The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier
Description: Tech leadership is in many ways similar to leadership in other industries. BUT, considering the varying approaches, methods, and principles used in the tech world today, it’s fair to say that a book addressing this type of leadership was more than necessary.
How it can help aspiring tech leaders: You can learn various ways to tackle problems within an organization – at all levels – from lower to more senior. While it doesn’t dive deeply into the subject of the methods and explaining the why, it gives aspiring tech leaders the freedom to apply the methods in their own way and setting.
The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier
Description: Tech leadership is in many ways similar to leadership in other industries. BUT, considering the varying approaches, methods, and principles used in the tech world today, it’s fair to say that a book addressing this type of leadership was more than necessary.
How it can help aspiring tech leaders: You can learn various ways to tackle problems within an organization – at all levels – from lower to more senior. While it doesn’t dive deeply into the subject of the methods and explaining the why, it gives aspiring tech leaders the freedom to apply the methods in their own way and setting.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Description: We all know that changes in any tech company are not something that’s easily done. There are many variables at play, but this book does a good job of dividing the whole process into three stages, diving deeper into each, and providing a simple yet effective way to initiate change in your organization.
How it can help aspiring tech leaders: Flexibility in a tech company is crucial, and while important, it’s something that can vary with time. With the methods in this book you can learn how to better steer your teams towards the goal, direction, or course, that you want.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Description: We all know that changes in any tech company are not something that’s easily done. There are many variables at play, but this book does a good job of dividing the whole process into three stages, diving deeper into each, and providing a simple yet effective way to initiate change in your organization.
How it can help aspiring tech leaders: Flexibility in a tech company is crucial, and while important, it’s something that can vary with time. With the methods in this book you can learn how to better steer your teams towards the goal, direction, or course, that you want.
The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels by Michael Watkins
Description: A book unlike others of similar type – covering in depth all the strategies and potential that will keep you coming back to it to learn something new. It’s not a guide, it’s more of a position – a position from which you can look and observe situations, anticipate outcomes, and decide on moves.
How it can help aspiring tech leaders: As a tech leader, while you’ll definitely need your tech skills to be able to guide your teams, knowing how to handle your teams is of utmost importance if you’re to initiate and implement changes, and drive them towards goals.
The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels by Michael Watkins
Description: A book unlike others of similar type – covering in depth all the strategies and potential that will keep you coming back to it to learn something new. It’s not a guide, it’s more of a position – a position from which you can look and observe situations, anticipate outcomes, and decide on moves.
How it can help aspiring tech leaders: As a tech leader, while you’ll definitely need your tech skills to be able to guide your teams, knowing how to handle your teams is of utmost importance if you’re to initiate and implement changes, and drive them towards goals.
The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim & Kevin Behr
Description: Every company is unique in its own way, but more often than not, we’ve seen a vast number of businesses struggling with the same problems – the flow of information, organization, slow change and adaptation. This book provides blueprints that can help you shape your vision through which you can “unstuck” your organization.
How it can help aspiring tech leaders: Adaptability and quick reaction is crucial for all tech businesses looking to drive value to customers and users, and this book can help tech leaders in mitigating risks – all the while accepting a more flexible and more vibrant way of operating.
Well, CTO Confessions is much more than just insightful and educational books - it's also about leaders, their path to becoming who they are, and the valuable lessons they learned along the way. Dive into one of our 100 episodes
Takeaway
Let’s be real – there is no recipe for success that everyone can follow, but what we can do is learn from the experience and mistakes of others, and try to avoid them. The key to successfully implementing plans or changes is understanding that they are only as good as the people that execute them.
Stay tuned for part 3 of the series!
TC Gill
People Development
Coach and Strategist
