Increase Stakeholder Alignment in 30 Days

Does Stakeholder Alignment Feel Impossible?

No one told you that the hardest part of product management isn't roadmaps, requirements, or frameworks. It's people.

And not just any people: stakeholders with competing agendas, shifting priorities, and the power to derail your work overnight.

Sadly, most product managers and product leaders learn too late that their real job is influence, not mechanics.

Here's the reality you're living in:

• The frameworks you learned sounded rational, but don't work in the real world.
• Alignment evaporates the moment a HiPPO drops a new "urgent" priority.
• Stakeholders don't feel heard, so they escalate, override, or block decisions.
• Your roadmap feels like it's built on quicksand — constantly shifting and changing.
• Conversations get tense because you know what needs to be done, but you can't get agreement.
• You spend more time putting out fires than building products.

This isn't a tactical issue. It's not even a product issue.

It's an organizational and relational one.

Owning Outcomes Without Owning Authority is Frustrating.

The Monday-morning pivots.
The executive "suggestions."
The conflicting demands.
That feeling of being stuck between people who don't agree.

Nothing ever prepared you for this:

• You're responsible for alignment but no one gave you the tools.
• Every conversation feels like a negotiation at best, like a battle at worst.
• "Just get everyone on the same page" sounds simple. But never is.
• You feel like you're constantly explaining yourself or instead of moving the work forward.
• You feel like you're constantly herding cats (or cattle or your preferred herd of animals).
• Some days it feels like 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

It's easy to feel like you're failing in the job. Like you're doing something wrong.

We're hear to tell you: It's not you.

You're struggling because no one trained you for the politics of product management.

Product Management Can Be A Political Job, And You Need The Tools To Navigate It.

When you became a Product Manager, you should have been given the real skills to influence decisions, build trust, and create alignment, even without formal authority.

Not scorecards and frameworks. But how to read motivations, identify agendas, navigate organizations, and align goals.

Because when you understand how to do this, your entire experience changes.

• People trust your judgment and follow your lead.
• You can say "no" diplomatically and still strengthen relationships.
• Stakeholders align faster because you understand what they really need.
• Your roadmap gains stability and so does your team.
• You become known as the PM who brings clarity, not conflict.
• You stop being a "product janitor" and start being a true product leader.

This is a 100% learnable skillset. And it's doable in any size organization, at any company stage, in any industry.

And it doesn't take very long to learn it.

We know because we've done it.

That's what this episode of Street Smart Product Manager Live! has been created to deliver for you.

Join Joe Ghali, business relationship management and innovation leader, and co-host of The Product Porch podcast, and product Jedi, Shardul Mehta, for a special episode where we'll tackle YOUR stakeholder challenges.

That's right: You share your thorniest stakeholder challenge and we'll help you navigate it.

This isn’t another theoretical talk about influence or a rehash of stakeholder mapping frameworks you've already seen.

This is a live, tactical, "real talk" discussion of the reality of the job of a Product Manager and what it actually takes to align and manage stakeholders.

We'll also share our own true-life "in the trenches" war stories and will get down and dirty on:

• How to identify who actually influences your product.
• How to uncover what stakeholders truly care about.
• How to build trust fast, even with difficult personalities
• How to manage HiPPOs and competing priorities without burning bridges.
• How to reclaim your agency and influence.
• How to reshape relationships in under 30 days.

You'll walk away with stories, scripts, and real-world techniques you can use the very next day.

And we'll answer all your questions!

Meet Your Expert Guides

Joe Ghali — a transformation-minded product strategist, keynote speaker, and fastpitch softball coach who brings energy, empathy, and a practical playbook to every conversation. He's currently Consulting Director of Business Relationship Management & Innovation at CNA Insurance, and co-host of The Product Porch podcast. He was formerly Principal Consultant and Trainer at Productside. He's led global product and innovation initiatives across industries, boosted development speed at Fortune 100 companies, launched multi-million-dollar digital services, and helped organizations create the alignment needed to deliver real value—faster.

Shardul Mehta — He's been recognized as a "Product Jedi." 30+ years in product management and entrepreneurship, 4x founder, thought leader, mentor, writer, speaker, and veteran of startups and Fortune 100 enterprises across a variety of industries. Shardul has launched and grown products from 0 to $100M+. He writes one of the fastest-growing newsletters for PMs worldwide, and is the host of Street Smart Product Manager Live!, a series dedicated to helping PMs bridge the gap between theory and practice. His work focuses on empowering product managers to think like business leaders — using insight, strategy, and influence to create products customers love.

We still carry the battle scars and know what it really takes when priorities get reshuffled, politics surface, and everyone seems to be running in different directions. We've seen what consistently derails PMs and coached 100s on stakeholder alignment.

This session brings you the practical, lived experience most people never get access to.

Why You Need To Join Live

This episode has been specifically designed for product managers and leaders who know their biggest blockers aren't technical—they're relational.

If you're:

• Struggling with misalignment, unclear expectations, and competing agendas
• Feeling the weight of influencing without authority
• Craving tactical ways to build trust and reduce friction
• Tired of feeling reactive and want to operate with ownership and confidence
• Ever thought, "Why is this part of the job so damn hard?"

This episode has been created for you.

In less than 60 minutes, you'll come away with:

• Insights on your thorniest stakeholder challenge.
• A simple method to uncover stakeholder motivations in minutes.
• Techniques to quickly build trust across teams.
• Scripts for saying "no" without damaging relationships.
• Practical ways to manage HiPPOs and political pressure.
• Tools to expand your influence, even without authority.
• A clear path for improving alignment in the next 30 days.

Avoid this, and the same paterns will continue.

Projects will stall.
Roadmaps will crumble.
Stakeholders will escalate.
Your credibility—and confidence—will take the hit.

But when you learn how to navigate people, politics, and pressure with clarity and confidence, everything changes.

Your influence grows.
Your work gets easier.
Your team moves faster.
And your career trajectory accelerates.

🎟️ Join us live and gain the confidence, clarity, and tools you need to create alignment, reduce friction, and lead like the product leader you deserve to be.

👉 Reserve your free seat today and start transforming your stakeholder relationships in the next 30 days.

Event notes:

• Replay will be available to those who register.
• Inner Circle Members of Street Smart Product Manager will get the full premium career toolkit. Specific learning materials vary per event but examples include the transcript, slides, notes, learning guides, concept explainers, career tools, templates, and multimedia materials. Think of it as your own private training library!

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