In my experience, most problems boil down to "management". If management is clear, supportive, and attentive, then things are good. As a leader, doing this is

In my experience, most problems boil down to "management". If management is clear, supportive, and attentive, then things are good. As a leader, doing this is not easy. There is often a thin line between being attentive, and being overbearing. The same can be said for being supportive: helping employees through a rough patch is usually a wise move from a business perspective, but at the same time, you need to know when it's time to cut your losses. That kind of decision is never easy to make. And being clear and unambiguous requires placing some tough bets on direction and strategy: you are going to have to say "no" to a lot of tempting possibilities, because the alternative is to try and chase everything that comes your way (a pattern I like to call "Chaos Driven Development").