Based on the Reluctant Leadership blog, this is a practical operating system for engineering managers who didn’t ask for the job but want to do it well. The hardest part of tech is people.
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Your guide to setting up and using the Reluctant Leadership Engineering Manager OS.
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The cockpit for your week: minimal, useful, and quietly judgmental.
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The starter kit for new managers who didn’t ask for this job, but got it anyway.
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Would You Like to Be Managed by You?
The soul of the OS, the mirror test you can’t wriggle out of.
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Concentric Circles of Influence
Influence isn’t persuasion. It’s presence and consistency.
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The invisible, unthanked work of holding people together and keeping them moving.
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A handbook for scaling your team through nudges, micro-practices, and quiet leverage.
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Subscribe to Substack for the latest unhinged ramblings:
Reluctant Leadership | Simon Pickles | Substack
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Copyright Simon Pickles 2025
v0.3.3 - 2025-11-02
Licensed for personal use only
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Have feedback, ideas or requests? [email protected]
Social: 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/reluctantleadership.substack.com
Banner photo by https://unsplash.com/@nasa