Leadership Isn’t About Doing Everything | Ep 366 - The Futur with Chris Do

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Futur with Chris Do – "Leadership Isn’t About Doing Everything" | Ep 366

Release Date: July 26, 2025

Introduction

In Episode 366 of The Futur Podcast, hosted by Chris Do, the discussion centers around effective leadership strategies within creative teams. The episode delves into the pitfalls of common management styles and presents a hybrid approach that fosters autonomy and accountability among team members. This summary captures the essence of the conversation, highlighting key points, insightful discussions, and practical conclusions.

1. The Two Traditional Leadership Styles

The podcast begins by exploring two predominant schools of thought in managing creative teams:

Micromanagement:
The first approach is characterized by leaders who feel compelled to control every aspect of a project. This stems from promises of quality and a sense of responsibility, leading to behaviors like insisting on specific color shades or typefaces.

"I need to control the project. I need to micromanage my team... I want to make sure everybody's using the exact shade of red or blue or that typeface has to be what I would do."
(Timestamp: 00:30)

Consequences of Micromanagement:
Micromanaging leaders inadvertently strip their team members of autonomy, diminishing their confidence and creativity. This results in employees becoming overly reliant on the leader for decision-making, reducing their effectiveness and innovation capabilities.

"You rob people of their autonomy, of their intelligence and creativity... you've stripped them down to the level of an intern or VA."
(Timestamp: 02:15)
Absentee Management:
The second approach involves granting complete freedom to the team, celebrating autonomy, and stepping back entirely. While this can sometimes lead to high levels of creativity, it often results in a lack of direction, inconsistent quality, and unmet deadlines when not managed properly.

"You're leaving the team, the captain, so to speak, to run amok... sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't."
(Timestamp: 04:00)

2. The Challenges of Both Extremes

Chris Do acknowledges that both micromanagement and absentee management present significant drawbacks. Leaders face a dilemma: either overburden themselves by doing too much or under-involve themselves, leading to project inconsistencies and team frustration.

"Both options suck, Chris. One, I'm doing all the work. I'm robbing them of autonomy. Number two, I'm doing very little bit of the work, but it suffers and no one knows what's going on."
(Timestamp: 05:00)

3. Introducing the Hybrid Approach: Intentional Incompetence

To navigate the shortcomings of the traditional styles, Chris introduces a hybrid model based on the concept of intentional incompetence. This method involves leaders purposely stepping back to empower their teams while remaining available for guidance when necessary.

"I practice the form of intentional incompetence... you have to feign like you don't know how to do anything so that people can step up and take care of the business."
(Timestamp: 06:30)

Key Components of Intentional Incompetence:

Empowerment Over Control:
Leaders encourage team members to take ownership of their projects, fostering a sense of responsibility and enhancing their problem-solving skills.

"I've trained you, you've done great work. And at this point, I'm going to leave it up to you to call upon me as to when you want my input on things."
(Timestamp: 07:10)
Selective Engagement:
Leaders make themselves available for feedback and support only when team members seek it, ensuring that interventions are elective rather than imposed.

"They can come to me anytime they want to come in... it's elective. No one feels like they have to do it."
(Timestamp: 08:00)
Encouraging Accountability:
By allowing team members to manage client relationships and project outcomes, leaders cultivate a culture of accountability and high performance.

"My team now feels the responsibility of taking the work to the highest level that they can... ensuring that we're on budget and on time."
(Timestamp: 09:00)

4. Handling Exceptions and Maintaining Balance

While the hybrid model emphasizes autonomy, Chris acknowledges that there are instances where intervention is necessary. In such cases, leaders should step in to provide support without undermining the team's autonomy. For example, if a project is veering off track, the leader can participate in critical discussions to realign efforts.

"If you feel like the clients are slipping through your fingers... please talk to me before that point happens so that I can intervene."
(Timestamp: 09:45)

He also highlights the importance of recognizing when team members are shirking responsibility, suggesting that persistent issues may indicate a need to reevaluate team composition.

"If they don't want to take responsibility, so they elect to show you the work to abdicate from that responsibility. That's not going to work."
(Timestamp: 10:30)

5. Practical Applications and Outcomes

Implementing intentional incompetence leads to numerous benefits, including:

Enhanced Team Growth:
Team members develop their skills and confidence, leading to higher quality work and innovative solutions.
Balanced Workload:
Leaders avoid the burnout associated with micromanagement, allowing them to focus on strategic aspects of the business.
Improved Client Relationships:
Empowered teams can manage client expectations more effectively, ensuring satisfaction and repeat business.
Sustainable Leadership:
By fostering autonomy, leaders create a resilient team capable of sustaining performance without constant oversight.

Conclusion

In this insightful episode, Chris Do effectively argues that true leadership in creative environments isn't about controlling every detail or relinquishing all responsibility. Instead, it's about finding a balance that empowers team members while providing the necessary support and guidance. The hybrid approach of intentional incompetence offers a practical framework for leaders to cultivate autonomy, foster creativity, and ensure accountability within their teams.

Notable Quotes:

"I need to control the project. I need to micromanage my team..."
(00:30)
"You rob people of their autonomy, of their intelligence and creativity..."
(02:15)
"Both options suck, Chris. One, I'm doing all the work..."
(05:00)
"I practice the form of intentional incompetence..."
(06:30)
"They can come to me anytime they want to come in..."
(08:00)
"If you feel like the clients are slipping through your fingers..."
(09:45)

For more insights and episode details, visit thefutur.com/podcast.

Transcript

A (0:00)

I find that in the world of managing creative teams, there's usually two schools of thought. School thought of number one is I need to control the project. I need to micromanage my team. Because I made promises of a certain level of quality, I feel guilty that I'm not doing it myself. So I want to make sure everybody's using the exact shade of red or blue or that typeface has to be what I would do. So the popular meme is the hand that moves over someone else's hand is the pixel effer that you might be the art director and that might be you, and you might feel really called out right now. So that's one school of thought. Why wouldn't you want to do that? Because what happens is you rob people of their autonomy, of their intelligence and creativity. They don't know how to make a decision without you, because every decision they've made, you've changed it. So now they're second and triple guessing themselves. So you've taken really powerful, sometimes very expensive creative resources, these wonderful people you've employed, and you stripped them down to the level of an intern or va. It doesn't sound super appealing. That's the risk that you run when you manage teams like that. The other school of thought is, you know what? I hired really great people. I'm going to let them run free. And we celebrate autonomy and we empower people. And then you go on to do what you want to do. So you're leaving the team, the cat, so to speak, to run amok. And so this is like an absentee management style, right? Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesn't, you're frustrated, you're angry, they're frustrated. They're angry because you let us do this, right? There's no quality control at all. So you're like, both options suck, Chris. One, I'm doing all the work. I'm robbing them of autonomy. Number two, I'm doing very little bit of the work, but it suffers and no one knows what's going on. There's no leadership or management. So there's a hybrid third model. I'm sure there's many more models, but the hybrid one that I practice, it works something like this. I practice the form of intentional incompetence. I'll tell you what that means, okay? It's a weird phrase, right? I'm intentionally incompetent because a person is really good at lots of things. Your team will recognize you're really good at it. They'll feel Insecure, and they'll ask you to solve all these kinds of problems. And over time, you wind up doing their job while paying them to do it. That's not good. You're not really incompetent. You know how to do lots of things, but you have to fame like you don't know how to do anything so that people can step up and take care of you, take care of the business, take care of the clients, they grow, the company grows, and you are are stuck holding the bag. Here's how I do things. I say, I've trained you, you've done great work. And at this point, I'm going to leave it up to you to call upon me as to when you want my input on things. So don't feel obligated to show me anything unless you're not quite sure. And I welcome the work anytime you want to come in. So I'm not discouraging you from coming in and showing the work and getting feedback, but I want you to be resolved that you know what you're doing and you're asking for a second pair of eyes or a second opinion on what it is that we're going to do. So my team now feels the responsibility of taking the work to the highest level that they can. They are also taking responsibility for making sure that the clients are happy and maybe most importantly, how to run the project so that we're meeting our numbers and the guidelines that are in place. So they're going to make sure we do good work, the clients are happy, and that it's on budget and on time. They need to like, call me on the red phone and say, you know what, we're not seeing clearly. There's a big important pitch. Here's what we know, and before it's too late, can we get your opinion and thoughts on this so that we can redirect as needed? And so then you come in, you give your feedback, and then they are allowed to continue to make their own decisions. But having heard your feedback, I love this way because it's elective. No one feels like they have to do it. And if they are electing to get your feedback, it means they're probably not always, but probably more open to, to accepting the feedback that they just asked for right now. There's times when this doesn't work, when they don't want to take responsibility, so they elect to show you the work to abdicate from that responsibility. That's not going to work. And if you start to see that happen, you have a conversation about it, or you may have hired the wrong kinds of people. This also happens in a financial situation where I tell my creative teams, if you feel like the clients are slipping through your fingers and you're going to end in a negative outcome, please talk to me before that point happens so that I can intervene and possibly jump on the sales call and help to land the client. And use this as often as you need, but again, only if you elect to do so. If you feel like you got this one in the bag, do your thing. If we lose it, I won't blame you. It's totally okay because I'm not batting a hundred or a thousand either. Okay. So we. We all do our best and only use that option if you feel like. You feel like it's slipping away. My team, as good as they are, every once in a while, say, Chris, too big of a project. We don't feel like we're hitting it. We can't get the clients assigned, and then we need to bring in the big guns. That would be me or that would be you.