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Leading Questions Podcast

We are Dawn Kuczwara and Jer Lance; technologists, leaders, and (most importantly) opinionated people who want to draw from our wealth of experience in becoming leaders and leading teams to help answer your questions. If you'd like yours answered, email us and we'd be happy to "help!"
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Now displaying: 2019
Apr 16, 2019

This episode's question:

We use Agile at work, but now management is doing a bunch of measurement and using dashboards and looking for better and better measures. I don't think that's how Agile is supposed to work, but they are doing it anyway. What can I do about this?

 

Apr 2, 2019

This episode's question:

I'm working on a project, and a lot of the questions that are being asked are coming off as very sexist. Lately I've been responding with answers that aren't a blatant "Fuck you", but have underlying tones of "Shut up". How do I deal with these sexist questions? How do I keep from taking them personally? SHOULD I take them personally? Should I point them out to the people who could possibly fix it? If I do tell someone in charge, how would I do that? Should I be 100% honest, or is there a different approach I should take?

Looking for a book to read? Try Start With Why by Simon Sinek, the subject of our next bookclub episode!

 

Mar 26, 2019

We discuss Ed Catmull’s book about leading Pixar to greatness in Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.

Image result for creativity inc

Our next book is Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek, read along with us!

Mar 26, 2019

This episode's question:

I have a member of my new team who is very senior, they have been around for a very long time and they are a huge pain. Everybody talks about how difficult the person is, how much they have to work around them, and how much they are a terror in meetings and in any group work. When it comes to review time everybody has perfectly generic and kind feedback for the person. The people that complain the most just don't provide feedback at all. How can I help this person grow or make a case to fire them if it comes to it if they won't give me information to work with?

The "Are we the baddies" sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU

Mar 5, 2019

A listener asked on Facebook about impostor syndrome. It's a topic that comes up a lot, both in questions from listeners and in conversation during shows. This episode Dawn, Jer, and special guest Angela Dugan talk about it a bit.

Our next book will be Ed Catmull's Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.

Feb 19, 2019

In this episode:

A listener was lamenting the holiday season and how difficult it was to navigate all of the parties, dinners, and other social events as an introvert. Their questions ran along the lines of whether it was important to attend these functions, how to negotiate the events when you're not very outgoing, and how to plan social gatherings that aren't so terrible to introverts.

 

Feb 5, 2019

This episode's question is:

We just went through a re-org at work and the awesome team I was on has been split up. I am currently waiting for my next project, doing little bits of odds-and-ends work in the meantime. I went from getting to work on an agile team developing a product to sitting by myself working on spreadsheets. How do I not let this new situation poison my attitude?

Next episode, we will be discussing our next bookclub book, Alex Harms' The Little Guide to Empathetic Technical Leadership!

 

Feb 4, 2019

Welcome to the first in our bookclub series, in which we discuss Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life.

Our next book will be Alex Harms' Little Guide to Empathetic Technical Leadership.

Future books will include:

Jan 22, 2019

A listener mentioned that we talk a lot about books we've read, both in a positive way and joking at their expense. So he posed this question:

What are some great books for leaders and knowledge workers to read, and what are some not-so-great books to avoid?

Jan 8, 2019

This episode's question:

I constantly hear about branding and personal brands. They sound like bullshit. What do you think? Are they real or important?

Don't forget that next month (episode 53, specifically) we'll be discussing Mark Manson's book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, so give it a read!

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