Joanie interviews Juliette Powell, author, entrepreneur, technologist, and strategist. Juliette’s background is varied and extensive. She is a co-author of the book, The AI Dilemma, and her consulting services focus on global strategy and scenarios related to AI and data, banking, mobile, retail, social gaming, and responsible technology.
Highlights:
Q: How did the book come about?
A: Juliette tells the story of how the book emerged from her graduate studies and talks about the research she incorporated to back up all of the assertions in the book.
Q: How does bias get incorporated into AI algorithms and exacerbated by them?
A: Juliette posits that much of the bias is not introduced on purpose and describes how that can happen. One of the ways bias is introduced stems from the demonstrated fact that we humans have the tendency to want to work with people like us and that can lead to a lack of diversity of experiences and thought. Juliette describes other ways bias is introduced and how to bring different people together to reduce it, from the individual level up to the organization and government levels.
Q: How can we get businesses to invest in AI auditing?
A: Juliette acknowledges that we are still in an experimental space with generative AI, but also suggests incorporating risk analysis at the organizational level to examine potential consequences. Reputation, for example, is important for a corporation. Government regulations are also being formed.
Listen to the episode to learn ways to create and use AI responsibly.
Words of Wisdom about AI:
Ask yourself: how much control do you want to have in your life?
Examine the culture of your organization to determine your AI governance.
What am I not willing to do for a buck?
What are you as an organization not willing to do to make money?
Book:
The AI Dilemma

Contact Juliette Powell:
Website: juliettepowell.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliettepowell/

Abby Malchow is a Manager of Small Business Partnerships at Amazon. She develops and manages partnerships that help drive success for early-stage entrepreneurs and small businesses through delivering programs and investments that support their continued growth. Abby appeared on Reinventing Nerds Episode 6 and talked about Women Vets in Tech when she was working at Intel. Abby is a retired U.S. Navy Chief and combat veteran, serving more than 20 years in the military. In the current episode, Abby discusses how to navigate a career in a big tech company.
Highlights:
Q: Tell us about the variety of interesting jobs you have had at Amazon.
She has remained focused on small businesses and entrepreneurs in various roles and in various organizations within Amazon. She was first hired to work on the Global Military Affairs team and figure out where Amazon can help military small business owners if they do want to sell in their store and look at entrepreneurship as a form of employment. She gave them educational opportunities and worked closely with the Military Empowerment team. She moved on to the Finance organization to manage strategic partnerships with a diversity of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Now she works in the broader consumer organization, where she has worked in a couple of different roles.
Q: How do you navigate a career in a big company?
Abby talks about the importance of networking and creating partnerships across the organization. Because Amazon is a fairly flat company, it is important to identify people across different teams to drive a goal forward. She says she is a huge believer of going into the office.
Q: Why is going into the office important?
Abby discusses the importance of being in the office to meet people and build relationships and how simply being there in person facilitates networking. Abby also gives other networking suggestions, such as getting involved in different initiatives and finding common interests and being proactive about meeting people in different roles.
Q: How do you maintain your flexibility to work in a fast-moving, ever-changing organization?
Abby likes the unpredictability and being able to innovate and create in her roles. That is what keeps her there. She describes how she has become much more marketable having worked in different roles. She has gained a variety of skill sets.
Q: Research repeatedly shows that people leave jobs because of their manager. How do you find the good ones to work with? What do you look for?
Abby suggests that people learn more from their terrible managers than from their good managers. She also suggests that direct, honest feedback to one’s manager is important and having a manager who gives you opportunity for growth is critical.
Listen to the episode to hear more about Abby’s tips on knowing the culture, being nimble and flexible, being able to compromise, and challenges that women face in big tech.
Words of Wisdom:
I’m a huge believer of being inside the office.
You always have to “make the ask” to schedule time with people and get to know them.
You can almost always come to a compromise, but you have to be open to feedback.
You want a manager who is a gardener, not a gatekeeper.
Contact Abby Malchow:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbymalchow/

In this episode, Joanie interviews Franklin Taggart about his recent book about AI called, Straight from the Bot’s Mouth: A Conversation With ChatGPT About Artificial Intelligence. Franklin created the book using ChatGPT and had the whole project done in less than a week. In this interview, Franklin describes his experience as well as AI’s impact on society, jobs—especially jobs in the creative sector—and more. Franklin is a coach who works with creative people at every level of their business and sometimes life.
Highlights:
Q: What was the experience like of creating a book with AI?
Franklin said it was a curiosity and an experiment for him, and he has been a fan of AI for years. He didn’t set out to write the book. He just wanted ChatGPT to answer his questions. This latest wave of artificial intelligence has really captured my attention and my imagination.
He keeps a notebook of questions he has about AI. He had also thought about writing a book about it for a while but didn’t have a year’s worth of time to dedicate to the project. In comes AI…
Q: What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of AI for people in the creative space?
Franklin said that ChatGPT’s responses to his questions about its impact tended to be quite balanced. Franklin does have concerns, though, especially for creatives. He gives a detailed account of how musicians were impacted by technology over the last several decades as an example of what the AI landscape might look for other creative people. It is a gripping story that is worth the listen!
Q: What do you use AI for?
Franklin has used AI to develop sales pages and said he can accomplish this normal hours’ long process in minutes. This raises the question about how to make money for developing sales pitches for people. The hourly rate may no longer be applicable. What will the future be? Franklin uses his experience and imagination to suggest new ways creative people (and everyone!) will need to work differently as AI becomes more prevalent.
Franklin also talks about how AI will affect the workforce, how to utilize AI to increase your productivity, and much more.
Words of Wisdom:
This latest wave of artificial intelligence has really captured my attention and my imagination.
AI can mirror your creativity.
Ultimately, my business model is already changing to adapt to having AI resources at my fingertips–because it has to.
The key is to figure out how to shift your business model so that it can be more fluid and flexible and responsive to the marketplace as AI technology is introduced.
Franklin Taggart’s book, Straight from the Bot’s Mouth: A Conversation With ChatGPT About Artificial Intelligence, available on Amazon.
Shout Out:
Matt Wolfe curates AI tools and shares them on https://www.futuretools.io/.
Contact Franklin Taggart:
Website: https://www.franklintaggart.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franklin-taggart-coaching/
Podcast: Your Own Best Company

Kamales Lardi is a digital tech expert, business advisor, speaker, teaching fellow, and an author. She  recently published a book called The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation. Kamales is globally recognized as an influencer and Thought Leader in Digital Transformation. She has been advising multinational companies across various industries in Europe, Asia and Africa for over a decade. In this episode, Kamales talks about what an effective digital business transformation looks like, how technology affects humanity, how to use tech for good, and how a diverse ecosystem of players increases business success.
Highlights:
Q: What is your background and how do you use your knowledge of both technology and business?
Kamales is from Malaysia originally. She did her MBA in the United Kingdom, and she now lives in Switzerland. She started out in tech working for Anderson Consulting (a.k.a. Accenture) performing technology implementations for large corporations and found she needed to have a deeper understanding of how businesses work and that’s when she got her MBA. Since then, she has been helping companies use the application of technology to increase business value.
Q: What is your book The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation about?
The transformation part is taking the business on a journey to be successful in the digital economy. That involves taking the people in the organization on the journey. It goes beyond change management and cultural change to creating an ecosystem of players that help the organization become successful in the future. The players are located both inside and outside the organization and include business owners, management teams, employees, customers, partners, collaborators, educational institutions and so on. Kamalesh describes the ecosystem model and how the different players contribute.
Q: How are generational shifts affecting tech?
Kamales describes how bridging generational divides is a part of digital transformation efforts. She discusses how different generations of people have different values and demand different things from companies, such as stability and purpose, and what that means for companies.
Kamales also talks about diversity as part of an effective digital transformation strategy and many other things, including the importance of artificial intelligence (AI), and how technology is affecting humanity. Listen to the episode to hear the full interview.
Words of Wisdom:
The new generation of people knows there is an alternative to the 9-5 job.
Technology has not only triggered a change in behavior, but also it has triggered a change in mindset.
I am a technology optimist. I believe in the transformative capabilities in tech, the good in tech.
There is a darker side to technology if we don’t apply it well. A diverse ecosystem provides checks and balances.
There are hype cycles of technology, but there are no “silver bullets.”
Technology can allow us as humans to focus on deeper interactions.
Contact Kamales Lardi:
Book: The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation (Wiley) is currently available on Amazon
and wherever books are sold.
Website: www.kamaleslardi.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kamaleslardi
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kamaleslardi
 

Sarah Tenisi is the CEO of TenisiTech, an IT Service provider firm. They to help companies build the IT foundation to support their business goals and manage the IT as the business evolves to ensure that the IT continues to be a tool not a hindrance. Sarah also hosts a podcast for people interested in technology and leadership called Tech Me Seriously. She is used to interviewing people but has agreed for today to be the guest and be interviewed.
Highlights:
Q: How did you become interested in IT?
Sarah describes how she was actually discouraged from studying computer science and engineering in college, and how she held true to herself and made her way in.
Q: What is your work experience?
Sarah describes how she started out as an administrative assistant at Hewlett Packard and Adobe, but her managers knew she had studied computer science and supported her growth to move into an IT role.
Q: How did you transition to starting your own IT company?
Sarah talks about how she developed skills in the area of organizational growth in one of her IT jobs and how that gave her the confidence to start Tenisi Tech. She talks about what she learned about IT from the business perspective and how to produce seamless IT transitions for her clients.
Listen to the episode to hear Sarah describe how she supports her team so they can have lives in addition to work, how she overcame a tendency toward perfectionism, listen to her team, and support their growth. She also discusses her experience as a woman in tech and how to get more women in technology.
Words of Wisdom:
IT is about being resourceful.
Perfectionism will ruin your team.
We all have an interesting story.
Leadership teams don’t want to talk about technology; they want to talk about productivity, service, security, and scalability.
Contact Sarah Tenisi:
Tech Me Seriously podcast
Sarah Tenisi on LinkedIn
Tenisi Tech company website

Pat Cullen is the VP of Engineering at Carrot Fertility, the leading global fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits provider for employers and health plans. Pat oversees and directs Carrot’s information security, data, and engineering teams. He has more than a decade of experience as a technologist & thought-leader who builds effective teams by driving engineering best practices, empowering developer productivity, and promoting deliverable alignment. Pat discusses leading through growth, how his business background helped him, and his specific approaches to leading tech teams.
Highlights:
Q: Tell us about your background and how getting an MBA helped you in the field of software development.
Pat says he had an MBA planned from the start, from when he was a junior in high school. He describes how participating in team sports and activities helped him see how important it was to learn to learn more about leading teams. Having a business background helped him as a software developer know more about the big picture and as a manager better understand where other functional teams were coming from.
Q: What leadership challenges have you faced as Carrot grew from a startup to a midsize company?
Pat explains how having managed growing departments at larger companies gave him experience with growth. He also describes how he had to learn how to let go of control and how to help others become more comfortable with change and uncertainty. Pat brings in specific tech and business examples to illustrate his points.
Q: What is good about slime mold?
Pat describes how focusing on outcomes as opposed to outputs can lead to more innovative solutions and how slime mold does that organically. It’s a great story of letting your team overcome barriers, make mistakes, and generate powerful solutions.
Listen to the episode to also hear Pat talk about his experience in larger companies, dealing with layoffs, building feedback loops, and more.
Words of Wisdom:
Come to every situation prepared with two to three possible outcomes.
Stop the meeting five minutes early and rate the meeting around the room.
Give little “f” feedback not big “F” feedback.
Contact Pat Cullen:
Happy to chat with whoever whenever, here’s my Calendly: https://calendly.com/pat-carrot/coffee-chat
The simplest way to connect with me is LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%A5%95-pat-cullen-b3295b29

Joanie has a conversation with an IT-manager-turned-coach, Kristeen Barth. Kristeen works with people and teams to challenge their current thinking, and she is committed to their growth experience. Kristeen also has a nerdy background. She has worked in IT project and product management as well as cultural integration. Her current work focuses on team culture and individual growth. Kristeen Barth believes that a healthy relationship with your work is key to a healthy life. That’s what we talk about in this episode.
Highlights:
Q: How did you become interested in technology management and what roles did you have in IT?
Kristeen holds a BS in Technology Management and MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She worked in the telecom and toy industries as a business analyst, then moved into IT program management in the finance industry. It was in this role that she discovered the field of learning and development.
Q: What inspired you to transition from IT to learning & development?
Kristeen said that, working in IT, she had focused on improving systems and using Agile methodologies to improve productivity, but she found it even more rewarding to be able to focus on the people. She was interested in how people work together, why they work the way they work, and so on.
Q: How do you define a person’s relationship with work? What kinds of unhealthy work relationships have you seen, particularly in the tech fields and what does a healthy relationship with work look like?
Kristeen describes three components of a relationship with work: meaning, growth, and shared goals. The extent to which these factors are positive and balanced indicates the health of the relationship. Listen to the podcast to learn more about these factors, how they appear in tech jobs, and tips to develop healthier relationships with work.
Words of Wisdom:
If you are depleted, you won’t be fresh and ready for an urgent situation, like an outage.
Customer service can be healthy or unhealthy, depending on what is driving it.
Fear of making a mistake can lead to an unhealthy relationship with work.
A healthy work relationship is when you are standing up tall and strong and are ready to take on a challenge.
Contact Kristeen Barth for a free 30-minute coaching session:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristeenbarth/
Saboteur Assessment & Coaching Offer: https://www.kristeenbarth.com/saboteur-assessment

Highlights:
In this unique episode, Joanie presents a short overview of her new book, Consulting to Technical Leaders, Teams, and Organizations: Building Leadership in STEM Environments and responds to audience questions. She differentiates technical leaders and industries from nontechnical leaders and industries and answers questions on a variety of topics ranging from how did she come to write the book to is it nature or nurture that determines the personalities of technical leaders.
Use discount code FLYER25 for purchasing the book at 25% off the list price until March 31, 2022 at the American Psychological Association bookstore. The book is also available on amazon.com.
Shout Out:
Joanie talks about how to increase diversity in STEM and gives an opportunity to donate to the All Girls STEM Society. Joanie is donating all proceeds from her books sold at her book launch event on March 31, 2022, to the San Diego Chapter of the All Girls STEM Society. You don’t have to attend to donate.

* Go to the Book Party Event website at https://bit.ly/Connellbook
* Click on Tickets and look for the Donation option.

If you want to attend, get a ticket for the event.
Contact Joanie:
Visit https://flexibleworksolutions.com/ for more info on the book, Joanie, and consulting/coaching programs.
 

Keith Mangold is a Senior Manager of IT Applications at Make-A-Wish Foundation. His passion is finding the right technology for organizations and helping improve their processes through innovative and new ideas. He loves playing with new tech, but his specialty is making the tech work for the organization’s needs. In this episode, Keith talks about his IT management journey, how he landed his dream job at Make-A-Wish Foundation (and why), and how he is able to be both an IT manager and a Jazzercise fitness instructor.
Highlights:
Q: Tell us about your passion for technology and when you first knew you wanted to go into IT.
Keith tells how he has had a lifelong passion for playing with the latest technology and he tells what his latest gadget is. Hint: it’s bigger than a bread box.
What do you do at Make-A-Wish Foundation and why is it your dream job?
Keith describes how he gets to use the latest tech but, more importantly, at the end of the day, he gets to help make the world a better place. The mission of Make-A-Wish is what enabled them to retain his talent.
Q: Can you tell us about the mission of Make-A-Wish Foundation?
Make-A-Wish’s mission is to create life changing wishes for children with critical illness. Keith describes how everything he does at Make-A-Wish is to help grant as many wishes as possible in as short a time as possible to spread that joy to every single eligible child. Their product, if you will, is granting wishes.
Q: You say that your least favorite words are “That’s the way we’ve always done it!” and you aspire to look at things from different viewpoints.  How do you bring others on board with you when you do this?
To get people to have open eyes, Keith says he has to have equally, if not more, open eyes. He says he wants to understand why people have always done it that way. That allows him to determine if there really is a need to change. Often there is a really good reason why people are doing things a certain way. Having an open mind himself allows him to ask the questions to get others to think about the way they are doing it.
Listen to the episode to learn Keith’s approach to managing teams by taking the work aspect out of it, how he builds connection in the team, how he shows up both as a senior tech manager and a Jazzercise instructor, and what his tips are for nerds to stay fit.
Words of Wisdom:
I have found I can’t change other people.
As a manager, I have grown more heavily by asking questions than by providing direction.
Learn and understand how someone likes to communicate.
To stay fit, don’t stop moving.
Shout Outs:
Help make the world a better place by making a donation to Make-A-Wish Foundation (Wish.org).
Stay fit while having fun. Join a Jazzercise class.
Contact Keith Mangold:
Email Keith: kman@blargo.net

Joanie hosts a special holiday episode with Fabrice Paracuellos. Fabrice is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of California.  He helps individuals, couples, teams, and organizations with emotions, relationships, self-worth, and wellness. In addition, Fabrice has a technical background with multiple degrees in engineering and business and he’s worked for startups and large tech companies. Today, Fabrice talks about how technical leaders can be supportive to others both at work and at home to people who are stressed out or feeling bad during the holiday season.
Highlights:
Q: Tell us about your background, including your international studies and your work, and how you came to become a therapist and specialize in wellness and relationships.
Fabrice received therapy when he was a teen and it was a wonderful experience for him.  He studied math and physics in high school and engineering in college.  He worked in IT for several years. Having a daughter opened his eyes to doing something that was more meaningful to him, and he transitioned to international relations and business.  Later, when he was ready, he trained to become a therapist.
Q: Technical leaders often say that they want to be a good partner or a good manager or a good friend, but they don’t know what to say to someone when that person says they are stressed out about family dynamics during the holidays. Can you help explain what kinds of stressors and emotions that holidays can bring up for people?
Fabrice explains that what’s called for in this situation may not play to the strength of a person who is really good at solving problems, as technical leaders often are. Simply listening and understanding the emotions that the person is experiencing may be all that is needed. Empathizing by acknowledging their stress may also help. He advises a straightforward statement, such as “That sounds very stressful.”
Fabrice has noticed that lots of tech folks, for various reasons, may not have developed a comfort level with emotions. He says that the trick can be to recognize the emotion the person you’re dealing with is experiencing and validating it. He recommends practicing with a good friend.
He also has found that technical leaders are often used to working in an autonomous fashion.  Asking for help may not come naturally. A good friend can be a good place to start.
Listen to the episode to hear more from Frabrice about how to be a better listener, how to offer support at the workplace without getting too personal or intrusive, and how to manage your own emotions and stress during the holidays so you don’t become a tyrant at work.
Word of Wisdom:
In lots of situations, what’s called for is not what we’re good at.
Emotions are really logical when you are given the right theory and tools.
Noticing emotions is a form of data collection.
Emotions usually have valuable information in them that eventually need attending.
Contact Fabrice Paracuellos:
therapyforhumans.com

Katheryn Baker is Vice President at Artic Consulting, a consulting firm that provides technology solutions for business and data management.  Katheryn is passionate about both technology and business and is skilled in Enterprise Software, Business Strategy, Productivity, Data, and Program Management.  She’s joining us today from Anaheim, CA.
Highlights:
Q: You have a background in both business and technology, and you have been a consultant for essentially your entire career.  Tell us your story of how you got to where you are now.
Katheryn has a degree in Art History but quickly found she was interested in program management.  She became good friends with the dev teams and moved into leading them.  She had to learn as she went.  She has grown dev consulting teams for many years, including at Artic.
Q: Did you have to learn how to program to lead dev teams?
Katheryn learned what she called “enough to be dangerous,” both in programming and database management.  She said her sweet spot was understanding how things work together and working with the technical and leadership teams and translating between them.
Q: You work with a wide range of clients, from small companies to giants across different industries.  Is it pretty much the same to communicate with them or do you have to use different methods?
She said Agility has been important in all industries, but it’s critical to her as a leader and a consultant to a wide range of clients.
There are some similarities, but jargon changes across organizations and industries.  Whether people are remote or on site is another consideration.  It is extremely helpful for her team to be able to go on site and actually see what is going on.  She has to use different forms of communication to work with different clients—email, chat, in-person, and so on.
Listen to the podcast to hear Katheryn’s tips on being flexible with different clients and as a leader working with different team members, how she has handled the talent shortage, and tips on working remotely and what challenges they have overcome at Artic.
Words of Wisdom:
There isn’t a one size fits all to a specific issue or goal.
If you understand what motivates people, you can help them have a sense of pride in their work.
As a manager, it’s important to recognize that people have different scenarios in their lives at different times.
It’s a great time for women in the tech industry.
Contact Katheryn Baker:
Website: https://www.articconsulting.com/
Email: katheryn.baker@articconsulting.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katheryn-baker-34bb485/

Joanie has a conversation with Steve Hoffman, CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators. Steve has trained hundreds of startup founders and corporate executives in the art of innovation and provided consulting to many of the world’s largest corporations, including Qualcomm, Huawei, Bosch, Intel, Disney, Warner Brothers, NBC, Gulf Oil, Siemens, and Viacom. Steve is also a venture investor, serial entrepreneur, and author of several award-winning books, including “Surviving a Startup” published by HarperCollins. Steve has also worked in the television and gaming industries and has some great tips and stories to share.
Highlights:
Q: Steve, you’re known as Captain Hoff in the gaming world. Tell us about your work in the television and gaming industries, as well as what games you play.
Steve is known in Silicon Valley as Captain Hoff because he’s a game player and designer.  He started out playing Dungeons and Dragons, RuneQuest, and almost any board game you can think of, as well as video games of all kinds.  He worked for Sega on Sonic the Hedgehog, and eventually started a company and created the award-winning strategy game, Gazillionaire, and many other games that are still available on Steam.
Q: What skills did you have learned along the way to expand your ability from developing to lead teams and companies?  How did you learn to manage people?
Steve learned the hard way.  He was an introvert and extremely shy.  Even though Steve comes across as an extrovert now, he said it was all trained.  He said he started out being really bad at presenting, interviewing, making sales pitches, and so on, but just did it.  He said the way he learned was to notice every time what worked and what didn’t and never do the same thing twice.
He learned how to go from telling people what to do to asking them what they think they should do, what problems they are facing, and what they need.
Listen to the podcast to hear how Steve came to start Founders Space, what some of the most common challenges he see tech startup founders running into, and what kinds of barriers technical founders create for themselves.
Shout Out:
Steve’s book called Surviving a Startup: Practical Strategies for Starting a Business, Overcoming Obstacles, and Coming Out on Top.
Words of Wisdom:
The only way to meet a challenge is head on.
Don’t sell people on what you’re doing; figure out what they want.
You cannot motivate people by standing over their shoulders and nitpicking them.
Get people on board by asking them what they should be doing.
Instead of convincing yourself that you’re the best, ask yourself “how can I be better?”
Contact Steve Hoffman (Captain Hoff):
Founders Space: https://FoundersSpace.com
Books: https://FoundersSpace.com/books
Podcast: https://www.CaptainHoff.com/
Facebook: https://Facebook.com/groups/FoundersSpace
LinkedIn: https://LinkedIn.com/in/FoundersSpace/
Instagram: https://Instagram.com/FoundersSpace/
Twitter: https://Twitter.com/FoundersSpace/

Franklin Taggart is the host of the podcast called Your Own Best Company.  He coaches and leads a community of people who enjoy working alone.  A lot of nerds work alone and it seemed like a good idea to learn more about what kind of support is out there for them.  This is also a special episode because it is the 50th episode and Franklin was my first guest on the podcast.  He gave me the idea to host a podcast and supported me through figuring out how to create one and getting it started.
Highlights:
Q: What inspired you to support people who work alone?
Most of the people Franklin has worked with have tended to be people who were working alone.  He noticed some patterns and some specific challenges for this population.  He also brings his enthusiasm for working alone and connecting with others in the same space.
Q: Are people who work alone typically introverts or does personality matter?
Franklin says he often works with introverts who enjoy a slow pace and quiet place.
Q: Who are your typical clients?  Are they remote workers in companies who work on their own or solopreneurs or something else?
Franklin started off mostly working with artists, authors, and musicians, but now works with a lot of businesspeople too.  The majority of clients are in professional services, like coaching and consulting, some who are freelancers, and others have roles such as technical writers.
Q: What kinds of challenges do they run into?  How do you help them?
Franklin discusses several challenges.  One of the biggest challenges is that working alone means having to wear a lot of hats.  A resulting challenge is being unwilling to delegate and let go of control.
In this episode, we also talk about social isolation, anxiety, and depression, why people who like to work alone would want to have a community, what the benefits are of working alone, ow can extroverts succeed at working alone, and what resources Franklin recommends for people who work alone.
Shout Out:
The book The Company of One by Paul Jarvis is a great resource.
Words of Wisdom:
Introverted doesn’t mean shy.
People who prefer working alone still need human contact.
Contact Franklin Taggart:
Website: https://www.franklintaggart.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franklin-taggart-coaching/
Podcast: Your Own Best Company

Joanie has a conversation with Angelo Ponzi, a marketing architect at The Ponzi Group. Angelo has more than 25 years of marketing experience in and outside of companies in industries ranging from semiconductors to financial to restaurants to beverage to ice cream. As a fractional Chief Marketing Officer (and marketing nerd!) he helps define market opportunities, develop competitive profiles, and marketing strategies.  Angelo talks to us about how technical leaders can strategize about marketing and what pitfalls to avoid.
Highlights:
Q: What drew you to the field of marketing?
Angelo says that it is about being able to solve problems for clients.  He also talks about feedback he received early in his career to identify where his aptitudes lay.
Q: What’s the difference between what you do and what the typical digital marketing firms do?
Angelo describes how digital marketing firms are often his clients.  They hire him to conduct market research for them so they know who to target to get clicks.
Q: What are some common marketing pitfalls technical leaders tend to run into?  Are they different from the pitfalls other types of leaders face?
Angelo has noticed that there seems to be more of a focus on the features of the product than the functional value of it.
Q: How can technical people think more strategically about marketing?  When should they start doing this?
Angelo talks about the importance of telling your product’s story, among other things.
Q: How can technical people better communicate with and appreciate marketing help?  How would your ideal technical leader interact with you?
Angelo suggests stepping back to understand the user and the customer.  They may not be the same people. Listen to the show to hear more about what technical leaders can do to improve their marketing strategies.
Shout Out to Angelo’s podcast Business Growth Café.
Words of Wisdom:
It’s the failures that help you learn what you’re good at.
At the end of the day, you will fall in love with your product but you have to make sure there is a market for it.
Know your customer and build relationships with them.
Contact Angelo Ponzi:
949-357-9547
angelo@theponzigroup.com
www.theponzigroup.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angeloponzi/

Joanie has a deeply personal conversation with Michael Puldy, CEO and Founder of Puldy Resiliency Partners, LLC.  Michael has over three decades of technology, information risk management, and operations experience in the aerospace, banking and computer technology sectors, including at IBM. He is passionately focused on ways companies can improve their offensive and defensive posture towards internal and external threats.  But, in this episode, Michael shares a personal story about how an unexpected suicide impacted his life, both personally and professionally.
Highlights:
Michael answered these questions and more.

* Your career was pretty accelerated for the first 25 years. You worked in governments, aerospace, banking, a security services start up and at IBM….and then you personally came to a full stop.   You lost your first wife to suicide.  Walk us through your professional mindset and focus around that time (2009).
* Professionally, you have built a career around disaster recovery, continuity and incident planning, and crisis management, talk about how your professional vocation helped you through this experience…or did it?
* Let’s fast forward 12 years later, looking back how did you navigate your way through your crisis both personal and professionally, what worked and how did you reinvent or rebuild yourself?

Listen to the episode to hear his story, how he took care of himself, how others supported him, and what he learned.
Shout Out:
Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, where Michael volunteers.
Contact Michael Puldy:
Email: michael@puldypartners.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpuldy/
 

Vladimir Baranov is the founding CTO of AdvisorEngine, a fintech company that was recently acquired by Franklin Templeton. Vladimir has been building successful technology solutions primarily in the fintech industry for 15 years, and he shares his experience on managing the business/tech divide.
Highlights:
Q: What are some of the common challenges that come up between CEOs and CTOs?
In summary, Vladimir says it’s about the relationship between two individuals.  Typically, when the relationship starts, there may be friction because they’ve never had a relationship before.  They may also have different myths and legends about what the other thinks.  Understanding each other’s concerns is important but so is communicating them. They may have different ideas of scope and product success too.  Vladimir gives several specific examples of challenges and myths and legends.
Q: What have you had to learn or change to improve your relationships with CEOs?
I am a constant reader and a complete believer in self-improvement. Understanding where the other person is coming from and understanding their biases and context is probably the most important thing you have to learn. Our natural tendency is to start analyzing anything that is said to us from our own context and sometimes that is faulty if we are not taking into consideration the context of the person who is telling us.  Vladimir talks about how he communicates his knowledge vertical to others.
Q: How did getting an MBA help you better work with CEOs?
It has helped me more on the engineering side than the business side.  Eighty percent of the benefit came from when I had to explain the business rationale to my reports and my partners on the technology side who did not have the business background.
Vladimir also talks about what CEOs have done to build a solid relationship with him as a CTO and he gives advice to CTOs on how to improve their relationships with their CEOs.  Listen to the episode to hear more.
Words of Wisdom for Building Relationships:
Even when you have your own self-awareness, it is important to realize another person may not.
Build trust by acknowledging we may have conflict, but it doesn’t come from trying to hurt each other.
Be transparent and be open and tell each other you want to build a collaborative relationship.
Invest in training soft skills.
Contact Vladimir Baranov:
Email: vladimir.baranov@gmail.com
Website: ceo-and-cto.com

Joanie has a conversation with Manish Bhardia.  Manish is a principal at Think AI, a software development and consulting firm, author of the book Teamwork and Collaboration: How to Select and Use Right Productivity Environment for You and Your Team, and co-host of True Stories in Tech podcast. Manish specializes in AI and cloud consulting and has more than 17 years of experience leading complex technical projects.
Highlights:
Q: How did you move from being an engineer to a project manager?
Manish was told he was good at communicating with the clients and business users and that got him thinking about becoming a business analyst or project manager.  Also learning about the bad things that project managers do, such as working their teams too hard, made him want to do better with his team.
Q: How did you come to start your company, Think AI?
Because he worked well with clients, Manish decided he wanted to work with multiple clients as a cloud consultant and business owner.  He tells us how he learned how to build his sales skills too.
Q: How did you come to write your book, Teamwork and Collaboration?
A lot of Manish’s work at Think AI has been focused on teamwork.  They conducted a user-group survey to find out what their challenges were, and he wrote the book on the top ten items that centered on teamwork and collaboration.
Q: What are some of the unhealthy habits that remote workers have adopted and how can they get back to or start new healthier ones?
Manish said there are easy answers, but they are hard to implement.  He gives many tips both in his book and on the episode.  He also talks about how to add fun to a remote work environment, how to add clarity as a leader.  He also talks about how people adapting to interacting with AI.
Words of Wisdom, especially for Remote Work:
Keep your body active.
Keep calendar slots open for fun.
Create your ideal calendar and try to fit your schedule to that.
Be clear to your team on what to ignore.
Shout Out:
IAMCP, the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners.
Contact Manish Bhardia:
Website: Think AI
Book: Teamwork and Collaboration: How to Select and Use Right Productivity Environment for You and Your Team
Podcast: True Stories in Tech
 
 

Joanie interviews Lydia Chiu, a partner at Jub Jub Interactive.  Jub Jub is a web application development company based in Orange County, CA.  Lydia has over 15 years of programming and web development experience.  She has a deep understanding of content management systems and enterprise application development.  Listen to the episode to hear Lydia’s stories on how she became a web developer, how she developed as a leader and how communication has been core to her success.
Highlights:
Q: How did you develop an interest in web design and become a partner at Jub Jub?
It’s not the typical story and it involves an interesting pivot and an unusual partnership.
Q: What challenges did you run into early on as a team lead and how did you overcome them?
It included a feeling of imposter syndrome, a lot of learning, and good communication skills.
Q: How have you evolved as a leader over the years, for example as a partner at Jub Jub?
Learning how to groom new leaders and employees who could interact effectively with clients.
Q: How do you understand your clients’ businesses and needs and what skills did you have to develop to get better at that?
Lydia’s early work in customer service while in high school was an important experience for her to develop communication skills and comfort in delivering bad news.  Delegating is an ongoing challenge.
Q: There aren’t many women who do what you do.  What has been your experience as a woman in the field of software development?
Lydia has had great female role models but has also encountered some unfortunate situations with clients who respond to her differently than her male counterparts.  Listen to the podcast to hear her stories.
Words of Wisdom:
Mom was always right.
No matter what you’re doing, writing and coding are fundamental skills for success.
Anytime you start a business with partners, there’s a huge amount of trust that you need.
Knowing you’re going to work through conflict is key to a successful partnership.
Contact Lydia Chiu:
Website: jubjub.com
Email: lydia@jubjub.com
Twitter: @lydiaatjubjub

Joanie has a conversation with Michelle Beauchamp about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the tech world.  Michelle is the CEO of The Champ Group, a training and coaching firm that focuses on sales and diversity.  One of the reasons Michelle is so special is that she is a very positive, encouraging person.  She will inspire you in this episode.
Highlights:
Q: How did you come to help organizations work on diversity, equity, and inclusion?
“My passion is to help people learn and grow and succeed.  When I started The Champ Group, I decided to focus on leadership, sales, and communication.  That’s what I have done for 14 years.  I love helping people grow in those three areas.   I help people understand the greatness they already have within themselves.”
“This summer, I had an epiphany.  It happened because of my awareness of so much racial injustice— the cases of Ahmaud Arbery, BreonnaTaylor, and George Floyd—and that’s just to name a few, just for this year.  I thought, ‘I have a passion for this.  Clearly, I have my own experiences being a Black woman,’ and I thought, ‘I need to put my leadership training that I already have and the subject of diversity and inclusion together and make that work.’  I came across a program from another group I’m a member of—a program that I could purchase a license to—and I decided, ‘I’m going for it!’”
“Clearly, this is a subject that is tough.  Everybody has an opinion about it.  Some subjects that I already teach, such as the power of listening, the energy that is required to really listen and not interrupt and jump in there, and the ability to have empathy, are already leadership traits that I train on.  It’s just that now, we can dive into it on the subject of diversity and inclusion, which does require a lot of listening, a lot of empathy, and speaking at the right time.”
Q: A lot of clients are asking about diversity, equity, and inclusion.  But, especially in tech, I hear that they feel like they are doing as much as they can, and they don’t know what else to do.  Or they are concerned about doing the wrong thing and are playing it safe by doing nothing.  What is your response to that?
“The good news is that it is being discussed.  People are curious and they are concerned.  I look at that as a good news thing.  I’ve been doing a lot of research on this and I saw some descriptions that I thought were interesting.  One came from Accenture and it said that companies who take this on need to have bold leadership.  They need to have an empowering environment.  And they need to be willing to take action.  You can’t have these conversations and then nothing happens.  That’s what employees are concerned about.  Not doing anything, that’s what not to do!  Don’t try to sweep it under the rug.”
“I wish that more companies would hire consultants to work with them on this because that’s what companies do; they seek professional guidance when they need help with something.  The same is true with this subject.”
Q: The stats on diversity in STEM suggest that not enough is being done.  What are technical organizations missing?
“I hear ‘We can’t find qualified minority applicants.’  That has to be yesterday, not today and tomorrow.  It does take extra effort.  Someone in the company can have the job responsibilities to reach out to other communities.  For example, there are the HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities), as well as other ethnic universities.  There are also the chambers and women’s organizations.  The existing workforce is diverse.”
“One thing I know is the people in the tech companies are smart.  Companies that have more diversity enjoy more profits.  It’s worth the effort to go out and find the people.  We need more people to be mentors and sponsors.  That’s the inclusion part of it.”
Q: How do we start the conversations and take action?  Listen to the episode to hear Michelle’s response.

Mike Kimball is an attorney who works on venture capital deals in the tech space.  He knows what it takes to create and execute structures and agreements to foster fast growth.  He also knows where entrepreneurial leaders fail.  Mike has a wealth of experience from working on a nuclear submarine to working in big tech in Silicon Valley and negotiating business deals for companies of all sizes.  For his stories and insights from his eclectic background, listen to the episode.
Highlights:
Q: Tell us about your eclectic background.
“As a kid, I always had a fascination with airplanes.  I also had a fascination with submarines.  When I was in college, I spent two summers working in the space program.  I graduated with a bachelor’s in chemistry.  I ended up in Bakersfield, was bored, and went to see the Navy recruiter.  When he heard I had a technical background, he put me in the nuclear submarine program.”
“When I got out, I worked in energy, then went back to school and got a law degree.  I had met a friend (our families were water skiing buddies) and the two of us went shopping for a house boating trip.  We were walking out of the store with our grocery carts full of groceries and he told me to call his friend about a job.  I did and was hired and helped grow the company.  I was then introduced to the general counsel at Yahoo and he hired me in an executive position, where I stayed for six years until I hung out my own shingle.  My clients are typically either small companies or small venture capital firms.”
Q: What observations did you have working at a large company?
“As a company grows, unless they have a very enlightened HR department, it naturally starts making decisions more by committee than by leaders and that slows things down.”
Q: What do you look for in startups?
“If you had to pick one thing to bet on it’s the founder.  Have they had a successful exit?  Does their vision hang together?  Is it coherent with the business model?  Is the founder coachable?  And coachable really comes down to good listening skills.”
To hear more about why startups fail and the importance of sales early on, listen to the episode.
Words of Wisdom:
Leaders need good listening skills.
We always do it better the second time than the first time.
There’s a true art to getting doors open and deals made.
The power of “no” when you don’t want to do something is very powerful.
I would like to see more coaching of founders.
Contact:
Website: www.kimballesq.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljkimball/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Law-Office-of-Michael-Kimball-108717547452026/?modal=admin_todo_tour