In our work as engineering leaders, there aren't a lot of places where the way that we lead becomes super widely visible to a lot of people. Maybe you give a presentation at some point to your entire company or at a conference.

A while ago, though, I was able to watch someone lead who made me really curious about how he does it. He leads in a very public way. I watched a conductor leading an orchestra in a concert, and, in this episode, I'm sharing with you my conversation with him.

Our guest is Cornelius Meister, a German conductor, pianist, and previously the Generalmusikdirektor or General Musical Director at Stuttgart State Opera.

His leadership excellence has been recognized with multiple prestigious awards, including conductor of the year. He consistently introduces new works and pushes boundaries in his field. He's known for strategic programming that combines established works with rarely performed pieces and world premieres and demonstrates how leaders can drive innovation while respecting foundational principles.

We've all been there - That moment when you know it's time to have that conversation you've been dreading. The one that makes your stomach clench. The one you would rather run away from.

So, how do you handle these conversations? How do you keep it from becoming such a big thing in the first place?

This episode is a deep dive into what makes some conversations feel difficult: being torn between compassion and performance that some managers experience and practical strategies for saying no without burning bridges. We explore dynamics that can make these conversations even trickier for women and other minorities in tech and why it makes the biggest difference to focus your leadership approach on consistent, caring leadership instead of perfect moments.

Our guest is Nikita Rathi. Nikita has been in the tech industry for several years, transitioning from linguistics to software development, and now leading engineering teams and organizations. She has navigated the complexities of managing performance while maintaining empathy, dealt with the challenge of saying no in a people pleasing culture, and hard lessons about setting boundaries. In this episode, she shares wisdom and practical advice on having difficult conversations.

Small gaps in alignment at the leadership level become canyons by the time they reach your teams.

Alignment, as in people really agreeing on what to do, why, and how to get it done. It's also one of those leadership things that sounds so simple and straightforward in theory. But we all know that it's not always that easy in practice.

My guest for this episode, Neil, brings his experiences on the topic of alignment. Neil has 25 years of experience in the industry. He's primarily worked in startup contexts, focusing on communications and data aggregation. For the last 10 years, he's been in senior engineering leadership positions with organizations of 50-100 people.

Neil and I talk about how to spot misalignment before it becomes a canyon and a crisis. We speak about the hard work of building genuine consensus at the leadership level and how to translate high level strategy into something that your engineering teams can actually use to make decisions.

Together, we bring you practical mechanics of creating alignment that is not just nodding along in meetings, but the kind that permeates every aspect of decision making within your organization.

When you're ill or disabled and working in the tech field, the long hours can be not just counterproductive, but discriminatory. And it is also because of these stated ideas of productivity and leadership that disabled leaders often remain invisible, but they do exist, and we are here to talk to one today.

Our guest is Sally Lait, an experienced senior leader with two decades experience in roles, including engineering director and VP of Engineering. Sally's insights about energy management, boundary setting, and intentional leadership are wonderful for all of us.

In this episode, I explore actionable allyship strategies with Leo, an experienced staff engineer. Learn how senior technical contributors can support colleagues from underrepresented groups through meeting techniques, documentation, and intentional advocacy — all without direct management responsibilities.

In this candid conversation, we explore the challenges neurodivergent professionals face in technology workplaces and how engineering leaders can better support them. Adya shares her personal experiences as an autistic person with ADHD, highlighting how common management practices and performance feedback often unknowingly target neurodivergent traits rather than actual performance issues.

No one wants to be micromanaged, and no one wants to be told they are a micromanager. The word has negative connotations, and usually, it’s for good reason. But there's more to micromanagement than just power and control—it’s a complex issue that often stems from deeper challenges.

Product teams and engineering teams tend to have rocky relationships. Why is this? They’re working toward the same goal, at least they are in theory, so what is the reason for their misalignment? In organizations with product and engineering teams that work together in harmony, what is their secret to success?

How do you respond when your boss or board asks “What's our AI strategy?” In this episode, Lena Reinhard talks with Daniel Paulus, VP of Engineering at Checkly, about developing a pragmatic approach to AI initiatives that creates real value while avoiding the pitfalls of hype-driven development. Daniel shares his experience leading AI initiatives and provides actionable insights for engineering leaders.

In today’s tech landscape, it isn’t enough to be good at what you do. You also have to make it clear to your organization how you’re contributing to its bottom line. Communicating the business impact of engineering investments is important for decision-making, stakeholder engagement, and ensuring your company knows you’re indispensable if they decide to have another round of layoffs. In this episode, Lena and Amani discuss the importance of understanding the business impact of engineering work, and how to get it.

As an engineering leader, one of your key responsibilities is to navigate and guide your team through the uncertainty that often comes with new projects and goals. You are to ensure your team has the information they need to do the work that needs to be done. What, then, if you’ve gone to great lengths to bring clarity to your team, only to realize you’ve reduced ambiguity so much that there is no engaging challenge, no room for creative problem-solving? You'll walk away with actionable strategies for shifting your focus from constantly driving for clarity to helping your team embrace and thrive in ambiguous environments.

With all the lost time and huge frustration that comes with interviewing, it's easy to compromise your values in favor of feeling the relief that comes from getting to the end of the interviewing process and finally landing a job. In the long run, though, you don't want to compromise your values and non-negotiables. It will land you right back in the interviewing process sooner rather than later.

In this episode, we discuss a massive problem everyone in the tech industry faces: The challenge of finding a company whose values align with yours and navigating the infamous, often confusing and frustrating, interview process the tech industry is known for.

Many leaders have felt it: “Everyone has it all figured out, but I don’t”, also known as Imposter Syndrome. And you may have been told (unironically) at some point to “be more confident”, “fake it ‘til you make it”, or “better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.”
Working in tech, we’re in a fast-changing space where confidence is currency. And the gnawing self-doubt that’s often described as Imposter Syndrome doesn’t exactly come out of nowhere. In this episode, we unpack it—all of it.

Like many of you, during the tech downturn of the last 2 years, I've been trying to understand how the industry has shape-shifted beyond the news headlines: What does the tech industry look like now? How exactly have organizations and their priorities changed? What impact and influence do AI actually have, beyond the hype? And what is it like to be, become, and interview to work as a leader in this changed environment? Today, I have the data-based answers for you: The Engineering Leadership Report 2024, which I'm publishing in collaboration with tech events & publishing company ⁠LeadDev⁠.

What should engineering leadership roles look like? What's been a hotly-debated topic in tech for decades has gotten very real, very often for my guest today—because he’s always been a bit of an outlier: He wasn’t an engineer before becoming a manager. In an industry that highly values "technical skills" and where there's low consensus on what skills make a good manager, he's grappled with finding his place, having an impact, and how to grow his career onward.

We’re starting this podcast with a two-episode series about different shapes of leadership roles. In this episode, you hear from Max, who shares his path from engineer to technical lead of leads, and: The relevance of fruit baskets, new skills to learn a, nd fears to face, plus practical advice for everyone in technical roles considering or new to a leadership role.

We're told that to become a leader, you need to be born with it, or at least have that special 'leadership material.' You have to be an extrovert, bold, and always have everything figured out. Success means leaving your emotions behind and being tough enough to handle the pressure. But what if that's just not who you are?
Subscribe now, the first episode launches soon.