I’d describe my leadership style as high clarity and high autonomy.
I try to be very clear about the destination: what we’re trying to accomplish, why it matters, what success looks like, and the constraints we need to operate within. Once that’s clear, I give people a lot of freedom in how they get there.
I don’t want people on my team to become great at executing my ideas. I want them to develop their own judgment, challenge my thinking, and eventually bring me solutions that are better than what I would have come up with myself.
I also don’t believe everyone should be managed the same way.
I spend time understanding each person’s strengths, weaknesses, motivations, personality, and where they want to grow. Some people thrive with almost complete autonomy. Others need more structure or coaching in a particular area. My job is to understand what each person needs to perform at their best and become increasingly independent over time.
But autonomy doesn’t mean lack of accountability.
I set a high bar, make expectations explicit, and give direct feedback when something isn’t working. If someone is struggling, I first try to understand why — is it clarity, capability, confidence, motivation, or role fit? Then I adjust my coaching accordingly.
Ultimately, I think one of the best measures of me as a leader is whether the people around me become stronger. If a year from now I’m still making all of someone’s important decisions, I haven’t developed them enough.
So I’d summarize my leadership style as:
- Clear on outcomes.
- Flexible on approach.
- Individualized in coaching.
- Consistent on accountability.
My goal is to create people who don’t need me to have the answer. I want to create leaders who can develop better answers themselves.