CPO Rising Series: SAP CPO on Decisiveness, Customer Trust, and Adapting to AI

What makes a successful Chief Product Officer in today’s rapidly evolving technology landscape? In this episode of the CPO Rising Series hosted by Products That Count Resident CPO Renee Niemi, SAP President and CPO Ritu Bhargava shares her insights on the importance of decisiveness, building trust with customers, and adapting to the transformative impact of AI. Ritu emphasizes the power of saying “no” to clear the path for innovation, the value of becoming a trusted advisor to customers, and the need for product leaders to stay agile and reimagine their offerings in the face of technological disruption.

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Show Notes:

1. Ritu Bhargava’s role as President and Chief Product Officer at SAP spans 70 countries and a team of around 5-6,000 people.
2. Her career journey involved progressing through various roles at Oracle and Salesforce before joining SAP.
3. Mentors played a crucial role in Rita’s career development, recognizing her potential for leadership roles.
4. Rita emphasizes the importance of learning by doing, incorporating feedback, and being open to unlearning and relearning.
5. As a mentor, she encourages her team to focus on tangible product outputs and take pride in their work.
6. Rita values building trust with customers and becoming a trusted advisor, even if they don’t buy her products.
7. Decisiveness is one of Bhargava’s key superpowers, and she is not afraid to say “no” to clear the path for innovation.
8. Bhargava’s approach to prioritizing new product opportunities involves a balance of data, understanding the business, and planning for short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals.
9. A company’s unique strengths should be the foundation for its product strategy.
10. Challenge your team to reimagine product experiences without the constraints of current constructs.
11. Emphasize the importance of understanding the business context and the relevance of AI in the user’s workflow.
12. Rita highlights the need for companies to have a strong data strategy to drive effective AI applications.
13. Product managers need to stay relevant and adaptable in the rapidly changing technology landscape.
14. Teams should learn by doing and to take pride in their work.
15. Rita values honesty, transparency, and integrity in her relationships with customers.
16. Enterprise software relationships are long-term, and building trust over time is crucial.
17. Rita is not afraid to make decisions and take the consequences, even if they are difficult.
18. Understand the user’s needs and deliver value, rather than just implementing technology for the sake of it.
19. Product managers need to be able to articulate the product effectively and demonstrate their deep understanding of it.
20. Rita encourages her team to challenge themselves and question the status quo, constantly exploring new possibilities.