Gamers know what “leveling up” means: that sweet, satisfying moment when you finally solve a puzzle, find a key, defeat an enemy, and spring into an entirely different world with new characters, challenges, and powers.
Leveling up at work can feel the same, but it might take on intention. Professional development and leadership training can be part of the equation for product managers and companies that offer these kinds of opportunities provide all possible ways to level up.
Nadeem Farah, vice president of product management at Agility Recovery, told Built In Colorado that he’s benefited from great one-on-one mentoring relationships and leadership training courses. “Both have been instrumental in helping me level up as a product leader in 2023,” he said.
It might not come with fancy graphics or a sweet musical score, but practicing these tips can make leveling up at work feel just as satisfying.
Reflecting on 2023, what was the most important professional experience you had?
Building and scaling a world-class product and UX team of talented professionals has been pivotal this year. It has allowed us to expand our voice of customer work, and improve the quality and impact of our software and GTM investment. This is gratifying for me, and it aligns with our rally cry to “Level Up” by having the best team on the field.
How did your company’s learning and development programs or other opportunities help you advance your career? And what role has your manager played in supporting your career growth?
Agility offers a great combination of one-on-one coaching, mentorship with veteran SaaS leaders, and leadership training. Both have been instrumental in helping me level up as a product leader in 2023.
The highlights of leadership training programs that have impacted how I work on our products and with my team have been data storytelling and different actionable tools to understand communication styles and improve our team collaboration. This is essential for product teams as we play a central role in an organization.
What’s one piece of advice you would offer to a product manager that’s looking to take the next step in their career in 2024?
Get close and stay close to your market and customers to be proactive with a product vision. As product managers, we need to be both data-driven and customer-centric. Staying close to our customers and target markets helps us understand the context behind what our quantitative data is telling us, and helps us get ahead of market-moving trends to drive innovation and growth.
Conclusions
In the fast-paced world of product management, it is clear that the combination of data-driven decision-making and a consumer-centric approach is the key to success. By embracing these principles, product managers can truly level up their careers and make a significant impact on their organizations. As seen in the case of one forward-thinking product manager, adopting a data-driven and consumer-centric mindset has led to improved product performance, increased customer satisfaction, and ultimately, career advancement. As more professionals recognize the value of this approach, we can expect to see a shift towards more innovative and customer-focused products in the market. It’s time for all product managers to take note and start implementing these strategies to propel their own careers to new heights.
