We all have handling and we have horsepower.
Horsepower is our ability to do the technical work. Maybe a high IQ, or the ability to think or remember things quickly. Our familiarity with technologies and systems comes into play here, too.
Handling is our people skills. What it’s like to do the work with us. Not so much about IQ, more about emotional intelligence, social intelligence, empathy, leadership, etc.
Obviously, you’d like to have great handling and high horsepower. And you’d probably like everyone you work with to have the same. But, of course, most of us tend to be geared toward one or the other. Some of us are particularly lacking with regard to one or the other.
I’ve worked with folks all over this spectrum: high-horsepower-terrible-handling, great-handling-awful-horsepower, and all over in between. I’ve found that that diminishing returns kick in pretty quickly as you shift toward the higher-horsepower-lower-handling side.
That high-horsepower brilliance so often feeds into ego, which feeds into disregard for other people’s opinions and feelings.
To do great technical work at scale, you need good handling, too. You need to be able to work with a team. That might mean taking your foot off the gas a little. Slow down, listen, learn. Learn not just facts and specs and keyboard shortcuts. Learn about your teammates. Let go of your desire to make things work the way you already know they should work. Get there with the team. Humbly try to grow them and stay open to being grown by them.
