Summary
In this episode of ROAR Mindset: Leading through Chaos, Peter Brandenburger sits down with Anil Kumar, Principal Engineer and System Architect at Intel, to explore what technical leadership means and why its lessons apply to every leader navigating complexity.
Anil explains that technical leaders are not just expert problem solvers. They are accelerators for others. Their role is to elevate capability, remove friction, clarify direction, and create conditions where teams move faster and with greater coherence.
The conversation covers collaboration across ecosystems, aligning innovation with business needs, and ensuring coherence across hardware, software, and go-to-market realities. Anil reflects on career lessons that shaped him, including the importance of zooming out, adapting plans with humility, and continuing to learn even when success feels comfortable.
Key Takeaways
• Technical leaders act as accelerators for others, increasing the performance of the whole system.
• Collaboration across disciplines creates coherence and impact.
• Innovation succeeds when it aligns with business and ecosystem realities.
• Understanding go-to-market constraints strengthens technical credibility.
• Coaching fosters ownership and sustainable growth.
• Adaptability requires humility and the willingness to pivot.
• Trust with customers and partners is a long-term advantage.
• Communication improves when you focus on what matters to the other person.
• Leaders must continuously assess the value they are adding.
• Zooming out prevents misalignment and wasted effort.
Links to Anil’s Books
Connecting the Internet of Things
https://www.amazon.com/Connecting-Internet-Things-Connectivity-Standards/dp/1484288963
Demystifying Internet of Things Security
https://www.amazon.com/Demystifying-Internet-Things-Security-Successful/dp/1484228952
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Chapters
00:00 – Why Technical Leadership Matters
02:05 – What Matters Most: Multiplying Capability
04:10 – Defining Technical Leadership
06:41 – The Three Criteria of Technical Leadership
09:39 – Communicating Across Disciplines
13:07 – Technical Leadership vs. Management
15:09 – The Wave Analogy: Coherence Across the Stack
19:38 – A Career Lesson: Another Technological Mistake
22:41 – Go to Market Reality
25:22 – Google TV and Scaling Under Pressure
28:37 – Leaving Comfort: What Am I Learning?
33:06 – The Three Criteria for a Role Shift
34:01 – Why a Technical Leader Became a Coach
36:39 – Calm Adaptability
38:44 – Synthetic Deadlines and Context Switching
41:04 – AI, Long Cycles, and Future Thinking
42:23 – Trust as a Competitive Advantage
44:37 – The Leadership Question That Guides It All
45:46 – Final Reflection
