post

B2B product management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Customer Research

Hardware

Digital Transformation

Our Privacy Policy is changing on April 5, 2022 - for more information and a description of the updates, <a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/privacy/" style="color:#FFFFFF;text-decoration:underline;">see the policy here.</a>

Switching back the focus from ‘Build only’ to ‘Build-measure-learn’

Product career special part 2: Making a change

Build what matters with vision-led product management

Lessons in fearless leadership

Building a product organisation from scratch by Kevin Mansfield

Footer About

Footer Contribute

Footer Get Involved

Footer Links

Mind the Product

Product Management

The executive product leader persona

Test blog post

Louron is an editor at Mind the Product. He has had a background in writing and editing while previously working as a journalist for several business publications. He spent the first few years of his career working in content marketing and audio production. You can find him on Twitter as @LouronPratt22.

Louron Pratt

<p>In this interactive AMA session for <a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/membership/compare/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MTP Leader</a> members, <a href="https://twitter.com/dlichaw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Donna Lichaw</span></a>, executive coach and author of the<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/storymapping/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> User’s Journey: Storymapping Products that People Love</a></span>, discusses how to find your story by using a mix of psychology, design thinking, and experimentation skills that you already have—or can easily learn.</p>
<p>Watch the recording in its entirety or read on for the highlights, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Why telling your own story is important</li>
<li>Finding your superpowers</li>
<li>Dictating your superpowers</li>
<li>Aligning your stories with others</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why telling your own story is important</h2>
<p>Donna begins the session by explaining that storytelling is incredibly important for product teams as they face obstacles. The biggest problems that product managers face are people problems, not product problems.</p>
<p>She believes teams and leaders need to understand their own people-centric stories to move forward. Storytelling is just the tip of the iceberg: “Knowing who you are, what your story is, and knowing what your superpowers are, can ultimately impact products and the world,” Donna says. If you want to achieve something and you’re struggling to accomplish it, that’s a good thing, as every story needs conflict and a narrative arc.</p>
<h2>Finding your superpowers</h2>
<p>Every story in product management has a superhero, Donna says. A product manager&#8217;s superpowers are a combination of their core values, skills, and strengths. To tap into them, Donna explains that you must examine your past to find where you perform best, then look at how you can use this knowledge to go forward.</p>
<p>“Cast your mind back to your most proud and exciting moments in your product role. If you find things that you loved doing, that can be the spark which creates your superpower,” she says.</p>
<p>When asked how to deal with your weaknesses (or “kryptonite” in superhero terms), she explains that you have to acknowledge weakness, embrace it, and find a way for it to serve you to your advantage. Donna uses the example of overthinking, which product managers often think is a weakness. Harnessing that ability and turning it into a strength over time can be extremely beneficial. Eventually, the negative traits of overthinking fade away while the positives can be used to your advantage.</p>
<p>Donna says: “Product managers have weak points in their roles. They can’t hold you back from finding the rest of your value. In some cases even, your weakness may be a strength.”</p>
<h2>Dictating your superpowers</h2>
<p>Donna explains that although co-workers may acknowledge your strengths, they may not be your superpower. She says: “You need to shake off everything that people think about you as they’re not the ones who are writing the story for you. Come into your own being as the superhero of your story.” Finally, you need to validate that superpower by embracing it and adjust it over time.</p>
<p>Issues arise when you start to live through the superpowers that others place on you. They physically become a part of you, Donna believes. If you can ultimately find the story of who you’ve been, who you are, and who you want to be, then you can begin to experience it multiple times. She says: “Keep experimenting, check data, and validate yourself to ingrain those superpowers,” The more you do that, the more pathways open up for you.</p>
<h2>Aligning your stories with others</h2>
<p>Asked how to tell the right story at the right time, Donna explains that product manager stories are told within wider organisational stories. If there’s something that you want to change within a company through your story, you need to make sure that facts are ironed out well enough to collaborate with others. “It’s important to understand the full story of an organisation before attempting to implement change,” she says.</p>
<p>If board-level members aren’t engaging with the prospect of new opportunities or ideas for change, you need to ask yourself if your goals are aligned with theirs. If they’re not, you can’t complete the story together and initiate change. Donna says that coming to an agreement is key, otherwise you’ll be able to see all the problems and ideas but be unable to connect them. She says: “No storytelling in the whole world will solve that.”</p>
<h2>Recommended Resources</h2>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/crafting-products-that-engage-donna-lichaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Crafting Products That Engage by Donna Lichaw</a></span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/tell-better-stories-donna-lichaw-on-the-product-experience/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tell Better Stories – Donna Lichaw on The Product Experience</a></span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://mindtheproduct.com/how-to-use-storytelling-to-create-powerful-product-demos/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How to use Storytelling to Create Powerful Product Demos</a></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="g g-21"><div class="g-single a-93"><a class="gofollow" data-track="OTMsMjEsMSw2MA==" href="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/product-management-training/public-workshops/communication-alignment-workshop/"><img decoding="async" src="https://mtpdevwpe.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Training-CA-layer-of-strategy-FOOTER-scaled.jpg" /></a></div></div>

core/freeform

Product Leadership

Bring the JOY back to work by Ben Newell

Product Systems: How to manufacture lightning in a bottle by Oji Udezue

Top 7 signs you’re in a bad product system by Scott Williamson

Working with strangers, well by Farai Madzima

Prioritised member panel: Learning to lead

How to navigate tricky work relationships

How to drive product innovation

Product-led company powered by culture by Shaun Smith-Taylor

Leading empowered product teams: AMA with Hope Gurion

A designer, a product manager, and an engineer walk into a bar…by Karishma Irani

Owning your story as a leader: Advice from Donna Lichaw

ProductTank Singapore

ProductTank Portland

ProductTank Yerevan

ProductTank Budapest

ProductTank Valencia

ProductTank Porto

ProductTank Richmond

ProductTank Los Angeles

ProductTank Austin

ProductTank Norwich

ProductTank Des Moines

ProductTank San Francisco

ProductTank Helsinki

ProductTank Riga

ProductTank Edinburgh

ProductTank Reading

ProductTank Brighton

ProductTank Montevideo

ProductTank Reston

ProductTank Vienna

ProductTank Buenos Aires

ProductTank Curitiba

ProductTank Bielefeld

ProductTank London

ProductTank Charleston

ProductTank Bogotá

ProductTank Newcastle Upon Tyne

ProductTank Birmingham

ProductTank Raleigh

ProductTank Tokyo

ProductTank Cardiff

ProductTank Ahmedabad

ProductTank Braunschweig

ProductTank Columbus

ProductTank Dallas

ProductTank Montréal

ProductTank Seattle

ProductTank Köln

ProductTank Chicago

ProductTank Malmö

ProductTank Canberra

ProductTank Auckland

ProductTank Perth

ProductTank Charlotte

ProductTank Washington

ProductTank Paris

ProductTank Manchester

ProductTank Madrid

ProductTank Zürich

ProductTank Krakow

ProductTank Heidelberg

ProductTank NYC

Product Leadership Course

ProductTank Recife

ProductTank Dublin

Member AMA: Unpacking User Research with Laura Klein

ProductTank Copenhagen

Trainer-Led Workshops

ProductTank Tauranga

World Product Day

Member AMA with Ken Norton

#mtpcon London+EMEA 2022 Workshops

#mtpcon London+EMEA 2022 Conference