My Name Is Amy Woodham — This Is What I Achieve at Aha!

What is the best way to accelerate your career? Work in a high-growth company with real product and customer momentum that challenges you and puts learning first.

The question above recently came up because we were talking about how to quickly grow skills and take on more job responsibility. It starts with opportunity, knowledge, skills, and effort. An unwavering motivation to continue improving and achieving is also key. The highest performers constantly pursue new ideas and seek to understand the experiences and motivations of the people around them. We can learn a lot from them.

This is why we want to bring you personal stories of achievement from talented people who have been at Aha! for a meaningful amount of time. Our hope is that some of their ideas are useful and maybe even inspirational as you work to become your best.

Meet Amy Woodham, a group manager of Product Success within our Customer Success team — helping customers from trial to rollout through to renewal. Amy enjoys guiding and aligning her team on the best ways to both serve customers and the business. Her work at Aha! builds on her 16 years in product management.

Amy lives in Jacksonville, Florida, with her husband, children, and their dog, Joey. She enjoys working out and spending time with her family.

Read on to learn more about how Amy is always learning and making a positive impact at Aha! — in her own words.

What work are you most proud of?

"There are many initiatives that I have had the chance to work on at Aha! that make me proud. Recently, I helped welcome eight new people to our Product Success team. Hiring is some of the most important work I do and connecting with people looking to join our team is such a privilege. I always try to share bits of career advice as they consider a change out of their current role into something new. Whether we decide to move forward or not, it is always rewarding for me to meet these candidates and hear about their product management journeys."

What energizes you about being on the Product Success team?

"At Aha! everyone on our Product Success team is a product expert. This allows us to deliver exceptional support to our customers. And getting to work with brilliant product managers is one of the best parts of my job. Each week we get together as a team to share lessons learned and discuss ways we can best serve our customers, who are product experts themselves. It is always fun to dig into a customer's problem and then brainstorm how to use Aha! to create new solutions."

What have you learned in your role?

"The past five years at Aha! have taught me a lot about effective leadership. Early in my career, I thought that being a good leader meant you had to know everything. I spent too much time focusing inwardly on myself. But over the last two decades, I have seen good, not-so-good, and even bad leadership. The great leaders are easy to spot."

"The best leaders focus less on themselves and more on the team. They are humble and they come to the table curious — ready to listen and learn."

"And after listening, great leaders act based on what they heard and deliver in a way that makes the team feel validated. These leaders inspire genuine trust and a feeling of team spirit."

What advice do you have for an aspiring product manager?

"I think one of the keys to a successful career, especially in product management, is to ask questions — lots of them. Even if you feel like you know the answer, I believe you can learn something from everyone around you. Listening and learning helps us stay humble. I try to show appreciation to people who help me and who inspire me to grow. It is like I tell my children — kindness goes a long way and character matters."

"My advice? Be curious, present, and humble. Show gratitude and work hard."

How should someone keep learning in their product role?

"Focus on the here and now — on being excellent in your current role versus putting all your energy into getting to the next level. If that means being in a meeting, focus on that meeting, not checking your messages. If your current job is to help customers, do that. I try to extend the same focus to the things that matter most outside of work too. Whatever you are doing, be present.

Lastly, work hard. Nothing meaningful in life is easy or comes for free. Set some realistic short-term and long-term goals to get there if you want to achieve something. And then be willing to put in the effort to make it happen. You will be able to look back with pride, knowing that you worked hard to build your dreams."

The What I Achieve series spotlights the achievements and contributions of the Aha! team. For insights into how we got here, read our Why I Joined posts.

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