CTO Confessions Brought to you by IT Labs

When we think of tech leaders, we usually think of people who knew where they wanted to be in the future, always with a clear picture of the destination, or position, that they were going after. And sometimes it’s like that, but it’s far from a straight line to the top – just ask Adam Leach, Chief Information Officer at Nominet. A techie who let the current drive him around the industry, but who knew how to take advantage of that and get to where he is now – a tech leader. In this episode, we talked with him about his seemingly simple journey through the world of tech, his efforts in making the virtual space more accessible to users, and his effective hands-off approach when leading his teams! Key takeaways from the podcast: - How to lead teams with little effort and maximum focus on the important stuff - Why it’s important to think creatively instead of preventively - How awareness of problems in general makes it easier to look at them from various perspectives Our Guest: Adam Leach LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamleach/ Website: https://www.nominet.uk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamhleach Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Aside from proficiency in his or her field, a tech leader must also know how to treat people fairly to get the best out of them, but also empower them. As Mike Villalobos, Director of Engineering at Fair.com, shared with us in this episode, a leader must be able to see the furthest, but never forget the valuable input of those around him. “A high-performance team is not just about everyone delivering day-in day-out, they also need to feel they belong there, to see themselves doing it in that company for years to come - that’s the magic of leadership.” Key takeaways from this episode: • Transparency and open communication create a good working environment and motivates people • Being proficient in a skill doesn’t automatically make you a leader • Your team might have a better solution to a problem - trust them and listen to them Our Guest: Mike Villalobos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcvillalobos Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

"The intersection of machine learning and real estate - Bringing data science to land investment decisions" It's always interesting to hear from people who have traveled from one field and arrived at a very different one. Well, here is another great example of this. Marios Tsatsos, CTO of Honest AI, once was a scientist in the Quantum mechanics arena and had a doctorate in the field. He now transfers his algoristic and scientific mindset to a new field solving real business challenges. Key Takeaways from the podcast are: - Bringing the tools of science to business: Quantum scientist to Data scientist - How the application of AI to real estate asset management speeds up the decision-making process by up to 30% - How Honest AI is making commercial real estate investing great again Our Guest: Marios Tsatsos LinkedIn: Marios Tsatsos Website: Artificial Intelligence for Real Estate Investors | Honest AI Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

We here at IT Labs love people who are bees. What we mean by that is people with varied careers bring opportunities for cross-pollination. Cross-pollination of ideas and new ways of doing things. Like bee's these individuals are the backbone of innovation and industry leaps. They play an important part in the industry landscape, buzzing around doing their thing. Simultaneously, creating bridges for all kinds of concepts to travel and blend with the organization at the other end of that bridge. One of these bees is Fabricio F. Costa, Senior Product Developer & Strategy Executive at Accenture. His varied experience and passions create an interesting tech leadership mix. Key takeaways from the podcast are: • The importance and balancing of communication. Managing how that is exposed. Not too much, and not too little. • The emergence of data and its impact on the micro to the mega. The emerging tools will speed up the emergence of new insights • Never forget the importance of seeing businesses as a collection of human beings. The lens through which any collective human endeavor starts. Our Guest: Fabricio F. Costa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabriciofcosta/ Website: https://www.accenture.com/us-en Twitter: https://twitter.com/ffalconi Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Some of the most dynamic and battle-scarred tech leaders are those that have journeyed through a startup journey. In this episode, we get to speak to a tech leader just like that. David Kell, our guest, describes how he left his university degree to start a successful series of startups. In this podcast, we talk about how Gyana's platform. A no-code, data science tool that is democratizing the art of using data that many companies have pooled up. Key takeaways from the podcast are: - Seeing a gap in the market and solving a big challenge for many companies - Looking at Maslow's hierarchy of needs for data - How the tech leadership (and business leadership) wisdom to many leaders yearn for are already articulated Our Guest: David Kell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kell-22203656/ Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gyana/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gyaanaa Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Erik Dasque joins us for another episode of CTO Confessions, where he shares his intriguing journey of becoming a geek, de-geeking, and geeking up again. He shares his thoughts on the absolute importance of actively designing teams on an ongoing basis. Also, retaining and developing one's skills in the technical space can hugely serve one's tech leadership. Key takeaways from the Podcast are: - How to hire for success - The importance of diversity in organizations - The power of being a compassionate leader Our Guest: Erik Dasque Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/formassembly/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edasque/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/edasque Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Any techie will tell you that APIs revolutionized the way we go about developing software, but with all the regulations bestowed upon the IT world, it’s only the best ones that meet the light of day and make a change in our everyday lives. Meet Cedric Fabianski, Co-founder and CTO @ Bearer, a techie with a burning passion for entrepreneurship and leading teams – by striking the right balance. In our episode with Cedric, we listened carefully as he shared his experience in IT – from his beginning in the world of IT, through creating and leading teams, all the way to navigating his way through customer and client feedback. Our key takeaways from this podcast: • Why working remotely can help increase transparency and help improve teams • How leaders can find their way through something unknown by asking the right questions • How losing control is part of leadership, and is actually desirable Our Guest: Cedric Fabianski Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

We all consume TV shows and movies to feed our entertainment-hungry minds. And it’s no wonder why - the TV and movie production industries vie for our hearts and minds through elegant storytelling, immersing us in worlds that capture our hearts and expand our minds. Well, now we get to look under the covers of the industry, shining a light on a particularly important and unsung hero of this industry - the art of editing. We speak to Stephen Tallamy, the CTO of EditShare, a company that works on simplifying editing and storytelling. Particularly as we have have been jolted into a remote work and the boundaries of the studio have moved further into the virtual space. Stephen shares the tech challenges and solutions in this industry along with his tech leadership tips. • The demands of the TV and film production industry and how EditShare is making it an art in simplifying story telling through remote editing • The spectrum of tech leaders(Clarity on tech leadership names) • Riding the elevator(Communication skills for the organization spectrum) Our Guest: Stephen Tallamy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentallamy/ Website: Media Workflow, Storage and Editing Solutions | EditShare https://editshare.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephenTallamy Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

A mechanical engineer turned tech-wizz, Wayne Strydom is not your typical techie with roots set in coding or other IT discipline. He says it’s all about having the bigger picture in mind and understand systems and how they interact and function, and considering the success he’s had as the CTO & CIO @ Virtulab - we trust him. “Building teams based just on skill and talent is a recipe for failure! Surround yourself and your employees with characters, especially the kind that can stick it out when the going gets tough!” We sat down for a long, data-rich conversation with him, where dived deep into every aspect of his journey as a tech leader – from assembling and developing teams, all the way to his wishes which include a time machine and the possibility to see all press releases regarding tech development from the future. In short? An episode for the ages. Key takeaways from this episode: • Why building teams is much more than just matching needs to skills • How to lead teams by only asking the right questions • How a story is the foundation on which a product is sold Our Guest: Wayne Strydom LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayneatcgtech/ Website: https://thevirtulab.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/waynestrydom1 Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Developing high-quality service or tools does not guarantee success - you need to deliver it in a proper manner. That’s exactly what our guest Adam Dille, Senior VP for Product and Engineering at Quantum Metric is focused on doing, as he helps companies deliver tech that has the potential to solve everyday problems, as well as make our lives easier! His focus on continued product/service development is what drives the company forward, all the while helping ambitious startups meet the light of day. “The better your product is - the more the end-user will expect from you. And a true leader will always anticipate these expectations and figure out how to meet them” What we learned from Adam: • Asking the right questions will always bring you closer to a solution • Looking at data from various perspectives helps deliver a more complete product • Closely-knitted teams understand every single piece of the puzzle, even the ones outside their domain Our Guest: Adam Dille LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamdille Website - Quantum Metric https://www.quantummetric.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/quantummetric Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)