The PM Talent Triangle
by Hari Srinivasan • VP of Product at LinkedIn
Hari leads the Talent Solutions product team at LinkedIn, managing the company's largest business units including Hiring, Learning, and Jobs. He has been with LinkedIn for over 8.5 years and previously worked on the Profile product.
🎙️ Episode Context
Hari discusses how LinkedIn manages its massive, complex ecosystem by aligning every decision to a single North Star: connecting people to economic opportunity. He shares frameworks for decision-making velocity in large organizations, the shift from title-based to skills-based hiring, and his model for evaluating Product Manager talent.
Problem It Solves
Helping PMs identify their strengths and helping hiring managers build balanced teams.
Framework Overview
A framework for categorizing PM skills into three distinct points of a triangle. Great PMs rarely sit in the middle; they usually 'spike' heavily in one or two areas. Career growth comes from leaning into these edges rather than trying to be average at everything.
🧠 Framework Structure
Principle 1: The Creator (Steven Spie...
Principle 2: The Data Scientist. PMs ...
Principle 3: The General Manager. PMs...
Principle 4: Live on the Edges. Ident...
When to Use
During hiring to ensure team diversity, or during career planning to decide what skills to double down on.
Common Mistakes
Trying to hire a 'unicorn' PM who is perfect at all three, or a PM trying to fix their weaknesses instead of leveraging their strengths.
Real World Example
Hari advises PMs to match their 'spike' to the product stage—e.g., a 'Creator' PM is crucial for 0-to-1 products.
I've actually never seen a great PM who's in the center of it. I find the great PMs live on the edges.
— Hari Srinivasan