In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Kevin Shah (T-Mobile) and Lisa Huang-North (Microsoft) to discuss why product managers need empathy when communicating with customers and while building their career, as well as finding the balance between being empathetic and product success.
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03:53 Empathy also matters in how you manage your career07:36 Do you understand where you are in your personal journey?10:13 We suffer from survivor bias13:33 The lack of empathy to certain stakeholders or groups can show up in the execution16:12 Don’t focus on the persona and characteristics, focus on the needs and problems22:15 Data communication depends on the channels already established24:48 What’s important to users vs what’s important to the company27:16 Try to understand where the misalignment is happening28:06 Come back to the pain points you’re trying to address31:03 Feeling empowered and having an authentic PM mindset 34:10 An executive does not understand the customers as well as the PMs do38:53 Myth: “I’m not a great sales person and that’s why I think I’ll be a great PM.”43:02 Best relationship between sales and products are centered around culture44:56 Product managers are artists and creators 49:19 Logically group your community and dedicate different efforts on each segment 56:17 Empathy is your superpower 57:49 Recommended resources for PMs to get better at being empathetic01:01:16 Drawing a balance between empathy and profitability 01:04:23 Product management is a contact sport and also a team sport01:09:45 Own the job and be resolute with your standards 01:11:34 You don’t have to love something, but you have to be really curious about it