#0141: Attitude, Altitude, and Agency
Braingasm
The question “what makes a good leader?” comes up quite a lot. It seems that if I ask any three randomly selected people, I am likely to get at least 4 subtly different and perhaps incompatible answers. This is true in tech specifically and more generally across disciplines into general management and leadership.
The uncertainty here makes things difficult on two fronts. Firstly, as an aspiring leader, it is hard to work out what to do, and what behaviours to model to improve their leadership. Equally, as someone who might be hiring, leading, or investing in leaders, it is not always obvious what dimensions or factors to use to make an evaluation. There is a lot of contingency in the assessment, and what works in one context might not work in another.
It seems like a lot of leadership evaluation ends up being subjective and riddled with biases, which is probably the primary source of the adage that “people don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses”.
Given the uncertainty and upheaval that we have been through during 2020/2021, every person in a leadership position has had many things to consider as they reflect on their performance and those in their charge. The Great Resignation and its attendant fallout are amongst the most significant signals to leadership that we might not have…
