Product leadership insights from Gate One Consulting 

Seamless digital experiences are an expectation as far as consumers are concerned, not a nice-to-have. As many business leaders face the challenge of digital transformation, they’re turning to product-lead strategy – and therefore product leadership – as a way to maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly uncertain macro environment. 

That’s what Gate One and their partners Cicero/amo found when they surveyed 50 business leaders in the UK around what defines product leadership, the challenges to implementing it, and the potential rewards of effective implementation. 

“Digital experiences have matured exponentially, and customers in both B2C and B2B markets have come to expect, rather than be excited by, seamless digital interactions with the products they consume online. For this reason, it’s not surprising that enhancing product offerings, including technological innovation (55%), tops the list of business-critical issues.” 

You can download the full report here – and if you’re in London, join them and us for our World Tour stop on Monday, November 21st. 

3 key challenges to implementing product leadership 

The report highlights several challenges to implementing a product-lead strategy once its importance is both identified and embraced by leadership, but the top three are: 

1. Legacy issues, such as poor technology systems and platforms (40%) 
2. A lack of product leader skill sets internally (31%) 
3. Poor alignment between teams (31%)

Tackling legacy technology issues requires persistence, patience and investment, while nurturing internal product leadership talent is key in a competitive talent market where the importance of product professionals is only beginning to be recognized. 

Part of nurturing talent internally needs to include identifying candidates with the ability to inspire and align teams in order to overcome the third challenge. In fact, the report notes that “the top defining feature of a product leader, as identified by our survey respondents, is the ability to influence and inspire others and align and lead teams.” 

Overcoming all of these challenges leads to longer-term business resilience, so making them a priority just makes sense. 

Want more on the challenges facing product leadership today? Download the 2022 Product Excellence Report. 

3 key solutions to overcoming those challenges 

Business leaders surveyed for the report share several solutions to overcoming these challenges, but the top three are: 

1. Recruiting the right skills (60%)
2. Investing in new capabilities and technology (56%)
3. Investing in internal product training (51%) 

For those organizations intent on a product leadership strategy, keep the key skill sets needed in mind when hiring for a variety of positions. You never know where future product leaders might get their start! 

And don’t wait to invest in updating legacy technology and training teams both on newer technology and on product leadership skills.

For more, download the full report from Gate One Consulting – and we’ll see you in London for the World Tour stop on November 21st!