AMA: Observable VP, Marketing, LaShaun Williams on Stakeholder Management

Tying your work to tangible outcomes, specifically those related to product growth and revenue, and socializing it has worked well for me. Here's my approach: Have a revenue-first mindset. Businesses exist to make money. One of the first questions I ask myself about any launch is "how can we leverage this to drive revenue?" Before getting strategic or tactical, I explore the different angles we could position or message the launch to drive revenue. Releases small, medium, and large have the pote ...Read More

Engineering timelines change for a variety of reasons. It's just the nature of the work. To help manage the expectations and emotions of others working on the marketing timeline, I take this approach:  Communicate early, openly, and as often as possible. That way, folks don't feel out of the loop or in the dark, and they know you have respect for their time and effort.  Don't overcommit to to timelines. I approach and communicate them with the caveat that there is always the possibility for dela ...Read More

Ask yourself what it really means to connect the product to the customer?  You'll see that it's more than the features you build and launch alongside your Product Management partners. Behind product execution is product strategy, behind product strategy is a product vision, and that vision is based on a story. Product Management and Product Marketing build that story together — deciding what part of the story they build and when (Product leads, Product Marketing supported) and how and when to in ...Read More

One of the most important outcomes of stakeholder management is getting buy-in, and that comes easiest when there's trust. Getting buy-in is absolutely critical to moving projects forward, and the first 90 days is a great time to lay strong foundations.  Here are the three actions I take very intentionally to build trust with my peers and cross-functional partners: 1. Ask questions and listen intently. The same way I approach different audiences with different positioning or messaging is the sam ...Read More

This is a great question.  In my overcommunication with leadership, I am very open about the skill levels of my directs, what I think they're currently capable of, and where I think they need improvement. While some failures are a result of non-performance, many help surface areas for improvement. That said, I am also very clear with leadership when I have given someone a stretch project or they're struggling in a certain area and there is the possibility of failure. This helps set expectations ...Read More