Earlier in your career, how did you work with the C-Suite?

I did not explicitly schedule meetings for the sake of meeting. I looked for opportunities to come my way when I was invited to be a part of a discussion or presentation and focussed on nailing down those 5-10 minutes. I always prepared a question or two on strategy or vision to ask if provided an opportunity.

This could also be different because earlier in my career I worked for very large organizations. I could imagine having a more close relationship with your c-suite at a smaller company.

Early on, I worked in growth stage start-ups and typically worked closely with the c-suite team. My main feedback would be as PMs we see ourselves as product and technology experts. What I learnt is when you can tie that to customer and market problems, your interactions become even more powerful with the c-suite. This leads to opportunities like creating a new product line, solving a company OKRs because they see your skills as a company leader beyond a product lead.

I sought out executive visibility from almost day one. I got to know VPs and even CEOs at the companies I worked for. I worked with a wide variety of leaders, including one or two who in retrospect were toxic. As a PM you're frequently the target when things go poorly, that early experience in the line of sights built a pretty thicks skin - and also shaped how I treat people with kindness and respect today. 

Being a subject matter expert and having empathy for customers helped me become a strong voice of customers. This allowed me to stay close to C-Suite. I learned how to understand the strategy, and what goes into building strategy.   

Also working with pre-sales teams helped me understand the needs of customers and how the product aligns and provides solutions to those problems. This helped me understand the strategies and challenges of the customer-facing teams.