{"id":269,"date":"2026-09-29T19:45:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T03:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/?p=269"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:45:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T03:45:40","slug":"bigger-titles-dont-make-you-smarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/?p=269","title":{"rendered":"Bigger titles don&#8217;t make you smarter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-medium-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The higher a bad leader climbs, the more people below see exactly what kind of ass they truly are. &#8211; Ancient office proverb<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leadership is one of those topics everyone claims to understand, yet very few actually demonstrate.  What\u2019s fascinating, and occasionally exhausting, is how often people assume that a bigger title automatically means deeper insight, stronger judgment, or some kind of mystical executive wisdom.  In reality, it\u2019s often just the Dunning-Kruger effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the years, I\u2019ve noticed that leaders tend to fall into three broad categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Relationship Hire<\/strong> &#8211; these leaders arrive at (or promoted to) senior levels not because of demonstrated capability, but because they have a close relationship with someone at the top. They\u2019re the \u201ctrusted friend,\u201d the \u201cformer colleague,\u201d or the \u201cperson who was promised a role someday&#8221;. Their authority comes pre-packaged, and their confidence often comes from the assumption that proximity to power equals competence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Credit Scavenger<\/strong> &#8211; this group survives by attaching themselves to successful programs and collecting credit along the way. They\u2019re present at just enough meetings to be visible (or sometimes attends all meetings), they repeat just enough talking points to sound involved, and they position themselves just close enough to the work to claim ownership when things go well. The uncomfortable truth is that the program would have succeeded with or without them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Battle-scarred Practitioner<\/strong> &#8211; these leaders earned their roles the hard way. They walked through every steppingstone, learned the pain points firsthand, and carry the scars of real experience. They understand the work because they\u2019ve done the work. They know what\u2019s reasonable, what\u2019s not, and what it actually costs a team to deliver under pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The problem is that the market is saturated with &#8220;Relationship Hires&#8221; and &#8220;Credit Scavengers&#8221;, and they tend to share a few predictable behaviors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They project confidence, often more than their experience justifies.  They have the confidence and audacity to make commitments on behalf of the team without consulting the team.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their priorities revolve around their perception towards upper management, not realities faced downloads.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their communication is vague, their direction shifts frequently, and &#8220;leadership&#8221; speeches feel more like placeholders than actual guidance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-medium-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Leader<\/strong>: I empower you to make the decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Me<\/strong>: are you going to send out an email communication to the broader organization?  Or create an org chart showing the empowerment structure and share with the team?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Leader<\/strong>: no<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Me<\/strong>: empowerment that no one knows about besides you and me is kind of meaningless, don&#8217;t you think?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Battle-scarred leaders behave differently because they understand the consequences of their decisions.  They\u2019ve lived through unrealistic deadlines, shifting priorities, and poorly thought-out executive mandates.  They know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of leadership that doesn\u2019t understand the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They\u2019re cautious about making promises, especially ones that impact the team<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They advocate for the team because they know what overwork and demoralization look like in practice<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They\u2019re hands on when needed, offering guidance, coaching, and clarity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They communicate expectations in a way that aligns both upward and downward<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These leaders don\u2019t rely on titles to establish credibility.  Their experience does that for them.  They understand that leadership isn\u2019t about sounding authoritative, rather it\u2019s about making decisions that respect the people doing the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Watch out for &#8220;Relationship Hires&#8221; and &#8220;Credit Scavengers&#8221;, they&#8217;re usually full of shit and you can spot them from a mile away.  My politically incorrect advice is to call them out, and if they give you shit, expose them by making the matter visible to other audiences.  One important precondition to this is that you need to be a performer and know your shit&#8230; because if you ain&#8217;t, it&#8217;s on you and it&#8217;s going to be your ass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just remember that they have much more to lose than you do, they&#8217;re position\/title and perception is <em>everything<\/em>.  But if you&#8217;re just being a dick, then it&#8217;s on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The higher a bad leader climbs, the more people below see exactly what kind of ass they truly are. &#8211; Ancient office proverb Leadership is one of those topics everyone claims to understand, yet very few actually demonstrate. What\u2019s fascinating, and occasionally exhausting, is how often people assume that a bigger title automatically means deeper [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273,"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grumpyoldengineer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}