Companies cannot grow without strong technical employees. But the strengths and biases of technical staff can make leadership challenging for their managers, whether those managers rose up from the ranks of technical staff or came from outside the tech world.

In Leading Technical Talent, Lou Russell takes readers inside the minds of their information technology staff and considers some of the challenges IT departments face. She offers guidance on hiring, retention, and performance management that can help IT managers keep their department's work in alignment with company goals.

This issue of TD at Work includes:

typical characteristics of technical staff
a framework for determining behavioral preferences
misconceptions that keep technical staff from advancing
a discussion of women in IT
a career development template.