How did you move into your current management role?

I love this question because my path to management wasn't exactly a straight line!

About 7 years into my marketing career, I was wearing different hats as a product marketer, brand marketer, and communications manager. While I enjoyed these individual contributor roles, something interesting started happening: I found myself naturally gravitating toward leading massive cross-functional projects. In these projects, my roles and responsibilities were shaped by identifying a shared vision and strategy, and then working with a lot of folks to drive execution. I loved it.

The project that really changed everything for me was orchestrating our company's rebrand: new brand identity, fresh value proposition and messaging, and reimagining how our entire product portfolio aligned with this new direction. I ended up leading a team of more than 100 people across different departments, but not a single one reported to me. Zero! Looking back, this was actually a blessing in disguise. It forced me to master what I now consider the secret sauce of effective leadership: leading through influence rather than authority, and enabling others to achieve outcomes rather than dictating how they do it.

This experience taught me something profound that I still carry with me today: true leadership isn't about your title or direct reports – it's about your ability to inspire, align, and mobilize people toward a shared vision. That mindset shift was ultimately what helped me transition from being an individual contributor to a manager.

First, I was patient! I actually got hired as a leader, then for a short timeframe my team was flattened. I didn't enjoy being an individual contributor as much, but I used to the time to deepen my PMM skills and to lead the team by influence.

Second, I asked for what I wanted.... and I kept asking for it. This is so important! I was very clear with my manager and demonstrated why I was the best person for the role. I kept doing the best work I could until there was an opportunity to get back to leading.

But ultimately, you are in charge of your own development. If you are doing all of the above, have waited long enough and it's still not working out, then don't keep waiting. Don't get stuck. Sometimes the best way to grow is to move to another company where you can see yourself growing, even if it's a lateral move for awhile.

I attribute my career progress to two things: curiosity & persistence.
Curiosity: I started my career as a journalist, and I find great satisfaction in trying to understand the why behind most things. In a professional setting, this has led to me learning about all aspects of the business I'm apart of, from marketing to data science to product development. This has helped me tremendously as a product marketer because our craft sits in the middle of so many different business functions. The best product marketers have their pulse on everything and you can't excel at that without a deep curiosity to learn and understand.

Persistence: Product marketing is an exciting and at times trying profession. Launches get delayed, analysts and press aren't always kind, outtages happen, competitors launch attack campaigns, and the list goes on. I find the constant change exciting and an opportunity to learn, but you only reap the benefits of learning from persistence and staying with it. Too often I see people get burnt out by the change rather than embrace it. I'm not saying be miserable, but I am recommending that you use the hard times as a way to make yourself a better more seasoned product marketer.

This is the perfect example that shows success happens when opportunity meets preparation.

First, there has to be a business need for a manager on the team. That business need is not in your control (it’s at the discretion of your company). You can certainly make the case about the need, but let’s save that for another question ;)

Then, once there’s a business need, you need to show you’re prepared to rise to the need. How do you do that? Show leadership. Isn’t that chicken and egg? No - you can demonstrate leadership in a lot of ways. Find ways to mentor others. Proactively influence without authority. Demonstrate your ability to get alignment across teams. Show that you are already acting like a leader, and you will be the first person in mind when the business need for a leader arises.

I was hired into my current management role, but in terms of how I moved from an IC to a management role earlier in my career:

The company I was working for was building a zero to one product marketing team. I was tapped for the role as I delivered strong strategy-driven work (e.g., new opportunity assessments/business case, competitive intel program, growth strategy) and had solid sponsorship on these projects from senior leadership who shared my work (and my name) proactively with the rest of the company.

Read my answer to the areas of competencies for moving from IC to management. Beyond these competencies, you'll need to develop and nurture solid relationships with other senior leaders (usually at least 2 levels above the level you're moving into). This will help your wins get the air time it needs to make senior leadership aware of your consistent impact.