“I
just finished reading this book - Becoming a Technical Leader by Gerald
Weinberg, one of my favourite author”, I said to my friend. “Tell me about it,
what does the book say about a Technical Leadership”, asked my friend who
looked excited and interested. I was taken back. It’s an amazing book but,
where to start and where to fend? How much do I remember of what I read? (Tip:
If you sincerely try to answer the questions at the end of every chapter, you
have a good chance of remembering what you read).
This
book was written by the author, after running leadership workshops for over 20
years. Can you learn leadership from a book? Who is a leader anyway? Do you
want to become a Leader? And, why do you want to become one? O.K, you decide to
become a Leader but, unfortunately what if you don’t have the Charisma, the
Magic charm or other traditional traits of a Leader, should you give up on, the
hope of becoming a Leader? This book explains all these and much more.
So,
I would like to write briefly about what's in the book and my thoughts on it.
The book talks about MOI - Motivation, Organisation and Ideas or Innovation
Model of Leadership, against a Threat/Reward Model of Leadership. Talks about
an Organic style of Leadership against Linear Leadership. Traditional or
conventional ways of identifying a leader are based on opinions of the team
members or observers. But, understanding leadership in technical environment is
a different ball game and the traditional psychologists fail to take note of
this important point. Most of the discussion in the book focuses on the organic
models characterized by systems thinking and contrasting them to linear or
threat Reward Models. There is also a discussion of Leadership in the Seed
sense or Seed Model which is the process of creating an environment, in which
people become empowered.
Starting
with MOI model, Gerald gives a very simple but profound real-life example of
Pinball where he talks about, what makes people excel in the game. For example,
I quote from the book “Ormond had no motivation, no push, to learn to play better.
I loved this one “Ideas: - My eyes are dim, my legs get tired, and my hands are
a lot slower than they used to be. Without ideas, I wouldn’t stand a chance of winning”.
And, the actual problem- “Organisation: They didn’t lack push, for they did
want to play better. Their lives just weren’t sufficiently organized to learn
anything that required a nontrivial effort”. Understanding the problem,
managing the flow of ideas, maintaining quality and Faith in a better way.
Unlike the threat/reward model, where the number of ideas in the world is
limited, there is always a better way.
How
Leaders develop? “Leaders are leaders of change–change in other people, change
in working groups, and change in organizations. Above all, leaders are leaders
of change in themselves. To become a leader, you have to understand how change
happens; yet it’s difficult to see change in yourself”. Another interesting
concept is the Plateaus and ravines pattern. How does one Improve? Someone
said, I can’t do it because, I am not a manager. The story of the village idiot
whose antique watch stopped running. He pried it open and found a dead
cockroach inside. “No wonder it doesn’t work,” he said, “the manager is dead.”
The
book talks about various aspects of Leadership like, myth of the appointed
leader, making small changes, the three obstacles, self-blindness (an
interesting anecdote of Shirley’s supper (where she thinks, she had only a
coffee but, ended up eating more than anyone else).
I
also loved these, no problem syndrome. One person describes a terribly vexing
problem, but the other merely responds with a callous, “No problem.” And, then
the Single solution belief (belief in the central dogma of academic psychology,
blinding you to alternative solutions).
Tool
for self-awareness: - Importance of a Personal Journal. Developing the idea
power: -Creative error, stolen ideas, copulation. The Vision: Career line. It’s
not the event that matters, but your reaction to the event. Some real-life
examples, like Iris, where success led to pride, which then led to
defensiveness. And, Walston’s success that let him be seduced into staying too
long with an obsolete system.
People
who become innovators do indeed possess a secret key. What is it? every
successful technical leader has such a personal vision. Perhaps only children
can believe that what they do makes a difference in the world. Satir's
Interaction Model: to see what’s going on inside of me, Helping and
self-esteem. “Trying to be helpful: It begins with a sincere desire to help,
progresses through some muddled communications, degenerates into emotional name
calling, and finishes by making things worse”. “If everyone is trying intensely
to do good, why do people fail miserably? You may have to succeed one hundred
percent of the time to be perfect, but you don’t have to succeed one hundred
percent of the time to be powerful”.
Then,
there is more about Leadership, where power comes from? Influencing people and
the missing ingredient. Power from relationship, technology, Expertise and
Keeping power. Problem Solving teams and some team dynamics, decision making,
how leaders are appointed etc. Obstacles to effective organizing. Playing the
Big Game, treating people as machines, the job of a Leader – is it merely
solving problems? Organic Organizing, learning to be an Organizer, looking for
crossed wires and the point of maximum suffering was humorous but on a serious
note, it gave an important lesson and made sense.
Then,
some more stuff like Grading as a Leader, passing your own Leadership tests,
learning how to keep everyone cool, Change and a Personal Plan. Small
achievements and Importance of Finding the support for the change – a support
system which is personal, growth, criticism, recovery. The paradox of
problem-solving leadership is that you have to change in order to remain the
same.
Finally,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. It is quite insightful, practical,
relevant. The real-life examples Gerald gives are not only humorous but, makes
the point clear. And the questions/exercises at the end of the chapter are
quite valuable to deepen and solidify our learning's.
