Leadership doesn't have to be guesswork
Weekly insights on building trust, influencing decisions, and leading teams that actually work. Written by someone who's done the job. Trusted by 6,000+ professionals.
Hi, I'm Kelly Vaughn.
Sr. Engineering Manager @ Zapier
I write what I wish I'd had years ago: clear frameworks, honest takes, and practical tools for real leadership problems. Just advice from someone who's managed sprints, debugged production incidents at 2AM, and explained technical debt to CEOs.
Most leadership content is written by people who've never led technical teams. The Modern Leader exists because engineering leadership has unique challenges that generic management advice doesn't address.
I write for individual contributors stepping into leadership roles, engineering managers drowning in meetings, and senior leaders who want to build teams that actually ship. My approach: take complex leadership concepts, break them into actionable frameworks, skip the motivational poster wisdom.
