Developing leadership styles

Effective executives need more than a single leadership approach; they must be fluent in three distinct styles-policy, consensus, and conviction-and know when each applies. The piece argues that relying on one default mode, whether a hands-off CEO or a micromanager, leaves organizations stuck, either waiting for decisions or making sub-optimal choices.

Leading with policy creates repeatable, documented processes for recurring decisions, freeing senior leaders from day-to-day micromanagement. Real-world examples include Calm's 20% roadmap allocation, Stripe's internal hiring feedback loop, and Carta's promotion committee, each illustrating how codified rules turn chaos into predictable outcomes.

Leading from consensus gathers the right stakeholders for infrequent, context-heavy decisions. The author cites Stripe's post-acquisition integration, Uber's service orchestration debate, and Calm's content visibility conflict to show how a structured group discussion can resolve ambiguity when no single person holds all the facts.

Leading with conviction is the executive's fallback for high-stakes, one-off choices where swift, definitive action is required. Cases from Calm's migration reversal, Stripe's hiring showdown, and Uber's self-service provisioning tool demonstrate how personal judgment, built on deep stakeholder input, can break deadlocks and drive decisive progress.

The core takeaway is that senior leaders must develop the self-awareness to recognize their default style, deliberately practice the other two, and apply the right one to each situation. Mastering this trio enables faster, higher-quality decisions and prevents the paralysis that often plagues growing engineering organizations.