Below is quote from the book Game of Thrones, the first book in the series from George R. R. Martin.

“He would have to remember that he was no longer in Winterfell, where only the king stood higher; here, he was but first among equals.”

I’ve given up on reading management or tech books for fun and instead prioritiize my own enjoyment which ends up being Sci-Fi or Fanatasy (please let me know if high-fantasy is an actual term). Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) is up on that list and I’m on my second read through. The above quote seemed to jump up out at me on this last read through; Ned’s internal dialogue where he internalizes one of the differences with King’s Landing vs his home court. Here he’s no longer top dog but one of many. He perceives correctly that he should have more power than those around him but must heed their opinions and speciailizations.

I started using this turn of phrase the next day - first among equals. You’re opinion is important but you must balance it with everyone elses. A nice alternative to the Benevelonet Dictator we here about in software engineering where instead of you having the final say you must find the balance of working with everyone. You are more bound to the direction of the company (or small council) and are specially directed to get momentum. But you are one of many and must treat others opinions as equal or greater than your own.

A great way to externalize team leadership!

I didn’t use AI for this, but did plug it into a word counter/spell checker. 0 words misspelled