Leadership lessons

From 23 December until Monday, my manager took over for the VP, who was out on paternity leave. During that time, he was running not only the product management group, but a variety of co-equal branches of the business unit. Monday morning I left him a mini-bottle of bourbon (his particular tipple) with a snarky note congratulating him for surviving paternity leave.

But aside from the snot, it struck me over the weekend that he must have been under tremendous strain—not only from regular operations, but because Mr. BW has basically stuck a big spoon into the division and stirred vigorously. It did not occur to me until I consciously turned my mind to it at the weekend—because he made it look like it wasn’t anything at all. He was not any less accessible or responsive to our PM needs; everything ran as though we were his only concern. Yet he was responsive to all the other departments as well as us.

During our weekly one-to-one yesterday, something sparked me to tell him that. That I had no notion at all that he was under exceptional pressure because nothing fell on me. He replied that he’d felt plenty of pressure and I responded that I never saw it.

I assure you I have not had the reason or the desire to tell many of my managers anything like this. Today I’m going to inform the VP. I’m sure he knows it, but I want him to know that I know it, too.