Blog Alexis Monville (en)

Author: Alexis

  • The Job of an Open Leader: Context, Trust, and Growing Others

    The Job of an Open Leader: Context, Trust, and Growing Others

    Open leadership is often described through principles such as transparency, inclusivity, or collaboration.

    But what does the job of an open leader actually look like, day to day?

    In this episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I had the pleasure of welcoming Preethi Thomas, Software Engineering Manager at Red Hat, to explore this question through her own journey and experience.

    From individual contributor to manager

    Preethi’s career started as a software developer, then moved through quality engineering, before she joined Red Hat as an individual contributor.

    Like many experienced engineers, she eventually reached a crossroads:

    • stay an individual contributor, or
    • move into a management role

    What helped her navigate that decision was reflection, guidance from her manager, and the OPT model used at Red Hat.

    Finding the right intersection: the OPT model

    The OPT model stands for:

    • Opportunity
    • Passion
    • Talent

    Preethi shares how she realized that her passion was centered on people and growing others, that she had the talent to support that, and that she needed to actively look for opportunities to explore management.

    Participating in Red Hat’s Aspiring Managers Program gave her the space to experiment, learn, and decide intentionally.

    The four axes of leadership

    During the conversation, we explore leadership through four complementary axes:

    • People: attracting, developing, and supporting others
    • Business: understanding strategy, customers, and the broader context
    • System: removing obstacles and improving the environment
    • Execution: delivering outcomes

    A key insight Preethi shares is that execution is often a result of the other three. When people, business context, and systems are taken care of, execution follows.

    Context and trust as foundations

    A recurring theme in the episode is the importance of providing context.

    Preethi explains how transparency and communication help people understand the “why” behind decisions, connect their work to the bigger picture, and collaborate more effectively.

    Context and trust, together, become the roots of collaboration.

    Open organizations in practice

    We also explore the five characteristics of open organizations:

    • transparency
    • inclusivity
    • adaptability
    • collaboration
    • community

    Rather than ranking them, Preethi highlights how they reinforce each other and ultimately build trust.

    Inclusivity, in particular, shows up through everyday signals:

    • who speaks and who doesn’t
    • how disagreements are handled
    • whether people feel safe to contribute

    Open leadership means noticing these signals and acting when something feels off.

    Mentoring: you need a village

    One of the strongest threads in the conversation is mentoring.

    Preethi shares how having mentors radically accelerated her growth, and why she believes:

    “You need a village to help you succeed.”

    Mentoring is not transactional or time-boxed for her. It is a long-term relationship where both mentor and mentee learn, reflect, and grow.

    She also encourages everyone, regardless of seniority, to both have a mentor and be a mentor. Everyone has something to teach, even if they don’t realize it yet.

    Learning, confidence, and short-term wins

    Transitioning into management came with its own challenges. Preethi reflects on:

    • the importance of short-term wins to build confidence
    • how difficult it can be to recognize relational work (like one-on-ones) as “real work”
    • why naming and valuing these responsibilities matters

    These insights apply well beyond management roles.

    Books and resources that shaped the journey

    Preethi recommends several books that supported her growth:

    • The First 90 Days
    • The Manager’s Path
    • The Making of a Manager
    • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

    Combined with mentoring and reflection, these resources helped her navigate different phases of her leadership journey.

    A final thought

    Open leadership is not about control or visibility. It is about creating conditions where others can grow, contribute, and scale their impact.

    As Preethi beautifully puts it, the job of an open leader is to help others succeed — and in doing so, to build something far greater than individual performance.

    Here is the transcript of the episode:

    Alexis:

    Can you tell us a little bit more about your background?

    Preethi:

    Thank you, Alexis and thank you for inviting me for this opportunity. Like you said, my name is Preethi Thomas. I’m a manager for the Containers team at Red Hat. So a little bit of background about myself. I have a background in computer science, I have a master’s in computer applications from a university in India, and I moved to the US. I worked for a little bit in India, maybe, a few months in India before I moved to the US. So I’ve been here 20 plus years now. I started off as a software developer, remember programming and visual basic C, C++.

    Preethi:

    I can remember when it probably was because of an opportunity that I moved to quality engineering. So at the time when I moved to quality engineering there was a lot more manual testing and things of that sort going, but then I enjoyed that part of being on the customer side of things, maybe the first customer getting to use a software. So I went back and forth. After I moved to the US, I went back and forth between development and software engineering, or software development and quality engineering or quality assurance for a little bit.

    Preethi:

    Once I had my kids, I decided quality engineering was more where I could focus a little bit more while managing my kids. I found my passion there. So later on, I think I applied to Red Hat three times before I finally got a job at Red Hat. I got hired at Red Hat and as a quality engineer so I was an individual contributor. So I think that is where my most of my career for worse apart until like maybe a few years into the career I was at the cross roads as in where do I move? Do I stay an individual contributor or move to a leadership role?

    Preethi:

    I think my manager at the time kind of guided me through my questions. So at Red Hat, we followed the OPT model. I remember listening to a session at QE camp in Brno about the OPT model. And that’s when I really thought about what it is that I’m passionate about and where the opportunities are.

    Alexis:

    You need to tell us a little bit more about what is the OPT model?

    Preethi:

    All right. So the OPT model is the intersection of the opportunities, your talent, and the passion. I always have felt that I am passionate about people and growing people or being there for people. And I thought as a parent and my passion, I have the talent to do that. And then the next thing was the opportunity. So finding that opportunity, and I wasn’t sure where I would find that opportunity or how to go about that.

    Preethi:

    Doing a little bit more research into it, I found there was the training program that Red Hat offers called Aspiring Managers Program or AMP training. So I took that and I decided that I wanted to try it. Two years ago I decided to take it the opportunity or move into management. And then here I am. So far I have to say, I’m enjoying this.

    Alexis:

    You were an individual contributor, or you were already within Red Hat so within an organization that is an open organization where the individual contributor can really be real leaders and you wanted to go to management. Nice thing I like with Red Hat is that Aspiring Manager training that can give you a lot of tools, insights if you decide to stay an individual contributor to really increase your impact as a leader, as an individual contributor, or can help you decide if you really want to switch to manager.

    Alexis:

    So you already mentioned that you wanted to go there because you like growing people, helping people be the best of themselves. What were all the aspects that were attracting you to be a manager?

    Preethi:

    I felt at the time that I was a little bit more focused on just what I am doing. So I liked the thought that just to get a little bit more perspective into the company’s vision, or yes, as an individual contributor, I could do that, but I felt like I would have a little bit more opportunity to learn that and be passionate about what the company is passionate about and be able to help other people who likes to be the individual contributor and help them along as well. And get them to understand that make the connection a little bit better.

    Alexis:

    I love it. When I try to describe what is the role of leader, I have a four default axis. My first axis is the execution piece. That’s how what you deliver or what your organization delivers. And second axis, it’s the people, it’s how to attract, retain, develop people so they can really be the best of themselves. Usually I’m saying the people part is the first axis by the way, but that’s too bad. I failed on that.

    Alexis:

    You touch on what we can do for the business. That’s my other axis, the business axis where we think about the strategy, we think about where the industry is going, we think of what our customers really want to achieve and how can we support them with our partners are doing, with all the communities are doing and how we can be involved in that or support that or change the way it works already to think larger than what our team is really doing. And our team can contribute to that or influence the direction where we are going.

    Alexis:

    And the last axis is the system part. We live in the system, we have to improve that system so that the people can work in the right way. That’s a bad system will beat people each time so that we need to really improve the system. And I think as a leader, you need to consider the four axis to be able to work on that. How do you feel about those four axis, execution, people, business and system?

    Preethi:

    Yes. I think I completely agree with you on that four axis, because we need all that to have a successful product or a company. I think I would probably call execution as the last piece, at least in my opinion, because once you have a strategy, once you have a business problem that you’re trying to solve, and you have people and you’re taking care of your people and removing obstacles-

    Alexis:

    The system part, absolutely, removing obstacles is a great summary of it. Yep.

    Preethi:

    Yes. The system part. And then once you have all those three taken care of, I think the execution comes naturally, or that is, I think I would say execution is a product of the three.

    Alexis:

    It’s relatively a rare that people have that level of clarity. I had some into your contributors or even manager when I was asking them about their role, they were 100% focused on execution. And when I was asking about all those things, either they were saying it’s a, “That’s a manager problem,” or “That’s my manager’s problem,” it’s not theirs.

    Preethi:

    Yeah. I think for, especially for people, when you take care of people and create context for people, the why, it makes them understand the bigger picture. As an individual contributor, I think there were times that I was too focused on what I was doing. So I think once I started thinking outside of the box I think it kind of, I made the connection and then that my passion increased.

    Alexis:

    The open organization it’s said that they have five main characteristics, transparency as a foundation for everything, inclusivity, adaptability, collaboration, and community. Do you feel that in your work you experience in a way those characteristics? Is there one in particular that you feel is really really important compared to others or are they all important?

    Preethi:

    I think each of them has its own… I mean, each of them are important in its own way. A product of all that together is the trust. And without trust, I feel like you lose that. So when you have open communication and transparency, I feel like you are creating a culture of collaboration. So then it becomes easy to gain people’s trust and help them move forward. However, as a leader you create that passion in them by following these open management principles. To me, transparency is extremely important. So I think transparency and communication helps create that context for my people.

    Alexis:

    Creating context for the team is really important. By being transparent, we can provide the information that everybody needs to make those decisions. What about the inclusivity, welcoming others’ perspectives?

    Preethi:

    Yes, absolutely. So to have a healthy and collaborative community, you have to be inclusive. As a woman there is different contexts that you see, there is people not being inclusive. So you kind of notice a little when you are a minority group if I say so. Then I think that having a healthy, inclusive community makes it easy for people to grow and collaborate better. So if you have a hostile community, people don’t want to be part of that. So like a meeting, the end result of not being inclusive is you end up having a retention problem. People who are of a diverse opinion may not want to be in that organization when it is not inclusive. Like I said, I think the five aspects, I don’t know what is better than the other.

    Alexis:

    That’s probably not the right question. It seems that they are all really important.

    Preethi:

    Mm-hmm (affirmative).

    Alexis:

    You’re right. On the inclusivity aspect, I feel that it’s sometimes difficult to realize if the team or the community is inclusive enough. What are the signs we should look at?

    Preethi:

    Well, I’m not an expert at that, but then again, I’ll try. I don’t think there is a bar as in how much inclusivity is enough. So I think the more inclusive you are, there is always room for improvement. I think a couple of things that you would notice if a community is not inclusive would be fewer contributions from the outside of the project or someone, especially on a company sponsored project. If you have fewer people coming in contributing, then that means there is something not right.

    Preethi:

    Another way to look at it is be mindful of the platforms that you use in the communication channel, email lists, or even GitHub conversations where you get those hostility to see if there are people being really mean to each other. Okay. It’s okay to have really good discussions and sometimes the discussions getting heated, but then there is also… I think, looking for signs of those… If the results have really heated discussion as people leaving the community, then you’re not doing something right. I think there are, I think, signs that you can watch for, if you are paying attention, it’ll show itself out.

    Alexis:

    How do you get people in your team paying more attention to those signs and how can you help them to fix those issues?

    Preethi:

    Really paying attention, and making sure that if there is a conversation that happens, that you noticed and making awareness for that. If one of your associates is you see that something’s happening, sometimes you’re not watching it all the time, or someone raises it to you, that there is this incident that happened and getting to the why behind it, and being able to talk and coach your people on the right behaviors. Or even making sure that they are aware that some of these might have caused someone to feel a certain way or not included in that, I think making sure that you say something when you see something.

    Alexis:

    I love it.

    Preethi:

    To me, something that I feel, if I feel something is not right, that doesn’t mean that you feel the same way, but then I have that opportunity to raise it to you saying, “Okay, I felt this. It doesn’t mean that you may have…” But then the next time this happens, you might think, “Oh, this may be something that is going to be offensive to X, Y, and Z.”

    Alexis:

    Do you feel that it’s the job of the manager in particular, in that context or is it the job of anybody in the team?

    Preethi:

    I think it’s the job of anybody in the team. A manager may not be watching all the conversations or everything that is happening, especially in the open source community, right? If you have a set of standards, making sure other people in the team are aware of this. A manager cannot be a gatekeeper for the community. We can make sure the expectations are known to the team so that the team can to be inclusive. It’s everyone’s responsibility to be inclusive.

    Alexis:

    Yeah. Excellent. So, that’s where I can see the power of the team agreements, or the code of conduct in communities so we can raise the awareness of what are the expected behavior from each other. As you said before, when you see something, you say something and you are expected to speak up when there’s something that is not going well.

    Alexis:

    I know you mentioned, if I recall to encouraging and using mentoring in your team to help people grow in their roles. Can you tell us more about that?

    Preethi:

    Oh, absolutely. That is something that I’m very passionate about. I think in my journey to be here right now, you need a village to help you succeed. I have a village of mentors, but then I did not have a formal mentor until like maybe four years ago or five years ago. So once I got a mentor, my growth has been exponential. I think it helped me come to terms, to crystallize my goal so what I want. I came in even to the point that as in, even though it was in the back of my mind, it was I found it from within me, but then someone helped me get to that by asking the right question.

    Preethi:

    The thing about me, I think I’ve read somewhere that you use a mentor for a certain period of time, and then you find other mentors. But then with me, I’ve had excellent relationship with all my mentors and you know that as well. I keep learning from all my mentors. So I don’t want to stop the relationship. I say, “Now okay, this is two months into it. Okay, I’m done. I achieved this goal so let me move on to another mentor.” It’s not that for me, it’s my village of support that I need. Because I’ve personally experienced that relationship and what it can do to grow you in your career, as well as, as a person, I really encourage my team to be mentors and mentees.

    Preethi:

    Each one, wherever they are in their career I think they have an aspiration to do whatever the next thing is. And everyone has something to teach. That I think, it took a long time for me to realize that, “Okay, there may be something that I can teach others too.” And then I’m like, “Okay, I can be a mentor for someone and I have something to offer as well.” So yes, I think mentor and having a mentor and mentee is super important. And that is something that I think you learn from a mentor as much. And you learn from your mentee as well.

    Alexis:

    How it works for the people that you nudge or you pushed to become a mentor of others, we always have something to teach to other how to… How it works? Because I guess some people were more reluctant than others to try to be a mentor.

    Preethi:

    So in my team, I think I’ve mentioned this too, I’m very open and creating that context is really important to me. I’m open and honest about my journey as in how this has helped and how this relationship is super important and how that can help them grow as an individual contributor and however they want to grow their career. I keep repeating or I’m honest about and answering about any questions that they have in those contexts and my experience, I’m always willing to share that my experience that can inspire others.

    Preethi:

    I think when people hear stories and when they see the value, people do not hesitate. And I always tell them that even now sometimes I feel I don’t have anything to offer to a mentee, but then I have to think of myself and my journey, there may be someone who was looking for something, what I was looking for at the time that I was looking for.

    Alexis:

    Very good point. I have an experience like, I think last week I had a discussion with a mentee. She started the call asking me question about what I was doing. And I was surprised because usually people start with, they come with their problems and they want to discuss those problems. They don’t necessarily come to ask me questions. So I was not ready for that. I started to discuss that and at some point she stopped and says, “Oh, this is interesting, what you are saying, because it make me think about something I’m working on right now. I didn’t think I was ready to discuss that, but maybe we can discuss that topic.”

    Alexis:

    Until we discussed her topic and I realized discussing her topic that we were in the discussion designing something that could be a solution to one of the problems I had. So it was really interesting to see, okay, that we went back and forth discussing both our different challenges we were working, perfectly helped each other design solutions for us. I’m always saying it’s a social learning experiment. And we both learned that one call, that was 40 minutes call and it was really the embodiment of everything I’ve seen. Those relationships, those discussions are really special to me. That’s really something that I hope everybody will be able to experience.

    Preethi:

    Yeah absolutely.

    Alexis:

    Have you experienced things that are similar to that?

    Preethi:

    Oh, absolutely. Red Hat has the mentoring program, I have a mentee now and we were talking about something or even last week. As I’m asking her questions I keep thinking, “Okay, this is where I was, and I think this is, while I’m preaching, am I doing this as well?” So maybe there is a room for improvement for me in implementing what I am suggesting, or we are talking about. So what is it that…

    Preethi:

    I think it kind of instills the qualities a little bit more into your brain too, like inspires you to try them out as well, to come to a solution that works. You’re helping someone, but then at the same time you are learning as you go. You come up with ideas that you can try on yourself as well. Yes. So I think I’m completely with you on that.

    Alexis:

    Excellent. We covered a lot during that call and I’m really glad that we cover those things about being an open leader, could be an individual contributor or the manager. When you started your journey, what is the one thing you wish you should have known?

    Preethi:

    I think more recently, the one thing that I would say, or I don’t know if it just ended up being one thing, it probably ended up being multiple things. So, it’s like, I felt like I had the tools to try it out, but then again, I didn’t have like a practical experience. I remember reading this, I came upon this book, First 90 Days when I started my management journey, I think I started reading that around maybe around 60 days into my new job and I was, “Maybe I should have done a little bit more research and read this book before I started.” Because in that book, there was things like, okay, what are your short-term wins and your long-term wins.

    Preethi:

    I think that short-term wins really would have helped me realize, okay or give you that confidence that, okay, you may be on the right path. It’s like for the first three months, I felt like I didn’t know what I’m doing. I was doing it anyway. Just thinking, “Okay, this may be right or maybe, otherwise someone will tell me,” but I think having those tangible things that you can check off that first few months of you are navigating a new job or new role would definitely help you give you that inspiration to go on or the motivation to go on.

    Alexis:

    It’s interesting because it’s at the same time, the inspiration to go on, it’s the motivation to go on. And it’s really building the confidence that you need to do all of that.

    Preethi:

    Exactly.

    Alexis:

    Short term wins are really, really important in that process. So it’s already good one. I think whatever role you’re starting, it’s really an important insight.

    Preethi:

    One of the biggest thing that I felt when going from individual contributor to a management role was that quantifying your achievements or quantifying what you’re doing. It took me a long time for example, it took me a long time to admit that, to myself, that my one-on-one is part of my job or it is something that I can say, “Okay, this is my responsibility.”

    Preethi:

    To me, it felt like, “Okay, I’m just having a conversation. I’m not verifying a bug. I’m not writing any code.” It wasn’t quantifying enough for me. Seeing that written down as in, okay, this is part of my job, this is my responsibility, this is a check mark that I can do, was important to me.

    Alexis:

    Excellent. Is there a question I should have asked you?

    Preethi:

    I think along with the mentors, my manager, I think the village, the village that helped me grow and still continuing to help me grow has been I think another thing that I’ve picked up over the last two years that has been a little bit more helping me grow more it’s been some of the business books. So I think a couple of a few books that I really enjoyed and helped me find these little nuggets everywhere so I have these post-its from multiple books that is on my desk in my room. So I think a couple of books that I really want to call out are The First 90 Days, I really recommend it to anyone who is starting a new job.

    Preethi:

    So the two other ones were to help me earlier on in my management path is A Manager’s Path and The Making of a Manager, both are written by people who’ve been in individual contributors in tech space growing into management. And then they’re really honest, really stories about things that didn’t work for them, things that kind of, they figured out on their journey. Those have been really helpful for me.

    Preethi:

    And then I think I’ve felt like I’ve been going from what I can do as a manager and now I’m getting into how I can help my team. So I think I’m in my journey in that right now. So how can I, as a manager, help my team grow, be there for my team. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, it was another great one that I really enjoyed reading. I feel like I’m growing in the books that I find too.

    Alexis:

    It’s really interesting because that in the book you mentioned, I read a few of them. When you combine the book reading, when you combine that with having several mentors, like you said, I love your expression that you need a village to help you succeed, I think combining that book reading, mentoring, and probably having those kinds of distribution about the insights or the nuggets you find, this can be already powerful in helping you in your journey. Thank you for mentioning those books. I will put that in reference in the blog post that will-

    Preethi:

    Oh, thank you.

    Alexis:

    … at Le Podcast. Okay. Anything else you want to share to the audience today, Preethi?

    Preethi:

    I think one other thing that I would definitely say is I’m really thankful for the Red Hat mentoring program. And I think that really helped me grow and really gave this opportunity to connect with you too. I think, with my personality, I’m an introvert, so I would not have on my own have had that opportunity to reach out to you and talk to you before. So I think that got us to here. So I’m really grateful for the program that I have found me mentors. And I think I’ve really enjoyed this journey so far and shout out to all the people in my village.

    Alexis:

    Excellent. I hope they will listen to you and appreciate your progress in your journey. I’m pretty sure your mentees will also love that and see the path forward for them, that they will help other people to grow and in this way scale their impact. And I think this is really the job of an open leader, really helping the others to scale their impact. Thank you very much, Preethi, that was really great to have you on Le Podcast.

    Preethi:

    Thank you so much for this opportunity. I enjoyed this as well.

    Alexis:

    Thank you for listening to this episode of Le Podcast. Go to blog-blog-alexis.monville.com for the references mentioned in the episode and to find more help to increase your impact and satisfaction at work. Drop a comment or an email with your feedback or just to say hello. And until next time to find better ways of changing your team.

    The music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (Creative Commons CC BY 4.0)

    The picture is by Jehyun Sung.

    Le Podcast – Season Two

    Le Podcast – Season One

  • The 4 BEPS Axes of a Leader

    The 4 BEPS Axes of a Leader

    The 4 axes of a leader emerged from conversations in which I was trying to explain what a manager is not expected to do. The attempts to tell people that they should not split the work items, or distribute the work between the team members were leading to a lot of incomprehension.

    With the help of a group of manager, we improved the definition of the aspects a manager should consider, by dividing the role into four axes:

    • People: Hiring, growing, managing performance, and self-improve,
    • Business: Understanding the business and the ecosystem the organization evolves in, understanding why we provide solutions, products, features, services and formulate a clear vision,
    • System: Understanding the system formed by the people, the organization, the processes, and tools, remove the obstacles to great work,
    • Execution: deliver the work!

    I use the four BEPS axes in coaching and mentoring sessions to foster conversation about the current focus the people currently have. BEPS stands for business, execution, people, and system and helps people realize when they don’t invest at all in one or more of the axes.

    I also asked them where on each axis the activities they are doing or other people are doing land. It is always interesting to have them describe what other people, especially the ones they admire, are doing.

    I started that work with managers and realized working with individual contributors that it would apply exactly in the same way. As an individual contributor, if I am focused solely on execution, I am missing opportunities to increase my impact and satisfaction.

  • Celebrating the First Season!

    Celebrating the First Season!

    Yay! The first season of Le Podcast comes to an end! It is time to celebrate and thank the guests and the listeners!

    Season One is composed of 15 episodes covering leadership and team building. The top 3 (in terms of audience, I love them all equally 🙂 ) is:

    1. Do you want 10x Engineers? with Julien Danjou
    2. All about OKRs with Bart with Bart den Haak
    3. Grow your Software Engineering Career with Emilien Macchi

    A big thank you to all the guests!

    • Emilien Macchi
    • Jason McKerr
    • Bart den Haak
    • Julien Danjou
    • John Poelstra
    • Michael Doyle
    • Michael DeLanzo
    • Frank Jansen
    • Jerome Bourgeon
    • Michael Reid
    • Valentin Yonchev
    • Matt Takane

    Another big thank you to all the listeners!

    Now it is time for me to prepare Season Two with even more book authors, conference speakers and people who inspire better ways of leading and building a better world. (Yes! You can still send me suggestions!)

  • The Motive

    The Motive

    Why so many leaders abdicate their most important responsibilities?

    The sentence above is the subtitle of The Motive, a book by Patrick Lencioni, the famous author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage.

    The first part of the book is a business fable. If you read I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge, you know that I love the genre. I love it because it helps me identify with the characters and with the story and better imagine what could be the outcome if I were to apply the same concepts and ideas.

    The second part provides the lessons from the fable starting with the two leadership motives:

    • Reward-centered leadership,
    • Responsibility-centered leadership.

    As mentioned by Patrick Lencioni, no leader is purely on one side, but the one that will be predominant will have huge impact on the success of the leader and his team.

    Responsibility-centered leadership is preferred to get to success, and struggle is expected along the way.

    Lencioni then covers the five omissions of Reward-centered leaders:

    1. Developing the leadership team
    2. Managing subordinates (and making manage theirs)
    3. Having difficult and uncomfortable conversations
    4. Running great team meetings
    5. Communicating constantly and repetitively to employees

    The book is a very short read. I believe that the point 3, 4 and 5 are easy to observe symptoms that 1 and 2 are not happening properly.

  • The Culture Map

    The Culture Map

    The Culture Map is an excellent book by Erin Meyer. As my current team evolves in an international context, I had the idea to use the culture map as an icebreaker to start one of our quarterly meetings.

    The team is composed of people from France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and The Netherlands. The team has to interact daily with a lot of people from the US, and nearly all countries in the EMEA area.

    We used a Miro board and one of the culture map provided in Erin’s book (reproduced below).

    I gave a short explanation of the first scale: Communicating. Either you are in a Low-Context culture where the communication is precise, simple, and clear, or you are in a High-Context culture where the communication is sophisticated, nuanced, and layered (you are expected to read between the lines).

    Then, I asked one question: Where the US would be?

    All the team members connected to the Miro board can see the cursors of the others, and so I asked them to move their cursors to the position they thought the right answer would be.

    After some discussion, people started to position the US in comparison with other countries. Of course, we covered the fact that a country cannot be a point on a scale but more a range on the scale. We also covered that all people are different and that the more you know a country, the more you can appreciate the subtle differences of the different regions.

    We continued to iterate with the next scales:

    • Evaluating: How people give direct or indirect negative feedback.
    • Persuading: How people are trained to begin with the theory or to begin with facts or statements.
    • Leading: How people are used to an Egalitarian or a Hierarchical model.
    • Deciding: How people are used to decisions made in a Consensual way or Top-down.
    • Trusting: How trust could be built either though business related activities or through sharing meals and drinks.
    • Disagreeing: How people are used to see debates and confrontation as positive for the team, or as negative for the team and inappropriate.
    • Scheduling: How people see the time as linear (everything is scheduled and you stick to it) or flexible (everything can be approached in a flexible manner.

    It was a very good opportunity for the team members to express their preferences, and a good reminder that wherever you are on the scale, you have to accept that others could be at another position because they value that position more. They are no “good” position or “bad” position.

    A very good starting point to appreciate the diversity of the strengths of the team.

  • Aesop’s Fables in an enterprise setting

    Ranjith Reddy Varakantam, Principal Agile Coach, wrote what we thought was a pretty epic review of I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge on amazon.in and goodreads.com.

    He called it “a lean book” that “conveys new learnings with every chapter.” Ultimately describing it as “Aesop’s Fables in an enterprise setting.”

    His words piqued our interest so we reached out to Ranjith to learn more about what he’s up to and how the book helped him. Here’s what he had to say.

    —

    As a Principle Agile Coach, one of my responsibilities is to ensure that the Developer Group, which consists of around 28 teams, is continuously working on small improvements.

    One high priority project that we are working on right now is to create a 100% automated workflow that will allow Operator based Containers to be released with zero manual intervention. This will only succeed if we can get multiple groups to work together to deliver the tooling and functionality.

    This is quite challenging as it is a complex project that needs people to solve not just hard technical issues but also cultural ones. The interdependencies between multiple teams and the competing priorities raises the table stakes.

    Working with this many people and priorities can at times make me feel that some people are “difficult” and don’t seem to be contributing how I’d like them to be. I was feeling this frustration when I picked up the book. Skimming through the first chapter, to my surprise found the main character was in exactly the same position!

    “I’ve done my best,” she says. “Maybe this isn’t the job for me. Maybe I should be in a different company. I just wish everyone around me would do more, be better somehow.” These were exactly the same thoughts going through my head. I became riveted to the book. I wanted to find out more.

    By the end of the first chapter, the main character realized her folly by talking things through with her wise colleague. The colleague shows her that instead of ‘venting’, she would make more progress if she spent her time ‘inquiring’. 

    That changed my state of mind and I started to think about what I could do to ensure that gaps were filled and make things crystal clear for people to improve their efficiency. 

    As I continued to read chapter after chapter, I realized that the challenges that I face or the thoughts that go through my head are common in organizations. The people are not so different from each other and mostly it’s the same kind of situations that we all find ourselves in. 

    By the end of the story, I realized that I needed to be more attentive and mindful. To be willing to view the situation from a different perspective. With a little bit of work on ourselves, we are actually capable of making a big difference.

    After reading this book, I’m now more interested in looking at the problem from various angles without prejudging people. Instead, I try to see what we can do to solve the problem or challenge at hand.

    I’ve also found this book to be a handy reference that I can revisit again and again as there are many things that can be picked up. The best part is that each chapter has a clear set of guidelines and additional reading that I can catch up on.

    This book has motivated me to look within myself for answers and realized that most often by working a bit on ourselves, we give birth to new powers and greater degrees of effectiveness.

    —

    Thanks, Ranjith for sharing your story on how the book helped you.
    From time to time Ranjith publishes articles on Linkedin and Opensource.com. If you’d like to reach out to Ranjith, the best way is via his Linkedin profile.

  • What happened next?

    Editor’s note: This article is written from the perspective of a fictional character, Sandrine, the protagonist of I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge. You can learn more about the book at https://iamincharge.club

    This story is a sequel to Confinement, published in April 2020.

    Sandrine has now been working at home for seven weeks. So many things have adapted during this time that in some ways it all feels normal to her now, but from time to time she is reminded that this is not the permanent reality. Like when Gaspar, the team’s manager, announced during the virtual hot chocolate that the team would continue to work from home for at least another four weeks.

    Sandrine remembers how Mary encouraged her to hop on the first virtual hot chocolate call just a month ago. She laughs to herself as she sees how different her mindset was back then.

    During that first call, she heard about some of her colleagues who were struggling with homeschooling their kids. She could feel their frustration but it was difficult for her to relate to as she doesn’t have any kids of her own. However, it did remind her how good she was when tutoring younger kids when she was in high school, and so she offered to teach maths every day for three kids that happened to be in the same class.

    Sandrine now has a card on the team board for teaching maths. If it sounds weird to you, it also sounded weird to her when Gaspar suggested putting it on there. She resisted the idea at first, but she was convinced when Gaspar reasoned, “By doing this you’ll be helping Julian and Jenny, and therefore you are helping the team. It is logical that this important work should be on the team board.”

    Sandrine remembers her promise to Mary to let her know how the virtual hot chocolate calls were going. She fires up the messaging app on her phone.

    Sandrine finishes preparing her virgin mojito just in time for the video call.

    She sees Mary joining and is stunned to see her in sunglasses, big earrings, and crazy make-up.

    “Umm. Hi Mary. That, that’s an interesting look you have there.”

    “I just thought I’d fabulize myself for the meeting daaarling.” Mary responds, before turning off the video filter.

    “Hahaha, oh I get it now. Phew, it was just a video filter. For a moment there I thought that isolation had really gotten to you.”

    Mary and Sandrine enjoy a good laugh before Mary continues, “You should have seen their faces when I joined the team call with that filter on this week.”

    “Good to see you spreading the fun.”

    “Well, I believe it’s a shared responsibility. Now, tell me, what have you been learning from your virtual hot chocolate calls?”

    “Well there was certainly something there that I didn’t see.”

    “Which was?”

    “I’m now homeschooling maths to some of the other team members’ kids each day.”

    “What?”

    “Two of my colleagues were struggling with homeschooling their kids who happened to be in the same class and I offered to help out. My 45 minute investment frees up two other team members giving an hour and a half back to the team. But there’s more to it than that.”

    “Go on.”

    “Well besides being a good distraction in the day for me, as it reminds me when I tutored maths to some of the younger students in high school, it’s also taken on a life of its own.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Well, the kids started enjoying it so much that they invited some friends, we now have a group of six. And they gave themselves a team name, the VVs.”

    “What does that stand for?”

    “I don’t know.” Sandrine laughs, “I guess they want to have their secrets. Anyway, it gets even better.”

    Mary sips her drink, eyes locked on the screen in a state of disbelief.

    “Salman, he’s a designer from another team in our company, well when he heard about this he decided he wanted to join the movement and is now teaching the kids English. They love his style, especially when he dresses up in a costume on Fridays.”

    “Way to go! You are doing a great service to all those parents, and the kids too. Your impact is greater than you think you know.”

    “All thanks to you for encouraging me to attend something I was just going to blow off. It’s amazing how a little shift in mindset can provoke such a big impact.”

    “Indeed. Thanks for sharing that update with me. I’m definitely going to look at my team mocktail meeting a little differently now.”

    Sandrine and Mary go on to catch up about other things. At the end of the call, Sandrine reflects on her experiences over the last few weeks.

    “Wow, so much has changed and everyone has adapted in so many new and different ways. If it’s possible to change this quickly in reaction to something, I wonder what’s really possible if I take a more proactive approach.”

    Ever felt like Sandrine, where a small step made a big impact?

    How has your mindset shifted since Sandrine’s last article? What experiment would you like to try next to add some fun to your team or take some pressure off your colleagues?

    Read about Sandrine’s biggest transformation in I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge, available on Amazon now.

    Get the Book!

  • What a review!

    Emilien Macchi is a Senior Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat. He’s been a contributor to OpenStack since almost its inception as an open-source project.

    I had the pleasure of having Emilien on Le Podcast to discuss how learning and sharing were essential ways of growing his career in Software Engineering.

    We covered many topics including; peer reviews, pair programming, remote work, and I also asked what he thinks are the most important things to develop as a coder—spoiler alert, it is not just technical skills.

    As Emilien is also one of the first people who left a review of our book on Goodreads, I asked him what he thought about the book and how it has helped him. Here’s what he had to say.

    Right before reading the book, I was, and still am, working on a refreshed Vision and Mission statement for my team. It has been a long time since we last reflected on this and we wanted to understand who we are now, who we want to be, and what we want to achieve in the future. This is a strategic team effort; which requires patience and team interactions.

    At the same time, on the technical side, I’ve been working on the simplification roadmap for our product, OpenStack TripleO, where there is a long-term goal to make management of OpenStack clouds simpler and more consistent across the Red Hat portfolio. It involves a cross-team effort, and very often the biggest challenge isn’t technical but a human one.

    So I was looking for a book which would “refresh” things I’ve learned before but in a new way. I was eager to read I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge to learn some new concepts, update my knowledge, and find some inspiration for these challenges.

    I’ve known Alexis for a while and I read his first book, Changing Your Team From the Inside, which I really liked and shared with people around me. So for me, it was a natural step to read this new book as I was sure this book would give me the inspiration I was looking for.

    I read the book two times.

    The first time was just a quick read through as I found that the first part, the story, very intriguing and difficult to put down.

    On the second read I tried all the experiments. It was difficult not to rush through this part, as it required more work from me, but when I remembered to be patient I was delighted to realize that the second part was in fact what I was waiting for from the book.

    Doing the work for myself gave me access to insights that answered a lot of my questions and gave me new ideas to implement in the work I was currently doing.

    It wasn’t all easy going. Some experiments that I tried are still difficult for me in the real world. For example retrospectives. I have a hard time to stimulate the other team members so we can have productive retrospectives. The book gives concrete steps on how to do it with a list of actions but the “do it” is in my opinion the real challenge. The provided links are useful so I just need to spend more time rethinking how we can make people more involved in that exercise.

    When I finished the book, I felt that I got another great tool in my library; which I’ll certainly share and re-use for my personal career. The fact that the book is easily written and not that long made me think I could re-read some chapters while experimenting on some exercises again with my team.

    I’m very happy to have the book on my desk as something I can reopen from time to time to remind myself about something I learnt before when I need another “refresh”.

    The next step is to share this book with my peers. Having this knowledge has helped me, but we could have an even bigger impact if they can also learn some of the described techniques and we start using them within the team when we work together.

    Thanks so much Emilien for sharing your story with the book and how it has helped you.

    You can learn more about Emilien on his blog: my1.fr/blog
    And you can follow him on Twitter at: @EmilienMacchi

  • What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

    What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

    What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful is a book by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter published in 2007.

    The trouble with successful people is that they tend to believe that their “bad” habits are not so “bad.” They have proof of that. They are successful. So, what could they do, or more precisely, what could they stop doing to be more successful?

    The book presents The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back From The Top:

    1. Winning too much: The need to win at all costs and in all situations – when it matters, when it doesn’t, and when it’s totally beside the point.
    2. Adding too much value: The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
    3. Passing judgment: The need to rate others and impose our standards on them
    4. Making destructive comments: The needless sarcasm and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty.
    5. Starting with “No,” “But,” or “However”: The overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone, “I’m right. You’re wrong.”
    6. Telling the world how smart we are: The need to show people we’re smarter than they think we are.
    7. Speaking when angry: Using emotional volatility as a management tool.
    8. Negativity, or “Let me explain why that won’t work”: The need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren’t asked.
    9. Withholding information: The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
    10. Failing to give proper recognition: The inability to praise and reward.
    11. Claiming credit that we don’t deserve: The most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success.
    12. Making excuses: The need to reposition our annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
    13. Clinging to the past: The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.
    14. Playing favorites: Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.
    15. Refusing to express regret: The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit when we’re wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.
    16. Not listening: The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
    17. Failing to express gratitude: The most basic form of bad manners.
    18. Punishing the messenger: The misguided need to attack the innocent who are usually trying to help us.
    19. Passing the buck: The need to blame everyone but ourselves.
    20. An excessive need to be “me”: Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they’re who we are.

    The “twenty-first” habit is goal obsession.

    The idea that being obsessed with a high-level goal makes you forget the here and now. The present in which you are, indeed, destroying all your chances of reaching your goals.

    I love to use books with people I work with. I used The Five Dysfunctions of A Team or The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni. I also used Radical Candor by Kim Scott.

    I decided to use the twenty habits with a leadership team I just met.

    The first part of the session was reviewing and discussing the habits. Listening to the questions and discussions can teach a lot about the people in the room.

    The second part was for the team members to identify for each other, through an anonymous survey, what habit they thought the others in the team should focus on removing.

    The third part was for the team members to discover the results, and pick the habit they will want to work on during the next quarter.

    The last part was to select their accountability partner to work with to achieve the goal.

    I am happy with the results so far. If you try the practice, let me know through the usual means: email or Linkedin.

  • Growing as a Software Engineer: Learning, Sharing, and Impact

    Growing as a Software Engineer: Learning, Sharing, and Impact

    Career growth in software engineering is often described as a matter of accumulating technical skills, mastering new tools, or moving into more complex systems.

    In reality, the journey is more nuanced.

    In this episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I had the pleasure of welcoming Emilien Macchi, Senior Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat, to discuss how learning and sharing have shaped his career.

    Learning as a continuous practice

    Emilien is a long-time contributor to OpenStack, having been involved nearly since the inception of the project. Originally from France and now based in Canada, he has built his career in distributed, open-source environments.

    A recurring theme in our conversation is that learning never stops. And more importantly, learning rarely happens alone.

    We discuss how practices such as:

    • peer reviews
    • pair programming
    • open discussions
    • and shared problem-solving

    contribute not only to better code, but to better engineers.

    Collaboration, including remote work

    Emilien shares a perspective that may surprise some: he believes that collaboration can be easier and better in remote contexts.

    We explore why remote work, when supported by the right practices, can:

    • improve focus
    • encourage clearer communication
    • and create more inclusive collaboration

    This naturally connects with earlier conversations on distributed teams and asynchronous work.

    Growing beyond technical skills

    Of course, I also asked Emilien what he believes are the most important things to develop as a software engineer.

    The answer goes beyond technical skills.

    We talk about:

    • communication
    • curiosity
    • responsibility
    • and the ability to learn with others

    These capabilities shape long-term impact far more than any specific technology.

    A reflection on practitioner leadership

    As Emilien was also one of the first people to leave a written review on Goodreads, I asked him what he thought of I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge.

    This led to a broader reflection on responsibility, ownership, and how engineers can increase both their impact and satisfaction at work.

    A final thought

    If you are a software engineer wondering how to grow without chasing titles or hype, this episode offers a grounded and inspiring perspective.

    Growth, as Emilien shows, is less about standing out and more about learning, sharing, and contributing over time.

    Le Podcast – Season Two

    Le Podcast – Season One

  • Funny thing about launching a book…

    A day takes a long time to travel around the world.

    So, we set the book to go live on Amazon on May 1, and here in Australia, and over where Alexis is in France it’s May 1 and the book is available on amazon.com.au and amazon.fr.

    But amazon.com isn’t quite at May 1 yet, although by the time you read this it might be.

    Anyhow. As soon as it’s May 1 in your part of the world (hope the weather’s good there btw) head over to your country’s amazon site and search for:

    “I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge”

    We hope you buy it.
    We hope you read it.
    We hope you enjoy it.
    But most importantly, we hope you do something with it.

    Amazon reviews are most welcome.

    And of course, feel free to reach out to Alexis and me if you’d like to discuss it—authors@iamincharge.club

  • Thirteen Rules for Building Strong Teams

    Thirteen Rules for Building Strong Teams

    Great teams are not defined by talent alone. They are shaped by clear expectations, shared responsibility, and leadership that shows up consistently.

    In this episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I had the great pleasure of welcoming Jason McKerr, Engineering Leader for Management and Automation at Red Hat, to discuss his Thirteen Rules of a Team.

    A practical leadership framework

    I first encountered these rules during a mentoring conversation with a member of Jason’s team. What struck me immediately was how practical and grounded they were.

    They are not aspirational slogans. They are decision rules — principles leaders and team members can rely on when things get difficult.

    My objective for this episode was simple: to have Jason explain where these rules come from and how he uses them in practice.

    The Thirteen Rules of a Team

    Here are Jason’s thirteen rules for team members and team leaders:

    1. Have fun.
    2. Do good work. Make some money.
    3. Take care of the people who work for and with you. The team comes first.
    4. Take care of the user or customer.
    5. Take care of the people you work for.
      Rules 3 and 4 will do most of the work here. The boss always comes last.
    6. It is the team’s obligation to challenge its leader.
      You won’t get smacked down, you’ll get more respect. Do it appropriately and respectfully. In private.
    7. Once the leader has made a decision, even if a team member disagreed before, it is now their responsibility to support that decision externally as if it were their own.
    8. There is no such thing as a bad team, only bad team leaders.
      If the team is struggling, it is still the leader’s responsibility to make it better.
    9. It is the team leader’s job to protect the team from the outside so they can do their work.
    10. Don’t ever say, “That’s not my job.”
    11. Passing knowledge on is a core part of leadership.
      Teach others. Share what you know.
    12. It is a leader’s job to push power and loyalty down, not up.
    13. See rule number one.

    Rules that guide everyday leadership

    What makes these rules powerful is not their originality, but their consistency.

    They:

    • clarify responsibility
    • make expectations explicit
    • remove ambiguity when tensions arise

    Jason also explains how he reviews these rules with new team members during onboarding, using them as a shared reference point from day one.

    A final thought

    Frameworks don’t replace leadership. But the right framework can support it.

    If you are leading a team and looking for principles that are both demanding and humane, this episode offers a clear, actionable reference.

    Listen to the episode to hear Jason walk through the rules, explain how they play out in real situations, and share how they support strong, self-managing teams.

    As always, I would love to hear what resonates with you.

    Le Podcast – Season Two

    Le Podcast – Season One