July 20, 2026
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Key takeaways:
- Influence is becoming a vital skill for engineering leaders. As hierarchies flatten and AI enables more autonomous work, leading from any position is becoming the most valuable thing in engineering.
- The first step isn’t persuasion – it’s orientation. Know where you stand and where they stand before you try to move anyone.
- Make it as easy as possible to say yes. Package everything someone needs into the ask itself – small, concrete requests get answered immediately.
You can hold an engineering leadership title and not be a leader.
Join LeadDev.com for free to access this content
July 20, 2026
