Q:How do I influence stakeholders without authority?

Marty Cagan argues that stakeholders are best managed by building sincere trust, previewing solutions early, and moving disagreements toward evidence¹³. Teresa Torres adds that you should show your discovery work rather than only presenting conclusions⁵.

01Build trust before you need it

• Cagan defines stakeholders as people who can veto or block your launch, and says you must understand their constraints and convince them you will solve for their concerns too¹.
• He stresses that this commitment has to be sincere, since stakeholders who doubt it will either escalate or try to control the work¹.
• In his coaching framework, he says trust takes time because interactions are fewer and each one carries more weight⁹.

02Show your work and bring evidence

• Torres warns against leading with conclusions, since stakeholders then compare their own preferences with yours and the highest-paid opinion tends to win⁵.
• She recommends walking stakeholders through the opportunity solution tree, inviting their input at each step, and sharing new interview and test findings⁵.
• Cagan advises that when opinions clash, you should run a quick test and bring evidence to move the debate from opinion to data¹.

03Influence through goals and likability

• Lenny Rachitsky argues that you should frame asks around the other person's goals and incentives, and that consistently good outcomes build influence over time¹⁰.
• He also notes that being likable makes people more willing to be persuaded, though you should not optimize for being liked¹⁰.