Div Manickam

Finding a Growth Mindset in Leadership, Teams and Organizations
Forbes Communications Council
December 02, 2020

Why do we get excited about some opportunities, and other times we look for a place to hide?

When I read Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, it brought back memories of my learning habits and patterns. We have both a fixed and growth mindset — it’s a matter of nurturing the right mindset.

Mindfulness at Work: Finding balance while working from home
Forbes Communications Council
November 11, 2020

Old patterns creep in. It doesn’t take much time. You can fall back into them before you know it.

When was the last time you listened to your emotions and accepted your feelings?
How can we be more mindful at work?

Power of Belonging: Team, Workplace and Community
Forbes Communications Council
October 22, 2020

You might be constantly asking the question: “Do I fit in on this team and in this company?”
Now, a better question to ask is: “Do I belong on this team and in this company?”

To “belong” is a simple word, but it has grown to mean a lot more. In every team, workplace and community that you are a part of, ask the question “Do I belong?” versus “Do I fit in?”

Mastering the art and science of Product Marketing
Product Marketing Alliance
October 09, 2020

Finding the true essence of Product Marketing. Ingredients for PMM recipe: messaging and positioning, buyer persona, product and solution launch, market and competitive intelligence

Genius or Outlier: Inspiring the leaders of tomorrow
Forbes Communications Council
October 01, 2020

Looking to the leaders of today to inspire the leaders of tomorrow

As part of a mentorship program, I had a few folks ask a million-dollar question:
“How do you trust your leader?”

What gives someone the confidence to take that leap of faith?
I set out to find some answers.

Into the unknown: Finding serendipity and happiness within
Forbes Communications Council
September 29, 2020

What keeps you optimistic in the face of unknowns?
HOPE

We cannot always plan for the future but time and again that is what we were taught to do and is sometimes expected in our society to follow the norms.

Reimagine The Resume: Not A Job Title, But An Experience
Forbes
September 09, 2020

Have you ever wondered: Why is the resume or CV just a list of jobs and titles with descriptions? We attribute our growth and success to career-ladder progression. But is that truly success or career growth? Are we really learning?

What if our resume wasn't just a list of companies, titles and years in each role, but instead, we pivot our resume into an experience portfolio, sharing our wins and challenges in each role? How can we be authentic and true to ourselves and measure what truly matters? Our benchmark is not the next title or comparing our level of seniority to a co-worker or a friend. Our growth is determined by our own success and what we want to achieve, not what others expect.

Less Is More: Why GROW Conversations And OKRs Are Critical For Success
Forbes Communications Council
August 19, 2020

We, as leaders, have an opportunity to think about what changes we want to bring into the work culture to empower our team members.

Be Your Own True Self: Diversity, Equity And Inclusion In The Workplace
Forbes Communications Council
July 29, 2020

As leaders, we have a long way to go to seek to understand before being understood.

I pledge to not let materialistic things define me.
I pledge to find inner beauty and not let my instinct create a label or classification.
I pledge to seek to understand before being understood.

I am not perfect, and I am still learning to unlearn and open my mind to the new world. It’s not a switch I can turn off or on; it’s a conscious choice to change, to speak up.

As Madeleine Albright shared in a recent podcast interview, if you see something, don’t just say something. Do something.

I promise to not only try, I will be the change I wish to see in the world.

Authentic Leadership
Forbes Communications Council
July 08, 2020

What Authentic Leadership Looks Like In A World Of Style And Glamour
What do you think of when you think about an authentic leader?

Reimagining The Boundaries Of Our Marketing Experience
Forbes
June 17, 2020

We live in a world where rules and policies often define who we are and what we can or cannot do. Imagine a world with no boundaries, where we could be true to ourselves and trust everyone to be understanding and show empathy toward each other.

Look around. Our daily experiences are shaped by boundaries. Let’s look at a few branding and marketing examples that exist today and how we can reimagine the experience.

Stress And Anxiety: How To Cope With Two Perils Of The Modern Workplace
Forbes Communications Council
May 27, 2020

It’s time that we understand our obligation as leaders to support the well-being of our team members and help them when they need us most.

Building A Vulnerable Team Culture As A Leader
Forbes
May 14, 2020

I’ve been inspired by Brené brown’s book Dare to Lead, and some key concepts on vulnerability, values and learning to fail resonate with my experiences.

I find that those who can be vulnerable are often the dreamers, thinkers and creators today. Those of us who strive to lead, however, sometimes forget to take care of ourselves. It’s easier said than done to be your vulnerable self.

Empower A Mindful Team, In Both Good Times And Challenging Ones
Forbes Communications Council
April 30, 2020

In challenging times or uncertainty, mindful teams can thrive and bring out the best in everyone around them.

The Art Of Storytelling With Trust And Truthful Conversations
Forbes Communications Council
March 25, 2020

Stories have been told for centuries, yet it is an art to master the skills of good storytelling and to lead the process with impactful and truthful conversations.

The Importance Of Finding Your True 'Ikigai' As A Leader
Forbes Communications Council
March 02, 2020

It’s our responsibility as leaders to bring balance to our teams and our own lives.

Messaging And Positioning For 2020: The Customer Journey As A Continuum
Forbes Communications Council
January 22, 2020

As product marketing, it is our responsibility to manage perceptions and show the company’s value as a trusted advisor.

Unconscious Bias: An Unknown, Unintentional Act In Leadership
Forbes Communications Council
December 23, 2019

How many times have we walked into a meeting with assumptions and beliefs that drive our decisions?

Continuous Learning: A Leader Should Also Be A Student Forever
Forbes Communications Council
November 27, 2019

As leaders, we need to be agile and looking for new innovative ways to solve the same problems. An open mind and curiosity show new perspectives that are necessary for clarity and focused thinking.

Being People-First: It's What Drives Us Every Day
Forbes Communications Council
November 12, 2019

Organizations succeed when leaders empower their people.

Where Is Product Marketing (Or Portfolio Messaging) In Your Organization?
Forbes Communications Council
September 30, 2019

To start, we need to identify the gaps, redefine PMM and provide role clarity, since everyone has a different definition for what PMM should focus on.

The Power Of Self-Discipline  In The Growth Of A Leader
Forbes Communications Council
September 09, 2019

As a leader, when you are building a high-performing and mindful team, it’s important to find balance through self-discipline to help you lead and support your team’s career growth.

Understanding The Evolution Of Product Marketing To Portfolio Marketing
Forbes Communications Council
August 22, 2019

Product marketers have evolved from simply bringing a product to market. As the voice of the customer, they can truly help drive overall business success.

Push Your Comfort Zone To Find New Heights In Leadership And Life
Forbes Communications Council
July 25, 2019

Challenge yourself to push your own comfort zone as a leader in order to provide the best environment for your team to thrive.

Three Practices Of Effective Leaders And Mentors
Forbes Communications Council
July 10, 2019

Successful teams start with effective leaders.

nowhere: Explore with Div
Substack
December 21, 2021

Career Growth | Authentic Leadership | Product Marketing |
Stress and Anxiety | Mindfulness and Essentialism | Happiness

Product Marketing: Mastering the art and science of PMM
Div Manickam
August 21, 2022

Are you an aspiring product marketer or product marketing leader?


Imagine a world where we as product marketers are cheering each team and bringing the best in each of us. Our true self-worth as product marketing is yet to be unveiled, as the linchpin across product, sales and marketing.

This intersection of Product and Marketing comes with its own struggles in educating teams across the organization to show our value and bring cross-functional alignment across product, sales and marketing.

Join me on a journey through the world of Product Marketing as we navigate the good, the bad and the ugly.

A Book is Born: Guide to Self-Publishing
Div Manickam
July 21, 2022

Are you looking to write your first book and not sure where to start? And doing all the small tasks at home or work but sitting down to write and commit to self-publish the book.

Join me on a journey through the world of writing and self-publishing. Let’s get started on the steps - how I went from writing barely 100 words in 2016 to self-publishing a book of 150+ pages in 2021. And continue to self-publish books and share my experiences with the world.

Fearless: Be the Authentic Leader you will Follow
Div Manickam
February 21, 2022

This ebook is a reflection on my first-time experience as a leader over 10+ years.

I aspire to be Fearless and an authentic leader who cares about my team and will always be there.

Authentic leadership, to me, means being your own true self. We are all human and need to respect and care for each other at all times.

A broken teacup: Filling the cracks with mindfulness, essentialism and self-care
Div Manickam
December 21, 2021

This ebook is a reflection on how I went from always positive and optimistic to non-stop worry, stress and anxiety, and then how I was able to turn a leaf and bring mindfulness, essentialism, and self-care into my life to focus on what really matters.
I embarked on a journey to uncover the root cause of stress and anxiety and explore a road less traveled for my pursuit of happiness.

2021 Top 100 Product Marketing Influencer
Product Marketing Alliance
December 20, 2021

2019 Top 50 Product Marketing Influencer
Product Marketing Alliance
December 16, 2019

Recognized as one of the top 50 Product Marketing Influencers in 2019 by Product Marketing Alliance for redefining standards, helping shape the evolution of PMM, and elevating awareness among the C-suite.
#PMAtop50

40 under 40: 2019 Award Recipients
California State University, East Bay
June 07, 2019

These 40 alumni were selected in honor for the significant contributions they have made toward improving and uplifting their professions, personal endeavors and communities in which they serve and live. We would like to congratulate the inaugural class of 40 Under 40 award recipients. Thank you all for continuing to help our community and serving as an example of what it means to be a Pioneer.

Building the Portfolio Marketing Team in the Next PMM Evolution 
Product Marketing Alliance
August 04, 2020

Our roles as product marketing has shifted and it's up to the portfolio marketing leaders to build the next team structure and growth for the PMM team. We have embarked on the next evolution of product marketing to portfolio marketing with product, industry and solutions.

Our teams need role clarity to best serve the business needs and grow in their career. PMM is most often the first marketing hire in a startup with our ninja skills to jump from website to content to presentation to enablement.

Let's learn about the new role of portfolio marketing and the team as the voice of the customer and the market and what it takes to build a team from 2-4 PMMs to a team of 10-12 passionate and mindful PMMs that are ready to ride the next wave of the PMM evolution.

Disciplines: Data driven

- Portfolio messaging and positioning
- Product/solution launches
- Buyer persona / Audience growth
- Competitive intelligence, Win/Loss
- Market presence (analyst and media)

OKRs: Platform(2+) / Solution Adoption / Industry Growth

Presentation takeaways
- Buyer Personas and Insights: Develop personas and buyer journey maps
- Portfolio Messaging and Positioning: Craft value proposition and narrative elements
- Bringing Offerings to Market: Create launch tiers and execute product/solution launch plan with integrated campaigns
- Go-to-Market: Perform market segmentation and prioritization
- Sales/Partner Knowledge Transfer: Prioritize, build and deliver sales plays

Product Marketing Summit Austin: The Evolution of Product Marketing to Portfolio Messaging
Product Marketing Alliance
February 06, 2020

As an instrumental part of any successful business, product marketers accelerate product growth by championing the customer, communicating product value and driving distribution.

These key components of the role have remained consistent, but recently, we have seen a shift in product marketers' specific ownership and accountability, the use of data collection for insights and how the rapid development of technology has changed the relationship between marketers and customers.

When you are looking to start as a product marketer or grow in your career to lead a product marketing team, consider the following:
- Do you want to be a specialist or generalist?
- Do you want to be the evangelist for the product or support behind the scenes?
- Are you driven by data and metrics or are you a storyteller?

These questions can help guide your instincts on how you want to take product marketing into the next evolution. Join the session to hear from Div Manickam who is leading a team of 12 product marketers at Dell Boomi, who experienced the shift from product marketing to portfolio messaging.

How One Leader Is Reimagining The Workplace In The WFH Era
Forbes
June 12, 2020

Div Manickam says her experience leading a team of 12 passionate product and solution marketers has helped her appreciate others in times of need like the current pandemic. By repurposing tried-and-true tools and strategies, she’s reimagining the workforce, inspiring leaders to shift their priorities in order to be fully present for their teams.

For Manickam and her team, this process begins with time and energy management in the WFH era, where there’s pressure to be “on” 24/7.

Integration Developer News: Boomi Sets 2020 iPaaS Roadmap; EDA, Full Cycle API Management, DevOps, AI/ML All On Tap
Integration Developer News - Vance McCarthy
October 03, 2019

iPaaS pioneer Boomi has set the stage for where it will take its cloud-based integration platform-as-a-service in 2020 and beyond.

During last month’s Boomi World conference, execs showcased on-going efforts to add Event-Driven Architecture, DevOps support, full API Management lifecycle support and machine learning. As a result, Boomi intends its iPaaS to accelerate and extend benefits to developers, IT and business users.

“We shared our Boomi roadmap, which focuses on three tenets: Connect everything; Run anywhere, Engage anywhere,” Div Manickam, Boomi’s director of portfolio messaging told IDN.

.....

Boomi is also driving its iPaaS to support new-gen engagement for people.

The latest updates support a new family of smart conversational bots and present deeper insights about how enterprise integrations work under the covers, Manickam said.

Boomi intends to combine AI/ML with its iPaaS platform to let customers build “conversation AI solutions... that provide a new, personalized, effective way to communicate with customers and streamline business operations,” as officially described the initiate at Boomi World.

With the Bot Framework, developers build a chatbot that supports any combination of business rules and AI. The framework enables a low-code developer to build a chatbot that combines business rules and AI/ML that can intelligently tap into the information a company already has gathered, she added.

Manickam shared a project where Boomi is using machine learning with chatbot technology to help create a ‘professor bot’ at one customer site. “We’re using integration to redefine engagement,” she said. “Students today might prefer a bot to answer their question” rather than go to a website and read an FAQ – or wait for a professor to respond.

In practice, Boomi’s new framework presents a packaged set of pre-built customizable assets. Further, these bots can ‘learn’ based on interactions from users.

Manickam also mentioned another ML-powered update that is driving innovative engagement. With this use case, business users can get a business-centric view of how integration activities support business needs. “Without needing to know SQL or other coding skills, users can engage with data to learn how their business is functioning,” she said.

She shared an example of using a voice interface to ask the Boomi system how many staff had been on-boarded in a certain time.

“With Voice, not only can I get the general answer about on-boarding company-wide. But [through voice] the system can identify the person asking, so we can deliver a personalized answer” depending on if the person is the head of a group, a whole department or the entire company, she said.

Evolution of Portfolio Messaging | A @SolutionsReview Interview with Div Manickam
Solutions Review
October 02, 2019

Div Manickam is the Director of Portfolio Messaging at Boomi. She talked to us about how Boomi is taking a new approach to marketing, one that considers the buyer’s persona. Manickam also described how she is assisting Boomi’s product marketing department in vertical-specific messaging.

Broadcasting from the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. - the Solutions Review team is on Location at Boomi World 19 - discussing data integration strategies and sharing best practices on accelerating business outcomes.

Emergence of Portfolio Marketing, GROW and OKRs
Regalix
September 04, 2019

Div Manickam, Director, Portfolio Messaging (Product, Industry and Solutions) at Dell Boomi, talks about the emergence of portfolio marketing. She also talks about various successful leadership strategies - GROW and OKRs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Portfolio marketing (00:33)
Portfolio marketing is an evolution of the standard product marketing. It involves moving the team from marketing into the product to be a product-first company and align with product management and marketing execution to drive a persona-led go to market strategy. The shift is also away from marketing specific product to marketing portfolios and packages of products to customers.

OKR (05:00)
OKR stands for "Objectives and Key Results." OKR helps to bring visibility across the organization. They can show where money and man-hours are being invested. These also assist in making sure that employees have growth within their roles and that the customer's needs are being addressed successfully.

GROW (08:27)
GROW is a leadership strategy which stands for Goal, Reality, Option and Will. The goal is what you want to accomplish in your career. Reality refers to where are you with that goal. Options are what can be done to achieve that goal and will means holding yourself and others responsible for that goal and the steps required to get there.

"What's your best advice for women just starting out on their career path?" Interviews with Impactful Female Professionals | Part 2 - Best Advice
Cybercoders
March 08, 2019

"For a lot of women starting out in the tech world, it’s easy for us to think that we are not good enough or that we need to learn more before we can do something. But one piece of advice that I have for those women starting in their career is: Understand where you want to start, understand where you want to continue, and understand where you want to stop. These three ways can help you learn what you like / what you don’t like and that can help inform your journey.

I also think it’s important for everyone to establish their own OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). I encourage women to look at the OKR model and define their personal goals to hold themselves accountable. All women should be confident enough to take a leap of faith in their careers - worst case scenario is that you try something, it doesn’t work, and you find a new way forward."

Div Manickam, Director, Product and solutions marketing, Dell Boomi

Open Mobile Summit: Women in Leadership Panel (Advancing Women in Product)
Reuters Events
November 08, 2019

Thanks to Hayley Dunn & Advancing Women in Product for the opportunity to connect with women leaders and share our journey and experiences - Praveena Vajja, Sabrina Farmer #omssf #awip
- Leadership is a privilege
- Believe + trust = confidence
- OKRs + GROW/career growth = focus/clarity

https://twitter.com/divmanickam/status/1194652898547785728

Product Marketing Summit San Francisco -- Panel Session: The Evolving Role & Career Path of the PMM
Product Marketing Alliance
September 17, 2019

As an instrumental part of any successful business, product marketers accelerate product growth by championing the customer, communicating product value and driving distribution.

These key components of the role have remained consistent, but recently, we have seen a shift in product marketers' specific ownership and accountability, the use of data collection for insights and how the rapid development of technology has changed the relationship between marketers and customers.

When you are looking to start as a product marketer or grow in your career to lead a product marketing team, consider the following:
- Do you want to be a specialist or generalist?
- Do you want to be the evangelist for the product or support behind the scenes?
- Are you driven by data and metrics or are you a storyteller?

These questions can help guide your instincts on how you want to take product marketing into the next evolution. Join the panel session to hear from product marketers who experienced the shift in the industry from product marketing to portfolio marketing.

Portfolio Messaging
Pragmatic Institute (fka Pragmatic Marketing)
March 21, 2020

How do you effectively implement a portfolio based messaging strategy?  On this episode of Pragmatic Live, Div Manickam, director of portfolio messaging at Dell Boomi, joins Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute to discuss Dell Boomi's journey into implementation of their portfolio messaging and the challenges encountered along the way.

Product Marketing Insider Podcast: Div Manickam
Product Marketing Alliance
October 17, 2019

Evolution of Product and solutions marketing -> Portfolio messaging (product, industry and solutions)

In episode two of the ‘Product Marketing Insider’ series, we are chatting to Div Manickam who’s leads product marketing at Dell Boomi. Dell Boomi, a B2B SaaS helping companies accelerate business outcomes and break down data silos by allowing information to flow faster across processes, applications or data sources.

We are going through a product marketing evolution within Boomi where we started realizing that product marketing means something and everything to some people and nothing to others, so we've been going through that journey ourselves. And we we've gotten to a point where we're better suited as portfolio messaging with our core focus on messaging across the portfolio (product, solutions and industries).

Speaker Deck - Div Manickam
Speaker Deck
August 14, 2020

Sharing experiences in product marketing

Cornell University: Guest lecture (Fall 2019)
Dell Boomi
October 22, 2019

90 minute Guest Lecture on Digital Transformation and BI Analytics (Dell Boomi)

Business Intelligence Systems (INFO 4555)
http://blogs.cornell.edu/businessintelligence/
This course covers the fundamental technical and organizational concepts and challenges related to the development of Business Intelligence Systems, a key component crucial to the competitiveness of a wide range of organizations. Topics covered include: data profiling, dimensional data modeling, data transformation, metadata systems, data governance, data delivery options, and an overview of emerging technologies in this space.

Cornell University: Guest lecture (Fall 2018)
Dell Boomi
November 21, 2018

90 minute Guest Lecture on Digital Transformation and BI Analytics (Dell Boomi)

Business Intelligence Systems (INFO 4555)
http://blogs.cornell.edu/businessintelligence/

This course covers the fundamental technical and organizational concepts and challenges related to the development of Business Intelligence Systems, a key component crucial to the competitiveness of a wide range of organizations. Topics covered include: data profiling, dimensional data modeling, data transformation, metadata systems, data governance, data delivery options, and an overview of emerging technologies in this space.

Buyer Journey Reimagined - Pragmatic Product Chat
Pragmatic Institute (fka Pragmatic Marketing)
August 14, 2020

The buyers journey is all about storytelling, so how to we re-imagine a buyers journey in order to make it worth their time to care and gain their trust?Join Div Manickam, director of portfolio messaging at Dell Boomi and our own Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, as they discuss re-imagining of the buyers journey.

Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqErJiLf3Eo
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtqlWNyzDE0
Slidedeck: https://speakerdeck.com/divmanickam/buyer-journey-reimagined-experience-sans-limits-pragmatic-product-chat-2020