Hello,
My name is David Thompson. I have an MBA in Information Technology Management and spent the last 20 years leading several different IT teams, mostly in the Higher Education system. During my career I would continuously state that “I am the worst manager ever” and I not only believed it, but I was also proud of it. This website and the stories within describe why I felt that way, and why I would never change a thing. You see, I was an accidental manager. It was offered to me, and I was happy to accept the salary increase that came along with it. But I had no idea how to do the job.

Years before starting my career in Higher Education, I worked for several large technology companies and had been laid off a number of times. That was the environment in the late 1990s. You were never given a sense of security or loyalty. You were given a job, and you were only useful while the company needed that position and had the funding for it. It was unfortunate, but that was the reality and I understood it. During one such layoff, I was contacted by a friend who worked at a local community college and had read about the massive layoff at my employer. He offered me a job, which I accepted as my bills were stacking up. Before even accepting the position, I had already decided it would only be temporary. I was a company man.

Within the first few months I noticed two things. One, there were a number of people working there whose job I couldn’t identify or justify. Two, hard work and delivering on your responsibilities seemed to be very rare in this environment. I was initially confused about why management would let this continue, and when I looked at it from the view of a taxpayer, I was genuinely upset. However, my work ethic and ability to bring new technologies into the school made me stand out. Before long I was approached by a senior leader who told me they saw a great deal of Emotional Intelligence in me and offered to help me start my Leadership journey. To be honest, at that time I had no idea what Emotional Intelligence even meant. I politely said, ‘thank you’, then grabbed my phone and googled it.

Up until this point, I had deliberately avoided using the word Leadership, because up until this point in my career I had never really heard anyone else use it. It was always management. My degree is in management. I always had managers. That was about to change.

Shortly after, I was invited to participate in the college’s Leadership Academy. The what?!? The college president at the time, in my opinion, was very deliberate in the naming and focus of the training being offered to new managers. I had witnessed mostly autocratic managers in my past, ones who gave an order, set a timeline and expectations, then micromanaged the whole process. That was my entire vision of management. I had occasionally encountered democratic managers who constantly sought suggestions and approval from their employees, which always seemed like a way to avoid being blamed for failures down the road. But a transformational leader, one who focuses on team building, motivation, and creating a supportive environment, was something I never considered could exist in any of my past workplaces. Being a manager never sounded like fun to me. Being a leader? I couldn’t wait to get started. It wasn’t long after the Academy that I was given the opportunity.

Since that time, I have led several different teams, software development, infrastructure, cloud architecture, and more. And over those 20 years, one thing always remained constant: I was the worst manager ever. Thankfully. Because if I had been just another manager, I would never have found the satisfaction I found in being a leader.

So how do I validate that being a leader was the right choice, at least for me? My teams were productive, efficient, and genuinely committed to the success of the organization and to each other. To this day, former team members still contact me for advice and insight, which I find extremely humbling. I do the same. I still call the leaders from my past who inspired me when I need a little guidance. I never called a former manager who wasn’t also a leader. Have you?

My leadership style has not come without its own set of problems, detractors, and at a price. But those are stories for another time.

Oh, and those people I mentioned, the ones whose jobs I couldn’t identify or justify? The answer turned out to be very simple. They were great people who genuinely wanted to help, but they were not motivated, inspired, or encouraged. They were the unfortunate byproduct of poor management.

Welcome to Why People Follow. Pull up a chair and let’s talk about becoming someone worth following.