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Recently, I found myself discussing leadership on a podcast. On multiple occasions in the past, I've been hesitant to pen down my thoughts. It's because this topic often feels squishy and somewhat intangible compared to the (qualitatively) more concrete world of coding. But then I realized where my hesitation stemmed from -- it was the perfectionist in me desiring to write my own comprehensive guide to leadership. Rather than do that, though, I decided to own the imperfection and simply share what I've been thinking about along these lines.

I decided that it'd be fruitless to try to provide a complete thesis of leadership from my incomplete experiences being a data science team lead. Rather, I thought I could pull on as many threads as I can muster within one blog writing session. Here's what they are.

Thread 1: Heaven or Hell - The Power of Leadership

The team lead position comes with inherent power and authority. This power can shape the work environment dramatically – making it either a heaven or a hell for my team. I consciously choose to strive for the former. Amidst the inevitable frustrations of work, why not strive to bring a taste of Eden instead?

Thread 2: Technical Skill and Credibility

In my role as a DS team lead, technical expertise is non-negotiable to have any kind of credibility in my teammates eyes. I need bring to the table advanced knowledge that I can share with my teammates. For me, I've chosen Bayesian stats, network science, deep learning, and now LLMs as part of my toolkit. Staying technically grounded is crucial!

Thread 3: Encouraging Independent Growth

As part of career coaching, I have advocated to my teammates to form their own 'Moderna committees' – groups of 2-4 colleagues, ideally more experienced than themselves in career trajectory or technical skill, whom they can consult independent of me. This stems from knowing the importance of diverse perspectives beyond my own limited one. Same goes for skip levels - every once in a while, my teammates should feel empowered to meet with my manager, and freely share what they see as my weaknesses, especially if they do not want to share those with me directly. How else am I supposed to become a better team lead without that feedback?

Thread 4: Fostering Psychological Safety

Referencing Google's research, it's clear that psychological safety is key to high-performing teams. This means protecting my team's time from overwhelming demands and normalizing conversations about mistakes. It's about creating an environment where learning from errors is valued over reprimanding them.

Thread 5: Embracing Graduation

I know that none of my teammates will work with me forever; they will all "graduate" from my hands at some point. A fundamental belief I hold is that my team members should leave my hands better than when they started. Whether they move on due to new opportunities or personal reasons, I focus on their growth and development. The idea of training team members to grow, even if it means they might eventually leave, is far more appealing than the risk of stagnation within the team. I believe there is a quote, often attributed to Henry Ford, that goes,

The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.

It's also reflected in the cartoon below:

Original source: Twitter

Thread 6: Just Get Things Done and Share Credit

President Obama once said in an interview, "Just learn how to get stuff done.". Rather than jostling for the plum assignment, just nail the thing we're doing. Also, credit is not a zero-sum game; credit multiplies the more we give it away. As such, it's important that we continually recognize the contributions of our teammates and collaborators.

Thread 7: Humility

This one is my biggest challenge; I'm naturally an egotistical person. Humility is the antidote - it isn't thinking less about myself, it's thinking about myself less.

Conclusion

I've been most influenced by the ideas of servant leadership: guiding, supporting, and elevating others before myself. This post has touched on just a few facets of what leadership means to me – there are undoubtedly more! What does leadership mean to you? I'd love to hear your thoughts!