The thing is; when you connect your model to the reality then there’s bound to be some sweeping of assumptions under some rug… and rather than stop there for a while and looking at the “why?” we skip straight to the “how?” and I think that is rather polite in the micro but absolutely horrendously rude in the macro.
What he calls “mystical” (speaking statements as fact) I call “rainbow speak” - it’s a very common source of conflict online (some wires get crossed and you start getting fed propaganda for the wrong echo chamber => circular arguments of stating “facts” at each other)
This can be taken too far in the other direction, too. We’re complex folks that work in teams, but sometimes simple models can still be rather accurate and important… I’m particularly thinking of Conway’s Law – it’s a red flag, to me, if an organization doesn’t respect Conway’s Law in their planning.
Leaders should worry foremost about being effective, inspiring communicators, spending time listening to the people they are responsible for and understanding the organization’s problems from their perspective. They should learn to tell stories that resonate about the organization’s direction and the product vision.
This resonates.
I have a very Confucian influenced idea of leadership. Just take anything in the Confucian canon about “lords” and “vassals” and make it into “bosses” and “employees” instead. The basic gist of Confucianism is that leaders should have charisma from their virtue that gets other people to snap into alignment with them:
May not [mythical sage emperor] Shun be instanced as having governed efficiently without exertion? What did he do? He did nothing but gravely and reverently occupy his royal seat.
Yes! This guy gets it! I love this post.
I think this quote alone is a devastating critique of the kind of arguments they take issue with:
The thing is; when you connect your model to the reality then there’s bound to be some sweeping of assumptions under some rug… and rather than stop there for a while and looking at the “why?” we skip straight to the “how?” and I think that is rather polite in the micro but absolutely horrendously rude in the macro.
What he calls “mystical” (speaking statements as fact) I call “rainbow speak” - it’s a very common source of conflict online (some wires get crossed and you start getting fed propaganda for the wrong echo chamber => circular arguments of stating “facts” at each other)
This can be taken too far in the other direction, too. We’re complex folks that work in teams, but sometimes simple models can still be rather accurate and important… I’m particularly thinking of Conway’s Law – it’s a red flag, to me, if an organization doesn’t respect Conway’s Law in their planning.
This resonates.
I have a very Confucian influenced idea of leadership. Just take anything in the Confucian canon about “lords” and “vassals” and make it into “bosses” and “employees” instead. The basic gist of Confucianism is that leaders should have charisma from their virtue that gets other people to snap into alignment with them:
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=1486
Good leadership looks like you’re doing nothing because what you’re doing is providing a coordination point for others:
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=1118
The main effort you do exert is to make sure the people around you are sincere and honest:
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=1403
If you have honest people pointed in the right direction, there’s nothing to be gained from micromanagement.
Absolutely adore the web design.