What Product Leaders Eventually Learn - Lessons from Shreyas Doshi
What Early-Career PMs Can Learn from Shreyas Doshi’s Hard-Won Wisdom
Last week, I joined a session with Shreyas Doshi, a legend in the product leadership world (Stripe, Twitter, Google, Yahoo), where he dropped truth bombs that were primarily aimed at senior PMs and execs. But as I listened, I kept thinking:
“This is gold—but it’s even more valuable if you learn it sooner.”
So that’s exactly what we’re going to do today. 😉
Hi, I’m Snigdha! I’m on a journey to become 1% better Product Manager every day and share bite-sized insights to help you grow your PM skills–one step at a time.
Let’s unpack these 16 lessons not from the lens of a seasoned PM leader, but as early-stage and mid-level PMs who want to accelerate our growth and avoid 10 years of trial-and-error.
Quick Overview: The 16 Truths
3 Skills that hold back most PMs’ careers: Editing, Influential Communication, Strategy.
You're probably not as good at Product Strategy as you think.
Product Strategy is about — ’How you will differentiate’
Every problem is a messaging problem.
Courage is your most underrated skill.
Influence = storytelling, alignment, trust, authority, rigor, charisma.
Reasons are just well-packaged excuses.
There are 3 levels of PM work: impact, execution, and optics.
You’re judged on 4 things: strategy, team, velocity, and business impact.
Your career is your most important product.
Radical delegation is a superpower—but needs credibility.
Achieve advance time-management by cutting 50% of the meetings in your calendar.
There are 3 types of PM leaders: operator, craftsperson, visionary.
Learn to separate good misses from lucky flukes.
Using AI isn’t enough. Deep thinking is your edge.
The sweetest words at work: “You are right.”
🎧 Prefer listening?
If you’d rather listen to a NotebookLM-style conversation that dives deeper into these tenets, feel free to play it in the background as you work, walk, or wind down.
Truth #1: Every Problem Is a Messaging Problem
Whether it’s:
Securing resources
Justifying performance
Driving alignment
Getting buy-in from your manager
…it often boils down to messaging. If your idea isn’t getting traction, ask: Is this a strategy issue or a messaging issue?
Shreyas shares a powerful reframe: “Think like a box”—explore every perspective of the problem before jumping to solutions.
One of the biggest mindset shifts he talks about? Your job as a PM is editing, not authoring.
Your job as a PM is editing, not authoring.
-Shreyas Doshi
What is Editing in Product Leadership?
Editing isn’t just polishing work, it’s about choosing what your team works on. It’s a strategic skill that separates individual contributors from product leaders. As Shreyas defines it:
Editing is the mechanism by which you ensure your team is working on the right thing.
It means shifting from doing to directing.
It’s how you set focus, make trade-offs, and say “no” to the wrong priorities.
As you grow as a PM, recognizing that editing is your core value unlocks deeper influence and better outcomes.
♥️ My take:
While editing is often seen as a leadership skill, I believe it's essential for every PM, not just those with “lead” in their title. When IC PMs adopt the mindset of editing, it transforms how others perceive us. It shows strategic thinking, clarity, and alignment.
You begin to consistently ask:
Are we working on the right thing?
Are our goals and strategy aligned with what the business and the customers need?
Are we prioritizing impact over motion?
It’s easy to slip into execution without alignment. Editing brings intentionality, and that’s how influence begins.
So next time you're solving a problem, remember to message clearly and edit wisely.
Truth #2: Influence Isn’t Magic—It’s a Framework
Influence has six drivers:
Storytelling – Do people get your idea emotionally?
Alignment – Is your proposal aligned with their goals?
Trust – Do they believe you?
Authority – Are you empowered to decide?
Rigor – Is your proposal rooted in evidence?
Charisma – How compelling is your delivery?
This framework maps to:
Structural drivers: Alignment & Authority
Credibility drivers: Rigor & Trust
Inspirational drivers: Storytelling & Charisma
Want an exercise? Plot yourself on a spider chart across these six. You’ll instantly know if you’re operating in easy mode (high authority & alignment) or hard mode (low authority & alignment). If you are operating in hard mode, then you need to lean more on trust, charisma, and storytelling.
Truth #3: You’re Not as Good at Product Strategy as You Think
Shreyas admitted he was bad at strategy even after 10 years as a PM. The turnaround? Acceptance, radical humility, and deep study.
His advice:
Stop using templates.
Study Understanding Michael Porter—and don’t just read it once, read it 5 times if needed. Rereading a great strategy book can sharpen your thinking far more than skimming through 10 average ones
Focus on true understanding and creativity. A plan is not a strategy. He believes strategy requires deep understanding, not just accumulating facts.
Apply what you learn to actual work, particularly on important products. He emphasizes that this practical application, alongside studying is essential.
You get better at strategy the way you get better at tennis: not by luck, but by refining form and judgment over time.
Truth #4: Your Career is Your Most Important Product
PMs who ace roadmaps often forget to build one for their own careers.
Key takeaways:
Be intentional. Own your calendar.
Build your credibility before pushing your agenda.
“Exceeds” in performance reviews means you’re checking at least 3 of these 4:
Clear and compelling strategy
High-quality shipping (and quickly enough)
Well-functioning team
Business outcomes
However, to excel and attain your promotion goals, you need to showcase 4/4.
And yes, perception matters. If the right people don’t know you’re doing well, it’s as if you’re not.
Truth #5: Most PM Conflicts Are Level Mismatches
Shreyas defines three layers of product work:
Impact – Outcomes for the company and customers
Execution – Day-to-day tasks, shipping
Optics – Communicating the value and progress
Executives think at the impact level. Don’t come to the leadership with execution metrics unless you’ve framed the impact.
The secret? Operate across all levels—and don’t underestimate optics.
Truth #6: Learn Radical Delegation
A life-changing concept, radical delegation involves plotting your work across two axes:
Y-axis: Leverage—how impactful is the work?
X-axis: Replaceability—who else can do it?
Source: Shreyas Doshi
Here’s what Shreyas recommends:
High leverage + only you (Top Right Quadrant) → Spend 70%+ of time here.
High leverage + others can do (Top Left Quadrant) → Delegate but monitor closely.
Low leverage + others can do (Bottom Left Quadrant) → Delegate & forget.
Low leverage + only you (Bottom Right Quadrant) → Do once, then coach someone to take over next time.
But don’t jump into delegation too early. First, earn the trust and prove you can deliver.
Truth #7: Figure Out Which “Hat” (You)r Leadership Wears
There are 3 product leader archetypes:
Operator–Obsessed with goals, metrics, and execution
Craftsperson–Prioritizes insights, quality, and UX
Visionary–Thinks big, long-term, story-first
Know your default and adapt your presentation to the type of executive you're working with. Speak their language before pitching your plan.
Bonus Truths
Sweetest words in English? "You are right." No ‘but’ needed. Use more often and see people open up to your ideas.
You can’t teach courage. It must come from within. But awareness of its importance is a great first step.
AI will reshape PM roles. Be the PM who thinks deeply, not just uses trendy AI tools.
Embrace the hard. It's not supposed to be easy. That’s why they pay us the big bucks. All PM jobs are challenging.
In The End, It’s Not Just the Work, It’s Who You Become
Product leadership isn’t just about building great products. It’s about building yourself—your thinking, your influence, your strategy, your courage. Shreyas’ wisdom isn’t just tactical—it’s transformational.
Revisit it. Sit with it. Live it.
And remember: you’re not behind—you’re just getting started.
References
Merge Event w/ Shreyas Doshi
https://x.com/shreyas/status/1375491623308550144
Next Week:
I met Marily Nika! An AI PM pioneer, speaker, and author of Building AI-Powered Products (O’Reilly).
From launching Google’s voice search to shaping how we build with AI before it was cool, Marily’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary. I’ll share what it was like meeting her in person, new trends Marily has forecasted, and my candid review of her book! Stay tuned Better PMs!
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The reminder that it’s transformational not just tactical shifts everything. And yes, “you’re not behind, you’re just getting started” is something I need to hear regularly. Thank you.