Freedom to be

Author: Maxine Glennerster

  • Cracking the Code: How to Successfully Interview for Leadership Roles in Tech

    Welcome back to Freedom to Be! If you’ve been following along with our “Navigating Your Career with Clarity” series, you know my mission is to empower professional women in tech to not just navigate, but to truly dominate their careers. We’ve already explored “The Shift” from individual contributor to leader and “Building Your Leadership Toolkit” with essential skills like delegation, strategic thinking, and influence.

    Now, it’s time for the ultimate test of those cultivated skills: the leadership interview. Stepping into a product leadership role isn’t just a title change; it’s a fundamental rewire of your responsibilities and impact. Interviewing for these positions, then, isn’t just about proving you can do the job, but that you can lead, enable, and shape the future. Drawing on my years in product leadership and countless hours on both sides of the interview table, I’m here to share what hiring managers are really looking for and how you can showcase your leadership potential to crack the code.

    Beyond the IC Interview: Understanding the Fundamental Shift

    The first step to acing a leadership interview is recognizing it’s a different beast entirely from an individual contributor (IC) interview. As we discussed in “The Shift,” your value transitions from direct output to enabling collective output. This means hiring managers aren’t just assessing your ability to write user stories or analyze data; they’re scrutinizing your capacity to:

    • Define and articulate a compelling vision and strategy.
    • Build, mentor, and empower high-performing teams.
    • Navigate complex organizational dynamics and influence without direct authority.
    • Drive execution through others and measure impact at a portfolio level.
    • Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

    Your interview narratives must reflect this profound shift.

    What Hiring Managers Are Really Looking For: The Core Leadership Pillars

    When I’m interviewing for a leadership role, I’m not just listening to what you did, but how you did it, and more importantly, why and with whom. Here are the key pillars we’re assessing:

    1. Strategic Acumen: The Architect of Vision
      • What we look for: Can you see beyond the immediate task? Do you understand market dynamics, competitive landscapes, and how product strategy ties to overarching business objectives? Can you articulate a compelling North Star and translate it into a strategic roadmap?
      • How to showcase it: Don’t just recount features you built. Explain the strategic problem you were solving, the market opportunity you identified, and the intended business outcome. Discuss trade-offs you made and why. Show you can define the “what” and “why,” not just the “how.”
    2. People Leadership & Empowerment: The Cultivator of Talent
      • What we look for: As outlined in “Building Your Leadership Toolkit,” effective delegation, coaching, mentorship, and creating a safe, accountable environment are paramount. Can you talk about growing your team members, fostering autonomy, and navigating difficult conversations? Do you understand that your success is now tied to your team’s success?
      • How to showcase it: Share stories about mentoring team members, delegating significant responsibilities, resolving team conflicts, or advocating for your team. Describe how you empowered others to succeed and what specific impact their growth had on product outcomes.
    3. Influence & Collaboration (Ecosystem Navigation): The Cross-Functional Maestro
      • What we look for: Product leadership thrives on influence, especially across a complex organizational ecosystem. Can you build strong relationships, align disparate stakeholders (engineering, design, marketing, sales, finance, legal, etc.), and drive consensus without direct authority?
      • How to showcase it: Detail situations where you influenced a critical decision, rallied cross-functional partners around a shared goal, or navigated a particularly challenging stakeholder dynamic. Emphasize how you built trust and communicated effectively to achieve alignment.
    4. Execution & Impact Measurement: The Driver of Results
      • What we look for: Vision without execution is hallucination. We want to see how you move from strategy to tangible results. How do you ensure your product is built, launched, and refined effectively? How do you define and track success? Are you obsessed with outcomes, not just outputs?
      • How to showcase it: Use examples where you drove a product from conception to launch, detailing the agile methodologies you leveraged and the key metrics you tracked (KPIs, North Star Metric). Explain how you used data to make decisions, validate hypotheses, and iterate, similar to the payments ecosystem story from Chapter 6 of my book. Quantify your impact wherever possible (e.g., “increased conversion by X%,” “reduced costs by Y%”).
    5. Ambition, Innovation & Adaptability: The Future-Focused Leader
      • What we look for: Beyond simply executing the current plan, can you identify new opportunities, champion innovative ideas, and adapt when faced with unexpected challenges or market shifts? Are you excited by uncharted territory?
      • How to showcase it: Talk about a time you challenged the status quo, introduced a novel approach, or successfully navigated a significant pivot. Demonstrate your intellectual curiosity and your ability to learn from both successes and failures, fueling continuous improvement and embracing experimentation.

    Showcasing Your Potential: Actionable Interview Tips

    Now that you know what they’re looking for, here’s how to deliver:

    • Master the STAR Method (Situation, Task, Action, Result): Don’t just list achievements. Frame your answers as compelling stories that illustrate your leadership competencies. Focus on your specific actions and the measurable results.
    • Elevate Your Language: Speak in terms of strategy, outcomes, impact, team empowerment, and cross-functional alignment. Avoid sounding like an IC focused solely on features.
    • “I” and “We”: While you’re selling your leadership, acknowledge the team. Use “I led the effort…” or “My team, under my guidance, achieved…” to show you can both drive and enable.
    • Quantify, Quantify, Quantify: Numbers speak volumes. Whenever possible, back up your achievements with data.
    • Ask Strategic Questions: Your questions for the interviewer are a window into your leadership thinking. Ask about team structure, product strategy, key challenges, and how the role contributes to the broader company vision.
    • Research Beyond the Job Description: Understand the company’s market, recent challenges, and strategic priorities. This allows you to tailor your answers and ask more insightful questions.

    Final Thoughts: Confidence Through Clarity

    Interviewing for leadership roles in tech is a demanding but incredibly rewarding process. It requires more than just technical prowess; it demands a clear understanding of your leadership philosophy, your ability to empower others, and your strategic vision. By focusing on these core pillars, practicing your leadership narratives, and demonstrating how you’ve driven impact through others, you’ll not only crack the code but also confidently showcase why you are the leader they’ve been looking for.

    What’s one aspect of leadership interviews you find most challenging, or one piece of advice you’d add? Share your insights in the comments below!

  • Building Your Leadership Toolkit: Essential Skills for Aspiring Product Leaders

    Welcome back to Freedom to Be! Last time, we talked about “The Shift” – that fundamental rewire from an individual contributor (IC) to a Product Leader. It’s a big one, moving from doing to enabling.

    Now, let’s get practical. You’ve got the new title, maybe even a team. But how do you actually lead? This isn’t about memorising frameworks (though they help!). It’s about cultivating a leadership toolkit that empowers not just you, but everyone around you. And at the heart of that toolkit lies a crucial principle: giving your team the freedom to grow.

    For Product Leaders, your toolkit isn’t just about crafting roadmaps; it’s about shaping people and potential. Here are the core competencies you need to cultivate, with a strong focus on empowering your team to thrive.

    1. Masterful Delegation: It’s Not Passing the Buck, It’s Empowering Growth

    When you were an IC Product Manager, you likely prided yourself on getting things done – sometimes, being the bottleneck because you knew the details best. As a leader, that’s a liability. Effective delegation is your new superpower.

    This isn’t about just handing off tasks. It’s about:

    • Understanding Strengths: Knowing your team’s individual strengths and growth areas. Who is ready for that complex stakeholder negotiation? Who needs to lead a discovery phase end-to-end?
    • Clear Context, Not Micromanagement: Provide the what and the why, but resist dictating the how. Define the desired outcome, share the strategic context, and clarify success metrics. Then, let them figure out the path.
    • Delegating Authority, Not Just Tasks: Give them the actual authority to make decisions within their delegated scope. This builds confidence and ownership.
    • Embracing Imperfection (and Learning): They won’t do it exactly like you would, and that’s okay. Sometimes, they’ll make mistakes. Your role is to provide a safety net, guide reflection, and turn those moments into powerful learning opportunities, not reasons to jump in and take over.

    Why this matters: When you empower your team through thoughtful delegation, you unlock their potential, free up your strategic time, and build a resilient, capable product organisation. Micromanagement, on the other hand, stifles innovation, breeds resentment, and ultimately limits your team’s and your own capacity.

    2. Strategic Thinking: Elevating Beyond the Feature

    As an IC PM, your strategic lens might have been focused on your product’s market fit, features, and user problems. As a leader, you must zoom out.

    Your strategic thinking now encompasses:

    • Portfolio Vision: How do your individual products contribute to a larger organisational goal?
    • Market & Competitive Landscape: What are the macro trends, and how should your product strategy evolve?
    • Organisational Capabilities: What talent, processes, and technology do you need to build to execute your vision?
    • Long-Term Impact: Beyond the next sprint, what lasting value are you creating?

    This skill involves synthesising vast amounts of information, identifying patterns, anticipating future challenges, and making tough trade-offs with imperfect information. Crucially, it’s about giving your team a clear, compelling North Star so they can align their efforts and make autonomous decisions.

    3. Influencing Without Direct Authority: The Art of Product Leadership

    You can’t mandate collaboration from Engineering, Design, Sales, or Marketing. As a Product Leader, much of your success hinges on your ability to influence without direct hierarchical authority.

    This requires:

    • Exceptional Communication: Articulating your vision, strategy, and rationale clearly and persuasively. Tailoring your message to different audiences.
    • Active Listening: Genuinely understanding stakeholders’ perspectives, concerns, and objectives.
    • Building Relationships & Trust: Investing in cross-functional partnerships. Being reliable, transparent, and empathetic.
    • Data-Driven Persuasion: Backing your strategic recommendations with evidence, market insights, and customer understanding.
    • Negotiation & Compromise: Finding win-win solutions and navigating conflicting priorities while staying true to the core product vision.

    By mastering influence, you empower your team to achieve their goals by building strong bridges across the organisation, rather than by relying on top-down directives.

    4. Cultivating Your Team: More Than Just Performance Reviews

    Your team is your most valuable asset. As a Product Leader, a key part of your toolkit is fostering their growth, even when you’re not micromanaging.

    This involves:

    • Coaching & Mentorship: Regular one-on-ones focused on their development, not just task updates. Helping them solve their own problems.
    • Feedback as a Gift: Delivering constructive feedback clearly, kindly, and frequently, focused on growth.
    • Creating a Safe Space: Encouraging experimentation, learning from failure, and open communication.
    • Advocacy: Championing your team members for new opportunities, recognition, and resources.

    Giving your team the freedom to own their work and grow is not a hands-off approach; it’s a different kind of hands-on. It’s about nurturing an environment where they feel trusted, challenged, and supported to deliver outstanding product outcomes.

    The journey from IC to Product Leader is continuous. By focusing on empowering your team through effective delegation, cultivating strategic thinking, mastering influence, and genuinely investing in their growth, you’re not just building a stronger toolkit for yourself – you’re building a formidable product organisation.

    What’s one skill you found most challenging (or most rewarding!) to develop when you first stepped into a leadership role? Share your insights below!

  • The Shift: Beyond the Roadmap – What Really Changes When You Step into Product Leadership?

    Welcome back to Freedom to Be! If you caught our series introduction, you know I’m kicking off “Freedom to Be: Your Career Unlocked” – my deep dive into strategically navigating your professional path.

    Today, I’m tackling a pivotal moment many of you Product Managers are either dreaming of, are currently navigating, or are perhaps a little intimidated by: the shift from individual contributor (IC) Product Manager to a Product Leader.

    You’ve excelled as an IC PM. You’re brilliant at writing detailed user stories, analysing market data, crafting compelling PRDs, managing backlogs, and running sprint ceremonies. Your value in delivering features and improving user journeys is clear. But then, the opportunity arises to lead a product team, or even an entire product portfolio. It’s exciting, a validation of your strategic acumen, and a step towards that ultimate freedom to be more.

    Yet, stepping into Product Leadership isn’t just about a new title or a bigger salary. It’s a fundamental rewire of your mindset, your responsibilities, and even how you measure success. I’ve experienced this shift myself, both directly in diverse product leadership roles and through mentoring countless aspiring PM leaders, and I can tell you: it’s rarely what you expect.

    So, what really changes? Let’s unpack it through a Product Management lens.

    1. From “Doing” to “Enabling”: Your New Product North Star

    As an IC Product Manager, your primary value comes from your direct output: identifying customer needs, defining product requirements, prioritizing features, and guiding a specific product or feature area from concept to launch. Your focus is often on executing the roadmap and shipping features.

    As a Product Leader, your value shifts dramatically. Your North Star is no longer your individual output, but the strategic direction, collective output, and growth of your team of Product Managers. Your hands are no longer deep in a single backlog; they’re setting the overarching product vision, coaching your team through complex stakeholder management, negotiating strategic trade-offs, and empowering other Product Managers to truly own and excel in their respective product domains.

    This is arguably the toughest mental hurdle for a PM. You might feel a strong pull to jump in and rewrite that messy PRD, or take over a difficult stakeholder meeting, especially when you know you could solve it faster yourself. Resist that urge. Your new superpower is enabling your team to discover, define, and deliver exceptional products independently. It’s about building scalable product thinking, robust processes, and confident ownership within your organisation.

    2. The Language of Product Leadership: Shifting Your Communication Cadence

    When you’re an IC PM, you primarily communicate about your product’s features, specific user problems, release schedules, and stakeholder updates for your area. You’re detailed and focused on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of your product.

    As a Product Leader, your communication elevates to a different level. You’re now speaking the language of product strategy, market trends, competitive landscape, business outcomes, and the overarching “why.”

    • You’re defining the narrative: You need to articulate the overarching product vision to the executive team, connect individual product initiatives to the broader company goals, and inspire your team with the bigger picture.
    • You’re a cross-functional orchestrator: You’ll translate executive business directives into actionable product strategies for your team, and translate your team’s product needs and market insights up to leadership and across to engineering, design, sales, and marketing.
    • You’re a strategic listener: Active listening becomes paramount. You need to understand market signals, customer pain points at a macro level, and the strategic challenges of your team.
    • You’re leading crucial conversations: Beyond feature discussions, you’re now guiding strategic roadmap planning, mediating cross-product dependencies, and fostering constructive feedback sessions with other PMs.

    This isn’t about being less detail-oriented when necessary, but about broadening your communication toolkit to influence product strategy, motivate your team, and align the entire organisation around a unified product vision that aligns to the business and commercial strategy.

    3. Ownership Beyond Your Product Feature: The Weight of Portfolio Responsibility

    As an IC PM, you owned your specific product features, a particular user journey, or a dedicated product area within a broader portfolio. If a feature launch didn’t go as planned, the impact was typically contained.

    As a Product Leader, you own the overall success and market performance of an entire product line or portfolio, the adoption and retention across multiple products, and how they align to the business outcomes they aimed to deliver. The buck stops with you for the strategic direction and ultimate market success of your product domain. This can feel immense, especially when you’re accountable for revenue targets or market share based on the collective work of multiple PMs.

    This means:

    • You own the market outcomes, not just the releases: You’re responsible for how your products perform in the market, their P&L impact, and their contribution to the company’s strategic goals.
    • You own the product organisation’s culture and morale: A healthy, productive product team environment that fosters innovation and accountability starts with you.
    • You own the product risks: Anticipating and mitigating strategic risks, market shifts, and team challenges becomes a significant part of your role.

    Embrace this expanded responsibility not as a burden, but as an unparalleled opportunity to truly shape product impact at an organisational level.

    4. From Peer to Leader: Navigating Relationships Within the Product Org and Beyond

    This is often one of the trickiest changes for a Product Manager. Your former PM peers, or even your mentors, might now be your direct reports or fellow leaders you’re expected to guide. The dynamic shifts, and you need to acknowledge that.

    • Fairness and impartiality: You must ensure equitable opportunities and treatment for everyone on your team, even if you have a longer history or stronger bond with some.
    • Providing developmental feedback: Delivering constructive feedback to fellow PMs you once collaborated with can be uncomfortable, but it’s essential for their growth and the overall strength of the product organisation.
    • Leading cross-functional alignment: Your role shifts from primarily aligning your product with engineering/design to ensuring consistent product messaging and strategy across your entire product portfolio with sales, marketing, and customer success.

    It’s crucial to be authentic but also to establish yourself as the strategic Product Leader, operating with respect, clarity, and a focus on collective success.

    Embracing the New Product Leader You

    The transition from IC Product Manager to Product Leader is a profound journey, not a destination. It’s filled with continuous learning, strategic challenges, and immense rewards. It’s about shedding the comfort of deep feature execution and embracing the strategic power of enabling and shaping an entire product vision. It’s about expanding your influence beyond your individual product contributions to truly define an organization’s market presence and impact.

    This shift is a profound step towards achieving your freedom to be an impactful, confident Product Leader who inspires teams and redefines markets.

    In our next post, we’ll dive into “Building Your Product Leadership Toolkit: Essential Skills for Aspiring Product Leaders,” offering practical advice on the specific competencies you’ll need to cultivate for this critical role.

    What was the biggest mindset shift or unexpected challenge you faced when you first stepped into a Product Leadership role (or what do you anticipate it might be)? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

  • Welcome to “Freedom to Be: Navigating your Career with Clarity” – Your Guide to Strategic Growth

    Hey there, and welcome back to Freedom to Be! If you’ve been following along, you know my mission is to empower professional women like you to live your potential, both in your thriving careers and through smart, genuine entrepreneurial ventures.

    Today, I’m absolutely thrilled to introduce the first pillar of our journey together: a brand new blog series titled “Navigating Your Career with Clarity.”

    In the exciting (and sometimes overwhelming) world of professional careers, especially within the dynamic tech landscape, it’s easy to feel like you’re just reacting to opportunities rather than strategically building the career you truly desire. Whether you’re an individual contributor looking to make your mark, or you’re setting your sights on leadership roles, one thing is clear: clarity is your superpower.

    From my years in product leadership, working across Big 4 consultancies and scaling tech startups in Financial Services, I’ve seen firsthand what it takes to not just survive, but to thrive and lead with confidence. I’ve also had the privilege of mentoring incredible team members, especially women, who are eager to elevate their impact. This series is born from those experiences – a desire to share the practical insights, actionable strategies, and real-world advice I’ve gathered to help you navigate your professional path with purpose and confidence.

    No more second-guessing, no more feeling stuck. It’s time to equip you with the tools and confidence to sculpt a career that truly reflects your ambitions and potential.

    What We’ll Be Exploring in This Series:

    Over the coming weeks, I’ll dive deep into two key areas, designed to give you both the strategic roadmap and the essential skills for career advancement:

    1. From IC to Leader: Demystifying the Path to Product Leadership

    This segment is for every professional woman who’s ever wondered what it truly takes to step into a leadership role, particularly in the fast-paced world of tech and product. I’ll pull back the curtain on:

    • The Shift: What Changes When You Go from Individual Contributor to Leader? Beyond the title, I’ll explore the crucial mindset shifts, new responsibilities, and common challenges you’ll encounter.
    • Building Your Leadership Toolkit: Essential Skills for Aspiring Product Leaders. I’ll break down the core competencies you need to cultivate, from effective delegation to strategic thinking and influencing without direct authority.
    • Cracking the Code: How to Successfully Interview for Leadership Roles in Tech. Drawing on my experience, I’ll share insights into what hiring managers are really looking for and how to showcase your leadership potential.
    • Navigating Office Politics: Strategies for Women in Tech Leadership. Let’s be real – the professional landscape isn’t always straightforward or geared towards women succeeding. I’ll discuss practical approaches to building alliances, communicating effectively, and advocating for yourself in complex environments.

    2. Beyond the Job Description: Unlocking Your Career Potential

    But career clarity isn’t just about leadership titles; it’s about owning your entire professional narrative. This part of the series will help you cultivate a proactive approach to your growth, no matter where you are in your journey:

    • Crafting Your Career Vision: Where Do You Want to Be in 3-5 Years? I’ll guide you through setting meaningful goals and defining success on your own terms, moving beyond simply reacting to opportunities.
    • The Power of Mentorship: Finding and Maximising Your Mentor Relationships. Learn how to identify, approach, and truly leverage the wisdom of experienced mentors – something that has been invaluable in my own journey.
    • Feedback is a Gift: How to Give, Receive, and Act on Constructive Criticism. Feedback is a cornerstone of growth. I’ll explore how to make it a powerful tool for your development.
    • Building Your Brand: Why Personal Branding is Crucial for Career Growth. Discover how cultivating your professional identity, both online and off, can open doors and elevate your influence.

    My aim with “Navigating Your Career with Clarity” is to arm you with practical, implementable advice that you can apply immediately. This isn’t just theory; it’s forged from years in the trenches of product development and leadership, designed to help you gain the clarity and confidence to shape your professional path.

    So, get ready to define your ambitions, hone your skills, and take charge of your career trajectory. I’m excited to embark on this journey with you.

    What’s one question you have about navigating your career right now? Share it in the comments below – your question might just inspire a future post!

    Stay tuned for our first deep dive!