Scrum depends on leadership.

The global economy is filled with challenges—the boom and bust economic cycle.  Trade wars and political uncertainty dominate headlines.  Workers flex their muscles to retain the wages and benefits that kept them in the middle class.  The agile reformation is in the middle of this environment.  We are striving to make business saner, sustainable, and satisfying.  It is hard work.  Often, we are struggling with status quo thinking and the demands of the marketplace.  We test scrum masters and coaches daily.  The principle test is the leadership skills we bring to work each day.

The scrum guide has evolved over the years to discuss the changing role of the scrum master.  We describe scrum masters as servant-leaders who can influence others without absolute authority.  I have written numerous times about servant leadership.  I am a big fan of people like Dwight Eisenhower, Harvey Milk, and Creighton Abrams.  I am also impressed by academic thinkers like Gilles Deleuze and Albert Camus.  All these people have in common are deep intelligence and the ability to overcome obstacles to accomplish great things.

Leadership is hard.  In the words of General Collin Powel, leadership is pissing people off to get things done.  It is uncomfortable.  Leadership is upsetting comfortable structures to achieve tremendous success.  It is emotionally taxing and a job that follows you around even when you are outside the office.  It is a skill that must be cultivated and rehearsed regularly. 

The alternative is a catastrophe. People concerned with their advancement at the expense of others are toxic in an organization. They will use measurements to make themselves look more effective than they are. They will withhold support for others unless they can receive some benefit. People work with these leaders not because they want to but because they must. Organizations succeed or fail based on the leadership skills of their people, and poor leadership will kill an organization.

By now, you realize that I feel strongly about this subject.  I have spent my entire career working with many different people.  Some were inspirational, and others were more interested in their success than others.  I prefer the company of inspirational people.   This week, my leadership was challenged twice.  I was helping a professional team release software and had to perform agile assessments on other teams.  The common thread through these experiences is that good leadership was apparent, and lousy leadership was more deceptive.  Be on the lookout for these corrupt leaders; they will harm your business. 

Until next time.