Product Agility

Tami Reiss: Building the Muscle of Influence - How Product Leaders Get People to Act - Productized 2025 TalkInTen

• Ben Maynard, Ryan Lane, Tami Reiss

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Product Agility Podcast — Live from Productized, Lisbon

We’re honoured to return to the Productized conference in Lisbon, Portugal for the third year running. Productized is a world-class gathering for product thinkers and makers - and we're proud to partner with them to bring you this special Talk in Ten series.

In this short, sharp episode, we sit down with Tami, a product leader and speaker, to dig into one of the most underrated capabilities for modern product teams: influence. Tammy explains why influence is a muscle you can build, and shares practical tips for getting others excited to act on your ideas.

Key topics discussed

  • Why influence matters more than authority in cross-functional work
  • Two practical tips to make your communication more persuasive
  • How to personalise your pitch to get attention and buy-in
  • Balancing voices: who should be in the room and who can be consulted
  • Helping quieter technical people find their voice


Guest bio:

Tami is a product leader, speaker, and educator focused on helping product people sharpen their interpersonal skills and influence. She’s launching a rhyming children’s book about product management and speaks regularly about how teams can build their influence muscle to create better outcomes.


Big thanks to Productized for hosting us in Lisbon - it’s an outstanding conference and a privilege to partner with them. Also, thank you to our sponsor, Bobcats Coding. Bobcats is a Budapest-based digital product studio specialising in AI engineering and end-to-end product development. Download their AI economics guidebook for free at bobcatscoding.com.

Enjoyed the episode? Share it with a colleague who needs to get better at influence.

Host Bio

Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes.

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Welcome to the Product Agility Podcast where we explore the ever changing world of product leadership and org design, helping you navigate complexity and build better outcomes for your people and your customers. This week we're coming to you live from Lisbon for the third year in a row at the Productize conference where I'm grabbing 10 minute conversations with product thinkers, leaders and innovators from around the world. These quick fire chats are all about what's shaping our industry right now, from AI and product strategy to the human side of building great products. Now a huge thank you goes out to Bobcatz Coding for making this Lisbon series possible. Bobcats is a Budapest and Lisbon based digital product studio specializing in AI engineering and end to end digital product development. They're also on a mission to educate the market, exploring a new topic every six months and this fall is no exception. Their latest AI economics guidebook is out now and you can download it for free@bobcatscoding.com now here's your talking. 10, 3, 2, 1. Oh, Tammy, Tammy, Tammy, Tammy is the reason that we're here. It is true. For Tammy, everyone is everyone. For Tammy, Tammy is the the point of creation for us all. No, Tammy, if it wasn't for you coming on the podcast and then hooking me up with Andre who does Productise Conference, you know, would never be here. And Tammy is the. And like Tabby's one of the greatest people I've met, I think, and they've just been so lovely. And one thing that's always astounded me is just how much she does has done for me for seemingly no return. So we're having a conversation before this or you bought me lunch and everything and it's just the endless generosity. You're just so generous and I think it's such a wonderful thing. So it's really nice to have you here. Well, per what I tell people to say, I'm glad you appreciate it. Me too. I really appreciate it. I think everyone that's listening to this, everyone's listened to any of the talking tenants that we've done from Productize over the past three years, of which we must be edging towards 100 now. Every single one of them are because of you. So thank you for me and thank you from our listeners. You're welcome, all of your listeners. And that's it. Join us again for another Join us again for another talking 10 that isn't the end of the episode because you are here sharing some of your wisdom. And we are here today, obviously with Ryan, cj, Bobcatz, as well. He'll be asking some welcome to the crew. Better questions than me. So, Tammy, why are you here this year? Two reasons. One, my children's book illustrated rhyming book on product management is coming out. Published date is November 18th. But I was able to give out some sneak peek copies earlier today to some lucky folks. And also I am talking tomorrow about the importance of building your muscle of influence and continuing continuously building it. Well, we had a little talk about this at my company and it did make a big impact. I think it was really, it resonated with lots of people. I think there was something, there was lots of stuff you said that people were pinging me about as you, as you were going through it saying, oh God, yeah, I've always done that. Or if that's a great idea. It really, really hit home. So I think it's a lovely opportunity for us, for us collectively listeners as our to learn a bit more about just what this is all about. Yeah. So influence is how do you get other people not to do something because that you can do through authority and telling someone to do something and instead getting them to want to do it, what can you be saying? What can you be doing through generosity or otherwise that helps the other person get excited to do something for you, that they are inspired, that they're motivated to take action. Because when that happens, you get people's best work and you get it when you want it, which is always important. And people prioritize your requests over others. And so the world right now, everything any of us do is a group project. Everything, everything is a group project. And therefore the interpersonal dynamics and working with other people and helping them realize the value of what you're bringing to the table or what you're asking for them to bring to the table becomes crucial. And it plays out over and over and over and over again. And I realized that I hadn't really seen anybody training people in influence in a meaningful way and I wanted to change that. And here we are. And here we are. And here we are. What are some tips when they're not some tips? Just a tip you don't like give everyone away, all your trade secrets. But what's a tip you can give to some of the listeners if they're listening to what you're saying? I think this is really interesting. I really want to be more influential. What's the top tip? Top. I'll go with two top tips. Two top tips? Yeah, two tops. Tip number one is whenever you make a statement, think about how you can ask it as a question instead. So I just made a statement. Clever. Instead of saying that, I could have said, what would the reaction be if I asked my statement as a question? Right. By asking that question, you're now thinking of what the impact is as opposed to. When I said, you should make a statement, it has a different reaction. There's like a why, why should I do that? As opposed to, I'm now answering the question of what should the. What would the reaction be? And so now it's part of my ethos. And whatever I answer about that is something I have to defend as opposed to the potential opposition to whatever I've just said. So that's step one. By asking a question sincerely, I suppose you're putting yourself in a position where you're saying to that person, look, I'm being. There's an element of humility here with your answer, I think that we can come to a better solution. Rather than me to say, this is what we're doing. Yeah, And I appreciate your opinion and your expertise and thanks. Your experience and how that's going to impact the answer. That means a lot. And then the second thing is that we are told we should work on our elevator pitch. Right? Work on your elevator pitch. Like that first 60 seconds. That will make everyone captivated. And in reality, that doesn't work. We don't like when people talk to us generically. We like when people talk to us personally. And so whenever you're pitching anything and you're trying to influence, personalize it, make it special to that person and their role and what's important to them and what they're trying to do and their incentive structure, because that's how you get them to listen. We are filled in a world with noise. Getting anyone's attention is hard enough. And you need to get their attention before they can ever take an action. And so start with that. And then when you're talking to them about the action you might want them to take, you're asking questions so they feel more bought in, and that's part of the motivation. But you need to start with making it about them. People love them. Ryan's got a question. I do. Yes. Do you view influences like a zero sum game where you have all these people who are getting much better at. The influence game and they're all asking. Questions of each other? Or do you view, like, how do you. How do you feel, view people increasing. Their powers in this realm? So there are people who are naturally good at this. They end up in sales There are people who aren't good at this, and more often than not they end up in back office places where they don't have to advocate for themselves. But when they're in those back office places, very often they recognize risks or opportunities that other people don't because they're staring at the data or the code or whatever, whatever it is. And I want to help those people find their voice so that they can influence the other people who have a natural sense of it. Because very often they're super smart. Like, they're super smart, they have really great ideas, but they don't know how to get other people to listen and other people to take action and to provide resources, et cetera. And so there's already an imbalance in influence abilities. I'm working on getting the people with very low influence interpersonal skills higher so that they're on a more even playing field. And my belief is that when more people on teams know how to work interpersonally, know how to advocate for their ideas, know how to ask each other questions that are meaningful, better ideas come out because everyone gets bought in, because people are part of the conversation. But yesterday I was actually giving this talk in a dry run and the head of UX at this company said, well, if everybody has a voice, doesn't that create too much noise? And I said it could to a certain degree. You need to use your influence to kick people out of the conversation. You need to say, this is our space and we appreciate your opinion occasionally, but this, we're going to make this choice based on these things, but to do it in an influence way where someone doesn't feel exclusive, excluded, right, that they feel like, okay, you're letting me own what I love, you're letting me focus on what I love. You're helping me be productive and successful at the area that is mine. And so I don't need to express my opinion about everything. How does one choose who to kick out? That's a good question. How does one choose who to kick out? So I would say part of it is who's less impacted, right? Who is the least impacted within the group by whatever is going on, and who is the least knowledgeable either about the customer, their problems, or whatever is going on. The example I gave is when I was a product manager, you wouldn't ask me to design a microservices architecture, but I could express opinions about one. I can have an opinion about anything, but I'm not supposed to be in that room. It's not helpful. And to a Certain degree. The architects don't want to talk to a junior dev about it, but they want to talk to other people who have architecture experience. And so there are certain places where it's obvious who should be in the room and who shouldn't be, and other ones where it's a little bit more delicate. And in the product world, where we are this hub of information for everything, it can become more challenging. But that's a really big part of product. Right. Choosing who's going to be on the SWAT team, who's going to be heavily involved in making decisions, and who's going to be consulted and who's going to be informed. I don't love a racy diagram because I think it's too rigid, but the conceptual nature of not everyone needs to be involved is true. I think people really struggle with this, though. Yes. Because no one wants to be excluded. No. But I mean, fuck it, I'm just aware of it. Right. We never get anywhere if we include everybody. It's just a strange fallacy. But I think people. Years ago, somebody said to me that there's a big difference between being ruthless and being rigorous. And often when people think they're being ruthless, they say, this isn't for you. You may have an opinion, but you haven't got any skin of a game, so there's no point you turning up. Honestly, that isn't you being ruthless, just being rigorous. I think that difference is really critical. But there's also how you say it. You say, we really appreciate you want to be involved. What is it that's that you're afraid of happening, understand why it is they want to be there and then say, okay, would it be okay if we did that this way? Or what would you think about being involved on this level so that the thing that you're worried about gets handled, but you're not expressing opinions about the color of the button. So, unfortunately, Tammy, our time is up. Always super quick as well. Our time always ends. But, Tammy, thank you so much for coming along like you are. Yeah, you're brilliant and I think you're so engaging and you're so knowledgeable and you deliver this with such, like. I don't know if it's the correct word, but aplomb, you just nail it. So it's been, yes, an absolute joy to sit opposite you and hear all of this. And Ryan, thank you for coming along and asking the question as well. Much better question than I could have come up with. So, Elliot, thank you just very much for being here. Thank you everyone for listening. And again, a big thank you, Tammy, for making all this a possibility. Thank you, Ryan and Ben, for giving me a platform to share important information. We have many platforms for you, Tammy. Okay, thank you very much. And we'll be back again at some point in the foreseeable future.

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Ben Maynard

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