Product Leadership Coaching
Help a product manager grow while the executive team builds a better way to make product decisions together.
When this helps
The CEO, COO, or CTO is still carrying product. There may be one product manager—or no clear product owner—and decisions keep flowing back to the executive team. I coach the person doing the product work and the leaders around them, so both sides get better at the conversations the job requires.
What we work on
Coaching for the product manager on discovery, prioritization, stakeholder conversations, and judgment.
Coaching for the executive team on context, decision rights, and how to challenge the work without taking it back over.
Practical habits the team can keep using: customer conversations, planning, product reviews, retrospectives, and decision records.
Clearer expectations for the role and the support or ownership still missing.
How the engagement works
The starting structure is an eight-week engagement:
A weekly one-to-one session with the product person.
An every-other-week session with the CEO, COO, or CTO sponsoring the work.
Two joint working sessions with the product person and executive sponsor.
Review of product plans, discovery work, or stakeholder conversations as they happen.
A final assessment of progress, remaining gaps, and the operating habits the team will keep using.
What changes
The individual grows. The leadership team stops being the default product function. And the team builds the muscle to have the hard conversations without needing a coach in the room.
Evidence from the work
Across 263 mentoring sessions, 8,490 minutes, and people in 20 countries, the pattern is consistent: better product work starts with better questions, clearer expectations, and a team that can work through the mess together.
“Don was great to work with! He’s extremely approachable, and I felt really comfortable during our session asking questions and seeking feedback.”
Will Anderson, Sr. Product Manager, Xometry
“Meeting with Don is extremely informational and constructive every session. He always dives into info and has examples and past use cases for a multitude of areas in product management!”
Zachery Kuykendall, Head of Product, Mynd
