I have seen great tech leaders without a STEM degree. But they have a deep understanding of technology people, technology development as a process, and technolo

I have seen great tech leaders without a STEM degree. But they have a deep understanding of technology people, technology development as a process, and technology as a business. I have seen would-be tech leaders who tried to take shortcuts. They end disastrously. Usually the problem boils down to judgment. They cannot tell who is producing the core value of the enterprise. They create unnecessary work. They add useless process. They have bizarre and unworkable ideas for products. They don't understand how to correctly price talent, and to retain it. They don't have the humility to know what they don't know. They overestimate how much they add to the enterprise. The good people end up jumping ship and they are left with a rump of pure mediocrity, if anything at all.