In the last year I switched away from a leadership role to being an IC at a different company. I originally thought I wanted the leadership role to feel more c

In the last year I switched away from a leadership role to being an IC at a different company. I originally thought I wanted the leadership role to feel more control over the direction of my work. But you get into leadership and you realize leadership also doesn’t have control, they’re just trying to respond to the events as they’re unfolding. Worse: you’ve moved away from your craft. Now that I’m back to being an IC again, I feel the impact of decisions up the leadership chain. These changes affect me, but I don’t get to participate in making them. So that can feel frustrating, and I can see wanting to influence those decisions as tempting reasons for peers to seek those kinds of promotions, possibly making the mistake I once did. That tough balance between wanting to execute the craft, but also wanting to participate in larger strategic decision that could impact the craft, seem to be behind a lot of promotion seeking from folks I know.