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Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

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Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#141

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

Bumerang wrote: post #18

Everything 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... […

I'm typically a Simon Sinek fan but (The Infinite Game) left a poor taste in my mouth.

I had just finished (Finite and Infinite Games) by James P. Carse. He normally does a great job distilling information from mulitple sources, but in this case it seemed like he added nothing, condensed nothing, and in my opinion came really close to just rewriting the first 1/2 of someone else's book and calling it a new thing.

I'm not calling it plagiarism, he's obviously too smart to cross that line. But if you read the books you will see what I mean.

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#143

Post by bryanmgreen »

Most of my responses are covered already, and I know this is cliche, but Art of War by Sun Tzu.

One thing that has always stayed with me about leadership is his five traits that define a great leader.

1) Wisdom 2) Courage 3) Sincerity 4) Benevolence 5) Discipline

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And on a side note, I love seeing the increased submissions around leadership!

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#144

Post by achenatx »

Leadership for me is "influencing people to create change".

We use many books, but my favorite is 5 dysfunctions of a team.

After that is first break all the rules

Both of these are extremely practical and give a model for how to operate on a daily basis.

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#145

Post by bryanmgreen »

wjossey wrote: post #89

This comment is for anyone like the OP who is looking for resources beyond books. I run a free mentoring service for managers, and most (but not all) tend to come from the tech side of the world. My sessions are 45 minutes long, and I did over 120 in 2019. I’m currently on hiatus till January as I just had a baby boy I’m spending time with (actually sleeping on me as I type this out!), but feel free to grab some time…

I think I will!

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#146

Post by Fredej »

charliepark wrote: post #51

The 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'm reading through it and absolutely loving it so far. They're able to succinctly capture concepts I have had trouble defining.

Are there any specific parts you'll recommend? Or anything I should skip?

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#147

Post by nestorherre »

carapace wrote: post #91

The best book on leadership IMO is the Tao Te Ching, Ch. 17. It's very short, about ten lines, but it contains all that you need to know. The final verse, especially, destroys or subsumes pretty much all concepts of leadership. YMMV: http://taoteching.org.uk/chapter17.html http://www.egreenway.com/taoism/ttclz17.htm https://www.taoistic.com/taoteching-laotzu/taoteching-17.htm https://taoteching.daodejing.org/17.htm h…

Concise, yet so powerful. Thanks for sharing

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#149

Post by bmmayer1 »

charliepark wrote: post #51

The 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 develop trust, it is best to let them learn through experience. Effective leaders allow space for subordinates to experiment within the bounds of intent-based orders and plans."

Re: Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?

#150

Post by hkon »

neves wrote: post #77

Any of the classic books of the late Jerry Weinberg is full of wisdom. Oldies but goldies. Leanpub has all of them: https://leanpub.com/u/jerryweinberg There's the People Skill bundle: https://leanpub.com/b/peopleskillssoftbutdifficult with the books: Are Your Lights On?, What Did You Say? The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback, Exploring Requirements One, Exploring Requirements Two, Becoming a Change Artist, More…

Thanks for those links, I will check out a number of those. Weird I've never heard about him before, impressive number of books.
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