You see the problems on your team. You know what needs to change. You push for it, you call it out, you do what you think leaders are supposed to do...
...and it blows up in your face.
My most recent episode is about the biggest failure of my game dev career, and six lessons I pulled out of it. I want to share one of them here because I think it matters whether you listen to the episode or not.
When I was in the middle of this situation, confronting leaders I believed were failing the team, I made a big mistake: I stopped seeing them as people. I saw them as obstacles. They were problems to be solved or removed. I was so focused on the hundred-plus devs who were struggling that I forgot the leaders causing those problems were also people with their own fears, insecurities, and pressures.
When you dehumanize someone, even someone you think is wrong, you give yourself permission to treat them badly. And once you've done that, you've already lost something important, even if your read on the problem was right. I saw these leaders as broken parts of a machine that needed to be fixed or replaced. And because that's how I saw them, I stopped working with them. I worked to solve them. I wasn't collaborating. I was trying to fix or remove an obstacle.
If I'd continued to see them as human beings who were also struggling, I might have approached the whole thing differently. More partnership, less confrontation. After all, they weren't parts of the machine any more than I was. We were all people. And I didn't take that seriously enough.
So if you're in a situation right now where you can see what's broken and you're gearing up to push for change and challenge others, pause for a moment. Remember, the person you're about to confront is a person first. Not an obstacle. That doesn't mean they're right. It means you owe them the basic respect of being treated like a human being while you work through it.
That's one lesson of six. The rest are in the episode, including something an experienced lead said to me afterwards that I still think about years later.
Check it out on YouTube, or listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.
Cheers,
Ben C.
P.S. If you missed last week's episode, it digs into how UGC - done well - can make games immortal. Check it out here.
P.P.S. If this episode hits close to home and you want to get serious about leveling up your leadership, let me know here.
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