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A couple days ago, I talked about the importance of showing kindness when communicating downward to those who report to you. But how do you show kindness and trustworthiness when the news you have to share is bad and you can’t share all of the details? I know how stressful it can feel to worry
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If you’re familiar with Brené Brown’s writings, you may take issue with my title here, that a leader’s communication should be “Clear Upwards, Kind Downwards.” After all, she’s pretty emphatic in stating that “clear is kind; unclear is unkind.” That’s definitely true. What’s also true is that clarity looks different, depending on the direction of
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One of the heavy parts of managing an engineering team is the sense of responsibility that says you are now accountable for holding your team members accountable. And there are several reasons that the whole concept of accountability can feel heavy. Here are two big ones: The first is the idea that accountability means figuring
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As an engineer adapting to management responsibilities, it’s common to feel like you’re not yet the person your role expects you to be. I know how stressful it can be to feel like you’re getting it wrong. At the same time, you also recognize that your company chose you for this role. There was –
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Have you ever felt that you’re not yet the manager your role expects you to be? I know how stressful it is to wonder if you’re getting it wrong, to feel like you’ve been promoted without a runbook to tell you how to succeed in your new position. Or to feel that someone handed you
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“You’re right; I’m wrong.” Or maybe, “I’m right; you’re wrong.” One truth that kept coming up for me across all of 2025 was that extreme and absolute statements like those are almost never accurate. Real truth is often a blend of perspectives, and no one person gets it right. We humans have this tendency to
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I know it’s Christmas Day when this is scheduled to post. And maybe your holiday season feels heavy this year because of a decision you had to make, or in anticipation of one you’ll need to make when you return to your workplace. Decisions that inflict pain on some team members in order to protect
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One of the most rewarding aspects of leadership is the opportunity to make a meaningful and positive difference in the lives of those you’re leading. But sometimes things don’t work out that way, and you’re left with a dilemma. You’ve applied all of your creativity, and you’ve sought advice and counsel from everyone you can
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I mentioned two days ago that you need to make it possible for leaders on your team to fail in order to grow. But how do you do that without putting them, their careers, and the organization at risk? Facing potential failure is scary. But when you support your leaders, you can provide a safety
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When I moved from leading one team to leading multiple distinct teams, with different kinds of responsibilities, one major mistake was fundamental in triggering most of the other mistakes I made. I had this idea that it was my previous success that earned me my expanded leadership role. And because of that, I believed that
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Someone about to start as a manger asked me recently what I thought about the strategy of overcommunication as a help to build relationships with peers. In their mind, overcommunication meant sharing the details of your accomplishments so that other people would know what kind of value you’ve produced. I shared that I do believe
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Remember when you first accepted a role of managing direct reports? To know that your decisions had such impact on their satisfaction with the workplace and on the organization’s satisfaction with them was quite daunting. Maybe it still is. It’s easy to feel the weight of responsibility of managing down. Managing up can also feel
Musings
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