Confessions of a not-so-accidental leader

Slides from my opening talk at SunshinePHP 2019

1. Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
2. "We would replace your talk with a Muppet re-run" -- Adam Culp Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
3. The year is 2003 I think Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
4. "I think you should take a leadership course." -- my co-worker Peter, head of customer service at a cheat-on-your- partner dating web site Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
5. L O L Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
6. "No, really. Why are you laughing?" -- same person Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
7. L O L Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
8. So what if he was actually right? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
9. What if I had leadership qualities but were in denial? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
10. What does leadership actually mean? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
11. Let's roll the clock back to the late 1970's and early 1980's Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
12. "Hey, I want to play baseball in the park?" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
13. "Is anybody else playing baseball in the park?" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
14. "Grab your gloves and a bat, we're going to go play '2 Against The North'" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
15. Let it roll further to the mid-to-late 1990's Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
16. "Hey, I want to play dice-and-paper role playing games" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
17. "Is anyone else out there wanting to play?" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
18. "Great, make up your characters and come and play at my place. I have room in my computer room upstairs!" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
19. Roll it all the way up to 2012... Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
20. "Hey, there are no PHP-centric conferences where I live" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
21. "Who wants to help me organize one? I'll be the hype man and take care of the speakers!" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
22. "Thank you all for coming to the 5th and final year of TrueNorthPHP!!!" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
23. So what was the common thing? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
24. Scary parallels to product development Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
25. I found a pain point I had Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
26. I wondered what it would take to solve that pain point Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
27. I created a solution Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
28. Does that mean I had "leadership skills"? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
29. (snicker) Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
30. I believe my old co-worker was correct Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
31. Are you a potential leader without knowing it? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
32. Uncomfortable assumptions about leadership Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
33. Many folks would have you believe that tech leaders are: • young • aggressively overconfident • always working long hours Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
34. Maybe that is people who sell you seminars on leadership? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
35. Maybe this is people who know their ideas won't make money and want to cash out before anyone figures it out? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
36. I am only one of those things Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
37. Except I have a beard (which conveys MASSIVE authority in tech) Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
38. Outcomes matter more then my awesome beard Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
39. The people I know who are best at leadership do not all look the same Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
40. What they have in common is a process Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
41. 1. Articulate ideas clearly Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
42. 1. Describe goals and directions Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
43. 1. Convince others of the values of 1 and 2 Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
44. If you've ever done that... Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
45. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE A LEADER Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
46. So back to the title of this talk... Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
47. Most of my career had been pretty deliberate Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
48. Jobs provided opportunities to build skills and network Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
49. Conferences provided opportunities to build different skills...and network Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
50. Social media provided opportunities to express ideas and attract cultists, er, followers Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
51. All of them together helped me realize that leadership was something I was willing to do Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
52. Except manage people for money Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
53. The same thing might be true for you Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
54. Think about the "Grumpy Tripod Of Leadership" $1 to me via PayPal to use in your own talks Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
55. 1. Identify a pain point you are having and find fellow sufferers Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
56. 1. Identify a pain point you are having and find fellow sufferers 2. Come up with solutions and invite others to join you Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
57. 1. Identify a pain point you are having and find fellow sufferers 2. Come up with solutions and invite others to join you 3. Execute a plan to implement that solution Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
58. "But Chris, how does this work in the real world? Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
59. Open Source! Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
60. (Comes with a massive amount of privilege to have the time to work on it) Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
61. OpenCFP Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
62. "Hey, I need to build something to collect talks for TrueNorthPHP because what we used the first time wasn't doing it for me" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
63. "I'll open-source this so we can other people to help build it out because it's more than enough work for one person..." Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
64. "I can't believe so many people use this now! Let me take a look at those pull requests..." Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
65. That is leadership. Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
66. Find a group and keep them all moving in the same direction Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
67. Mentoring Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
68. "Hey, I wonder if there are folks struggling to figure out how to advance their career..." Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
69. "Is there a centralized place I can go and offer to help?" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
70. "Hey, is Skype good for you? Talk to you at 9pm once my kids are in bed?" Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
71. That is leadership Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
72. Welcome to not-so-accidental leadership! Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader
73. Thank you and enjoy the conference Confessions of a Not-So-Accidental Leader