Best Product Management Quotes by Industry Leaders in 2021

Introduction

In this article let us look into Best Product Management Quotes by Industry Leaders. The world we live in today is more material than ever, more man-made than it has ever been. We live with possessions that are products that someone else designed, engineered, and sold. Literally, everything that we depend on today is a product in the market place. From that perspective, product management is a critical area of life in general. All product manufacturers have a team dedicated to product management, looking at ways to stand out in the market, eliminate the competition, reach out to many customers, appeal to the majority, and create a brand that stands the test of time. 

 Successful entrepreneurs who have engineered their way into our lives with seemingly everlasting brands that refuse to fade away, thus are pioneers in product management. They have lived several challenges, brought in countless innovations, driven people to reach a product goal, and perfected the art of attracting and retaining customers.

Quotes from these well-known personalities reflect in many ways learning that they have taken along the way to success. These pearls of wisdom get stuck into the minds of those who want to make it big by following in their footsteps. Product development is an important part of such successful and serial entrepreneurs. Some of these power quotes inspire a whole generation and maybe more to pull through and make it big themselves.

Product management can be an involved and stressful seat to fill. Challenges include interfacing with multiple teams, coordinating resources, time, release schedules, maximizing customer satisfaction, the list goes on. You need these quotes to keep that drive going, be optimistic even when the chips are down, hold on and figure out the way forward out of a logjam or impasse.

Product Management Quotes that turned out to be Legendary

Let’s look at Product Management quotes that over the years have achieved legendary status. Words that give you direction, purpose, inspiring you, through your journey. While many quotes are straightforward, a line about how it is important in the context of product management is added.

1. “If you don’t invest in the future and don’t plant for the future, there won’t be one”.

-George Buckley. Sir George William Buckley is a British businessman, chairman, president, and CEO of 3M. This Product Management quote is relevant in product management for its take on vision. Plan and invest now in what you need to do in the future.

2. “Roadmaps are evidence of strategy.  Not a list of features”. – Steve Johnson. Steve is president and COO of Vidyard, a video intelligence platform for business. A Product Management quote that highlights the importance of roadmaps in the product development and management journey.

3. “Be stubborn on vision but flexible on details”. – Jeff Bezos. Jeff is famously the founder, CEO, and president of Amazon, a multinational giant that needs no introduction. This Product Management quote highlights the importance of a vision that a business leader must possess and nurture through the entire product lifecycle.

4. “The essence of strategy is choosing what no to do”. – Michael Porterer. Michael is a Harvard University professor and known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. A Product Management quote that reminds you, how important is it to not digress too much from the product goal and stay focused on what needs to be done.

5. “The value is in what gets used, not what gets built”. – Kris Gale. Kris is known for his Yammer stint and his skills in building and scaling engineering teams. An important reminder to product teams to retain the value of the product, its usefulness, nothing more.

6. “Any damn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple”.  – Pete Seeger. Pete is a product director at Docusign. Product development can get complex, depending on the requirements and the problem your product is out to solve. Product management should be able to look at the most complex requirements and development strategies and simplify them enough to be able to execute effectively and efficiently.

7. “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas”. – Steve Jobs. Steve needs no introduction here, but for academic purposes, he was the founder CEO of Apple Inc. Steve here is obviously referring to being choosy by prioritizing.

8. “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities”. – Stephen Covey- Author of the very popular 7 habits of highly effective people. 

9. “The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them”. – Carlos Ghosn. Carlos is a Nissan Ex-CEO. The line puts the role of leadership in very simple terms.

10. “The only way to win is to learn faster than everyone else”. – Eric Reis. Eric is an author, blogger, and entrepreneur. A thought that inspires and drives to stay ahead in the market place.

11. “A great product manager has the brain of an engineer, the heart of a designer, and the speech of a diplomat”. – Deep Nishar. Deep is a former VP of product and user experience at LinkedIn. He is also product strategist, investor and entrepreneur.

12. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. – Bill Gates. Bill is famously known as one of the wealthiest in the world and co-founder of Microsoft. Product management is also about learning from past feedback and improve on the next iteration in product development.

13. “Don’t make a better [x], make a better [user of x]” – Kathy Sierra. Kathy is an American game developer. Product development is nothing without an intuitive user experience.

14. “Feedback is the breakfast of champions”. -Ken Blanchard. Ken is a celebrated American author, business consultant, and motivational speaker. 

15. “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”. – Winston Churchill. Product management requires you to be persevering with end product in mind, in spite of failures.

16. “Edison failed 10,000 times before he made the electric light. Do not be discouraged if you fail a few times”. – Napoleon Hill- Renowned American self-help author. Napoleon is again trying to extoll the virtues of perseverance in the face of all failures.

17. “It is your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude”. – Zig Ziglar – American author, salesman, and motivational speaker. For all the aptitude you have, if you lack the right attitude, you seldom achieve much.

18. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it”. –  Lou Holtz. Lou Holtz is a former American football player, coach, and analyst.

Conclusion

Quotations reflect in many ways, the thought process of many a legend. It’s amazing, how a few lines give you a peek at the attitude of personalities that have become legends of this era, and how these few lines perfectly complement their persona.

Now that you have got your dose of inspiration. Go ahead, keep at it. Let the force be with you

Interested to learn all about Product Management from the best minds in the industry? Check out our Product Management Course. This 6-month-long program takes place online through live instructor-led sessions. It is the only program in India that offers the ‘Bring Your Own Product (BYOP)’ feature so that learners can build their product idea into a full-blown product, and go through an entire Product Development lifecycle. Not only this, but this is the only program in India with a curriculum that conforms to the 5i Framework. Post completion, learners receive a joint certification from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, and Jigsaw Academy.

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