The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Leading leaders who lead engineers (Interview)

Aug 11, 2021

Lara Hogan, author of Resilient Management and a management coach who has led teams at Kickstarter and Etsy, shares her insights on effective leadership. She emphasizes the critical roles of mentoring, coaching, sponsoring, and providing feedback. Hogan discusses the transformative power of sponsorship in career growth, advocating for a shift from mentorship to proactive advocacy. She also explores the transition from engineer to manager, emphasizing the importance of self-reflection, community support, and aligning leadership with team missions.

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INSIGHT

Sponsorship vs. Mentorship

Sponsorship is key for career growth, unlike mentorship, which focuses on advice.
It involves advocating for someone's visibility and opportunities, leading to raises and promotions.

ANECDOTE

Unexpected Leadership

Adam Stachowiak shares how an unexpected leadership opportunity in the military propelled his growth.
Being appointed squad leader by force fostered his leadership journey.

ANECDOTE

Invisible Sponsorship

Lara Hogan describes being unexpectedly listed as the point of contact during her manager's leave, expanding her network.
She also shares how her director defended her technical expertise, showcasing invisible sponsorship.

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This week we’re joined by Lara Hogan – author of Resilient Management and management coach & trainer for the tech industry. Lara led engineering teams at Kickstarter and Etsy before she, and Deepa Subramaniam stepped away from their deep roots in the tech industry to start Wherewithall – a consultancy that helps level up managers and emerging leaders.

The majority of our conversation focuses on the four primary hats leaders and managers end up wearing; mentoring, coaching, sponsoring, and delivering feedback. We also talk about knowing when you’re ready to lead, empathy and compassion, and learning to lead.

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Sponsors:

InfluxDB – InfluxDB empowers developers to build IoT, analytics, and monitoring software. It’s purpose-built to handle massive volumes and countless sources of time-stamped data produced by sensors, applications, and infrastructure. Learn about the wide range of use cases of InfluxDB at influxdata.com/changelog
Retool – Retool is a low-code platform built specifically for developers that makes it fast and easy to build internal tools. Instead of building internal tools from scratch, the world’s best teams, from startups to Fortune 500s, are using Retool to power their internal apps. Learn more and try it for free at retool.com/changelog
Sentry – Working code means happy customers. That’s exactly why teams choose Sentry. From error tracking to performance monitoring, Sentry helps teams see what actually matters, resolve problems quicker, and learn continuously about their applications - from the frontend to the backend. Use the code THECHANGELOG and get the team plan free for three months.
LaunchDarkly – Ship fast. Rest easy. Deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn’t ready to be released to your users. Wrap code in feature flags to get the safety to test new features and infrastructure in prod without impacting the wrong end users.

Featuring:

Lara Hogan – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!