A good friend and colleague recently left our firm to take on a more senior product management role elsewhere. His boss and his boss’s boss stood next to him and gave him a glowing and sincere send-off, with the leaving speech striking that good balance between “we’re sad to see you leave” and “go out, excel and make us proud”.
It reminds me about how much of being a product manager boils down to how we conduct ourselves and how we relate to others. Even if your product becomes a runaway success, you’ll still be remembered unfavourably if you got there by annoying everyone on the way. Similarly, “nice guy, but completely ineffectual” would not be a great legacy either.
So have a think now about how others will respond to the way you act and how you go about your task of achieving success for your products. This is what will determine how you’ll be remembered.