The CTO Journey: Mark Porter of MongoDB

This is some great advice:

My wife and I have five wonderful children and something she told me when the kids were all single-digit ages has stuck with me to this day. One day my wife comes up to me and she says, “You’re losing our kids by being the same dad to all five. You think there is a “right way to be a dad”, but in reality, you have to realize all five need a different dad.”

I made that change and it had remarkable effects. It then took me a year or two to realize that the same mentality applies to being a manager and leader. Learning how to be a different type of leader, one who is the leader that each of your employees needs, not some recipe you have in your head, is something that takes a lot of investment, but definitely pays off.