Good Leadership, a career long journey

In the last few years, I've been fortunate to hear feedback from my team that I was "the best boss they'd ever had". This means a ton to me, but I like to always reflect on why, and how I can be better.  What do I believe in? What makes me a good boss? What can I do to be a better one?

I do a lot of reading on how I can be better for my team, and here are a few ideas I live by.  

1- Their success is your success- Simon Sinek (my leadership hero) says "the cost of good leadership is self interest", and I believe that. Over the years as I have had larger and larger teams, my biggest happiness has been seeing my team KILL it ! Them being in a place to succeed makes me so proud and excited. I think it's a leaders' job to get obstacles out of their way, and help them be successful. 

2- Your team has great insight- As a leader you're not on the front lines, your team is. And by hearing those insights, as a team you can come up with better solutions. In product management anyways, it's our job to understand the market, and create solutions that delight customers. What better way to do that then to work together to figure it out.  Some people like to think that the boss is always right, but I'd rather be in a team where anyone can be right. Good ideas come from anywhere, and when ones ego is not caught up in who owns the idea the best ideas come out. 

3- Your job is to help your team to grow- I've been doing product management for a really long time. I know how to do it. I know many ways to do it. I consider my 20 years in the industry a catalogue of success and failures that I can share with others. My job is not to dictate how my team is to do the work but instead, give them the tools to grow, and become better product managers.  I push my team hard. I give them a lot of responsibility, and I make sure to support them so they can grow into that responsibility. 

4- Care personally, but be direct- I care about each person on my team. I want to know that they are happy or unhappy. I want them to succeed. But if my time at Clearfit taught me nothing, I can recognize when people are struggling in their roles. It doesn't make them a bad person, instead, they just need support. I also want to make sure they have the feedback they need to succeed. Too many times people get fired and are surprised.  I try to be direct and try to help my team get to a good place. 

These learnings are a journey. Every year I learn more about how to be a good leader, and I am nowhere to the end. This year I am thinking a lot about accountability. How to foster it, and how to deliver it. ...more on that topic later.