“Consumers usually struggle when it comes to describing a solution that meets their needs. This means that product managers need to think creatively when it comes to identifying and understanding the problems and solutions. It is much like Henry Ford’s famous quote: ‘If I asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses (instead of a car).'”
Cynthia Koenig (MS, MBA ‘11) is a Principal Product Manager at Amazon. Cynthia graduated from Trinity College with a Bachelor degree in Anthropology in 2000. She worked in the international conservation field for several years after college, and ultimately decided to enroll in graduate school to further her conservation career.
While she was pursuing a Master’s degree at U of M’s School for Environment and Sustainability, she took a course on Social Enterprise in the Ross School of Business, and was intrigued by the potential to apply business principles to social and environmental causes. Cynthia ended up pursuing a dual MS/MBA (Erb Institute) and graduated in 2011. After graduation, Cynthia moved to India to launch Wello, a social venture that provides reliable access to safe water. After building and scaling Wello in India, she returned to the US in 2017 and started her journey as a Product Manager with Amazon.
1 What was your career plan in college? What made you come to MS and MBA at UMich?
My undergraduate degree was in Anthropology. I’ve always been drawn to the study of culture and human behavior.
After graduating from college, I spent a few months teaching English in a small school in China. My first ‘real job’ after college was at Rare Conservation, an international conservation NGO. I initially worked in our Arlington, VA HQ as a fundraiser, then moved to Latin America where I worked in World Heritage sites facing threats from population pressure, overfishing, and unsustainable farming. Rare’s initiatives focused on creating programs that empowered local communities to participate in sustainable tourism ventures-addressing environmental concerns while enhancing livelihoods. This experience led me to enroll in the Master’s degree program at U of M’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. I was interested in learning more about effective ways to balance the needs of people and the environment.
It was during my first year at the School of the Environment that I decided to pursue a dual degree MBA to deepen my understanding of how to leverage business practices to deliver more efficient returns for social and environmental causes. This interest evolved into a passion for sustainable business and social entrepreneurship. Social impact, particularly the concept of having a business that thrives by doing good and doing well, became my main focus during my time in business school. The double and triple bottom line business model concept resonated with meI put the concept to the test by launching a social venture (Wello) while I was still a full-time student, and made the most of resources at both schools to hone my business idea, such as independent study courses to gain a deeper understanding of funding mechanisms for social ventures, and competing in numerous business plan competitions.
2 What was your motivation to found a business fresh out of master programs? How did you transition into PM?
In the first decade of my career, I had never held a PM title, but I had done lots of work that is under the umbrella of product management.
Wello, is a hybrid social venture with both nonprofit and for-profit arms to achieve its mission. This venture stemmed from my experiences working in rural communities across Latin America and Africa, where reliable access to safe water contributed to families getting stuck in a cycle of poverty. I became curious about water infrastructure and the lack of real solutions to the problems of poor quality and limited access to water. This curiosity led to identifying a gap in the clean water chain, particularly the challenges faced by women and girls in transporting water over long distances.
I started Wello with the goal of finding a more efficient way for people to access safe water. My team at Wello created the WaterWheel, a rolling water container that transports five times the amount of water as the traditional method: headloading. The WaterWheel is a simple solution that addresses the time, physical and health burdens of water collection. Over time, we’ve found that WaterWheel owners have more time to spend on productive activities – like work and school.
Founding and scaling Wello led Wello evolved beyond its startup phase and became more stable, and it now operates through a network of licensees and manufacturers.
I joined Amazon as a Product Manager in 2017. My role involves developing new businesses, products and services for novel ventures that have a positive social impact.
3 What are the critical skill sets to a Product Manager?
First and foremost – empathy. As a product manager, it’s essential to put yourself in the customer’s shoes to ensure that you’re solving the right problem in the best way possible – at Amazon, we call this ‘delighting the customer.’ Strong listening skills, relentless curiosity and creativity are skills I rely on to identify ‘problems worth solving’ and their delightful solutions.
4 What are the responsibilities involved in your PM role, especially as a PM working on early-stage products?
Consumers usually struggle when it comes to describing a solution that meets their needs. This means that product managers need to think creatively when it comes to identifying and understanding the problems and solutions. It is much like Henry Ford’s famous quote: “If I asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses (instead of a car).”
I’d say not a single day as PM is the same (laughter). The day-to-day responsibilities of the role are diverse, involving active engagement in customer research, designing and reporting research outcomes, collaborating with engineering teams on key product requirements, and liaising with manufacturing partners to assess production costs. Each day brings a unique set of challenges and tasks. And I still enjoy the dynamic nature of my role in developing groundbreaking products.
5 Tell us something that is not on your LinkedIn/resume
Hobbies like hiking, photography and pottery are a few of the ways I like to spend my time outside of work. Pottery is a hobby I picked up a few years ago, and I’ve found that I’ll often return to work after a pottery class with new insights. I think having a regular creative outlet is key to being more productive and effective as a PM. It’s something I carve out time in my schedule for every week.
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