What Good Leadership Looks Like
From the perspective of a senior engineer who has seen the bar raised.
After 12 years at Amazon, I’ve worked with some truly great leaders and a few who, let’s just say, Needs Improvement.
Ranting about the latter would be cathartic, however reflecting on the former is more valuable.
So this post is about those I’ve worked with that raised the bar.
Here are a few things I’ve seen that make a great leader, from someone who would rather ship code than manage performance reviews.
1. Articulate the Vision (Before We Invent Our Own)
I don’t need to be spoon-fed Jira tasks, but I do need to understand what we’re trying to accomplish.
- What problem are we trying to fundamentally solve?
- What outcomes does leadership care about? What don’t they care about?
- What does “great” look like for our org?
The best leaders paint a clear picture of where we’re headed. Once I understand the direction, I can generate ideas that expand the vision, identify risks early, and make decisions at a higher velocity.
When the vision is vague or non-existent, engineers fill in the blanks. Sometimes we’ll still build something impressive, but typically this results in chaos.
Clarity is a force-multiplier.
2. Made Me Realize I Wasn’t Thinking Big Enough
My favorite conversations with great leaders went like this:
I propose an idea.
We talk it through.
I leave thinking, "Oh, I was aiming way too low."
They didn’t shut me down or subtly say, “Stay in your lane.”
They pressure-tested ideas and asked questions that forced me to zoom out:
- Who else should care about this beyond our team?
- If this succeeds, what does it make possible that wasn’t possible before?
- Who would push back hardest on this, and what would they say?
Insecure leaders protect territory. Great leaders expand possibility.
The worst feeling is being politely told, “Just keep doing what you’re doing.” The best leaders invite you to think at a higher altitude.
3. Relentlessly Unblock the Team
Great leaders are protectors of momentum.
They notice when another team is slowing us down, when a dependency is stuck in approval purgatory, when we’re drowning in meetings, or when we’ve quietly expanded a simple feature into a six-month architecture initiative.
They protect focus. They handle the awkward escalations. They absorb the political turbulence so the team can build.
Importantly, this applies internally too. Sometimes the biggest blocker isn’t external. It’s us. Engineers have a remarkable talent for turning straightforward problems into unnecessarily complex distributed systems.
A good leader doesn’t just remove obstacles. They help us deliver the right things.
4. Connect the Dots (And the People)
Great leaders know when two groups of people should be talking but aren’t. They refuse to let their teams operate in isolation.
They’re the ones who say, “You need to meet this team.” or, “This problem already exists elsewhere.” or, “Let’s loop in someone who’s solved this before.”
That connective tissue matters more than most people realize.
Influence without authority requires communication, and communication requires intentional connection.
That’s just leadership 101.
5. Make It Easy to Do the Right Thing
We all know managers are not the ones writing the production code.
Engineers execute the vision. But if there’s no framework, no decision-making model, no prioritization mechanism, then it’s a small miracle anything gets delivered at all.
Hope is not a process.
Great leaders define how decisions are made, clarify ownership, and create effective execution mechanisms.
When done well, that structure increases velocity not bureaucracy. Doing the right thing becomes the obvious thing.
6. Build People, Not Just Projects
The best leaders I’ve worked with weren’t just focused on delivering results. They invested in the people around them.
When I started as a junior engineer, my manager told me in our very first one-on-one that he wanted to see me operating at the next level within a year. Then we mapped out what it would take to get there.
What stood out to me the most was this was a deliberate, intentional goal we were working on together.
Great leaders don’t just assign you work. They challenge you to grow and broadcast your wins to everyone.
When things start to fall apart, they communicate risks early. They don’t bury their heads in the sand. They take responsibility publicly and course-correct privately.
You take bigger swings because you know someone has your back.
A Note about IC Roles and Leadership
If you’re an engineer reading this, here’s a gentle nudge, read The Art of Leadership , Staff Engineer , and other books in this category.
Two reasons why:
- You’ll better understand the language your manager is speaking and what they’re optimizing for.
- Senior (and above) IC roles are leadership positions whether you like it or not.
You don’t need direct reports to have influence. You influence architecture, standards, and how others think. You influence what “good” looks like. At this level, leadership skills aren’t optional, they’re required.
You can’t hide behind “I just write code” forever.
When You Do It Right
“When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.”
Like good engineering, when leadership is done well, you almost forget it’s happening.
You just feel like you’re doing the best work of your career.
That’s the bar.