Last week, I published a big article about ZachGPT: My little side project to build an artificial intelligence in my likeness. If you missed it, check it out here.

In the week since, I’ve been reflecting on that experience. It felt really good to get my hands dirty with emerging tech. It occurred to me that the reasons why, how, and to what degree I do this have important leadership implications. That’s the topic we will discuss this week.

Letting go of “being technical”

I remember when I first got into management. People asked me if I was ready to give up being technical. Looking back at my experience, that was a false dilemma as a front-line manager. I needed to be heavily involved in technology in that role, and retained my privileged access and tooling, accordingly. Perhaps I did it less, but I didn’t give it up.

It wasn’t until I made it to the director level, that this became real for me. I had such a vast area of responsibility, and it wasn’t appropriate for me to get involved in the operations of technology anymore.

I distinctly remember two things: First, the day I gave up my privileged admin rights. I didn’t want to explain to an auditor why I needed them, nor did I want to put my employees in the awkward position of asking me to give them up, so I just surrendered them.

I also remember the first day I got a new laptop as a director. Getting a new laptop used to be a huge hassle. I’d spend weeks getting my tools and settings all configured the way I wanted them. Now that I was a pencil-pusher, my laptop came with everything I needed: Office and a web browser. Man, how the times had changed.

Knowing but not micromanaging

The next hill to climb was the dilemma of knowing how to solve a problem but exercising restraint to allow my team to figure it out. As my skills have aged, I’ve relied on this less and less, but occasionally, it still comes up. When I find myself in this situation, I do my best to let those with the responsibility drive the technical engineering, but I may toss a pertinent question their way, as appropriate.

I need to stay humble. Yes, I have 25 years of experience, but that also means that some of my ideas are 25 years old. Times change. There may be better ways to approach things. Every one of my technical suggestions comes with an outsized authority that is potentially disproportionate to the quality of my input.

Staying current

My technical background gives me an edge in my leadership role, however, as my technical experience ages, that edge degrades. There are a lot of ways for technology leaders to stay current. We can go to seminars, conferences, listen to podcasts, and read magazines. This will provide the “executive summary” but that’s about it. Occasionally, I need to go deeper.

My hands-on dabbling didn’t start with artificial intelligence. That’s just the latest example. Before that, I learned cloud computing. Before that, I got hands-on in various cybersecurity scenarios.

Is this really necessary?

I think many leaders would challenge that getting my hands dirty with technology at this point in my career, in my executive role, is not needed, but I believe there are several key advantages:

1. It scratches an itch. Once an engineer, always an engineer. For all those technical people who are concerned that getting into leadership means “hanging up their spurs,” I have a message: That’s not the only way.
2. It builds a connection. As a leader of engineers, it’s easy for me to become distant and lose empathy. I can become too businessy or just another executive in a suit. By getting my hands dirty, I earn the credibility to lead them.
3. I keep my edge sharp. If I don’t, I could inadvertently become a barrier to innovation and progress, just because I don’t understand.
4. I lead by example. If I take time out of my busy schedule to learn and tinker, then everyone can and should too.

So, was learning artificial intelligence fun for me? Yes, it sure was. But it also benefits my team and my company.

Your turn

Tech leaders reading this right now, when was the last time you got your hands dirty with technology? If you’re like me, you’ve got the itch. It’s okay to scratch it every so often. In doing so, you may level up your entire team.

Now, let’s encourage each other. Share your stories about how you got your hands dirty in the comments.

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