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Tap into a network of bold thinkers and industry leaders by sponsoring the Unlearn Podcast.Contact here: https://bit.ly/contact-barryoreilly____________________________________________________________Today on the Unlearn Podcast, I'm thrilled to be joined by Francesca Cortesi, CPO and Founder of Prodotto Collective, a product visionary, transformational leader, and someone who truly understands what it takes to build beloved products and high-performing teams.Francesca was the Chief Product Officer at Hemnet, Sweden's leading property platform, where she played a pivotal role in scaling the product organization and driving the company through a successful IPO in 2021. Under her leadership, Hemnet achieved consistent double-digit growth, became one of Sweden's most appreciated apps, and stood out as a top performer on the Swedish stock exchange.But her story goes far beyond business metrics. Francesca led cultural shifts too, transitioning the company language to English and increasing female representation in tech, proving that growth and inclusion can go hand in hand.In this episode, we explore how Francesca thinks about unlearning as a tool for personal and organizational growth, building product excellence at scale, and creating environments where diverse teams thrive.Key Takeaways:Changing careers: Francesca switched from fashion in Milan to tech in Sweden after many rejections, showing strong resilience.Product Management: Asking many questions helped her shift from project management to product management.Asking for Help: Great leaders don't need to know everything; asking for help builds stronger teams.Idea company size: Francesca thrives best in scale-up companies (40–400 people), not large corporations.Unlearning and Growth: Every new role required Francesca to "unlearn" old ways to adapt to new challenges.Additional Insights:Changing Roles: Your job changes when your company grows, so be ready for change.Know your strength: Understand clearly what you're good at and where you fit best.Start Fresh: Always approach new tasks like you're learning for the first time.Get ready for a powerful conversation with Francesca Cortesi on embracing change, scaling with intention, and building inclusive, high-performing product teams that thrive through continuous unlearning and growth.Episode Highlights: [01:00] - Episode Recap "Welcome to the Unlearn Podcast, Exploring career shifts, new leadership styles, and how to build strong product teams."[02:03] - Guest Introduction: Francesca Cortesi "Francesca, former Chief Product Officer at Hemnet, helped scale the product and led the company to a successful 2021 IPO."[03:22] - From Milan Fashion to Stockholm: The First Career Pivot "I worked in fashion, got a translator job in Sweden, and decided to move."[07:10] - Facing Rejection and Redefining Identity "I tried returning to fashion, but it wasn't working, time to move on."[10:13] - Discovering Product Management Through Curiosity and Questioning "I kept asking questions, turns out, that curiosity led me into product management."[15:20] - What Francesca Had to Unlearn"As a product manager, I had to leave behind what worked before, it's always contextual."[19:56] - Transition from Individual Contributor to Product Leader "My first leadership role taught me to stop copying others and
You can always send us your questions for a future show at passingthebatonpodcast@gmail.com Check out our website for additional written resources! Join Zack Hudson as he helps you grow your leadership skills weekly. Passing the Baton podcast is hosted by Neha Shingane & Mike Floyd.
We've all heard Peter Drucker's famous quote, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." But what does it really take to build a workplace culture that drives both people and performance? In this episode of Mission First People Always, Dr. Mike Patterson sits down with culture expert Andrea Wanerstrand to uncover the key elements of creating a thriving, human-centric workplace. Dr. Mike welcomes Andrea Wanerstrand, Founder & CEO of A3 CultureLab, a leadership speaker, coach, and consultant who helps organizations—from startups to Fortune 500 companies—design extraordinary workplace cultures. With a background in global performance management at companies like Microsoft and T-Mobile, Andrea shares insights on fostering a workplace where people feel valued, autonomous, and accountable. Andrea breaks down what it means to have a human-centric workplace, emphasizing the importance of how work gets done, how leaders make others feel, and how trust is built. She explains that culture isn't just about perks or policies—it's about how people interact, communicate, and show up every day. Throughout the conversation, Andrea offers practical advice for leaders, including how to balance empathy with authority, create autonomous teams, and encourage a culture of accountability without fear. She also shares details about her upcoming coaching program, Mindset Maven, designed to help high-achievers develop mental and physical resilience. Key Takeaways: Culture is about the "how," not just the "what"—how work is done, how people feel, and how trust is built. Human-centric leadership requires balancing empathy with authority to foster both people and performance. Autonomous teams thrive on accountability—leaders must set expectations, provide trust, and encourage transparency. Accountability isn't a bad word—it's about taking ownership, getting credit for success, and learning from setbacks. Your energy affects your leadership—Andrea recommends an energy audit to identify when you're at your best and schedule key conversations accordingly. Andrea Wanerstrand's insights remind us that leadership is about creating environments where people can thrive. Whether you're a new manager or a seasoned executive, understanding and shaping culture is key to long-term success. Hit play to hear the full episode and learn how to build a workplace culture that supports both people and performance! Links for This Episode: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreawanerstrand Company Website: http://a3culturelab.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreawanerstrand Connect with Dr. Mike: Website: https://www.drmikepatterson.com Book: https://www.missionfirstpeoplealwaysbook.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichaellpatterson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealdrmikepatterson Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmikepatterson Buy The Book!: Mission First People Always Episode Minute By Minute: 00:00 - Welcome and Introduction to the Episode 02:00 - Why Culture is the Driving Force Behind Organizational Success 04:02 - Defining Workplace Culture: The “How” Behind Every Organization 06:00 - Why Leaders Struggle to Build Healthy Cultures 08:06 - The Role of Emotional Awareness in Leadership 10:34 - The Shift from Individual Contributor to Leadership: What Changes? 12:48 - How to Build an Autonomous Team and Why It Matters 15:17 - Balancing Empathy and Authority as a Leader 18:00 - Overcoming Barriers to Authenticity at Work 21:09 - Why Accountability is Not a Negative Word (And How to Use It Effectively) 24:36 - The Importance of Psychological Safety in Workplace Culture 26:00 - What It Means to Have a Human-Centric Workplace 28:25 - Introducing Mindset Maven: Andrea's New Leadership Coaching Program 30:14 - Andrea's One Key Piece of Advice for Leaders 32:00 - Final Thoughts and How to Connect with Andrea
Are performance reviews a waste of time—or your agency's secret weapon?Too often, agencies treat performance management as a checkbox exercise, bogged down with vague feedback and awkward salary conversations. But Zoe Elizabeth Blogg, Operations Director at Reboot Online, has built a system that actually works. From structured performance reviews to proactive (quarterly!) salary reviews, Zoe's created a process that keeps teams engaged, managers confident, and top talent sticking around—all in a fully remote, four-day workweek agency.In this conversation, Zoe breaks down how to make performance management meaningful and scalable.Here's what we dive into:Why performance reviews fail—and how to make them useful (without the admin burden)Why Reboot runs salary reviews four times a year—without turning them into negotiation battlesThe key to training new managers so they lead with confidence, not confusionHow Reboot creates equally rewarding career growth paths for both individual contributors and managers.Plus, Zoe shares impressive details on her line manager playbook, and structured career pathways.Follow Zoe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoeelizabethblogg/Visit Reboot's website: https://www.rebootonline.com/us/Follow Zoe on TikTok: @fractionalzoFollow Harv on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvnagra/Stay up to date with regular ops insights. Subscribe to The Handbook: The Operations Newsletter.This podcast is brought to you by Scoro, where you can manage your projects, resources and finances in a single system.
Heute freue ich mich, gleich zwei Gäste von George Labs begrüßen zu dürfen: Roland Illés und Julia Zaadorian-Klammer. Roland ist Lead Designer mit 12 Jahren Erfahrung und leitet die Wealth & Payments Teams. Dabei balanciert er diese Rolle mit seiner Tätigkeit als Individual Contributor für George Invest. Sein Fokus liegt darauf, klares und menschliches Wording in Designs zu verwenden und dabei auf „bankish“ zu verzichten.Julia ist Leiterin des User Experience Research Teams bei George Labs und bringt über 17 Jahre Erfahrung in User Experience und User-Centered Design mit. Ihr kennt Julia schon aus 2 UX Heroes Folgen - Folge 26 gehört zu den 3 meistgehörten Folgen von UX Heroes und sie ist heute gleich das dritte Mal dabei. Mit ihrem Hintergrund in Psychologie ist es ihr besonders wichtig, den Dingen auf den Grund zu gehen – sei es, die Ursachen von Usability-Problemen zu verstehen oder die Auswirkungen von Produktentscheidungen auf die Nutzer zu analysieren.George Labs ist das Innovationszentrum und Designstudio der Erste Group, das hinter dem digitalen Banking George steht. George dient heute als digitale Finanzplattform für über 10 Millionen Kunden in Europa. Neben der Product Ownership für George ist George Labs verantwortlich für UX- und UI-Design sowie Forschung im Bereich digitales Banking. Mit aktuell 74 Mitarbeitenden und einem agilen Ansatz und einem Fokus auf Kreativität unterstützt George Labs die kontinuierliche Weiterentwicklung der Plattform. Gemeinsam mit anderen Departments und Banken der Erste Group arbeiten insgesamt ca. 500 Personen an George.Julia und Roland teilen spannende Einblicke darüber, wie sie mit diesem großen Team von 500 Mitarbeitenden User Experience Maßnahhmen steuern, um eine Plattform zu entwickeln die auch für Investment-Neulinge zugänglich ist. Sie erzählen von MVP-Testing, der Wichtigkeit „bankish“ zu vermeiden, ihren Designentscheidungen und der Balance zwischen Nutzerfreundlichkeit und den regulatorischen Anforderungen als Bank.Julia und Rolands LinksJulias LinkedInRolands LinkedInRessourcenResearchOpsBuilt for Mars NewsletterHeyDesigner Newsletter Julian und Rolands BuchempfehlungenDesigning for the Digital Age - Kim GoodwinThe Making of a Manager - Julie ZhuoIch hoffe, ihr fandet diese Folge nützlich. Wenn ihr auch die nächsten nicht verpassen wollt - abonniert UX Heroes doch auf Spotify, Apple oder eurem Lieblingspodcaster - ihr könnt uns dort auch bis zu 5 Sterne als Bewertung dalassen. Wenn Ihr Fragen oder Feedback habt, schickt uns doch gerne eine Nachricht an podcast@userbrain.com.Ihr findet ihr mich auf LinkedIn unter Markus Pirker. Bis bald bei UX Heroes.UX Heroes ist ein Podcast von Userbrain.
In this episode of Great Practices, I'm talking with Anne Simmons, a Sr. Training and Development Specialist who focuses on technical training topics, soft skills and leadership development through all delivery methods. Listen in as Anne digs into the age-old question of “if someone is good at their job as an individual contributor, does it mean that they are going to be a good manager as well?” Find out the assumptions companies make, what skills and traits someone should have before moving into management, as well as what challenges that a new manager will face. Plus, find out why having some street-cred will make the transition from individual contributor to manager that much smoother and what mistakes to avoid as you begin day one of your new job as Manager. Want to get in touch with Anne? LinkedIn: Anne Simmons
In this episode, Melika Hope, Director of Product at Spotify, shares her candid journey of navigating this leap and provides actionable insights for aspiring leaders. Drawing from her 15+ years of experience, managing teams across continents, Melika introduces her "4 Ds" framework: Decide, Declare, Demonstrate, and Deliver, to help you become one of the exceptional few who excel in people management. Whether you're contemplating your first leadership role or looking to refine your management style, this episode is packed with lessons on coaching, declaring your goals, and overcoming the pitfalls of early leadership. Melika's energy, personal stories, and strategic advice make this a must-listen for product managers and product leaders aiming to make a lasting impact.
Wie entwickle ich meine Teammitglieder eigentlich weiter?“Wer nicht mit der Zeit geht, geht mit der Zeit”. Ob dieses Zitat nun von Schiller oder Stromberg kommt, spielt eigentlich keine Rolle. Einen Funken Wahrheit hat es trotzdem. Denn speziell in der sich schnell entwickelnden IT- und Software-Welt ist das Thema Leveling Up / Lifting Up / Skilling Up oder die ganz klassische Weiterbildung unabdingbar. Und dabei geht es nicht nur um das besser werden im eigentlichen Handwerk, wie der Softwareentwicklung, Data Science oder ähnlichem, sondern auch um die Persönlichkeit und Soft-Skills wie z.B. Kommunikation - Obwohl die Softskills heutzutage auch irgendwie die wahren Hardskills sind. Egal.Nun aber die große Frage: Wie hebe ich denn mein Team auf das nächste Level? Wie kann ich meine Mitarbeiter unterstützen, sich aktiv weiterzuentwickeln? Was kann ich als direkter Kollege tun? Denn dieses Thema betrifft nicht nur Leads, sondern auch dich als Individual Contributor ohne Personalverantwortung. Denn spätestens, wenn sich deine Managerin (noch) nicht um deine Weiterentwicklung kümmert, geben wir dir in dieser Episode ein paar Tipps, wie du auch deine Managerin in die richtige Richtung bewegen kannst. Denkt immer dran: “Wer nicht mit der Zeit geht, geht mit der Zeit”.Bonus: Etwas Streit ist gesund.Unsere aktuellen Werbepartner findest du auf https://engineeringkiosk.dev/partnersDas schnelle Feedback zur Episode:
On this week's episode of Let's Talk Quality: The Podcast
This is a re-run of one of our top episodes, where Dave is joined by Kyle Coleman, CMO at Copy.ai. Kyle went from Individual Contributor to Senior Director at Looker and Director to CMO at Clari. During his time there, he helped both companies 10x their revenue.In this episode, they chat aboutThe importance of leadership team alignment and why the CRO & CFO should be your best friendHow marketing can impact pipeline and the standard it should be held toWhy you should build a marketing calendar around the product roadmapTimestamps(00:00) - - Kyle's exposure to B2B marketing and strategy (06:51) - - Gaining expertise in marketing metrics and standards (11:29) - - Balancing Efficiency and Creativity in Sales Outreach (15:08) - - Importance of an Internal Partnership with the Sales Team (17:48) - - Aligning marketing goals with revenue generation (19:31) - - Co-creating Qualified Opportunities with ICP (24:36) - - Importance of Sales and Marketing Collaboration (30:18) - - How CROs and CMOs can balance long-term vision and short-term outcomes (35:28) - - The lightning strike strategy (36:21) - - "Marketing Moments:" Calendaring significant events to drive business goals and team performance (39:37) - - Using Shield analytics to identify and repost popular content (47:13) - - How to simplify complex questions to extract key insights (50:40) - - Building a networking resource for professional growth (53:43) - - Closing thoughts Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.comJoin the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterCheck out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership***This episode of the Exit Five podcast is brought to you by our friends at Revenue Hero. It's 2024, your buyer has probably moved on to an alternative after a few minutes of not hearing from you, let alone 29 hours.What those companies need is automated scheduling for qualified leads.And that's where RevenueHero comes in. Their platform is the fastest way for qualified leads to schedule a meeting with your sales team. Plus they have the most sophisticated matching algorithm so all your leads get booked with the right rep whether they are a new account or already a customer. Check them out at revenuehero.io/exitfive.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more
It Gets Late Early: Career Tips for Tech Employees in Midlife and Beyond
Ever feel like you're trying to navigate a corporate obstacle course while juggling flaming torches and keeping your cool? Like you're supposed to be "authentic" but also "professional," vulnerable but not too vulnerable? Well, today we're diving into the workplace circus with Hanan Harb Sahourieh, the brilliant mind behind Everybody Be Cool - a book that's basically your survival guide to the modern workplace.Here's what's fascinating about Hanan: after getting laid off (yeah, we've all been there or feared being there), instead of diving into the usual "how to climb the corporate ladder" stuff, she wrote the book she wished she'd had - one for the regular folks trying to figure out how to show up as themselves. And this isn't your typical "lean in" narrative. This is real talk about what happens when five generations of workers try to coexist without driving each other crazy.We get into some juicy territory, like what Hanan calls "spiritual business moments" (trust me, it's not what you think), and why being vulnerable at work isn't always the magic solution Brené Brown might have led us to believe. Speaking of which, wait until you hear Hanan's take on psychological safety - spoiler alert: your role might have more to do with it than your personality.So, if you're tired of workplace advice that feels like it was written by AI (no offense to our robot friends), and you're ready for some real talk about power, authenticity, and staying human in the corporate jungle, this episode is for you. Don't worry, we'll throw in some cringe-worthy corporate culture stories too - because sometimes you just need to know you're not alone in this wild ride we call work life.“We have power and control over how we show up, how we interact with our neighbors, our community, our family, and the people we work with. That's where we have the power to be who we want to be and be the change that we want to see.” ~ Hanan Harb Sahourieh In This Episode:-Why personal power matters in the workplace-How to build a personal brand and its benefits-The inspiration behind Hanan's book Everybody Be Cool-How to navigate generational differences in the workplace-Why power skills are essential in today's workplace-Challenges of being vulnerable in the workplace-How independent publishing empowers creators-The value of a coaching culture in the workplace-How to build resilience and adaptability in the rising gig economyAnd much more!Resource Mentioned in the Episode:-Hanan's book, Everybody Be Cool: https://a.co/d/h7SzNjE Connect with Hanan Harb Sahourieh:-Website: https://www.everybody-be-cool.com/ -LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hananharbConnect with Maureen Clough:-Instagram: @itgetslateearly - https://www.instagram.com/itgetslateearly/-YouTube: @itgetslateearly -
David Miller kicks off the conversation with a summary of his life since Harvard. He went to Brown University, Providence, and then moved back to Boston, where he spent five years in Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington, and then moved to Santa Monica, California, where his wife was pursuing her fellowship. He then returned to Boston, where he has been for 20 years, minus a three-month stint in Paris, France. Technology Inventor, Independent Contributor, and Instructor David met his wife, Ruth Herzman Miller, in October of his freshman year at Harvard. They have three daughters, and David has spent some time as a full-time dad with each of them. He majored in mathematics at Harvard and pure mathematics at graduate school at Brown. After a pause, he worked in speech and language processing at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) Technologies in Cambridge where he worked on developing speech to text transcription and information retrieval. He went to UCLA to learn bioinformatics and worked at a bioinformatics laboratory at the Molecular Biology Institute. In 2001, he returned to Boston and worked at Aventis Pharmaceuticals, now Sanofi Aventis, applying his knowledge in lead generation informatics. He stayed at Aventis for a few years before taking some time off the workforce. In 2008, David joined Google for 16 years, primarily on the search engine. He has worked on various projects, including the Google Books project and AI Overviews. He has also spent time at Google Paris, Zurich, and Tokyo. He has also taught computer science in the context of the Girls Who Code Project, where he distributed curriculum material to numerous chapters and hosted meetups. He also worked with Microsoft TEALS (technology and learning in schools), teaching ninth and 10th grade computer science. Inspired by French Theater During the pandemic, revisited an interest he had discovered in Paris, French theater. He started studying French and learned about the annual Theater Festival in Avignon, France, which is the second largest Fringe Festival in the world. After visiting the festival in 2022, he decided to create a similar event in Boston. He started a limited liability corporation with knowledge of French, Boston theater scene, organizational capacity, and spare finance. The first production was performed in April 2024, and the second is set to open in November 2024. They are currently booking venues and signing contracts for their 2025-2026 season. Google, AI, and The BERT Revolution The conversation turns to AI, BERT, and Google. He explains that the feature of BERT was built to transform language problems into arithmetic problems, using embeddings in high-dimensional vector spaces to catch semantics. This allowed for more complex arithmetic than just adding and subtracting. The BERT Revolution, invented by Jacob Devlin and his colleagues, was used to map words to embeddings, allowing for real-world correspondence in arithmetic. This concept was later used in Google's Featured Snippets, which was revamped to use embeddings and the Bert revolution. David's lecture at Boston University, which is titled "Natural Language Understanding, Deep Learning and the BERT Revolution" discusses the underlying mechanics of natural language processing and how it transformed problems in language into arithmetic. The BERT Revolution allowed for more complex arithmetic than just adding and subtracting, making it easier for neural networks to perform complex tasks. The Rise of Hidden Markov Models David talks about the state-of-the-art technology at the time, Hidden Markov models, which had a temporal aspect of a changing probability distribution. These models were based on the sequence of text, and the Bayesian reasoning was used to determine the most likely audio to come from the words. This led to the development of generative models, where words generate the audio through probabilistic models. However, Bayesian modeling has been replaced by deep neural nets in the last five years of generative AI. He mentions that, in the early days, neural networks were untrainable and unwieldy, making Hidden Markov models the Bayesian generative approach. However, deep neural networks are now used. The Development of Neural Networks David discusses the development of neural networks, a technology that has been around since the 1950s. The availability of more recordings for speech, text, and language models has made it more accessible on the hardware side. The core of a neural network computation is matrix multiplication, which has been addressed by Nvidia and Google with their TensorFlow units. These units have invested large amounts of money in making specialized, custom hardware for this problem, accelerating things. David talks about how algorithms have also advanced significantly since the 1950s, and mentions key factors that have aided the advancement. Becoming an Individual Contributor at Google David talks about how he learned the technology. He decided to become an individual contributor and studied the technology, the code, the papers, books, videos, and experiments. He spent most of the pandemic working on neural nets that eventually became the Gemini technology. David's journey to becoming a knowledgeable and skilled individual in neural networks was a journey that took him from a theoretical interest to a practical application. He learned to make the most of the technology and its capabilities, ultimately contributing to the advancement of the field. David has faced mixed reactions to his decision to become an independent contributor at Google. While some were supportive and skeptical, others were skeptical. He talks about the advice he received, how he moved forward, the success rate of his projects, and how his career has decelerated since 2019. Behind the Curtain of French Theater The discussion moves to French theater and how David has become a French theater producer. He shares his journey of starting a production in Boston from scratch. To start a French theater production in Boston, David had to be integrated into the French community in Boston and the theater community in Boston. They do not create the theater but bring the original production to Boston and add subtitles. He talks about the challenges faced in securing locations, staff and equipment, and managing the production process such as hiring a director, actors, space, marketing, and logistics. He uses services like Playbill to manage administration, program design, publicity, and logistics. He is passionate about creating a new cultural institution in Boston that focuses on French theater. Boston is known for its strong ties to France and hospitals, and David aims to create a French theater festival or translate French theater into English. He works with the French American Chamber of Commerce of New England, which helps create businesses and connections in Boston. Behind the Screen of Girls Who Code David has worked with Girls Who Code, an after-school program that runs programs for young women interested in programming and technology. He organized a meet-up at Google's Cambridge office, where he gave a keynote speech at parent meetings, emphasizing the importance of belonging and ownership in the industry. He was able to connect with 150 teenage girls and their parents, who expressed gratitude for his message. David's involvement with Girls Who Code has led to a sense of belonging and empowerment for these young women, who are now more likely to pursue careers in the tech industry. He believes that the French language theater in Boston could potentially sustain them through a 25-year career in the industry. Influential Harvard Professors and Courses David shares his experiences as a TA in the math department and working with Deborah Hughes Hallet, who was running a calculus project. David's theater experience has played an ongoing role in his teaching approach, as he learned from her dedication and approach to teaching. He believes that the notion of understanding the world through teaching is a deep-rooted belief in his approach. Timestamps: 03:59: Professional Career and Industry Experience 06:52: Non-Professional Activities and Community Involvement 11:22: Technological Advancements and AI Overview 25:07: Transition to Individual Contributor Role at Google 30:17: French Theater Project and Community Building 40:39: Impact of Girls Who Code and Teaching 45:25: Final Thoughts and Contact Information Links: Theater: www.frenchtheaterproject.com Theater Club: https://frenchlibrary.org/french-library-theater-club/ Website: www.monsieurmiller.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrhmiller/ David's 2019 lecture "Natural Language Understanding, Deep Learning and the BERT Revolution" at Boston University : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DktFhgxynFE Featured Non-profit This week's featured non-profit is the Cure San Filippo Foundation recommended by Adam Shaywitz who reports: “Hi. I'm Adam Shaywitz, class of 1992 the featured nonprofit of this episode of The 92 report is the Cure San Filippo Foundation. This organization is dedicated to advancing treatment options for children affected by the devastating childhood dementia known as San Filippo syndrome. I am privileged to serve as a board member for the past five years. You can learn more about their work at Cure Sanfilippo foundation.org, that's one word. Cure Sanfilippo foundation. San Felippo is spelled s, a, n, f, i, L, i, p, p, O, that's 1f, 1l, and 2p Cure San Filippo foundation.org, and now here is Will Bachman with this week's episode.” To learn more about their work visit: www.CureSanFilippoFoundation.org.
2. Transition from Individual Contributor to LeaderExperience of being promotedChallenges in adapting to a leadership role3. Addressing Impostor SyndromeDefinition and description of imposter syndromeImpact of imposter feelings on self-perception and confidence4. Strategies for Building Confidence4.1 Self-Awareness and ReflectionImportance of being self-awareRegularly reflecting on strengths and past successes4.2 Celebrating Past SuccessesRecognizing and acknowledging achievementsMethods for collecting proof of success (emails, thank-you notes, social media)4.3 Creating a Personal Achievement ListPurpose and benefits of having an achievement list/folder/journalUse of data to affirm skills and accomplishments5. Goal Setting for ConfidenceImportance of setting small, achievable goalsAvoid focusing solely on the end stateExample: Goal setting for writing a bookImportance of focusing on the journey and skills learnedIncremental reinforcement through achieving smaller goals6. Overall Insights for Growing ConfidenceSelf-reflection and noticing achievementsUnderstanding and valuing one's contributionsCelebrating both personal and professional successes
SummaryIn this conversation, Dominic Monkhouse and Ben Arendt, author of 'How to Suck Less as a Manager: A Practical Guide to Making Your Team Less Miserable Today', discuss the challenges and nuances of effective management and leadership. They explore the importance of understanding team members, adapting to change, and fostering a culture of trust and autonomy. The discussion also touches on the impact of leadership on employee wellbeing, the significance of company values, and the lessons learned from both good and bad management experiences. Arant advocates for a more empathetic approach to leadership, encouraging managers to connect with their teams and prioritise mental health and engagement.TakeawaysManagement is about continuous improvement, not perfection.Understanding your team's personal goals can enhance motivation.Mental wellbeing is crucial for productivity and engagement.Trust and autonomy are key to effective leadership.Company values should be authentic and practiced, not just stated.Not everyone is cut out for management roles.Effective communication can resolve conflicts and improve team dynamics.Leaders should invite skepticism and differing opinions to foster innovation.Self-awareness is essential for effective management.Leadership impacts employee wellbeing significantly.Chapters(00:00) Introduction to Management Insights(03:11) The Importance of Understanding Your Team(06:00) Adapting to Change and Mental Wellbeing(08:52) Trust and Autonomy in Leadership(12:13) The Role of Values in Company Culture(15:07) Learning from Bad Management Experiences(17:48) The Transition from Individual Contributor to Manager(21:08) The Impact of Leadership on Wellbeing(23:57) Effective Communication and Conflict Resolution(27:12) Final Thoughts and Recommendations
Connect with Rares: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raresmirica Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/qOUMNfU6M48 Beyond Coding Podcast with
Tal Raviv is a product manager at Riverside, where he joined as its first PM. Over his 12-year career as an individual contributor, Tal has been an early PM at Patreon, AppsFlyer, and Wix, working in consumer growth, developer API platforms, and pricing. He started his career by co-founding a profitable SaaS company and also volunteers as a surf instructor for people with disabilities. In our conversation, Tal shares:• Why he has chosen to stay an individual contributor rather than moving into management• The rise of “super ICs” and how companies can support this career path• Advice for succeeding as a long-term IC product manager• How he uses AI to enhance his productivity• How to build self-reliant teams and make yourself redundant• Lessons from failures• Much more—Brought to you by:• Gamma—A new way to present, powered by AI• WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs• Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments—Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-super-ic-pm-tal-raviv—Where to find Tal Raviv:• X: https://x.com/talraviv• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/talsraviv/• Maven course: https://maven.com/tal-raviv/product-manager-productivity-system/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Tal's background(02:24) Choosing to stay an IC project manager(07:05) The value of IC roles(08:31) Compensation and career path(12:37) Advice for companies on creating space for ICs(14:33) Leveraging AI for productivity(22:44) Build your personal PM productivity system(37:39) Contrarian opinions and insights(44:32) Book smart vs. street smart decision-making(51:51) There's no one right way to get things done(57:03) Failure corner(01:19:04) Lightning round(01:26:50) Living through conflict—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
In this episode of the Business of Laravel Podcast, Matt Stauffer sits down with Jon Behr, VP of Engineering at FM, to discuss his journey into the company and FM's use of Laravel. FM operates three major brands—Musicbed, Film Supply, and Stills—which license music, provide film clips, and sell premium stock photography. John shares insights into the ground-up rewrite of the Musicbed app using Laravel, highlighting the importance of choosing "boring technology" to ensure stability. They also explore topics like scalability, clear communication within engineering teams, and the intricacies of hiring and firing developers.Matt Stauffer TwitterTighten WebsiteJon Behr TwitterJon Behr LinkedIn FM WebsiteMusicbedFilmsupplyChoose Boring Technology Blog PostBecoming an Effective Software Engineering Manager BookRadical Candor BookFM Careers Page-----Editing and transcription sponsored by Tighten.
Welcome to the Schmidt List Podcast!In this episode, Host Kurt Schmidt interviews Ben Dueck, a leadership development consultant who shares insights on generational differences in leadership and workplace challenges.Key Topics:- Generational Differences in Leadership- Workplace Loyalty, Work-Life Balance, Work Ethic- Technology and Social Media Impact on Brain Chemistry- Balancing Flexibility and Authority in Management- Transitioning from Individual Contributor to Leader- The Need for Structured Leadership Training- Intentional Strategies to Empower Leaders and Managers- Importance of Development Opportunities in Organizations- Learning from Others and Coaching Methods- Self-Care: Nutrition, Exercise, and Sleep for Leaders- Hope-Filled Leadership: Inspiring Teams- Coaching vs. Commanding in Leadership- Feedback and Advice in the Workplace- Addressing Divisiveness, Mental Health, and Technological Challenges- Gallup Studies on Successful Management CharacteristicsConnect:- Follow Kurt Schmidt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/-kurtschmidt/- Connect with Ben Dueck on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-dueck/- Explore Cantera Leadership:www.canteraleadership.com- Follow Cantera on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cantera.leadership/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/schmidt-list-inspiring-leaders--2664825/support.
Discover the future of Customer Success with Julie Fox, Global Director of Customer Success at Cin7, as she shares her journey into her transformative new role. Julie is driving her team towards a proactive, predictive model while also enhancing upsell and cross-sell strategies. Learn how Julie is navigating the dynamic environment of Cin7, an inventory management solution, and addressing the unique challenges and rewards of her role. Julie highlights the significance of community networking, and how leveraging personal and professional connections can provide substantial support during a job search. Engaging in thorough research and actively participating in dialogues are key strategies she emphasizes for meaningful, two-sided engagement in job searches, especially for leadership roles.Listen as host Kristen Hayer discusses with Julie transitioning from an individual contributor to a senior leader, the importance of mentorship and feedback, and the transformative journey towards confident, strategic leadership.
Financial Freedom for Physicians with Dr. Christopher H. Loo, MD-PhD
In this episode, we sit down with Pete Premenko, acclaimed author and leadership coach, to discuss the challenges and triumphs of transitioning from a high-performing individual contributor to an effective leader. Pete shares his deep insights from "Elevating Potential: A Guide To Developing Emerging Leaders," exploring the essential skills and mindset shifts required for new leaders. We delve into the significance of emotional intelligence, communication, and self-awareness in leadership, and Pete provides actionable strategies for overcoming common obstacles faced by emerging leaders. Tune in to discover how to unlock your leadership potential and foster a thriving, cohesive team environment. To check out Pete's book, "Elevating Potential: A Guide To Developing Emerging Leaders", head on over to Amazon (affiliate): https://amzn.to/3VtJyty Disclaimer: Not advice. Educational purposes only. Not an endorsement for or against. Results not vetted. Views of the guests do not represent those of the host or show. Do your due diligence. Click here to join PodMatch (the "AirBNB" of Podcasting): https://www.joinpodmatch.com/drchrisloomdphd We couldn't do it without the support of our listeners. To help support the show: CashApp- https://cash.app/$drchrisloomdphd Venmo- https://account.venmo.com/u/Chris-Loo-4 Buy Me a Coffee- https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chrisJx Click here to schedule a 1-on-1 private coaching call: https://www.drchrisloomdphd.com/book-online Click here to purchase my books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2PaQn4p Follow our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/chL1357 Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/drchrisloomdphd Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereal_drchrisloo Follow us on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thereal_drchrisloo Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drchrisloomddphd Follow the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3NkM6US7cjsiAYTBjWGdx6?si=1da9d0a17be14d18 Subscribe to our Substack newsletter: https://substack.com/@drchrisloomdphd1 Subscribe to our Medium newsletter: https://medium.com/@drchrisloomdphd Subscribe to our email newsletter: https://financial-freedom-for-physicians.ck.page/b4622e816d Subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6992935013231071233 Join our Patreon Community: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=87512799 Join our Spotify Community: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christopher-loo/subscribe Thank you to our advertisers on Spotify. Financial Freedom for Physicians, Copyright 2024
האם כדי להתפתח בקריירה אנחנו מוכרחים לשאוף לניהול? האם כל מפתח/ת מדהימ/ה יפרחו גם בניהול? האם קידום של איש/ אשת מקצוע מעולים יגרום לחברה יותר תועלת או נזק? לכבוד חודש הניהול בקהילה שלנו, בפרק הפעם נביא שני בלוגים שמציגים שתי עמדות שונות בכל הנוגע לאפשרות של עובדים ועובדות להתקדם בקריירה שלהם.ן. האחת כ-Individual Contributor והשנייה בתפקיד ניהולי. את הבלוג הראשון, ״למה התפתחות מקצועית לא חייבת לעבור בניהול״, כתב שי משעלי Senior IOS Tech Lead במאנדיי ואת הבלוג השני, ״מניפסט קצר על ניהול״, כתב יבגני מומבלט VP R&D בגט, בתגובה לדבריו של שי. קריינות: תומר לוי לבלוג המלא: ״למה התפתחות מקצועית לא חייבת לעבור בניהול״ לבלוג המלא: ״מניפסט קצר על ניהול״See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Making the transition from individual contributor to manager is about more than just taking on more responsibilities. It literally requires a shift in how you think about your work, the people you work with, and yourself.In this episode, we lay out eight paradigm shifts that are essential for you to perform at your best and to bring out the best in your team.Episode Highlights:00:00 Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast01:34 Key Area 1: Shifting Focus02:54 Key Area 2: Managing Time04:19 Key Area 3: Thinking Mode05:26 Key Area 4: Approach to Work06:38 Key Area 5: Action Mode07:26 Key Area 6: Work Status08:20 Key Area 7: Understanding Next Steps09:11 Key Area 8: Ownership and Accountability10:22 Key Area 9: Reporting and Adding Value12:19 Conclusion and Next StepsGet in touch with us at info@peopleleaders.com.auPeople Leaders Website - https://peopleleaders.com.au/People Leaders on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/people-leaders-pty-ltd/Connect with Jan Terkelsen on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/janterkelsen/Connect with Michelle Terkelsen on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-terkelsen-creating-high-performing-teams-a992744/Follow us on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/people.leaders
Send us a Text Message.Does Career Success Mean Climbing the Corporate Ladder? In this episode, I chat with Nellie Philius, a writer, corporate professional, and recent MBA grad. If you've ever wondered if climbing the corporate ladder is for you, then you should listen to our full conversation.We discuss life after completing an MBA, the importance of celebrating accomplishments, and weighing the possibilities of pursuing individual contribution over corporate management. We also talk about the evolution of work expectations, introversion, personal development, and pursuing one's passions. Please share the podcast with your friends or anyone you know who has a big dream in their hearts. Check out Nellie's blog at puregoldnotes.comFollow her on Instagram @puregoldnotes Contact Us Ask a question or comment, visit shepact.com/voicemail Follow us on Instagram at shepact.com/shepact Email us: thedrivenintrovert@shepact.com Enjoying the podcast? Share the podcast with a friend: shepact.com/podcast Leave a review: We'd appreciate it if you could WRITE a review for us. Your support and feedback mean a lot to us. Thank you!
In this episode, Joshua Luera, El Paso Area Manager for Western States Fire Protection, describes how he got into the life safety industry. He shares his trepidation of moving from a role as an individual contributor to a role as a leader. Joshua describes the leadership competencies that have helped him over the years and the people who have made an impacted his journey.
“HR Heretics†| How CPOs, CHROs, Founders, and Boards Build High Performing Companies
In this episode, Nolan and Kelli discuss the audacious quest to change the HR market with Adam Weber, Chief Evangelist of 15Five.The team discuss the new reality of strategic HR business outcomes and the importance of developing and nurturing high-performance cultures and building great leaders, with the critical necessity of upskilling leadership development fast to adapt to new trends such as the addition of AI which will change the face of how we know HR today.Adam also advocates for having courage and standing up for what you believe is true in the business and valuing the role of the Individual Contributor.HR Heretics is a podcast from Turpentine.Share this with your friends, forward to your enemies. Hit subscribe now.This episode is brought to you by AttioAttio is the next generation of CRM. It's powerful, flexible and easily configures to the unique way your startup runs, whatever your go-to-market motion. The next era deserves a better CRM. Join OpenAI, Replicate, ElevenLabs and more at https://bit.ly/AttioHRHereticsLINKS:Adam wrote the best selling book Lead Like A Human on leadership and culture: how to bring your full self to work and unleash your full potential.KEEP UP WITH ADAM, NOLAN, + KELLI ON LINKEDINAdam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetadam/Nolan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-church/Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellidragovich/TIMESTAMPS(00:00) Intro(02:57) From Founder to Team Member(03:09) Role Power In Practice(04:51) HR Superstars Community(05:26) Autonomy and Decision Making Post-Acquisition(07:22) The Amplify Team's Integration and Evolution Within 15Five(09:33) Old HR vs New HR: Changes and Expectations(13:44) What CEO's think(15.23) Sponsor Ad: Attio CRM(16:40) Showing Courage and Backing Yourself(21:11) Understanding the Business on A Deeper Level(24:40) Superhero Mentality vs Delegator Mentality(27:10) AI's Impact on HR(28:38) Upskilling and the Future of Work(29:16) The Dichotomy of Company Strategies on Upskilling(35:00) Celebrating Individual Contributors (41:00) Rethinking Best Practices and Embracing Experimentation(43:32) Visibility and Sharing Wins and Losses (46.12) Wrap This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hrheretics.substack.com
In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods spoke to Chandler Hoisington about lessons learned in his time at Amazon, transitioning from engineering into management and advice for new leaders. Read a transcript of this interview: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/individual-contributor-to-leadership/ Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter for your monthly guide to the essential news and experience from industry peers on emerging patterns and technologies: www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter Upcoming Events: QCon London (April 8-10, 2024) Discover new ideas and insights from senior practitioners driving change and innovation in software development. qconlondon.com/ InfoQ Dev Summit Boston (June 24-25, 2024) Actionable insights on today's critical dev priorities. devsummit.infoq.com/ QCon San Francisco (November 18-22, 2024) Get practical inspiration and best practices on emerging software trends directly from senior software developers at early adopter companies. qconsf.com/ The InfoQ Podcasts: Weekly inspiration to drive innovation and build great teams from senior software leaders. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts: - The InfoQ Podcast www.infoq.com/podcasts/ - Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture Follow InfoQ: - Mastodon: techhub.social/@infoq - Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ - LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq - Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 - Instagram: @infoqdotcom - Youtube: www.youtube.com/infoq Write for InfoQ: Learn and share the changes and innovations in professional software development. - Join a community of experts. - Increase your visibility. - Grow your career. www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq
Dave is joined by Kyle Coleman, CMO at Copy.ai. Kyle went from Individual Contributor to Senior Director at Looker and Director to CMO at Clari. During his time there, he helped both companies 10x their revenue.In this episode, they chat aboutThe importance of leadership team alignment and why the CRO & CFO should be your best friendHow marketing can impact pipeline and the standard it should be held toWhy you should build a marketing calendar around the product roadmapTimestamps(00:00) - Kyle's exposure to B2B marketing and strategy (04:48) - Gaining expertise in marketing metrics and standards (09:26) - Balancing Efficiency and Creativity in Sales Outreach (13:05) - Importance of an Internal Partnership with the Sales Team (15:45) - Aligning marketing goals with revenue generation (17:28) - Co-creating Qualified Opportunities with ICP (22:33) - Importance of Sales and Marketing Collaboration (25:23) - How CROs and CMOs can balance long-term vision and short-term outcomes (30:33) - The lightning strike strategy (31:26) - ""Marketing Moments"": Calendaring significant events to drive business goals and team performance (34:42) - Using Shield analytics to identify and repost popular content (42:18) - How to simplify complex questions to extract key insights (45:45) - Building a networking resource for professional growth (48:48) - Closing thoughts Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.comJoin the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterCheck out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership***This episode of the Exit Five podcast is brought to you by our friends at Apollo.io. There are three main factors that determine the success of your ABM programs: #1 accurate target account lists with verified contact data, #2 keeping your CRM data actionable with reliable enrichment, and #3 going beyond serving ads with automated outbound emails.Apollo offers an all-in-one solution for these needs. Easily discover target accounts with over 65 filters, including technographics, buyer intent, and job titles. Automatically validate and enrich contact data, streamline outreach, and boost campaign effectiveness with just a few clicks.They are ranked number 1 for contact and company data accuracy on G2. With over 6000 reviews and a 4.8-star rating. Sign up for free, with no credit card required at apollo.io/exitfive. ***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more
As most of you know, the first 90 days in a new job are critical for your long-term success – not only in that role, but for your future with the organization. Today, I want to give you key steps you can take in those first 90 days to set yourself up for success. Let's start with an Individual Contributor role. A primary focus from week 1 should be getting clear success metrics and priorities from your boss. This typically goes beyond the job description, although that's a good starting point if you don't already have one. If your boss doesn't have success metrics and priorities prepared for you and can't / won't communicate them verbally, write your own and get your boss to sign off on them. Another focus in the first 90 days is learning how your department works and interacts with other departments within the organization. How does work flow? Who does what? How does the work your department generates fit into the larger organization? As part of this process, learn how to communicate with others in your department, especially your boss. Get a good understanding of the culture of your department and of the larger organization. Remember: there's what is in writing and there's what is actually happening – learn when people come to work and leave, how lunches and breaks work, and other day-to-day practicalities. Your boss or a mentor within your department should be able to direct you to key stakeholders and peers outside your department that you need to get to know. Schedule 1:1s with them to introduce yourself and learn how you can work together most effectively. Key words for this level: ALIGNMENT, ORIENTATION, COMMUNICATION For a New Manager.As with an Individual Contributor, it is important that you get a clear understanding of what you will be responsible for delivering and how your success will be measured. Get this in writing. Schedule 1:1s with your direct reports and get to know their strengths, growth areas, communication and work styles, how they like to be rewarded, how best to deliver feedback, and their professional goals. This is THE major shift for you from an Individual Contributor role – the adjustment that the work you produce will now largely be through others. Their development is of paramount importance. Learning about leadership is another critical component – read and learn about different leadership styles and determine what will work best for you. Remember to be authentically you as you adapt to this new role – if you try to be someone you aren't, you will not be successful in the long run. Develop your plan for the year and get alignment from your boss as to priorities, goals, and measures of success. Key words for this level: ALIGNMENT, MANAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP As a new Director or Senior Manager. Once again, step one should be alignment of success measures and KPIs with your VP. Make sure you understand how these fit into your VP's broader goals. A key difference at this level is that your direct reports may also have direct reports. If they don't, it is likely that one of your key goals is to mentor and coach them to become managers. Meet with your direct reports about goals, working styles, and key cultural norms for your area and make sure there is alignment with what they are saying and doing with their direct reports. Establish clear expectations and make sure they are doing the same. You will be meeting regularly with others across the organization, so quickly begin to set up those meetings and establish those relationships. You will be expected to regularly evaluate what is and isn't working in your area, so make sure you are seeing and hearing what is going on. Get on top of issues quickly before they have a chance to fester and become cancerous. You'll likely be expected to create a long-term plan – possibly a 1-3-5-year plan. Create this, get insight and buy-in from your VP, and disseminate this information to your team and other key stakeholders. Key words for this level: ALIGNMENT, INFLUENCE, STRATEGIC PLANNING For a VP or C-Suite Executive. Developing a vision and aligning your leadership team with that vision is a critical component at this level. You will be expected to do so with executive presence and compelling communication that elicits buy-in and engagement. Once you have established your strategic initiatives, select 1-2 for quick wins. It is important for you and your team to have early victories. Pulling the lens out a bit further, communicate your 90 or 120 day and 1-year goals. Be sure to celebrate these wins! Listening to employees at all levels is another critical element for you. Conduct a listening tour to not only listen, but to show your team their voices are important and will be heard. Gather information as to where gaps exist and develop a plan to address. Develop a communication plan for your unit that is open and transparent, both internally and externally. Key words for this level: ALIGNMENT, LEADERSHIP, COMMUNICATION You may have noticed that a consistent element at each level is ALIGNMENT. What that looks like will differ at each level, but it is so important that you make sure your goals and priorities are in alignment with your boss and the larger organization. Are you in the wrong job that chips away at you every day? The document and coaching programs offered by Exclusive Career Coaching will help you find a job that uses your zone of genius, recognizes your value, and pays you what you're worth. If you're ready to take your job search to the next level by working with a highly experienced professional with a track record of client success, schedule a complimentary consult to learn more: https://calendly.com/lesaedwards/zoom-meetings2
In this podcast episode, Angelique Cuevas, the Director of Talent Acquisition at Exabeam, shares insights about her journey from an individual contributor role to a leadership position. Discussing her initial struggle with the shifting dynamics of peer relationships, Cuevas presents various strategic approaches and methods implemented to ensure smooth transitions within the company. She highlights the need to learn and unlearn in this ever-evolving professional landscape. She also emphasizes the role of communication, delegation, and understanding individual career growth paths in successful people management. Highlights: 01:19 Transitioning from Individual Contributor to Leader 02:22 Angelique's Journey to Leadership 04:39 Challenges of Becoming a People Leader 07:03 The Importance of Talent Acquisition 08:33 Navigating Relationship Dynamics as a New Manager 12:39 Learning from Mistakes and Adapting Strategy 18:36 Empowering Team Members and Facilitating Growth Guest: Angelique Cuevas began her career in social work, volunteering as the Outreach Counselor. In this role, she attended county events to promote the services of the group home, a period during which she discovered a passion for connecting with and assisting people. This realization prompted a career transition into the tech startup sector, where she worked closely with the HR department. Eventually, Angelique took on full responsibility for managing all aspects of Recruiting, including training, system implementation, interview best practices, and the hiring and onboarding processes. https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelique-cuevas-918864a3/ ------ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Talent Tango, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)
Wenn der Wechsel vom Software Engineer zur Managerin eine Beförderung ist, ist dann der Wechsel vom Manager-Dasein zurück zum Software Engineer eine Degradierung?Genau mit dieser Frage beschäftigen wir uns in dieser Episode. Umgangssprachlich nennt man den Wechsel hin und her, von Software Engineer zum Management und zurück, das Engineering Manager Pendulum.Wir haben mit Tom Bartel gesprochen, der diesen Wechsel schon zweimal vollzogen hat. Mit Ihm sprechen wir darüber, wie der Gedanke zum Pendeln entstanden ist, wie sein Umfeld und das eigene Unternehmen darauf reagiert hat, wie schwierig es ist sich an andere Perspektiven und Flughöhen in der täglichen Arbeit anzupassen, wie das Gehirn sich auf die unterschiedlichen Tagesabläufe verändert, und was er Leuten raten würde, die ebenfalls darüber nachdenken, in das Engineering Manager Pendulum einzusteigen.Bonus: Wie ein neuer Grill eine Verpackungswut auslösen kann.**** Diese Episode wird gesponsert von Eurowings Digital Eurowings Digital: Ein internationales Team, Englisch als Firmensprache. Java und AEM im Backend, Vue.js im Frontend und Kotlin sowie Swift für die Mobile Apps. Fürs Data Crunching werden Python, Scala und die Databricks-Plattform verwendet. Alle offenen Job Positionen und Details zu Benefits, wie Standby-Fliegen & Jahresurlaubsflug, findest du unter https://engineeringkiosk.dev/eurowings****Das schnelle Feedback zur Episode:
Mitchell co-founded HashiCorp in 2012 and created many important infrastructure tools, such as Terraform, Vagrant, Packer, and Consul. In addition to being a prolific engineer, Mitchell grew HashiCorp into a multi-billion-dollar public company. We discuss: How to structure large projects to avoid demotivation or burnout The "A.P.P.L.E" framework for diffusing tense situations and handling trolls How to decide what to work on Mitchell's unconventional transitions from CEO to CTO and then back to an individual contributor (IC) The quality that Mitchell values the most in an engineering team. Segments: [0:14:19] Impactful lessons from working at the Apple Store in college [0:22:26] Origin story of HashiCorp [0:26:08] College side project that turned into Mitchell's first financial success [0:31:25] Why infrastructure? [0:39:50] How individual products came about [0:44:17] Challenges of fundraising as a company with an umbrella of products [0:48:20] Balancing being the CTO and writing code: “I didn't want to be that CTO that just produced technical debt” [0:53:09] Transitioning from CEO to co-CTO [0:57:26] From CTO to Individual Contributor [1:06:03] What's next? Show Notes: Mitchell's blog: https://mitchellh.com/writing The “APPLE” principle that has guided Mitchell throughout his career: https://mitchellh.com/writing/apple-the-key-to-my-success Mitchell's Startup Banking Story
We're happy to welcome you on the Season 2 of the Growthmates podcast where we will dive into insightful conversations with leaders from Amplitude, Canva, Intercom, Coda, HubSpot, and more to come. If you enjoy our show — subscribe to get all episodes right to your inbox on katesyuma.substack.com. Listen now on Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!).In this episode, Iain Dowling, Growth Design Leader at Canva, shares insights into his career path and the culture at Canva. He discusses the growth of Canva and the significant changes he has witnessed during his 6 years at the company. Iain also explains the transition from individual contributor to manager and the importance of coaching at Canva. He highlights the 4 pillars of Canva's growth and development framework and the training provided to coaches. Iain discusses the influence of designers on Canva's culture and the role of the “Vibe Team” in creating a positive work environment. He also shares insights into hiring for growth teams and the importance of effective one-on-one meetings. In this conversation, Iain discusses the importance of effective communication and provides valuable insights on building strong relationships, active listening, non-verbal communication, and overcoming communication challenges.Some Takeaways:* Canva has experienced significant growth over the years, but has maintained its core values and culture.* Coaching is an integral part of Canva's leadership approach, focusing on the growth and development of team members.* Canva's growth team is organized around key metrics, such as monthly active users (MAU) and annualized recurring revenue (ARR).* The “Vibe Team” at Canva plays a crucial role in creating and maintaining a positive and engaging work culture.* Hiring for growth teams requires individuals with a data mindset, an interest in user flows, and a focus on impact and iteration. Effective communication is crucial for personal and professional success.* Building strong relationships requires open and honest communication.* Active listening and empathy are essential skills for effective communication.* Non-verbal communication plays a significant role in conveying messages.* Overcoming communication challenges requires patience, understanding, and adaptability.Follow Growthmates podcast updates on:* Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/Where to find Iain Dowling, Growth Design Lead at Canva:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/idowling/Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro):* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/* Newsletter: https://katesyuma.substack.com/* X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syumaWhere to find Oscar Torres, Product Designer at Miro:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscartorrestryme/* Website: https://www.oscartorres.me/* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oscar_towers_/What we've covered in this episode:00:00 Introduction and Background01:20 Becoming a Growth Design Leader at Canva02:26 The Growth of Canva04:41 Transitioning from Individual Contributor to Manager06:21 The Role of Coaching at Canva08:30 The Four Pillars of Canva's Growth and Development Framework09:25 Training for Coaches at Canva10:41 The Influence of Designers on Canva's Culture15:59 The Growth of Canva18:36 Establishing the Growth Team at Canva21:55 Organizational Structure of the Growth Team25:16 The North Star Metrics for the Growth Team28:10 Introducing Magic Studio and AI at Canva35:19 The Role of the Vibe Team in Creating Canva's Culture38:53 Factors for High-Performing Growth Teams42:56 Recognizing Growth Talent and Hiring for Growth Teams47:51 Effective One-on-One Meetings and Team Bonding51:36 Favorite Book on Team Culture54:12 Closing Remarks and Contact Information02:30 The Importance of Effective Communication10:00 Building Strong Relationships20:00 Active Listening and Empathy30:00 Non-Verbal Communication40:00 Overcoming Communication Challenges50:00 ConclusionResources referenced:* Simon Sinek, “Leaders Eat Last”: https://simonsinek.com/books/leaders-eat-last/ * Sam Harris's “Waking Up” app: https://www.wakingup.com/* "Growth and Development 12 Skills" framework — coming soon in a follow-up article! If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to share it with your colleagues and like-minded friends. For sponsorship and other inquiries reach out to ekaterinasyuma@gmail.comSubscribe to get more episodes right in your inbox: katesyuma.substack.comThanks for reading Kate's Syuma Newsletter & Growthmates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit katesyuma.substack.com
(0:00) Intro(1:26) How being a writer benefited Jay as a CEO(3:05) Building a management team(13:28) The Role of Titles in a Company(17:54) Only Going To One Year of High School(23:02) The Decision to Pursue Computer Science(31:05) The Birth of Project Kafka(34:32) Reflections on the Success of Kafka(36:47) Launching an Open Source Project(37:43) The Power of Product Marketing(39:35) Should You Be A Founder?(42:00) The Transition from Individual Contributor to CEO(47:51) Navigating the Public Markets(1:09:46) What's Wrong With Hybrid Work(1:14:27) Navigating Politics in the Workplace(1:17:36) Why Fairness Matters(1:26:51) The Evolution of Open Source(1:35:22) The Future of Artificial Intelligence(1:43:41) The Shift from Using Software to Becoming Software Produced: Rashad Assir & Leah ClapperMixed and edited: Justin HrabovskyExecutive Producer: Josh Machiz
If you've recently transitioned into a leadership role or you're in process of doing more leadership-oriented projects, today's episode is for you. In today's episode, I'm explaining why it is totally normal to struggle during this transition. Leadership skills are typically learned and built as you go, which means you might be experiencing some growing pains as you transition away from the individual contributor mindset and into the mindset of a leader. Tune into today's episode to learn how to amplify your leadership skills and set yourself up for a successful transition from middle management into higher levels of leadership at your organization. Enjoy! P.S. To access the free resource library: https://jessguzikcoaching.com/freeresources/ P.P.S. To join the early interest list for my leadership development group program, click here: https://jessguzikcoaching.com/leadership/
In Episode 11 of UX Leadership by Design, Joana Castro, Director of UX at Buildium in Portugal explains how she leverages UX Maturity models at Buildium, and more broadly, how organizations can use UX maturity assessments to measure progress (and regression), demonstrate the value of UX, and secure investment in user experience. This episode offers practical advice for UX leaders interested in implementing a UX maturity model in their organization, effectively using storytelling as a strategy to help stakeholders connect to user problems, and hiring and developing junior designers. TOPICS:1. The State of the UX Market in Portugal2. Building and Managing UX Teams3. The Importance of Soft Skills in UX4. Using storytelling to cultivate stakeholder buy in5. Transitioning from Individual Contributor to UX Leader6. The UX Maturity Model by Nielsen Norman Group7. Assessing and Demonstrating UX Value8. Demonstrating ROI and Business Value of UX9. The Impact of UX Maturity AssessmentsLINKS:Joana Castro LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joana-isadora-castro/Buildium: https://www.buildium.com/Atlas (North American Report) by Sequoia: https://atlas.sequoiacap.com/Nielsen Norman Group: 6 Levels of UX Maturity Model: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-maturity-model/Nielsen Norman Group: UX Maturity Survey: https://forms.nngroup.com/s3/Maturity-QuizFuzzy Math: fuzzymath.com Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbaldino/
We're launching season 3 together with Nate Langley (Monzo), talking about how constraints breed creativity, the five pillars you want to touch on in interviews, and the importance of an integrated brand experience.Timestamps:00:00 – Intro03:38 – How Nate started out05:50 – On confidence and how to build it14:17 – Best ways to start out in Design21:09 – Individual Contributor vs. Manager track28:45 – How to do well in interviews40:26 – On how constraints breed creativity 45:58 – End of show questionsConnect with NateLinkedIn, ADPlistSelected links from the episodePeak, by Anders Ericsson & Robert PoolThe Rebalancing of Design Management, by Cap Watkins
What if the most significant asset to your team isn't the leader, but the follower? That's right, we're here to shed light on the often overlooked goldmine that is the mid-career follower. We unravel the traits that contribute to an exceptional follower—loyalty, adaptability, reliability, and stellar communication skills. But it doesn't end there; we also delve into the art of time management and how you can leverage your distinct qualities to create a compelling narrative about your value in the team.Now, imagine being so good at your role that you become indispensable—sounds great, right? But what if it becomes a barrier to your growth? We explore this double-edged sword of being too valuable in a specific role through intriguing narratives. We'll guide you through the dynamics of team leadership when a member isn't quite ready or keen on stepping into the leadership role. We also share insights on finding satisfaction and purpose in being a standout follower. Remember, the value of your contribution is never to be underestimated. Tune in as we navigate the nuances of followership and its pivotal role in team success.Visit https://johnneral.com/webinar to sign up for November's webinar called, "A Painless 3-Step Guide to Figuring Out What's Next for You and Your Career in 2024." A replay will be available, but you have to register. Support the showThank you for listening to The Mid-Career GPS Podcast. Please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts here. Visit https://johnneral.com to download your free "Mid-Career Job Seekers Checklist." Plus, check out other leadership and career resources at https://johnneral.com/resources. Connect with John on LinkedIn here.Follow John on Instagram & Threads @johnneralcoaching. Subscribe to John's YouTube Channel here.
Being a great engineer doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a great engineering manager. So how do you know if a leadership role is right for you? Taylor Poindexter, Software Engineering Manager at Spotify, believes you have to try before you can decide and also know when to walk away. Taylor started out as a tech lead. She knew she wanted to help people advance their careers, and that passion led her to management. She emphasizes that emotional intelligence and patience are a major part of the role and the signs of an effective leader because people are complex. She talks about some of her personal strengths as a leader and the importance of motivating your team, giving feedback, and taking uncomfortable criticism. Managing people isn't an easy job, and Taylor's advice for engineers who realize they don't love leadership is to walk away before creating an unhappy work culture for your team. In this episode, Taylor talks to Robbie and Chuck about tech hot takes, building effective engineering cultures, and the challenges and rewards of being an engineering manager. Key Takeaways [00:50] - Introduction to Taylor Poindexter. [02:38] - A whiskey review: Barrel Private Release DJX2. [12:19] - Tech hot takes. [18:32] - Taylor talks about her skills as an engineer and manager. [22:26] - Taylor's advice for a developer who isn't sure they want to be a manager. [27:41] - Types of employees managed by Taylor. [35:01] - Taylor unpacks her tweet about food spending. [42:15] - Chuck, Robbie, and Taylor talk about the subscription model. [45:10] - If Taylor wasn't in tech, what career would she choose? [48:32] - Chuck talks about his trip to France. Quotes [19:32] - “I think I'm really good at motivating people. I think partially because, at the end of the day, they know I'm really honest and trustworthy.” ~ Taylor Poindexter [20:19] - “The constant iteration of improving things makes the team a good place.” ~ Taylor Poindexter [23:03] - “I realized that it was so important to me to give somebody else an enhanced career in whatever way I could.” ~ Taylor Poindexter Links Taylor Poindexter Taylor Poindexter LinkedIn Taylor Poindexter Twitter Taylor Poindexter Instagram Spotify Black Code Collective Barrell Private Release DJX2 Jack Rose Dining Saloon Twitter I.W. Harper Laravel WordPress Django Disaronno Sagamore Spirit Rye Suntory Jim Beam Bun University of Virginia Virginia Tech Solid JS Ryan Carniato Astro Aperol Hammer & Nails CleanMyMac Verizon Adobe Netflix Blockbuster Connect with our hosts Robbie Wagner Chuck Carpenter Ship Shape Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Whiskey Web and Whatnot Top-Tier, Full-Stack Software Consultants This show is brought to you by Ship Shape. Ship Shape's software consultants solve complex software and app development problems with top-tier coding expertise, superior service, and speed. In a sea of choices, our senior-level development crew rises above the rest by delivering the best solutions for fintech, cybersecurity, and other fast-growing industries. Check us out at shipshape.io. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/message
Are design leaders and their teams neglecting the power of wireframing in UX design? In the latest episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino explores this question, and others, with Billy Carlson, a design leader and educator. The episode dives deep into the often underestimated process of wireframing, emphasizing its critical role in project development. Billy underscores the value of staying in the the "gray areas" of low-fidelity design early on, as it allows teams to refine their ideas, establish content structures, and secure stakeholder buy-in before transitioning to high-fidelity design. They also talk about Billy's recent book, "Wireframing for Everyone," which aims to democratize wireframing, making it accessible to both designers and non-designers. If you're a design leader in the UX field, this podcast episode offers a fresh perspective and actionable insights to elevate your team's design process.ABOUT OUR GUEST: Billy Carlson is a design educator at Balsamiq, where he helps new and non-designers learn best practices for all phases of user interface and digital product design. He teaches university-level UX and design thinking courses, and, as a designer since 2005, he's worked on myriad products and led large UX teams at various organizations.TOPICS:The Role of Wireframing in UX DesignImportance of Staying in Low FidelityStrategies to Encourage Collaboration in WireframingChallenges Faced by Design LeadersBenefits of Concept Development in DesignBalancing Control and Collaboration as a Design LeaderTransitioning from Individual Contributor to Design LeadThe Intersection of Design Leadership and EducationThe Process of Writing a UX Design BookEffective Communication in Early Design PhasesLINKS:Wireframing for Everyone: https://abookapart.com/products/wireframing-for-everyoneBalsamiq Wireframes Academy: https://www.balsamiq.com/learnBilly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billycarlsonBalsamiq: https://www.balsamiq.com/Fuzzy Math: fuzzymath.com Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbaldino/
Feeling under the weather? Don't worry, so is our co-host, Clark! This episode packs a punch, blending together the unlikely mix of illness, horror movies, and workplace certifications. We're sorry for the delay in delivery, but when one host is 90% virus, things can get a little chaotic. Now, Clark might be battling a cold, but it doesn't stop him from sharing his thoughts on the latest AI developments, our mutual love for hair-raising horror flicks, and the controversial concept of a limb-chopping hero story. Ever wondered if certifications are your golden ticket to success in the corporate world? Squid Boy and Individual Contributor have! So, we decided it was high time we addressed this ongoing debate. While Clark and I are in agreement that certifications can be advantageous, especially if your company foots the bill, we don't view them as an essential element of success. And yes, we also share how certifications could give your resume's SEO a nice little boost!But we don't stop there. Our curiosity piques as we further delve into various IT certifications, including those from Cisco, AWS, and CompTIA Linux Plus. We believe that certifications can play a pivotal role in climbing the corporate ladder, especially if your chosen field is tech-oriented. So, if your company offers to pay for them, why not grab the opportunity? Let's unpick the world of certifications, their relevance in the fast-paced tech industry, and how they can help future-proof your career. Don't forget to tune in for our unique blend of tech talk, movie madness, and the latest on Clark's health, only on our podcast.Passage to Profit Show - Road to EntrepreneurshipThe Passage to Profit Show is a nationally syndicated weekly radio show and podcast...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showUseful LinksVisit our website to contact us and submit topicsJoin the conversation on the Corporate Fam DiscordFollow us on LinkedInGet some Corporate Strategy MerchElevator Music by Julian Avila Promoted by MrSnoozeDon't forget ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ it helps!
In today's exciting episode, we have the privilege of speaking with the incredible Eric Girard, a renowned expert in talent development and author of the book Lead Like a Pro: The Essential Guide for New Managers. Eric's extensive experience spans over 30 years, during which he has empowered countless individuals in improving their performance as managers and employees.Throughout our conversation, Eric delves into the challenges faced by new managers as they transition from individual contributors to leaders. Drawing from his wealth of knowledge, Eric shares valuable insights and practical advice from his book, providing guidance on how to navigate this crucial career shift successfully. But that's not all – we also dive into the world of virtual workshops and facilitation, as Eric shares expert tips and tricks to create engaging and impactful virtual learning experiences.In this episode, you will learn:Challenges and tips for transitioning from individual contributor to managerThe importance of emotional intelligence and empathy in effective leadership.How to set goals, coach, and providing feedback for team success.The keys to empowering employees and driving motivation.Best practices and tools for creating an engaging learner experience.Eric Girard has over 30 years of experience helping improve the performance of managers and employees. He specializes in the development of new managers, focusing on their successful transition to their new role and on their team management skills. He has a high-energy and engaging facilitation style.Eric is a passionate, lifelong learner. When not designing or delivering training, he enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and twin 14-year-old daughters and is a PADI Open Water Instructor pursuing the rating of Master Scuba Trainer. His new book is called Lead Like a Pro: The Essential Guide for New Managers and comes out September 20, 2023.Connect with Andy Storch here:WebsiteLinkedInJoin us in the Talent Development Think Tank Community!Connect with Eric Girard:LinkedInWebsite
What a difference a few years makes! When we first had Maya Gold Patterson on the podcast back in 2016, she was a product designer in Chicago. Since then, she's moved out west and has held down design leadership positions at two of the most well-known tech companies on the planet — Twitter (now X) and Facebook (now Meta). And after a recent stint as VP of Design at Riverside.fm, Maya's facing one of her biggest challenges yet: quitting her job and embarking on a journey of self-discovery and career exploration.We caught up and talked about her recent decision, and about how it's left her feeling about Big Tech and about her future. But we also spent time looking back at her tour of duty at Facebook and Twitter, and she spoke about the lessons she's learned, the products she's built, and the importance of making choices that align with her personal goals and values.Maya is proof that taking a chance on yourself is never a bad idea, so if you're feeling burnt out or unsure about your career direction, then this episode is a must-listen!LinksMaya Gold Patterson's 2016 InterviewMaya Gold Patterson on InstagramMaya Gold Patterson on TwitterHappy Paths: “Twitter Spaces with Maya Gold Patterson”For a full transcript of this interview, visit revisionpath.com.==========Donate to Revision PathFor 10 years, Revision Path has been dedicated to showcasing Black designers and creatives from all over the world. In order to keep bringing you the content that you love, we need your support now more than ever.Click or tap here to make either a one-time or monthly donation to help keep Revision Path running strong.Thank you for your support!==========Follow and SubscribeLike this episode? Then subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite shows. Follow us, and leave us a 5-star rating and a review!You can also follow Revision Path on Instagram and Twitter.==========CreditsRevision Path is brought to you by Lunch, a multidisciplinary creative studio in Atlanta, GA.Executive Producer and Host: Maurice CherryEditor and Audio Engineer: RJ BasilioIntro Voiceover: Music Man DreIntro and Outro Music: Yellow SpeakerTranscripts are provided courtesy of Brevity and Wit.☎️ Call 626-603-0310 and leave us a message with your comments on this episode!Thank you for listening!==========Sponsored by Brevity & WitBrevity & Wit is a strategy and design firm committed to designing a more inclusive and equitable world. They are always looking to expand their roster of freelance design consultants in the U.S., particularly brand strategists, copywriters, graphic designers and Web developers.If you know how to deliver excellent creative work reliably, and enjoy the autonomy of a virtual-based, freelance life (with no non-competes), check them out at brevityandwit.com.Brevity & Wit — creative excellence without the grind.
The classic chicken & egg...Most will never break free from that:"You never proved yourself in leadership so why would we give you a chance".Neelay was committed and wanted to change.He knew he wanted the impact and believed he could be a good leader - but needed the proven formula to make it happen and fast-track the journey. In this episode Ilana chats with Neelay to find out how he was able to not only land a dream role but jump from Individual contributor to Director in Microsoft. Wow! Neelay also shares how he applied the same techniques he learned at Leap Academy to help him be successful in his first 90 days. Watch This Episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/eU5QzNGCUj8 About Ilana Golan & Leap Academy:Website - https://www.leapacademy.com/Follow Ilana on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilanagolan/YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ilanagolan-leap-academy
For individuals stepping more fully into leadership roles, the transition from individual contributor to team leader can bring about a myriad of feelings. What happens when you go from making something to building a team? In this Wisdom for Work, Andy Crissinger & Ray Foote describe the Brightest Bulb Challenge and discuss strategies to help leaders thrive as they transition from maker to leader. They make the case for conducting time and outcome audits and provide guidance for managing energy and mindshare. If you're a leader feeling the weight of this challenge, this episode is for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! Follow our step by step guides: - How To: Leave a Review on Your Computer: - How To: Leave a Review on Your iPhone: Never miss an episode! Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on all our episode releases.
Moment #26 // Of the many mistakes that new leaders are prone to make, over-functioning for certain individuals is one of the most common, and the most insidious. When you do this, it tells your people that what they're doing isn't good enough. It trains them to be lazy and complacent, because you'll always step in to finish their job for them if you're not happy. And they'll keep getting paid for not doing their job to the standard you expect. Excellent leaders give their people clarity of purpose, resources, coaching, and autonomy. They lead people to do their jobs—they don't do their jobs for them.You can take a deeper dive into these insights by listening to Ep.172: Stop Doing Your People's Work, or by reading my article in Harvard Business Review.————————FREE 5 DAY LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE: Want to boost your leadership capability? This challenge will start you down the path of improving your leadership confidence and skills—if you're willing to put in the work!Start the free 5 Day Leadership Challenge today: https://yourceomentor.com/challenge————————You can connect with me at:Website: https://www.yourceomentor.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourceomentorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourceomentorLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-moore-075b001/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourCEOMentor————————Our mission here at Your CEO Mentor is to improve the quality of leaders, globally. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Austen Schaefer from Clozd joins us on the Surf and Sales podcast. What mistakes to avoid What it means to take that next step What you can do to take that next step. Big props to Hubspot for making us a part of the Hubspot Podcasting Network! They even offer free tools to help your sales and marketing team. Click Here Connect with us on LinkedIn Richard Harris Scott Leese Want to go to Costa Rica? Come to the next Surf and Sales event! Register Here!
If you want to develop a voice that gets you NOTICED, this episode is for you! In this final installment of the Unstoppable Voice series, I'm walking you through the #1 mindset shift you have to make to develop a powerful voice at work. In this episode, you'll hear me chat about what the individual contributor mindset is, how it shows up in meetings, and how to RELEASE it so you can speak up powerfully and make an IMPACT. I hope you feel super inspired by this episode! P.S. To enroll in The Art of Speaking Up Academy, head to: https://jessguzikcoaching.com/academy/ Have questions about The Academy? Shoot me an email at jessica@theartofspeakingup.com and I'll circle back with you
Today's episode is "Old News"! Stephanie shares her ergonomic desk setup. Joël talks about the pyramids. Another old thing is the Bike Shed episode two weeks ago about success and fulfillment. Stephanie and Joël realized off-mic that one area they didn't really talk about so much is impact, and that is something that is very fulfilling for both of them. Today, they talk about impact and leadership as individual contributors because leadership is typically associated with management. But they believe that as ICs, at any level, you can be displaying attributes of leadership and show up in that way on teams. This episode is brought to you by Airbrake (https://airbrake.io/?utm_campaign=Q3_2022%3A%20Bike%20Shed%20Podcast%20Ad&utm_source=Bike%20Shed&utm_medium=website). Visit Frictionless error monitoring and performance insight for your app stack. Success and Fulfillment episode (https://www.bikeshed.fm/376) Logitech MX Vertical (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/logitech-mx-vertical-advanced-wireless-optical-mouse-with-ergonomic-design-graphite/6282602.p?skuId=6282602&ref=212&loc=1&extStoreId=319&ref=212&loc=1&&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItMP27PT8_QIVfMiUCR0_dwVqEAQYASABEgIWJ_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) Rose Wiegley's Lead From Where You Are (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GorXHiB7nw) Transcript: JOËL: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Bike Shed, a weekly podcast from your friends at thoughtbot about developing great software. I'm Joël Quenneville. STEPHANIE: And I'm Stephanie Minn. And together, we're here to share a bit of what we've learned along the way. JOËL: So, Stephanie, what's old in your world? STEPHANIE: I'm glad you asked that question because I don't think we get a chance to talk about things that are exactly the same as they've always been. And so today, I'd like to share my ergonomic desk setup, [laughs] which has been old for about a year or so. And back then, I was having some issues with some back pain and some wrist pain, and I made a few upgrades and since then have not had any issues. And I feel like it's one of those things that I just forgot about because when it stops being a problem, you don't really notice it. And today, I am able to reflect on my old problem of bodily pain while working. And I'm happy to say that things have been much better for a while now. JOËL: Oh, that's amazing. What's one thing you think had the most impact in your setup? STEPHANIE: Oh, I picked up one of those vertical mice for my wrist. I was having some wrist pain, like I mentioned. And I actually solicited some input from other thoughtboters for the best mouse to replace the Apple Magic Mouse that I was using, which I really wanted it to work for me because I liked the way it looked, but nevertheless, that was causing me issues. So I ended up with the Logitech MX vertical, and that has really solved my wrist pain. It is very not cute. [laughs] It kind of looks like a weird big, gray snail. But you know what? You got to do what you got to do. JOËL: That sounds like an art project waiting to happen. STEPHANIE: Yeah. I would love to see; I don't know, a way to make these vertical mice look a little more cute. Maybe I will stick some googly eyes or something on it and then just be like, this is my pet snail [laughs] that works with me every day. JOËL: Do you have a name? STEPHANIE: Not yet. Maybe I'll save it for what's new next week. [laughter] JOËL: Homework assignment. Years ago, I was also having some wrist pain. And I think one of the most impactful things I did was remapping some keys on my keyboard. So I'm a pretty heavy Vim user. And I think just reaching with that pinky for the Escape key all the time was putting a lot of strain on my wrist. So I remapped Caps Lock to control. That's what I did. Yes, because it was reaching down with the pinky for the Control key and remapped escape to hitting J twice. So now I can do those two very common things, Control for some kind of common chord and then Escape because you're always dropping in and out of modes, all from the Home row. And now, both my hands feel great, and I can be happy writing Vim. STEPHANIE: That's really nice. I think when I had asked in Slack about mouse recommendations, someone had trolled me a little bit and said that if I just use my keyboard for everything, then I won't need to use [laughs] a mouse at all. [laughs] So there's also that option too for listeners out there. JOËL: It's true. You go to tmux and Vim, and on a Mac, maybe something like Alfred and a few OS shortcuts, and you can get 90% of the way to keyboard only. STEPHANIE: What about you, Joël? What's old in your world? JOËL: So you know what, something that's really old? Pyramids. STEPHANIE: Wow. [laughter] I should have known that this is where we were headed. JOËL: Long-term listeners of the show will know I'm a huge history nerd. And we think of the pyramids as being old, but they are ridiculously old. A fun fact that I have not learned recently because this is something that is old in my world, but that I learned a while back is that if we look back to Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh, she is closer to us in time than she was to the building of the Great Pyramid. STEPHANIE: No. What? Wow. Okay, yeah, that definitely just messed with my brain a little bit. And now, I have to rethink my understanding of time. JOËL: I think the way the timeline sort of works in my mind is it tends to get compressed the further back you go. So it's like, yeah, I think of modern-ish times, like, yeah, there's like a lot of stuff, and I'm thinking in terms of decades until maybe like the 1900s. And now I start to think in terms of centuries. And they're kind of more or less equivalent, you know, the Victorian Age. It fills about the same amount of space in my mind as like the '60s. And then you get to the point where it's just like millennia. STEPHANIE: Mm-hmm. When you think of Ancient Egypt, do you think Cleopatra and also pyramids, so you kind of conflate? At least I do. I conflate the two a little bit. But yeah, I guess a lot of time passed in between that. [laughs] JOËL: The pyramids are also really cool because they were one of The Seven Wonders of the ancient world, which is sort of, I want to say, like a tourist circuit created by the ancient Greeks, sort of like monuments that they thought were particularly impressive. But they're also the only ones that are still standing; all of the others have been lost to time. STEPHANIE: Wow, it's the real wonder then [laughs] for being able to stand the test of time. JOËL: It's also the oldest of the seven and has managed to survive until today, so very impressive. STEPHANIE: I love that. Just now, when you were talking about thinking about time periods kind of compressed, I definitely fall victim to thinking that the '70s or whatever was just 30 years ago, even though we are solidly in the 2020s and, in reality, it's obviously like 50. But yeah, I think that always freaks me out a little bit. JOËL: Yes, it's no longer the year 2000. STEPHANIE: Turns out. [laughs] So, in case our listeners didn't know. [laughs] JOËL: I think when we were close-ish to the turn of the millennium, it just made mental math so easy because you're at that nice zero point. And then you get to the early 2010s, and it's close enough within a rounding error. And now we just can't pretend about that anymore. STEPHANIE: No, we really can't. JOËL: We need a new anchor point to do that mental math. STEPHANIE: I love that we're talking about what's old in our world because I love a chance to just repeat something that I've said before that I still think is really cool, but I feel like that doesn't get invited as frequently. It's just like, oh, how are you doing? What's new? So yeah, highly recommend asking people what's old in their world? JOËL: Yeah. And beyond that, not just like, what are some new things you're trying? But kind of like what you were talking about earlier, what's something that's stayed stable in your life, something that you've been doing for a while that works for you? STEPHANIE: Yeah, I love it. So another thing that's old is our episode from a couple of weeks ago about success and fulfillment. And you and I realized off-mic that one area we didn't really talk about so much is impact, and that being something that is very fulfilling for both of us. And that kind of got me thinking about impact and leadership. And I especially am interested in this topic as individual contributors because I think that leadership is typically associated with management. But I really believe that as ICs, at any level, really, you can be displaying attributes of leadership and showing up in that way on teams. JOËL: Definitely. I think you can have an impact at every level of the career ladder, not just an impact on a project but an impact on other people. I remember the first internship I did. I was maybe two weeks in, and I had a brand new intern join. It's day two, and I'm already pairing with him and being like, "Hey, I barely know anything about Rails. But if you want help with understanding instance variables, that's the one thing I know, and I can help you." STEPHANIE: Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, everyone knows something that another person doesn't. And just having that mindset of injecting leadership into things that you do at work, no matter how big or how small, I think is really important. JOËL: I think there's maybe a lie that we tell ourselves, which is that we need to wait to be an expert before we can help other people. STEPHANIE: Yeah, I've certainly fallen into that trap a little bit where I think it's held me back from sharing something because I assumed that the other person would know already or the thing I'm thinking is something I learned but not necessarily something that someone else would find interesting or new. JOËL: Right. Or even somebody's looking for help, and you feel like maybe you're not qualified to help on that problem, even though you probably are. STEPHANIE: One thing that I was really curious about is, can you remember a time when an IC on your team demonstrated leadership, and you were really impressed by it? Like, you thought, like, wow, that was really great leadership on their part, and I'm really glad that they did that. JOËL: Yeah. So I think one way that I really appreciate seeing leadership demonstrated is in client communication. Typically, the teams we have at thoughtbot are structured on a particular project where there's like a team lead who is in charge of the project. It's usually a couple of consultants working together as peers. Depending on the situation, one or the other might take leadership where it's necessary. But I've really appreciated situations where a colleague will just really knock it out of the park with some communication with the client or when they are maybe helping talk through a difficult situation. Or maybe even we realize that there's a risk coming down the pipeline for the project and raising it early and making sure that we de-risk that properly. Those are all things that I really appreciate seeing. STEPHANIE: Yeah. I think the way folks engage in channels of communication can have a really big impact. A few things that come to mind for me that I think is really great leadership is when more experienced or senior folks ask questions in public spaces because that kind of cultivates a space where asking questions is okay, and even people who have whatever title or whatever years of experience they still have questions and can signal to other folks in the team that this is okay to do. And the same thing goes for sharing mistakes as well. Also, just signaling that, like, yeah, we mess up, and that's totally normal and okay. And the consequences aren't so scary that people feel a lot of pressure not to make mistakes or share when they happen. JOËL: Yeah. The concept you're describing is very similar to the idea of vulnerability. STEPHANIE: Yeah, that sounds right. JOËL: So kind of modeling that from more senior people helps create a safer environment for the more junior people. STEPHANIE: I think another thing that I really love that others do for me, and something that I want to get better at doing for others, is speaking up when something is a little off because, again, with power dynamics, for people who are newer or less experienced, they might be noticing things, but they don't feel encouraged to speak up about it in a public space or even with their manager. But they might confide in another IC who is maybe a little more senior. And one thing that I really liked that happened on my client project recently is a senior engineer said in Slack, "Hey, I noticed some sentiment from our daily sync meeting that we're cutting it close to our deadline." And he asked like, "Should we shift some priorities around? Or what is more important to make sure that we focus on in the next few weeks before the end of the quarter?" And I was just really glad he said that because I certainly had been feeling it. But I don't know if I necessarily kept a pulse that other people were also feeling it. And so having someone keeping an eye on those things and being receptive to hearing that from folks and then being like, okay, I want to make sure that I bring it up to the manager because it's important. I thought that was really cool. JOËL: Yeah. Now we're almost dialing into sort of emotional awareness of what other people on the team might be feeling and also the ability to think in terms of risks and being proactive about managing those. STEPHANIE: I like your use of the word risks because that definitely feels like something that, in general, people are scared to bring up. But ultimately, it is the signal of someone who is experienced enough to know that it's important to make transparent and then adjust accordingly. Even beyond noticing what folks are feeling, there are also more concrete things that can be noticed as well, like if team members are complaining about CI build time being really long and that being a repeating issue in getting their work done. Or any other development or tooling thing that is causing people issues, having someone notice how frequently that happens and then being like, hey, this is a problem. And here's what I think we should do about it. JOËL: So not only the awareness but also the initiative to try to enact change. STEPHANIE: Yeah, absolutely. MID-ROLL AD: Debugging errors can be a developer's worst nightmare...but it doesn't have to be. Airbrake is an award-winning error monitoring, performance, and deployment tracking tool created by developers for developers that can actually help cut your debugging time in half. So why do developers love Airbrake? 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So I think you were playing around with the idea of giving people three days to merge, or else they'd have to rebase. JOËL: I thought it was being really comprehensive here with three days because, you know what? You solicited feedback, you got review, but maybe it's the end of the day, or maybe someone's in different time zones. So we definitely want to cover at least a 24-hour period. So three days gives you an extra day. It should be safe. Is there any common situation where you might want a PR to be open for more than three days, but you wouldn't have rebased the latest master changes? STEPHANIE: Yeah. I can see how you thought about it from a few different angles too. Like, you're thinking about time zones and folks working in other regions. And I ended up responding to you, and I was like, oh, what about the weekend? [laughs] JOËL: Oops. STEPHANIE: Because three days seems a little short if two of those days are eaten up by Saturday and Sunday. But what I liked was that you said, "Hey, I'm thinking about doing this. What do other people think?" Because you didn't claim to know what works best for everyone. And I think that's a really important skill to be honest, soliciting others for feedback, and knowing who to ask for and who to make sure you are not negatively affecting their work by making a change or making a decision. JOËL: And in this case, it helped me realize that I had skipped over the most obvious edge case while thinking I'd covered all the really niche ones STEPHANIE: We got there in the end, [laughs] and I think made the most informed decision. JOËL: I guess that's just good product design in general. Talk to your users, get early feedback, put a prototype out where necessary. You don't always want your users to dictate what you will do, but it's good to get their feedback. And similarly, I think that applies when working with dev-facing things; you want feedback from developers. If I asked everybody at the company, I would have gotten a lot of different answers. And I might not have gotten one that satisfied everybody. But having some of that feedback helps me make a more informed decision. STEPHANIE: Yeah, and to take it to the next step, I think there's also accountability for those decisions that you have to have. So if the decision that you made ends up being like a huge pain for some unforeseen reasons, I imagine you'd be on top of that as well and would want to figure out how to adjust if the experiment doesn't work as well as you would have liked. JOËL: Right. I think we often talk about failing early. In fact, we have a recent episode about dealing with failure. And we mostly talked about it from a technical perspective, catching errors or making code more resilient to failure. But there is also a human component of it, which is if you catch errors or design problems, and I'm using design here as a product design, not in visual design, at a prototype phase or maybe a user interview phase, you've saved yourself a lot of maybe unnecessary work that you would have had if you went out to the product phase and shipped it to your entire customer base. I guess, in a sense, it's worth thinking about other developers, the engineering team as customers sometimes. And a lot of the internal facing parts of your project are effectively a product geared towards them. They are the users. And so, throwing in a little bit of product development and design skills into building internally-facing software can have a huge impact. So beyond just thinking of developers as a sort of internal customer base, occasionally, we work on projects where you are building internal tooling for other teams; maybe it's business development, maybe it's the marketing team, maybe it's some form of customer support. And that can often have a really large level of impact. Have you ever been on a project like that? STEPHANIE: I have. One of my first jobs was for an e-commerce company. And I built tools for the customer support team for dealing with customers and getting their orders correct and fixed and whatnot. So I did work on an admin dashboard to make their jobs easier as well as the company also had its own internal software for dealing with warehouse logistics. And so, I also built a little bit of tooling for our logistics and fulfillment team. And I really liked that work a lot because I could just go over and talk to the folks internally and be like, "Hey, what did you mean by this?" Or like, "What do you want here, and what would make your life easier?" And I felt a much more tangible impact than I did sometimes working on customer-facing features because I would deliver, and that goes out in the world. And I don't get to see how it's being used, and the feedback loop is much longer. So I really liked working on the internal tooling. JOËL: In my experience, those teams are often really underserved when it comes to software. And so it's possible to make a huge impact on their quality of life with relatively little work. Sometimes you can just take an afternoon and eliminate a thing that's causing them to pull out their hair. STEPHANIE: Yeah, absolutely. And you get the satisfaction of knowing that you built something exactly as they wanted it. Whereas sometimes, with user or customer-facing features, we are guessing or experimenting a little bit. And yeah, I think having someone who then is very grateful for, I don't know, the button that you added that makes them have to click less buttons [laughs] when they do their work in an internal dashboard can feel really good. JOËL: Having that direct access can be really nice where you get to just go over and talk to them or shadow them for a day, see how their work happens, get to hear their frustrations real-time. It's often a smaller group as well than you would have for our customers, which might be thousands of people, and so you sample a few for user testing. But for an internal team, you can get them all in a Zoom call. I don't necessarily recommend doing a giant Zoom call for this kind of thing, but it's a small enough group that you could. STEPHANIE: I'd like to flip that around to you. Have you ever been on the receiving end of an improvement or someone else making your life a little easier, and if you could share what that was and how it made you feel? JOËL: I think pretty early on in my career, one of my first projects for thoughtbot, we were building a small kind of greenfield app for a startup. And another member on the team took a couple of hours one afternoon to just write a few small abstractions for the test suite that; just made it so much nicer to write tests. And we're pretty scrappy. We've got a tight deadline, and we're trying to iterate very quickly. But that quality of life difference was significant to the point I still remember this ten years later. I think we were rotating this developer off, and this was kind of a farewell present, so... STEPHANIE: That's really sweet. JOËL: You know what? I love that idea of saying when you rotate off a project, do a little something extra for the people you're leaving behind. STEPHANIE: Yeah, I love that too. It's your kind of like last chance to make a small impact in that world. JOËL: Especially because on your last couple days, you're probably not expected to pick up a ticket and get it halfway done. So as you're kind of ramping down, you might have a little bit of time to do some sort of refactoring task or something that needs to get done but hasn't been prioritized that will have a positive impact on the team. STEPHANIE: Yeah, or even writing a script to automate something that you have kind of developed the muscle memory for, like, oh, I run these three commands in succession. And if you could just wrap it up in a little script and hand it off to someone else, it is a very sweet parting gift as well. JOËL: Absolutely. So I'm curious, we opened the topic talking about impact, and you immediately connected that to leadership, and I want to explore that idea a little bit. Do you think impact has to be connected to leadership? Or are there ways to have impact, maybe outside of a leadership role? STEPHANIE: I think they kind of go hand in hand, don't you? Because if you are wanting to make an impact, then in some ways, you are demonstrating that you care about other people. And at least for me, that is kind of my definition of leadership is enabling other folks to do better work. And you and I talk about attending and speaking at conferences pretty frequently on the podcast. And that is a very clear way that you are making an impact on the community. But I also think that it is also a demonstration of leadership that you care enough about something that you want to share it with others and leave them with something that you've learned or something that you would like to see be done differently. JOËL: And just to be clear here, the way you're talking about leadership is not a title; it's an action that you do. You're demonstrating leadership, even if you don't have any form of leadership title. STEPHANIE: Yeah, absolutely. I think that because software development is a collaborative job, in some ways, in most things we do, there is some form of leadership component, even if you're not managing people or you don't have a particular title. JOËL: Like you said, it's about the things that you're doing to enable other people or to act as a sort of force multiplier on your team rather than how many people report to you in the org chart. STEPHANIE: Yeah, absolutely. JOËL: So if everybody aspires to enable each other and to be impactful, is it possible to have a team where every person on the team is a leader? STEPHANIE: Whoa, [laughs] asking the big questions, Joël. I mean, logically, the answer seems to be no based on our traditional understandings of leadership and being a leader or follower. But I also kind of disagree because, as developers, we have to make choices all of the time, and that can be at the level of the code that we write, the commit messages we write, what we communicate in our daily sync. And those are all opportunities, I think, to inject those skills that we're talking about. And so, yeah, everyone on the team is making decisions about their work. And inherently, to me, at least, the way you make those decisions and the impact of those decisions imply some form of leadership. What about you? What do you think about this? JOËL: It's tough because you can get into bikeshedding the definition. STEPHANIE: [laughs] JOËL: Which, hey, it's all about that, right? You know, is leadership about authority or decision-making capacity? Is it about impact? Is it about maybe even responsibility if things go wrong? Who's responsible for the consequences? It could be about position in the org tree and relative depth on that tree, to use some data structure terminology. But I liked your emphasis on the idea of impact and enabling others. So now it's a thing that you do. And so any member at any moment can be demonstrating leadership or acting in some leadership capacity, and they're contributing to the team in that way. And in the next moment, somebody else stands up and does the same thing. And it doesn't necessarily have to be in conflict. You can actually be in a beautiful harmony. STEPHANIE: Yeah, I really like the way you said that. I love a good beautiful harmony. [laughs] I think part of what has shaped my view on this is a keynote talk from RubyConf Mini back in November by Rose Wiegley. And her talk was called "Lead From Where You Are." And I think perhaps I've kind of internalized that a little bit to be like, oh yeah, everything we do, we can make a decision that can have a positive impact on others. So that has helped me at least feel like I have a lot more agency in what I do as a developer, even if I don't have the concrete responsibility of being a mentor to a particular person or having a direct report. It injects meaning into my work, and that goes back to the fulfillment piece that we were talking in, knowing that, like, okay, like, here's how I can make an impact. And that's all just wrapped up together. JOËL: So you kind of defined earlier the idea of leadership as work that has impact on others or that enables the work of others. And I think that there are some forms of that work which are kind of highly respected and will get you noticed and will be kind of called out as like, oh, you're performing leadership here. You stood up in that meeting, and you said the hard thing that needed to be said. And there are other forms of supporting or enabling the team that almost get viewed as the opposite of leadership that don't get recognized and are almost like you're seen as less of a leader if you're spending a lot of your time doing that. That can be sometimes more administrative work. How does that sort of fit into this model where we're talking about leadership as something that has an impact on others? STEPHANIE: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because I have a lot of gripes [laughs] and thoughts, I suppose, about what work is visible and not visible and valued more or less. And I do think some more traditional signals of leadership, like talking the most in a meeting, like, that I don't necessarily think is my definition of leadership; in fact, the opposite. A true leader, in my opinion, is someone who makes space for others and makes sure that all voices are heard. And yeah, I guess it just speaks to like what I was saying about soliciting other people for feedback as well. It's like someone to me who demonstrates leadership is not someone who thinks that they have all the right answers but actively seeks out more information to invalidate what they think is right and find the right solution for the folks on their team. Similarly, in Rose's talk, she also mentions the idea of being a problem finder, so not just being tasked with solving a problem but looking around and being like, okay, like, what aren't we talking about and that we should be? And obviously, also contributing to making that better and not just being like, "Here's a bunch of problems, [laughs] and you have to deal with it," but that proactive work. Ideally, we are addressing those things before they become a huge problem. And I really liked that aspect of what leadership looks like as well. JOËL: Yeah, I think something that I've noticed that I do more as I've built more experience over time is that when I started off earlier in my career, it was a lot of here's a problem that needs to be solved, go and solve it. And then over time, it's what are the problems that need to be solved? You have to sort of figure out those problems before you go and solve them. And then sometimes it's even one level above that; what questions should we be asking so that we can find the problem so that we can solve them? And that will happen...it could be internally, so some of the things that I'm doing currently around improving the experience of a test suite is like, okay, we know sort of that it's slow in certain ways. How can we make that faster? We know that the experience is not great. But what are the actual problems that are happening here, the root causes? Or we're getting some complaints, but we don't really know what the underlying problem is. Let's go and search that out. STEPHANIE: Yeah, that brings to mind an issue that I think I see a lot on client projects where perhaps stakeholders or an engineering manager is seeing that we are slow to merge our PRs, and they kind of start reaching for solutions like, okay, well, people should spend more time doing code reviews or whatever, thinking that that's what the issue is. But in reality, maybe it's, I don't know, it can even be something as lower level as having to re-request reviews every single time you push a new commit because the GitHub settings are such that it requires additional approvals for every new change. And that is something that they would not know about unless someone spoke up and said, "Actually, this is what's causing us friction," and having to go back and do these manual tasks that maybe we should explore a different alternative to solve. JOËL: Yeah, instead of just jumping in with a solution of we need to throw more dev hours at this problem, it can be useful to step back and ask, okay, well, why do we have this problem in the first place? Is it a process issue that we have? Is there some sort of social element that we need to address and organizational problems? And if it's not that, then what are the questions that we're missing? What questions should we be asking here to understand this problem? STEPHANIE: Right. And even speaking up about it too and going against someone's assumption and saying, "Here's what I've been seeing, and this is what I think about it," that takes a lot of courage. And I do think it is something that is especially important for folks who are more experienced and have more responsibility or a higher-level title, but ideally is something that anyone could do. I would love to know for you, Joël, what is the most important way that you want to make an impact as a developer? JOËL: I think the human element is the most important. I want to have an impact on my colleagues, on the dev teams with my clients. I want to ship good work. But I think the most valuable thing to invest in is other people. STEPHANIE: Yeah, I agree. I think for me; it's like making a good work experience for the people that I work with. And it's also a little bit selfish because then that means I am having a good work experience, and I'm in a good culture and environment. But that is definitely an area that I spend a lot of time thinking about and wanting to start conversations about. JOËL: It's a win-win, right? You make it better for everybody else and better for you in the process. STEPHANIE: Exactly. JOËL: And it's okay for it to be somewhat selfishly motivated. Like, it doesn't have to always be every day super altruistic like; I just want to make the world a better place. STEPHANIE: [laughs] JOËL: Like, you know what? I want my corner of the world to be better, and in doing so, I'm going to make it better for everyone else. STEPHANIE: What's that phrase? The tide rising all the ships. [laughs] That is extremely not correct, but I think you know what I'm trying to say. JOËL: I think a rising tide lifts all boats. STEPHANIE: Yeah, something like that. I love a good rising tide. [laughs] On that note, shall we wrap up? JOËL: Let's wrap up. Or let's rise up. STEPHANIE: [laughs] STEPHANIE: Show notes for this episode can be found at bikeshed.fm. JOËL: This show has been produced and edited by Mandy Moore. STEPHANIE: If you enjoyed listening, one really easy way to support the show is to leave us a quick rating or even a review in iTunes. It really helps other folks find the show. JOËL: If you have any feedback for this or any of our other episodes, you can reach us @_bikeshed, or you can reach me @joelquen on Twitter. STEPHANIE: Or reach both of us at hosts@bikeshed.fm via email. JOËL: Thanks so much for listening to The Bike Shed, and we'll see you next week. ALL: Byeeeeeee!!!!! ANNOUNCER: This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot, your expert strategy, design, development, and product management partner. We bring digital products from idea to success and teach you how because we care. Learn more at thoughtbot.com.
Let me know your thoughts about this episode at www.Facebook.com/TerminalValueDoug and Michelle discussed the importance of making a mindset shift when stepping up from Individual Contributor to Leader. They also spoke about some of the key characteristics that make a leader truly effective and unpacked how leadership skills translate to entrepreneurship.Connect with Michelle and her team:www.thebosstrack.comTo find all of the platforms where this podcast is published and our YouTube channels, please visit www.TerminalValuePodcast.com and leave a review.