Leadership unlocked: Transforming your PMM career trajectory

Let me tell you something that might surprise you. When I was offered my first product marketing role, I didn't want it.

There I was, fresh from consulting, working at a startup, and they wanted to promote me to lead a product launch as a product marketer. My first thought? What on earth does a product marketer even do?

Thankfully, they talked me around to it, and it turned out to be the best career move I never planned to make. 

Now, after years of moving between PMM leadership and CMO roles, I've discovered something crucial: product marketing isn't just another marketing discipline. It's the ultimate training ground for leadership – and in this article, I’ll show you why. 

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

• Why product marketers make brilliant leaders.
• How to choose the right leadership path for you.
• Five strategies to ensure your execs see you as leadership material.
• The three key mindsets that show you’re ready to make the leap.

PMM careers are rarely linear – and that’s a strength

I’ve noticed a pattern: of all the product marketing leaders I’ve spoken to, almost no one started their career in product marketing. 

Most of us fell into this discipline through the cracks between product, strategy, sales, and marketing. We're the accidental professionals who discovered we're exactly where we need to be.

In business school, they sell you this neat, linear career path. Copywriter to brand manager to marketing leadership. It’s clean, predictable, and completely unrealistic – especially in our world, where product marketing is still a relatively young discipline.

I went from strategist to startup marketer to reluctant product marketer to head of marketing to CMO. Then – plot twist – back to director of product marketing. 

Why would anyone go from generalist leadership back to being a specialist? Because product marketing lets you be both. 

You get the broad, strategic view of a generalist with the deep expertise of a specialist. You influence product strategy, roadmaps, launches, revenue, and adoption – all while staying rooted in the discipline you love.

Your PMM superpowers are leadership superpowers

If you're doing product marketing well, you're already demonstrating executive leadership. You just might not realize it yet.

What do leaders actually do? Two things, fundamentally:

1. Develop killer strategies
2. Align stakeholders to execute those strategies

Sound familiar? That's because it’s literally our job description.

Let's break down the building blocks of leadership and see how they map to what you're already doing.

Narrative clarity

Leaders need to tell compelling stories that unite organizations. If you're a storyteller or content creator in the product marketing world, you're already mastering this. 

That awesome sales enablement deck you created? You'll use those same skills when presenting to the board. The positioning document that gets everyone aligned? That's organizational storytelling at its finest.

Leading through influence (not just authority)

While other functions rely on hierarchical power, PMMs have learned to lead through influence. We get things done without direct reports and align teams without organizational authority. We have to convince product managers to change their roadmaps and sales teams to change their pitches – without being their boss. 

If you can master the art of getting people aligned across departments, you’ve already mastered the hardest part of being an executive.

KPI and outcome ownership

One of the things that shocked me when I moved into management was how few people think critically about their KPIs and whether their work supports them. Lots of folks just do the task they’ve been handed. 

The role of a leader is to ensure that the work that people are doing ladders up to the deliverables that your strategy demands. 

As product marketers, we’re primed for that. We don't just launch products; we ensure those launches drive adoption. We don't just create messaging; we ensure it resonates and converts. This outcome-focused thinking is exactly what separates managers from leaders.

Deep market and customer insight

If your company is like many of the organizations I’ve worked for, you know that teams don’t always agree. User acquisition might push for clickbait, while the brand team prioritizes long-term credibility and consistency. Often, those priorities clash.

This is where you come in. As a PMM, you’re uniquely positioned to bring those teams together and help them work toward something greater than the sum of their parts. But that only works if you’re crystal clear on who your target customer is and what they need.

When you truly understand your customer, you can bridge competing priorities, create alignment, and move the business forward. That ability is one of the strongest leadership skills a PMM can have.

Two paths to leadership

So, hopefully I’ve convinced you that as a PMM, you’ve got what it takes to become a brilliant leader – but what’s your path to the top? 

As I see it, there are two main destinations: product marketing leadership and marketing leadership – in other words, being a specialist or being a generalist.

Path one: PMM to PMM leader