Let's talk about the phrase that's killing our credibility: "We need to become product-led."
I've watched countless product leaders march into boardrooms, armed with the latest books and industry benchmarks, preaching the gospel of becoming "product-led." And I've watched just as many CEOs' eyes glaze over, CMOs get defensive, and CTOs roll their eyes.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: The language we use matters, and "product-led" is setting us up to fail.
The Problem with "Product-Led"
We know what we mean when we say "product-led." We're talking about being customer-centric, iterative, and data-driven. We're talking about empowered teams making fast decisions based on user feedback. We're talking about a whole product operating model that puts continuous discovery and delivery at its heart.
But here's what everyone else hears: "Product wants to be the boss."
And can you blame them? When you walk into a room and say the company should be "product-led," you're literally saying product should lead. Your sales team, who've been crushing quotas for years, hear that they should now follow product's lead. Your marketing team, who deeply understand customer psychology and messaging, hear that product knows better. Your engineering team, who've been keeping the lights on while you were in another user interview, hear that their technical expertise comes second.
You've just put everyone on the defensive before the real conversation has even started.
When Things Go Wrong (And They Will)
Here's the kicker: when you've positioned yourself as the function that should "lead" the company, guess who gets the blame when anything goes wrong?
That feature that didn't move the needle? Product's fault – after all, we're "product-led." That sprint that went sideways? Product's fault. That customer who churned? Product's fault.
No product org in the world has a 100% success rate. We all know this. We preach failing fast and learning. But when you've set yourself up as the leader, every failure becomes ammunition against the entire "product-led" philosophy.
I've seen it happen too many times. A product leader finally gets buy-in to become "product-led," restructures the org, changes processes... and then the first big bet doesn't pan out. Suddenly, the CEO is questioning everything, the board is nervous, and other departments are whispering, "I told you so."
The blame game is rigged from the start. You wanted to lead? Congratulations, you own every failure.
The Framework Trap
"Product-led" is just the latest in our long obsession with frameworks and methodologies that alienate everyone outside our circle.
Remember when everything had to be "Agile"? Or "Lean"? Or "Design Thinking"? Inside our circles, throwing around terms like "dual-track discovery" or "jobs-to-be-done" is efficient shorthand. We all nod knowingly.
But here's what we forget: jargon is a wall, not a bridge.
When you walk into a board meeting talking about becoming "product-led" or implementing "continuous discovery," you might as well be speaking Klingon. You're not inviting collaboration – you're signalling that you're part of an exclusive club that others aren't invited to join.
Worse, we get so obsessed with perfect implementation of these frameworks that we lose sight of the principles behind them. I've watched teams spend months debating whether they're "doing Agile right" instead of asking whether they're delivering value to customers. I've seen product orgs create elaborate "product-led" process playbooks while their core product is failing.
The frameworks become the goal, not the means.
Your CEO doesn't care if you're "product-led", "sales-led", "customer-led", or whatever the latest article is promoting. They care about growth, retention, profitability, and competitive advantage. They care about making good decisions quickly. They care about not getting blindsided by the market.
And that's exactly what being strategic gives you – without the jargon, without the framework wars, without the religious debates about methodology.
The Better Way: Become Strategic
In today's bottom-line-focused, impact-obsessed market, there's a better framing. One that gets you everything you want from being "product-led" without the political baggage: becoming strategic.
As I wrote in "Your Strategy Probably Sucks", strategy is about making choices – tough choices about what you're going to do (and crucially, what you're not going to do) to achieve your vision. It's about understanding your customers deeply, being honest about where you are today, and making focused bets on the future.
Sound familiar? That's because being truly strategic requires all the things we associate with being "product-led":
Customer obsession? You can't craft strategy without starting with the customer. As I emphasise in my strategy post, everything begins with getting out of the building and understanding your market.
Data-driven decisions? Strategic thinking demands honest assessment and evidence. You need to know what's working, what's not, and why.
Iterative approach? Strategy isn't set in stone. It's a constantly evolving playbook that requires regular check-ins and course corrections based on what you learn.
Focus on outcomes over outputs? Strategy is literally about making choices to achieve specific outcomes, not just shipping features.
Cross-functional collaboration? This is the best bit - you can't set strategy in a vacuum. Real strategy requires every department to work together toward coherent, mutually reinforcing goals.
To be strategic is simply to be proactive, not reactive. It's taking control of your destiny rather than letting the market, competitors, or loudest stakeholder dictate your roadmap.
The beauty is that when you frame it as "becoming more strategic," suddenly everyone wants in. Sales wants to be strategic about their accounts. Marketing wants to be strategic about campaigns. Engineering wants to be strategic about architecture. You're not threatening anyone's turf – you're elevating everyone's game.
Stop Waiting for Permission
Here's another crucial point: you don't need to wait for the org to become "product-led" to start being strategic. As I explored in "Stop Waiting for Permission: How to Be Strategic at Any Level", strategy is a muscle, not a skill. You can start exercising it right where you sit.
Can't get your CEO to articulate a clear strategy? Use principles to drive decisions from the bottom up. Every trade-off you've already made, every debate you've had – these can be articulated into principles that reflect strategic thinking and help shape future decisions.
Not sure where to start being strategic? Try these approaches:
- Play "This or That": Force strategic choices by asking leaders to choose between trade-offs. New user acquisition or retention? Growth or profitability? These forced choices reveal strategic priorities without ever using the word "strategy."
- Ask Why (Five Times): Move up the decision stack from solution to opportunity to objective to strategy. This classic technique isn't just for root cause analysis – it's strategic thinking in action.
- Think 10x, Not 10%: What would have to be true to achieve 10x the impact? This forces you out of incremental thinking and into strategic territory.
- Focus on Problems, Not Features: Stop talking about what you're building and start talking about what problems you're solving and why they matter to the business.
The Language of Leadership
When you stop trying to make the company "product-led" and start working to make it "strategic," something magical happens. You're no longer the product person complaining about a lack of influence. You're the strategic thinker helping the company make better decisions.
You're not asking for permission to lead. You're demonstrating leadership through strategic thinking.
You're not putting other functions on the defensive. You're inviting them to be strategic partners.
And when things don't go perfectly (because they never do), you're not the failed leader of a "product-led" transformation. You're part of a strategic team that's learning and adapting.
Show, Don't Tell
But here's the real secret: the most powerful thing you can do is stop talking about it altogether.
Stop arguing about whether you're product-led or sales-led. Stop evangelising frameworks. Stop trying to convert people to your methodology. Just... do the work.
Be relentlessly customer-focused, and bring the customer's voice into every conversation – with video clips, quotes, and data.
Be evidence-driven, and show up to every meeting with insights, not opinions.
Be outcome-obsessed, and track what actually matters – not story points or velocity, but customer retention, revenue impact, and market share.
Actions speak louder than any framework ever could. When you consistently show up with deep customer insights that change the conversation, nobody cares what you call your methodology. When you predict market shifts before they happen because you're talking to users every week, executives stop questioning your approach. When your bets consistently pay off because they're grounded in evidence rather than ego, you don't need to argue for a "product-led" culture.
You've already created one.
I've seen quiet product managers transform entire organisations not by preaching product-led gospel, but by consistently bringing receipts. They don't argue for user research budgets – they show what happened when they spoke to 5 customers and uncovered a $5M opportunity. They don't debate the merits of iterative development – they ship small, learn fast, and course-correct before competitors even notice the market has shifted.
The most successful product leaders I know rarely talk about being "product-led." They're too busy actually leading through their work.
The Bottom Line
Yes, we need organisations that are customer-centric, iterative, data-driven, and empowered. We need the practices and principles that the "product-led" movement champions.
But we don't need the terminology that makes us sound like we're staging a coup.
In a world where every company is fighting for survival, growth, and differentiation, "strategic" beats "product-led" every time. It's inclusive rather than exclusive. It's about collective success rather than functional dominance. And most importantly, it's something every CEO, board member, and department head already knows they need.
So stop fighting to become "product-led." Start demonstrating strategic thinking. Make the tough choices. Focus relentlessly on what matters. Bring others along on the journey.
The revolution you want is still possible. You just need better marketing for it.
And if that's not strategic thinking, I don't know what is.