Lots of good recommendations here; two I would add are "Debugging Teams" and "The Geek Leader's Handbook"
Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
191–200 of 220 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#192[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#193The US Army has an exceptionally well-crafted field manual on leadership. No fluff, but also no chest-thumping. It's honestly the best resource I've ever seen on what constitutes a good leader, how good leaders are developed, and how good leaders develop their teams. Being a DOD publication, it's in the public domain: https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CD... I can't stress enough how excellent…
1-91. Everyone has an identity or a way they see themselves. Leaders internalize the roles, responsibilities, and actions that they understand of a leader to be, know, and do. Leaders who are unsure of themselves filling the role of a leader will be limited until they have confidence. Without a clear leader identity, others will question the type of leader they are, what they stand for, and the way they conduct themselves. What a leader believes about their role as a leader serves as a constant guide to behave as a leader of good character. Practice identifying as a leader—doing the right things in the right way—becomes habitual and helps junior personnel along the path to becoming seasoned, effective leaders.
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#194You learn from history and what other people did well and didn't do well. Leadership is a combination of your own innate abilities combined with self-awareness and feedback. From this, you can apply historical knowledge (understand you may not have Washington's height and strength, but may be a better tactical decision maker).
Read biographies on others:
Washington: A Life
Hamilton
Grant
Fighter Pilot (Robin Olds)
Boyd
Anyone you admire - read about them - find out what was good and what was bad.
Mattis's new book is good: Call Sign Chaos.
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#195The US Army has an exceptionally well-crafted field manual on leadership. No fluff, but also no chest-thumping. It's honestly the best resource I've ever seen on what constitutes a good leader, how good leaders are developed, and how good leaders develop their teams. Being a DOD publication, it's in the public domain: https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CD... I can't stress enough how excellent…
Thank you that is great and very worth reading.
Something I've enjoyed as well which is a bit shorter and maybe quicker to digest is the chapter discussing leadership in the Art of Scalability https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Scalability-Architecture-Organi.... The authors have a military background no doubt influenced by DOD doctrine.
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#196Everything by Simon Sinek, but most important for me is "Leaders Eat Last" [0]. I haven't read the last one (The Infinite Game), but I've heard it's pretty good as well. Also Extreme Ownership [1] and Dichotomy of Leadership [2] by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. All of these books had tremendous impact on me as a leader and I highly recommend them. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/B... […
Simon Sinek is a charismatic speaker with good points and interesting stories, but I find his books full of fluff: a central thesis padded to the length of a book so it’s publishable.
You get the same information by watching videos of his talks, with the advantage they are free, more direct, and take less of your time. Plus, they’re released sparingly and have quite a bit of repetition with slow changes between them, so the points get to sink in over time.
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#197Everything by Simon Sinek, but most important for me is "Leaders Eat Last" [0]. I haven't read the last one (The Infinite Game), but I've heard it's pretty good as well. Also Extreme Ownership [1] and Dichotomy of Leadership [2] by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. All of these books had tremendous impact on me as a leader and I highly recommend them. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/B... […
Simon Sinek has never actually led anything and is basically someone who is an expert at marketing himself. His advice doesn’t say anything new and is usually extremely banal. He’s the classic example of fake it till you make it in modern America. A guy who makes flashy viral videos, has zero actual experience of leading organizations or teams, yet someone has acquired some guru like reputation at a genius leader.
> Simon Sinek has never actually led anything and is basically someone who is an expert at marketing himself.
Taking him at his word on several of his talks, he leads a team right now. Presumably one focused on advancing your second point: his marketing of himself.
> His advice doesn’t say anything new and is usually extremely banal.
The corollary being they’re banal to you, cue tangential XKCD: https://www.xkcd.com/1053/
Note I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you. He also seems to me like someone who teaches what he learned by theory, not practice. However, I do believe his intentions are genuine, that he wants to make the workplace better for everyone, and that his points are actionable and positive. Contrast that to someone like Tony Robbins, which I view as little more than a scammer that wants to trick you into thinking anyone can be successful at anything if they just believe in themselves and pay him hefty sums to attend his seminars.
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#198The US Army has an exceptionally well-crafted field manual on leadership. No fluff, but also no chest-thumping. It's honestly the best resource I've ever seen on what constitutes a good leader, how good leaders are developed, and how good leaders develop their teams. Being a DOD publication, it's in the public domain: https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CD... I can't stress enough how excellent…
I don’t have a reference available but the concept of ‘Mission Command’ used by the UK Army amongst others contains the best and most succinct description I’ve seen of how to delegate a task to a subordinate. And is perfectly suited to many civilian situations as well. From memory, and paraphrasing, it boils down to State what you, as the leader, are trying to achieve, and why ('the big picture') State what you want…
The Mission Command concept actually stems from the German concept of auftragstaktik which was a contributing factor in their early successes during the Blitzkrieg campaigns early in WW2. See for example https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/how-germans-defined-au...
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#199I've been a team lead for close to four years now in two different companies, both times my teams spanned multiple time zones! I really enjoy this subject and read a lot about it. My favorite books so far are: - Radical Candor -- Gives a great framework for candid conversations and empathy which IMO are the most important thing! Clear #1 in my list. - Leading by Alex Ferguson -- A great successful leader in another a…
Radical Candor is easily the most impactful leadership book I've read. I've always struggled with finding the balance between being direct without being a jerk and being compassionate without being ineffective. I still feel like I nail it about 10% of the time, but at least I have a clearer picture of what the communication style I'm aiming for looks like.
Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
#200The US Army has an exceptionally well-crafted field manual on leadership. No fluff, but also no chest-thumping. It's honestly the best resource I've ever seen on what constitutes a good leader, how good leaders are developed, and how good leaders develop their teams. Being a DOD publication, it's in the public domain: https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CD... I can't stress enough how excellent…
This paragraph speaks to perhaps the most common mistake I see business leaders make, especially at startups: "Because subordinates learn best by doing, leaders should be willing to take prudent risks and accept the possibility that less-experienced subordinates will make mistakes. Risk assessment and risk management help determine existing risks and mitigation strategies. If subordinate leaders are to grow and devel…
Good advice for parenting, too.