Bad/good manager

Since my school years, I’ve wanted to start some kind of business. I tried myself in various roles while simultaneously working as an ordinary developer. Although I spent more than half of my 30 years in IT in GameDev, over these years, I also had the opportunity to work in other interesting fields: educational apps, enterprise software, the semiconductor industry, and a bit in banking and telecommunications.

At some point, I realized that not everything I did turned out great.

Initially, I was upset, realizing that I wasn’t as strong in creativity or in coming up with crazy ideas and inspiring people with them. This is precisely what a leader of the inspirational type excels at (Adizes, in his framework, refers to such people as entrepreneurs).

But then I reflected on what I had done well over these years and what truly resonated with me. And I realized that my strength lay elsewhere. So, I began to develop in that direction. Over time, the list became clearer: I am good at production, evaluating and building effective teams, working with people, negotiations, operations, and administrative tasks. In other words, I am a very good “right-hand man” to a CEO, who is usually the one generating ideas and acting as the driving force. I, on the other hand, am more inclined toward the pragmatic work of “making it all happen.” This role in many companies is often gathered under the COO title or split between the CPO and COO.

And when I understood this, my career and self-esteem took off. Yes, I’m not much of an idea generator. But without people like me, even the best ideas might never be realized.

It’s impossible to be the best at everything; you need to find your strengths, the ones that interest and energize you, and develop them. The key is not to get complacent, not to stop at what you’ve achieved, and to keep learning, always asking yourself, “Am I doing everything right, and could it be done better?” Of course, here you need to guard against two well-known pitfalls. The first is perfectionism (because things can always be improved, but sometimes you need to stop and release a good product rather than chase an unattainable ideal). The second is self-doubt (when you start thinking that you haven’t done enough and that someone else could have done it better. Maybe so, but that person isn’t here, and you’re the one leading the project).

So don’t be discouraged if something doesn’t work out. Find what drives you, what you’re valued for. It’s better to become strong in that than to try to excel at everything. Even Gaius Julius Caesar, who according to legend could multitask like no other, didn’t end up too well. 😉