Podcast: Making businesses more human one video at a time with Brendan Schwartz

Brendan Schwartz

CTO and co-founder of Wistia

Podcast – Episode 38:
Making businesses more human one video at a time 

CTO and co-founder of Wistia shares the startup journey

Many enlightened businesses work hard to make their brands and relationships with their customers stronger and more human, and that’s exactly what Wistia does. For those who think that’s obvious, well, there are many businesses out there that do the exact opposite. Either intentionally or unintentionally.

The CTO and co-founder of this interesting startup joins us to share his leadership learning and the importance of building that human face of the business one video at a time. With the bonus of making the process super easy and effective.

“An obvious thing nowadays, like video is a way to connect with people. It’s a very emotional medium.”

The key takeaways from the conversation with Brendan are:

  • Creating the right funding model for your startup can have a positive impact on the way you run and do business
  • Learning from Brendan’s reflections of leading through tough decisions (tapping into the wisdom of the organization)
  • Leading with remote teams and making sure they become autonomous and effective development machines
    • Especially getting the decision making and set of power closer to the cross functional teams doing the work

TLDR: Straight to the point
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We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: Healthy feedback loops improving cancer intelligence with Denali Lumma

Denali Lumma

VP of engineering at Project Ronin

Podcast – Episode 37:
Healthy feedback loops improving cancer intelligence 

Denali’s story of turning the ship around. The resounding success of Agile

In this episode, we talk to a tech leader who has turned a technical ship around. Her leadership resides in an organization that works hard to improve palliative care.

Denali Lumma, the VP of engineering at Project Ronin, shares her story and her leadership. Particularly on how she, her peers, and team pivoted a troubling technical situation and created a state of technical flow in the organization. The best part is the improvements in care for patients. Feedback loops of care went from a month to days, allowing carers to be agile in improving the conditions of patients and enhancing their quality of life. Maybe even saving lives.

“If I can do it, you can do it. Anyone can do it. It’s just a matter of perseverance. And, and knowing that failure and defeat is part of the human experience. But that it is eventually worth it. I guess. I’m not sure if that’s very inspiring or not, but that’s the truth.”

The key takeaways from the conversation with Denali are:  

  • The concept of technical–debt–event–horizon (the point of no return) 
  • How Agile can absolutely work. It can be a success if you keep going, learn from the mistakes, and don’t see it as some magic formula out of the box. You have to be agile about Agile. Let it guide you, rather than dictate 
  • The huge power of healthy feedback loops–find the important ones and enhance them
  • How systems and industries create incentives that really aren’t helpful, even damaging 

TLDR: Straight to the point
(Quick Links)

We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: Layering technology onto the art of creating homes with Rajiv Peter

Rajiv Peter

Director of Digital Technology at Notting Hill Genesis

Podcast – Episode 36:
Layering technology onto the art of creating homes 

Leading the modernization of the housing association industry

With technology permeating and threading through all industries, it’s surprising when you come across an industry that has further growth in the digital space, giving the tech leaders in that arena the opportunity to spearhead an industry evolution. This is exactly what our guest Rajiv Peter, Director of Digital Technology at Notting Hill Genesis, is doing. Under his leadership and tech team, the company creates opportunities for more growth, efficient operations, and insights from the data they collect.

Like the host, Rajiv has Dyslexia, from which he has adapted and created his own mechanisms and leadership style to thrive.

“My leadership style is pretty relaxed. I’d say, I would leave people to do what they need to do. I don’t interfere too much. I would just go in once in a while and dive in quite deep into some subjects.”

The key takeaways from the conversation with Rajiv are:  

  • Using the gift of Dyslexia to lead in a better way (Visual vision) 
  • The power of trusting your teams 
  • Preparing a business to be able to collect the right data for the next evolution so they can sense and adapt aspects of the business’ direction 

TLDR: Straight to the point
(Quick Links)

We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: Clarity for the opaque world of seaborne energy with Maksym Schipka

Maksym Schipka

CTO at Vortexa

Podcast – Episode 35:
Clarity for the opaque world of seaborne energy 

The success of a reluctant tech leader

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.

“Don’t be afraid to try something out and see how much it interests you. If it does interest you will become good at it because you will put an effort to doing it.“ 

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 is 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.  

TLDR: Straight to the point
(Quick Links)

We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: Creating tech for chip manufacturers atomic metrology with Hamed Sadeghian

Hamed Sadeghian 

President & CTO at Nearfield Instruments

Podcast – Episode 34:
Creating tech for chip manufacturers atomic metrology 

Leading entrepreneurial tech at the cutting edge of the cutting edge

Niches don’t get any tighter than this. Our guest Hamed Sadeghian, President and CTO of Nearfield instruments, shares with us his voyage to the helm of a super high-tech, high science market. From his metrology in the oil and gas industry to the measurement of atoms, he now heads an organization that helps chip manufacturers sharpen their cutting edge.

“Making the technology production worthy for the industrial world rather than the science lab.“ 

Several subjects are covered in the podcast, not to mention Hamed‘s leadership and self–leadership. He has carved out a great path for himself in a market that not many people operate. With his hand still in the research and development, he plays a pivotal role in keeping the company at the forefront of delivering products that enhance Nearfields customer‘s operations. Like Hamed puts it, it‘s a highly competitive market that has a constantly moving target.  

Key takeaways from the podcast are: 

  • Sanitizing your vision and making it your war 
  • What you need to be able to lead effectively in an entrepreneurial company 
  • Finding a pain and ensuring the solution is what the customer wants 
  • The kinds of people and teams you need in an R&D space 
  • Creating visibility for the customer so they know where you are going 

TLDR: Straight to the point
(Quick Links)

We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: The art of digital experience with Marcus Lambert

Marcus Lambert 

CTO at Omobono

Podcast – Episode 33:
The art of digital experience – Making big brands like Google, Shell, BP, Facebook more desirable
 

User-experience is the new brand

In this information-obsessed modern world, marketing takes on many forms. And a word that gets banded around a lot (and quite rightly) is brand. For Omobono, the brand isn’t just logos and fancy billboards; it’s more than that. The CTO from Omobono, Marcus Lambert, joins us to tell us about its importance and how an organization’s brand can be enhanced digitally.

“Be transparent and be honest. Your job as a leader is to get the best out of the individuals and your team as a whole.”

Marcus also talks about his leadership and how he works hard to keep to the foundations of Agile (the values and principles), creating a high trust environment through transparency. Knowing what is happening, what will be happening, and knowing each other thoroughly is a recipe for success. 

Key takeaways from the podcast are:  

  • Organizational trust layered into every nook-and-cranny of the business is the key to lasting transformation. (Omobono’s story around this is a must-hear – truly inspiring!)  
  • Transparency creates clarity. It is a simple, sometimes painful, quite powerful tool that all establishments need to embrace for better leadership throughout the org.  
  • The lessons learned from oscillating between small companies and large corporates and back again.  

TLDR: Straight to the point
(Quick Links)

We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: Leadership with style with Florian Klemt

Florian Klemt

Co-founder and CTO at Fashion Cloud 

Podcast – Episode 32:
Leadership with style 

Stories of a CTO in a B2B fashion startup

In this podcast, we look at an interesting B2B startup called Fashion Cloud. In particular to its CTO, Florian Klemt. The business idea that was born out of a strategic pivot shows great promise. It’s morphing into something bigger and providing more supportive avenues for end clients.


“Be brave and be honest and always ask yourself why are you doing the things you’re doing.”

During the podcast, Florian shares several subjects ranging from the business‘s pivot to solve a pain point in the market and his leadership approach to creating a healthy, happy business. He shares how happy engineers deliver business value.  

Key takeaways from the podcast are: 

  • A human-centric leadership style has a great ROI. One that can’t be pinned down in a spreadsheet or ledger but exists non the less 
  • The pivoting tool in the business toolbox is an important device that should be employed readily to adapt to market needs 
  • Maintenance and looking after legacy systems is highly recommended. It’s not sexy, but tech leaders ought to appreciate the investment that’s gone into these systems and work to keep them maintainable. 

TLDR: Straight to the point
(Quick Links)

We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: Thoughts from a non-linear tech leader with Paul Clarke

Paul Clarke

CTO at Ocado Group

Podcast – Episode 31:
Thoughts from a non-linear tech leader 

Merging fields of technology to harness the power of the blend

In this episode, we have a tech leader who was the CTO of Ocado, a company that is a huge operational and business success in the UK. As part of his leadership and the work he does on various boards for the UK Government, Paul Clarke is a huge advocate for Digital twins.

Digital twins are a powerful tool to model and simulate the real world. It enables us to run simulations repeatedly while changing variables for various scenarios that are of interest. As the evolution of this tool progresses, these twins become even more sophisticated.

On the passing of time in the tech arena: 
“Some things never change. How you go about building great software platforms and the tools may have changed and evolved over the years. But the principles of collaboration, software engineering, testing, and design have stayed remarkably the same…” 

Paul’s aims and other members of the Digital fan club is to integrate them to run even larger and more advanced model runs, to garnish insights from the outcomes. The aim is to make insightful, educated decisions for governmental agencies and businesses, with data to back them. We cover this enlightening subject in the podcast, amongst many other interesting topics. 

Some takeaways from the conversation with Paul:

  • The power and potential of 4 converging technological advances  
    • Artificial Intelligence  
    • Machine Learning  
    • Digital twins  
    • And the Internet of Things (IoT)  
  • How Ocado Ltd is actually a technology company, with food delivery service being just the thin veneer of what it did and spun off.   
  • The huge potential of governments‘ use of their oceans of data and Digital Twins.…not to mention the impact of policy change and infrastructure projects) 

TLDR: Straight to the point
(Quick Links)

We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: Keeping Companies Secure in the Era of COVID with Tom Meehan 

Tom Meehan 

CSO & CISO at CONTROLTEK USA 

Podcast – Episode 28:
Keeping Companies Secure in the Era of COVID

Feeling secure in a modern world

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.

Tom is an incredibly talented tech leader with a vast pool of experience and knowledge. You will hear through the podcast how Tom drives his continuous learning forward in a very active and purposeful way—it’s not only very inspiring, it also helps us see where we may be investing more in procrastination that productivity.

Also, the innovations of the company, CONTROLTEK USA, are presented here. This is a company continuously working to solve new challenges and creating time-and money-saving solutions.

“– it gets me going. And the bigger, the challenge, the more exciting it is.”

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. 

TLDR: Straight to the point
(Quick Links)

We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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Podcast: The Art of People-Centric Leadership with Shane Emmons

Shane Emmons 

CTO at TeamSnap

Podcast – Episode 29:
The Art of People-Centric Leadership 

Building trust and autonomy in teams from the word go

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. Take a look at Shane’s tech leadership page to see the philosophy and personal leadership commitment.

We also get to hear about TeamSnap, an organization leading in the tech arena. The application they’ve developed is used by teams of varying sizes–everything from schools and weekend sports organizations to national teams.

“The more and more of what I think and talk to my teams about today, is seeing everything we’re doing as a business decision. Sometimes that means we need to really dig in and figure out how this thing we are doing, or going to do, is a business decision.”

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. 

TLDR: Straight to the point
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We all live busy lives, and sometimes a long podcast is too much of a time-footprint for our busy schedules. So, to help you get to the bit you’re more interested in, use our table of contents below. Quick links to help you get straight to the point.

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