A Geek Leader Podcast - inspiring technical and creative leaders around the world

Being a leader demands bravery. In this episode I talk about overcoming FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real) and leading with confidence. I list and explain these 4 steps for dealing with fear: Play it out. What’s the worse that can happen? What’s the likelihood of that thing happening? How can you reduce the likelihood of that happening? If the worse happens, how can you recover?   We need to understand that everyone deals with fear.  The most successful people just “do it anyway.” In order to be a leader, you must be brave.  For some people it comes naturally, but for others of us, we have to work at it.  If you want to work at it with other like minded folks, please sign up at https://techleaders.group.  I’ve focused on leadership for many years now, and my wife even says I focus on it too much sometimes. I see countless people that have so much potential for leadership, but havenever stepped out and gave it shot due to fear. Now Fear isn’t always bad.  There are good fears too.  For example, I’m afraid of snakes.  God gave me that fear so that I don’t get bit by one of those suckers and die.  That’s a healthy fear, at least I tell myself it is.  Okay, another example.  I want my kids to have certain fears.  I want my son to be afraid of crossing the street without holding an adult’s hand.  Having that fear may save his life.  But I don’t want him to be afraid to have fun because of what others might think.  Remember there are healthy and unhealthy fears. It’s amazing that my 5-year-old son will sing at the top of his lungs when a song comes on that she knows.  He has no fear of what others will think.  That’s something we learn.  I’m afraid to sing in public, although I was known for rapping at karaoke in college. I bet I wasn’t afraid when I was 5.  I learned to be afraid of what others might think.  We can call that fear, or maybe shame.  I’m ashamed of how I sound when I sing. Many leaders have a fear, or shame of their leadership.  They don’t know if they are good or not, because they haven’t ever tried.  Maybe this isn’t the best example, but the point I’m getting at is that your fear isn’t a healthy one.  Its not in place to save your life.  It is something you learned to protect yourself from a perceived risk, which isn’t even real.  People don’t care if you’re good or bad at leadership… at least not at first.  You aren’t expected to know everything.  In order to be good at something you must be brave, or as Todd Henry put it in one of his talks, Brilliance Demands Bravery. I want to break down 5 tips on being Brave. 1)Breathe – A few years ago, at TEDxCharlotte I heard Jonathan Winn tell his story on the power of one breath. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oqYovTjD6Q He talks about how deep breathes can calm your nervous, relax your mind and body.  When I’m nervous, I breathe. 2) Reason with yourself why you’re afraid – Figure out what your fears are all about.  Many time it is not the act that we’re afraid of, but rather the reaction of others.  Before I started teaching college, I was afraid to speak in front of people.  On my 1st day of class, I suffered from The Imposter Syndrome and I didn’t want to go, but I muscled through it.  I knew that when I got In front of that class they would find me out as a fraud.  They would ask me a technical question that I didn’t know the answer too, then start booing and throwing papers at me.  Well, they did ask some questions that I didn’t know the answer to.  But they accepted that I didn’t know, and a quick Google Search got us the answer and got the class back on track. People actually liked and learned from what I had to say. I was helping people.  My fears had not justification.  Now, to break this down. I wasn’t afraid of teaching or speaking.  I was afraid of some reaction that I thought the people I was teaching might have.  I was afraid of something that I thought might happen, but was 99.9% likely to NOT happen.  Figure out what you’re really afraid of. 3) Accept your fears – Accept the fact that you’re afraid, and that it is okay to be afraid.  But also play out that fear.  What’s the worse thing that can happen?  No Really, what’s the worse that can happen.  So, let’s play out the teaching scenario… I show up the first day of class, with my zipper down.  The students laugh at me.  They ask me questions I don’t know the answers to.  I freeze, the students throw things at me. One of the students works for the local news paper and writes a story about how dumb I am.  I get fired from my day job… Really?  Really?  Doesn’t this sound ridiculous?  That’s because it is.  Most of our fears are for things that have never happened and most likely would/could never happen. In the 4 Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris, says to list out your fears, play them out, then list how you would recover from them if they actually played out as you think they might.  That’s some good advice, but I like to add one more thing to it.  If you’re afraid of something, then you need to evaluate if that’s a good fear, or a bad fear.  Will the fear save your life?  If not, then it is probably hiding something that’s meaningful for you and it might be where you need go.  If you’re afraid of stepping out and taking the lead, then it is probably the one thing you need to be doing the most. 4) Visualize the Win – Visualize yourself overcoming your fears.  When I talked about negotiation, and when I was learning about negotiation, I was taught that you need the to let the other party, visualize the win.  Let them see a way for this negotiation to be over and them to get an outcome they are satisfied with.  When I’m bartering a deal for some website work that I am doing, I show them what the website might be like, then work our way backwards to the win.  Getting over your fears and being brave is sort of like negotiating with yourself. You have to convince yourself that the bad things you think might happen, likely won’t, and if they do, you can get past them, and be stronger for having gone through them. 5) Execute – Gary Vaynerchuk says ideas are crap, execution is everything.  That statement is spot on.  Sometimes I let fears get in the way of my execution, but in order to be brave, step out and be a leader, you must execute.  If you don’t execute, you’re leaving your best work in the graveyard.  You’re depriving the world of something you should give them.  If you want change, you must execute. If you want things to get better, you must execute. If you want to be a leader, you must execute.  Be BRAVE – Breath, Reason, Accept, Visualize, Execute. I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcast and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even 1 sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” — Jim Rohn In this solo show I talk about the people you spend the most time with. I’ll dig into the importance of networking with leaders at your level and above at other organizations.  I’ll talk about how to meet those leaders then tell you about a special project I’m working on, https://techleaders.group. Tech Leaders is a small group of like-minded technology pros that I will organize and provide ongoing leadership discussions with and meet with on a weekly basis with the goal of becoming the best leader we can be. Some benefits of joining a small group like Tech Leaders is: Gathering and brainstorming of ideas from a diverse group of peers Constantly learning from the experience, mistakes and success of others Peer accountability and networking Fellowship and Group support By being apart of tech leaders, you will arrive at solutions and ideas that you would not get by yourself You will be more likely to achieve your goals (at least the ones you share) due to peer accountability and assistance You will have a small group/team of people who are willing to help you and want to see you succeed If you are interested in learning more about Tech Leaders, please visit https://techleaders.group, and fill out the form to learn more. Also this week I’m rolling out our Sponsors and Affiliates page.  Go there to check out some products that I use and stand behind.  Also be sure to use the link and/or affiliate code to get special savings. I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

About Liz Dr. Liz Bywater is a one-of-a-kind leadership expert who works at the intersection of business and psychology. She integrates deep expertise in human behavior and organizational dynamics with her pragmatic mindset and engaging personal style to help her clients thrive in an increasingly complex world. C-suite leaders and boards consistently enlist Liz’s help to: drive profitable growth build remarkable customer relationships supercharge innovation increase strategic agility eliminate fire-fighting and develop highly productive collaborations amid the nonstop demands of today’s 24/7 world. Results include rapid and dramatic improvements in revenues, profitability, productivity, work culture, leadership, and more. Dr. Bywater works with top executives and management teams across an array of companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AmerisourceBergen, Biotronik, EMDSerono, Nike, Boeing, Thomson Reuters and more. She provides her clients with expert advice and actionable tools for success, based on more than 25 years of experience. She sits on the Editorial Advisory Board for Life Science Leader and frequently provides leadership insights for Fast Company, FierceCEO, the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other top media outlets. Dr. Bywater has also been a featured guest on CBS’s Philadelphia Agenda and Marilyn Russell’s Remarkable Women. A longstanding member of the American Psychological Society and the Society for the Advancement of Consulting, Dr. Bywater has been recognized as one of the best consultants in the world. In 2018, she was inducted into the Million Dollar Consultant® Hall of Fame. Today We Talked About: create agreement with those around you taking a strategic pause prioritizing lists of activities delegation me / not me list reflection pivot points Now/Later/Never Setting your sights eliminate distractions filter your decisions ASAP – Accelerating Success Action Plan Narrow your priorities Connect with Liz twitter linkedin book website I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

About John John D. Wood, Esq. is a graduate of NYU School of Law and TCU where he earned his bachelors degrees summa cum laude in English and Philosophy. He is a member of the New York and Texas State Bar Associations and has provided Continuing Professional Education programs on insurance, copyleft, and artificial intelligence and the law. He represents real and intellectual property owners in insurance matters through his law firm, and consults on technology policy through The Humachine LLC. Today We Talked About John’s Background What is the Humachine AI and the risk of using it Machine learning and data sets Bad Data in and Bad decisions out Chess Playing AIs Humans working with Machines Policies for AI to protect us Deep fakes Weaponized Bots Connect with John D. Wood LinkedIn Twitter Website Amazon Author Page Book I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

Today I’m back with a solo show about rewards and recognition. I started the draft of this episode more than a year ago but I haven’t found the right time to air it… until now. REWARD & RECOGNITION Rewards often involve something of monetary value being given to an employee or team in response to achieving something pretty great.  A recognition, however, is something that doesn’t need to be associated with an accomplishment, but it can be.  A recognition is usually praise or something with  psychological value and not necessarily monetary value. I’ll give some examples on the show. Today I talked about: Rewards vs. recognition Separating rewards from pay Not rewarding or Recognizing Mediocrity Employee Anniversaries Thank You Notes Celebrating Wins I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

Building Better Teams Today I’m doing a solo show talking about building  better teams.  In this episode  I talk about the following: Foundation Interior Refinements Exterior FIRE is the acronym I use when describing building in this talk.  Under each heading I discuss things I feel are important. Foundation Leadership.  Pulling vs. Pushing Cultural Norms (IT Code) We Act Like an Owner We Have Each Other’s Back We Choose People over Process We Question our Assumptions We Think Big and Start Small We Don’t Create Waves, We Ride Them We Are Intentional About Our Work We Fail Fast and Recover Faster We Are Not Experts, And Will Keep the Posture of a Student, Always Learning We Make the Complex Seem Simple We Make Life Easier for Those Around Us We Are Here to Serve, not Be Served Interior Motivation Carrots and Sticks If / Then Serving together as a Team Playing together as a Team Refinements Purpose Field Trips Biology of Leadership Exterior Give Credit to Individuals and Team Never Blame Individuals Create Annual Reports I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

About Vennard Vennard Wright (PMP, ITIL v3 Practitioner) is currently the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Vice President (VP) of Operations for Iron Bow Technologies.  As CIO/VP of Operations, he provides leadership and oversight for the information technology (IT), order operations and manufacturing functions.  In this capacity, it is his responsibility to transform the management of business technology capabilities and client services to support Iron Bow’s operations by ensuring that service delivery is in full alignment with senior leadership’s strategic goals and objectives. Prior to joining Iron Bow, his professional IT experience was comprised of multiple senior leadership roles which included serving as CIO for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), CIO for Prince George’s County Government (MD), Director of Technology for Hillary Clinton during her successful United States Senate re-election campaign and subsequent 2008 Presidential Campaign, as well as serving as Director of Technology of Technology during Rushern L. Baker III’s successful run for County Executive of Prince George’s County, MD in 2010.  He was also Chief Technology Officer and Technical Organization Delivery Manager for Electronic Data Systems (EDS), which was subsequently acquired by Hewlett Packard (HP). Mr. Wright has also served as a volunteer and participated in numerous fundraisers and philanthropic efforts for various worthy causes. In addition to more than two decades of IT management experience, Vennard brings an equal amount of hands-on experience in working with young people through myriad avenues.  His experience includes mentoring students in multiple settings. As a USA Track & Field (USATF) Level-One certified coach and USATF certified official, he has coached many young athletes into NCAA scholarships. Because of his work in the technology industry, he has received numerous awards, authored multiple articles and spoken publicly on many topics, ranging from the importance of experiential learning in our educational systems to the changing role that emerging technology plays in future career prospects. Mr. Wright also serves on a number of boards that help to widen his perspective on the latest methods for effectively applying the latest technologies and best practices to solve common enterprise level problems.  He is applying those same principles to solve some of the most vexing IT challenges in the Washington DC Metropolitan region. Vennard Wright resides in Clinton, MD with his wife, Janelle, and four children. Today we talked about Vennard’s background Political Technology Diverse Experience Empathetic Leadership Creative Motivation Challenging Team Members Self-Awareness 360 Reviews Motivation and Moral Committee Clear Strategy Cadence of Accountability Lead and Lag Measures Management Standups Progressive Discipline Performance Improvement Plan Managing Them Out Culture of Respect Diversity in Tech Coaching Fitness Be Flexible Focus on Soft Skills Connect with Vennard LinkedIn IronBow Website I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

About Christopher Christopher O’Donnell is a technologist, musician and public speaker who has built dozens of web and mobile products. His product portfolio ranges from language learning products for the U.S. military to the most popular free CRM product in the world. Today, Christopher serves as Senior Vice President of Hubspot Product, which he led from startup ($50M in revenue) to successful publicly-traded company ($600M in revenue). Christopher has become a staple in the product management community, and was recently named one of the Best Product Leaders of 2019 (via Comparably). As an experienced leader, he is passionate about leading and supporting teams to build anything, from developing tech products to creating rock & roll records. He is a highly-rated public speaker and a frequent guest lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and major global corporations, speaking on topics like leadership & team-building to audiences of over ten thousand. Outside of his day job, Christopher spends his time as songwriter and guitarist for his band The Providers, with whom he has recorded dozens of albums across a variety of musical genres. Today We Talked About Hubspot Culture Music Leadership Product Development Autonomy Culture of Ownership Think Like an Owner Using the values in speech Building Great Teams All about the people A Diverse Team is more likely to be a high performing team Everyone is a recruiter Always raise the bar Be Patient when Hiring Recruit People Above You Hire People Better that you Be Transparent Stretch Your team Get Feedback – being active about getting the feedback The Providers Connect with Christopher LinkedIn Twitter Band Website Band Instagram Band Twitter Band Facebook HubSpot Jobs I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

About Dr. Saunders Martha Dunagin Saunders is the sixth President of the University of West Florida. In her 30-plus years in higher education, she has served as in academic and leadership roles at universities in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin and Mississippi. Her area of academic expertise is in public relations and crisis communication for which she has won numerous awards, including two Public Relations Society of America’s coveted Silver Anvils. Saunders led the University of West Florida to its status as a top-performing public universities with the third-highest score in the Florida Board of Governors performance metrics. She established the UWF Innovation Institute, Center for Cybersecurity and the Office of Equity and Diversity. She oversaw the reorganization of the institution’s colleges, and under her guidance, UWF established two new named colleges–the Usha Kundu M.D. College of Health and the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering.  Saunders’ vision for UWF is for it to grow beyond its beginnings as a regional comprehensive university and be seen as a leader in innovation and cutting-edge academic programs. She plans to build on the University’s strengths and its undergraduate traditions while creating programs that will attract the faculty and research funding needed to make the leap to the next level. As an entrepreneurial leader, Saunders is passionate about creating innovative solutions to deal with the dynamic challenges facing higher education. As a change maker, she drives action behind these solutions to propel higher education into the future. Today We Talked About: How she got where she is today Women in leadership Technology degrees Adjunct Professors Center for Cyber Security Trust Agile University Sunset Clause Sea3D Lab Watch and Learn from both Good and Bad Leaders Learn your industry… not just your job Adapt, adapt, adapt   Connect with Dr. Saunders and University of West Florida Twitter LinkedIn Website I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

About Sean Sean Walls is currently Vice President of the Cyber Security division for a multi-billion-dollar international standards, QA, digital testing and cybersecurity corporation. He has 19 years of experience in cybersecurity and information technology and is a frequent keynote speaker and advocate for cyber security. Today We Talked About: The importance of influence and relationship building as a CISO Qualities to develop if you want to be a CISO Aligning security with business priorities Risk Management fundamentals Finding and retaining good talent Give a Career Path Give Praise Have Humility Have Empathy The expanding attack surface and changing threat landscape How to present to the board of directors What is governance in Cyber Security Connect with Sean LinkedIn Twitter I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!