In the product culture series, I want to delve into who the leader is.

In corporate life, “leader” is a word that gets stretched in too many directions. Sometimes it refers to someone with direct reports. Sometimes it points only to the highest rung of the ladder. But the truth is simpler: leadership is not about job level or headcount.

Leadership is about how you show up. It’s about whether you create momentum, clarity, and courage in the people around you. And that is available to anyone, in any role.

Here are five reminders about what leadership really looks like—and what they mean for product managers.

1. Leadership Is Influence, Not Authority

A product manager often has no formal authority over engineers, designers, or stakeholders. But influence comes from clarity, empathy, and the ability to connect the dots across perspectives. PMs lead when teams look to them for context and direction, not because of an org chart.

2. Leadership Is Initiative

Roadmaps shift, priorities compete, and gaps appear. A PM who takes initiative—spotting dependencies early, framing ambiguous problems, or convening the right people—turns potential stalls into progress. This proactive posture signals real leadership.

3. Leadership Is Accountability

Great PMs don’t just deliver features; they own outcomes. That means holding themselves accountable for impact, not just output. When things don’t land as expected, accountability looks like learning quickly, sharing openly, and rallying the team to adjust.

4. Leadership Is Empowerment

The best PMs are not the loudest voices in the room. They create conditions for engineers and designers to bring their best ideas forward. They remove obstacles, ensure decisions have air cover, and amplify contributions so the team feels true ownership of the product.

5. Leadership Is Courage

PMs face constant pressure—pushback from executives, uncertainty in the data, or disagreement between functions. Leadership shows up in the courage to defend the customer’s voice, challenge “the way we’ve always done it,” and make hard calls when the path is unclear.

But How Do You Actually Do That?

That’s the part most people trip on. We nod along at these principles, then look for a playbook. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: there isn’t one. Leadership is not a checklist.

It’s a choice you make in moments that don’t come with instructions. You don’t wait to be given permission. You don’t need to ask whether you’re “senior enough” to lead. You act. You experiment. You learn.

The way to lead is to start leading—today, in the smallest possible way. Try this:

  • In the next meeting, ask the question nobody is asking. Leadership is often the courage to surface what’s unsaid.
  • Connect two teammates who don’t normally collaborate. Leadership is creating new possibilities through relationships.
  • Frame a problem, not just a feature. Leadership is shifting the conversation from “what to build” to “why it matters.”
  • Take responsibility for an outcome, even if the failure wasn’t “yours.” Leadership is owning impact, not tasks.
  • Shine a spotlight on someone else’s idea. Leadership is making others feel seen and valued.

None of these requires a title. All of them require intent.

Closing Thought

Leadership is not reserved for people with certain titles. For product managers, it lives in the daily choice to influence without authority, act without waiting, own outcomes, empower teams, and have the courage to champion what matters. The real question isn’t “Am I a leader?” but “How am I leading today?”