Highlighted practically all of this, but two I want to resurface for myself: You cultivate a culture of giving credit where and when it’s due. You allow and support your people to make their own decisions within the wide guard rails you’ve helped create, even when it’s not what or how you would choose.

I say ‘feasibly’ because often the upper end of career ladders for Independent Contributors (ICs) could be paraphrased as “we’ll know it when we see it”, which can leave those who haven’t sufficiently proven “it” in a frustrating limbo. ​ I’ve worked very hard to become an engineer and I want to stay here. ​ Developing prototypes to further explore and support ideas that come from that research.

Everyone knows you value them and their work, primarily because you regularly tell them so. You cultivate a culture of giving credit where and when it’s due.