After years of running IT teams — from chaotic startups to enterprise-scale products — I’ve learned a simple truth: a leader’s management philosophy is as transparent as an X-ray.
You just need to ask the right questions and listen — not to what they say, but how they think.
In tech, where speed, autonomy, and accountability define survival, leadership style isn’t a detail — it’s the whole architecture.
Forget the vague talk about “vision” and “strategy.” Those are ornaments.
If you really want to understand a manager, look at three things — and you’ll see right through the leadership facade.
1️⃣ Control: Awareness or Distrust?
The question I always start with is simple:
“How do you keep your finger on the pulse?”
I don’t care about the tools — Jira, Trello, Scrum, stand-ups, or 10 dashboards of KPIs. I care about the intent.
A mature leader uses transparency as a management tool — not surveillance.
Typical answers sound like:
“We use short syncs to stay aligned.”
“Everyone updates goals publicly, no one hides work.”
“I trust the data, not time tracking.”
That’s a leader who manages outcomes, not people. Someone who builds a system where engineers don’t need a babysitter, only a clear direction.
They don’t say, “Do it this way.” They ask, “What can I remove from your way so you can do it better?”
Red flag: The minute I hear “I want to see everything,” I know it’s over.
Daily micromanagement, forced reports, personal approval for every pull request — all symptoms of control addiction.
Micromanagement kills creativity, motivation, and the very essence of IT: the ability to think and experiment freely.
A leader should be at the console, yes — but not typing commands.
Their real power lies in creating conditions for others to execute brilliantly without supervision.
2️⃣ Delegation: Authority or Responsibility?
My favorite question here:
“How do you react when your manager makes a mistake?”
Because how someone handles mistakes shows what kind of leader they really are.
Healthy answers:
“We treat it as a learning case.”
“A fixed mistake is experience, not failure.”
“If a decision differs from mine, I first ask why.”
That’s leadership built on trust and ownership.
It means you hire professionals to think, not to obey.
You delegate not only tasks — but the right to make mistakes.
Toxic answers:
“I take control.”
“I’ll check everything myself from now on.”
“Nothing works without me.”
Congratulations — you’ve built a bottleneck disguised as a manager.
This leader doesn’t build teams; they build dependencies.
And in tech, dependency is the most expensive inefficiency of all.
3️⃣ Language: The Subtitles of Leadership
Words reveal mindset faster than a 360 review ever will.
Watch for the pronouns:
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“I did,” “I launched,” “I fixed.” → Lone-wolf mode. Hero complex.
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“We delivered,” “We solved.” → Team mindset. Scalable leadership.
If everything’s “I,” there’s no system — only ego.
And ego doesn’t scale.
When I hear “I like to be involved in everything,” I translate it as: I don’t know how to delegate or build trust.
A good leader doesn’t drown in operations — they rise above them to improve the flow.
And then there’s my personal favorite red flag:
“My previous team was incompetent.”
No, they weren’t.
You just failed to create an environment where they could succeed.
Criticizing ex-teams is like blaming a hammer for a bent nail.
⚙️ The Real Test of Leadership Maturity
These aren’t interview questions — they’re character X-rays.
A calm, thoughtful, unthreatened answer is a sign of a leader who manages a system, not people.
Such leaders don’t chase total control because they’ve already built clarity, transparency, and mutual trust.
They don’t “drive” people — they create an environment where direction is obvious, collaboration is natural, and innovation happens without constant approval.
When control evolves into coaching, the team grows stronger than its leader.
And that’s not a failure — it’s the highest compliment a manager can earn.
🧩 Final Thought
The best leaders in IT aren’t loud, charismatic, or omnipresent.
They’re the ones whose absence doesn’t stop the system.
A real IT leader designs themselves out of daily operations — not because they don’t care, but because they’ve built a team capable of running without them.
That’s the point where leadership ends and legacy begins.
rgds,
Alex