[ckmiaomix]

Hi! Author here - that's actually...kinda the point.

The good treatment you mentioned doesn't organically happen. Your leaders have to fight for it and maintain it. And eng leaders...just aren't in the fight right now.

If good eng leaders actually stepped up and brought the ethos of enabling creativity, autonomy, and well-being to the rest of the org, everyone would be in a better place.

[collingreen]

That point did not come through AT ALL. Your article reads like the exact opposite - it has nothing about encouraging engineering leaders to spread humane work environments to other departments or even a suggestion that people deserve it. You called engineers "spoiled rotten".

[ckmiaomix]

LOL read literally the last 4 paragraphs.

"Other functions would do well to bring the same kind of focus on enabling productivity, happiness, and autonomy to their workers. In fact, CTOs-turned-CEOs I know tend to be some of the most kind, creative, and abundance-minded leaders I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. They have an inherent understanding on the importance of culture and making people feel valued."

[bluepizza]

> LOL read literally the last 4 paragraphs.

OP gave you valuable feedback on how your point is not getting across. Should you edit, or should you lol and snark is a personal choice for you to make. But OP is just trying to help you.

[rbrown]

I'm the OP. I didn't say this

[collingreen]

I read the article and I mentioned the positive part tacked on at the end and out of place with the rest of the article.

As I originally responded to you, if your goal was to convey that everyone should treat their employees well then that didn't come through for me. Frankly, writing about how spoiled and naive people are and how the time for wasteful fun is at an end is a weird structure if your intended point was that this is a good thing we need more of.

> The structured abuse makes the short blips of "I'm trying to help you" feel hollow and tacked on in response to someone's feedback on an early draft.

[ckmiaomix]

I think we're talking past eachother. The entire point here is not about the objective reality of how well your engineering team is doing - I couldn't possibly know enough to make that call.

The point is that engineering leaders (not ICs, but leadership responsible for communicating their teams' success) need to be actively shaping this narrative. And to do that, they need to be aware of the negative stereotypes and pre-existing perceptions that are there already. You can't just walk in and demand better treatment, you need to understand how you're perceived, read the room, and structure your strategy accordingly. Other CXOs all do this - they know that they are working against stereotypes and norms so they actively structure their narrative to help reflect what's actually happening (ex: marketing execs tend to de-emphasize the creative parts of their job, because they don't want to be seen as profligate spenders who throw money around for vague concepts like "awareness").

As much as it might hurt to confront the fact that some people have the wrong idea about you, it's your literal job as an executive.

And if you're an IC, you should be demanding this of your tech leaders. THEM neglecting this could cost YOU your job.

[jaredklewis]

Hi author. Just commenting to say I found your article to be very clear and insightful, thanks for writing it!

[ckmiaomix]

Thank you so much for reading it and commenting.