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Stop Trying To Be A Leader (Do This Instead)
Stop obsessing over being “more strategic”—start building a team people would actually choose to follow if titles disappeared tomorrow.
Most leadership advice teaches you how to act like a leader.
In this episode of Heartbeat, I sit down with speaker, coach, and author Antonio Neves (Stop Trying to Be a Leader) to unpack how to become someone people actually want to follow—especially when your title and authority aren’t enough.
If you’re a CIO, CTO, or tech leader trying to “be more of a leader,” this is your pattern interrupt. The real move isn’t more leadership content—it’s shifting from performing leadership to building something worth following: clarity, standards, systems, and trust.
In this conversation, we cover:
Why trying to “be a leader” creates leadership theater, not real change
The hidden cost of being the hero: decision bottlenecks, burnout, and fragile teams
How great CIOs lead by building clear systems, not louder personalities
The difference between influence you own vs. influence you rent from your title
A practical shift from “How do I show up as a leader?” to
“What system am I building that others can trust?”
Resources
📖 Antonio’s book: Stop Trying to Be a Leader on Amazon
https://a.co/d/dFIkejR
View all episodes
By Mike SommerStop obsessing over being “more strategic”—start building a team people would actually choose to follow if titles disappeared tomorrow.
Most leadership advice teaches you how to act like a leader.
In this episode of Heartbeat, I sit down with speaker, coach, and author Antonio Neves (Stop Trying to Be a Leader) to unpack how to become someone people actually want to follow—especially when your title and authority aren’t enough.
If you’re a CIO, CTO, or tech leader trying to “be more of a leader,” this is your pattern interrupt. The real move isn’t more leadership content—it’s shifting from performing leadership to building something worth following: clarity, standards, systems, and trust.
In this conversation, we cover:
Why trying to “be a leader” creates leadership theater, not real change
The hidden cost of being the hero: decision bottlenecks, burnout, and fragile teams
How great CIOs lead by building clear systems, not louder personalities
The difference between influence you own vs. influence you rent from your title
A practical shift from “How do I show up as a leader?” to
“What system am I building that others can trust?”
Resources
📖 Antonio’s book: Stop Trying to Be a Leader on Amazon
https://a.co/d/dFIkejR