There’s a moment in every product leader’s journey when the mission quietly changes—not because the customer has changed, but because the company has.

I’ve been in rooms where CEOs and boards decide the company must pivot. Suddenly, the product roadmap isn’t about solving real user problems—it’s about generating revenue, fast. The shift is subtle but seismic.

At Kayo Sports, we had to introduce ads. Not because our customers wanted them—they didn’t. But because we had not taken on as many subscribers as we planned and needed an additional revenue stream to be able to pay for the sports rights. We knew it would compromise the viewing experience. We knew we’d get pushback. But the mandate was clear: do it anyway.

Personally, I struggled in those moments. It’s hard to push back when executives are laser-focused on commercial outcomes. I found myself in constant conversations trying to advocate for the customer—only to be told, “That can wait.” And it wears on you. You start to question your role. Are you the voice of the customer or just the person delivering board-driven features?

It’s even harder when your team looks at you with frustration. They’re not annoyed at you—but you’re the face of the decision. They want to address fix onboarding. Improve retention. Build things users love. And instead, they’re told to prioritise upsells, ad slots, or features no one asked for.

This is the quiet burden of product leadership: navigating the grey area where customer value and commercial value don’t always align. Sometimes they do—and that’s when product feels effortless. But often, they don’t.

So how do you lead when the mission changes?

You stay honest. You acknowledge the tension. You protect your team from burnout by being transparent about the trade-offs. You keep a small corner of the roadmap for customer wins—even if it’s just one thing. Because in the long run, trust is what sustains businesses. Not ads. Not upsells. Trust.

And if you’re a product leader navigating this same tension—you’re not alone. There are so many of us out there quietly carrying the weight between customer needs and business demands. It doesn’t make you a bad leader. It makes you a real one. The work is hard. The choices are messy. But staying grounded in your values, even when the roadmap says otherwise—that’s the part that matters most.

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