Why your best employee shouldn't be a manager – according to this entrepreneur

Companies often confuse technical performance with leadership potential. Jason Modemann of Mawave explains why this doesn't work and what constitutes good leadership.

Jason Modemann is the founder and managing director of the social media agency Mawave Marketing. At 27, he manages 150 employees. Mawave's clients include Red Bull, Nike, and Lidl.

There's still a deeply ingrained idea in our society: those who lead make careers. Those who want to climb the career ladder take on responsibility for teams. The larger the team, the higher the prestige. But that's precisely the problem.

Because: A career is also possible as an expert, without any personnel responsibility, without a leadership role, but with just as much impact.

I founded my agency at 19, out of my childhood bedroom. While I initially slipped into my leadership role, I now realize that it's my passion. I love motivating people, taking on responsibility, and communicating visions. I'm a good listener, I can sense what makes a team tick, and I'm driven to make each and every one of them better.

But: I'm not the ideal model of a career, just one of them. What I think many companies lack is a realistic view of leadership: Leadership is often hyped as the ultimate career milestone, as if it were the logical consequence of good performance. But that's precisely the mistake. Because: Leadership is not a promotion, but a role change.

We often made the classic mistake ourselves in the past: A person is technically strong, ambitious, and motivated, and is promoted to leadership. It sounds logical at first. The problem: Just because someone is really good at their job doesn't mean they can or want to lead well. What happens then? You lose a true expert – and in the worst case, you gain an overwhelmed manager who slows down the team rather than strengthens it.

Leadership is often perceived as an "extra." But in reality, it's a completely different job—with different responsibilities, skills, and expectations. It's no longer about providing the best solutions yourself. It's about supporting others in their growth, mediating conflicts, and making decisions with the team in mind. And that's not just a skill set, but also a question of attitude. Leadership isn't something you just "just jump into." It's a conscious decision and should be taken just as seriously as any other specialization in the company.

That's why we now consciously distinguish between two development paths: the Expert Track and the Leadership Track. In the Expert Track, employees can develop deeply into their professional areas. They become specialists in their field, drive innovation, and assume responsibility for knowledge, quality, and performance. They are no less ambitious, just focused differently than their team leads.

The Leadership Track focuses on working with people: leading teams, taking responsibility, facilitating decisions, building structures, and helping to shape culture. This role requires a different skill set—less operational, more communicative, empathetic, and strategic.

What's important to us: Both paths are equally valued with us. Equal appreciation, equal career progression, same salary structure. And best of all: You can even switch between the paths with us – in both directions. It might sound like a step backwards if someone moves from the Leadership Track to the Expert Track. But it isn't. We've experienced exactly this many times, and it's worked really well.

For us, this is a proven system that I highly recommend to every founder and entrepreneur. Because not everyone needs to lead to a career. But everyone should be able to choose the path that truly suits them. And for us, that's precisely what true, modern organizational development means.

My lesson: Good leadership begins with not imposing it on everyone. Instead, it begins with the honest question: Who do I truly trust to take on this role, and why?