No Authority? No Problem. Six Tactics for Leading With Influence

15+ years ago, I sat in a small windowless room and tried to convince a bunch of hyper-smart startup people to give me a shot at being a first-time rookie PM despite zero PM experience whatsoever. Eventually, the CEO showed up to have a brief chat, usually a sign that I had successfully tricked the interviewers into looking past my many shortcomings (lack of experience being only the most obvious one) and made it to the final decision maker. Undoubtedly noticing the Computer Science degree and the 2 years of Engineering experience on the resume, the CEO said — “By the way, PMs here have to lead from a place of influence since they have no authority, and in this company Engineers frequently call the shots. Are you sure you don’t want to interview for an Eng role?”. I politely demurred and mumbled my assent at the need for influence, trying to keep my impostor syndrome from bursting onto the surface. Somehow, I got myself hired, learned about influence and went on to have a successful 4 year run in the role. <a href="https://medium.com/@saumil/no-authority-no-problem-six-tactics-for-leading-with-influence-a2afa52c13c8">Read More</a>