The Geek Leader's Handbook

Book excerpt: Mastering the Art of Technical Leadership As a dedicated leader, you've probably read everything you could on leadership. Many books have been written about it. But you're a technical leader, so it's guaranteed that much of what you've read is incomplete at best, and quite possibly inappropriate. Sure, you can learn a lot by studying ancient generals, sales gurus, or even Steve Jobs, but you've got to remember that Attila the Hun never deployed SAP. The Geek Leader's Handbook recognizes and respects the unique challenges that geek leaders face. It provides both practical advice and a framework rooted in the understanding that: Geeks are different. Geeks would rather lead technology than people, but only people can be led. Geeks have a hard time working with non-geeks, but those who learn to do it well become great geek leaders. The Geek Leader's Handbook gives you practical, immediately applicable advice tailored to the day-to-day challenges of technical leadership. You don't need yet another laundry list of things you should do. To really grow as a leader, you need a solid framework to understand why these approaches make sense and to empower you to adapt them to your environment. The book also takes an unflinching look at what makes geeks different from other folk. To uncover those differences, co-authors Paul Glen and Maria McManus, collaborated as geek and non-geek. By synthesizing both perspectives, they reveal surprising and liberating insights that will help geeks become great leaders.