When leaders return to making things
Most technical leaders didn’t become leaders to lead.
They became leaders because that’s where the influence was. The budget decisions. The architectural choices. The strategic direction.
But somewhere along the way, they stopped building things.
Meetings replaced coding sessions. Presentation replaced prototypes. They found themselves describing solutions instead of creating them.
AI development tools might change that equation entirely.
What if you could maintain strategic oversight while personally building the critical pieces? What if leading didn’t mean delegating everything?
The traditional model assumed you couldn’t do both. Leadership required full attention. Technical work required deep focus. Pick one.
But AI tools compress the time between idea and implementation. That strategy you’ve been explaining in slide decks? You could prototype it this afternoon.
The architectural vision you’ve been communicating through diagrams? You could build the foundational pieces yourself.
This isn’t about micromanaging or stepping on your team’s toes. It’s about leaders who understand systems deeply enough to know which problems to solve personally.
The CEO who builds the core algorithm. The CTO who prototypes the new platform architecture. The VP who writes the critical integration herself.
Not because the team can’t do it. Because they can do it better, faster, and with more context about where it fits in the bigger picture.
These leaders aren’t telling their teams what to build. They’re building alongside them. Sharing knowledge in real-time. Showing techniques and explaining trade-offs as they happen. It’s leadership through example rather than directive.
We might see a new type of leader emerging. The hands-on executive who combines strategic thinking with personal execution. Someone who doesn’t just direct the work but actively participates in creating it.
The best leaders were usually great individual contributors first.
Maybe AI tools will let them be both again.