Turn Your Career into a Rocket w/ Oksana Kubushyna #142
The Engineering Leadership Podcast
How to Be a Non-Reactive Leader
When you get a task, try to seek out larger context and come up with your own idea of what needs to be done. If it's the same as you being asked to do, just go ahead and do that. The next step I have is become non-reactive. In this world, we cannot succeed by our own. Building relationships and fostering relationships is paramount for success.
In this week’s episode, we’re featuring another of our most popular, inspiring sessions from ELC Annual 2022. Oksana Kubushyna, former VP of Entertainment Operations @ Riot Games, shares her best strategies for turning your career into a rocket, along with plenty of inspiring stories from her eight years and multiple promotions within Riot Games. She reveals why your mindset is the most important driver of career success, the importance of prioritizing your team, customers, & company over yourself when it comes to getting ahead, and tips for getting feedback, asking for help, prioritizing relationships, showing initiative, and much more. This is a featured session from ELC Annual 2022. Interested in topics like this, and beyond? #ELCAnnual2023 is happening 8/30 & 8/31! You can get your ticket to join your peers, check out all our speakers + explore additional topics at sfelc.com/annual2023
ABOUT OSKANA KUBUSHYNA
As VP of Entertainment Operations, Oksana Kubushyna (@GLHF2U) oversees operations of Riot’s Entertainment division with a goal to imagine and develop bespoke IP experiences and products - animation, film, interactive narratives, music, consumer products and beyond - that deepen players’ and fans’ connections to the universe Riot has created in League of Legends.
After joining Riot in 2014, she quickly rose through the ranks, holding positions including Head of Infrastructure, Development Director for League of Legends, founder and Head of Riot Platform Group, and VP of Game Studios Operations, helping build the foundation for, launch and operate Riot’s new games globally.
She has also been a leader of Diversity and Inclusion efforts within Riot. Her passion for the advancement of women in games and tech reaches beyond Riot, and she has been honored by groups such as Girls Inc. and Wonder Women Tech.
"If you're asking, 'How can I get ahead?', I'm here to tell you also that you gotta flip that. That's exactly the wrong question to ask because the more you ask questions like this, the more people will perceive you as self-serving. There is no quicker way to lose somebody's trust than for them to believe you are acting in your best interests and not in theirs, not in your company's, not in your customer's. Focusing on your customer, focusing on your manager's needs, on your company's needs, on your team needs is a much more effective way to move forward.”
- Oksana Kubushyna
Join us at ELC Annual 2023!
ELC Annual is our flagship conference for engineering leaders. You’ll learn from experts in engineering and leadership, gain mentorship and support from like-minded professionals, expand your perspectives, build relationships across the tech industry, and leave with practical prove strategies.
Join us this August 30-31 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco
For tickets, head to https://sfelc.com/annual2023
SHOW NOTES:
- Introducing Oksana & her roles within Riot Games over the past eight years (2:37)
- Secondary drivers impacting career success (5:53)
- Why your mindset is the primary driver of success (7:52)
- Always prioritize the company & customers over your own self-interests (9:57)
- Strategies for becoming non-reactive & showing initiative (12:53)
- The importance of prioritizing relationships (15:12)
- How to incorporate feedback to improve your leadership skills (16:38)
- Be in the right place so you’re not a $10 watch (19:09)
- Audience Q&A: tips for going about getting feedback & asking for help (20:48)
- How to tell stories & adapting the skill for a remote environment (22:52)
- Tips for recognizing your value & overcoming imposter syndrome (25:10)
- Knowing you’re not the right “watch” in your company / team (27:37)
- Defining anti-fragility & its impact on career success (29:14)
- Serve your team by managing up (30:32)
- Making the best use of your time in a one-on-one w/ high-level leadership (31:58)
- Why you should create time to think strategically (33:15)
- Frameworks for driving change within a larger organization (34:48)
- Oksana’s advice for moving forward instead of retreating into your comfort zone (36:10)
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:
Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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