"Leadership as system designer"

I read a comment recently that painted a clear picture of great engineering leadership:

Sounds solid.
But something about it didn’t sit right.

It took me a minute to realise why:
The leader in that story is outside the system.

They’re the architect.
The protector.
The decision-maker.

The team?
They're the beneficiaries of all that design, unleashed, aligned, and guided from above.

It’s a compelling image.
And it's one I've bought into at times.

But here's what I’ve learned the hard way:

Leadership isn’t an external force shaping a passive environment.
It’s participation.
In conversations. In uncertainty. In power dynamics and unspoken tensions and meaning made in the moment.

You're not outside the mess.
You're in it.
And your presence, your tone, your availability, your body language in a meeting, changes it.

The danger in seeing yourself as the system designer is that it offers the illusion of control.
But people aren’t components.
And culture isn’t code.

Leadership is relational. Which means the system isn't something you fix.
It’s something you’re shaping with others, all the time, whether you realise it or not.

Until next time,
Dermot
The Messy Middle

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