AMA: Atlassian Head of Product, Enterprise Agility, Natalia Baryshnikova on Influencing the C-Suite

You will need both EQ and data. More importantly, to influence data-driven execs (which, arguably, all execs are) you will need to help expand their view of the world by adding depth of understanding in your product/business area, additional layers of context that execs may not be aware of, and your ability to create clear and actionable plans with measurable results. My recommendation is not to think of EQ as a "counteract" to being data-driven, but rather use data, storytelling and clarity/depth of context to help execs expand their understanding, which ultimately may influence their viewpoints.

3 most common pitfalls I see are: 1. Not simple enough 2. Not investing into understanding broader context (outside of one's product area) 3. Wrong words-to-numbers ratio Lack of simplicity is the most common out of these, and it usually manifests itself in long sentences, using jargon and vague words to describe specific (e.g. "solid" results). A good rule of thumb when presenting to C-suite is imagining an exec from a completely different field reading/listening to you. Would a sales leader understand your points without aide, and quickly? If the answer is no, rewrite. Bonus point: always add TL;DR or main point upfront, and then expand into the details. Broader context, and specifically, being aware and considerate of needs, risks and opportunities outside of your product area is another common challenge. No matter how deep of an expertise you have in your immediate material, if you fail to show your awareness and consideration of the company's entire business, amd ability to seek global optimization, it will hold you back from convincing C-suite. Lastly, words-to-numbers ratio is a tricky one and often it gets people who are particularly passionate about the topic they are presenting on. They want to tell a story with all the juicy details (whether it's in words or numbers) and bring a barrage of lengthy descriptions or data that does not contribute to the point of the story. Two things to consider are: * About 1 out of 3 sentences in your writing/presentation needs to contain a number. More numbers, and it turns your story into a spreadsheet. Fewer numbers, and the story becomes too vague. 1:3 is not a perfect ratio, but using it will force you to evaluate whether your ratio feels right. * If you were to communicate your point in only 3-4 numbers, what would they be? Are they prominently positioned in your comms? Are the getting lost among other numbers?

1. You need to educate the execs on those several directions. Often, folks assume that execs know (or remember) about those different directions. Be very clear and keep an ongoing education about the context of your situation - it is a part of your role to provide people with the right context and then remind them of it. A part of this is learning to say "no" to execs, which is an answer they are absolutely willing to hear - with a good justification, which describing the context often provides. 2. You often may think of your ability to focus as something you need to earn, not take for granted. In the context of the overall business complexity, execs often want "more and faster", so your path to getting the desired focus needs to lie through showing them that getting that focus will deliver results faster, and have a great impact on business. To do that, you need a clear plan that justifies your area of focus (and has specifics about what the impact is going to be).

Communicate on topics that matter to the executives through the comms channels that scale. For example, you can write your thoughts (but remember to bring specifics/numbers/exact plans) about topics that have a great impact on your product area or business overall. Are you as a product line/business not doing something that you think you should be doing? Write about it (long form is better, but keep it simple) and share it with the organization. Executives are always on the lookout for risks and opportunities around the business, and helping them uncover those is a great way to do the right thing for your organization and get heard

By bringing clear plans, having a track record of driving results, and not being known as a person who asks for resources to "build an empire". - I expanded on what a "clear plan" means in other answers to this AMA. To recap, it is a plan that is driven by global optimization, is data-aware, actionable and specific about results that will be achieved through execution on this plan. - Having a track record of hitting goals and driving results in the past helps, but it is not a must for junior folks or folks who are new. Double down on the quality of the plan if that is you. - It's incredibly common to ask for more people/money without a good justification, or asking for more resources that are truly needed. Don't do it - folks will read through that.

To resolve this situation, you need to: 1. Establish who is the decision maker (it can't be two people) 2. Summarize conflicting points of view and communicate the process of how you evaluate them (pros & cons, etc.) 3. Provide a clear recommendation based on your evaluation and decision-making framework 4. Have the team commit (sometimes, "disagree and commit") to the plan. At Atlassian, product managers use the DACI framework to move forward on decisions that are complex and/or have multiple stakeholders with opposing views. It's just one framework you may want to use, there are others, of course. Look up "Atlassian DACI" as it's featured on our website.

Be helpful, be clear, be gone. Let me expand. Helpfulness: execs need your help with in-depth expertise and knowledge in your local area of product/business. You can show it in three ways: * Provide simple, specific, data-driven and context-aware insights when presenting/writing or answering questions from the C-suite * Raise your hand if you can help with something * Make it easy for execs to understand and keep up-to-date with your area of product/business Clarity: See my answer on common pitfalls of comms to C-suite. Lack of clarity means execs would need to invest more time (their most precious resource) to understand. Don't be the time thief. "Be gone". I often see folks thinking that they will earn trust by having more face time with execs. This quickly turns into communicating for the sake of being visible, and execs read through it very quickly and in fact, lost trust. Be mindful of how much face time and visibility you are seeking, and let value/helpfulness guide the degree of your visibility, not the other way around.