Be the Leader You’d Want to Work For

Recently, a former Amazon GM posted a sarcastic message on LinkedIn outlining six “best practices” to get promoted in tech. His list included the following advice:

• Look busy.
• Get more headcount.
• Use emergencies to justify even more headcount.
• Slow everyone else down so you look better.
• Blame everyone else (but without really appearing to be blaming them).
• Never give honest feedback to anyone, especially not to your team.

Not everyone on LinkedIn immediately recognized the satire in this post. Some were offended, while others—perhaps uneasily—acknowledged that these tactics, unfortunately, can be effective.

Climbing the Ladder: At What Cost?

I’ve worked with many tech leaders to help them advance their careers, including moving up to the next level. Like other career and leadership coaches, I focus on essential skills such as executive presence, strategic communication, delivering results, delegation, time-management, relationship-building, and others. These are critical for success, but leadership is about more than just mastering techniques.

True leadership isn’t about maneuvering within a system for personal gain; it’s about fostering environments where teams thrive. The best leaders don’t just climb the corporate ladder; they uplift others along the way. They create cultures of trust, empower their teams to think independently, and drive meaningful impact beyond their own advancement.

That’s why I challenge my clients to go beyond tactical career moves and focus on their core leadership philosophy. What kind of culture do they want to build? How do they want to be remembered as leaders?

I want my clients to become the leaders they’d want to work for.

Why Has Tech Leadership Been So Ruthless?

The traditional tech leadership model has rewarded self-centered, cutthroat behaviors. Several forces contribute to this:

1. Hypergrowth Pressure – Many tech companies operate in an environment of relentless scaling. Leaders are incentivized to aggressively expand their teams, often using artificial urgency to justify headcount and budget increases.
2. Stack Ranking & Competitive Culture – Historically, companies like Microsoft and Amazon used stack ranking systems, forcing leaders to differentiate employees and compete internally rather than collaborate.
3. Short-Term Success Metrics – Leaders are judged on quarterly results, project velocity, and headcount growth—often at the expense of long-term team health and innovation.
4. Crisis-Driven Leadership – Tech leaders frequently operate in “firefighter mode,” where visibility and credit come from solving urgent problems rather than preventing them. This dynamic can encourage hoarding resources and maintaining control over information.
5. Founder & Investor Influence – Many startups emulate their founding leaders, some of whom built their reputations on relentless drive, unfiltered feedback, and aggressive decision-making.

These factors create an environment where self-serving leadership behaviors are not just tolerated but often rewarded.

Why Successful Modern Tech Leaders Take a Different Approach

The tech landscape has fundamentally changed, requiring a new kind of leadership:

1. Talent Market Evolution – Today’s tech professionals have more options than ever before. The rise of remote work, the gig economy, and competitive recruitment have shifted power to talent. Leaders who rely on command-and-control tactics find themselves losing their best people to more supportive environments.
2. Technological Complexity – Modern tech solutions require collaborative, cross-functional teams with diverse expertise. No single leader can understand all aspects of complex systems, making the “genius commander” model obsolete. Successful leaders now build environments where collective intelligence can flourish.
3. Cultural Expectation Shifts – Younger generations entering tech expect work environments that value wellbeing, purpose, and inclusion. They demand authentic leadership and reject toxic culture. Companies that tolerate outdated leadership models struggle to attract top Gen Z and Millennial talent.
4. Innovation Requirements – The pace of technological change demands organizations that can rapidly experiment, learn, and adapt. This requires psychological safety where teams feel comfortable taking risks and sharing failures—impossible in environments where leaders hoard credit and assign blame.
5. Competitive Differentiation – With technology becoming commoditized, company culture and leadership approach increasingly become competitive advantages. Organizations with healthy leadership cultures innovate faster and respond more effectively to market changes.

The evidence for this shift is compelling:

Companies That Thrived After Leadership Transformation:

• Microsoft under Satya Nadella: After replacing Steve Ballmer in 2014, Nadella transformed Microsoft’s notoriously competitive culture by eliminating stack ranking, emphasizing growth mindset, and fostering collaboration. The results? Microsoft’s market cap grew from approximately $300 billion to over $3 trillion, and employee satisfaction scores rose dramatically. Their “Learn-It-All” versus “Know-It-All” culture has become a case study in successful transformation.
• Adobe’s Subscription Transformation: When CEO Shantanu Narayen led Adobe’s shift from packaged software to cloud subscriptions, he prioritized transparency and empathy during this potentially disruptive change. By 2022, Adobe’s recurring revenue had grown to 93% of total revenue, and the company was consistently rated among the best places to work.
• Cisco under Chuck Robbins: After taking over from John Chambers in 2015, Robbins emphasized psychological safety and inclusive culture. Employee engagement scores increased by 14% within three years, and Cisco has consistently ranked in the top 5 of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Companies That Struggled with Traditional Command-and-Control Cultures:

• Intel’s Market Position: Once the dominant chip manufacturer, Intel lost significant market share to competitors like AMD and NVIDIA under leadership that prioritized internal competition and rigid hierarchies. Former employees have cited the company’s “culture of fear” as a key factor in their inability to innovate quickly.
• IBM’s Delayed Transformation: IBM’s rigid management structure and focus on short-term financial metrics delayed its cloud transition, allowing competitors like AWS and Microsoft Azure to establish dominant positions. Between 2012 and 2020, IBM’s revenue declined for 34 consecutive quarters.
• Yahoo’s Decline: Under Marissa Mayer, Yahoo implemented a controversial performance review system that ranked employees against one another. This approach was widely criticized by employees and coincided with Yahoo’s continued slide in relevance and market share.
• WeWork’s Implosion: Adam Neumann’s leadership style emphasized hypergrowth and personal loyalty over sustainable business fundamentals. This approach eventually led to a failed IPO attempt and a 94% decline in the company’s valuation.

Research further supports this trend. Companies with high psychological safety and collaborative cultures consistently outperform their competitors. A 2024 Gallup study found that teams with high engagement showed 24% higher profitability, while Google’s Project Aristotle identified psychological safety as the number one predictor of team performance.

The FORGE Framework: Transforming Technical Experts into Inspiring Leaders

Drawing from my years of experience at Microsoft, Capital One, and other leading organizations, I created the FORGE Tech Leadership Framework to capture what truly differentiates exceptional tech leaders from the rest. This framework distills the patterns I’ve observed among leaders who not only advance their own careers but elevate entire organizations.

Just as metal is forged through heat and pressure to become stronger, tech leaders can refine their leadership capabilities through these five key dimensions:

F – Focus: Leading Self

Great tech leaders start with mastering self-leadership:

• Self-Awareness: Understanding their strengths, weaknesses, and impact on others
• Emotion Management: Regulating responses to high-pressure situations
• Executive Presence: Developing credibility and the ability to influence others
• Customer-Centric Mindset: Aligning decisions to create value for end users

Instead of “looking busy,” effective leaders prioritize what truly matters, delegate appropriately, and model sustainable work habits that prevent burnout.

O – Optimize: Leading Others

Rather than hoarding headcount or creating artificial emergencies, transformative leaders:

• Communicate with Clarity: Translate complex technical concepts accessibly
• Develop Empathetic Relationships: Recognize and value diverse perspectives
• Coach for Growth: Guide team members to develop their own leadership capabilities
• Protect Their Teams: Shield them from organizational politics and unnecessary disruptions

Think of Satya Nadella at Microsoft, who transformed the company’s culture from one of internal competition to collaboration and learning.

R – Resilience: Navigating Change

Instead of blaming others when things go wrong, resilient leaders:

• Create Psychological Safety: Foster environments where teams feel safe to take risks
• Demonstrate Adaptability: Pivot strategies when faced with unexpected challenges
• Influence Stakeholders: Gain buy-in for necessary changes
• Maintain Team Morale: Support their people through transitions and uncertainty

G – Growth: Driving Strategic Innovation

Rather than focusing only on short-term wins, growth-oriented leaders:

• Set Clear Vision: Define technological roadmaps aligned with business goals
• Balance Tactical and Strategic Thinking: Meet immediate needs while innovating for the future
• Develop Business Acumen: Understand how technology creates value across the organization
• Plan for Succession: Identify and prepare future leaders

E – Empowerment: Sustaining Long-Term Success

Instead of withholding feedback and maintaining control, empowering leaders:

• Promote Diversity and Inclusion: Create environments where all voices are heard
• Foster Team Autonomy: Give teams the freedom to make decisions while maintaining accountability
• Encourage Continuous Learning: Create feedback loops for ongoing improvement
• Champion Customer Advocacy: Build a culture that puts customer needs at the center

Leadership That Inspires

Yes, certain self-serving tactics can still work in some organizations. But in an industry where talent is the ultimate differentiator, the best leaders will be those who attract, retain, and develop top performers. People don’t leave companies—they leave bad managers.

The FORGE Tech Leadership Framework offers a path to becoming the kind of leader who builds:

• High-performing, innovative, and collaborative teams
• Strategic alignment between technology initiatives and business goals
• Resilience and adaptability in both themselves and their teams
• A sustainable culture of empowerment, inclusion, and continuous growth
• Consistent delivery of customer value and customer-centric innovation

So, instead of trying to “game the system,” focus on becoming the leader you’d want to work for. That’s the kind of leadership that will stand the test of time.

What kind of leader do you want to be?