Voice of the Leaders

Sometimes we tend to keep our leaders at arm's length. We have gained a certain cynicism from our experience with stereotypically bad managers. What if we were to ask our leaders directly how they view their jobs. What are they thinking? What are their intentions? Perhaps by knowing more, we can gain better appreciation for what they do and participate in their work in better ways.

Transcript

4. "What was she thinking when she wrote this terrible code?"
5. "This feature is taking way too long to write."
6. "These priorities are totally arbitrary."
7. "How hard is it to write code that doesn't throw an exception?"
8. "Hurry up and get to our ELK Kubernetes shipper tentacle! What's taking so long?"
9. "Doesn't he have some beans to count so we can get back to the real work?"
10. “She doesn’t seem committed to giving her full effort.”
12. "There must have been a good reason for this code."
13. "This feature is complicated. It has been challenging to get right."
14. "Thanks for sharing with me the discovery experience. Let's work on these priorities."
15. "I know there's a lot on the implementation checklist. May I help you review it?"
16. "I know you're dealing with a lot of moving targets right now. I'll try to be patient."
17. "What is my leader's good intent in asking me this question?"
18. "She's usually on her game. I wonder how I can help."
22. "Mans desires are limited by his perceptions; none can desire what he has not perceived." William Blake
23. mind? intention? desire? do?
25. give time generous listen first “Your leader owes you a conversation.”
26. feel safe got their back "I want to feel like we could come and sit by each other at each others’ desk any time"
27. care a lot open vulnerable "that emotion and intent behind it is really powerful"
28. care personally for us
29. look further purpose possibility
30. share consumable "easy to think everyone knows"
31. create a vision
32. support “hard to go out on a limb… on your own”
33. represent avoid overload side-by-side "It always feels like it takes so long if you're not the one doing the work."
34. are advocates for us
35. share trends collaborate talents
36. bring us together
37. space explore encourage "push them out the door; get out of the house; check out the back yard"
38. stabilize dreams responsibility
39. encourage our autonomy
40. own challenges recognize leaders "remember to take time [for yourself]"
41. coach us to grow
42. inspire boundaries challenge “be in line with the org, but [have a] local culture”
43. inspire innovation
44. meta preserve evolve with purpose "the work will get done; I care most about the culture"
45. care about the culture
48. me?
50. "Dwell in possibility" Emily Dickinson
51. thank you