Know Thyself.

That is how my mentorship started at Analog Analytics. Before we continue some background for those following along: I’ve been doing software development with web technologies for a little over three years full-time now. I have a BAS in Technology Management, and as the “M” in the title implies, I’ve had academic exposure to the topic of leadership. I was bored to tears. Reading how to influence people out of a textbook is akin to watching your favorite show by viewing a sequence of technical diagrams outlining the plot. Its pretty close to useless. In the spirit of open source, I wanted to document my journey for those considering incorporating leadership roles into their careers. Its an elusive topic for me with a few abortions, and probably just as elusive to people-averse developers. Its ironic since its a field that stands to benefit so much.

My mentor asked me what I thought leadership was. Of course I had technical answers: Its being an authoritative source on a technology; its picking up the most bugs; its working long and hard hours. He challenged all my answers and posited it’s about one thing: influence.

99% of workplace problems can be solved through Influence

All the rules are there on paper, in emails, IMs, Wiki pages. You have standard operating procedures, political hierarchies, red tape, and documentation. That isn’t how issues get solved. More often than not he challenged, its a leader’s influence that allows them to win someone over to their side. That is why Person A can ask for something repeatedly, with no response, and Person B can ask for the same thing and get results. People are not software, and do not operate algorithmically. Given the same inputs, the outputs can change based on charisma. Its a fascinating phenomenon to analyze.

Taking Burden Off Others

So how do we gain influence? You can be a technical resource, and you can put in long and hard hours, and slowly climb upwards, but its orthogonal to leadership. Simply, start by taking the burden off others. People notice when you own a problem and resolve it for them. This isn’t about doing other people’s work. Its about removing friction from the process of work so they can easily do other work. When you make your coworkers lives easier, yo build up credit. Your ideas suddenly carry weight. You now have a better chance of successfully influencing them.

Kobayashi Maru

How do we reduce friction? As I said earlier, there is plenty of red tape to go around. Push back. If a process is painful change it. Side step it. Fight it. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission. You might gain traction doing it a better way before it can be killed off in the planning phases. This is about rejecting inputs, and is one of the most markedly apparent difference in a developer versus a leader. You have to stick your next out, and build up your courage. Odds are you aren’t going to get canned.

Know Thyself

A word of caution to those attempting to be charismatic. Play to your strengths. If your not funny, don’t open with an awkward joke. Be sincere. A big attribute of charisma is confidence, hence you should know yourself.  The end goal is to influence people, but this isn’t a study on mind control. Its about influencing someone’s views to get them to see the same end result that you see. You want to win, but you want to do it by empathizing, and leaving the door open for the future.