Power vs. influence: What open source teaches that business school doesn’t

Open source participation builds leadership skills that traditional hierarchies rarely teach. Because open source contributors can't rely on positional power, they must develop influence, negotiation, and empathy to get work done. Maintainers act as managers without authority, convincing contributors to iterate on patches and recruiting help for needed tasks. These skills transfer directly to professional management roles. Even non-leaders can practice by rallying help on their own contributions, volunteering to run user groups, or facilitating meetings. OSPOs are encouraged to frame open source work as leadership development, not just technical skill-building.