I remember the first time I felt stuck as a Product Manager.

I was deep in execution mode – writing specs, prioritizing features, jumping from meeting to meeting, making sure everything was on track. It felt productive. It felt necessary. And yet, something consistently … felt off.

No matter how much I got done, my impact wasn’t scaling. My work was important, but I wasn’t shaping the future – I was just keeping up with the present. That’s when I realized something fundamental: growth in product management isn’t about doing more. It’s about thinking differently.

Early in your career, being tactical is everything. You’re in the trenches, learning how things work, understanding user needs, and figuring out how to ship great products. It’s hands-on, fast-paced, and honestly, it’s fun. You feel the rush of launching a feature, solving a tough problem, or seeing a product come to life. And in those moments, you believe that being great at execution is the key to success.

But as you move into senior roles, everything shifts. You realize that the job isn’t just about delivering features – it’s about defining what matters. It’s about setting direction, aligning teams, and making sure that what you build today makes sense for where the company needs to go tomorrow. You stop asking, What’s the next thing we’re building? and start asking, Why are we building this at all?

This transition isn’t easy. In fact, it’s where many PMs get stuck. Some hold on too tightly to execution because it feels comfortable – after all, it’s what got them here. Others don’t feel they have permission to step back and think strategically, either because their team expects them to stay tactical or because they haven’t yet realized that seniority isn’t about working harder – it’s about working smarter.

I’ve been there. I’ve felt the tug of staying in the weeds, the hesitation of stepping back, the uncertainty of whether my value was still tied to how much I personally got done. But the truth is, leadership in product isn’t about doing – it’s about enabling. The more you progress in your professional career, the less your job is about making every decision yourself, and the more it’s about creating clarity so others can make the right decisions.

If you’re feeling stuck in tactics, ask yourself why. Is it an organizational issue? Are you too deep in execution because the organization isn’t structured to let you lead? Or is it personal – are you struggling to let go of what once made you successful? Often, even in senior roles, you’ll still have to balance tactical work. But your primary job should be influence – shaping the roadmap, guiding teams, and ensuring that what gets built truly moves the needle.

The best PMs aren’t just great at execution – they’re great at connecting the dots. Between user needs and business goals. Between market trends and product vision. Between where the company is today and where it needs to go. And that’s the shift: from making sure things get done to making sure the right things get done.

Looking back, I can see the exact moment I knew I had grown beyond execution. It wasn’t when I got a promotion or a new title – it was when I stopped measuring my success by how many things I shipped and started measuring it by the clarity I created for my team. When I realized that my role wasn’t just to build products, but to build the conditions for success.

If you’re at this crossroads, my advice is simple: zoom out. Stop focusing on the next feature and start focusing on the bigger picture. Your impact is no longer about how much you do – it’s about how much you enable others to do. That’s the difference between a PM who builds products and a PM who builds the future.

And if you ever find yourself slipping back into execution? Take a step back and ask yourself: Am I leading, or am I just keeping up?