Kendall Miller - Podcast Details

Shows

Authority IssuesEpisode 100: 100 means 100 percent done, right?In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: Crushing Kendall's dreams How much rachel missed her own home and bed All the biking Kendall did in Spain Fraud avoidance via CarFax The varying qualities of our guests rachel's propensity for initial kneejerk low assessment of every recording Our lack of investment in recording quality The breadth and scope of our interviewees and their employers What we've been bad at The frustrations of trying to get guests to talk about themselves How well we balanced each other's extremes Episode highlights Our varying assessments of how well we know each...2024-07-1832 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 99: Sonja Mathews (Nonprofit Exec, formerly VP roles at USAA, PepsiCo)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Sonja talk about: The fact that this podcast is not sponsored by USAA A journey that started with childhood on a "poser farm" in North Carolina Driving the tractor as a path to an enjoyment of adventure and power Discovering that being a defense lawyer meant you would represent a lot of guilty people How Kendall ruins everything Being the data pusher and getting hooked on her own supply The Stephen Covey 7 Habits seminar, aka a sausagefest Early interpretations of leadership as a command and control process, feedback from other managers, being...2024-04-2551 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 98: Ali Shahriyari (Reality Defender)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Ali talk about: The rarity of a "traditional" computer science background Antique hardware Learning a lot in the fashion business Why startups are more fun than big companies The need for deepfake detection Measuring performance Designing to mitigate the abuse of your product Lack of interest in hierarchy The difficulties of balancing work and life Sailing, and having a skipper's license The importance of remaining calm Getting pwned in your own interview process A recommendation for watching Terminator 2 You can find Ali on Twitter at @A_Shahriyari and on LinkedIn at:2024-04-0447 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 97: Artificial Intelligence, LLMs, ML: is all the hype warranted?In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: rachel's need to finish things and coping mechanisms around that The recent spate of cold weather/storms and a tale of Kendall's friend and the whisky night (This podcast may be sponsored by Friday Deployment Spirits, i guess) An unsurprising objection regarding terminology How Kendall is obviously a Markov Chain bot, and how have i never noticed this before The fact that AI-directed research is nothing new Public access to AI-type tools and how it has expanded the hype cycle Environmental concerns around resources required Robots and why they should...2024-02-0152 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 96: Lessons learned, values earnedIn this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: rachel's stuffed animal ownership Podcast homework How busy on top of busy Kendall is Ungulates and double welt pockets The power of understanding motivation Wil Wheaton's first law is also Kendall's first law Context is for kings Digging into bridge burning Unpacking what "I love this job" really means Being a person who works hard An agreement to play a shit-giving game of cards Why rachel retired (redux) Why Kendall is the Patron Saint of Whimsy (hint: it's because he wants to make you smile) Recommendations: rachel is excited about...2023-11-2348 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 95: Seif Lotfy (Axiom)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Seif talk about: The pressures of what your parents want, in various cultures Quitting a "good job" because they made you a manager Bringing your team with you to the next company Open source culture and the meritocracy The tensions inherent between product management and innovators Respective hirsuteness When it's the right time to go off the rails Acknowledging a need for the rails A team as a functioning organism, nerdy giant robot references The gravitational pull of excitement and going off-plan Recommendations for "Getting to Yes," "Getting Past No," and "Drive" ...2023-11-0248 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 94: Kids: What are they good for? (Absolutely nothing/everything)In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: Maritime traffic and the construction of cruise ships How hard it is to be a foster parent Kendall's new booze company: Friday Deployment Spirits Improvements in Kendall's family life post-return from Portugal rachel's reasons for choosing to not have kids Why being a woman might impact this perspective Kendall's awareness of not being an 'equal partner' in the raising of his kids A lifechanging interaction for Kendall Why maybe you should get a dog instead Making the assumption that your kids will take care of you when you're old The...2023-10-1249 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 93: Ilan Rabinovitch (Scale Conference, formerly Datadog)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Ilan talk about: Moving from the IT to the Ops side of the house Being on both sides of "the wall" Wearing All The Hats at Datadog The nature of "glue work" How org size affects leadership roles Stretching and doing new things vs "fake it 'til you make it" How product management roles change as you move up the ladder The relationship between domain expertise and authority How sometimes it's not a democracy Taking a break to find out what's next The pressure of prior successes Learning how to chill...2023-09-2149 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 92: Edafe Onerhime (JPMorgan Chase)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Edafe talk about: An early and enduring love of working with data Getting a job at JP Morgan Chase because of a tweet The kind of data problems one solves at the World Bank Turning a sexist assignment into communication of data issues Maturing beyond being the complainer The impact of giving a talk Gaining context as you go up the mountain Coming to the universal realization that, yes, people are the problem :) Style guides for goths Learning to communicate at the appropriate level, removing jargon Expressing what's possible to help someone...2023-08-2447 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 91: Does your life have meaning? Do you know what it is yet?In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: Kendall being back in the US, how many desks he has had to order, and the various benefits of Pickleball vs Paddleball rachel's reign of terror over a particular kind of cooking pan, being sick, and heading to Vegas to dj at DEFCON Why people might be pivoting away from their tech careers, looking for greater meaning What actually is a midlife crisis? Planning for your midlife crisis, understanding your path forward What triggers a midlife crisis? What does one look like? How unwillingness to talk about death as a...2023-08-0347 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 90: What does "take all the time you need" really mean, anyway?In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: The long journey to a big whisky delivery Kendall's triumphant return The magical locale that is Port Townsend A particularly pleasing hat The conflict in question What actual family means vs "your work family" How the pandemic has strained the definition of "take all the time you need" for companies Parental leave as a possible model for policymaking Doing The Math The SVB failure as a case study of doing the Math What would you do? The impact of the pandemic on views of the value of "working" Opportunities as...2023-06-0145 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 89: Ricardo Brízido (Stake)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Ricardo talk about: How we're a global podcast! Rough times of wearing a suit to work in the morning A lack of startups in Portugal in the early 2000s, moving to London on a whim The Land Before APIs (and podcasts) Discovering a penchant for leadership The differences between raising VC money in EU vs US, definitions of success Trying to keep a startup going after the runway runs out German startup culture vs Portuguese startup culture What does "long story short" even mean anymore? :) Reflecting on past decisions Suddenly realizing the...2023-05-1153 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 88: Is work the friends we made along the way?In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: Freakin' time zones Whisky delivery news The subtleties of F to C conversions Migration to Mastodon, bike community trends Kendall's new CTO Lunches business undertaking and travel plans Going from having all your friends come from work to having most friends originate outside of work Benefits of socializing with your more senior colleagues How the pandemic has impacted work friendships, especially for early-career people The change in dynamic when you become the boss Progressively wanting and needing less social contact at work as time passes Hiring your friends Relationship-building as...2023-03-0249 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 87: Virgile Raingeard (Figures.hr)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Virgile talk about: Starting out as a CS student, but wanting more human interaction A path through HR tooling to HR generalist role with a detour to Perth, Australia The elephant in the room: is HR "the bad guy"? How to manage the tension inherent in doing HR work Differences in the role when a company is small vs large Getting some experience in an entrepreneurial culture Discovering firsthand the need for reliable compensation data Tying the lack of data to salary level disparity and unfairness Walking the line between corporate best...2022-11-1746 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 86: Growth, fast and slow, at companies, large and smallIn this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: Why rachel retired A brief diversion into the fundraising lifecycle of a nonprofit Why Kendall gets offered weed on the street in Portugal Visas and the eldritch horrors of the permitting system Settling one's family into Portuguese living Appreciation of walkable living environments How bootstrapped and venture-backed startups are different experiences Merging acquisitions into larger corporate environments rachel's theories about why Splunk was such a success story Kendall's thoughts on new vs additive markets, effort, and growth A Tale of Two Shitshows An enumeration of variables in our defense What...2022-10-1351 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 85: Maya Mandel (Helios)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Maya talk about: Competitive athletics as a driver of leadership skills and high performance teamwork The power of the history of the University of Michigan Preparing for when athleticism will be a memory Serving in the military, leading software dev teams...in the military Doing things young, when you have less to lose, less context Learning the value of a holistic product view Wanting to change the world Motivation differences in the military vs the civilian working world Getting an MBA and why it felt kind of relaxing Different leadership requirements for...2022-08-1149 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 84: Can you be a good leader without also being a systems thinker?In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: The art of mending things beautifully (the words rachel was trying to remember are Kintsugi and Sashiko, in that order) The art of mending things not so beautifully, aka hacking off the bottom of your favorite pants and adding bits of your favorite shirt so they fit better (Kendall subsequently found some photos, but none of them from after the shirt addition...) Why Kendall sounds echo-ey (also, maybe this is why there's an annoying echo of rachel throughout this recording, apologies) Why we're talking about systems thinking: https://twitter.com...2022-07-2842 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 83: What does peak leadership look like?In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: Not looking a gift Wagyu steak in the...mouth? marbling? The primal/spiritual nature of singing with other people and joining a Threshold Choir Taking Kendall Seriously Moving to Portugal updates from Kendall Dentistry nightmares How far up the corporate ladder is far enough? Theorizing about the impact of being part of Gen-X on rachel's career path Caring about money vs caring about power and ways some companies exploit the latter Speculation and validation around why Kendall keeps at the grind An interlude to let you know that this episode...2022-07-1449 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 82: Sarah Rieger (Jellyfish)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Sarah talk about: Making the choice to go into software engineering The daily life of a team lead How one becomes a team lead, awesome support from Jasmine and others! The power of empathy in leadership Being able to ask questions across the org Approaches to building trust Being highly concensus-driven, associating "authority" with top-down directives How leaders should always remember they have more to learn Just How Very Tired Kendall Is That it's important for leaders to be approachable/accessible to people at all levels of the org How "Building up...2022-06-2342 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 81: The more things change, the more they stay the sameIn this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: The good vs the bad kind of underwater Why one should make one's own underpants Ear infections and their provenance, also Kendall made a pearl with his ear rachel's new e-bike and how it's awesome Kendall learns about the magical thing that is kolhrabi rachel's plans and anxieties about travel during the pandemic Why Kendall chooses the opposite of "stability" How that impacts motivation to invest in the future in a given community rachel learns about the turbo-plus version of notarization called "apostille" Kendall's new working situation, goals for work...2022-05-2646 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 80: Anurag Sharma (Chargebee)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Anurag talk about: Getting left in charge as a career progression mechanism An "unusual" level of interest in affecting long-term strategy and systems thinking from an economics background Betting on more candidates by giving them an opportunity outside of their current background The vagueness of product management and strategy Instilling a culture of ownership/safety when everyone is working remotely How sometimes more meetings is...good? At least when onboarding, as a way to develop culture by seeing other people interact. Onboarding that results in checking in code within 5 days LOUD NOISES ...2022-05-1241 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 79: Is it OK to be happy right now?In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: Coping mechanisms: are some worse than others? Where is the line? What happens when a planner can't make any plans? rachel's effusive declarations about indie sewing patterns Kendall's...disappointing COVID experience Why does it seem wrong to feel happy when people around the world are suffering? When it's helpful to compartmentalize Clarifying what you're actually feeling guilty about Happiness as self-care How much authenticity is too much, at work? The need for a mechanism for feeling hope Hitting that bucket list A song that changed the path of a life...2022-01-2049 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 78: Sean O'Connor (Datadog)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Sean talk about: The genesis of this podcast, and who we have to thank How taking the traditional path of CS to engineering leadership is the rare case Getting into guiding and mentoring at a small company named Huge (lol) Being glad for having done the deathmarch type work when you were younger Learning many important lessons via a failed startup Why consulting is often not appealing Finally getting into bonafide engineering management, with no training A free podcast idea: Awkward Silences The blessing and curse of being a problemsolver The idea...2022-01-0646 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 77: Making an ass out of u and me (assuming positive intent)In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: Dietary constraints for gout sufferers Non-traditional Thanksgiving fare and excitement about cabbage rolls Kendall's adventures in escalating vegetarianism The definition of "assuming positive intent" How the power dynamic matters Why it's unreasonable to expect marginalized people to assume positive intent by default Kendall realizes once again he's playing the game on "easy" mode When assuming positive intent works well, why it's valuable and to whom Why this episode has the "explicit" tag :) A time when Kendall did not assume positive intent The dangers of making "assume positive intent" a corporate...2021-12-1749 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 76: Marilyn Cole (Tuft & Needle)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Marilyn talk about: Wishing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our guest :) Growing up in a household that had computers Working in tech: doing math, but also making money! Going back to school, getting an internship at Google The value of just having credentials (why to get a Masters degree) The Wrong Kind of Management Training Going back to being an IC....briefly Getting crappy leadership advice When not to "lighten the mood" and how the rules are different for men vs women Enjoying the peer support of being a leader among several instead of...2021-12-0247 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 75: Eli Daniel (Jellyfish)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Eli talk about: The most apt failed startup name ever A terrible first experience as a manager and being voluntold to try it again Enjoying the force multiplier of leadership vs individual contribution Oracle acquisition zingers (nice one, Kendall) Being Guild-less at Spotify Going from being told what to build to asking what should be built Learning that it's important to also care about the business plan Communicating and marketing business context to [naive|entitled] engineers How that context helps drive a more collaborative process and empowers engineers How big is too...2021-11-1148 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 74: The Future of Remote-First is Now! (also: Doesn't "Return to Work" imply we stopped working at some point?)In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: Kendall's amazing inflatable hot tub Having a little bit of guest visit enjoyment, as a treat The quaint marvel that is rachel's small-town paper's Police Blotter (here's the video i reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mG2RGp-lcw&t=5s ) Wildlife encounters Not blaming people who choose safety over working a service industry job The need for a social safety net A heartwarming tale of anonymous free fancy dinner How companies who think "remote first" was just a phase are losing employees to the ones who realize it is...2021-10-2147 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 73: Why do people cling to their shitty ways? How and when do we embrace change?In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: More than you wanted to know about grocery store ginger purchases How some people use the term "a couple" to mean something other than exactly 2 and that they are Wrong Examples of technologies that suck but people still use Being caught up in the glories of the past (rachel would like to point out that she used a sharpie to black out Gene Simmons on her KISS shirt) The downsides of Agile/continuous shipping of things vs Waterfall (warning, heresy inside) Blaming growing inflexibility as one gets older Unselfawareness in...2021-10-0747 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 72: Money is all that matters (a Very Special Installment)In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: Spending money on Things and our feelings about that Are we the baddies? The nature of golden handcuffs What is "enough"? "Work" as a social outlet Contentment vs. satisfaction Kendall's wanderlust and associated twitchiness Enabling satisfaction for your employees Impact and the effectiveness of giving money vs. personal involvement and time Whether it's simpler (NOT easier) to be "poor" Underlying feelings of guilt/not deserving The stress of not being able to make working "good" for one's employees Recommendations for (unrelated) books: Kendall recommends: James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time ...2021-09-1652 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 71: Amy Chantasirivisal (Unicycle)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Amy talk about: The olden dayze of Geocities and people hating on Javascript The scrum leadership to management pipeline Kendall's Litany Of Agile Atereotypes Getting promoted Too Fast Hypotheses about the ability to succeed using progressive management philosophies Wanting to leave the tech industry "better than we found it" Joining early for a greater impact on the culture Focus on strategy vs process as a signifier of seniority Twitter as a leadership training ground Leveraging authority should be uncomfortable The "ooh, shiny" approach to hobby acquisition Woodworking nerdery, a macrame + shelf project! 2021-09-0246 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 70: Dee Mirai (Vanna.com)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Dee talk about: Coming from dropping out of school in at 16 years old The struggles of being a manager in a bar in Singapore as a teenager Developing "scripts" for the various interactions that kept recurring Internships as cheap labor rackets Immediate promotion from intern to being in charge of customer comms Premonitions about layoffs The camaraderie of joint suffering Kendall admits that Marketing runs the universe Gatekeeping as an indicator of a real discipline The difficulties of managing people who are significantly older than you, especially in Singaporean culture Predicting her...2021-08-1250 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 69: Aye Thu (Slack)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Aye talk about: Being an Old (Java 1.0 certified!) Realizing he used to be "hard to work with" Transitioning away from electrical engineering and into enterprise software The idea that management is where people who can't build software anymore "go to die" Starting to understand that there is more to life than writing Java code Moving to Las Vegas and having his life changed by the Zappos culture Parades! Learning how to be a better manager from a good team How knowing the wrong things to do is not the same as knowing...2021-07-3047 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 68: Brett Nekolny (Brandfolder)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Brett talk about: Realizing you're the facilitator person in your friend group..and in college, and grad school... The reality of mechanical engineering not living up to the idea of it Getting that first software engineering job with no software engineering background The power of networking The consequences of having no real management experience How being less outgoing/energetic than Kendall affects one's management style Leadership based in assembling the Avengers and stepping aside Modeling team interactions and desired behaviors Hiring a leadership coach and how it was lifechanging How authoritarian leadership...2021-06-0345 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 67: Miki Habryn (Splunk)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Miki talk about: The three eras of Miki so far: technology, self-identity, and relationships Early failures to thrive -- early admission to college, and the professional world Navel-contemplation and some key realizations Getting a job with room to evolve and let off steam The differences among marketing-driven, engineering-driven, and sales-driven companies A change of pace: the finance industry :) The Google-related diaspora of an early household Flying ever-nearer to the flame of leadership, getting burned, and taking another orbit Delaying the investment in building relationships until she could fully be herself at work ...2021-05-1348 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 66: Irina Kukuyeva (Kukuyeva Consulting)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Irina talk about: Moving to LA from Moscow during elementary school Enjoyment of donuts and data Getting alignment before doing things (shocking, right? :)) Shaving yaks in order to work at JPL Learning how to learn, learning in the trenches Accommodating the needs of team members How leadership as a consultant is different The perils of messy data How it's never too soon to begin collecting the data you need Deepening her social network Dealing with ageism as a university instructor Dealing with Kendall's assumptions about interest in data :) You can find...2021-04-2947 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 65: Kari Bancroft (Webflow)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Kari talk about: Getting management experience in the nonprofit world From a young age, wanting to be...a math teacher? :) Finally getting some management training Working with a personal leadership coach Strategic vs tactical planning Learning and re-learning the value of self-care The practice of self-promotion Doing away with a bad hiring practice Allowing for awkward silences An unexpected enjoyment of gardening Leading too much in one's personal life You can find Kari on Twitter at @karianneban Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music 2021-04-1542 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 64: Matt Rogish (Kimball)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Matt talk about: The impact of coming from an entrepreneurial family The siren call of "freedom" Needing a team to make a dent in the universe What's valuable about an MBA program, and how it's like an endless Group Project Kendall's Epic Disclaimer and differing recollections of their mutual origin story ;) What having kids teaches you about leadership The N Dysfunctions of a Serial Startup Exec How everybody's got a boss Deep Thoughts courtesy of Star Trek The concept of anti-hobbies You can find Matt on the internet on Twitter @mattrogish...2021-04-0149 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 63: Dominique Simoneau-Ritchie (Wealthsimple)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Dominique talk about: Getting into computers so she could communicate with her friends How crappy Dreamweaver was Benefiting from IBM programs Stepping into project management Leaving IBM for a much smaller company... Making assumptions about working patterns...with mixed results :) How hiring quickly is in tension against achieving diversity Practicing giving feedback via "speedback sessions" Needing to know the "why" before following the rules Asking for her promotions Getting ready to garden and an obsession with whole grains Painting for 3 weeks What's hard about children :) You can find Dominique on Twitter...2021-03-1845 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 62: Yaz Erkan (Pex)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Yaz talk about: A love of languages, molecular biology, art The less-than-romantic reality of becoming an architect How creation is creation--programming is a creative act A painful introduction to the responsibilities of management Finally becoming an architect (of software ;) ) Guilting himself into becoming a people leader Moving to the US, going back to smaller companies/startups Kendall's insecurity about title inflation :) That the relationship you have with your team/manager is often more important than the work Cultural variances in leadership styles and expectations The downsides of being pre-emptively trusting Balancing the...2021-03-0548 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 61: Lena Reinhard (CircleCI)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Lena talk about: Starting out in finance, the arts, classic cars journalism, and more... Uses (appropriate or not) for creativity in leadership Realizing that a potential lifelong career in banking would be...boring First startup experience as a web copywriter First formal leadership experience as a bootstrapped startup CEO Ebola outbreak response...no biggie, right?! Becoming more intentional as a leader, learning about leadership frameworks Growing out of the 'relationship' as a cofounder, wanting different things Big, International, Complicated :) Becoming a regular old Engineering Manager, and...immediately becoming a VP of Engineering ...2021-02-1149 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 60: Yazhi Smith (Vista Equity Partners)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Yazhi talk about: How Yazhi doesn't know what "old" means ;) A life story framed as Lord of the Rings Growing up with stereotypical Asian parental expectations, coloring within the lines >>recordscratch>> growing up in FIJI?! (Kendall spends 5 minutes squee-ing) rachel's turn to squee, someone who sees the value of useful error logging :heart-eyes: A first taste of travel in the US Personal development smorgasbord at IBM Personal life upheaval driving big changes, no more coloring inside the lines Moving to the US and starting an IT consulting company When people usually rebel...2021-01-2844 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 59: 2020 in Issues with AuthorityBetter late than never, rachel and Kendall Have Opinions About 2020: Introverts and extroverts, living together in perfect harmony (on this podcast, at least) How to meet new podcast guests, the Kendall Miller Way Pie and the art of house maintenance Cheater's yeast, and the ubiquitous breadmaking theme of 2020 Guilt and all its many facets Coping mechanisms (some people buy bikes, some people go for uphill walks) 2020 episode highlights, sponsored by rachel's terrible internet connection The substance you're using to get by during the pandemic is (probably) OK 50-something episodes, and over 25,000 downloads! Find us on Twitter to tell...2021-01-1455 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 58: Jibran Kutik (Disney)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Jibran talk about: Is art school a weird starting point for a designer? Vowing to never work on web sites (lol) Having an unusually good experience in the gaming industry Getting the full "I moved to SF for a startup and it shut down as soon as I got there" experience Accusations of being responsible for LinkedIn "Stories" ;) When companies don't grow their own leaders A good manager tells you when you need to leave to move forward Bombshell: leaving the SFBA for a startup in the Midwest! Bringing design practices into...2020-12-0347 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 57: Tessa Ann Taylor (The New Yorker)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Tessa talk about: Studying computer science because she "ran out of math classes" at her high school ACTUALLY using trigonometry in real life How all-women educational environments are awesome Unlearning the Seattle culture in favor of the New York culture Translating academic experiences into tech industry programming interviews Getting a foot in the door via content production Freelancing to live, not living to freelance The joys?! of maintaining legacy code and CMSes Management training at NYTimes Understanding the responsibilities of the middle manager Going into management to create the environments she wants...2020-10-0944 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 56: Rishi Malik (Container Heroes, Backstop)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Rishi talk about: Having a nerdy family to kick things off First exposures to leadership issues while trying to code a game with friends Our inability to not interrupt people just when they're trying to make a point Discovering an appreciation for working at smaller companies, starting at larger companies Needing to see the result of his efforts Discovering a desire to play multiple roles via competitive ultimate frisbee Solving the parking problem Challenges in building a hardware solution The value of hiring the right person for the environment vs the technical...2020-09-1047 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 55: Val Trullinger (UCLA)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Val talk about: Coming up to technical leadership via graphic design and creative writing Becoming the person who fixes the printer "If you can get through Finnegan's Wake, you can get through the technical manual" Discipline, leadership, making herself heard in the Air Force Civil Air Patrol program and military family connections Adjusting her military-learned leadership style for training interns What "IT Communications" means Learning the important difference between being effective and being right Resiliency vs perfection Prioritizing reinforcing the skills you can improve, some weaknesses won't be improved by grinding Deciding...2020-08-2750 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 54: Church! What's it good for? (The Religion Issue)In this Very Special Episode, rachel, Kendall, and Luke talk about: Coming from different evangelical backgrounds The shaping of our respective authority issues as related to religious upbringing Luke's birth /literally/ in a baptismal font :) What we mean when we say "religion" Tech salary as a way to fund a church planting career Leaving the church behind but bringing the leadership lessons along Good and bad authority structures represented by the church Detoxing from evangelicisim, finding a new purpose Choosing between being right or being good Switching to rachel's background: Moving to the US at 11, with...2020-08-1351 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 53: Aaron Lerch (InVision)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Aaron talk about: Learning about managing interpersonal issues from his dad, an "interim CEO of ministers" Putting that learning into practice building and fixing teams at startups Helping teams identify their own weaknesses as a form of counseling How this podcast is not sponsored by Knives Out (ps: Kendall has seen the movie since we recorded this podcast and didn't find it as good as Aaron did.) Following the energy on the management > IC > management cycle Finally choosing the simplicity of leadership ;) Long-term career planning The entire category of software that exists...2020-07-3050 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 52: Anthony Grimes (Fairwinds)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Anthony talk about: Feeling late to the Black Lives Matter movement and going to Ferguson Learning to lead national campaigns for peace Realizing communication is about storytelling Being seen, being heard, what it means to win The need to inspire vision as a leader Optimism vs hope Finding affirmation in current events while still taking the long view Managing frustrations and engaging in self-care The idea of being "well-adjusted to injustice" Meeting Cornel West (!) and mentorship from Dr. Vincent Harding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Harding) The need to question authority...2020-06-0851 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 51: Checking in with our hosts during this pandemic already in progressIn this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: Whether Kendall is either hot or a mess or both How hard it is to set expectations...for anything Working on developing new patterns because it's not going to go "back to normal" anytime soon Coping with the death of a parent, most likely of the coronavirus The unreality of the danger unless it has touched you personally Weighing one's mental health vs physical health Putting all plans for travel on hold through the end of the year How contact tracing works Dark thoughts about the need for a revolution ...2020-05-2146 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 50: Alicia Brainerd (Salesforce)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Alicia talk about: Germophobia, and being right all along Realizing managing humans is more interesting than engineering What HR isn't for Building experience in the consulting world Being reminded that there will be a "next" job Choosing stability over passion Kendall's lack of patience The desire for influence vs cultural and procedural debt Leading a community group at work Creating space for the team to process the pandemic, a human stand-up The effort required to explain how you're doing How instead of a drop in productivity, many folks are seeking control by...2020-04-2345 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 49: Leadership during times of crisis? We'll do it live!In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: CW: we're probably going to swear more than usual The tendency of technical people to try to solve every problem with technology rachel's perilous journey home Kendall's cabin fever The uncertainty of the future, lack of faith in (US) leadership Whether it's productive to vent about the above Cutting yourself some slack Directionality of venting/support structures Forecasting vs planning Having compassion for your leadership Planning for multiple potential futures Parallels to the 2000-era dot-com bust Random prison pet training detour Providing support for emotionally-strapped folk How much authoritarianism is...2020-04-0954 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 48: Cynthia Del'Aria (Raika Technologies)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Cynthia talk about: Being 8 years old and writing in VISUAL BASIC! :heart-eyes: Taking community college classes with mom at age 12 Geeking out on things that are older than Kendall :) Selling her first company at age 19 Cleaning up unicorn poop What happens after the problem is solved Helping companies find their path Feeling responsible for the happiness of your employees The awkwardness of networking Troubleshooting at the product level Constantly being in trouble as a kid :) What should qualify people to be management Discovering higher mathematics and panicking Kendall Reading and racecars ...2020-03-2653 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 47: Dan Turkenkopf (Milwaukee Brewers)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and talk about: Moneyball and the new world of big data and baseball How to merge gut feel based on experience with quantitative analysis Parlaying an early love of baseball into a paid gig The draw of building a team from scratch Kendall being incredibly nerdsniped :) Starting out as a tech lead Putting the R in R&D How baseball players respond to data-driven insights Baseball engineering org structure The particular difficulty of remote leadership Adjusting priorities and developing process to compensate for team needs Ensuring engineers interact respectfully with non-technical subject matter...2020-03-1249 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 46: Helen Hutchison (League of Women Voters of CA)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Helen talk about: Growing up with the League The League as an outgrowth of the Suffrage movement What counts as non-partisan policy The struggle of managing and motivating volunteers How fundraising is harder when people are already 'donating' their time What an executive director does vs a president in the LWVO The tendency to move to fill a vacuum Breaking the cycle of doing this important work via the unpaid labor of women Developing the organizational habit of offering help and then stepping back to wait for community guidance on what that...2020-02-2748 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 45: Brianna Connelly (Integrate)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Brianna talk about: Feeling the need to 'step in' and handle stuff that isn't getting done (right) ;) Making the decision to go to "hair school" and how that helped her communication skills rachel's inability to resist the easy joke Personal mythology and its pluses and minuses Realizing that focus is required to complete a masters degree (!) Falling back on high-pressure experience in the salon The power of the custom cover letter Fast rise to management and the struggle to develop a culture The need for early, honest feedback Missing....Scala? :) and the...2020-02-1349 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 44: Corey Quinn (The Duckbill Group)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Corey talk about: Humble beginnings as an "angry UNIX sysadmin" (aka the only kind of UNIX sysadmin) Vowing to be the opposite of every crappy manager Corey's Least Favorite Managers Metaphors (for failure) Why "We need to talk" sucks An example of good leadership in crisis Appropriate levels of intensity in the workplace What a Cloud Economist does How "Last Week in AWS" began (and becoming a #quinnfluencer :)) Punching up vs punching down, and knowing the difference The depressing rareness of people who can take feedback well Understanding one's own failure modes...2020-01-3047 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 43: Beata Puncevic (Healthgrades)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Beata talk about: Coming to the US without knowing any English Learning to hustle from her parents Networking at the mall Learning how to manage on the job THE BIG PIVOT Interviewing for a job with no clear requirements Surviving a full-time job and full-time class load simultaneously Realizing you're the driver of your own bus Discovering that leadership is more than execution alone What makes a senior leader vs a junior one Developing habits, systems-related thinking, and a recommendation for "Atomic Habits" by James Clear Her allergy to the RACI matrix ...2020-01-1645 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 42: Jeremy Bowers (Washington Post)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Jeremy talk about: How engineering is a bit different at a newspaper A lowly beginning doing tech support at Best Buy Saving the day on a project that won a Pulitzer! Being glad he's not coding anymore What "Newsroom Engineering" means Why campaign finance data is critical to the news industry Planning a charm offensive Tactics for pre-empting burnout when deadlines are immutable Book recommendations: Camille Fournier: The Manager's Path Will Larson: An Elegant Puzzle Donella H. Meadows: Thinking In Systems The actual net effect of indulging a "brilliant asshole" Pushing for...2020-01-0243 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 41: Authority Issues 2019 Year-End Bonanza!In this special year-end episode, rachel and Kendall talk about: How much we amuse each other The vagaries of podcast recording technology Trains. Kind of a lot. I'm sorry :) Work-life balance over the holidays Management styles and customizations, a recurring theme Tactics for feeling more comfortable with authority What "changing the world for the better" can mean How many times we've actually met in person (spoiler, it's twice) What we value about doing this show Goals for the coming year As we mentioned, we would love for you to send us your guest recommendations/intros, tag us...2019-12-1934 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 40: Aimee Cardwell (recently of American Express)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...2019-12-0551 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 39: Linda Lannen (Kleinfelder)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...2019-11-2148 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 38: Unmesh Kurup (LG Electronics)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...2019-11-0742 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 37: Ellen Mary Hickman (Turing School of Software & Design)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...2019-10-2548 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 36: April Underwood (#Angels)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...2019-10-1053 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 35: Tina Huang (Transposit)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 ...2019-09-2645 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 34: Mojtaba Hosseini (Nanometrics Seismic Monitoring Solutions)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...2019-09-1248 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 33: Michael Lopp (Slack)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...2019-08-2951 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 32: Lisa Smith (Spreedly)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 2019-08-1545 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 31: Elisa Hebert (Kenzan)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' ...2019-08-0148 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 30: Nadyne Richmond (Grand Rounds)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...2019-07-1847 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 29: Anthony Jules (Robust.ai)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...2019-07-0451 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 28: Nik Knight (UK fintech)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...2019-06-2046 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 27: Christine Ramirez (Kapost)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 ...2019-06-0646 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 26: Johnny Sheeley (Fanatics)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...2019-05-2345 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 25: Get to know your host--Kendall "not the Jenner" Miller (ReactiveOps)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...2019-05-0948 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 24: Dana Jones (Abstract)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...2019-04-2549 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 23: Kate Taggart (Hashicorp)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Kate talk about: Bailing on tech at the get-go... ...And getting back again in to be the change you want to see Strategies for teambuilding for remote teams Understanding the weight of your voice as a leader How formal training isn't always necessary Whether it's possible to maintain a company's culture through rapid growth Interview logistics for big hiring pushes Code review for your review paperwork Yet another time when rachel is wrong about our guest being introverted vs extroverted What ethical authority looks like Learning to work within the management/corporate...2019-04-1141 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 22: Christina Noren (CloudBees)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Christina talk about: Being born fully-formed from the head of the executive suite (or not) Enjoying enabling makers and doers Iterating through trials by fire Understanding the build-vs-buy dynamic and why open source tools matter Our first official dirty secret! The particular foibles of product management Explicitly re-processing past events to learn more from them Tactics for managing impostor syndrome Leaning on written communication when your colleagues are distributed The classic tensions between product management and engineering The role of product management in selling the vision to engineering Not being able to...2019-03-2846 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 21: Silvia Botros (Twilio-Sendgrid)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Silvia talk about: How nobody ever reads documentation beforehand The sad state of education What terrible handwriting might offer us in terms of improving our communication habits rachel's inability to remember the term "career ladder" The importance of identifying and codifying hierarchies as your flat org begins to grow Discovering the Individual Contributor leadership track What leadership means for the Principal Engineer and how this varies at scale The value of providing historical context for your colleagues Dudes on Twitter, an eternal plague etc Becoming comfortable about delegation as a method of...2019-03-1444 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 20: Kristina Kemmer (InVision)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Kristina talk about: A rare actual degree in the field of Information Systems/IT! The value of informational interviews How product management works at a huge aerospace company Going from a giant corporation to a much smaller company Culture-first as an approach to running a business How great it is when the people who build the product have good context from customers Being the glue when there are a lot of managers in the mix When Agile doesn't really scale anymore What changes when you go from managing ICs to managing managers ...2019-02-2843 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 19: Sarah Zelechoski (ReactiveOps)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Sarah talk about: Choosing all the available options The value of being able to anticipate the ways in which something will go wrong Using silence as leverage A callback to having to make the choice of scaling your management style vs customizing it Sarah's background in astrophysics and how the funding dance is terrible Falling in love with being helpful A tall step up to VP Mild anxiety around maybe having reinvented the wheel in coming to one's own conclusions How Sarah and rachel are origin story twinsies! Kendall having to interrupt...2019-02-1446 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 18: Emily Nakashima (Honeycomb.io)In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Emily talk about: Reaffirming that people have a circuitous path to management The pros and cons of becoming a technologist for romantic reasons Just how far the biological life analogy can be taken to describe the early internet industry The point at which you learn that not all problems your team has need fixing Leveraging the focus of your colleagues when you need help prioritizing All The Things The highs and lows of iterating on hiring process Pitfalls for new managers Just how much of an MCU nerd rachel is How isolating...2019-01-3139 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 17: Dusty Pearce (Slack)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Dusty talk about: The "inconsequential" details of Dusty's life The value of moving back and forth between being an individual contributor and a leader over one's career What "devops transformation" means and why it's hard Maturing as a leader and how this trends away from dictatorial tendencies How different management styles scale or don't Is it necessary to 'have a take' in terms of domain expertise in every leadership role? Coming to leadership from a place of being a control freak Balancing accepting your style vs broadening its appeal The effect of...2019-01-1745 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 16: Authority Issues Holiday EditionIn this special year-end episode, Kendall and rachel talk about: Holiday plans and Christmas miracles Kendall's deep thoughts on facial hair fashion Why we make this podcast Oooh, shiny! Choose your own path to Impostor Syndrome supercut! A team-building tip for the new year Kendall's experience of forced Kon-Mari-by-proxy Our goals for 2019, and meta topics around goal-setting Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music 2018-12-3130 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 15: Sarah Kampman (Square Root)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Sarah talk about: How technical communication often draws people toward product management Using cognitive science to improve product research People watching as a data mining exercise Using inspiration rather than direction, rather than having to tell people what to do Kendall's ongoing naysaying :) The various benefits of having engineering-, marketing-, or product-driven organizations The subversive nature of being a control freak Cocktail party chatter and how to leverage it if you're an introvert Where authority really comes from Cultivating obliviousness to avoid having to assert authority The imbalance in social and cultural...2018-12-0639 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 14: Ian Colle (AWS)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Ian talk about: Hipster bicycles Ian's backstory in the military Deciding you like startups, and then ending up at Amazon Developing motivation toward the goal vs using discipline to lead your team Learning from bad managers Management at scale, high-volume hiring Pushing for shared experience for remote vs on-premises team members Realizing that everyone is not like you (gasp!) Having autonomy as a child means it's harder to handle micromanagement as an adult Walking the fine line of projecting confidence vs being vulnerable to your team Kendall learns about the concept of...2018-11-2240 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 13: Michael Honey (Icelab)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Michael talk about: Starting from a place of youth and arrogance :) Advertising agency life from the time when people smoked in the office (Mad Men, anyone?) Coming to terms with the fact that you're selling your soul The founding of Icelab as an indirect consequence of philosophical differences Being a leader when you don't want to be a "boss" Kendall's understanding of logic when it comes to opinions Ownership of what happened when someone leaves your org Michael's political work with the Australian Green Party The feeling of freedom when someone knowledgeable...2018-11-0845 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 12: Jessica Popp (Sendgrid)In this episode Kendall, Rachel and Jessica Popp discuss: How Jessica gravitated toward roles that emphasized communication Trials by fire through startup dynamics The curse of the innate editor Jessica's definition of a great leader Being told to "step off" and what happened next Pivoting to leading a less-experienced team Kendall gets some mentorship about his career path The responsibility as a successful woman in tech to the women coming up A dichotomy of intro/extroversion driven by context Our respective scorn at people who ask dumb questions at parties Authority as scope of responsibility The urge to...2018-10-2542 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 11: Laurel Ruma (O'Reilly Media)In this episode Kendall, Rachel, and Laurel Ruma discuss: Learning how to talk to strangers by working on a farm Accepting that there is stuff that is out of your control and moving on from it instead of getting hung up on it The real value of forcing yourself out of your comfort zone and encountering people who are different from you Things that Kendall finds creepy Getting involved in Twitter wars is a terrible idea Being "the voice of reason" among her peer group Coaching employees about what's appropriate to discuss on social media Getting Bill O'Reilly's...2018-10-1150 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 10: Mitchell Hashimoto (Hashicorp)In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Mitchell discuss: Mitchell's first real job working at an Apple retail store, where the employee customer service training made a big impact How the empathy training from that experience has translated well to most of his subsequent experience in the working world Digging into why customers are angry, and finding a place to be genuinely empathetic How this translates to the employee-employer relationship How we can't not talk about Mitchell's job at a smoothie place Learning to interact with clients as a software consultant and as a leader via building things in...2018-09-2744 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 9: Get to know your Host—Rachel Perkins (piebob) Path to leadership: Going from a $3.75/ hour tutoring position to her current job at Honeycomb.io rachel talks about designing her own job from the ground up Building community teams versus community programs rachel discusses how to become such a value to a company they fight to make you stay How she moved on to become an editorial board member at 5calls.org Learn how to become more approachable and how to not be afraid of showing weakness How being open with your team will produce better results in communication rachel talks about her side gig of being a DJ while...2018-09-1450 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 8: Tora Rocha (City of Oakland)In this episode Kendall, Rachel, and Tora Rocha discuss: • Tora’s path from elephant training (for real) to leadership. Shoveling shit. • New means to get respect in the field in the 1980s as a leader and a young woman • The creation of her volunteer project at the rose gardens • More on elephant training as a metaphor for leadership • How introverts vs extroverts process things differently and how to utilize the skills of both to the best of their ability • Fishbowl work and what you can learn from it • You cannot lead by fear, it’s bette...2018-08-3044 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 7: Kathy Keating (Apostrophe)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Kathy Keating discuss: Kathy’s path to leadership/management as a result of her willingness to be willing to do something that nobody else knew how to do and try and solve the problems nobody else was willing to try and tackle That Kathy’s company, Apostrophe, is going to solve healthcare, whoah! Just how meta Kendall can get :) The happenstance of making connections--rachel always looks at peoples' shoes too! How learning to stand your ground, especially as a woman in tech leadership, to say what you believe and recognize your own valu...2018-08-1640 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 6: Matt Newkirk (Etsy)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Matt Newkirk discuss: What's it like being the Babel Fish of Etsy? Matt's humble beginnings as a programmer in Mordor (working on a text-based Lord of the Rings game :)) How are projects managed in a multi-user dungeon (MUD)? Understanding your job as a manager is not just creating a checklist of "No's" Matt's circuitous route through various roles that ultimately brought him to management Finding cross-team synergies and ways to leverage common data and goals Making it a mission to be visible at cross-functional meetings and casual get-togethers Being loud as a...2018-08-0243 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 5: Anca Mosoiu (Tech Liminal)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Anca Mosoiu discuss: Anca founded TechLiminal, a technology salon, on a fairly sketchy block in downtown Oakland, CA 10 years ago. Anca's been working in tech since the late 1900's (!), the dark ages of tech. Techliminal was designed as "a place where regular people can walk in off the street and learn to use tools." Her work inspired some folks to volunteer to help with TechLiminal, and it became a kind of event hub. Anca didn't have management experience before she started up TechLiminal, she learned most of what she knows about managing...2018-07-1941 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 4: Anne Hjortshoj (Cisco)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Anne Hjortshoj discuss: Let's get this out of the way: how does one spell and pronounce Anne's last name? :) What's it like getting acquired by a Very Large Company? How does communication change? Do you change how you communicate with your team when you get acquired? How do you provide the necessary context of the larger company? Just how Old are the hosts of this show? :) Strategy can be expensive, slow, costly, and not directly connected to getting a product out the door, so it is often perceived by leadership as an...2018-07-0544 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 3: Eric Jorgensen (The Wirecutter)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Eric Jorgensen discuss: Is it weird that Kendall goes to https://thewirecutter.com/ before buying any product, sometimes even ones that are not reviewed there? Impostor syndrome affects everyone: Eric is a successful self-taught engineer, rachel comes from an astrophysics and English literature background, Kendall has 2 masters degrees in religion...but sometimes (always?) we feel inadequate to the challenge and expect to be found out at any moment. When does it makes sense to delegate vs. doing it yourself? Delegate more than you feel comfortable with. As a manager, you don't get...2018-06-2036 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 2: Ann Carrier (Engage)In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Ann Carrier discuss: Her epic path to leadership How working in the banking industry was not a great fit because she didn't wear Louboutins (kinda like Toms but different ;)) Avoiding "Golluming" and doing everything youself because that doesn't help your team learn new skills Encouraging the people finding solutions to also experience or understand the problems clearly, see both sides of the coin The value in getting to know your co-workers, even if you're not on the same team The fact that INTENTION ISN'T MAGIC You can find Ann in these...2018-05-2833 min

Authority IssuesEpisode 1: Caleb HuittIn this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Caleb Huitt discuss: what the heck is precision agriculture? (YES, WE'RE NERDS. WE KNOW.) The challenges of implementing ideas when actual humans are involved (computers are SO much easier!) Learning about yourself so you can work with others more effectively (introspection. like observability for your behavior) Applying leadership skills in your everyday life (your PTA meetings will never be the same!) Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music 2018-05-2040 min