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> >can you share your
> > ideas
> > on what is is to actually LEAD people, especially techcommies?
>
> Okay here's some basic thoughts...
I meant to reply to this thread earlier in the week, but my
regularly scheduled commute to head office meant 12 hours days and
the better part of a couple of days in transit.
Andrew makes some very good points, but I would add:
1.) Never give an order that you can't enforce. You'll only
undermine your authority.
I know of one CEO who sent out a series of increasingly threatening
e-mails about some gum tracked on a new carpet. He kept saying that
he would punish the person responsible, but - big surprise - nobody
confessed. He only ended up looking stupid, especially since he sent
the messages while the company was in the middle of a small crisis
and he wasn't sending out e-mails on any other subject. In the end,
the message he transmitted was that he wasn't worthy of respect.
2.) Never emphasize your position unnecessarily.
This point may reflect only a certain style of leadership. Or maybe
I'm projecting myself on to the rest of the world. However, it's my
belief that most people - especially writers, artists and
programmers - resent hierarchy and respond poorly to highly
structured situations. Most people of reasonable maturity admit that
structure has its uses, but they still resent unnecessary reminders
of it.
Therefore, it's unwise for anyone in authority to:
- claim unnecessary privileges or keep a perk to themselves.
- make rulings that don't apply to them.
- make a decision that affects others in the company without some
consultation or discussion.
-act as though they regard themselves as any different from anyone
else in the company, except when a decision has to be made.
- assert authority unnecessarily.
In short: take a "first among equals" approach.
This point is sufficiently important that even talking about
"leadership" should make an effective leader uneasy. :-)
--
Bruce Byfield 317.833.0313 bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com
Director of Marketing and Communications,
Progeny Linux Systems
"The Queen was in her chamber, a-weeping very sore,
There came Lord Leicester's spirit and It scratched upon the door,
Singing, "Backward and forward and sideways may you pass,
But I will walk beside you till you face the looking glass."
- Rudyard Kipling, "The Looking Glass"
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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