My biggest leadership failure (so far) - by Richard Kim
In 2018, I felt on top of the world. I had just been promoted off of a string of highly impactful projects. I was proud of how hard I pushed myself and how I’d earned the trust of those I worked with.
Less than a year later, I found myself hiding from my team in a wooden boat tucked away on the top floor of the office. My newest project had just doubled in size for the third time that month as “solve Brexit” was added to the growing list of expectations. All progress ground to a halt, three new teams were added as highly opinionated stakeholders, and my PM left the project — transferring his responsibilities to me.
I felt lost. It wasn’t the growth that worried me, it was how ineffective I suddenly felt. For the first time, the harder I worked, the more people got involved, and the slower things moved. I felt the pressure of failing my teammates, who I had confidently convinced to bet a year of their career on me.
I just needed a moment — alone, in a boat — to bang my head against the technical design to see if I could shake out any answers for why nothing I tried was working.
