For years I thought the old line — tell me who you surround yourself with and I’ll tell you who you are — was a tidy little formula. It explained everything neatly, no assembly required.
Then I started managing people — not just technology — and I had to revise my position.
You Don’t Always Choose the People Around You
Here’s the thing: you don’t always get to pick your team. Some people you hire deliberately, develop intentionally, promote because you believe in them.
But plenty of others you inherit. They stick around because of the role they think they own, out of necessity, out of fear, out of sheer inertia. And they’re remarkably resistant to any attempt you make to raise the bar.
A Convenient Shortcut — and Usually a Wrong One
Judging a leader by who’s standing next to them is a shortcut. An easy one, and probably a flawed one. At best, it’s an incomplete method. You’d need to know the context.
I say this thinking about myself and the people I’ve worked with. I’ve given trust, space, and real responsibility to members of my team — and I’ve defended that empowerment fiercely, convinced that everyone would understand what it meant and do something worthwhile with it, for the team and for themselves.
The Stories Time Tells
And some of them did. They grew. They earned their place.
Others evolved only in the language they used — on a good day.
Some stayed completely still, professionally and as human beings. Others grew as people but kept something rotten inside them — quietly waiting for a moment of my distraction to spray a brown, vaguely foul-smelling slick of sewage over the company, their colleagues, and me.
The Real Leadership Test
So I stopped evaluating leaders by who they have around them, and started paying attention to what happens when they’re not in the room.
If a manager walks out the door — stops watching — and everything keeps running exactly as they set it up, then yes: they’ve done good work. They’ve built processes, earned loyalty, and developed people who are better — technically and as human beings.
Snapshot vs. Timeline
Looking at team composition gives you a snapshot. It tells you something about the manager, but it’s a single frame.
Looking at what happens behind a leader’s back when they’re absent — that’s a timeline. That’s where the professional dynamics play out, and where you actually start to understand the story.
And stories, as a rule, get closer to the truth.
Over to You
Where do you see yourself?