Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders

Unbreakable: How to Thrive Under Fear-Based Leaders with Kate Lowry

Nov 20, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Kate Lowry, a CEO coach, author, and comedian, shares her insights on rising fear-based leadership in tech. Drawing from her extensive startup experience, she explains how this leadership style harms innovation and promotes insecurity. Kate offers practical tactics to thrive under such leaders, emphasizing the importance of predictability and strategic behavior. She also shares how leaders can foster healthier cultures despite these challenges, providing a roadmap for a more collaborative and inspiring workplace.

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ANECDOTE

Longtime Founder Path From French Horns To VC

Kate Lowry started her first company 17 years ago in the music space serving French horn players.
She later founded startups in retail and peer-to-peer lending, worked at McKinsey, big tech, and Insight Partners before launching Scaleheart Co.

INSIGHT

Why Fear-Based Leadership Is Resurgent

Leadership styles cycle like fashion, and fear-based leadership is currently resurging in tech.
CEOs sometimes adopt it to reclaim perceived freedom amid conflicting stakeholder demands.

INSIGHT

Fear Undermines Innovation And Reveals Technical Debt

Fear-based leadership quickly chokes off idea-sharing because employees feel unsafe.
That culture also creates hidden technical debt as people hide bad news to avoid punishment.

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Today, we have a special guest on the podcast, Kate Lowry, CEO coach, author and comedian. She is a long time startup founder, spent time in VC, is leading a values driven coaching and advising firm called Scaleheart, and recently, just published a book. The title of the book is Unbreakable: How to Thrive Under Fear-Based Leaders, and is a tactical guide to help smart, caring people get unstuck to they thrive under fear based leadership.

In our conversation today, Kate is going to enlighten us on what fear based leadership is, how to use the predictability of fear based leaders to your advantage, and why its having (another) moment in the tech ecosystem today.

Questions:

Tell me about your startup journey as a serial founder.
You've been around the block in the tech industry. From your vantage point in startups, big tech, and VC, why is this new leadership style hitting now?
How does this type of culture show up in startups, versus larger companies like Meta?
How does it manifest in investing?
Why is fear-based leadership antithetical to innovation?
If it's so bad for innovation, why do people keep choosing it anyway?
What makes leaders like this so predictable?
How can people use that predictability to their advantage?
How has the type of issues you work on with your CEOs changed as this leadership style comes into vogue?
What are the most common ways that you help founders in your coaching practice?
What are three ways CEOs can make sure fear-based leadership doesn't take root in their corner of the tech ecosystem?
How has the AI boom affected all of this?

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