Leading from the middle

I didn’t set out to be on a leadership team. I set out to build useful things. Somewhere along the way the two started overlapping.

Now I have a seat at that table, and I’m still learning what that means.

Still doing the work

The part I care about most is that I didn’t stop building. I’m still in the details every week: tools, docs, training.

I think that matters. It’s hard to make good decisions about work you don’t touch anymore. Being close to it keeps me honest about what’s realistic.

Bringing the AI side to the table

A big part of my role is bringing the AI side into how decisions get made. Not hype. Just plain answers to plain questions.

• What can this actually do for us today?
• What would it take?
• What could go wrong, and how do we keep a person in charge?

I put together an AI roadmap and presented it to leadership. The goal wasn’t a big vision deck. It was a short list of next steps we could actually take.

Helping the team grow

Leading also means thinking about who we need next. I wrote a hiring plan for a new support role: what the job really is, how to interview for it, and how to tell a good fit from a good interview.

I’d never done that before. It made me think hard about what we actually need versus what sounds good in a job post.

What I’m learning about leading

• Systems over hustle. My job is to make the work easier for everyone, not to work harder than everyone.
• A sync is not progress. Meetings are for decisions. The work happens after.
• Get out of the middle. The best sign I’m doing this right is when things keep moving without me.

The honest part

Some weeks I feel like I’m doing it well. Some weeks I don’t. I’m okay saying that.

What I know for sure is that the same loop applies here as everywhere else: notice, build, document, teach, repeat. Leading is just doing it for the team instead of a tool.