Are You Unknowingly Sabotaging Your Team's Success?
Tips to build your product leadership approach in 2025.
In this article, which originally appeared in Mind the Product, I share 5 strategies to master product leadership in 2025.
As I clipped in for a recent Peloton ride, I realized that balancing resistance, cadence, and output on a bike mirrors leading a product team today.
When you’re on a bike, you’re constantly adjusting resistance based on the class or terrain, just like we adapt our leadership approach. Your cadence, or how fast you pedal, reflects the rhythm of decision-making and team momentum. Output is the impact we create by combining all these elements.
Just as each organization has its own culture, your team has unique personalities. Factor in both elements as you adjust during your ride to get the desired output. Some days you’re grinding up a hill; others you’re pedaling faster to pass the ‘competitor’ ahead on the leaderboard.
Here are tips to build your product leadership approach as we begin the new year.
Why traditional leadership is running on empty
During a recent coaching session, a product leader reflected, “I pursued leadership roles to advance my career and earn more money. Now, I understand that effective leadership is about supporting and developing others, not just myself.”
Amazon plans to increase “the ratio of workers to managers by 15% by the end of 2025’s first quarter” and Google is doing the same. Startups are following a similar pattern to cut costs by reducing the number of group product managers or head product manager roles. In 2025, leaders must coach their team to identify other career paths beyond management.
One opportunity is the ‘super IC’. An individual contributor powered by AI, exemplified by Tal Raviv. A ‘super IC’ is an experienced product manager who focuses on the hands-on work they enjoy. Their impact comes from deep insight and using tools like AI to boost productivity. Increase the cadence, get a tech-enabled boost, and the output rises.
Leaders must recognize the importance of creating clear career paths for ICs, with competitive compensation and distinct titles, to support those who choose – or have no other option – to remain in these roles.
Recommendation #1: With the rising IC to manager ratio, identify your own ‘super ICs’ to help you scale your leadership impact. Encourage them to share how they’re improving productivity, building self-reliance, and balancing product sense with internal know-how to improve decision-making.
How to set a realistic leadership cadence
During mentoring and facilitation sessions, I often hear that a manager has canceled multiple 1:1s. This is usually paired with, my manager has no clue what I do or has provided zero guidance.
Don’t disappear. Instead, find your 1:1 meeting rhythm and make it sustainable. The same goes for catching up with stakeholders and skip levels to boost morale and alignment. Here’s how to find the ideal balance.
Prioritize quality interactions: Make the most of your 1:1s by focusing on meaningful conversations. Ask “What did you like about this project?”, “Where did you feel stuck?” or “What can I do differently?” You’ll be surprised at what you learn when you make it safe to share.
Foster transparency: I learned this lesson the hard way in my first VP role at Pearson. I thought I was saving my team time by filtering information. Instead, I was creating anxiety. Find efficient ways to share updates on company/team direction, challenges, and wins. This could be through brief written updates or during existing team gatherings.
Encourage collaborative reviews: At SimplePractice specific stakeholders were assigned to each product team. They were responsible for sharing information back to their group and bringing forward corresponding insight. This approach broke down silos, broadened knowledge, and caught issues way in advance.
Recommendation #2: Create a culture of open communication. By prioritizing quality interactions, fostering transparency, and encouraging collaboration, you’ll stay connected with your team without relying on excessive meetings. This approach prevents information gaps and promotes a more responsive dynamic.
How to find your power zone
In Peloton terms, your power zone is where you’re challenged but can sustain your effort. For product leaders, this means creating an environment where everyone can push their limits while staying energized. Here’s what works:
Embrace the learning curve: New AI-powered tools are arriving fast. Leaders, especially new ones, don’t have time to know all the new tools. When we explored RAGs at my previous company, I admitted to my team that I was learning alongside them. This vulnerability created space for experimentation without fear of failure. One product manager later said this approach helped him take more measured risks in his product decisions.
Celebrate small wins: Some wins go unnoticed as they’re perceived as too minor or routine. Not every achievement needs to be a product launch or revenue milestone. Sometimes it’s about recognizing when someone asks a tough question in a meeting or helps a colleague debug an issue. These moments build the foundation for bigger wins and create a culture of collaboration, not competition.
Listen like you mean it: Active listening is not just about hearing words – it’s about tuning into the underlying message. When a team member says “I’m fine,” are they? Or is there something deeper? Being fully present in conversations and converting the learning into action (for yourself and others) builds trust with your team and stakeholders while helping you manage the information flow.
Recommendation #3: It takes time to become a leader, and once you’re there, don’t feel the need to know every tool or technique. Encourage your team to step up, celebrate explorations and attempts, and connect with them as a human being instead of a multi-tasking machine or flitting hummingbird. Be your authentic self. You earned the leadership role for who you are – past, present and future.
Ways to maximize your leadership output
Unlike a Peloton dashboard or Strava readout, leadership metrics aren’t always digital. They’re in the energy of your team, the quality of your products, and the growth of your people.
If you are a leader, then trust me, you are having either a positive or a negative impact on the people you lead. How can you tell? There is one critical question: Are you making things better for the people who follow you? That’s it. John C. Maxwell
That question is the real test of leadership. Leadership isn’t about titles, perks, or power—it’s about adding value to your team, customers, and the organization. If your team is thriving, then your leadership is effective. If not, reassess. Start by following these 4 A’s.
Acknowledge: It’s ok to step back, observe, and acknowledge what’s happening. Whether it’s a team member’s frustration, unresolved stakeholder tension, or a customer complaint, acknowledgment creates time for clarity. By acknowledging what’s happening, you open up the opportunity for trust, honest conversations, and an improved path forward.
Allow: We’re all challenged to ‘do more with less’. Result being, people can become snappy. Don’t fight back or leap to conclusions. Instead lead with curiosity. Allow time to understand what is causing the reaction. Look at the situation from the other person’s perspective. You’ll learn something about them as well as yourself which will better equip you for the future.
Accommodate: Yes, you will have to compromise. Accommodate new realities and make realistic adjustments which align with your team’s strengths and emerging opportunities. Make time for learning & development to enable your team to navigate the changing tech scene.
Appreciate: Technology automates tasks, but it cannot replicate the human connections and shared purpose that make a team successful. Leaders who celebrate small wins (Recommendation #3), highlight team contributions, and connect efforts to the company mission stand out. In an AI world, authentic human appreciation is one of the most powerful gifts a leader can provide.
Recommendation #4: Regularly assess team dynamics, creating space for curiosity and understanding. Observe interactions, ask open-ended questions, and align individual strengths with emerging realities. Make time for learning to show you’re invested in your team’s success, not just your own.
Product leaders internal gear change
Remember that mix of excitement and uncertainty when you became a leader? Leading with a human-centered approach can feel the same way, because humans are tricky.
In facilitation sessions with product managers, I often ask “what makes you feel valued at work?”. Money and promotions matter, but wanting to be heard, having autonomy, and knowing their leader has their back (trust) stood out. Here’s the recommended framework.
Define the “Why”: Ensure every initiative and task aligns with a clear mission or goal. Prioritize those with the greatest potential. Start by asking your team, “If we achieve only one thing this quarter, what should it be?”
Single-tasking: Remove unnecessary meetings, approvals, and workflows. Dedicate protected time for focused work. Identify one day per month where the team works exclusively on a high-priority goal without interruption.
Ownership culture: Give individuals responsibility for outcomes, not just tasks. Trust your team to deliver results without micromanaging. When asked for your opinion, start with “I trust you, what do your instincts tell you?”
Coaching mindset: Practice SHARED to give feedback. Start by sharing your intent. Provide context on when/where it happened. Describe observed actions. Highlight the results or impact. Engage with curiosity and actively. Close by discussing next steps.
Recommendation #5: Cultivate an environment of trust and autonomy by consistently applying the SHARED feedback approach and empowering your team to make decisions. You’re well on your way to creating super IC’s and improving overall team performance.
Your turn to ride
Leading this isn’t easy. There will be days when you want to crank up the resistance and make decisions alone. Just as every ride makes you stronger, every interaction with your team is an opportunity to build better relationships and create more impact.
Start small. Pick one aspect of your leadership style to adjust this week, like listening more deeply in 1:1s or admitting your leadership challenges. Track how it feels, what changes you notice, and where to adjust your approach.
I’d love to hear your experiences. Drop a comment below or connect with me directly. Let’s learn from each other’s rides.
Thanks for reading.
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P.s. Curious to learn more about me (or Lancaster)? You can interact with me in multiple ways: join my Maven course to learn how to apply coaching as a product manager, explore my philosophy and speaking on my website, or pick up my book.
