Besides having highly specialized technical skills, software developers are also expected to integrate in new teams easily and lead a group of persons through difficult situations in complex projects. To fulfill these expectations, a developer needs a very different set of skills that is usually not taught during education. In this talk, Alex shares his path to personal leadership and how he applied these principles to his career in the software industry. With many anecdotes of past projects in different team configurations (e.g. small/big, co-located/hybrid/remote), he points out why every developer needs leadership skills and how it can help to be successful in personal, as well as in professional life.