Leadership lessons I’ve learned that help new managers navigate the challenging journey surrounding curiosity, determination, empathy, ambition, and impostor syndrome.

In 2019, I was living and working in San Francisco. Like many other designers, I enjoyed attending tech conferences, events, and gatherings that involved great food, drinking, and socializing with like-minded product builders and creatives.

I remember being very excited at that time to see one of the most influential designers in Silicon Valley.

Many of the subjects discussed that night didn’t resonate with me until recently. Fast forward to today, almost four years later, I am writing about it as part of my journey to become a better designer, communicator, mentor, and overall better person.

Here are the fifteen lessons I learned from her book:

1. What is a manager’s job?

The first lesson I learned is how to answer this question better. It made me rethink all the complexity and responsibilities that come with the fancy job title and realize that your job as a manager is to get better outcomes from a group of people working together. And that the best way to do it is by inspiring people to act, not telling them what to do.

2. Leadership is a quality rather than a job

Management is a role that can be given and taken away. Leadership must be earned, and great managers should cultivate leadership not just in themselves but within their teams.

3. Having hard conversations

It is essential to have honest, open communication. Framing criticism as suggestions is not always the best path forward. It might seem difficult to change that, but it’s necessary. The sooner you internalize that as a manager, you’re responsible for the outcome of your team, the easier it becomes to have these conversations.

4. Motivating people

People either don’t know how to do good work or aren’t motivated. Most often than not, when your report isn’t motivated, it is because they are doing something that no longer inspires them or they don’t know what success looks like. Your responsibility is to build trust and cultivate a safe relationship where everyone feels comfortable telling you the good and the bad about their work.

If your report doesn’t tell how they feel, you can’t help them. And without trust, you miss the early warning signs that will become bigger problems and ultimately will surface and surprise you with a resignation letter.

When your report quits, they are not quitting your company. They are quitting you.

5. Strive to be a human, not a boss

Be relatable. These are good signs that you’re a good human and a successful manager:

• Your reports would gladly work for you again.
• You and your report give each other critical feedback, which isn’t taken personally.
• Your reports regularly bring their biggest challenges to you.

Respect and genuinely care about your report, not only when they succeed. But most importantly, when they struggle. Only then will you show them you care, and they will give you honesty and gratitude in return.

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

6. Don’t overvalue talent

Team collaboration is far more critical to achieving sustainable success than having a skilled person full of themselves in your team. Avoid hiring people who exhibit toxic behaviors and make others feel less than them.

7. Do not protect low performers

Protecting low performers only increases damage when, inevitably, you are forced to let them go. If you believe someone is not set to succeed in your team, the kindest thing you can do for them is be honest and support them in moving on.

8. Giving feedback and managing expectations

Positive reinforcement is more effective and motivating than criticism. Your feedback only counts if it makes things better. Give it as often as possible, and make sure it’s being heard. The best way to do that is to ensure the listener feels safe.

It doesn’t always have to start with a problem and won’t stick if the receptor views the conversation as a threat.

Every major disappointment is a failure to set expectations. Everyone must be on the same page from the beginning. Starting the journey with a well-marked map is way more efficient than walking a few miles and then asking if you’re on the right track.

As a manager, your job is to foresee these situations and create an environment where your reports can succeed.

9. Impostor syndrome is not unique to you

Sometimes, feeling like you don’t know what you’re doing is completely normal — and it will affect you even more if you are a new manager. For two reasons: you’re often looked to for answers, and you’re constantly put in the position of doing something you haven’t done before.

Great management comes from playing to your strengths rather than fixing your weaknesses.

The result of putting our strengths into what we love doing is joy, energy, and feeling alive. Our strengths are great resources for increasing our energy and making us feel unstoppable.

On the flip side, when you have a fixing mindset, you feel insufficient, and this feeling will inevitably invite other negative emotions. So when a negative thought gets in your head, step back and ask yourself whether your interpretation is correct.

A good exercise to help you build your confidence back up is celebrating the small wins by writing down the things you’re proud of every day. Even the small ones. Another way is asking the people who know and like you best (family, significant other, close friends) to describe you in three words.

The perspective you have changes everything. It’s important to remember that being in the pit is universal. Don’t beat yourself up for feeling bad.

10. Hosting great meetings

Be as effective with your meetings as possible. Depending on your role and the organization you work for, half of your day could be filled with team check-ins, brainstorming sessions, client calls, 1:1s with your manager, etc.

The amount of time you spend in meetings could decrease drastically if you cultivate simple habits that could make an enormous impact, such as having a clear sense of purpose, a shared goal with your team, and alignment before you walk into the room.

Practice clarity and ruthless efficiency with your meetings, and people will thank you for respecting their time.

I recently wrote an article in more depth about effective meetings because this is a theme I am very passionate about.

Remember, some meetings don’t need you, and some don’t need to exist at all.

11. Hiring well

Hiring well is hard, and at a growing company, it is the most critical thing you can do. It is not a problem to be solved but an opportunity to build your organization’s future.

Hiring is about making your team and your own life much better. It should be inspiring and one of the main reasons that make going to work fun.

Design your team intentionally by planning ahead for your future hires as much as possible. It’s helpful to create org charts, analyze gaps in skills, strengths, or experiences, and list open roles to hire.

Most interviews will never be a perfectly reliable predictor of someone’s success. Personal bias plays a significant role in decision-making, so look for passionate advocates in your hiring team rather than consensus (when everyone “approves” the candidate but no one really “loves” them).

Keep these four things in mind when hiring:

1. Describe your ideal candidate as precisely as possible.
2. Develop a sourcing strategy with your recruiting partner.
3. Deliver an outstanding interview experience.
4. Show candidates how much you want them.

12. Making things happen

To create something meaningful, you have to start with a concrete vision and have a game plan that actually works. You will more likely succeed if you craft a plan based on your team’s strengths.

Focus on doing a few things well by perfecting execution. Once you’ve nailed that, you and your team will move much faster. Because speed matters.

A faster runner can take a few wrong turns and still beat a slow runner who knows the shortest path.

But having a plan is not enough. As Dwight Eisenhower said: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

The most brilliant plan in the world won’t help you succeed if you can’t bring it to life. Executing well means picking a reasonable direction, moving quickly to learn what works and what doesn’t, and making adjustments to achieve your desired outcome.

13. Why having a vision is so important

Everything you and your team do should be related to the organization’s higher-level purpose. Because when people don’t understand what ultimately matters and why, that’s when conflicts arise. But when everyone understands the dream, the team’s actions will be aligned to make it a reality.

14. Leading and scaling your team

The skills that matter most become more and more people-centric, and success will be about hiring and forming exceptional leaders, building self-reliant teams, establishing a clear vision, and communicating well.

Build trust by giving people hard problems. The most talented employees aren’t seeking special treatment or “easy” projects. On the contrary, they want to be challenged. Teach them to navigate. Let them be the captain, but remember that you are all in the same boat sailing together. Delegating a complex problem doesn’t mean you simply walk away.

15. Nurturing culture

One of the most important lessons I learned is how crucial it is to cultivate an environment that accepts people to make mistakes without blaming them for failing. Mistakes are necessary for growth.

Never stop talking about your values and what’s important to you. And if you want the rest of your team to care about it, be the first person to live that value.

There is power in rituals. That’s why it’s essential to celebrate your team’s values because they create actions around which everyone can bond. It’s also important to pay attention to your actions and what behaviors you reward or discourage. All of this tells a story of what you care about and how you believe a great team should work together.

I am very thankful for this book. I value these lessons deeply as I try to become better at my job as a designer and manager now more than ever. My goal is to inspire, help others grow, and create a safe workspace for everyone to succeed by passing along what I’ve learned from my experience, so others don’t have to make the same mistakes I’ve once made.

Remember to always be grateful for the wisdom, memories, and experiences shared with your team. Because nothing great is made alone.

Stay awesome 🖤