Authority Issues

In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Aimee talk about: * Dropping out of high school/not having a university degree * The major importance of learning to type early on * Loving the first taste of authority, building her own team * Learning that people don't want to talk to sales if they can shop online * Why the pop-up window is (technically) her fault :shaking-fist: * Experiencing classic sexism from Japanese executives * The fallout of the first dot com crash and taking a major step back careerwise * Trusting your friends to tell you if you're being an asshole * Learning how to frame recommendations for improvement without alienating people by telling them their baby is ugly * Checking intentions for and expectations from going into management * Recommendation for the book Performance Breakthrough by Cathy Rose Salit * What 'visibility' means, and why you don't need someone to tell you to get it * Authority's effect, and cultural differences in responses to it * Watching this talk every quarter for inspi

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Linda talk about: * Not having a career plan at 17, starting with community college * The value of getting an MBA, broadening of perspective * Looking for more 'worthy' occupations as one's career winds up * Stints at Oscar Meyer and Jolly Rancher, bad jokes about each :) * Moving toward technology via technical indexing and writing gigs * Stepping up to own a Lotus Notes install when the IT director quit * Working at Home Depot during the first dot-com bust * Thinking she was not technical enough to be a CIO * A day in the life of the CIO at a large corporation * How many people want to feel their work drives something worthwhile * The tendency of leaders to overlook reward vs discipline * Decompression via travel and time off You can find Linda on LinkedIn as lindalannen :) Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Unmesh talk about: * The role of luck and timing in one's career path * Avoiding the dot com bust by staying in grad school * Changing yourself vs expecting your team to change * How managing/directing/coaching employees coming from academia is different * Why turnover can be desirable (SUPER interesting!) * The downside of having an extremely good manager (also SUPER interesting!) * Concensus-building as a safety mechanism (thanks, Kendall ;) ) * Being the youngest sibling and how that influenced his path * Not liking to be told what to do * Autonomous cars, coming sooner than at least I thought * How leadership has made Unmesh more decisive in his personal life * Meeting people via swing dancing You can find Unmesh on LinkedIn as unmeshkurup :) Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Ellen Mary talk about: * Group dynamics and being a younger sibling * Leadership in a classroom of 4th graders * Self care when there are no filters on what your students say and do * Moving into teaching reform work * The role of process and where it isn't enough * Being uncomfortable and why you had better get used to it * Identifying the "language of value" for your audience * Wearing many, MANY hats as a Senior Director * How managing and disciplining and firing teachers differs from other industries * Why an effective hiring process is crucial because of the above * How leadership in the classroom is different from just giving a lecture * Setting up a team to support addressing conflicts * How real leaders shouldn't need to 'wield' authority You can find Ellen Mary on LinkedIn as emhickmann :) Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and April talk about: * A path into tech via baseball card database management and gpa optimization scripts * Detouring around a chem-eng career and hard-hat avoidance * TECH SUPPORT SHENANIGANS and getting away from campus to make websites * Graduating into the cataclysm of the first dot-com bust and heading to Intel * Early failures in operational scaling leading to product management * Taking a side-trip to get an MBA and ending up at Google * The leadership value of having worn many hats (or hard-hats ;)) * Advice for those wanting to get into product management * A first official management role at Twitter * The "academic" culture of Google vs the "business" culture of Twitter * How hiring experience translates to investment decisionmaking * Consideration of company culture in the context of investment * Taking risks in the interest of a better future * Missing the major growth experience at Slack * The mindblowing feeling of having your team be multipliers for achiev

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Tina talk about: * Starting your own company to get a role in leadership :) * The fact that men are much more often picked/groomed for leadership within an org (see https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/gender-equality/women-in-the-workplace-2018) * What it's like to learn how to lead on the job * Getting cross-functional experience at startups * Another recommendation for "Radical Candor" * Where leadership comes from at Apple vs Google and how that affects outcomes * Unconscious bias in different promotion review processes * Why it might be a good thing that we can't quantify absolutely everything people enjoy * Bringing pragmatism into technical decisionmaking that can sometimes feel like religious arguments * The role of vulnerability in disagreements * Why women are often better at building concensus and planning for outcomes in business * Developing an appreciation for Italian wines after growing up on Napa/Sonoma wines * A recommendation for Blair Fox winery'

In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Mojtaba talk about: * How to work the system: adjunct professorship, then at Samsung * Making friends and escaping the dungeon via forgery * Effectiveness vs butt-in-seat time, tactics for success * Noticing the missing component: people! * Kendall's understanding of what having a PhD means * A whole new world (of management theory and practice to study) * The need to adapt your leadership style * Managing healthy tensions * What servant leadership actually means * Whether people are actually kinder in Canada * Real Canadian Goals(tm) * The relief of living in the moment with small children You can find Mojtaba on LinkedIn :) Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Michael talk about: * Naming things (and people) is hard * Getting into the Deep End early on * The dearth of formal training for managers * Lengthy tenures and what they imply * Key strengths of a leader, and knowing how you rate in each * What it's like to rely only on Slack to communicate at work * His "you're a wizard, Harry!" moment * Hating to tell people what to do, hating to have people tell you what to do * The real definition of managing up * Giving away your toys, the sign of growth in leadership * Writing methodologies, and a CHILDREN'S BOOK?! * How "gravelbiking" is apparently rad * Memory exercises You can find Michael Lopp on the internet at http://randsinrepose.com and from thence all the news about twitter, upcoming books, and the like. Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Lisa talk about: * Not being librarian-y enough * A night job turning news into jpgs * Bleeding-edge social media experiments * Forays into leadership (and friendships!) via brunching with Women Who Code * The importance of good office snacks * A good experience with a Lara Hogan workshop * Practicing difficult interactions * Tips for managing through change * Improving one's game face * How authority requires responsiveness * The magic of recontextualizing failure You can find Lisa on the internet @lisadsmith on twitter and on LinkedIn as /smithwebsmith :) Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Elisa talk about: * A fairytale-like pastry shop origin story ;) * Coming out and getting early experience of public speaking and leadership in a peer education program * Getting a job by insisting on it repeatedly (a tried and true approach!) * Being convinced to move into the for-profit world * Unveiling the inner project manager who was there all along * The recurring theme of accountability, and how not everyone feels it the way you do * What it means to have a strong bias for action and how to temper it * The benefits of 'showing the math' * Bringing one's authentic self to work * Further incidental evidence of the pay gap, :lolsob: * Tips for managing up, the most underrated superpower * Going deep, the hobby Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Nadyne talk about: * An early career transition from software engineering to user research via human factors training * Equipping sharks with lasers * How weird it was to work on a military base as a civillian and not be the lunch lady * Arriving in the SF Bay Area just as the first dot com bubble burst * How it's easier to communicate concerns when there is a framework for it * Doing the job AND talking about the job * A high school paramedic?! * Looking into the eyes of it (American healthcare) * The difference between being trained how to use management tools vs how to actually manage * How to handle it when someone is intimidated by you: be more personal (and vulnerable) * Giving your team opportunities to build leadership skills by allowing them to support you when you need it * Going to all kinds of live shows and why that's awesome * Kendall's penchant for ruining things You can find Nadyne on Twitter and Instagram as @nadyne :) Special thanks to Mel Stanley for o

In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Anthony talk about: * Feeling the need to run a business * Blowing your life up every few years * The need to evolve communication processes as a company scales * Hiring pipeline planning for the longer-term * Recommended communication practices at various points of scale * The importance of perceiving someone's weaknesses as well as their strengths * The inspiration of making things, building machines--which can be organizations * Questions to ask yourself when deciding whether to take a job * The endless struggle of balancing learning vs doing, achieving stress homeostasis * Being able to make decisions across a large scope of influence with limited knowledge * Broader definitions of leadership * Allowing yourself to be vulnerable as a leader opens up greater possibilities of trust * The role of understanding your motivations * Drones! You can find Anthony on the internet at LinkedIn under "Anthony Jules" :) Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Nik talk about: * How much it sucks to be a recruiter * Finding out the hard way just how much your boss does that you don't know about * The Dark Times, aka the Trial By Fire * Resisting the call to management * Growing through 1:1 coaching * The realization that a leader doesn't have to know everything * Pivoting the industry toward culture change * What Release Management means * Not putting off the hard conversations * It's not paranoia if people really are out to get you * Managing managers often means teaching them how to manage * Showing your human side as a leader, but not making it about you * Having a healthy disrespect for authority You can find Niks on Twitter at @kninki, and on LinkedIn as Nicola Knight. Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music

In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Christine talk about: * You can get paid to do this? Turning an avatar design hobby into a graphic design career * Disrupting Wall Street marketing * Not choosing engineering * Being The One Who Says It * Learning to think about the goal before Saying It and passing that knowledge on * The difference between showing your passion in your arguments vs showing up for your team * How the ability to communicate with words is underrated in the design world * Being uncomfortable when there are unstated concerns * Difficulties with having faith * How leveling up means...more questions * Frustrations with directional flow of information * The awkwardness of managing people who used to be your peers * Christine's recommendation for Design Department's Design Leadership Fundamentals workshop * Christine's recommendation for the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin You can find Christine on LinkedIn under her name Christine Ramirez. Special thanks to Mel Stanley fo

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Johnny talk about: * The location of rachel's socks * Career growth via dissatisfaction * Johnny's path through tech-art school, bus driving, web advertising, high-end apparel customer experiences...and the common thread of communication * The complexity of the hardware-sofware interchange * MEEP MEEP! And other tales of brute-forcing things * Why an interpretive dance is the last thing Johnny would ever want to do * Why providing IT services for a non-technical org is harder than it looks * Managing one's ratio of dedication to good work-life balance, and seeing it more clearly from the manager vs individual contributor perspective * Kendall's evil overlord tendencies * The stress of over-accountability vs authority * Dispassionate leadership and when it's right to focus on the outcomes only * Johnny's enjoyment of recreational falling down and cookie baking * How obvious it is that Kendall has never cooked anything * The butter and sugar of leadership: giving a shit abo

In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: * Yet another life ruined by PHP * Being a coder by 5th grade and seeing a terrible future for himself by 10th grade * Getting management experience young and moving to China * Addressing cross-cultural communication difficulties when delivering and receiving feedback * The weird and mixed feels around selling the company and no longer being CEO * Strategies for transferring the trust your team has for you to new leadership * How leaders can have both major skills and shocking shortcomings * Realizing that as a leader, your job is not the deliverable, your job is the people * When Kendall thinks it's necessary to tell one's boss they need to leave * Walking in and assuming you know how to fix something without asking questions * The power of being widely-networked and what it brings to leadership * What it means to be an out-of-practice extrovert * Doing this podcast so he can talk to people who intimidate him * How having authority is like keeping control over

In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Dana talk about: * Becoming a coder via editing books about programming * Missing being able to be more focused on your own work * Kendall's near-miss at preempting Google's success * The value of 360 feedback in a review process * Squad goals (I had to say it) * JIRA hate * The need to walk a line between uncritical approval of decisions from higher-ups and allowing for disgruntlement in a safe space to maintain credibility * Dana's book recommendation: "Thanks For The Feedback" about receiving feedback * The unnecessary anxiety of project time estimation and productivity metrics * Getting your leadership experience outside the workplace first * Normalizing failure * Firing your kids :) * When academia doesn't match reality * How great the sound insulation is at Kendall's house * The difficulties of co-leadership You can find Dana on all the internets as @danabrit Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music