Step #1: Use your current qualifications to get a job in an area of a business where there is strategic white space. This implies that the business is stagnating in a key realm due to lack of clearly defined vision and there isn’t a clear person whose role it is to define and execute the absent strategy.


Step #2: Fill the strategic white space. This implies articulating the need to define a strategy in this key realm, driving the process to do so in collaboration with others, and connecting the necessary dots to implement the strategy you defined.

Step #3: At this point, you will be operating as the product manager in addition to the responsibilities of your original job. However, assuming a healthy organization, it should be straightforward to make the case to management that the business would benefit from you focusing exclusively on product management, while handing off your previous responsibilities to someone else. They should recognize that enabling you to completely pour yourself into the product manager role is a means to take the business a fundamental step forward.

This post appeared originally on Quora.