Simple Leaders
Without pretending this to be another of those cringeworthy “How to be a great leader with these easy 10 steps”, it is more of an opinionated short piece on how—I think—being a leader is way less complicated and solemn than those insufferable gurus and influencers have tried to make us believe to sell their crappy books or gain followers. Leading, in my dictionary, is simply about guiding; about showing the way and keeping it cool when uncertainty is high.
At some point, it became a thing to believe that leading people required elevated spiritual powers given by the Gods, when in reality being a decent leader boils down to a few fundamental, terrestrial things:
Not being an asshole
Knowing the domain you’re in. You cannot lead a software-intensive endeavor if you don’t understand software; when conflicting opinions will require you to arbitrate (if you’re a decent leader, they will come ask you), what criteria will you employ to resolve the situation if you don’t know the intricacies of the activity?
Not being cringey
Not trying to be the main character (corollary: removing yourself from the middle of the way).
Having a plan (which can change, so also it’s about not selling the wrong idea that plans are immutable).
Communicating your ideas well, regardless of the medium.
Talking with those you lead (corollary: being approachable and responsive). If you can be even likable, well that’s jackpot.
Acting as the bridge between your team and other teams.
Giving a damn in a sustained capacity.
Earning your team’s respect with tangible results, as no one in the history of work has achieved anything with empty, pseudo-epic rhetoric.
Being predictable: if you say you will do X, you do it. Nobody likes a dicey boss.
Well, those turned out to be 11 easy steps...
Mind that I am referring here to leaders in technology-oriented businesses and domains; I cannot say this applies to leadership in other areas or industries, although I suspect it more or less does. I am also largely unable to say if the characteristics of good leaders are “built in” or can be developed in time.
It is rather sad to see people with good leading skills kept as mere paper pushers, as it is equally sad (or, more like, unnerving) to see people with terrible leading skills in charge of large groups of poor souls.
It is perhaps time of simplifying this leadership thing once and for all. Time to get it down from the heavens above and remove the aura of mysticism that has encircled it for decades. A different name might be needed, considering the term has been hijacked by the Adam Grants of our times, by the “thought leaders” that spout their babble from a stage in yet another insufferable and absolutely unnecessary TED talk.