A sales background teaches more than customer centricity. It instills resilience and the fearlessness to approach anyone in an organization to get things done, a vital skill for navigating the cross-functional demands of product management.
Contrary to the popular belief that it's always detrimental, for product managers, context switching is a core strength. Fluidly moving between customer, engineering, and marketing conversations is essential for integrating diverse perspectives to bring a product to life.
Unlike corporate roles where activity can be mistaken for success, sales provides direct, visceral feedback. This "winning" mentality, born from the pain of losing a customer, keeps product leaders grounded in the ultimate goal: winning the customer, not just executing processes.
A linear career path is not required for success. Businesses ultimately value high performers who demonstrate an ownership mentality and consistently drive impact. Focusing on helping the business win creates opportunities to move across roles and industries, making your journey more valuable.
A one-time meeting with finance is "surface level" advice. To truly build financial acumen, PMs must integrate hard financial targets and business levers directly into their squad's goals. This creates an enduring, operational fluency that informs daily product decisions.
When transitioning to a new industry, your lack of domain knowledge is secondary. Focus on your "superpower": the proven, repeatable process you use to deliver results. Articulate your ability to launch, rally teams, and solve problems, as these core skills are universally valuable.
While context switching is a PM's tool, it becomes destructive without focus. A leader's job is to protect their team by setting crystal-clear goals and outcomes. This allows product managers to context-switch *productively* within a defined scope, not be pulled in unrelated directions.