There is an assumption here--one that Bryan Cantrill mentions in that toxin vs cancer talk--that management and leadership are the same. In my experience, they

There is an assumption here--one that Bryan Cantrill mentions in that toxin vs cancer talk--that management and leadership are the same. In my experience, they have nothing to do with one another. This is especially true with technical leadership. Having people whose primary concern is organizational stability leading technical decisions is a recipe for resentment and dysfunction. I would go even further and say if a person is concerned with making technical leadership decisions as opposed to people management decisions, they shouldn't be in "management". This includes being a CTO. Most CTOs are not as natural people managers as their VP Eng brethren, and CTOs are not best described as managers of other managers: they're entirely different roles.