Who Should Lead?

Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig. ~Robert Heinlein


Who should lead an endeavor or a team, is an interesting question, a question to me that has an obvious answer so I get very confused why this question is so frequently answered incorrectly. When putting together a band, the guitar player plays guitar, the vocalist croons, the drummer pounds the skins. It's the same when putting together a software development team. The individuals with the programming skills write the software, the ones with the testing skills test the software programmed by the developers, the people with writing skills create the customer documentation telling the end user how to use the software developed by the programmer and tested by the tester, and the person with the leadership skills leads the team.

In the case of the band, if you put someone who does not have the talent to play guitar as the guitarist, the band will suffer. Either the band will need to prune the guitarist and add someone who can play the guitar or the band will fail. It's obvious that the band will not be able to create music as effectively with a non guitar playing guitarist as a band with a guitarist that can actually play guitar.

Let's say the guitarist is a really talented guitarist, a masterful guitarist, a guitarist than can make the guitar sing. Does this mean you 'promote' him to singer? Do you promote him to singer if he can't carry a tune? The answer then is obviously, NO! Why then do companies think it's ok to promote a talented software developer to the team lead when he lacks any leadership skills? It's a sure fire recipe for failure.

Like software development is a skill, so too, leadership a skill. Yes, skills can be developed, however, not everyone has the ability to write good software. It is a talent that must be honed over time. So too, not everyone has the skills necessary to lead. Leaders have their own set of unique gifts, unique talents. A good software developer deals with things and the concrete world of bit and bytes. A good leader deals with people and all the fuzziness the goes with the interactions of people. This is not to say a great software developer can't learn to lead. It says that a great software developer will not be able to lead based on the his software development skills. If he wants to become a leader, he needs to develop his leadership skills.

The answer to the question, "Who should lead?" is blatantly obvious. The leader should lead!