Susan Stavitzski

Customer-Driven Product Person

Product Leader with experience working in the software industry for start-ups, smb and enterprise companies. Passionate about e-commerce, subscription, marketplace and retention focused products. 

I have a passion for taking manual, bulky processes and turning them into powerful, automated, scalable solutions to empower teams 💪

Message me to talk about a tough customer problem, hosting a customer discovery workshop or to brainstorm a wacky product idea 💡 

Skilled in Product Management, Product Design, User Interviews & Testing, Prototyping, Data Analytics, Product Marketing,  Ecommerce, Self Service, Advertising, Sales, Event Management, Market Research, and Account Management.

Follow me on Medium - https://medium.com/@susan_ski

Senior Product Manager

CarMax is the way car buying should be. Whether in-person or online, creating the best omni channel experience for our customers.

As a Senior Product Manager, I focus on creating the best in-person car selling experience for customers and associates through expanding self-service platforms and improving communication with tailored notifications.

I wasn’t always seen as a good PM.
Even when I delivered results, I was overlooked.
Underestimated.
Told I wasn’t cut out for the role.

It shook my confidence, quietly but deeply.

But I didn’t let it define me.

Over time, I stopped chasing external validation
and started trusting the way *I* lead best.

Fast forward:

* I managed teams as large as 9 PMs, and managed people managers
* I built products used by hundreds of millions
* I presented alongside Mark Zuckerberg
* I was awarded Additional Equity 3 years in a row and grew my comp from ~$300k to ~$900k in 6 years
* And I retired (FIRE'd) from Big Tech at 40

But I never forgot what it felt like to over-prepare
because deep down, I **still** didn’t think I belonged.

That’s why I now coach L6-L9 leaders who are ready to lead differently.

Not louder. Not flashier.

Just with more trust in themselves.

Because the truth is:

You already know a lot.
You’ve done a lot.
But you’re still not being *seen* as the strategic, grounded leader you are.

I work with leaders who are navigating transitions, interviews, and high-stakes influence, and are ready to:

* Rebuild confidence without chasing perfection
* Communicate with calm, not over-explanation
* Be seen as strategic in rooms that move fast
* Lead with presence, not pressure

**And when that shift happens, things start to move.**

Here’s what that looks like in real life:

* Frozen in interviews → landing roles at Meta, Google, Microsoft, and other top tech companies
* Scared to negotiate for higher offers → getting both Meta and Microsoft to increase their offer from $850K to $1.2M TC
* Stuck at L6 for years → getting put up for promos within a half
* Overlooked in the room → being sponsored by executives

If you’re in that gap, between how much you’ve done and how little it’s landing, you don’t have to keep figuring it out alone.

Check out the Featured section for stories and resources.
Or feel free to connect if something here resonated.

Your next chapter doesn’t have to be louder.
It just has to be truer, to no one else but you.

Nancy Chu

Last time I wrote about the potential to make more progress in Q4, in clarity, confidence, and up-leveling in 60 days than you did all year https://lnkd.in/gidREb44 

I also shared that the latest TC offer from one of our clients is $1.4M from Stripe for an Engineering Management role.

Most people assume big offers are won at the end.

They actually aren’t.

They’re won in the moments where the leader learns how to hold their value without collapsing into over-explaining, softening, or pre-solving for the other side.

This client wasn’t struggling with their worth.

They knew the level they were operating at.

They didn’t know at first how to communicate from that level under pressure - cleanly, calmly, without diluting themselves to make their number feel “reasonable.”

They were doing what many high-achieving leaders do:

Trying to anticipate the company’s constraints instead of stating their own.

Filling silence.

Explaining too much.

Trying to make their ask easier for the other side to digest.

Which is understandable.

Negotiation at this level isn’t 100% logical, it’s actually more emotional.

So our work started there.

Not just with tactics.

But with helping them sit in the pocket of their value long enough for their communication to match the leader they already were.

Once that shifted, they stopped preparing from “Will they think this is too high?” and started preparing from a more grounded state:

“This is the level I operate at. Let me speak from that place.”

That 1 internal shift changed the tone of the negotiation.

From there, the strategy was simple:

Pause before responding so the room leans in.

Give them the problem, not the solution.

Anchor high without wobble.

Use psychology to increase winnability.

Stay warm.

Stay human.

And because their energy had shifted, the room shifted with them.

The offer increased.

Leadership leaned in.

That’s how they landed their $1.4M package, from ~$920K.

Not because they said the perfect line.

But because they learned how to communicate as someone whose value wasn’t in question.

This is the part people underestimate.

Negotiation is a thinking skill, a psychological skill, and a nervous-system skill, long before it becomes a tactical one.

It’s the reason my clients land $700K–$1M+ offers with clarity and calm.

And if you’re ready to work with this same steadiness, the kind that changes how companies respond to you, DM me.

If you’re newer to my world, my YouTube channel is the best place to begin. Will link in comments.

External numbers always move last.

Your internal state moves first.

Empowering L6-L9 leaders to land in top Tech faster, lead with presence, and thrive with calm || Helping enterprises with AI-First Thinking || Barista FIRE’d at 40 || x Meta PM Manager, Roku PM Director

If you’re getting a lot of “We’ve decided to move forward with another candidate” responses, it might be time to rethink how you’re telling your stories. 

The words you use can make a big difference in interviews.

1 common misconception is that presenting yourself as the perfect leader who delivers a flawless outcome will automatically lead to a yes. 

But if the interviewer doesn’t resonate with the difficulty of what you tackled, they might see it as a "junior" problem. 

That's why I recommend to my clients to spend more time in the problem space (similar to approaching a product sense/strategy interview), and add more color to the complexities you faced:

- the trade-offs
- the messy constraints
- and the decisions they had to make.

Interviewers lean in once they see how you think through real obstacles, rather than hearing a quick success story.

Let's walk through an example.

Version 1:

“I led the data infra platform. Our mission is x, and strategy is y. 

I launched a new analytics dashboard and improved abc by 25%.”

Version 2:

“At first, I thought we could adapt our existing platform for the sales team’s new analytics needs. 

But each region had different data sources, metrics, and privacy rules. 

Marketing also needed immediate insights that clashed with the finance team’s monthly cycles.

Reusing our existing backend wasn’t enough. We had to completely rethink the data flows, define ownership for each metric, and rebuild large parts of the UI.

Meanwhile, I only had x engineers.

So I spent a month aligning with leads to prioritize metrics, and aligning with eng on short sprints to handle real-time reporting."

Notice the difference? 

The 2nd version highlights the complexity of the problem, and the decisions you made. 

The words you use in your narratives shape how hiring managers perceive you. 

Operational language focuses on what you did. 

Strategic language focuses on how you think. 

And at L6-L9, it’s your thinking that sets you apart.

Here’s how to make the shift: 

- highlight more complexities.
- show your thought process in trade-offs.

If the interviewer doesn’t appreciate the challenge, they won’t appreciate the solution.

If you’re not landing offers, it’s not because you’re not qualified, it’s probably because your stories aren’t showing the depth of your experience. 

Usually, it’s just a handful of tweaks that move you from no-hire to multiple offers within weeks.

That’s exactly what we do in our Acing L6-L9 Interviews program, where you won't be memorizing stories that don’t help you sound truly senior.

Every week you wait might be costing you $10K-$20k-$40k when your target TC is $500k-$1M-$2M.

We will polish and up-level your stories, showcase your authentic leadership, and help you ace L6-L9 interviews faster and with less stress.

If you want the right actions from the start and a faster time-to-offer, click on the link in comments, and I’ll be in touch!

I used to walk into every meeting feeling like I had something to prove.

Every comment felt like a test.
Every decision felt high stakes.
I was measuring myself against everything I wasn’t yet.

Experience.
Track record.
Credibility.

I was so focused on the gaps that I completely missed the foundation I already had.

Things shifted when I started practicing something I once dismissed as too soft: gratitude.

Not performative gratitude.
Not “be happy with what you have” gratitude.
But a deeper kind that helps you recognize what is already true and already working.

And it changed how I showed up.

My thinking became clearer.
My decisions became cleaner.
I stopped gripping so tightly.

Eventually, the opportunities that once felt out of reach started showing up with more ease.

There is neuroscience behind this that is not woo at all. Gratitude activates the parts of your brain responsible for motivation, emotional regulation, and complex problem-solving. These are the exact muscles you need when you are making high-stakes product calls or interviewing for L6 to L9 roles.

Gratitude does not make you complacent.
It gives you a stronger platform to build from.

Gratitude and ambition are not opposites.
They work together.

Early in my career, I thought being grateful meant lowering the bar. Now I see the opposite is true.

The most ambitious leaders I work with practice gratitude intentionally.
They acknowledge their growth.
They recognize their teams.
They see what is already strong before they decide what to strengthen next.

That shift from “I am not ready yet” to “I already have something real to stand on” changes everything.

How you interview.
How you negotiate.
How you lead.

If you want to practice this daily, here are three simple ways:
	
1.	Notice specific contributions. Name the exact insight, decision, or action that moved something forward.
	
2.	Reframe challenges as teachers. Clients who do this show up with more resilience and steadier leadership energy.
	
3.	Track your daily wins, even tiny ones. This gently rewires your mind to orient toward strength instead of scarcity.

The bottom line is that gratitude is an operating system.

When it shifts, everything built on top of it shifts too.

Managing people is complex work, full of hidden pressures that your team rarely sees.

What does it actually take to create a culture that leads to success for the biz and the people?

In many organizations, leaders push for immediate wins. 

We keep on shipping trying to hit more metric wins, but forgetting that roadmaps aren’t sprints, but marathons.

Every performance cycle is do-or-die, so we deprioritize the “human element.”

But if we recognize that investing in people is never wasted effort, because if your team feels supported, they’ll go the distance with you.

It’s easy to assume we can’t afford compassion in a fast-paced, competitive environment. 

But compassion actually elevates your team with belonging, stability, and genuine support—so they can meet (and exceed) all of your expectations!

Compassion = empathy + action. 

It’s the difference between giving feedback and actually rolling up your sleeves to support your team.

That is when people increase their feelings of Belonging. 

When Belonging is high, something shifts: teams actually want to help each other, genuinely, and not just for optics and performance evaluation reasons.

In the military or medical fields, high stakes naturally bond people into cohesive units. 

In business, that sense of deep connection now feels optional, but it’s not if you truly want teams that thrive for the long term.

When people feel valued, they step up, naturally.

If you want the entire org to step up, why not start valuing them more?

When people don’t feel safe, they stay in “tiger alert” mode. 

Their energy goes to covering mistakes or avoiding blame, not innovating.

But when they DO feel safe, they can afford to take smart risks, pitch bold ideas, offer actual feedback that are meaningful, and push your product or business strategy forward.

Culture is learned by example. 

If you cut corners on empathy or celebrate only short-term wins, your teams will naturally copy you. 

But if you prioritize long-term relationships and show genuine concern, they’ll mirror that compassion, and bring it to every interaction.

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from The Alchemist:

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. And when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”

In the context of leadership: 

When you care about your team, you push yourself to become a more compassionate leader. In turn, your entire org rises. ❤️ 

Try one small experiment this week. Maybe it’s a heartfelt check-in with a stressed direct. Or maybe you give someone the freedom to pitch a new idea without being judged. 

Notice what happens when you swap fear-based control for a little more compassion.

That is when everything around us become better too.

Thanks to The CPO Club for hosting me with this great topic on Compassionate Leadership. I'll put the link to our podcast in the comment below.

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The Battle

Susan Stavitzski

Nancy Chu

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The Battle

Susan Stavitzski

Nancy Chu

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Nancy Chu's LinkedIn Performance

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