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Customer-Centric Leadership in Product Management: Lessons from Jennifer Sabetti
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As host of Trailblazing Women in Product Management, I get to sit down with women whose careers challenge assumptions, reset expectations, and illuminate what leadership really looks like. Jennifer Sabetti, VP of Product Strategy at Oldcastle Infrastructure, is one of those voices.
From the moment we started talking, it was clear: Jennifer’s story is a masterclass in customer-centric leadership in product management. It’s a reminder that the most powerful lessons often come from the most unexpected places.
Jennifer didn’t start her career in tech, engineering, or product. She started in retail. Consumer electronics retail, to be exact: on the floors and in the aisles of Best Buy, during a decade when retail was undergoing seismic change.
And yet, that experience didn’t slow her down. It catapulted her forward.
Because what she learned there (the values, behaviors, and instincts she developed around the customer) became the backbone of her product career and now shapes the way she leads teams, mentors women, and builds strategy across complex industries.
In this post, I’m sharing the biggest lessons from our conversation and how Jennifer’s journey can inspire your own path, especially if you’re a woman building your career in product.
The Career Foundation No One Saw Coming
When Jennifer describes her early years at Best Buy, she lights up. This wasn’t a transitional job. It was her training ground.
She learned what many PMs don’t internalize until much later:
- Your job isn’t to talk about customers.
- Your job is to understand them so deeply that you become their advocate in every room you enter.
Being embedded in stores (literally cleaning shelves, managing lines, restocking products) gave her a visceral sense of customer motivations and decision-making. And that lived experience became the heartbeat of her approach to customer-centric leadership in product management.
She also internalized two values that would stay with her for decades:
- Have fun while being the best.
- Learn from challenge and change.
Both simple. Both powerful. Both rare.
And here’s what struck me: women in product are often told to toughen up, power through, or “act more strategic.” Jennifer’s philosophy reframes the narrative:
Joy and excellence aren’t opposites. They’re fuel.
How Retail Values Shape Leadership in Every Industry
After Best Buy, Jennifer moved into building automation at Honeywell, then Siemens, and finally into her current strategy leadership role at Oldcastle Infrastructure.
Across these pivots (from retail to automation to manufacturing) her secret advantage stayed the same: her commitment to customer-centric leadership in product management, regardless of the industry.
She told me:
“When you really understand how your company creates value for customers, every transition becomes easier.”
That’s why she could jump between sectors many PMs would consider intimidating. Her grounding wasn’t in a domain. It was in customer value.
And as a woman navigating male-dominated industries, that customer-first lens became a source of confidence. She didn’t need to “know everything.” She needed to know what mattered.
This is insight worth repeating for women PMs and leaders:
You do not need to have a traditional background to be exceptional at product. You need sharp judgment, strong customer instincts, and the courage to bring those insights into strategic conversations.
That’s customer-centric leadership in product management at its core.
What Jennifer Looks for When Hiring Product Managers
One of my favorite parts of our conversation was when Jennifer explained how she recruits product managers. This is especially because her perspective is so aligned with what women in the field need to hear.
She isn’t scanning resumes for perfect credentials.
She’s looking for:
✅ Passion for the customer
✅ Curiosity about the industry
✅ Strategic thinking
✅ The ability to ask great questions
✅ Comfort working in ambiguous, cross-functional environments
Notice what’s not on the list:
❌ deep technical expertise
❌ years of PM experience
❌ a “perfect” career trajectory
If you’re someone who has ever hesitated to apply for a product role because you don’t meet every requirement (hello, 90% of women), Jennifer’s approach is your green light.
And it’s yet another example of how customer-centric leadership in product management reshapes hiring. She hires for judgment. She hires for mindset. She hires for people who care.
The Mentorship Philosophy Every PM Should Borrow
As we talked about mentors and sponsors, Jennifer shared something beautifully simple:
“You’re surrounded by mentorship opportunities every day. They won’t always be formal, but they’re always there if you’re open.”
She mentors employees, interns, and rising PMs inside Oldcastle, but she also actively seeks mentorship herself, even decades into her career.
She reaches out. She asks questions. She observes leadership patterns. She looks for the spark she can learn from.
And as a woman in product leadership, this approach hits home. So many women wait to be tapped on the shoulder. Jennifer makes her own path—and opens doors for others.
This is the deeper human side of customer-centric leadership in product management:
Understanding people. Seeing potential. Asking better questions. Building cultures where curiosity is rewarded, not punished.
Why Jennifer’s Story Matters for Women in Product
Jennifer’s journey reminds us that there is no one path into this field. There is only the path that builds your judgment, your empathy, and your ability to lead through change.
And if you take anything from her story, let it be these three truths:
- Customer obsession is your strongest transferable skill.
It will carry you across industries, roles, and opportunities. - Culture and teams matter more than job titles.
Great environments accelerate great careers.
- Mentorship starts with curiosity.
Ask. Learn. Seek. Offer. Repeat.
That is how customer-centric leadership in product management becomes more than a philosophy. It becomes a career advantage.
How Customer-Centric Leadership in Product Management Shapes the Next Generation of Women Leaders
Spending time with Jennifer reinforced something I see across so many women who thrive in product: they lead with clarity, care, and conviction. They realign teams around the customer. They drive strategy with purpose. They mentor generously.
And they redefine what leadership should look like.
- Listen to the full conversation with Jennifer Sabetti on Productside Stories — available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. You can also watch it on YouTube.
- Want to strengthen your own customer-centric leadership skills? Explore our Optimal Product Management Certification — designed to help PMs and product leaders shift from reactive work to strategic impact, with tools that amplify judgment, confidence, and customer value.
- Now it’s your turn. What part of Jennifer’s journey resonated most with you? How has your own nontraditional path shaped the product leader you’re becoming? Share your thoughts and tag @Productside on LinkedIn — we’d love to hear how you’re building your version of customer-centric leadership in product management.
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