Geeks Who Lead Podcast
Hear the inside stories of the "geeks who lead at scale" - Directors, VPs and CTOs running software engineering orgs at larger companies with 100+ engineers, and interviews with domain experts who can help those leaders to manage their engineering orgs more effectively.
I'm your host - Peter Bell, I've been helping senior engineering leaders to connect with and learn from their peers since 2010!
This podcast is designed for engineering leaders who want to learn the latest good practices from their peers who are way too busy operating to write an article or publish a book!
Running a software engineering org at scale is hard! You need to manage stakeholder expectations, attract and retain top talent, align and structure your org effectively and keep up with the latest processes and tooling. And that's before we even try to make sense of the potential impact of LLMs and GenAI on managing technical teams.
Our podcast and weekly newsletter provide you with access to hard-won wisdom from top engineering leaders and relevant domain experts. Learn more at https://geekswholead.com/
Geeks Who Lead Podcast
Improving Communication between CEOs and CTOs with David Subar
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In any industry, communication is a key factor in a team’s success. For CTOs navigating complex problems, effective communication between all stakeholders is paramount. David Subar is both a Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Interna Consulting. He joined Peter to discuss common patterns that result in communication breakdowns.
David shares some of the clashes that can happen when a CEO’s vision is not in alignment with the metrics or working style of the team. He also discusses why having a hybrid position for a CTO and Product Officer eases workflow. Listen for his advice on diffusing these communication issues.
- (01:25) - David's first jobs out of college
- (03:27) - Transitioning to management
- (07:14) - Interna Consulting
- (09:43) - Common CEO failure patterns
- (12:13) - Relative strengths of C-level executives
- (16:26) - Building credibility and communication paths
- (18:41) - Helping the CEO focus on what matters
- (25:53) - Patterns in failing CTOs
- (28:35) - First time at bat
- (31:45) - Off-handed comments
Special thanks to our global partner – Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS offers a broad set of global cloud-based products to equip technology leaders to build better and more powerful solutions, reach out to aws-cto-program@amazon.com if you’re interested to learn more about their offerings.
CTO Connection is where you can learn from the experiences of successful engineering leaders at fast-growth tech startups. Whether you want to learn more about hiring, motivating or managing an engineering team, if you're technical and manage engineers, the CTO Connection podcast is a great resource for learning from your peers!
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