Stakeholder Judo: pushing back on execs without losing trust or influence
Brennan Collins
VP Product before 30. Coach of 500+ PMs
“Good PMs say no” is a myth. And it’s costing you influence.
It's 3:47 PM on a Thursday, and your VP of Sales sends you an urgent message:
"Three enterprise prospects asked about ACH payments this week. All of our competitors have it. We're losing deals. Can we get this on the roadmap for Q2? I need a timeline ASAP."
What do you say back?
Most product managers pick one of three losing moves:
1) Get Defensive: They defend their existing roadmap and burn political capital.
2) Gatekeep: They ask their standard checklist of questions before answering and frustrate the VP.
3) Give In: They say, "Sure, I'll look into it," and build the wrong thing for three months.
There's a fourth option: I call it Stakeholder Judo.
In this 3-hour workshop, you'll practice four techniques that change the dynamic from "Build this ASAP" to "Wow, you have this covered."
What you’ll learn
Workshop agenda
Technique 1: The Product Metrics Ladder
Before you can influence, you need a way to connect any feature idea to business outcomes that matter to stakeholders. You'll build that chain and use it as your foundation for the rest of the day.
Technique 2: Lean in and Reframe
Six questions that uncover the real customer problem behind a feature request, but with a twist. You'll learn how to gather context without it seeming like an interrogation.
Technique 3: The Comparison and Inception
When the request genuinely conflicts with your roadmap, you still don't say "no" or cave under pressure. You compare two initiatives side by side with the Metrics Ladders, and they decide with you.
Technique 4: Pre-suasion
Influence isn't just how you react to the VP in the room. It's the seeds you plant ahead of time, so that the VP knows you have things handled. Prevent future conflicts with this 60-second update.
Depart
Leave wiser, more influential, and ready to face the next stakeholder interaction with a grin instead of a grimace.
Learn directly from Brennan
Brennan Collins
Reached VP of Product before 30. Coached 500+ PMs. 36+ promoted in 12 months.
Who this workshop is for
PMs with 3 to 10 years of experience who regularly receive feature requests from executives or sales leaders.
PMs who have strong product instincts but struggle to translate their reasoning into language that wins rooms where they're outranked.
PMs who've been told to "be more strategic" but nobody showed them what to say differently on a Thursday at 3:47 PM.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Brennan Collins in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
3 hours of live instruction with exercises and breakout rooms
Practice with other PMs, receive immediate coaching, and leave with the skill, not the theory.
4 worksheets (PDF, emailed before class)
Metrics Ladder Builder, Sincere Curiosity Question Bank + Reframe Madlib, Tradeoff Analysis Template, Cafe Update Builder
AI coaching skills deployable to your LLM
For continued practice after the workshop
$200 credit toward full The Influential PM course
Stacks with other promo codes
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