What is Product Leadership Coaching?
A guide to my journey as a product coach, whether you're looking to hire one or aspire to become one yourself.
In March 2023, as I was stepping into product coaching, I stumbled upon a timely article by Marty Cagan titled "Becoming a Product Coach." It was the resource I needed at that moment and it helped ground me into my soloprenuership journey.
Over a year and a half later, now feels like a good time to share my perspective on what I do as a Product Leadership Coach. It’s taken me some time to find my groove - my niche, my ideal client, the work I love most. Now, I’m eager to pay it forward to others curious about what this work entails. I also selfishly hope this helps my parents understand what I do all day.
DISCLAIMER: This perspective is mine. It may look different for different coaches. If yours differs, I’d love to hear about it! Drop me a comment.
So, what is Product Coaching?
Coaching is an ambiguous, unregulated space that’s come under a ton of scrutiny this summer (life coaching and therapists turned coaches, both covered in The New York Times). It’s why I invested so much of my past year building a coaching community - to help other coaches navigate getting started - and invested in my own coaching and development. Aside from honing my coaching practice, I’ve learned a lot about starting a business (which you can read more about here and here).
In his article, Marty describes a Product Coach as:
“Someone who has walked the path of a product leader, someone who has experienced the highs and lows of product management and can now guide others through similar challenges. A product coach helps leaders develop the skills they need to be effective in their roles, whether that’s strategic thinking, stakeholder management, or building and leading teams.”
He further breaks down Product Coaching into 4 categories:
Discovery coaches
Leadership coaches
Transformation coaches
Other coaches, i.e. Agile coaches
I’m going to dive deep into the second category, since that’s the majority of my work. While I get the opportunity to coach on discovery, transformation and agile practices, my work can best be described as Product Leadership Coaching.
So, what is Product Leadership Coaching?
I often tell people that hiring a Product Leadership Coach is like getting executive coaching with an insider's edge. I bring a deep understanding of the product world to our coaching sessions because I've been in the trenches myself:
A leadership coach can help you with stakeholder management … but as a Product Coach, I understand the nuances of answering to teams outside of product, like sales and brand. Because I’ve built complex ad products with an international sales team at SoundCloud.
A leadership coach can manage trade offs … but as a Product Coach, I’m empathetic to the engineering team. Because I’ve played the product role in a move from a monolith to a micro services architecture at Audible.
A leadership coach might help you stay focused under pressure…but as a Product Coach, I understand the importance of thoughtful, incremental development. Because I launched a pre-announced product in 30 days at Spotify.
A common language and deeper empathy for the product team goes a long way in coaching someone into change, power and success.
So, what Does Product Leadership Coaching Look Like in Practice?
My clients
I typically work with product leaders who find themselves in one of the following scenarios:
New to a Job
These leaders are navigating the early days in a new role, establishing their presence, and setting the right tone. There’s a ton of pressure to deliver value ASAP. And since the first 6 months of a new role is painful as hell, having a thought partner can take the pressure and loneliness out of the experience. I help product leaders clean up teams, process and everything in between.
Newly Promoted
These leaders have often earned bigger roles and are stepping into more scope. Sometimes, they’re shifting from individual contribution to team management. Other times they’re going bigger - from managing product to product, design & engineering. Again, its a large leap to make on their own.
Often in these two types of scenarios, clients will bring me their teams, and I get the chance to work on developing product teams holistically. When I’m really lucky, I get to engage with the entire product development team, including design, engineering, and product. This is the best case scenario because real change happens when you look at the whole system.
New Life Stage
Many of my clients are navigating new life stages, like moving to a new city or becoming parents. These leaders have really clear boundaries - which often makes our work easier - and need to drive value in an efficient, focused way. I’ve written more about this client here.
My work often veers into career coaching as well…
Stagnant in a Role
These clients are often feeling stuck. They’ve been at a company for awhile, they’ve lost touch with their love of product and they need a fresh perspective. Much of our work is about rooting back into what they loved about product and figuring out if reigniting that work or pivoting makes sense. My job isn’t to tell people what to do but to hold a mirror up to them so they can make the right choice for themself.
Unemployed
And of course, I work with many folks actively on the job hunt. These folks have often been headhunted in the past and have not interviewed in years. They haven’t had to speak to a recruiter, hiring manager or do a product case study interview. I help these clients with career visioning and planning. Not just finding a job, but a role that meets them at the life stage, ambitious, passions etc.
How I Spend My Day
I’m fortunate to be a self-starter who thrives on creating structure out of chaos. Without this ability, my work as a solopreneur would be nearly impossible.
Here’s what a typical day for me looks like this:
Mornings
Me Time: I kick off my day with some movement, elements and if I’m lucky its both. I live by the belief that, the only thing you can control is your mornings. If I get fresh air, exercise and a breakfast in my kitchen away from my work email1, I show up 10x better throughout my day.
Coaching Calls: I spend my mornings in coaching sessions with clients. I prefer mornings because I find that clients have more expansiveness and less clutter at the start of the day. I’ve also observed how timing matters in hosting Product Leadership Breakfasts. The optimism of a coffee infused morning vs. a happy “sorrow” hour, drowning away the day that happened, creates more connection, authenticity and possibility.
Afternoons
Heads Down Time: I prefer large windows of time to spend doing solo work rather than squeezing it in between meetings. I spend the majority of my heads down time:
Writing my Substack, LinkedIn, and other sales and marketing materials.
Reading and conducting research to stay informed about what other coaches are doing and where my clients might need more support.
Developing my business strategy including my own product suite as well as other projects I run like Coaching Corner and Product Leadership Breakfast.
I’m often rolling up my sleeves and offering tactical feedback on vision, strategy, and team docs that clients need another set of eyes on. I love this work because it brings me back to my work as a product manager.
Water cooler time: If I’m not feeling like working, which happens, I love putting myself in situations to meet other people and have water cooler talk at my co working space, Fabrik. It’s led to:
Developing a new coaching program for my coaching business.
Running events like a group discussion around friendship or a “get out the vote” event for election season.
Countless collaboration opportunities - like podcasts, cohosted events, etc.
Evenings
I unplug by 5pm. If I’m in groove, I run with it. 🎹
Things I Don’t Do As a Product Leadership Coach
Tactical Interview Prep: While I do take on a select number of leaders looking for tactical interview support, I prefer to focus on career visioning and planning, where I feel I can offer the richest support.
Working with New/Early PMs: I no longer work with new or early product managers, as my focus is on helping more seasoned leaders.
In both of these scenarios, I refer out to coaches who are a better fit for the client.
Additional Resources
I hope this was helpful! I know it would have been extremely helpful for me when I started, just like Marty’s article was. Here’s some additional resources I can offer…
Check out my talk, Unlock Your Product Potential, for insights into my journey as a Product Leadership Coach.
Subscribe to my Substack below - I regularly share tips and strategies that I use in my coaching sessions.
If you’re a coach interested in getting support, consider joining my community, Coaching Corner.
Product Leadership Coaching is about more than just giving advice—it’s about walking alongside leaders as they navigate the complexities of their roles, offering guidance, and helping them unlock their full potential. If you’re curious about how I can support you or your team, let’s connect!
If you’re eager to meet other leaders in New York - come to a breakfast.
And if you’re eager to get a peer group of support, check out something new I’m launching this Fall.
This time is dedicated to conquering the morning Wordle, Connections, Mini & Mon-Weds NYT Crossword.