Why your best engineers aren't getting promoted to Staff+ roles

When "not leadership material" really means "doesn't fit my narrow definition of what a leader looks like"

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There’s a conversation happening in performance reviews right now that should concern every engineering leader.

It goes something like this: “Your technical work is outstanding. You consistently deliver. But you’re not seen as leadership material because you ask instead of tell, you say ‘I think’ instead of stating things definitively, and you’re not pushing back enough when it’s needed.”

If you’re nodding along because you’ve delivered this feedback - or received it - we need to talk about what’s actually being evaluated here.

“Leadership presence”

When we tell a senior engineer they need to be more “authoritative” or “assertive…