A great product manager must strike a balance between empathy and stubbornness, adapting their approach as the project progresses from initial customer understanding to later stages where compromise is necessary. Empathy is crucial in early stages, but being too sensitive to feedback can hinder progress, while stubbornness is required in later stages to make tough decisions and stand by them. The ideal product manager is a chameleon who seamlessly shifts between these opposing traits, timing their approach to optimize the role reversal for maximum impact.