The Three Mindset Shifts That Stall or Restart PM Growth
Fix the three stories — control, change, and self-image — that quietly stall product careers
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 92%
Even where growth frameworks exist, three mindset shifts determine whether a PM keeps growing or stalls at mid-senior level: whether you focus on what you control, your relationship with change, and how you see yourself. The third is the most powerful and the hardest to fix through frameworks. Correcting these stories can put a stalled PM back on the growth path.
Origin
Articulated by Vikrama Dhiman (Gojek) as the counterpart to his Three Ws framework — the mindset failures that impede growth.
Core principles
- 01A large number of things that impact your career are within your control
- 02Rate of growth follows rate of change
- 03The stories you tell yourself define you at a level frameworks can't reach
- 04Self-labels are also anti-signals that excuse your weaknesses
How to run it
- 1
Refocus on what you control
Early on, almost all your energy is on controllable craft — your outputs, your feedback, your growth. At mid-senior the conversation drifts to 'why isn't the org doing this for me? why won't that stakeholder change? why don't I get projects like that?' — things outside your control. Redirect focus back to the Three Ws, where there is endless controllable work on data, tech, communication, design, research, strategy, and community.
Pro tip When you feel stuck, list what's actually in your control across the eight skill axes — there are years of craft to build there.
Watch out Blaming the organization, stakeholders, or project allocation is the classic mid-senior stall pattern.
- 2
Deliberately raise your rate of change
When young, your skills change every six months so growth is automatic. At mid-senior, self-preservation slows you ('maybe I shouldn't go deep on this, I don't know what it means for my career'), so growth slows too. Keep your rate of change high and rate of growth takes care of itself.
Pro tip If you rate yourself 4/5 on data within your org, benchmark against the best in the industry instead — your score drops and instantly reveals what to improve. Do the same for communication by mapping yourself against other functions, not just the PMO.
Watch out Changing your team or company can raise your rate of change but should be a last resort — there's usually significant room to grow where you are.
- 3
Rewrite the story you tell about yourself
Self-labels like 'I'm a high-agency PM' or 'I'm a hyper-collaborative PM' double as anti-signals that excuse weaknesses ('high-agency, so it's okay if I'm brash or cut corners'; 'collaborative, so it's okay if I'm indecisive'). Identify your self-story, and if you can't see it, ask people you trust. Correcting the story can restart growth.
Pro tip Adopt enabling stories: 'I'm still in a learning phase' or replace 'high-agency' with 'mindful-agency.' Seeing yourself as a learner is enabling even if it's not the most exciting story.
Watch out These stories operate at a basic level that is very hard to correct through frameworks and structures — you must consciously catch and rewrite them.
In the wild
Dhiman joined Gojek proud of the SQL, Oracle, and data-framework skills he'd built since the start of his career. Seeing Crystal Vijaya and her team's work, he immediately concluded he was 'nowhere near.' Working with strong colleagues like Dito and Sidhu similarly challenged his self-assessment on communication and product strategy.
→ Instead of being crushed, he corrected his self-story to 'I'm still learning,' which created hunger to fix his gaps rather than despair — the enabling-story move in action.
Working more in Southeast Asia, Dhiman learned that not every team or culture responds to a hyper-aggressive get-it-done style. He deliberately changed his self-description from 'high-agency person' to 'mindful-agency person' to reshape his own behavior.
→ A relabeled self-story that started shaping healthier day-to-day behavior across different cultures.
Common mistakes
Drifting into external blame at mid-senior level
Shifting focus from 'how am I growing' to 'why won't the org/stakeholders change' moves your attention outside your control and stalls growth.
Letting self-labels excuse your weaknesses
'High-agency' becomes permission to be brash and cut corners; 'collaborative' becomes permission to be indecisive. The signal you're proud of is quietly capping you.
Trying to improve every axis at once
Picking up data, design, strategy, and tech simultaneously overwhelms you — pick the maximum-leverage area, fix it, then move to the next.
Is it for you?
Best for
Mid-senior product managers whose growth has plateaued and who suspect the cause is internal rather than external
Not ideal for
Early-career PMs whose rapid skill acquisition already keeps rate of change high without deliberate effort
From the transcript
“three mindset shifts and changes can enable faster growth, but if those those mindset and changes also can hinder your growth.”
“the first thing is whether you're focusing on things you control or whether you're focusing on things that are beyond your control. Second, what's your…”
“if you think you are four on data ... start benchmarking yourself with the best in the industry. You'll automatically see that your scale drops.”
“they are also anti-signaling. They are like, "Oh, I'm high-agency, so it's sometimes okay if I am a little brash.”
“I don't want to be a high-agency person. I want a mindful-agency person.”
From the episode
A framework for PM skill development
Vikrama Dhiman (Gojek)