Please don’t call me a rockstar

Good product managers are frequently referred to as “rockstars”. While the underlying intention is certainly flattering, there are good reasons to argue against this: Product management is not a one-man-show, and a humble approach will bring you further than the desire to stand in the spotlight.

When people say rockstar, I think of Jon Bon Jovi and Mick Jagger. I think of wrinkly old men who wear leather jackets and do drugs. I think of big stages and screaming fans. I certainly don’t think of product management.

Yes, product managers need to be creative and likable, but for me it’s not all about the individual. It’s about the team, the ideas and how they work together. There’s this quote by one of my favorite designers, Charles Eames:

“Eventually everything connects — people, ideas, objects… The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.”

So if you want to use a fancy name for product managers, i’d rather have you go with conductor. In physics, a conductor is something that allows energy to flow (very roughly speaking, this was never my favorite subject in school!). I believe your most important job as a product manager is to build connections and make sure that information can flow freely. You should remove obstacles and keep the energy going into the same direction.

If you have trouble picturing yourself as a some lifeless metal substance, there’s a second definition of conductor which might be more suitable for you. In an orchestra, a conductor is the person who keeps everything together and on the same beat.

Compared to a rockstar, it appears that conducting is more about the listening than the shouting, another quality that we often find in good product managers. You should listen to your customers and the people around you. Of course you need have to have a vision and give clear signals, but you should not always be the loudest one in the room.

Jeff Lash did a really nice comparison of product management and musical conductors. The point that stuck with me most and reminded me a lot of my job: If done well, it looks super easy from the outside. You see this person, standing there and waving their hands around. You might ask yourself: Why do they even need him? Couldn’t they just play for themselves?

And fact is: They probably could. I’ve played in some school bands and orchestras, and we could have performed without the conductor. But still, it helped to have one. It helps to have somebody to give you the cues and to keep you in sync.

That’s probably the biggest difference to a rockstar. Without the rockstar, there is no show. Without a conductor, the orchestra can still play, but it won’t be their best performance. The conductor adds to the performance by enabling and pushing the individuals, thus creating something that’s better and bigger than the sum of its parts. Conductors let everybody else shine, not only themselves.

Without the rockstar, there is no show. Without a conductor, the orchestra can still play, but it won’t be their best performance.

There’s one more point where I think product managers should be closer to conductors than to rockstars. Rockstars get all the applause in the end. Conductors get some applause (or even booing), but same goes for the soloists and the entire orchestra. Everybody knows that they are never truly alone on the stage.

So, instead of telling product managers to become self-absorbed rockstars, expect them to take on a conductor role. Their job is to pull everything together and enable the people around them to do their best.