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Everyone, thanks for attending my RubyConf talk. It's called "No Title Required: How Leadership Can Come From Anywhere."
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So why do we want to be leaders? I'll let that question settle in for a few seconds. Why do we want to be leaders?
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Money, right? Because leaders get things done, and people who get things done sleep on beds of money, like this guy over here.
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So if that's the reason you had in your head about why you want to be a leader, I say great! You'll be happy to know that there's nothing in this presentation that will try to convince you otherwise.
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However, we might also want to be leaders because leaders have outsized influence and notoriety in their professions. They give speeches, they influence many people, and they have long lists of accomplishments. As you might know, countless studies and papers have been done trying to figure out what qualities these people have and whether regular people like you and me can use these qualities to further our own careers.
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Statistically, we may not become the next Bill Gates or Angela Merkel, but we're still drawn to these types of people, and we want to be more like them. So I've told you basically about money and fame, which are very obvious and shallow, but I hope to show you that leadership is not just about those two things.
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In fact, I want to illustrate that leadership is one of the most accessible things to us. My name is Jim Liu, and I'm an engineer at Gusto, a payroll, HR, and benefits company in San Francisco. I've been in the software industry for almost a decade and have never held an official leadership title like "Tech Lead" or "Engineering Manager."
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Rather than try to convince you that I have any leadership credentials, I’ll start by sharing my initial thoughts on what leadership is and isn't.
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First and foremost, I believe leadership is a personal journey. There’s no leadership equation; you can’t plug in the number of years of experience you have, the number of lines of code you've written, or the number of people you've mentored to get a leadership score.
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Likewise, there's nothing that states that leadership is reserved for anyone at a particular stage in their career.
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I think any conversation on leadership must begin with the understanding that it’s something really personal, where we each have our own timelines and goals. It's about people, not just code.
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It took me a while to understand this, but once I did, my perspective on leadership changed. There was one time I received feedback from my manager. He said my work was fine, but he asked how it impacted others.
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At the time, I thought, "What does this question even mean? I checked the box, delivered the feature, and met my commitment. Why does it matter how my work impacted others beyond the person who liked it in the code review?" As I continued to focus solely on code and ignored everything else, I started to stagnate.
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I made excuses like thinking the review system was broken or that the loudest voices were the only ones receiving leadership roles. Eventually, I realized that the most valuable resource in an organization isn't the code; it's the people. If you can positively influence a large group of people, those are the real assets in your organization.
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It’s about the how, not just the what. Reflect on the best leaders you've encountered in your life. It wasn’t just their raw output or the code they produced; it was how they did it and what it was like to interact with them.
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If you asked them a question, did they impatiently tell you what to do like a parent telling a child, or did they sit down with you to mentor you so their knowledge would spread throughout the organization? They build consensus, celebrate wins, and push for improvement. These are often called "soft skills" because they are not technically related.
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I’ve definitely brushed off soft skills in the past, and you might have too, but I believe it's the blend of soft skills with technical skills that makes for effective leadership.
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Now, having shared my thoughts on leadership, can we define it? This was actually pretty hard because there are so many definitions of leadership out there already. However, I wanted something specific to this context, so I came up with this: leadership is the continuous practice of positive influence.
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Let’s break that down. I don’t think leadership is a static milestone that you just reach— once you’re done, that’s it. Leadership continuously evolves as you and your company evolve.
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Again, echoing my earlier point, the most important output of a leader isn’t code; it’s positive influence for your team and organization. Notice that this definition doesn’t imply anything about your seniority, title, or job function.
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Because of that, I believe leadership can really come from anywhere. Here’s what we’re going to discuss today.
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I'll give you a quick overview of my story and share some leadership learnings I've had throughout my career. We will go through some of my observations on leadership, and finally, I’ll provide concrete steps you can take to become effective leaders in your organization.
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Let’s start at the beginning. The first job I got out of college was at Microsoft. I was doing QA on the Windows Networking team. (QA means Quality Assurance for anyone who doesn’t know.) I didn’t realize at the time that my first job was about executing a flywheel.
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A flywheel is a series of steps that build off one another and result in higher performance the more you do it. I identified problems, fixed them, tried to prevent similar issues, and then taught others. I repeated that process effectively.
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I believe the beginning of any leadership journey is about honing the core skills of your profession. You can’t fake this for too long. At Microsoft, it was all about problem-solving over and over.
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During that time, I experienced what I consider my first leadership win. We had an event called Think Week, where employees could submit papers to the executive team, who would then read them. Some papers became larger company initiatives.
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I wrote on something called Microsoft Zune. Does anyone remember or know what Microsoft Zune is? (Oh, cool, lots of people!) This was Microsoft's competitor to the iPod. Unfortunately, it didn’t do well.
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I wrote a paper about Zune, and they say Bill Gates reads about a third of the papers. He didn’t end up reading mine, but another executive did and provided feedback. After that, I thought I was done, but my manager recognized my effort and I received my first promotion that year.
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At that moment, I was just excited about the promotion. Looking back, it was the first time I had done something impactful outside my domain, no matter how small.
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After my time at Microsoft, I returned to school to get my master's in computer science, and even in that academic setting, I learned valuable lessons in leadership.
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How many of you have used or thought the phrase "This is my idea" in a professional setting? (Most of us!) I have a neat story about this phrase.
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At a startup weekend event, where people pitch ideas and form teams, I pitched an idea. Some people thought it was cool, and we formed a team. Although we didn’t create a viable business plan, it was a great experience.
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During that event, someone told me, "Jim, you're doing a great job leading the team, but I think you should stop saying 'my idea.' We know it's your idea and you're proud of it, but now we’re all in this together, and we all have a say in how the idea needs to evolve."
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That feedback was a great lesson in leadership. Leaders often come up with excellent ideas, but the best leaders know that when an idea is in the open amongst the team, it becomes everyone’s.
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They step back and let that idea evolve on its own. Fast forward after graduation to my jobs in San Francisco, where I observed a significant difference between my first job and my current one.
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The biggest difference, beyond the technical aspects, has been my increased understanding of my career and what leadership truly involves.
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Tangible things have happened. I've led engineering efforts on important projects and had the chance to move to Denver to help ramp up an engineering team there. Finally, I felt comfortable enough to stretch myself.
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Of course, I also have this talk. So, let’s start with some of my observations on leadership, which have been informed by my own experiences.
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I hope these observations resonate with you and help you realize that the constraints I felt around leadership weren't really constraints at all. Let’s begin with titles. There’s often a conflation of title and role in job function.
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If you think about what a title is, it mainly tells you your functional role in a company. For example, you might be a software engineer, program manager, or finance manager.
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Adding seniority terms like „senior engineer“ may lead people to equate those titles with leadership ability. This ignores dynamics like wanting to advertise seniority.
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I'd argue that we’re all cognitively pretty lazy most of the time. For example, if we see communication stating someone is a senior engineer, it's easy for us to be biased.
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We can give more weight to their ideas due to their senior title. If you're tied to the notion of title, I encourage you to reflect on what you want that title to represent about yourself.
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I took a long time to understand this: the incentives and values of an organization can influence the type of leadership that emerges. I used to think that the loud, opinionated person would always be the leader.
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However, if you look at the values and incentives of an organization, you won’t find statements implying that you must be loud or opinionated to be a leader.
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Structures were created by humans, and humans are imperfect. They probably didn’t consider other values that would benefit leadership. If your style aligns with current incentives, you may not feel the need to change these values.
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It’s clear that many effective leadership styles exist, which provides an opportunity for different types of people across an organization to collaborate. Together, they can create a more inclusive set of values and incentives.
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Let’s talk about progress. This is an ideal progress chart, steadily increasing up to the right. However, anyone who has worked in the industry knows this isn't true. Progress doesn't just happen consistently.
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I used to think that climbing to leadership was only for those with a perfect progress curve. Yet, I observed that some great leaders seemed to have periods where nothing impactful occurred.
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During the times when you need their leadership, they always knew exactly what to do. I concluded that there’s no such thing as a perfect progress curve.
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Progress is often bursty, featuring many step functions along the way. I experienced this at my current company; I was doing routine daily work when suddenly everything clicked.
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I connected the dots of our system and became known as the subject matter expert in that area. This taught me to appreciate that day-to-day work prepares you for the next step.
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If you notice a lack of progress, that doesn’t mean you should be passive. Leaders must advocate for themselves, as even the best managers can't always advocate for everyone.
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If you've done good work but no one has seen it, that doesn’t mean someone is against you. Most of us are focused on our own tasks most of the time.
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If you’ve accomplished something substantial, don’t assume others will notice; be direct and call attention to it. Chances are, people will acknowledge your efforts.
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Avoid falling into the trap of thinking someone will notice your hard work. Often, results depend on proactive communication.
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Finally, let’s discuss busy work. We all have a sense of what busy work is—routine tasks, mundane code cleanup, or addressing simple issues.
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The best leaders know what the most impactful work is at any time. While context varies, you’ll often find that saying no is necessary.
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I understand saying no can feel awkward since many of us want to help our teams. However, we should focus on quality work rather than arbitrary metrics.
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While my observations on leadership may seem daunting, there are concrete actions we can take immediately to become more effective leaders. Each of these actions can be practiced continuously, resulting in positive influence available to anyone.
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The charismatic leader, who talks his way out of anything and inspires the troops, is a great definition, but the most underrated skill of a leader is listening.
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Listening frees us cognitively to synthesize viewpoints from different people and assess the situation. For instance, if you call on a quiet employee in a meeting, that action can build their confidence.
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Talking too much can drown out the voices of others. If you feel you’ve been talking a lot, you probably have.
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To create a culture of listening, small actions can go a long way. Put away your phone or laptop during meetings; this creates room for engagement.
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You could delegate who speaks, starting with the person who has been in the company the shortest, or use brainstorming techniques. For example, have everyone write down ideas, then share them instead of letting the loudest voices dominate.
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Effective leaders strive for continuous improvement, which requires honest self-assessment of your skills.
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Self-assessment doesn’t require comparison to peers; it’s about identifying what you’re good at and what you want to improve.
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Rather than saying, "I'm not good at this," frame it as "This is something I want to improve." This dynamic phrasing helps instill a growth mindset.
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Because we all have gaps, acknowledge that it’s okay to have a long list of things to improve. Let it digest, then start taking it step-by-step.
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In the past, I’d keep a mental list of things to improve, but that didn’t work well at all. I began writing these things down and enlisting the help of my manager.
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We started a monthly introspective to discuss long-term goals, areas of success, areas for development, and action items. This was helpful in keeping me accountable.
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Feedback is crucial to being a leader, but also one of the hardest aspects, as it requires a foundation of trust.
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Without that trust, feedback will often be generic and unhelpful: "You're doing fine" doesn't inform any improvement.
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Establish that trust first; otherwise, you might only receive positive feedback even when there are areas for improvement.
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Start fostering a feedback culture by giving immediate feedback on positive actions you notice. This builds the feedback muscle.
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Then, work on being specific in feedback, regardless of whether you're giving or receiving. Asking how specific aspects of your performance went will yield improved, actionable input.
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You can use frameworks like the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) model to provide structured feedback. Additionally, establish a good cadence for giving feedback. Don’t wait for performance evaluations to discuss feedback; that leads to recency bias.
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Having connections or shared knowledge is essential in development. If you deliver software on time but didn’t communicate effectively or left technical debt, that matters.
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Leaders understand the trade-offs in quality and effectiveness concerning the metrics they choose. It’s essential to maintain a balance between quantitative data and qualitative experiences.
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Having clear, unambiguous measures helps ensure accountability. Keeping notes is a great method to test definitions during future reviews.
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These processes of self-assessment, measuring, diving deep, and getting feedback feed into one another.
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No matter what stage you’re at, be a mentor. If you aspire to be a manager, practice mentoring now. New hires, especially interns, are perfect mentees; their fresh perspective can be invaluable.
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Mentors with complementary skills are beneficial. When someone trusts you enough to approach you with questions, it shows strong leadership.
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Taking care of your physical and mental health is crucial. Leaders set the example and know when to take a step back to recharge.
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If you neglect these areas, it impacts how you tackle other leadership goals. Leadership is a marathon, not a sprint.
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You may feel that leadership is inaccessible given organizational constraints, but you still have agency. Accountability for culture and leadership structures must come from everyone.
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We should insist on organizations creating environments where leadership is a shared resource, celebrated and promoted.
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Ultimately, don’t feel overwhelmed. Start by focusing on manageable steps: one actionable idea, one encouraging word to a colleague, or one small process change.
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This incremental approach will lead you to evolve into a leader. Thank you, and keep leading!
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Here are some resources, including my favorite books, articles, and blogs on leadership. If you want to contact me, my contact info is below. I'll be here for any questions you may have.
