My interest piqued by the musical, I recently completed Ron Chernow’s 832-page biography, Alexander Hamilton. I knew I would learn about government, finance, and philosophy from Hamilton, but I didn’t know I would learn about being a product manager.

Hamilton’s “Non-Stop” approach to life and work highlighted three essential activities for product managers: While great sales people should Always Be Closing, great product managers—like Hamilton—should Always be Readin’, Writin’, and Synthesizin’.

Always be Readin’

Hamilton was an extreme autodidact; he was always “retreatin’ and readin’ every treatise on the shelf.” This helped him become conversant in many subjects. Consequently, he was ready to take advantage of his expertise when the need arose.

For example, Hamilton read profusely on military strategy and tactics, and as a result, was given command of an artillery unit when the Revolution started. Later, his immense reading on economics and finance during the Revolutionary War—an effort seemingly unknown to his manager Washington—made him the right person for the job when Washington needed to appoint a Secretary of Treasury.

Similarly, product managers should have a broad range of knowledge to identify and exploit customer, market, and technology opportunities that arise. Such knowledge will also help identify and fill gaps in a product team’s capabilities and performance.

Hamilton’s reading habits also helped him generate loads of ideas—his mind was teeming with them in every situation. For example, when invited to the US Constitutional Convention, he shared his ideas on a new form of government for six hours.

Steve Jobs said “Creativity is connecting things.” The only way to consistently generate creative ideas is to make associations between the bits of knowledge in your brain. (Ideas Out) = (Ideas In)²—actually, that’s not quite true; the formula is likely closer to (Ideas Out) = N(N-1)/2)(Ideas In).

One of the best ways to get more ideas in is to read. Great product managers need lots of great ideas. So Always be Readin’.

Always be Writin’

Hamilton was always writing “like he was running out of time.” During his lifetime, he composed countless letters, essays, reports, and other documents. In Alexander Hamilton, Chernow asserts that Hamilton “must have produced the maximum number of words that a human being can scratch out in 49 years.”

His writing gave him force and influence both during his lifetime and after. Through his writing, he got off a “forgotten spot in the Caribbean”, earned a job as US Treasury Secretary, helped the US Constitution be ratified, and laid the foundations of US Monetary and Fiscal policy.

I believe that great writing is an oft-overlooked skill in today’s business climate. The pen is still mightier than the sword. Well-crafted ideas in writing can influence yourself, your team, your company, and even an industry for years. Two examples come straight to mind: Ben Horowitz’s Good Product Manger, Bad Product Manger & Mike Markkula’s The Apple Marketing Philosophy.

As a product manager, you need force and influence. The successful conception and delivery of your product requires your team’s work, peers’ support, and stakeholders’ backing. Writing must be a critical weapon in your arsenal to make these things happen. Hone your skill. Always be writin’ .

Always be Synthesizin’

The dictionary defines synthesize as “to combine a number of things into a coherent whole”. It’s different than summarizing. To summarize means to take a lot of information and succinctly present it. When synthesizing, you tell the “so what.” You take lots of information and provide the point (“the headline”).

Hamilton was a master synthesizer—though, interestingly, not a succinct one. He read countless volumes of philosophy, history, economics, and current events. From these volumes, he synthesized the key insights and employed them to benefit himself and the US.

A few keenly observed insights that were lost on his contemporaries:

• That Britain’s primary source of power was not their army, but their financing system
• That France’s Revolution would produce a despot
• That manufacturing—not agriculture—was the paramount productive capability for a wealthy society.

Chernow notes that many of these insights were written in the margins of his books as clear takeaways.

Synthesizing is a critically underemphasized skill for product managers. You are confronted daily with a deluge of information about your team, your technology, your company, and your customers. At times, it feels like your drowning in information. It is critical to regularly step back and write down the “headlines” from your day.

It helps me to think of it not as discerning between the signal and the noise, but distilling the signal from the noise. To correctly prioritize and discover creative insights, Always be Synthesizin’.

So if you don’t want to “throw away your shot” in building a great product, then Always be Readin’, Writin’, and Synthesizin’ like Hamilton. Next post, I’ll share some of my life hacks for doing this.