Real Leadership is Boring

I was recently providing a reference for a friend. The role was for CTO...that is CHIEF Technical Officer. He asked me if he was a good coder and would take on that responsibility. That...was a dumb question.

I get the sentiment behind it. In a start up, everyone needs to be able to play multiple roles. You need to move forward quickly and sometimes that means that leaders have to do the work...not just lead. But that bias toward getting leaders who can perform the role in times of crisis is not what you need to be looking for in leaders. You need to find the leaders who can avoid the crisis in the first place.

That means that you need leaders who understand the processes and frameworks necessary to make good decisions and avoid the crisis in the first place. I cannot tell you how many organizations I have met that are in disarray because they have no idea how to make a decision. And it is usually becuase they have been flying by the seat of their pants to the point that they are in...and lack any framework with which to make a decision. So these companies wander from crisis to crisis and have employees who are frustrated and wondering how they get ahead of the game.

So my answer back to the investor was that he was looking at the role incorrectly. He did not want a CTO who could code, he wanted a CTO who knew how to build an environment where his engineering team could produce at high velocity. He wanted a CTO that could give the engineering team a framework to make decisions quickly, read and react to changing market conditions, and limit crisis situations.

Real leadership is not being able to do someone's job. It is creating an environment that the people doing the job can be successful. Real leaders do not shine in a crisis, they manage around the crisis to begin with. Chaos is not progress, chaos is simply that...chaos. Sometimes it moves you forward, but most of the time it sets you back.

Real leadership creates stability within chaos. It brings order when bullets are flying all around you. Real leadership shows the way forward without drama. And that is best done by preparing the team for how to handle the drama.

Especially in today's world where things are changing faster than many of can keep up with. Any strategy that you make can be outdated quickly and force a need to change. That should not be a chaotic event for your team. It should be that your team is prepared for the plan to change and quickly adapt to the new direction. That comes from having solid processes in place to support the new direction as well as frameworks that can adapt to the new direction.

Real leadership is boring. It is calm, it is without drama and chaos. Is that how you lead? Or are you addicted to action?