Three Key Traits of a Great Product Manager, According to Toutiao’s CEO

Product managers becoming CEOs is common in Chinese internet firms; ByteDance recently appointed Chen Lin, a former product manager, as the new CEO of Toutiao, tracing his titles from product manager to CEO.

Chen observes that product articles fall into two camps—one treating product work as mystical and the other as strictly data‑driven—and he rejects both extremes, advocating a balanced approach.

He identifies three indispensable abilities for a product manager:

Empathy : deep, personal use of the product to uncover real strengths and weaknesses.

Logic : a universal skill that validates whether ideas are sound.

Imagination and vision : building on empathy and logic to foresee future possibilities.

These abilities must be supported by massive data input, as product decisions rely on extensive information.

At Toutiao, internal mechanisms such as open data platforms, product critique meetings, and collaborative tools (including IM) are used to increase information flow and provide diverse perspectives for better decision‑making.

When asked about the core products he has overseen, Chen notes many, with Toutiao being the most mature, and says the shift from product lead to CEO does not fundamentally change his work.

He outlines three focus areas for his CEO role:

Continuous product strategy and incubation of new products.

Organization building—assigning the right people, adjusting teams, and recruiting talent domestically and abroad.

Talent cultivation—embedding product managers in projects, emphasizing high standards, and using detailed feedback to attract and retain top talent.

Overall, Chen stresses that a product manager’s growth stems from hands‑on project experience, abundant data, and a culture that values high standards and continuous learning.