The PM Trust Budget: Reducing Uncertainty & Making Bigger Bets

This talk reframes “trust” from a vague soft skill into a strategic currency that every product manager at all levels needs to master. Andy Balan, Director of Product at FedEx, will show how the best product management leaders deliberately stay focused on “context” rather than “status” to build a “trust budget” with their stakeholders and customers, earned through small actions that compound over time, then spend it strategically on driving major customer experience transformations and earning bigger leadership roles.

What You'll Learn:

• How to focus on “context” rather than “status” to drive the internal and external outcomes you’re looking for.
• How to reframe trust as a finite resource you actively earn and spend, rather than something you either have or don't.
• Practical ways to build up your trust budget early so you have the goodwill needed for high-stakes moves later.
• How a small team in one of the world’s most admired companies is leading a product transformation that impacts the global economy.

Format:
This will be a lecture style presentation, with time for Q&A at the end.

About Andy Balan:
Andy Balan is the Director of Digital Product, B2B & B2C Visibility at FedEx. He has been at FedEx for 1.5 years, and his product leadership experience over the last decade spans across multiple sectors and company stages, including Veho, Grubhub, and DispatchHealth. His background gives him a cross-industry perspective on building trust with customers and stakeholders while driving product transformation at scale. Shaped by years of navigating high-growth and fast-moving environments, Andy brings practical, field-tested frameworks used at companies ranging from Series-A to Fortune 50, rather than abstract theory.