Super Leader
Everyone’s talking about super ICs. Nobody’s talking about who leads them.
I recently got asked what my take on “New Leadership” is.
The context: execs moving into IC roles, picking up the “Super IC” moniker. So what’s the equivalent for the leader on the other side of that equation?
The reason I am not becoming a Super IC? If the company grows, you will still get a manager. And you know how the adage goes
“People don’t leave companies, they leave managers.”
So, since that’s settled, here are the five traits leaders need to thrive right now to make sure those super ICs don’t leave you for grass that only looks greener from where they’re standing.
The Super Leader
1. Player Coach
The leaders I see thriving are those who know the tools and can show rather than tell. They prototype before they delegate. They review by opening the Claude code, not necessarily the doc.
You don’t need to be the best engineer in the room. You need to be in the room connecting the dots; others are not seeing.
2. Prototype-Fluent Strategist
They test the bet themselves before they hand it to a team. You should have already gone through the opportunities that won’t work, and armed your team to do the same, so you can start relying on intuition for the likely opportunities to move the needle.
It is very easy to write a 12-page strategy doc with Claude (please use Claude to make it a one-pager, and spare your team from using Claude to summarize it). The resourceful leader will be able to prototype options and identify the ones most likely to succeed, using prototyping as a tool.
3. Magnetic Multiplier
The leaders I’d follow across companies share one thing: you grow faster working with them than you do anywhere else. You ship more. You learn things you couldn’t find in a job posting, and they are uniquely qualified to put you in a position where you will thrive by moving the business forward, and clear all the other sh*tuff out of your way.
They also have a network they built before they needed it. When a green-field problem lands, they know exactly who to call. And the person picks up and joins. That’s manufacturing luck. Decades of showing up as someone worth working with again.
4. Systems Thinker
Fluent across the whole business and up and down the tech and customer stacks. Sees how product moves revenue, how GTM shapes what product builds, how finance either unlocks or kills the next bet, and how to combine different innovations into a package that is valuable to your business and your users.
5. The Editor
When your team can ship anything, someone has to decide what’s worth shipping.
Sharp judgment means the product gets sharper. Soft judgment means everything ships, nothing coheres, and the user experience quietly turns into “the more menu”.
What this means right now
The directors and VPs who win the next five years aren’t the ones who become super ICs. They’re the ones who learn the tools and learn to lead the Super ICs by becoming the ones worth following.
Join me to learn how:
May 14th: 9 am: Run Teams that Deliver AI Products
June 6-7: Lead AI without the Chaos