How do you influence products managers with long tenure in the space they operate in?

Implicit in this question is that long-tenured PMs are more difficult to influence, because they may think they know it all. This certainly isn’t always the case, but to the extent that it is true, I find it a fairly reasonable and understandable position.

Fundamentally, I don’t think the answer in this scenario is any different than if you're working with a less-experienced PM: To influence someone, you need to establish your credibility. Depending on your own tenure, doing so may require that you consistently demonstrate your ability to bring unique insights (or confirm his/her own insights) until your PM trusts that you have established an understanding of your market.

Building trusting relationships is the foundation for influencing long-tenured PMs. This starts with creating regular touchpoints and collaborative environments.

At LinkedIn, we conduct planning offsites with our product partners each half, bringing teams together in person even when we don't all work in the same office. Our PMMs join weekly core team meetings that include product, sales, and customer support to maintain constant dialogue. I recommend approaching product teams without an agenda sometimes, simply asking what's keeping them up at night and how you might help - whether through customer feedback, running a beta, or creating a go-to-market plan. This reciprocity opens doors for your ideas later. When making recommendations, frame them around priorities or values the PM already agrees with. If they resist your suggestions, ask why - understanding if it's about business impact, resource constraints, or other factors helps you address the real concern. There's no silver bullet, but trust and relationships are the foundation you can't skip.

Start by understanding their perspective - a long-tenured PM likely knows a lot about the product and has context you might not have. Try to understand why they're resistant to your input.

Keep conversations objective rather than making it about 'you versus me.' Focus on the bigger picture of what you're collectively trying to achieve and how you can divide and conquer to get there. Bring empathy to these interactions. There are two possible scenarios: either they have valuable perspective you don't fully understand (in which case, listen and learn), or they're simply resistant to change due to their long tenure. If you've tried every approach to work effectively with them and it's still not working, then you may need to enlist allies across the company - find other people with more open minds who can help influence the roadmap over time.

The key to influencing long-tenured PMs is first investing in the relationship and building trust - no amount of insights will influence them without this foundation.

When you're new to an organization or if product marketing is a new function, start by doing more listening than talking. Understand the PM's priorities, how they think about their roadmap, and their process for gathering insights. Once trust is established, educate them on how you can help make their job easier. Position yourself as a partner rather than someone taking responsibilities away from them. For example, offer to take on competitive analysis for an upcoming launch and share it for their feedback before presenting to the broader team. Look for quick wins that demonstrate your value, like helping them create executive presentations that connect insights to roadmap decisions. The relationship development is crucial - brainstorm with them about how to use insights rather than dictating what they should do based on your research.