobs, who throughout his life and career maintained a singular leadership identity. He was a genius innovator, driven entrepreneur, severely lacking in people skills. Every movie you see or book you read about Jobs will paint you that picture.

Contrast that with Angela Merkel. For a long time she was the Iron Lady, insisting on austerity, holding the tough line with Greece. She seemed well on her way to joining the leadership myth lineage of Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir. Then, the summer of 2015 brought epic human migration. Tens of thousands of people in motion, heading straight for the European continent.

In this crisis, a new Angela Merkel appeared. A leader of compassion. Calling on her neighbors to take emergency action as a duty of care for fellow human beings in distress. Where was the cold-hearted rationalist? The tough negotiator holding her ground over the Eurozone? In this moment, Angela Merkel allowed her leadership myth to evolve. To expand. She is still a fighter, strong and determined. But she became a humanitarian, too.

Revising your personal myth fortifies your inner structure to thrive in a new environment. In my work with senior leaders, I’ve found that understanding all of who they are — the revealed parts and the concealed parts — provides that powerful inner lattice to keep them on their feet, while at the same time allowing new parts of them to emerge. 

This process is not without risk. Chancellor Merkel recently lost ground to the AfD party, whose platform opposed her on refugees. Yet in the end, all real leadership -- like life -- involves risk. In today's world, the bigger risk is refusing to evolve. As "Voyagers" we stand on more solid ground when we allow ourselves to grow. Then we can respond to the challenges of the rapidly changing world in new, creative ways. 

Unless we practice this inner innovation, human beings see what we expect to see, think what we expect to think, feel what we expect to feel, and do what we always do. But holding tight to expectations, built on the inner structure of our past, we are too fragile. We will break, and fall. In these times of massive change, we need leaders who embrace the complexity and emerging possibility of the world, and meet it with the full power of the complexity and emerging possibility within themselves. That is the disruption and reinvention “from within” that will take us into the future.

Erica Ariel Fox is a leadership expert and the New York Times Best-selling author of Winning From Within: A Breakthrough Method for Leading, Living, and Lasting Change. She advises executives and other senior leaders on personal and organizational transformation. She is a founding partner of Mobius Executive Leadership.

SABIC AT BFA

SABIC AT BFA: BUILDING THE FUTURE IN ASIA & CHINA

Boao, China, March 23, 2016 – SABIC, the world’s third largest diversified chemical company, held multilateral discussions with global, Asian and Chinese government officials and industry and business leaders at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference (BFA) 2016, sharing perspectives around this year’s conference theme “Asia’s New Future: New Dynamics; New Vision”.

The SABIC delegation was led by His Highness Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thenayan Al-Saud, Chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu and Chairman of SABIC, and Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, Vice Chairman & CEO (Acting), SABIC. Prince Saud will be making his keynote address at the opening plenary on March 24 amongst 13 heads of state as SABIC marks its eighth consecutive year of participation at BFA and third year as its Strategic Partner. Mr Al-Benyan is officially appointed to the BFA Board of Directors.

SABIC will participate in and contribute to China’s transformational journey from ‘made in China’ to ‘created in China’ by harnessing the power of innovation and technology - as seen in the recent tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between SABIC, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), a research institute affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on March 22, 2016.

“As China and Asia undergo unprecedented economic transformation, it is the shared responsibility of global leaders like SABIC to support sound business, economic and social policies,” commented Prince Saud. “Developments such as the Chinese government’s 13th Five-Year Plan have the potential to increase international trade and boost cooperation further. The importance of global interconnectivity is even more pronounced now, with new business collaboration opportunities emerging across countries and industries.”

As China calibrates its policies to a domestic consumption-led ‘new normal’ economy, with a greater emphasis on innovation and sustainability, SABIC is in a strong position to collaborate with Chinese customers and partners to create innovative material solutions tailored for the Chinese market across the entire value chain from research, development, production, distribution to sales serving key industries from construction, clean energy, electric and electronic, medical devices, nutrients, packaging, to transportation.

“Our focus is to support our customers’ commercial ambitions,” said Mr Al-Benyan. “Through our collaborations with Chinese enterprises, industries and innovation leaders such as DICP, CAS, and CNPC, our customers can expect to see more sustainable solutions that are created in China, for China. This is what we call ‘Chemistry that MattersTM’.”

Under the MOU agreement, SABIC, DICP and CNPC will jointly research in catalyst and process development in non-oxidative conversion of methane into olefins, aromatics and hydrogen - enabled by the breakthrough technology which will result in a more streamlined, simplified and efficient process, using greener technology than conventional methods involving a lengthier process today.

“At SABIC, we believe this first-of-its-kind technology breakthrough has immense potential to add considerable value to the petrochemical industry in China and the world. Once industrialized, this technology will provide a new channel for highly efficient utilization of natural gas, as well as unlimited possibilities for the production of new chemical products in a more sustainable manner,” remarked Awadh Al-Maker, SABIC’s Executive Vice President of Technology & Innovation.

The MOU is the latest strategic collaboration with DICP since 2012. Another five-year agreement with CAS was signed in 2014 for joint research in chemicals and chemical engineering fields to develop advanced technologies and solutions and promote talent development and exchange. Scholarships will be offered to 30 top graduate students and their supervisors in CAS this year, aimed at nurturing the next generation of innovators who will contribute to the future of China and Asia.

MOU signed by Professor Aiguo Lin, CTO, PetroChina Company Ltd., Professor Zhongmin Liu, Vice President of Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr Awadh Al-Maker, SABIC’s Executive Vice President of Technology & Innovation and witnessed by Mr Baocai Yu, SVP of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Professor Xinhe Bao, Head of Division of Basic & Strategic Studies on Energy, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Tao Zhang, President of DICP, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Mr Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, SABIC’s Vice Chairman & CEO (Acting).

SABIC’s Chemistry that MattersTM booth at Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2016 (BFA): Working closely with partners to find new materials and smart solutions that will build our future cities is an example of what SABIC calls ‘Chemistry that MattersTM’. To demonstrate how its operations is bringing about positive change in the world, SABIC built a ‘home’ setting at BFA to showcase innovative material solutions in our daily lives. These include SABIC’s polycarbonate made into elegant and functional pieces of furniture, food & beverage packaging made with various polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene grades, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes that transport water and gas, and SABIC’s lightweight yet impact-resistant LEXANTM sheets for roofings and wall panels. Material solutions beyond a home setting were showcased through a video screening including the use of SABIC’s NORYL GTXTM resin to create lighter car parts for better fuel efficiency, LEXANTM XHR sheet portfolio for aircraft interiors for design flexibility and weight savings and LEXANTM sheet products that are the materials of choice for more than 50 stadiums around the world.