Leader-Follower (1999) | Hacker News Reader

Leader-Follower (1999)

futurepositive.synearth.net

23 pointsAlex39176 comments

I mostly agree with the concepts mentioned in the article but on a high-level, I do not. I truly believe some people are born to lead while others are not (even though everyone certainly has the potential to be).

For ex. at my work place, there is a PM which I truly believe is a pure leader. Every single person on the PM's team (engineer, designer, marketing, and other PMs) likes working with the PM. It's uncanny and I have a hard time figuring out why. I suspect it's natural charisma and the way the PM leads without ordering. To counter that, another PM recently joined the company and this new PM is the exact opposite. The new PM's interactions are like orders or commands. To me, this new PM (however educated the PM is...), has already lost my trust after a month. Does anyone else have similar experiences?

I think if you want to be an effective PM you need to be good at persuasion. That's the skill that is most important in a leader.

I don't disagree with this, but the specific PM that everyone likes to work with doesn't persuade either. It's hard to explain exactly what this PM does but I've almost never seen anything like it in my life.

That's just really good persuasion and influence. Charisma is a form of persuasion. Humor is another form. But if they're able to get people excited about a vision and get the team to bring their full selves to their work, they are effective persuaders. You might want to read:

https://www.amazon.com/Influence-The-Psychology-of-Persuasio...

thanks! I think you're right. I will give the book a read.

Precious silliness. Let us re-examine our conception of leadership because of ... our delight in ballet. File under "forwards from your non-profit grandma."

For a more practical take on leader-follower, check out David Marquet's "Turn The Ship Around".

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