Cory Berg

Leadership README

How I Lead

I tell every coaching client to write one of these. So I had to write mine first.

Below is my own Leadership README. It is how I actually operate so the people who work with me don't have to guess.

It is not aspirational. It is not a culture deck. It is the operating manual I share with my team and the document I update when something here turns out not to be true.

If you want to write your own, the template is at /leadership-readme. Takes about 45 minutes.

1. How I Communicate

Slack vs email

  • Slack for in-flight work, quick questions, FYIs, and anything time-sensitive within the team. Default to public channels over DMs so context lives where the work lives.
  • Email for external stakeholders, formal decisions you want a paper trail on, and anything that needs to survive a Slack history rotation.
  • For anything with nuance or risk, write a short doc and link it. A paragraph in Slack is not a decision record.

Urgency expectations

  • "Now" means now. Call me. Don't bury it in a thread.
  • "Today" means same business day. Slack with @ mention.
  • "This week" means a normal Slack message, no @.
  • If you don't say, I'll assume it's not urgent. Be explicit.
  • I will not respond instantly to non-urgent things while I'm in deep work or in another meeting. That's by design.

Meeting expectations

  • Every meeting has a purpose, a desired outcome, and a short pre-read or agenda. If those three aren't there, decline or send it back.
  • On time means on time. If you're going to be late, post in the meeting channel.
  • One-on-ones are yours. Bring the agenda. I'll always ask: "Is there anything I can be doing more of or less of?" Have an answer.
  • If a meeting could be a written update, make it a written update.

2. What I Expect From You

Ownership

  • Own outcomes, not just activity. Busy is not the same as effective.
  • If it's yours, drive it. Don't wait to be asked for status. Don't wait for permission to be clear.
  • Own your decisions and your mistakes. Correct them. That's leadership at any level.
  • Never ask anyone to do something you wouldn't do yourself.

Communication

  • Be clear. Use precise terminology. Be mindful of your audience.
  • Over-communicate strategic context to your team. Assume the message landed when you've heard it played back to you, not when you've said it.
  • Surface bad news early. I'd rather hear a hard truth on Tuesday than a polished story on Friday.
  • Default to writing. Words on a page force clarity that conversation often hides.

Quality bar

  • The work reflects you. If you'd be embarrassed to show it to the customer, the board, or your future self, it's not done.
  • We hold the line on outcomes, not heroics. If a project requires constant personal heroics to ship, the system is broken. Tell me.
  • "Done" includes the operational tail: docs, monitoring, handoffs, the people side. Half-shipped is unshipped.
  • Treat people the way you'd want to be treated. That includes how you write code reviews, run meetings, and give feedback.

3. Decision Making

What you own

  • Anything inside your scope and within your stated guardrails. Make the call. Note the reasoning.
  • The shape of your team's day-to-day: roles, processes, prioritization, technology choices that don't affect the broader org.
  • Tradeoffs that affect only your team's outcomes. Don't kick those upstairs.
  • How you communicate, run meetings, give feedback. That's leadership work and it's yours.

What I own

  • Cross-team direction, strategic priorities, and anything that requires alignment across functions.
  • Hiring above a certain level, comp decisions, org structure changes.
  • Public commitments to the executive team or board.
  • Final call when peers are stuck and a decision needs to land.

When to escalate

  • It crosses team boundaries and others are blocked.
  • It changes scope, timeline, or budget on a commitment we've already made externally.
  • It involves a person issue that needs HR, legal, or executive visibility.
  • You've identified a risk that, if it lands, would be a "why didn't anyone say something" moment. Say something.
  • You're stuck between two reasonable options and the cost of getting it wrong is high. Bring me both, with your recommendation.

I do not want to be the bottleneck. If you're escalating things I should have empowered you to decide, tell me. We'll fix the guardrails.

4. How to Bring Me Problems

What I need to see

  • The problem, in one or two sentences.
  • The impact: who's affected, how badly, and by when.
  • What you've tried or considered.
  • Your recommendation, even if you're not sure. A weak recommendation is more useful than no recommendation.
  • What you need from me: a decision, air cover, an introduction, a tiebreaker, or just a sounding board. Name it.

What not to do

  • Don't bring a problem with no thinking attached. "What should we do?" is rarely the right opener.
  • Don't bury the lede. Lead with the problem, not the backstory.
  • Don't sit on it. Bad news ages badly. The earlier I see it, the more options we have.
  • Don't escalate to avoid a hard conversation with a peer. Have the conversation first.
  • Don't dress up a complaint as a problem. Complaints describe; problems propose.

I will stay calm. I will ask questions before I react. Bring me the truth, even when it's ugly.

5. What Success Looks Like

Outcomes

  • Your team delivers on commitments without grinding people into the ground.
  • Strategic goals are clear enough that anyone on your team can explain them in their own words.
  • Decisions get made at the lowest level they can be made well.
  • Risks surface early. Mistakes get corrected, not hidden.
  • The right people are in the right roles, doing work they're growing in.
  • You make me less necessary over time, not more.

Behaviors

  • You respond instead of react under pressure.
  • You give and receive feedback as a normal part of the week, not a quarterly event.
  • You operate with personal integrity. Words and deeds match.
  • You take care of yourself. Sleep, recovery, attention. Leadership performance degrades fast when those slip, and your team mirrors your state.
  • You coach the people around you. You're not trying to be the smartest person in the room. You're trying to make the room smarter.
  • You learn out loud. You change your mind when the evidence says you should, and you say so.

If we're doing this right, the team gets stronger, the work gets better, and you become a leader other people seek out. That's the goal.

- Cory

Write yours.

The template is free. Takes about 45 minutes to fill out if you answer honestly. Your team will feel the difference inside a week.

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