Bar-Raising Product Management: Influencing without authority with Sean Donahoe

As a Technical Product Manager, also known as a Product Manager-Technical (PMT) at Amazon, you understand that leadership isn’t limited to those with direct reports. The ability to influence without direct authority is a skill that can significantly impact your contributions, achievement, and career trajectory.

Throughout the product management industry, the most impactful professionals are those who can drive change and alignment across teams, even without formal authority. In this article - the second in our Bar Raising Product Management series - Sean Donahoe, Director of Publisher Technology at Amazon Ads, shares practical strategies to help you develop this capability.

The role of a PMT has evolved significantly over the years. While technical expertise remains crucial, the ability to influence and align diverse stakeholders has become equally important. As Sean points out, "Even as a Single-Threaded Owner, you are highly reliant on a wide number of teams. You still have to work with sales, legal, marketing, and all these partner groups."

This reality underscores the need for PMTs to develop robust influencing skills, regardless of their position in the organizational hierarchy. Sean states, “At Amazon, many of our Senior and Principal PMTs are individual contributors, which allows them to focus entirely on delivering customer-obsessed products. We recognize that product managers sometimes face challenges in driving initiatives forward without formal authority, but we believe it presents an opportunity to develop crucial leadership skills.”

Influencing without authority is about leveraging your expertise, relationships, and communication skills to drive change and alignment. It's about understanding the motivations and needs of your stakeholders, crafting a compelling vision, and building trust to inspire others to support your initiatives.

By honing your influencing skills, you can:

• Accelerate the delivery of your product road map by aligning cross-functional teams
• Secure the resources and buy-in needed to turn your ideas into reality
• Position yourself as a strategic contributor, even without direct reports
• Enhance your credibility and reputation in the organization

So how can you become more effective at influencing without authority? Here are Sean’s proven strategies that he’s honed over more than a decade at Amazon:

• Build trust and relationships.
  Earning trust is the foundation of effective influence, and Sean emphasizes the need to become “partner-obsessed.” He says, “Take the time to understand your stakeholders, their priorities, and the challenges they face. Sometimes these relationships take months or even years to build." Success in earning trust involves deep empathy and a willingness to learn about your partners as well as understanding their world views and personal motivations; in this way, you can appreciate their approach to different situations, even if it doesn’t align with yours. Sean advises building trust “before any conflict arises.”
  
  Along with building deep relationships is the need to build many relationships. One tactic Sean recommends is the stakeholder mapping technique. “Map out not just your primary stakeholder but all the people around them—their manager, peers, and direct reports. Make sure you also take these people on the journey. Tailor your approach and messaging for each individual on the map.”
• Craft a compelling vision.
  Carefully craft the long-term direction and strategy for your products to create a clear, compelling vision that resonates with your stakeholders from the outset and in the long term. Sean states that a winning vision should “align with broader organizational goals and use storytelling techniques to make it memorable.” He also advises that the vision needs to be consistently communicated across various forums, “so further down the line when you need to influence them, they already have this vision embedded in their brains, their culture, and their own road maps.”
• Use mental models.
  Mental models are simplified explanations of how things work. They shape our view of reality, our beliefs and attitudes, and the way we engage with the world around us. Every organization has its own mental models to support how it operates; at Amazon, one of our key mental models, or frameworks, is our Day 1 culture. To keep everyone on the same page, Sean advocates familiarizing yourself with organizational frameworks and applying them strategically in your interactions where you need to influence. “Use them as a common language to align with your stakeholders.”
• Leverage continuous alignment mechanisms.
  "Maintaining long-term alignment can be challenging. Use various mechanisms to keep your stakeholders continuously engaged and on the same page.” Sean recommends establishing clear tenets for your projects, setting up regular alignment meetings, and using data and metrics to objectively track progress and maintain buy-in. He also advises that the Amazon Leadership Principles can be used to support these conversations. These principles are central to how we work at Amazon but can have value in any organization.
• Master the art of escalation.
  Finally, knowing when and how to escalate issues is a crucial skill for PMTs at all levels. Sean advises approaching escalation with a problem-solving mindset rather than as a last resort. “Clearly identify the root cause of misalignment, prepare a concise summary of the issue, and present options for resolution, not just the issues.”

As you hone these influencing skills, you may find that your role evolves from being a PMT to a trusted advisor throughout your organization. Your stakeholders will come to rely on your expertise, your ability to navigate complex challenges, and your commitment to driving meaningful outcomes.

This shift in perception can open new opportunities for you to contribute at a strategic level, expand your sphere of influence, and ultimately to support the success of your products and the broader business.

As we’ve discussed in this article, influencing without authority is a key skill for all PMTs. As Sean Donahoe emphasizes, "By developing your ability to influence, you can unlock the capacity to drive change, align cross-functional teams, and deliver exceptional results, even in the absence of formal leadership."

Our next Bar-Raising Product Management article will explore building a product strategy.