This post was mentioned on Twitter by StewartRogers: [blog post] Authority vs. Influence http://budurl.com/d6mb #prodmgmt…

“To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.”
Margaret Thatcher

“To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.”
Margaret Thatcher

Fundamental to leadership is enablement. I.e., the best leaders are those who empower and enable others. Leaders provide people with tools, process, information, cultivation of their strengths, and even emotional support.

But there is another critical ingredient to enablement. Great leaders themselves need enablement. It sounds romantic to assume that leaders singlehandedly pull themselves up by their bootstraps and overcome all obstacles. The reality is that leaders excel when they are empowered with the same types of ingredients they provide to the people they lead.

Thus it really has nothing to do with authority or management as some sort of formal, carrot-and-stick power. It has everything to do with a corporate environment that enables product managers to lead. When executives don't understand product management, when they don't understand that the typical departmental structure serves as an obstacle to effective product management, product managers are not enabled.