Can you manage something you don't understand?

As a leader managing IT project you must have technological background or - at least - deep understanding of project domain and technology used by your team. Without clear vision of what and why your people do, you won't be true leader. You won't be able to freely communicate with your team.

Goleman describes 6 leadership styles (Goleman et al, "Primal Leadership"). He values the visionary style as the most effective. Visionary leaders lead through inspiration of the people to achieve common goal, they move them towards a 'shared dream'. But Galford and Drapeau claim that the real leadership takes more than inspiration - it takes a trust between the leader and his team. The first step to build trust is to show understanding of the needs of team members and the group as a whole (Galford, Drapeau, "The Trusted Leader"). How can you understand their needs if you're not able to understand what they do?

That was Machiavelli who said: "And therefore a prince who does not understand the art of war, over and above the other misfortunes already mentioned, cannot be respected by his soldiers, nor can he rely on them." (Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Prince").

Dilbert would probably get my point :)