The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
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Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#2I know an amazing IC at a software company I once worked at that I still keep in touch with. He has extremely deep technical knowledge, which you can simply deduct from basically everyone in the company (even from other teams) coming to him for advice. He's been at the company for >10 years.
He has strong opinions on current processes and just getting things done.
This post resonated deeply with me, since I've discussed before with him his role and how it could evolve. I know for a fact that he dislikes lots of meeting and really likes working on the core product, and so far hasn't really jumped on the opportunity to go into management - he doesn't really want to be manager. So he is kind of exactly the guy the post is describing. The company is growing though and he is very slowly getting pushed by the head of development into a more managerial role..
Let's see how it works out. I believe he is going to be a great manager though.
Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#3Agree that great managers are sometimes individual contributors who take on the job because they believe doing so is the only way to ensure effectiveness. But it's important to filter for ego-as-motivation, which can make for a terrible manager....
There's another type of great manager, too, whose best quality is their ability to defend the team from b.s. and politics originating elsewhere in the organization. This is especially valuable in large, established companies.
Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#4Reading the article, according to Steve Jobs, the best managers are the people who are so good that they realise that they must do it themselves, even if they don't want to. The title of the article thus has only a necessary but not sufficient condition according to what Steve originally meant. In other words: Clickbait.
Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#5This is true but nuanced in my experience.
Often the best managers look around, see other managers being incompetent and messing up people’s natural abilities, and want to fix the problem even if it requires them to become managers.
Often the worst managers decide at a young age they’re good leaders, can lead people to do better than they would themselves, and decide they want to get into management.
I make this distinction because even group 1 managers usually have to raise their hand and say something like “can we please stop messing this up. I can help.”
Rarely is an awesome individual magically called upon to become a manager, particularly by poor managers who are already messing stuff up.
In an environment where management is good, there’s a longer cycle of development, mentorship, and nudging of high potential people into management. But if you’re not in that environment, you probably need to ask to help make it better. It won’t happen magically.
Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#6Being a manager is like having kids.
A lot of people don't want to have kids, because they see how other people's kids behave. You can do the right things and raise incredible children.
A lot of people don't want to be a manager, because they see how other people behave as managers. You can do the right things and be an incredible manager.
Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#7"And this, as I imagine, is the reason why the forwardness
to take office, instead of waiting to be compelled, has been deemed dishonourable. Now the worst part of the punishment is that he who
refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself. And the fear of this, as I conceive, induces the good to take office,
not because they would, but because they cannot help --not under the idea that they are going to have any benefit or enjoyment themselves,
but as a necessity, and because they are not able to commit the task of ruling to any one who is better than themselves, or indeed as good.
For there is reason to think that if a city were composed entirely of good men, then to avoid office would be as much an object of contention
as to obtain office is at present; then we should have plain proof that the true ruler is not meant by nature to regard his own interest,
but that of his subjects; and every one who knew this would choose rather to receive a benefit from another than to have the trouble of conferring one."
Plato, The Republic
Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#8Empirically speaking 90% of the managers out there became so because they were intentional in becoming managers. The reasons are myriad. Most want the power so they can hire or fire. Others with reaching the job safety inherently built into the role.
Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#9We should all be leery of those who actively and openly declare and pursue positions of leadership.
Re: The best leaders are great individual contributors, not professional managers
#10I'm not sure Steve Jobs is someone you should be taking management advice from.
The truth is that it boils down to the best person for the role to be filled rather than blanket statements based on anecdotes from a notoriously bad manager.