The #1 Skill Top Innovators Swear By: Why Prioritizing Users Will Skyrocket Your Career!

 If you’re looking to stand out in your career as a product manager or innovation professional, there’s one skill that can set you apart from the crowd: prioritizing your users. This isn’t just a trendy concept—Bain & Company found that companies that prioritize customer experience are a whopping 60% more profitable than those that don’t. So, what does that mean for your career? Mastering the art of putting users first will not only make you a stronger innovator, but it will also position you as a true leader in your organization.

Let’s break down why prioritizing users in every decision you make will elevate your career and help you consistently deliver standout results.

Why User-Centered Thinking is Essential for Innovation

It sounds obvious: of course, products should be designed with users in mind. But in the hustle and bustle of product development, it’s surprisingly easy to lose sight of the end user. Sometimes you get caught up in the technical details, focusing on internal goals or trying to showcase advanced features. I’ve been there myself.

Here’s a quick story: my team was once really excited about a technically advanced feature we were developing. It was a great showcase of our engineering capabilities, but when we engaged with our users, we realized it wasn’t addressing their most urgent problems. So, we pivoted and focused on a simpler feature that actually solved their pain points. The result? Higher adoption, better customer satisfaction, and an overall improvement in business performance.

That’s the power of user-centered thinking.

How to Apply User-Centered Thinking to Your Work

If you want to build your reputation as a leader and problem-solver, you need to incorporate user-centered thinking into your daily workflow. Here’s how to get started:

1. Talk to Your Users Early and Often

Don’t wait until you’ve already developed a solution to seek feedback. Engage with users throughout your project—from idea conception all the way through to final development.

Action Steps:

• Conduct user interviews or surveys at the start of every new project to understand your users’ pain points and priorities.
• Set up usability tests after each major milestone to validate your assumptions and adjust your direction as needed.
• Keep an open channel for feedback through tools like user testing platforms or feedback forms, and incorporate their insights into your ongoing sprints.

2. Create Empathy Maps

Empathy maps are a powerful tool to visualize what your users are thinking, feeling, and experiencing. By keeping these maps visible during product planning and development, you can ensure your team stays focused on solving the right problems.

Action Steps:

• Hold a workshop with your team to create empathy maps based on existing user data.
• Document what users say, think, feel, and do in relation to your product or service.
• Use these insights to guide product decisions and keep everyone aligned on the user’s perspective.

3. Use Data to Back Up Your Decisions

While empathy is crucial, pairing user-centered thinking with data-driven decision-making will add credibility to your product choices and help gain leadership buy-in.

Action Steps:

• Use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Heatmaps to track user behavior and understand how users are interacting with your product.
• Combine qualitative insights from interviews and empathy maps with quantitative data to form a more complete picture of user needs.
• Present your findings and recommendations to stakeholders using a mix of data and user quotes to strengthen your case.

4. Be Ready to Pivot

Sometimes, even with the best intentions, your solution might not resonate with users. That’s okay! Prioritizing users means being willing to adapt and pivot based on their feedback.

Action Steps:

• Set up a “pivot protocol” within your team. Outline how you will evaluate whether a change in direction is necessary.
• Regularly check in with users during sprints and use their feedback to inform the next course of action.
• Communicate your decisions clearly to the team and stakeholders, showing how user feedback influenced your direction.

5. Incorporate User-Centered Methodologies

Want to take it a step further? Learning and integrating methodologies like Design Thinking, Agile, and Lean, which all put users at the core of innovation, will help you consistently build products that resonate with users and position you as a leader in your organization.

Action Steps:

• Familiarize yourself with Design Thinking’s five stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Use these stages as a blueprint for problem-solving.
• Incorporate Agile sprints to quickly test and iterate on ideas based on user feedback.
• Apply Lean principles to focus on building only what’s necessary, cutting down on waste, and maximizing value for the user.

Take Action:

Ready to integrate user-centered thinking into your work? Here’s a simple action plan you can start using right away:

1. Schedule User Interviews: Set aside time each week to talk to at least two users. Use this time to uncover their pain points, motivations, and what success looks like for them.
2. Create a Weekly Empathy Map: Use the insights from your interviews to build a weekly empathy map that you share with your team. Discuss how it can influence product decisions.
3. Start with a Small Pivot Exercise: Choose a feature you’re working on and invite feedback early. Based on user feedback, make one small pivot and see how it impacts user satisfaction.

By keeping users at the heart of your product decisions, you won’t just build better products—you’ll position yourself as a leader who drives real business impact.

The content and principles in this article are drawn from The Innovator’s Toolkit™, The ultimate formula for faster, more successful innovation. Learn the same tools and techniques the world's best brands use - head over to The Innovator’s Toolkit™ to get access the innovation training tools and resources to kickstart your innovation journey.