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I agree somewhat. Yes, a lead has more responsibility, and will work as hard as the other team members. Sometimes they may have to push to get the product shipped.

That is a completely different thing than four hours of sleep a night for years.

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It's all of the above. As lead you have to fill in, to do what no one else wants to do, to keep try of all the things that need to be done in the say 48 hours to the next deadline and sort them by priority. But you often have to work just as long as the longest worker on the team if only out of solidarity. It's important that no one can ever say to you: "You took it easy, while I did the work."

This principle is why Caesar, Alexander, and Napoleon were all beloved by their men. They dug in there with everyone else. Slept on the ground. Rode first into battle. All that. It seems silly, but don't underrate it. I can't tell you how many times someone would come to me at 4 in the morning before a deadline and say how much they appreciated that I was there. No one wants to feel used.

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