Tech to Leadership: Why Your Best Engineer Is Not Automatically Your Best Leader w/ Andy Skipper Ep 30

In this episode of Innotainment, Aga Gajownik sits down with Andy Skipper, founder of CTO Craft, to explore one of the most common and least discussed transitions in tech: what happens when your best engineer becomes a leader and nobody prepares them for it.   Andy brings a grounded, practitioner perspective built from his own experience as a first-time CTO and years of coaching senior technology leaders around the world. Together, they unpack why the skills that make someone brilliant at building things are often the very skills that trip them up when they step into leadership, how ego and identity shape the transition, and why leading in isolation is one of the fastest paths to burnout.   Discover: Why the move from individual contributor to CTO is one of the most under-supported transitions in tech The identity and ego shifts that come with seniority, and how to navigate them without burning out Stakeholder management, commercial awareness and translation skills that no one teaches you How to lead highly autonomous, highly intelligent people without micromanaging or losing yourself The difference between leading and managing, and why you can do one without the other Why isolation accelerates burnout and what finding your tribe actually looks like Whether you're a CTO, a founder building a tech team, or a leader who got promoted without a roadmap and is figuring it out as they go, this episode offers honest, experience-led insight into growing as a leader without losing yourself in the process.   This is Season 2 of the Innotainment Podcast, now continuing as Brain Friendly Systems with Aga Gajownik.   Links mentioned in this episode: Andy Skipper - Founder of CTO Craft (LinkedIn) CTO Craft - Community, events and resources for senior technology leaders ⁠Innotainment podcast⁠ - ⁠Q&A / Office Hours Submission Form⁠ : Submit questions for future episodes Follow Innotainment Podcast and Aga Gajownik on Instagram ⁠@innotainment_podcast,⁠  ⁠@myquirkyadhdbrain