When the Best Idea Isn’t Yours

One of the hardest truths to accept as a product manager is that you don’t always have the best idea in the room. And that’s exactly how it should be.

It’s easy to slip into the mindset that as PM, you’re the hub of product vision — the keeper of roadmaps, requirements, and customer insights. But the reality is that the best products rarely come from a single person’s mind. They evolve through the shared lens of the entire team: engineers, designers, support staff, and often, customers themselves.

Your real value isn’t just about generating ideas; it’s about creating the conditions for the best ideas to surface, get tested, and be woven into the product. It means listening more than you talk, asking better questions instead of supplying ready-made answers, and championing a space where everyone feels safe to poke holes, suggest improvements, or propose completely new angles.

When you give your team permission and the expectation to shape the product alongside you, you unlock perspectives you simply don’t have on your own. Engineers catch technical pitfalls early, designers push for better usability, and frontline support spots patterns you might never see from your desk.

The next time you’re tempted to steer every conversation back to your own idea, pause. Remember: a product manager’s true success is measured not by the brilliance of their own proposals, but by how effectively they empower the team’s collective brilliance to shine through.