How to Earn Trust as a Product Leader By Being Seen as a “Yes Person”

WHERE TO: You as a trusted product leader known for your supportive approach.

WHERE FROM: Being overwhelmed by competing demands and lacking trust within the organization.

WHERE NEXT: Sharing a positive attitude and delivering on impactful initiatives, which in turn builds trust and influence in you as an executive partner for success.

Everyone pulls you in a different direction.

They need your input here, your approval there, your attention everywhere.

As a product leader, you constantly feel overwhelmed, trying to balance your own agenda with everybody else's needs. You work with all the departments, and they all have a different driver motivating them.

So how do you find your footing? How do you allow things to move forward without compromising your goals?

Can you say “no” to everything to create space for yourself? That would hurt your reputation…

What you need is to be seen as someone who builds trust through partnership, empathy, and strategic thinking. Someone creative about solutions and open-minded about how to achieve company goals.

But how can you do that?

By being PERCEIVED as a “yes person” and also still prioritize appropriately. Let me explain…

Why You Want to Be Seen as a Partner in Success

Don’t worry, I’m not going to suggest you start agreeing with everything and become a feature factory manager and be even more overwhelmed.

Being a “yes person” is a matter of attitude.

It’s about having a positive mindset by default, not about agreeing with every idea presented to you. The key is to make people see you as a partner in THEIR success and not a roadblock.

As Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, puts it, “an embarrassing amount of how well you do has to do with attitude.

Do you work hard?

Are you more can-do than nay-saying?

Do you do what you said you were going to do?

There are so many things you can’t control in your work life, but you can control your attitude.”

You want others to perceive you as someone who, when called into any initiative, does their best to move it forward. As Monika Smyczek, SVP of Product at PhotoShelter says, “Partnership is caring about someone else and investing the time in what's important to them.” You want to be seen as someone who will help them in their endeavors at the company. Someone who contributes to the success of the organization by supporting individual initiatives.

Why?

By cultivating this attitude, you start to learn about new initiatives early in the ideation phase. People will feel compelled to bring you in as soon as they start developing something. This gives you a greater chance to have an impact and steer things in your ideal direction.

Think about it: isn’t this crucial for effective product management? You want to avoid as hard as possible to only have contact with initiatives once they’re in the execution phase. Wouldn’t you like to be part of discovery and ideation?

Now that we’ve established WHY you need to be a “yes person”, let’s explore HOW you can become one and still maintain focus on the important, urgent, and impactful things that need to be done.

How to Be a “Yes Person”

To be seen as a partner, start engaging with other internal partners about their ideas. When one of them shares a potential feature or initiative with you, discuss it with them and talk about what the impact could be and how you could make it happen.

Do this regardless of their alignment with your current plans! This is not agreeing to add something to a roadmap, it’s showing you are willing to be a thought partner with your coworker to see how their idea plays out.

Why? You only know if you should agree or disagree with something if you spend time learning about it. More so, your late decision to support or oppose investing in their idea will be more acceptable to the individual who knows you put in the time to really understand it. If you advise against the initiative, it will be more palatable and you won’t be labeled a “NO person”.

Approach everything from a place of curiosity. When someone presents you an idea, ask questions that help you understand it further:

• What is the background of the idea?

• What is the expected impact?

• What is the urgency?

This helps YOU understand the context and helps OTHERS see where their ideas fit into the bigger picture.

They might even realize halfway through the conversation that their idea needs to be improved (or even discarded!). But they wouldn’t have reached that conclusion without your openness to discuss the subject with them.

This helps you build empathy for your peers.

You get to know what drives them and what they want, which is valuable when pitching your own agenda later. It helps you align your goals with those of other people in the organization. Occasionally, this knowledge can be used to offer something they want in exchange for their support of an idea you are pitching.

It’s a game of give and take, and you want to be seen as a giver more often than a taker. The sooner you embrace your position as someone with a “YES, and” attitude, the higher your chances of winning.

Here are some tips to help you build trust and keep positive relationships:

1. Be the safe space for idea exploration Have an empathetic attitude when people approach you, always! Never label any idea as stupid or irrelevant. That would only keep others away and prevent them from sharing their ideas with you the next time.

2. Provide ongoing support and feedback loops Once you agree to something, create time and space for regular feedback. This helps people see you as someone who not only is enthusiastic about the start but also keeps an engaged attitude throughout.

3. Prioritize your engagement strategically Focus on initiatives that align with company goals and where you can have the most impact. Strengthen relationships with key stakeholders to ensure you're involved early in the ideation process for new opportunities. It’s a great way to strengthen your political and social capital and influence. Actively participate by offering constructive feedback that guides discussions toward practical solutions. Bottom line, invest your time where it matters most.

Now here’s the most important piece of advice:

If you actually say YES to something, make sure you actually deliver on it.

It’s important to be seen as open-minded and supportive. But failing to execute on agreed-upon initiatives can destroy the trust you've built. And believe me, rebuilding trust takes much longer than building it the first time.

So remember: If you commit, you must deliver. Otherwise, you’ll damage your trust curve - something we’ll touch upon in a future article.

Avoid the Long-Term Impact Impact of Being Labeled as a “No Person”

Saying “no” to something doesn’t affect only how people see you that one time.

It adds up to your reputation and eventually turns you into someone others label as a “No Person”. No one likes to work with someone who is consistently putting down ideas. Try hard to avoid this.

If you’re a “No person”, others won’t share their ideas with you in the future. When that happens, you lose the opportunity to learn about initiatives early on and get involved. You will also miss out on your chance to influence decisions in the organization.

One thing to note is that it doesn’t take much to be seen as a “No Person”. It’s not only about saying no. If you send vibes of apathy or aloofness, these will also be perceived as a “no”. “Apathy comes off as not caring literally but also figuratively”, Monika Smyczek reminds us. That can erode the trust you have built while damaging the relationships you worked so hard to establish.

Conclusion

Do product leaders need to be “yes people” or “no people”? Neither.

In the end, they will say “yes” to some initiatives and “no” to others.

But they need to BE PERCEIVED as “yes people”. This guarantees them a seat at the table when decisions are being made and creates room for them to influence the direction of the product and the organization.