Leadership Philosophy

Every leader has an underlying leadership philosophy. I started curating mine long before I became a manager. These principles started from deep values I hold for myself. Some were inspired by leaders I’ve had. I tested them out on myself when consulting. Then I started to see what works as I’ve led my team. I’m sure they’ll continue to develop and transform over time. This is an invitation to think about your own too.

Invest in Psychological Safety

I originally read about the importance of psychological safety from Google’s 2-year study on team success — Project Aristotle. The study emphasizes the need for people to feel safe to share their thoughts and take calculated risks. As a leader, this has become my primary focus. Without this, the best ideas can’t surface and there’s little room for innovation.

Fostering psychological safety isn’t as complex as it might sound. It starts with smart hiring, allowing team members to get to know each other, and creating conditions that encourage connection and collaboration. I use these simple questions when making decisions: Will this build trust or erode it? How can I give this critical feedback in a way that will help this person? What can I do to ensure everyone feels secure in this interaction?

Embrace Authenticity and Vulnerability

Authentic leadership means being comfortable saying, “I don’t know.” It means accepting respectful disagreements from others in public. It also means going out on a limb for your team to ask “stupid” questions. It’s having the courage to do the vulnerable thing.

I’m able to do these things because my sense of self isn’t threatened when things “go wrong.” I’ve been fortunate enough to have experiences like going on a 10-day silent meditation retreat or years of embodied therapy. I know how to sit with uncomfortable feelings and observe them. I know when my ego is getting too involved and to take a step back.

Approaching leadership this way is more successful. People can tell when you respond with a phony answer instead of admitting that you are unsure. Allowing healthy disagreement in groups can generate better ideas than when someone is a dictator. Asking stupid questions can help a group reach clarity. It takes courage to lead this way, but you’ll be surprised at what happens if you take the leap.

Ask for help

This one didn’t come as easy to me. There was a time when I prided myself on being fiercely independent. However, I’ve come to realize that humans thrive on support, and we’re not meant for a life of isolation.

Yes, we can ask for help from our co-workers AND we can also ask for help from our own team. There’s a tendency as leaders for us to feel the need to have all the answers or to avoid showing weakness or insecurities. I think that’s ineffective. It’s robotic and unrelatable. When you are stuck, it’s okay to turn to your team and ask them for ideas. You’ll find so much help waiting for you.

Adapt

Is something not working? Pivot.

Don’t do this too often, or without reason. Don’t be chaotic. The larger the group that reports to you, the slower you need to roll new things out, but if something isn’t working, don’t get stuck on it. Try something else.

Lead with Transparency

You can’t be transparent about everything as a manager, but for the information you can share, it’s best to share. This helps everyone understand the context and brings them along for the journey as well. In addition to general sharing, it helps to share one message in a large group.

Sharing in a big group and allowing questions can help with alignment. Hearing others' questions also urges people to think through things and spawns additional questions. One bigger meeting is more effective than many small conversations where each person gets their own version of the story or plan.

Of course, there are certainly times to roll out the news so that you don’t scare everyone with a big change, but I think it’s important to make it official. Roll it out and be open about where the company is at to keep everyone in sync.

Prioritize

Humans can’t multitask. We can task switch, but can’t multitask. If you have more than 3 things on your list, you’re going to be less effective. These things should also have a clear order of what’s important.

Also — You can’t build a product for everyone. You need a primary audience so that you can make the best decision for that audience. Your product might serve more than your primary audience, but if you try to serve everyone, you’ll create a jumbled product that no one will want to use.

If things feel chaotic, it usually means you are trying to do too many things at once. Pause. Breathe. Prioritize.

Give autonomy

I picked this one up from Daniel Pink’s Motivation Theory. When I heard it, it made sense to me based on my own experience. I am the most engaged when I’m told what outcome someone is looking for instead of how to do something without any room for creativity or thought. I believe in setting clear outcomes rather than micromanaging every detail. This allows me to step away and trust that things will continue to run smoothly without me having to direct everything.

As long as you state your intended end state, your team will be able to make the best decisions on the ground. You can’t be in multiple places at once making all the decisions. When you lead it should be exponential. You only have two hands, so state what you need and then get out of the way. More will get done if you are clear on your intentions and trust your team to execute.

Create a Sustainable Environment

Can you and your team continue to function the way you are functioning now? There are going to be moments where you’ll need to sprint, but if that’s your baseline and shit hits the fan, you have nowhere to go. I’d rather pick a consistent and sustainable pace.

This helps keep your team healthy and creates a good momentum to keep things going. Over time I think this wins because you don’t burn out people on your team and lose their knowledge when they leave. You also continue to benefit from the continuous trust that your team builds with each other as they work together longer, why ruin that?

Gather information

This comes from my background as a researcher and I find it useful. I try to gather information about leadership to be a better leader. I try to read many books and talk to many people about their philosophies, ideas, and experiences. I try to look for patterns and learn.

I try to gather information about what the company is doing and where we are going. I try my best to use these threads to predict where we’ll go before the strategy is announced so that my team can start to research those things and give information to our partners. Sometimes my guesses are wrong, but often the information gathering has been fruitful and gets us further than if we had waited.

Have Fun

If we aren’t having some sort of fun, what are we even doing? I tend to be overly serious at work sometimes, but I think the best way to get through life is with a bit of humor and play. I think this is also even more beneficial to a creative team. It spawns ideas and innovation, so I try not to blow by this one.

Care

One of the best things you can do as a manager is be someone who actually cares. This could be my biggest weakness because I care about things too much sometimes, but I think that it helps my team. I care about them as people. I care about the company making good decisions. I care about the quality of work we are doing. I care about the culture we are building.

All of these things circle back to people. What is more important when you are a leader than caring about your people and the people your team serves?

I don’t know how to do it any other way.

In conclusion

This is a living document. While it currently encapsulates where I am today, I anticipate it will grow over time. I’m sharing it not as the ultimate guide, but as an invitation for you to reflect on your own leadership style. There’s no universal formula, so find what works for you.