Fifteen Tics

Remember Manager Readmes? The idea was that a manager would take the time to write up their leadership style, what they valued, and their principles. A fad that started in 2017, hit its peak in 2018, and then faded.1 I wrote one in March 2018 and enjoyed the process, but while I published mine, I didn’t think the point was to share; the point was to write it. If I am in the Zone and you interrupt that state, I am instantly and irrationally mad. If you tell me what to do, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. If you ask me for help for the same task, no problem. If you are a leader and you are late to my meeting again, I am no longer thinking about the meeting. I am narrating an increasingly snarky internal story about what your lateness says about you. If you’re sitting next to me tap-tap-tapping your leg, I’m annoyed. I am a lifelong fidgeter. I know. I was at Slack when the Manager Readme craze hit. Managers on my team followed my lead and wrote their own and then proceeded to…