A Tester's Journey: Leadership

Leadership is for everyone. It can take many forms: lateral, temporary, role-based, and more. Be aware that we are not talking about management and disciplinary responsibilities here, yet about leadership. Everyone can lead.

The resources collected on this page are recommended for everyone who wants to learn about leadership. They might not seem related to leadership at first glance, yet in my experience they proved time and time again that they are deeply connected to leadership, and they accompanied me well on my own leadership journey. I'm sharing them in the hope that they will provide value to other people as well.

Credit where credit is due: A lot of what I learned about leadership, I learned from and with Shiva Krishnan. Shiva, thank you so much for being on this journey with me.

The following structure presents how Shiva and I navigate the complex topic of leadership. As usually, categories are artificial, incomplete, and meant for first sensemaking only. Keep in mind that things are way more complex and topics overlap by nature.

One of the central ways Shiva and I think about leadership is in terms of "Me, Us, Environment". All of below listed topics and resources can be reflected and acted on from all these perspectives.

Me: Who you are is how you lead. Leadership starts with ourselves. Reflecting on our own behaviors, understanding why we do things like we, what our values and needs are. Knowing ourselves enables us to lead ourselves as well as others effectively.
Us: Leadership is about relationships. In most cases, we lead other people. Learning how to build effective relationships as well as foster and deepen them is key to anything we want to achieve together.
Environment: Impact over intention. We can use leadership skills for shaping our surrounding systems, growing the garden, setting the scene. When nurturing a culture for people, it's important to come from good intentions, yet even more crucial to consider the impact of our actions on the people affected as well as the system itself.

Leadership is a journey.

Foundations

A culture where people have a chance to bring their best selves, thrive and excel.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: This whole topic deserved a separate resource page. You can find the collection here: Inclusion.
Psychological Safety: This topic is covered by the following subsection of the Inclusion resource page: Psychological Safety.