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Home > Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast > Leadership Red Flag—When Managers Care More About Career Than Team Success | Lilia Pulova
Podcast: Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast
Episode:

Leadership Red Flag—When Managers Care More About Career Than Team Success | Lilia Pulova
Category: News & Politics
Duration: 00:14:58
Publish Date: 2025-06-24 10:05:00
Description: Lilia Pulova: Leadership Red Flag—When Managers Care More About Career Than Team Success

Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

Lilia shares the story of when she worked with a troubled team where all projects were running late. As a junior Scrum Master, she struggled to identify that the root cause was a manager more focused on career advancement than team success. This manager only paid attention to team members who could provide exposure to higher management, dismissing other requests with "let's solve that later." Integration problems mounted, key people were absent, and when COVID arrived, the team was ultimately disbanded. This experience taught Lilia crucial lessons about taking ownership of team success and viewing the Scrum Master role as a continuous learning journey in leadership.

Self-reflection Question: How well do you understand the human dynamics within your team, and what signals might you be missing about individual motivations?

Featured Book of the Week: 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Lilia recommends "48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene for its insights into human behavior and understanding the consequences of our actions when working with others. As Scrum Masters who interact with humans daily, this book helps develop awareness of interpersonal dynamics. One key principle Lilia applies is "always say less than necessary" - helping teams make decisions rather than overwhelming them with too much information or direction.

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