The Engineering Leadership Podcast

This episode covers productivity practices to scale both your time & mind with Ashton Kutcher (Actor & Investor) & Ryan Petersen (CEO @ Flexport). They share their most essential productivity tools & systems, how to filter decisions & say NO to optimize your time, leverage your company’s culture to scale your time/mind. Plus energy audits, networking hacks, powerful questions, and more! ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR & INVESTORAshton’s career has spanned over many years with well-known projects on screen and film, but it's his passion in technology, entrepreneurship and investing that has brought him notable recognition. He’s been named TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” as well as being honored by Vanity Fair's New Establishment List, which identifies the top 50 of an innovative new breed of buccaneering visionaries, engineering prodigies and entrepreneurs. Twice, Kutcher was named one of Forbes magazine’s “World’s Most Powerful Celebrities,” and one of Fast Company magazine’s “Most Creative People.” RYAN PETERSEN, FOUNDER & CEO @ FLEXPORTRyan Petersen is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flexport, a full-service freight forwarder and customs broker. Since founding Flexport in 2013, Ryan and his team have worked to make global trade easy for everyone. Ryan led Flexport from inception to the company it is today: supporting over 10,000 customers and suppliers across 109 countries and doubling revenue to nearly $450m last year. His areas of focus include setting company strategy, ensuring the company tracks to goals, and most importantly, building and maintaining Flexport’s unique culture.Prior to founding Flexport, Ryan helped run an e-commerce company and co-founded ImportGenius, one of the largest providers of business intelligence to the import-export industry. His experience and frustration with global logistics served as the inspiration to start Flexport. Ryan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia University. SHOW NOTESHow Ashton & Ryan first met & their early entrepreneurship hustles (2:15)Productivity tools & systems (4:06)How to say “NO” to optimize your time (7:08)Leverage culture in your organization to scale your time and mind (10:32)The power of predictability on company culture and productivity (15:26)Networking Hack: Connect through social impact (17:40)Creating a personal mission statement & the “energy audit” (19:02)How to avoid being reactive to your to-do list (21:26)Productivity as your company scales & cultivating sub-cultures within your org (23:17)What question should you be asking yourself right now? (25:01) SPONSORS Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC 

This episode covers effective strategies to help you “close” engineering candidates with Darian Shimy (VP of Engineering, Weebly @ Square). We share how to strategically approach closing throughout the interview process, how storytelling & vulnerability help you connect with candidates, how to communicate the value of your company/compensation & strategically navigate offer negotiations! DARIAN SHIMY, VP OF ENGINEERING, WEEBLY @ SQUAREAs an engineering leader who scales teams and products, Darian Shimy is an industry veteran with over 25 years of experience. He is currently at Square with prior leadership positions at Weebly, Attensity, and eHarmony.com. He received an MS in Computer Science from The University of Southern California and continues to code as a hobby. Outside the professional setting, Darian is a softball coach for various age levels from the recreation to the competitive level. SHOWNOTESHow Darian approaches closing engineering candidates (2:33)Who’s involved in closing conversations (4:55)How to address candidates’ needs throughout the interview process (6:09)“Boomerang candidates” & maintaining relationships to rehire previous co-workers (11:23)How to make candidates feel they can immediately contribute and be successful (13:12)How to make remote offers an opportunity to close candidates (18:50)High leverage ways to show appreciation & gratitude for hiring candidates (20:44)Money’s role in the closing conversation (23:47)Navigating offer negotiation (25:16)How to help candidates navigate multiple offers (27:42)Is "no" the end of the closing process? (30:59) BROUGHT TO YOU BY...Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC

Lusen Mendel, Director of Developer Relations at Karat, and Rohit Grover, Senior Interview Engineer and Mentor at Karat, share invaluable insights on conducting effective technical interviews. They discuss essential responsibilities for interviewers, including creating a comfortable environment and managing time effectively. Through live examples, they emphasize the importance of clear communication and strategies for setting candidates at ease. They also highlight the critical role trust plays in engaging candidates and improving the overall interview experience.

This ELC Hiring Summit special feature explores tactics & strategies to help you build powerful relationships & professional network! We cover the impact of vulnerability, why you should focus on “giving” first, how to break down power dynamics, prepare for important introductions & more with Dan Portillo (Managing Partner & Founder @ Sweat Equity Ventures) & Jim Cook (CFO @ Orbital Insight). DAN PORTILLODan is a former Talent Partner @ Greylock. Previously, he was VP of Success & Engagement at Rypple, and VP of Organizational Development at Mozilla, creators of Firefox. Earlier in his career Dan spent a decade building out successful early-stage, venture-backed consumer and enterprise companies. Dan also served as a Council member for Code2040.org, a non-profit creating opportunities for underrepresented minorities in tech. JIM COOK, CFO @ ORBITAL INSIGHTJim Cook is the CFO at Orbital Insight and he has scaled some of Silicon Valley's most iconic brands. Companies like Intuit, Netflix, Mozilla...He was one of the first finance hires at Intuit. He was one of the original six founding members at Netflix. He also launched the Bench Board Executive Network, which is a leadership network and knowledge-sharing network for operational executives. SHOW NOTESEarly career lessons on people, relationships, & “giving” (2:24)Vulnerability & the impact of lowering your guard (8:37)Building authentic relationships & trust long-term (12:55)Breaking down power dynamics & building up “relationship credits” (14:49)Learning from mistakes, burning bridges & removing your ego (19:38)Tactics for effective relationship building & networking (24:27)How to prepare for an important introduction (28:24)How to balance your priorities & invest time to help others (29:21)RESOURCES/LINKS(book) "Give and Take" by Adam Grant - https://www.adamgrant.net/book/give-and-take/(article) 'How to Work with Me' - Reid Hoffman - https://coda.io/@reidhoffman/meet-reid BROUGHT TO YOU BY...Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC  

This ELC Hiring Summit special feature dives into compensation! We cover where you should start with your comp strategy, how to create consistency/transparency in your program, competing on comp/equity at the early stages, how to consider geography, and when you should bring in external support with Thanh Nguyen (Founder & CEO @ OpenComp) and Cyrus F. (GM/SVP @ Hatched Labs). THANH NGUYEN, FOUNDER & CEO @ OPENCOMPThanh has spent the greater part of his decades-long career partnering with founders and investors on compensation and HR strategies. He is a leading expert in his field and has helped thousands of tech companies, including Airbnb, Figma, LiveNation, Lyft, Uber and many others. As founder and CEO of OpenComp, Thanh brings to market a solution that combines his experience with powerful data and technology to help companies get compensation right and pay employees fairly. Before joining Connery Consulting, Thanh led Rewards at Salesforce.com where he remained for 9 years, spanning domestic and international HR and Talent leadership roles. CYRUS F, GM/SVP @ HATCHED LABSCyrus claims to have dabbled in the software development space since the first bubble. He's the GM/SVP at Hatched Labs - a globally distributed group of crafters. He recently achieved the distinction of Assistant Cofounder to the Adventure Council®.He doesn't have any venture capital, he owns no equity and he's not on social media. He looks up to his three and three-quarters-year-old daughter who's already acquired four unicorns." SHOWNOTESWhere to start with your compensation strategy (1:30)Consistency in compensation (5:00)Transparency in compensation (7:13)How to think about DE&I proactively in your compensation strategy (8:57)How to compete on comp & equity in an early stage company (11:34)How to consider geography with your hiring/compensation strategy (16:53)When to bring in external support for compensation & hiring (20:13)Once you’ve established a compensation strategy, now what? (22:15)How to minimize differences in expectations on compensation for a role (24:07)How should you decide to globalize or localize compensation? (26:28) BROUGHT TO YOU BY...Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC

What IS engineering branding? What are the most effective things you can do to immediately improve your engineering brand & attract top talent? This special feature from the ELC Hiring Summit covers all things engineering branding & attracting top talent with Cosmin Nicolaescu (CTO @ Brex) Kris Rasmussen (VPE @ Figma) Brad Henrickson (Leadership Coach / former CTO @ Scoop Technologies) & Sam Wholley (Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners). SHOWNOTESWhat are the most important things you can do to attract top talent? (1:52)How have you changed how you attract top talent post-pandemic? (4:44)Tactical tips to overcome the gap between virtual and onsite employee experiences (8:00)What IS engineering branding? (9:10)Easy, immediate actions to improve your engineering brand (15:18)How do you retain & engage engineers in the company long term? (20:09)Controversial, but effective approaches to branding & attracting talent (23:33) Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC

This ELC Hiring Summit special feature covers building a diverse hiring pipeline! You’ll hear how to approach DE&I holistically & what success looks like beyond the metrics. Plus how to balance headcount demand with DE&I goals, hold execs/managers accountable & ideas for effective DEI programs & partnerships with Ragini Holloway (SVP People @ Affirm) and Gabe Westmaas (VPE @ Checkr). RAGINI HOLLOWAY, SVP PEOPLE @ AFFIRMRagini is currently Senior Vice President of People at Affirm and is an advisor for PeopleTech Partners and tech startups, including Shift.org and Pinkaloo Technologies. Ragini helps high-growth startups scale recruitment and People processes, often from scratch. She took Credit Karma from 40 to just over 500, and has similar ambitious hiring goals now, already taking Affirm from 100 to nearly 1,000. Ragini advocates for collaborative hiring practices and facilitates organic and authentic work cultures where people come together and discover common goals. Ragini is heavily focused in building diverse teams and designing employee engagement programs that drive ongoing workplace satisfaction and high retention rates. GABE WESTMAAS, VPE @ CHECKRGabe is VP of Engineering at Checkr, building a fairer future through a better understanding of the past. The team is bringing automation, consistency, and fairness to the manual processes behind background checks. Gabe has led several teams through high growth periods, most recently at Airbnb, and prior to that in the crowdfunding space at Tilt, and the Cloud Servers team at Rackspace. SHOWNOTESHow to think about diversity, equity & inclusion holistically (1:37)Why authenticity matters & how it impacts your hiring process and funnel (4:48)Balancing headcount demands & hiring diverse teams (8:53)How to hold executives & hiring managers accountable for DEI goals (14:53)What a successful DE&I program looks like (beyond the metrics) (20:12)Aligning hiring managers & hiring processes with DE&I goals (22:57)Effective programs & partnerships to create hiring opportunities for URGs (25:51) Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC

This special feature from the ELC Hiring Summit covers optimizing and scaling your hiring process! You’ll learn signs that indicate it’s time to optimize/scale, tactics to create a consistent hiring bar, key metrics to measure efficiency, feedback loops & more with Catherine Miller (VPE @ Flatiron Health) Vinithra Varadharajan (Head of Platform Eng @ Airtable) & Keng He (Sr. Director of Eng @ LiveRamp). SHOWNOTESThe current size and scale of Cat/Vinithra’s engineering teams + their current hiring process (1:55)Early signs indicating it’s time to optimize or scale your current hiring process (3:34)Tactics to ensure you have a consistent hiring bar (5:28)Why engineering rubrics are essential to your hiring process (7:48)How to encourage engineers to become interviewers (when resistant to interviewing candidates) (9:41)Interview panel structures (17:13)Key metrics to measure efficiency in your hiring process (21:24)How many recruiters, sourcers or coordinators do you need? (22:33)How has remote work changed your hiring process? (24:11)Who owns the top of the funnel in your hiring process? (25:48)What are the feedback loops you have in your hiring process? (27:17)How do you mitigate concerns candidates have about their potential managers in your hiring process? (28:30) Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC

This special feature from the ELC Hiring Summit covers everything sourcing engineering candidates! You’ll hear the latest sourcing trends, most effective sourcing tactics, how to get candidates attention, increase response rates to your outreach, & source senior engineers with Kah Seng Tay (GM & Eng @ Airtable) Shauna Geraghty (SVP, Head People & Ops @ Talkdesk) & Mike Pinkowsky (Head of Eng @ Gem) KAH SENG TAY - GM & Engineering @ AirtableSHAUNA GERAGHTY - SVP, Head People & Operations @ TalkdeskMIKE PINKOWISH - Head of Engineering @ Gem SHOWNOTESSourcing Trends (2:26)Shauna, Kah Seng & Mike’s most effective sourcing tactics (5:37)How to change your outreach to get attention and increase response rates (10:11)Where are you sourcing candidates from? (17:59)Strategies to source senior engineers (22:29) Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC

This special feature from the ELC Hiring Summit explores the current state of hiring and how the rise of remote work will affect sourcing engineering candidates, the interview process, and compensation with Bret Reckard (Talent Partner @ Sequoia), Maia Josebachvili (former Head of People @ Stripe), and Erica Lockheimer (VPE @ LinkedIn)BRET RECKARD - Talent Partner @ Sequoia CapitalMAIA JOSEBACHVILI - Head of M&A and Investing (interim), former Head of People @ StripeERICA LOCKHEIMER - VP of Engineering, LinkedIn Talent Solutions, LinkedIn Learning & Glint @ LinkedInSHOWNOTESIntroduction to Maia, Bret & Erica’s & their experience with the hiring ecosystem (1:08)The current state of hiring for engineering leaders in 2021 (2:58)Sourcing Trends (8:10)How platforms like LinkedIn are evolving with sourcing trends (17:05)Interviewing tactics (21:26)How the priorities of job seekers are changing (27:42)How to uncover values & priorities during the interview process (29:57)Compensation predictions (34:30)Final Advice on hiring in 2021 (39:55) Special thanks to our exclusive accessibility partner Mesmer! Mesmer's AI-bots automate mobile app accessibility testing to ensure your app is always accessible to everybody. To jump-start, your accessibility and inclusion initiative, visit mesmerhq.com/ELC