What do your interactions with the C-Suite look like on a regular basis?

There are 3 main ways I interact with the C-suite:

• Regular leadership meetings where we discuss product roadmap and GTM
• Project-specific interactions
• Regular 1:1s (this will depend on the size of your company)

During regular leadership meetings, execs discuss high-priority company initiatives, such as initiatives to target new markets, upcoming product bets, and company building. As PMMs, we provide critical intelligence to inform these strategic decisions, and oftentimes end up driving the execution of decisions made at the exec level.

For project-specific interactions, I like to use the DACI framework to help me determine when to communicate to execs (DACI is great for all projects, period). PMMs are usually in positions where we're driving high-impact, cross-functional projects (e.g. product launches, pricing changes, category-defining campaigns). For some projects, execs are approvers; for others, they are key collaborators. 

For example, if you are working on a pricing change, your CEO may be an approver but will likely not be in the weeds with you day to day as you investigate pricing and packaging. In this case, you would interact with her when you present proposals for approval, and you may cc her (depending on the size of the company, and her preference) on any status update comms to internal stakeholders. If you're working with execs to overhaul your strategic narrative, then you may interact with them more as a collaborator, and your interactions will be less formal.

Finally, it's important to know what's top of mind for execs. At smaller companies, it's easier to have access to execs so you can know what's top of mind. At larger companies, you might get this information in town hall meetings or perhaps department-specific AMA sessions. I currently hold weekly1:1s with execs to make sure I'm keeping a pulse on company priorities, and I bring execs in to meet with the PMM team to ensure we're building relationships outside of projects. After all, execs are human too :)