I've never understood why people equate management to leadership. For me leadership is that you're so awed by the excellence and ideas of your manager that you follow him. But whereever I see a manager act, I see authority and no leadership. What did I miss?

I reckon there is leadership when a boss is driving a corporate all-hands. But when you're in a 1-on-1 with your team lead, and he tells you that your performance is too low, there is no leadership involved. It's only driving and authority. No convincing, no leadership. The TL is here to review the tasks, the sprint backlog, remove hurdles for you, potentially check everyone's preferences or career advancement.

Can someone point me to a situation where a team lead isn't acting using authority but using leadership? Is there any time I could choose that he's wrong and do something else than he says?

If your team lead is telling you that your performance is low... one of a few things is happening:

* You aren't a team player, and he doesn't like you. He doesn't like spending time with you, he wants you to quit. This is a personality issue. Possibly he's at fault, but more than likely you are. Ask yourself, "Do I make the jobs of other people easier or harder? Do I make my team lead's job easier or harder?" Be honest. Remember, missing a deadline is often something he can smooth over. If you were really irreplaceable you wouldn't be having reviews with your team lead -- watch your attitude. (I'm putting this first because it's a hot market and so many devs have attitude problems / entitlement problems as a result.) Personality is 85% of your success, technical skills the other 15%.

* He has to give someone a bad rating (and he doesn't like you / you are the low man). Stack ranking sucks, but it's very real. You are being graded on a curve at work, even if you're a solid performer you're being compared to the others on your team. Always do what you can to show your worth. Never let others speak or you, or present your ideas. Get the credit for what you do.

* You deserve it. Be honest.

* He's a douche. But chances are he is a douche because he doesn't have insight (because you didn't do your work in a way he could see it, or your attitude sucks). It's rare for team leads to want people off their team, they usually aren't promoted because they were bad at their job / not ambitious. As long as you know what his ambitions are... and align yourself with them... you can have a great relationship with your boss. Don't jump to the conclusion that your boss is a douche. Do your best, and try to understand what's going on here. 99% of the time your boss wants you to succeed and you're your own worst enemy in the workplace.

The team was excellent and I admit that I probably deserved it. I didn't have friends in that city and I was a work addict, which is a very bad situation to perform well and get recognition. A few things could have been done and I'm certainly disappointed he didn't do them. I've left that company two years ago, came back to my home country and created my own company. He takes news often, like other colleagues, but he never admitted that he preferred me out, so I wonder what he really expected. I believe I've mitigated the bad situation by leaving.

But I was really asking about the team lead. Even for others, you drive a team by prioritizing a backlog and communicating. But if you do things your employees don't like, it's the same story, they still have to work hard and perform best.

At what moment is leadership involved in being a manager, rather than natural subordination from the employees?

This is hard. Best case, your manager was someone who was good at what the team he managed did... and wanted to stop being good at that and waste all his time in meetings. Ha.

You have a valid point... and that is to say that leadership doesn't have to be from the managers only. But often they're the only ones who (because of all the damn meetings) have a full view of what's going on with the company, their competitors, and with the market as a whole.

The amount of time I devote to not coding... it makes me good at things that aren't coding. The amount of time my trusted tech lead puts into coding and helping train junior devs (so they'll hit me up for raises) is also staggering.

I miss having a hands-on job, but it's sort of a question of "who are you doing it for?" He's doing it for the staff, and I guess indirectly the company. But I would say I do it for the company, and when the company is healthy that indirectly helps the staff.

You're going to need both kinds of leadership.

Exploring alternative power structures isn't teenage angst, saying we don't like bosses is one particular view of the world and it isn't immature or mature. It recognizes the fact that work can get done without coercion.

Bad leaders will lean on the authority of being a boss and be coercive. When you have no bosses or you have temporary leaders/bosses who don't have authority there is no choice but to convince your peers that the thing you're working on is worthwhile.

"We don't like bosses" is only teenage angst if there's no alternative provided or explored.

>Not really sure why anyone would think democracy was a good way to run a company

George Orwell described the difference in the fascist and anarchist armies in Spain, where the anarchist groups had to convince their peers to do something. Yes it took a little longer to say "we should attack/defend X because Y and Z, and <insert answers to more questions about the plan here>" than to say "we are attacking/defending X right now or you will be shot". But each person who signed up to the plan were convinced that it was a good idea, they were more dedicated.

So yeah, you're right, lots of people in a company aren't good at leading. So either we help them get better or we reduce the power of bosses so that if a bad leader becomes in charge we all don't have to suffer (democracies are stronger than monarchies and dictatorships, pretty good reason to explore how democracy can benefit a workplace).

So like, profits are down... you really want to democratically make cuts to your organization? That's insane. People won't make impartial decisions, they will just vote for their friends or teammates. Everyone has a different view for what needs to be improved... Ask a sales guy, designer, developer, or QA engineer why something failed and you'll get different answers. Your company needs leaders to get to the real answers.