Episode 227: Inside LinkedIn’s Product Strategy Culture with Monica Lewis

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Jun 11, 2025

Monica Lewis, VP of Product at LinkedIn, shares her fascinating journey from engineering to spearheading the AI-driven Sales Solutions team. She discusses how AI is reshaping sales effectiveness by automating time-consuming tasks and providing insights for smarter decision-making. Monica emphasizes the importance of grounding AI solutions in customer needs and highlights the collaborative strategies that foster innovation. Her insights on balancing technology with personal engagement in sales offer a fresh perspective on modern product management.

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ADVICE

Start by Understanding Customers

Always start by deeply understanding the customer and the value your product provides.
Use sales and customer support teams to quickly learn product use and value in new industries.

INSIGHT

Ground AI in Customer Needs

Ground AI product development firmly in customer needs to ensure trust and efficiency.
Simplify AI interfaces for users by hiding complexity and enabling one-click valuable insights.

ADVICE

Create Safe Experimentation Culture

Cultivate a culture of safety where team members feel empowered to test and learn from mistakes.
Share early thinking openly and encourage team feedback and collaborative discovery.

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In this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri sits down with Monica Lewis, VP of Product at LinkedIn, to explore how AI is transforming sales solutions.

Monica shares her journey from engineering to leading LinkedIn's billion-dollar Sales Solutions team, focusing on creating powerful AI-driven tools that increase the effectiveness of the sales team.

Monica discusses the integration of AI in sales processes and highlights the importance of understanding customer needs to create solutions that address real-world challenges. She emphasizes the role of AI in streamlining tasks, thereby enabling sales professionals to focus on strategic activities that create value for buyers and sellers.

If you want to learn how AI can reshape your approach to product management and sales strategy, tune in and gain valuable insights from Monica's experience at LinkedIn.

You’ll hear us talk about:

00:02:54 - Grounding AI in Customer Needs

Monica explains how LinkedIn ensures their AI solutions are centered around customer problems, emphasizing the need for understanding audience and customer requirements first when developing AI-driven products.

00:10:27 - Leveraging AI to Improve Sales Effectiveness

Monica shares how AI is helping salespeople become more efficient by automating non-customer-facing tasks and providing valuable insights for better decision-making.

00:30:01 - Embracing Failure and Rapid Testing

Monica shares a pivotal moment at LinkedIn where rapid experimentation and smart risk-taking led to an increase in customer acquisition, highlighting the importance of quick testing, learning, and iteration.

Episode resources:

- Monica on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamlewis/

- Check our new course: https://productinstitute.com/p/mastering-product-strategy-overview

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

03:04 Dear Melissa

07:49 Building Sales Solutions at LinkedIn

13:01 Creating a culture of experimentation

16:12 Trends in AI and the evolving role of salespeople

21:17 Balancing metrics, data, and user value

25:13 Designing user experiences with smart cues

30:59 Monica's career pivotal moments and product strategy insights

36:59 Managing innovation, bets, and experimentation

40:46 The future of sales and advice to younger self