Leverage Your Leaders

Stop trying to do it yourself—your job is to get it done, and leaders have tools you need

Boz (Andrew Bosworth)
Making Meta | Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth (CTO)

Leverage Your Leaders

"The advice I find I have to give more frequently than any other in my career, as a manager, a board member, an advisor and a friend, is for people to more directly leverage their leaders." - Boz

What It Is

Most people naturally want to prove they can do things themselves. They see asking for help as admitting defeat on a core goal—demonstrating competence. But this instinct actively harms outcomes.

Your job isn't to do it yourself. Your job is to get it done—done well, done right, done competently. The tools you need to accomplish that often live with your manager, advisor, or mentor. Your leaders want you to succeed because when you're amazing, their life gets easier.

Like Patrick Stewart's insight about auditions: "No one wants you to succeed more than the person you are auditioning for, because they want you to be awesome. As soon as you are awesome, they're done."

How It Works

The Problem

  • Someone gets an assignment: "I got it"
  • They go off for six months
  • They come back with work that's wrong (miscommunication) or late (they were blocked on things the manager could have cleared)
  • Time is wasted, everyone is frustrated

The Solution

  • Regular light-touch check-ins
  • Early escalation of blockers
  • Making it cheap for leaders to help

How Senior Leaders Actually Work Contrary to what people imagine, a senior leader's job is often "spinning plates"—many small touches to keep momentum going on many initiatives. They'd rather give you one light touch to keep your plate spinning than have to restart entirely when it falls.

How to Apply It

  1. Send "No Response Required" Updates Write a five to ten sentence email: "Here's where things are. If this all looks good, no response needed. If you think you could help with something, let me know."

  2. When Blocked, Make It Cheap to Help Draft the email you'd like your manager to send. Frame specific yes/no questions. Provide context on prior communication history.

  3. Ask Early How They Want Updates Every manager is different. Ask: "How do you like to get information about me?" No manager will be upset by this question.

  4. Use Formats Like HPM Highlight, People, Me: What's the big picture? Who needs attention (struggling or thriving)? How are you personally?

  5. Reframe Your Identity Stop thinking "asking for help = weakness." Start thinking "getting it done = competence, however that happens."

When to Use It

  • When you're stuck on something for more than a day or two
  • When you need something from another team
  • Even when things are going well (light updates build context for when you need help)
  • When starting with a new manager
  • When you find yourself thinking "I should be able to figure this out myself"

Common Mistakes

  • Waiting too long - By the time you ask, you've already lost months
  • Not providing context - Your manager needs to understand the situation to help effectively
  • Treating all managers the same - Each has different preferences for communication cadence
  • Over-asking - There's balance; sometimes "that's the work, go figure it out" is the right response

Source

  • Guest: Boz (Andrew Bosworth)
  • Episode: "Making Meta | Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth (CTO)"
  • Key Discussion: (00:13:22) - Why people should leverage their leaders more
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

Related Frameworks

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