After more than twenty years in the software industry, and six years in the military, I've been exposed to many different styles of leadership. I've learned that true leadership lies somewhere between the tendencies of the "Dictator," who manages your every move and the "Fire and Forget" manager who gives you only the broadest direction. True leaders give those who follow enough direction to allow for creative and intelligent solutions. True leaders learn to give enough attention and frequent feedback (without being overbearing) in order to keep intelligence and imagination in-line with business goals. True leaders enable those who follow to push themselves along the growth path of their own choosing. I strive to be a true leader.I work side-by-side with some very talented engineers (both test and development), and it can be a truly uplifting experience. Working with people of this caliber allows me to keep my hands "dirty" by implementing automation frameworks as well as manual testing. The software we produce always holds something new for me to learn.I started my career as a manual QA tester but quickly grew bored with the established methodologies of the time. Writing test cases, though important, is really quite boring. Writing test plans that are read only once by your manager is downright disheartening. To move above and beyond what I thought QA was, I became an installation engineer and web developer. I loved writing code, but something was missing. Then, the clouds parted, and a beam of light shown down on this beautiful thing called "Automation." I was able to code and test (break things!) again. I was hooked and firmly re-entrenched in the QA world. Many years later, I continue to look for work that will allow me keep my hands dirty while helping others grow and develop their own skills.