Hey Unfiltered Folks,

Answer: Because mentoring isn't in his job description and you haven't made it valuable to him.

He's optimizing for what you measure: output.

You measure lines of code, not people developed. So he codes.

This is your fault. You're measuring the wrong thing.

Fix the incentives and he'll mentor.
You reward solo work. You get solo work.

Do you want mentoring? Reward it.

Question to Consider: What do you reward: output or development?

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Why: People do what's rewarded. You're rewarding solo output, not team growth.

Here's what's happening: your engineer is a machine. He ships fast. You praise him for it. You give him raises for it. Meanwhile, mentoring takes time. If he mentors, his output drops. So he doesn't mentor. He's acting rationally inside your system. You built a system that punishes mentoring and rewards solo work.

The cost? No one's learning from your best engineer. His knowledge stays locked in his head. When he leaves, and he will, you'll lose years of tribal knowledge. Your junior engineers aren't growing. They're stumbling through problems he could solve in minutes. Team velocity suffers. All because you're measuring the wrong thing.

You're rewarding cowboys instead of team builders. Meanwhile, he's getting more senior every day, but his title doesn't match his contribution. Because you only measure code, not culture.

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Action: Change the incentives today. Make mentoring mandatory for senior roles. Include "engineers developed" in performance reviews. Reward it in compensation.

Be direct with him: "Part of being senior is developing others. Starting this month, you'll mentor two juniors. We'll measure their growth."

If he refuses after genuine coaching, he's not senior.

He's an IC.
Adjust his role accordingly.

Senior means building the team, not just the product.

Stay Unfiltered,
— Andy

P.S. Leaders who can't handle bad news create cultures where bad news gets hidden.

P.S.S. Buy my book to get 75 of the most painful leadership problems and fixes.