The Truth about Leadership
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” — Lao…
Product Management
The Truth about Leadership
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” — Lao Tzu
I once asked a senior manager who was interviewing me what his goal was in his role at the company. He responded,
“I am super lazy. So if I’m doing my job right, I should have nothing to do.”
Once I started managing my humans in to their brilliance, I understood.
My job as their manager is to stand two steps behind them, support them in their role, remind them of their strengths, help them to overcome weaknesses, and outline processes that empower their ability to deliver successful outcomes. You create a zone of psychological safety with your team. For this reason, you don’t criticize them in public circles or deride them when things go wrong. It's all about helping them to change that flat tire and keep the car going.
When you lead by influence, you are pulling and pushing on forces that make life easier or more challenging for the people around you. You might make your boss uncomfortable with the light you bring to unforeseen issues (Status checks and flashlights, John Cutler). You ally with development, delivery, and design to provide a more precise feedback loop to sales and marketing. You are seen as some sort of hybrid expert who speaks in the language of any stakeholder. You will create turbulence with your suggestions, checklists, and fact-finding/root-cause-analysis missions.
You learn and own the product landscape of your enterprise. Your humans benefit from the shifts in their daily experience. Change management is a slow and drawn-out process where the goal is to shift mindset and perspective for a gradual adoption of a collaboratively rewritten playbook.
Through all of this, as a leading senior manager, you are a visible force celebrating someone else’s success with a silent acknowledgment that it is also your own.
