Breaking Glass Without Breaking Trust

How Product Managers Can Drive Change and Win Buy-In

You just launched new features and engineering is too busy to consider new requirements. Your leaders are tied up in annual planning for the next month. What do you do now?

The engineering team has new leadership and your product management team is on hold during the re-organization. What do you do?

The budget for your product has been slashed. Most of the engineering team was re-assigned. Your leader tells you there is exciting work ahead…once he figures that out. What do you do?

The common theme here is your product management work is holding for an unknown time. You have no big items for collaboration or delivery. You are getting signals to wait for more input.

You might feel safe to cruise on neutral while the organization and budgets sort out. Please keep driving change for you product areas!

Playing it safe during this transition means you have no results to show for an extended time period. Your manager can't promote you or keep you without results.

On the other hand, if you defy your leaders, are you perceived as "difficult"? Does your manager lose trust in you because you don't follow directions?

The Fine Line: Supporting Leadership vs. Pushing for Results

Product managers must frequently push back on their leadership and environment to get results. Sometimes winning customers and growing the business is unpopular in the organization. Your leaders test you daily. One day you aren't pushing hard enough and the next day you are pushing too hard.

You know you need to be assertive but you are very uncomfortable about arguing with leaders. If a senior leader asks questions about your work, does it mean you did something wrong?

Questions about your work are good. Questions are the first sign that your efforts are affecting change.

What is the graceful way to push back on leadership?

How to Drive Change and Win Buy-In

It is hard to do the opposite of the words coming from leaders in your organization. You have productive ways to argue for a better long-term outcome.

Use Data, Not Just Passion

Evidence-backed arguments instead of strong opinions are one of the best non-confrontational ways to drive change. Your new information can re-open discussion on the risks and rewards of changing direction. Start with evidence and then be ready to show a new way to succeed.

Situation: you are supposed to stay out of the way of engineering after your latest launch.

• A sales leader invites you to meet with a customer on the direction of your product.

• You hesitate because you don't know when engineering can work on the roadmap.

• You decide to meet with the customer and discuss the major market needs for your product.

• Your manager demands to know why you met with a customer when you have no engineering backing.

Evidence-based Response: The meeting is with the biggest user of your product.

• There is a large opportunity in the pipeline from this customer.

• The customer is wondering if your organization knows where the market is headed before spending more.

• The customer expanded based on the sales-led presentation

Result: New business without overcommitting on your engineering.

Pre-Wire Your Bold Moves

Buy-in to your ideas happens before the meeting. Don't expect stakeholders to suddenly see your evidence and back down. Your stakeholders want to influence your direction. They want to have inside knowledge.

Meet 1 on 1 to listen to concerns. There might be hidden reasons for the status quo. With knowledge, you can adjust your approach. Having supporters before the big presentation gets buy-in.

Situation: You are on hold until a re-org settles because your product is likely to be shut down due to a lack of sales.

• You notice your company's biggest competitor recently launched a product similar to yours.

• Your competitor is focused on financial customer segments instead of retail segments

Pre-wire Response:

• You meet 1 on 1 with a sales leader about the lack of sales in contrast to the competitor

• The sales leader reports the lack of sales is due to budget issues in retail; he notes it is brilliant for the competitor to focus on financials since they have budget

• You check further and confirm the retail customers don't have any budget

• You recommend focusing on financial segments since your product is ahead of the competition

Result: You are supported in pursuing financial segments

Know When to Push and When to Pivot

In some cases, your evidence isn't enough to get through resistance from senior leaders. After you have presented relevant information and done your pre-wires, you might notice you can't convince your stakeholders to change.

At this point, you need to pivot. You still must deliver results, though. You can either break your initiative into smaller, low-risk changes or pursue another angle to solve the problem.

Situation: Your engineering team is reassigned and your manager is exploring options for you.

Push then Pivot:

• You write and review sales guidelines to move demand to another product

• You prepare a point of view to grow a related product based on the latest market analysis

• Your manager asks you to delay sharing your point of view until investment decisions are made in a quarter

• You work with your manager on another short-term project

Result: Your short-term project is delivered and you kick off a new team handling the growth project

Challenging Leadership Effectively Builds Trust

Leaders may resist when your recommendations challenge their direction, but they respect product managers who present well-reasoned alternatives. Your role isn’t just to follow instructions—it’s to drive the best possible outcomes. The key is using data, understanding stakeholder concerns, and building alignment before making your case.

Silence and waiting for clarity rarely pay off. A passive approach makes you appear disengaged, while an active one positions you as a leader. If you wait too long, leadership may not even remember why progress stalled in the first place. Instead of pausing, find ways to move forward—build momentum, align teams, and create measurable impact.

Conclusion: Drive Change, Don’t Wait for Permission

As a product manager, waiting for clarity is a losing strategy. Organizations are always in flux—budgets shift, leaders change, and priorities get reshuffled. But the product managers who consistently drive impact, even in uncertainty, are the ones who thrive.

Pushing for results doesn’t mean defying leadership—it means driving through uncertainty, using data to shape decisions, and pre-wiring support before big conversations. Leaders may test your resolve, but they respect PMs who bring solutions, not just problems.

The difference between being seen as "difficult" and being seen as "impactful" comes down to how you push, not just that you push. When done right, breaking glass won’t break trust—it will build it. And in the long run, PMs who challenge the status quo, deliver results, and adapt strategically are the ones who move up, not out.

So next time you're told to wait, ask yourself: What can I drive forward today? Because momentum—no matter how small—is always better than standing still.

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