How do you prepare yourself to become a Product Marketing Director and manage a team, without any experience managing anyone previously?
I'm on my 5th year of product marketing in my career, with another 5 years before that in general demand gen at very small companies. I've had management experience in the past, but not in a Product Marketing role. Often times in smaller companies, there will be 1 or 2 PMMs, usually in a very flat hierarchy, or a single boss, with no room to really move up a proverbial ladder and into management experience. So what are ways that I can prepare myself now, so that if the time comes to apply for a Director position (either internally or at another company) that I can be considered even without recent people management experience? Are there any courses for this that are highly regarded in the management arena?
9 Answers
Tremendous VP of Marketing • 5y
You do not have to have direct reports to develop some of the skills you will need to be a good manager and demonstrate that you are ready to take on the challenge of man...
11425 Views
TikTok PMO • 6y
My first piece of advice: Talk to your direct manager about this and make it known that a) you're interested in becoming a manager b) you'd appreciate any professional de...
1466 Views
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In my experience, being a people manager doesn't change much across disciplines. The priorities should always be to help your team grow and develop their career (the outp...
2291 Views
Box Vice President Product Marketing | Formerly Splunk, New Relic, Microsoft, Unity, Oracle • 1y
To prepare your yourself to manage other PMMs as a Director, make sure you gain plenty of experience managing large-cross functional projects where success depends on you...
929 Views
Truepic VP of Marketing • 4y
As an individual contributor today, you can demonstrate your ability to manage projects and influence and lead people who do not directly report to you. This could be col...
455 Views
Honeycomb.io fmr VP Marketing • 4y
Great question. There are 3 ways to get demonstrable management experience outside of having FTEs report to you. #1: Manage interns and contractors. Volunteer to run a m...
1402 Views
Credit Karma Senior Director of Product Marketing | Formerly Adobe, GoDaddy, VSCO, 3x startups • 4y
Yes, this is a tough one. I would suggest doing the following to gain some more recent “management” experience: Hire an intern - either summer or part-time Manage agenci...
953 Views
BILL Senior Lead Product Manager • 4y
I’ve been a one person PMM-team several times in the last decade and encountered the same challenges. More of my management experience comes from my analytics and innovat...
545 Views
Marketing Strategy Consultant • 3y
I don't think courses or books will substitute real world management experience, ever. Courses and books are helpful, but in terms of interviewing for a Director role wit...
389 Views
Related Questions
What steps can product marketers take to move into leadership roles?How to develop product marketing skills while not in a PMM role (to prepare for a career switch)?How did you move into your current management role?In the current market, particularly in tech, where there seem to be less and less manager roles- how can folks get management experience especially when increasingly competing with experienced managers? How have you set yourself up for promotion at a company? What are some tips for getting into the product marketing field?