Leadership is something I feel under-qualified to talk about - or maybe that’s just my imposter syndrome. Either way, here goes.
I’ve been on the receiving end of exceptional direct leadership at work recently. I’m a Software Engineer by day, so this edition will draw on experiences from that.
Don’t worry if you’re not in a tech role. Leadership abilities transcend companies, industries and time.
It’s also worth noting, you don’t need to be in a managerial or senior position to exercise the qualities of a leader.
So, over the years, I thought there was a perfect style of leadership - but there is no one set successful type. From boss to boss, I’ve thought “yep, this is it” or “no, this is not it” and now that I’m about 4-5 years into my career have I realised, every boss or manager, much like an any other role or responsibility has their strengths and weaknesses.
In hindsight, it’s pretty obvious - people are shaped by their experiences and shouldn’t be subject to just my judgement.
To me, great leadership behaviours are:
Backs their team’s abilities to learn new skills
Listens, understands and then asks questions
Disagrees but can commit to what the team thinks is best
Openness and honesty to their team
Giving credit where it’s due
Kindness - you can be a great leader and still be an assh*le, don’t be
Urges you to think about the next step in your career, even if it means you’re leaving them
Asking for feedback and discussing it - even if they don’t take it on
Empathy - goes without saying. I’ll delve into the importance of empathy in a future newsletter. I think it’s a super power.
Think of anything else? Shoot me an email: pav@goalpostapp.dev 📧
I’m not going to list all the not-so-great behaviours, it would be a fairly large list and wouldn’t really add any value to you.
It’s also important to remember that developing these qualities or any others takes time and effort - no one’s perfect.
Something to try 🎨
❒ Notice the better habits of the leaders play in your life. It could be something like selflessness, kindness or support. Thank them if you can ❤️
❒ Ask yourself, “What’s one habit can I adopt to better understand someone?” Empathy is the fabric of any relationship between two people.
Books on Leadership 📕
They’re not all explicitly about leadership, I have learnt something about it though.
Smart People Build Things - Andrew Yang
Elon Musk - Ashlee Vance
Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0 - Jim Collins & Bill Lazier
A free thing 💸
Support from great people around me are what makes this newsletter possible.
As always, feel free leave me an email reply to (pav@goalpostspp.dev).
Until next week,
Pavan
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Written with ❤️ from Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺