Regular reflection keeps senior leaders from slipping into autopilot, sharpening decision-making and sustaining personal growth even when the job feels easy.
Reflection is the daily antidote to the complacency that senior leaders develop after a decade in a role. When decisions become pattern-matched and opaque, teams lose visibility into why choices are made. By carving out dedicated time to review the past six months, set quarterly goals, and run weekly check-ins, a leader regains clarity and can articulate the reasoning behind each move.
The author's own process unfolds in layers: a half-day off-site twice a year to map strategy, quarterly goal setting, a monthly review of progress, and a Sunday night week-review that asks what worked, what didn't, and what to adjust. The cadence is flexible-teams can adopt just the monthly or weekly slice-but the consistency creates a feedback loop that keeps habits from hardening into autopilot.
When reflection stops, decisions grow sloppy, calendars fill with others' priorities, and leaders become busy without intention. Restarting the practice sharpens focus, models intentional behavior for the team, and ensures that growth continues even when the job feels easy. The piece shows that a simple, structured habit can keep senior engineers and CTOs effective, adaptable, and continually improving.
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