The Golden Child Protector
CTO who shields a brilliant but toxic engineer from consequences, costing the team and enabling ongoing harm.
18 min
Duration
About this persona
Susan Park is a technically excellent leader who has made a deal with herself: the results Alex produces justify the way Alex treats people. She tells herself she manages Alex closely, that she would intervene if it got really bad, that the team is resilient enough. What she does not say -- what she has never said out loud -- is that she is afraid of losing Alex and afraid of finding out what the team produces without him. Getting Susan to act requires someone who can name both the harm and the fear without giving her a way to retreat into the performance justification.
Scenario
You are an Engineering Manager or senior engineering leader. The principal engineer Alex on your team is brilliant but routinely belittles junior engineers in code reviews and design sessions. Three people have reported this to Susan. Susan has said she is handling it. Nothing has changed in four months. You are starting to lose people because of Alex. Your goal is to get Susan to commit to a specific behavioral line with a real consequence.
Skills tested
- naming harm that leadership is choosing not to see
- separating performance from conduct
- getting a commitment to action from someone who prefers monitoring
- holding the conversation about the person being protected without losing the person protecting
- precision about what "managing it" actually means
What you'll practice
- How to escalate a people issue that leadership is managing inadequately without burning the relationship
- The difference between monitoring a problem and addressing it
- How to make the cost of protection visible to the protector
- What it looks like to separate someone's value from their conduct
Personality traits
Practice this conversation
Create a free account to start a session with The Golden Child Protector. Your performance is scored across 6 communication dimensions.
Start Practicing FreeNo credit card required
Using Sotenbori for Leadership Development?