CTO Confessions Brought to you by IT Labs

In this episode, we talk to a tech leader who initially had very little desire to become a CTO. However, once the journey began, not only was he a success, but he also came to appreciate and love the role. His passion shows and is a great inspiration to try things you think you don't want. Maksym Schipka, the CTO at Vortexa, shares his tech journey and what's worked, and is working for him. Just to put into perspective the importance of Vortexa's operation, it tracks more than $1.8 trillion of waterborne energy trades per year. That's a great deal of ka-chings! Their work and innovations disrupt the way the energy markets operate, creating visibility into the very opaque world of seaborne energy trading. His desire (and deeper purpose) to solve problems and face difficult challenges led Maksym to solve technical goals and even more complex ones like strategic and the dynamics of leading people. His desire to create elegant solutions in his leadership serves the business, the people, and his own leadership. The key takeaways from the conversation with Maksym are: • The amazing payoffs of taking small, uncomfortable steps --new realizations regarding what interests you and what doesn't, plus the willingness to face fear, risk and dislikes to make adventurous, inspired career choices. • How data and, machine learning are being used to disrupt the energy trading system – a disruption that serves and enhances the work of traders and the industry as a whole. • The power in a leader being willing to become redundant in many of the tech activities and business operations. When your teams need you less, you are succeeding immensely as a leader. This reminds me of the quote from Nanny McPhee, "When you need me, but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me but no longer need me, I have to go.". • The importance of attachment and detachment in leadership, and how to allow teams and people to grow and expand their responsibility. Our Guest: Maksym Schipka LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mschipka/ Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vortexa/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/vortexa Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Security has always been a part of human needs beyond those sitting at the lower echelons of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Through our inventiveness, we create new domains of attack and subsequent security needs. In these modern times, the digital world has many doors and windows, and that's the topic we touch on in this episode. Tom Meehan of CONTROLTEK USA joins us to share his thoughts on this subject and his leadership style. Tom is an author and speaker in various technical spaces, so we are honored to have him on CTO Confessions. Key takeaways from the podcast are: • Embrace the likelihood of failure and get moving, welcome experimentation, and adapt. Some failure has to be part of your journey. • Tom's suggestion around investing in your self-growth as a leader (less Netflix and more reading) • The sophisticated art of keeping companies secure: ◦ Especially in these COVID times where people inadvertently keep opening up security windows and doors ◦ The ongoing battle to get on the winning edge of security without thinking you've worked it out ◦ Awareness that the technology you are using to stay one step ahead of the attackers is the same technology they have. The book that Tom authored can be found here: Evolution of Retail Asset Protection: Protecting Your Profit in a Digital Age https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolution-Retail-Asset-Protection-Protecting-ebook/dp/B07RMKQ5MN/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Tom+meehan Our Guest: Tom Meehan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-meehan/ Website: https://www.controltekusa.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomsitlogic

It's great when you meet a leader who takes an elegant approach to making life easier. i.e., using a leadership style to bleed ownership into the organization. One such tech leader achieving this with his personal, well-defined philosophy on work and life is Shane Emmons. As the CTO of TeamSnap, not only does he talk about this philosophy, he has also positioned it out there for all to see on his LinkedIn profile. Then, as a man of integrity, he brings it to life in his daily work and leadership. Key takeaways from the podcast are: • The power of providing trust from the word go in your organization • The perspective that all tech decisions are business decisions • The importance of enjoying work and making sure your people are as well • Sharing of a new perspective on diversity and success Not only does Shane coach and mentor business leaders in the industry, he also teaches at the University of Michigan. Listen in on this episode for awesome advice grounded in a wealth of experience. Our Guest: Shane Emmons LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-emmons/ Website: https://www.teamsnap.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/semmons99 Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Tech leaders not only lead organizations to create products, but often lead transformations also -- transformation of people, processes, and of course tech. In this podcast, Michele Sollecito shares his thoughts on his role and how he works to make sure projects come in on scope and on time through the wonderful women and men engineers doing the work. Key takeaways from the podcast are: • Why integrity matters. i.e., Doing the right thing even when no one is looking. • How software development isn't just about delivering fast, but rather represents the art of creating something that can be maintained and extended in its complexity, without ending up in a technical debt dead end. • Avoiding continuous isolation by leading and facilitating environments that create interrelationships within a team, between teams, and in the wider organization. Our Guest: Michele Sollecito LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelesollecito/ Website: A better way to handle your money | Revolut : https://www.revolut.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SollecitoM Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

For all those who have hired a car, do you think it's a smooth process? Could it be easier? Well, our tech leader guest from "hiyacar", Marc Roberts, tells us about how they are smoothing out the wrinkles in this much-needed service. Having been involved in a previous venture that didn't quite make it to success, Marc shares how the market and driver information systems have evolved enough to make it viable. Listen to Marc Robert's' wisdom about leading the technological aspect of this venture and how he and his colleagues lead the way to hire cars easy as "ABC." Key takeaways from the Podcast: • Running a startup with high ticket assets and keeping them secure • Getting-out-of-the-way-style leadership • The power of having a clear mission Our Guest: Marc Roberts LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcroberts/ Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hiyacar/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marcroberts Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

In this podcast, we talk to Hazel Olivier, the CTO of Nimbla, a company serving medium-sized organizations' financial well-being (through insuring their invoices). Hazel has been instrumental in leading Nimbla's platform's modernization while strengthening its robustness. Thus, allowing Nimbla to offer a much-needed self-service financial lifeline 24/7. In the podcast, we look at how Hazel has been spearheading her career in the tech industry ,as well as her passion for security and working with remote teams with differing cultural communication styles. An important set of subjects in a global and interconnected world we all operate in. Key takeaways from the podcast are: • Security! Security! Security! Stop making it an afterthought -- bake it in from the beginning. • Awareness around some of the holes you could be creating in your security walls. • Leading in tech as a woman. • The cultural nuances when it comes to the UK, South Africa, and India. Our Guest: Hazel Olivier LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hazelolivier/ Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nimbla/ Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Data, data, data everywhere! Sometimes I wonder if we’re going to drown in it all. Thankfully we have a super expert on the subject to join us to demystify some of the reoccurring topics in this arena. Roy Keyes, a data science and machine learning guru and expert in knowing what people to hire for this elusive new field of computing, tells us all in the time we had for the podcast. We got so carried away, it’s a long one. He has written a book on the subject. Details can be found below. The key takeaways from the podcast are: • What is the definition of ◦ Data science ◦ Data analytics ◦ The various roles that gravitate around this industry • Some tips as to how to structure data people within the org • The challenges of hiring the right people for the job And much, much more Details of Roy's book "Hiring Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers: A Practical Guide." : https://leanpub.com/dshiring Our Guest: Roy Keyes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roy-k-213127128/ Website: https://roycoding.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/roycoding Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Oded Cohen, Chief Technology Officer at Nativo Inc, joins CTO Confessions to share his tech leadership style within an impressive, cutting-edge marketing company – a company that helps organizations sell high ticket items with looooooooong marketing and sales cycles. Nativo uses big data and agile processes to connect the brands to the desired target audience. Some of the key takeaways from the podcast are: • How distributing leadership and decisions makes complex development environments more manageable • How freedom, flexibility, and honest conversations help the best creative ideas emerge • The in and outs of selling advertising to premium brands for long-term brand engagement Our Guest: Oded Cohen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oded-cohen-78678a17/ Website: Nativo - The Leading Native Advertising Platform: https://www.nativo.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nativo Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Here’s your chance to get a small peek under the covers of Google. Paul Lawrence joins us from San Jose, California, to share his story and his work life at this prestigious company. In this podcast episode, Paul share about being selected to join Google, the onboarding process, and then what it’s like to be immersed in the Google culture. Don’t miss this treasure trove of insights from inside one of the most iconic tech companies out there. Key takeaways are: • Lessons for tech leaders from inside Google • An example of onboarding and how you can be quickly offboarded • The importance of trusting your engineers Our Guest: Paul Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-lawrence-6a463b65/ Website: https://www.google.co.uk/about/careers/teams/engineering/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/google Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

A technology leader's needs from a city - How the right cities can drive innovation and growth The environment can make a huge difference on culture. In turn, culture can make a huge difference to an organization's energy around Agility, innovation, creativity, and synergy with other seemingly unrelated industries. So we often talk about the environment and culture on a micro and macro level (teams and organizations). These always seem to be under the microscope, and for good valid reasons. What if, for a moment, we looked through a telescope at the bigger picture. What about the environment and culture of an entire city. Well, in this episode, we get to meet and talk to James Cummings, Vice President of Business Development at London & Partners. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he promotes London to organizations, including tech companies, to locate themselves in the UK's capital city. With all the trappings of success, through a huge pool of creative talent, hotbed of innovation, and strong governmental governance and support, many companies make a move to London to grow and take advantage of the fertile entrepreneurial soil of London. Key takeaways from the Podcast are: Who are London & Partners, and how they can help tech companies and their tech leadership What tech leaders are looking for in a city? How Cities can drive growth through Talent, R&D, Incentives, and simplicity of doing business Examples of companies that have located in London and the success they made of it Example's relationships between cities and how these can help each other by playing to each other's strengths Our Guest: James Cummings LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-cummings-90b04514/ Website: https://www.londonandpartners.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/londonpartners Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)