When you think of mentors...

when you think of managers...

when you think of LEADERS...

heck, when you think of *borderline competency*...

...your thoughts likely do *not* immediately gravitate to someone who proclaims himself "North America's Favorite Metrosexual Software Developer".  Thus, I'm sure the fact that yours truly *is* a technical lead comes as a 24-esque shock twist to some of my readers (and might make as much logical sense as Wayne Palmer being President of the United States).  Astonishing as it sounds, there have been several companies where I have found myself leading, mentoring, and (*shudder*) managing teams of developers.  I have no illusions about this having to do with piddling things like "talent" or "credibility" - no, we all know why I'm a lead: because I'm ridiculously good looking eye candy.   However, for the purposes of the rest of this post (and some future posts to come), let's pretend that I *haven't* pulled the wool over everyone's eyes and that there are some secrets to good leadership that involve more than subtly flexing my biceps and batting my eyelashes every time a female co-worker walks by*.

One of these secrets is called *integrity*.  Integrity is the foundation of good leadership, and its absence will undermine a leader faster than any sort of office politics.  Integrity is largely defined as being trustworthy, honorable, and of consistent virtue.  

One way to build up integrity is to practice keeping your word.  Whether these are small things like, "I'll look into getting you off of that massive E-mail list so you can do your job", or potentially huge career-altering things like salary raises, it is imperative on you, the leader, to mean what you say.  You might be able to get away with stringing people along on empty words for a while, but eventually people are going to see through that ruse.  For example, let's pretend that Donald works at my company.  Donald wants to take on more responsibliity - I, however, want Donald to stop bringing the scotch to work before I even consider it.  Rehab, however, is expensive!  I tell Donald that if he can wait a couple of months, he'll be celebrating his one year anniversary and the company will pay for his rehab entirely.  Donald waits patiently and hits the one year mark, at which point I tell him that the company can't pay for his rehab just *yet* - but if he waits for another couple months, *for sure* the company will pay.  if this keeps happening, how long is it before Donald assumes (rightly or wrongly) that I'm just stringing him along?  More importantly, how can I ask anything of Donald from a position of trust?  I've squandered it.  It doesn't matter whether it's truly out of my hands or whether I'm just B.S.ing - Donald is going to assume I'm BSing.

Now, sometimes things happen as a leader that are out of your hands; in these cases, I cannot stress how important it is to be peluccid in all of your dealings.  If there is something preventing you from doing what you originally said, tell the person you committed to why you can't do it, and tell them as soon as possible.  If you tell someone you'll replace their chair and suddenly your funding is cut, it's a lot better to go tell that person right away about the problem rather than simply hiding away and hoping they'll forget.  Trust me, no one forgets about an issue that's important to them! 

Some people think leadership requires a title, while others think it involves pouring cooking oil all over yourself and ripping your shirt off in public.  Maybe they are right, but *great* leadership has nothing to do with titles or public nudity - it has to do with being honest, accountable, and consistent.  After all, if you are able to act with consistent integrity, you've already been successful at a very difficult task - how hard can leading others be in comparison?