Coaching Stakeholders
Coaching Stakeholders  
Podcast: Product Therapy
Published On: Thu Jan 22 2026
Description: Christian Idiodi sits down with SVPG partner Chris Jones to unpack the often-ignored other half of “empowered teams”: coaching the stakeholders. They dig into why stakeholders often feel like the enemy, what “healthy” actually looks like in the product operating model, and how trust, context-sharing, and outcome-thinking change the relationship. They also get practical about handling “because I said so,” avoiding the stakeholder “black hole,” and shifting finance from funding projects to funding teams and outcomes.–Today’s episode will discuss:What makes someone a “stakeholder” and why product teams can’t pretend they’re optionalWhat a healthy stakeholder relationship looks likeWhy stakeholder trust has to be earnedHow to get context when stakeholders tell you “because I said so”How to keep stakeholders engaged without hijacking teamsPredictability without pretending roadmaps are fortune-tellingHow to avoid the stakeholder “black hole” through transparencyWhy postmortems are critical, even when outcomes miss–References:Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/Google: https://www.google.com/–SVPG on stakeholders:Articles: https://www.svpg.com/stakeholders-and-the-product-model/–Where to find Chris Jones:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjonessvpg/SVPG profile: https://www.svpg.com/team/chris-jones/–Where to find Christian Idiodi:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cidiodi/–Where to find SVPG:SVPG’s newest book, TRANSFORMED: https://www.svpg.com/books/transformed-moving-to-the-product-operating-model/Other books: https://www.svpg.com/books/Articles: https://www.svpg.com/articles/Workshops: https://www.svpg.com/Videos: https://www.svpg.com/videos–Timestamps:(1:07) Why do stakeholders matter?(3:52) The conflict between product and business(6:47) Unpacking a healthy stakeholder relationship(10:09) Stakeholders should give you problems, not solutions(13:05) Why product has to make the first move(17:58) Getting context when stakeholders won't give it(24:42) The three reasons stakeholders resist you(27:53) What we get wrong about “empowerment”(31:56) Do senior executives need different coaching?(37:21) Finance is the stakeholder nobody talks about(41:47) Trust starts when teams own the outcome(44:23) What dysfunction really looks like(50:14) "We're too big for this" and other excuses(53:45) The roadmap trap: predictability vs. discovery(56:37) The accountability question everyone's afraid to ask–Disclaimer:While this podcast is named “Product Therapy”, it is not hosted by licensed therapists or mental health professionals, and it is in no way a substitute for professional mental health services. We recognize the importance of mental well-being and encourage anyone facing personal difficulties to seek support from qualified professionals. See https://findahelpline.com/–Production:Production by ⁠supermix.io