Product Managers have to be storytellers, whether they realize it or not.
I'll never forget an experience at LendingClub during a company-wide Technology demo. I had to present a major initiative I'd been working on: introducing stronger MFA flows to protect customers from password stuffing attacks, phishing, and scams that put PII and sensitive data at risk.
When I shared my presentation with my manager, the VP of Product, his response was, "Mariana, you've been busy and done great work, but tell me why I should care." I was shocked. How could he not care? I had launched refurbished MFA flows for our most valuable customers, and one week post-launch it was reducing attacks by 98%. My InfoSec team was thrilled that I had successfully demonstrated efficiency gains and cost savings to senior leaders with our solution. So why was my presentation falling flat?
My manager said, "You need to make people feel things. Even your engineers. Make them feel scared."
I listened.
"Start this demo with, 'People are under attack every day. Have you been at risk of fraud? It's happening everywhere, and this is why LC customers need to trust us more than ever.'"
Aha. This wasn't just about showing UI screens and code or presenting next steps. It was about telling a compelling story of why the work matters. Because stories influence people's perceptions of your work's power, and if what you're doing matters, then you matter.
Every roadmap meeting, status update, or design kickoff is a chance to influence. To align. To inspire. But product narratives often fall flat when they get mired in feature lists, status check-ins, or technical details. It's easy for PMs to miss the bigger picture.
If you want to drive meaningful impact in a product organization, you must craft narratives that resonate across functions:
✅ Your engineering team needs context on why the problem matters
✅ Your design partners need compelling framing of the user's journey and friction
✅ Your business stakeholders need to see value in terms they care about: customer impact, revenue lift, retention, or strategic risk
Without influential storytelling, product work becomes transactional.
As a PM, you're uniquely positioned to own these narratives across functions. You become the connective tissue that makes cross-functional work effective.
AI tools can help. Today's Product Managers can use AI to refine, test, and elevate their communication:
🛠️ ChatGPT helps PMs synthesize insights into clear narratives, test variations for different audiences, and pressure-test the "why now."
📊 I like Claude by Anthropic for transforming data, OKRs, and long documents into digestible story arcs for leadership updates.
📈 Magical AI generates quick product update drafts and turns meeting notes into structured value reports.
🤩 Beautiful AI creates impactful, visually balanced decks tailored to various audiences.
Want hands-on help? I'm leading a live workshop on AI-powered storytelling for Product Leaders. It's designed to help you communicate impact, not just activity. $99, super practical, and built for working PMs.
🎟️ Reserve your spot here -> https://lu.ma/tpjr3jkh
We still have 13 spots left!
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