The Full Stack Leader

To win, today’s leaders need to learn, master, and teach science-based approaches to the human side of work as much as deploying functional skills.

The most effective leaders I’ve worked with and learned from bring a thoughtful and strategic mindset to team and company building, including an awareness of behavioral psychology and leadership development.

Orchestration takes both creativity and skill.

Ray Dalio in Principles

Organizational effectiveness is essential when we aspire to the “two-product” effect: 1) create a winning product and 2) build a healthy team. Without strong, healthy teams in place we can’t make progress — even with a grand vision and sensible strategy, we won’t get anywhere.

Topics

Key topics in organizational engineering range from coaching for high performance, mentoring and teaching, psychological safety, group dynamics (topologies), human resources and financial budgeting (recruiting, hiring, and retention), and effective communication ranging across formats and contexts — from 1-1s up to all-company meetings, and from written text to video and audio presentations.

While these skills might seem secondary to functional expertise — I’d argue that the more senior a leader becomes, the more they are likely to succeed or fail based on a successful approach to human dynamics.

If you are new to leadership or an experienced senior leader, I urge you to invest in improving your organizational powers just as you would to improve your technical, product management, and business skills.

Books

Here are several books that I recommend for leveling up on human-centered team and company building.

Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building by Claire Hughes Johnson (Stripe Press, 2023 | Goodreads)

The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You by Julie Zhuo (2019 | Goodreads)

The Great CEO Within: The Tactical Guide to Company Building by Matt Mochary (2019 | Goodreads)

15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Warner Klemp (2015 | Goodreads)

No Ego by Cy Wakeman (2017 | Goodreads, YouTube keynote from 2021)