8 Comments
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Pim Minderman's avatar

Is this actual reality on how you worked with product leaders or how you worked before?

David Pereira's avatar

This story has a lot of self-reflection on my journey as a leader. Learnings from my shortcomings and observations from other leaders.

What spoke to you?

Pim Minderman's avatar

Oke, thanks. Yeah, it all sounds a bit too straightforward and too aspirational rather than true. I might be wrong, and it's maybe the way of writing as well. What spoke to me is the tolerate the norm and how that easily can change without setting guardrails.

David Pereira's avatar

I wrote in a straightforward way to make it easy to understand. But getting away from the challenges I mentioned can be time consuming and stressful as most of them require behavioural change.

Soumya Sreeram's avatar

Great post! In my opinion, leaders are one who are self-aware and open for continuous improvement. Some are born with leadership traits and for others it takes building leadership skills. To build those skills, key element is self reflection and humbleness over position and titles.

Dean Peters's avatar

A lot of rockstar ICs flop in leadership because they’re birds who can’t teach flight.

Being great at *doing* doesn’t mean you can *teach*, *coach*, or *calm the chaos*.

Leadership isn’t a promotion ... it’s a profession, and most never trained for it.

David Pereira's avatar

It's a profession and a different one from a senior IC. It's possible to make the change, but one must be aware of the challenge ahead and be willing to learn a lot of new things.

The Thought Mechanic's avatar

If someone is bad with people management, I don't consider them as a leader but he/she is someone who is trying to manage things.