One thing that's been eye opening for me as I've gone up the levels is how much different the work styles are between IC and Leadership. The divide gets even bi

One thing that's been eye opening for me as I've gone up the levels is how much different the work styles are between IC and Leadership. The divide gets even bigger at larger companies. * ICs need time to think deeply. They're tasked with getting all of the details correct. Details take a lot of time, mental load, and effort. They're exhausting in the moment. It's hard to do "just one more task" after you've already worked deeply all day. * Leaders are tasked with shaping direction of teams. They spend a lot of time reviewing and guiding "the details", but generally can't get into the weeds. They carry on-going mental burden of _everything_ that's important to the company, but can generally delegate the details to other people. Since they don't spend all day dealing with the details, it doesn't feel painful for them to "tackle a few more things". It's kind of like the tortoise and hare.. ICs sprint, sprint, sprint. Leaders walk. They probably cover the same ground mentally, but most people are much better equipped to walk 10k miles per day than sprint 10k, 100m at a time. It's incredibly hard to overcome that daily lived experience. Most leaders are going to be at least 5+ years separated from the daily IC grind. They've had other goals, other mental loads, other stresses for 5+ years and simply cannot remember what it's like to be an IC anymore.