On this episode, I speak to the returning Petra Wille, product leadership coach, author of Strong Product People, and founder of the Product at Heart conference. Petra has spent years helping product leaders and organisations develop stronger product cultures, leadership practices, and team structures across a wide range of industries. We went deep into product leadership, especially in an age of AI where we're all being told to be builders again, and how her Product Leadership Wheel helps product leaders up their game.

• Leadership is a distinct discipline - Strong individual contributors do not automatically become strong leaders, and leadership requires deliberate development rather than promotion by default.

• Product leaders need directional clarity - One of the core responsibilities of leadership is helping teams understand where the organisation is going, why it matters, and how everyday decisions connect to broader strategy.

• Coaching is an underused leadership skill - Petra argues that many leaders underestimate the importance of coaching capabilities and fail to invest enough time in helping teams grow and improve.

• Culture is often invisible inside organisations - Teams frequently struggle to articulate their company culture because they are immersed in it every day, making reflection and intentional leadership even more important.

• AI is changing the demands placed on leaders - Product leaders are being forced to rethink team structures, workflows, decision-making, and product experiences as AI reshapes how organisations operate.

• Efficiency gains can create new problems - Faster delivery is not automatically better. Petra warns that organisations risk creating more technical debt, burnout, and shallow thinking if speed becomes the only goal.

• Leadership requires optimistic narratives - In periods of uncertainty, leaders play a critical role in creating credible and motivating visions of the future for their teams and organisations.

• Feedback gaps exist between leaders and teams - Many product leaders believe they are performing well, while individual contributors often see significant shortcomings, partly because organisations lack shared frameworks for discussing leadership quality.

• Reflection matters more than benchmarking - Petra emphasises that leadership frameworks should help people identify growth areas and learning opportunities rather than turn development into rigid performance comparisons.

• Leaders should focus on the "shipyard" - Rather than constantly jumping into delivery work, product leaders should concentrate on improving the systems, structures, and environments that enable teams to succeed.

... and much more.

• Website: https://www.petra-wille.com
• Product at Heart: https://www.productatheart.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petra-wille-b8b1329/

On this episode, I am joined for a third (and probably final!) time by April Dunford, renowned positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. We explore what's changed in her updated edition of Obviously Awesome, what she's learned through delivering hundreds of positioning workshops and how she's honed her approach to reposition positioning to make it clearer for the next generation of product people.

• Positioning is how you win - Positioning is the answer to "why pick us now?", grounding your product in real value for a clearly defined customer segment.
• Positioning vs strategy - Strategy defines where you're going, while positioning reflects where you are today and must evolve as your product and market change.
• AI isn't a position - Simply adding AI is no longer meaningful; if everyone has it, the focus shifts to what tangible value you deliver right now.
• From unique to distinct - Capabilities don't need to be truly unique, just meaningfully different in the context of your real competitors.
• Trends matter less than clarity - The industry's baseline understanding of positioning has improved, making abstract ideas like "trends" less useful than clear market definitions.
• Readiness before action - Teams need to decide what they're positioning, whether they have real customers, and how product structure (single vs multi-product) affects the work.
• Positioning as hypothesis - Without customers, positioning is a best guess that must be tested and refined rather than treated as fact.
• Sell to the champion - Positioning should resonate with the internal champion, while objections from other stakeholders are handled separately.
• Test through sales, not copy - The real validation of positioning happens in sales conversations, not by endlessly tweaking website copy.
• AI is a tool, not a shortcut - AI can support positioning work, but it can't replace the thinking, collaboration and deep company context required to define real differentiation.

... and much more.

Look for the yellow "updated" sticker!

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers-dp-1999023056/dp/1999023056/
• April's website: https://www.aprildunford.com/books

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/
• Website: https://www.aprildunford.com

On this episode, we try something a little different. ProdPad and Mind the Product co-founder Janna Bastow joins as guest host to interview me and Saeed Khan about our recently released research report "The State of B2B Product Management". We go deep on the key findings of the report and what to do about them.

• The sales-led roadmap reality - In many B2B organisations, roadmap ownership effectively sits with sales, driven by short-term revenue pressures rather than long-term strategy
• Customers vs markets tension - Product teams often fail to shift from building for individual customers to designing for scalable market opportunities
• The leadership perception gap - A stark ~50-point disconnect exists between how leaders assess themselves and how their teams experience them, pointing to either deluded leaders, poor communication or unreasonable IC expectations
• Lack of strategic foundations - Weak or absent vision and objectives create a vacuum where every deal feels equally valid
• Product leaders as system designers - Leaders must take responsibility for shaping environments where good product work is actually possible
• Discovery isn't just external - Product teams neglect internal discovery, failing to understand stakeholders, sales processes, and organisational dynamics
• The cost of short-term thinking - Chasing large deals often creates hidden long-term costs that outweigh immediate revenue gains
• AI as efficiency, not transformation - Current AI usage is reported as largely tactical (summarisation, documentation), not fundamentally changing product outcomes
• Optimism despite dysfunction - Even with systemic issues, many product managers remain positive about the future of the discipline

... and much more.

You can check the full report here - no email address required: https://b2bproduct.io/?okip

Janna is the co-founder of ProdPad, a roadmap, idea management and feedback platform that brings clarity to your organisation. She was kind enough to step in as a guest host for the episode, so why not check what the platform can do for you? https://www.prodpad.com/

• Janna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jannabastow/
• Saeed: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saeedwkhan/
• Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-knight/