Leadership: Vocation or Step Up? Mastering Management

Unlock true leadership! Discover if management is a calling or just a promotion, and learn actionable strategies to excel in leadership roles. Get expert insights now!

Futurist AJ Bubb, founder of MxP Studio, and host of Facing Disruption, bridges people and AI to accelerate innovation and business growth.

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The transition from individual contributor (IC) to leader is one of the most critical, yet often mishandled, junctures in a professional’s career. For many, a promotion into management symbolizes success, a natural progression up the corporate ladder. But this widely accepted assumption — that being good at one’s job automatically qualifies one to lead others in that job function — is deeply flawed. The skills that make an exceptional engineer, marketer, or designer are fundamentally different from those required to inspire, guide, and develop a team. This miscalibration not only sets new managers up for failure but also creates systemic issues within organizations, impacting team morale, productivity, and retention, ultimately stifling innovation and growth.

This challenge was at the heart of a recent “Facing Disruption” webcast conversation between our host, AJ Bubb, and Ben Perreau, founder of Parafoil. Ben brings a unique perspective, having built the world’s largest music website at 24, navigating leadership roles at the BBC, and spending seven and a half years at SY Partners, a firm with a pedigree stretching back to Steve Jobs’s personal staff. His journey across technology, media, and strategic consulting positions him as a builder and a visionary deeply attuned to the nuances of leadership development. In this discussion, Ben peeled back the layers of conventional leadership thinking, offering insights into why so many new managers flounder and what truly constitutes impactful leadership in today’s complex, fast-evolving workplace. We’ll dive into those critical distinctions and explore actionable strategies for cultivating genuine leadership.

The Accidental Manager and the Empathy Gap

Ben Perreau didn’t mince words when describing the typical path to management: “It’s a completely different vocation with almost no relationship with your previous job.” This is a stark truth often overshadowed by the lure of a promotion and increased responsibility. Many high-performing individual contributors are “voluntold” they need to step into a leadership role as a means of advancement or retention. Yet, companies frequently fail to equip them with the necessary tools, leading to what Ben calls the “accidental manager” phenomenon. Research by the Charter Institute of Managers highlighted this, finding that a staggering 82% of managers consider themselves accidental, propelled into leadership with minimal support.

The consequences are dire. A third of new managers see their teams experience significant turnover within the first year. Why? Because the skills of an IC – technical expertise, individual problem-solving, meticulous execution – rarely translate directly to effective leadership. Suddenly, these new managers are confronted with demands for empathy, vision-setting, stakeholder management, and team development – skills they’ve never formally trained for. The data shows “a 10-year gap” between a first management promotion and receiving meaningful support or training. That’s a decade where managers can “inflict a whole load of damage,” as Ben put it, leading to widespread dissatisfaction and organizational drag.

Consider the story of “Sarah,” a brilliant senior software engineer. She consistently delivered elegant code, resolved complex bugs, and was the go-to person for technical architecture. Her promotion to engineering manager felt natural; she knew the product inside and out. But suddenly, her days weren’t about solving intricate coding puzzles; they were filled with mediating team conflicts, navigating stakeholder demands from other departments, and giving performance reviews to former peers. She found herself micromanaging because she instinctively knew the “right” technical solution, but struggled to empower her team to find their own. Her team, once inspired by her technical prowess, began to feel stifled and undervalued. Within 18 months, several key engineers had left, citing a lack of growth opportunities and a feeling of being “managed rather than led.” Sarah was an accidental manager, excellent at her previous role, but ill-equipped for her new one.

The Long Shadow of Leadership: Good vs. Bad Managers

The impact of a manager reverberates far beyond individual performance; it shapes careers, team cultures, and even company trajectories. “People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers,” is an adage that remains powerfully true. A manager is often the direct conduit – or bottleneck – between an employee and the broader organization. They influence project assignments, visibility, and professional growth opportunities. Ben shared anecdotes from both ends of the spectrum: managers who championed his growth and those who actively suppressed team accomplishments out of personal insecurity. “I’ve had managers who said things to me like, ‘I’ll take credit for all your work, but that’s management,’” he recounted, or others who suggested “throw a hand grenade through the door and hold the door shut” to deal with underperforming team members. These aren’t just bad individual experiences; they represent systemic failures in leadership development and cultural reinforcement.

Conversely, positive leadership fosters resilience and enables innovation. Ben recalled his own early leadership experience, heading up NME.com at 24. Despite initial “cold sweats” and oscillating between “over-delegating” and a “laissez-faire style,” he eventually learned through constructive feedback. “It wasn’t until I was in my mid-thirties” that he felt he became the “kind of leader that I would respect.” This journey underscores that effective leadership isn’t innate; it’s a practice, refined through self-awareness, willingness to receive feedback (even when it hurts), and deliberate effort to cultivate empathy. Research from Deloitte shows organizations with strong leadership capabilities are 1.5 times more likely to report above-average financial performance. People thrive under managers who invest in their growth, provide clear direction, and create a supportive environment. Bad managers, however, create disengagement, burnout, and costly turnover, potentially stalling entire companies.

Beyond the Ladder: Technical Excellence and Principal Paths

One of the most promising developments in organizational structure, particularly in technology-driven companies, is the creation of alternative career paths that recognize and reward technical excellence without forcing individuals into management roles. “We glorify leadership as a society,” Ben observed, suggesting this over-glorification contributes to the accidental manager problem. Many companies, particularly those in Silicon Valley like Google, Amazon, and now increasingly within traditional enterprises, have introduced “principal” or “staff” roles for engineers, architects, and other highly skilled ICs. These roles offer advanced levels of responsibility, influence, and compensation, allowing technical experts to remain deeply embedded in their craft while still contributing massive value.

Ben wholeheartedly endorses this trend, noting that these “principal staff roles are really important,” especially in larger organizations. They enable individuals to solve “novel problems,” manage significant “surface area” (in software terms), and coach or mentor other technical professionals. These individuals become “culture carriers” and “knowledge carriers,” preserving the organizational DNA and ensuring deep expertise continues to fuel innovation. For instance, “Alice,” a principal data scientist at a major healthcare provider, doesn’t manage people directly. Instead, she architected the company’s entire AI ethics framework, mentors junior data scientists on complex model development, and consults on high-stakes projects across multiple departments. Her impact is far greater than any single project team, and she generates deep respect and informal authority through her expertise, not managerial power.

The challenge, however, is scaling this model to smaller organizations. While a 20,000-person tech giant can sustain distinct IC and management tracks, a 150-person startup might struggle to create enough separation. Nevertheless, Ben argues that “even in a company that’s as small as 150 people,” it’s crucial to “start to stream those things early.” This means developing a culture that celebrates technical mastery as much as managerial acumen, where the “value they carry inside the organization” is recognized and rewarded both fiscally and through influence. Ultimately, the goal is to allow individuals to find their true “vocation,” whether that’s leading people or pioneering technical frontiers. There’s no reason “people on the leadership team [C-suite]” couldn’t include those with “no direct reports whatsoever” if their strategic technical input is invaluable.

Nurturing the “Glue Roles” and Organic Leadership

Beyond formal titles, organizations are rife with individuals who exert significant influence through informal channels – the “glue roles” that hold teams and cultures together. Ben highlighted these “organic leaders,” describing them as individuals who, even without formal authority, “lots of people look to... to understand what the norms are of the organization.” These are the people who implicitly set cultural standards, offer unspoken guidance, and possess a deep, intuitive understanding of “whether or not this company would do that.” Their leadership is “earned, not awarded,” a product of their insights, integrity, and ability to connect.

For example, “David,” a long-time project coordinator at a mid-sized marketing agency, often seemed to be the unofficial ombudsman. He wasn’t a manager, but when new hires joined, they’d invariably gravitate towards David for honest advice on navigating office politics, understanding unwritten rules, or even just insights into “how things really get done.” Managers would consult him before major policy changes, implicitly recognizing his finger on the pulse of team sentiment. When David announced his retirement, the team realized the immense, unquantifiable value he brought. He was a “glue role,” and his absence left a noticeable void in the team’s cohesion and institutional knowledge.

Identifying and nurturing these individuals is critical, yet often overlooked in the flurry of daily operations. “When everything is moving at hyper speed, how do you find those people?” Ben pondered. It requires leaders to develop a keen eye for subtle signals of influence and trust. By recognizing these organic leaders, organizations can strategically “pathway those kinds of folks into roles where they can lead more,” leveraging their natural magnetism and deep understanding of the organizational fabric. This approach aligns with “change management method[s], which is like put the right organization in place…and the organization will start to swing in around it.” It’s about empowering authentic influence, not just formal power structures.

AI as Augmentation, Not Automation: The Productivity Paradox

The conversation inevitably turned to AI, and Ben offered a refreshing perspective that cuts through the typical hype. He warned against focusing purely on “utilization over outcomes,” citing the absurd scenario of employees being judged on “AI token usage.” This type of metric-driven behavior, divorced from actual value, misses the true potential of AI. Ben argued that “the promise of AI, for me, is much more about augmentation and partnership” than pure automation. His analogy to the spreadsheet reinforces this: while spreadsheets revolutionized finance, they didn’t lead to fewer work hours; they expanded the scope of what was possible, allowing financial professionals to do more complex analysis faster.

Consider “Maria,” a senior strategist tasked with developing new market entry strategies. Before AI, this involved weeks of manual data gathering, competitive analysis, and hypothesis testing. Now, using AI tools, she can rapidly generate 10 different market scenarios, analyze vast datasets for emerging trends, and even draft initial strategic frameworks in a fraction of the time. This frees her to focus on higher-level critical thinking, nuanced qualitative analysis, and creative problem-solving – areas where human judgment remains indispensable. “We could engender a golden age of creativity and innovation,” Ben stated, if we embrace AI as a co-pilot, a tool that enhances human capabilities rather than replaces them. This means thinking beyond simple “productivity” gains to how AI can foster novel solutions and “optionality ideas [that] can come from left field.”

The challenge lies in leaders making conscious, thoughtful choices about AI adoption. It’s not about blind implementation but about finding ways to leverage AI to “enhance our capabilities” and “generate novel solutions on the table that wouldn’t otherwise exist.” This requires a nuanced understanding of AI’s strengths and limitations, and a willingness to explore its creative and augmentative potential, treating it as a partner in innovation rather than a replacement for human work. Without this strategic mindset, organizations risk becoming overly focused on superficial metrics and missing the transformative power that thoughtful AI integration can unlock.

Actionable Recommendations

Ben Perreau’s insights offer clear pathways for individuals and organizations to foster more effective leadership development. Here’s how different stakeholder groups can act:

For the Individual Contributor (IC) Aspiring to Leadership:

• Reflect on Your ‘Why’: Before accepting a leadership role, ask yourself if it’s a true vocation or simply a perceived career progression. “Is this really what I want? Is, is leadership a vocation for me or is it just a progression?” If it’s just progression, explore “other ways that you can go and continue to progress in a way that’s full of technical excellence.”

• Seek Real-World Insights: “Go and spend some time with people who are in those roles and understand what their real day-to-day looks like.” Don’t just rely on job descriptions; get an authentic perspective on the challenges and rewards.

• Cultivate Essential Skills: Start developing ‘soft skills’ like active listening, communication, and empathy now. These are crucial for leadership and can be honed in any role.

For Current Managers:

• Define Your Leadership Ambition: Decide if you want to “continue to manage the work” or take on “more leadership responsibility.” The latter “is about moving beyond the formal authority that you’ve got into a space where you’re thinking about informal authority.”

• Learn from Organic Leaders: Identify individuals in your organization – even those without formal titles – who “has generated their own sense of cultural leadership.” “Spend time with them” to understand how they build influence and navigate complex dynamics.

• Seek Continuous Feedback: Actively solicit feedback on your leadership style, not just your performance. Platforms like Parafoil can offer real-time, actionable insights to help bridge the gap between your intent and impact.

For Established Leaders:

• Invest in Development & Pathways: Recognize the “10-year gap” in management support. Implement deliberate training, rotational programs, and mentorship for early-career managers.

• Create Dual Career Tracks: Actively develop and promote “principal” and “staff” roles to retain and reward technical experts without forcing them into management. “We need more of this in the workplace.”

• Champion Organic Leadership: Identify and empower “glue roles” and informal leaders who hold your culture together. “The more we can start to stream those things early... then you can start to say, Hey, listen, people dedicated to leadership, you are doing a different job now.”

• Model Thoughtful AI Adoption: Focus on “augmentation and partnership” with AI, rather than just automation. Challenge metrics that prioritize “utilization over outcomes” and encourage creative, human-centric application of emerging technologies.

The Future of Leadership: A Practice, Not a Title

The journey from individual contributor to truly effective leader is rarely linear and almost never easy. It’s a path strewn with challenges, awkward moments, and critical feedback that, as Ben Perreau noted, “really hurts” at first. But ultimately, for those committed to the vocation of leadership, it’s a profoundly rewarding transformation. It requires relentless self-awareness, a deep commitment to empathy, and a willingness to continuously learn and adapt. Leadership is, as Ben aptly put it, “a practice. Not a, not a set of achievements.” The most impactful leaders recognize that their development curve “just continues forever,” demanding ongoing introspection and a dedication to understanding “how your leadership lands on people.”

As we navigate an era of unprecedented disruption, exacerbated by rapidly evolving technologies like AI, the need for skilled, human-centric leadership is more urgent than ever. Organizations that foster this kind of leadership – by investing in manager development, creating diverse career pathways for technical excellence, and recognizing the powerful influence of organic leaders – will be the ones that not only survive but thrive. They’ll build resilient cultures, attract and retain top talent, and unleash human potential by thoughtfully integrating technology. The future of work demands not just managers who direct, but leaders who inspire, develop, and, perhaps most importantly, continue to learn themselves.