Microsoft VP: Don't let LinkedIn fool you
Having held product leadership roles at Google, Facebook and now Microsoft VP Amit Fulay offers actionable advice grounded in his own successes and failures.
As product managers, navigating our careers can feel like a constant balancing act - striving for growth, impact and fulfillment while avoiding common pitfalls. In a recent podcast interview, Amit Fulay, VP of Product at Microsoft, shared his hard-earned wisdom on this topic.
Blaze your own trail. "There's just so many ways to succeed and a lot of times, you know, my career path has been unexact." Amit advocates being open to serendipity rather than fixating on emulating others' paths. "If you try to do things only a certain way, it closes doors on opportunity."
Focus on customer problems, not company problems. Amit learned that "every time you're trying to solve a company problem instead of a user problem, it doesn't quite work." He's seen many products fall flat because they prioritized company needs over user needs. "If you're not willing to really question that, it doesn't turn out to be a great success."
Don't let LinkedIn fool you - everyone faces setbacks. "If you look at anybody's [LinkedIn] profile, it's chronological, obviously it looks linear, but that's not the entirety of the truth." Amit wants people to know that plateaus, failures and learnings are normal parts of the journey, even if they're not publicized.
Growth happens outside your comfort zone. Some of Amit's pivotal career moments involved taking pay cuts, losing his team, or joining risky startups. "Best lessons are when you just really are chipped out and trying to understand and get better at certain things." While uncomfortable, those experiences enabled outsized growth.
Detach your self-worth from your level. Amit observes that ambitious PMs often feel underleveled, even right after getting promoted. "If you let that angst overpower how you work and think, that's really not good for you...It's okay to feel that way, but don't let it drive your decisions."
Catapult your career by taking strategic steps back. "Sometimes you have to take a step back, smaller role, company, comp, to amass learnings and growth so that you can move ahead with greater momentum." Amit took lower pay to join a startup and emerged with invaluable experience. He advises seeking out these opportunities.
Seek out sponsors who believe in you. "It's rare, because everybody's busy, not everyone will see [your strengths] or have the time to support you. But when you do see that, it's going to help you so much in your career. If you haven't found them, keep looking."
Be honest about what you really want. Early on, prioritizing money, title, and prestige is natural. But Amit sees many PMs struggle to admit that's what they want, clouding their decisions. "Just understanding yourself and being clear about [your priorities] is important when you make these decisions."
Play the long game. With the tech downturn, Amit has seen the downside of chasing short-term hype. He spoke to a PM who joined a unicorn without due diligence: "Two months now the CEO was let go and lots of irregularities and getting down round...That bites." Always consider long-term factors too.
Enjoy the journey. Amit draws parallels to sports: "It is really about not the destination, but putting in the practice and doing it in a way and how to derive joy out of that. Enjoy the process and don't be in a hurry to get somewhere." Fulfillment comes from balancing career with family, health and other dimensions. "If you are in one extreme of any of those dimensions, others suffer. For each one of us to really understand what gives you most joy, what gives you fulfillment and how to balance that, that's the trick."
Amit's frank reflections drive home that product management careers are anything but predictable. By focusing on customers, embracing detours, setting intrinsic goals, and savoring the ride, we can find outsized growth and impact on our own terms. In a field that glorifies hustle and linear trajectories, Amit gives us permission to define success more authentically. Bookmark this advice for the next time you find yourself at a career crossroads.
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