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> [he] believes every phase of the process needs to be meticulously designed to drill deep into skill sets, ... and leadership potential Ugh. I hate this. For

> [he] believes every phase of the process needs to be meticulously designed to drill deep into skill sets, ... and leadership potential Ugh. I hate this. For a technical interview, why is leadership potential a priority? Speaking for myself, I've done the leadership thing and don't care for it. People tell me I'm good at it, but I still prefer dealing with algorithms over humans, and I actively decline offers for "promotion". (I already have my very own batch of little humans of to deal with, thank you very much.) Unfortunately, no matter where you go, there's always the deep-seated cultural mindset that manager > worker. In terms of the corporate efficiency calculation of effectiveness/hour, I suppose that's still true. But for me, personally, that's not the equation that I care to maximize.

dragonwriter 13y ago
> For a technical interview, why is leadership potential a priority? Probably because in many modern ways of organizing knowledge work, distributing leadership roles is an important part of the way organizations operate. > Unfortunately, no matter where you go, there's always the deep-seated cultural mindset that manager > worker. The places where that is least true are also the places where evaluating leadership potential in technical workers is the most relevant to immediate job performance.
- realspeech 13y ago
  but it is extremely hard (perhaps impossible) to accurately determine leadership potential in an interview
- rhizome 13y ago
  Probably because in many modern ways of organizing knowledge work, distributing leadership roles is an important part of the way organizations operate Does it work, by which does it produce the desired results or benefits? It seems somewhat likely that this would have a side-effect of pushing employees to asserting a dominating personality.
RougeFemme 13y ago
I agree re: the cultural mindset. And I definitely get preferring algorithms over humans. But I don't think leadership necessarily has to = management. Leadership can simply be about being persuasive, degree to which you deal with hurdles/stupidity/whatever without killing somone, able to facilitate a contentious discussion/meeting etc. - those soft skills that make you a good teammate, defacto team lead if/when necessary or whatever. Like you, I've been a manager and didn't like it (although I did like the fact that my input carried more weight than it would have otherwise). But I'm sure that leadership potential serves you well, even in non-management positions.
- hobb0001 13y ago
  I do agree that that form of leadership is necessary. I was inferring a more literal interpretation of leadership, though, considering the associated word, "potential".
jasoncabot 13y ago
Amazon has a set of leadership principles that apply to everyone at the company, whether you are technical or not. http://www.amazon.com/Values-Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node=239365011 http://www.amazon.com/Values-Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node... It's being a leader in what you do, which isn't necessarily the same as leading a group of other people.

dragonwriter 13y ago

> For a technical interview, why is leadership potential a priority? Probably because in many modern ways of organizing knowledge work, distributing leadership roles is an important part of the way organizations operate. > Unfortunately, no matter where you go, there's always the deep-seated cultural mindset that manager > worker. The places where that is least true are also the places where evaluating leadership potential in technical workers is the most relevant to immediate job performance.

realspeech 13y ago
but it is extremely hard (perhaps impossible) to accurately determine leadership potential in an interview
rhizome 13y ago
Probably because in many modern ways of organizing knowledge work, distributing leadership roles is an important part of the way organizations operate Does it work, by which does it produce the desired results or benefits? It seems somewhat likely that this would have a side-effect of pushing employees to asserting a dominating personality.

RougeFemme 13y ago

I agree re: the cultural mindset. And I definitely get preferring algorithms over humans. But I don't think leadership necessarily has to = management. Leadership can simply be about being persuasive, degree to which you deal with hurdles/stupidity/whatever without killing somone, able to facilitate a contentious discussion/meeting etc. - those soft skills that make you a good teammate, defacto team lead if/when necessary or whatever. Like you, I've been a manager and didn't like it (although I did like the fact that my input carried more weight than it would have otherwise). But I'm sure that leadership potential serves you well, even in non-management positions.

hobb0001 13y ago
I do agree that that form of leadership is necessary. I was inferring a more literal interpretation of leadership, though, considering the associated word, "potential".

jasoncabot 13y ago

Amazon has a set of leadership principles that apply to everyone at the company, whether you are technical or not. http://www.amazon.com/Values-Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node=239365011 http://www.amazon.com/Values-Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node... It's being a leader in what you do, which isn't necessarily the same as leading a group of other people.