DIY leadership development: Stay connected with the broader industry.

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Why?

Staying connected with the broader industry allows you to:

• Find resources for help, advice, and partnerships. For example, learning how other organizations designed similar systems, implemented similar processes, or solved similar problems. This can save a lot of time by learning from others’ experiences.
• Learn about trends earlier, both in terms of emerging problems and emerging solutions.

How?

Subscribe to resources describing industry trends. For example, ones I like are the ThoughtWorks Radar, the state of DevOps Report, the Pragmatic Engineer, TLDR, etc.

Build and maintain your external network. For example, building out your LinkedIn contacts, joining alumni Slacks for past companies you’ve worked for, etc.

When someone asks for help, help them… especially if they are part of your network but even if they’re not — pay it forward.

Participate in industry user groups and conferences or better yet, speak at them.