Technology professionals often face a defining career question: should leadership growth focus on leading people or on deepening technical expertise? This presentation explores these two professional development pathways as complementary, not competing, approaches to leadership in modern technology organisations.

The Leading People pathway emphasises capability in communication, coaching, strategic thinking, and organisational influence. Its strengths lie in building high‑performing teams, navigating complexity, and aligning technology initiatives with institutional goals. However, this path can risk distance from hands‑on technical understanding if not deliberately maintained.

Conversely, the Technical Expert pathway centres on mastery, credibility, and innovation. Expert leaders drive informed decision‑making, system integrity, and emerging technology adoption. The challenge lies in scaling impact beyond individual contribution and avoiding bottlenecks where expertise is concentrated rather than shared.

This session examines these pathways and highlights the critical intersections between them, where people leadership is strengthened by technical fluency, and technical leadership is amplified through influence, mentoring, and trust.

Drawing on real‑world experience, the presentation offers practical insights for planning these pathways for technology professionals, including the challenges and the potential opportunity for a wider network of organisations to collaborate on future training.