Corporations like to make people jump through hoops to make changes. It may seem like a pain, but often a little process and bureaucracy is the very thing that makes an organization organized. Without it, we’d never be able to operate at the scale we do.

For a decent part of my career, I fought bureaucracy. Every board approval I needed reminded me that I wasn’t empowered. That bothered me a lot. I’d drive home many evenings blasting Rage Against the Machine in my car, trying to imagine a world where those barriers didn’t exist.

I’m a technologist. I’m an agilist. I’m a futurist. Things tend to make a lot of sense in my head long before the rest of the organization is there. If I only had the power to just make stuff happen, then the whole organization would be so much better. That type of thinking makes me an engineer, but not a leader.

Over the past decade or so, I’ve learned to embrace another way. I learned to stop thinking about the hoops I need to jump through and boards I need approval from as a source of disempowerment. Instead, I looked at these as an opportunity to subject my work to public opinion.

For an engineer, this is scary. You have an amazing idea. You know everything there is to know about the subject. You are an expert. You have to explain your idea to a board or process gate which is often made up of people that aren’t experts. It’s humbling for an expert to submit to non-experts that have authority.

It is much more tempting to expect or demand the carte-blanche approval and trust of the organization to let you do whatever you want to do, just because you are wicked-smart.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Ideas that exist only inside my head aren’t as well-baked as I think they are. Ideas cannot have impact on an organization unless they are communicated and shared effectively. This has two powerful effects: First, it raises awareness of the idea. Second, it refines the idea.

Ideation is an iterative process. You think. You share. You get feedback. You think. You share. You get feedback. All along your idea improves and becomes embedded and adopted by your circle of influence.

That is how an engineer becomes a leader.

I’ve seen this virtuous cycle work very well for me. I now look for every opportunity to use it. I write this blog. I give public presentations. I bring items up for discussion and debate even when I don’t have to. I have more authority now than I’ve ever had in my career, but now more than ever, I subject my work to public opinion just because I want to.

It works, but it isn’t easy. Some people don’t get it. Some people don’t want to change. Some people think my ideas are dumb. Some people think my blog is lame. That’s okay. Some of those people are right. Some of them aren’t.

You might fail. Your delivery may fall flat. You might look stupid or unprepared. You might encounter staunch resistance. All of that won’t kill you. It’ll just make you stronger for next round. There’s always a next round.

Go ahead. Be vulnerable. Be courageous. Subject your work to public opinion. This is how engineers become leaders and how leaders get better.