PODCAST · business
Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard
by Lena Reinhard
What does it take to be a leader in tech? The 'born genius', bold visionary? Can you lead if that's not you?I'm Lena Reinhard, long-term technology leader, and I believe that leadership can be learned. Many of us face similar challenges in this work, but we don't talk about them enough in the open: The difficult choices, hidden doubts, lessons learned the hard way, and growing the skills not all of us were born with.My guests and I are here to change that: You'll get real talk on hard things in technology, finding community, and becoming the engineering leader you can be. Join us!
Episodes
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Conducting as Leadership with Cornelius Meister
In our work as engineering leaders, there aren't a lot of places where the way that we lead becomes super widely visible to a lot of people. Maybe you give a presentation at some point to your entire company or at a conference. A while ago, though, I was able to watch someone lead who made me...
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Difficult Conversations: How to Initiate and Talk About Tough Topics with Nikita Rathi
We've all been there - That moment when you know it's time to have that conversation you've been dreading. The one that makes your stomach clench. The one you would rather run away from. So, how do you handle these conversations? How do you keep it from becoming such a big thing in the first…
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Peer & Leadership Alignment
Small gaps in alignment at the leadership level become canyons by the time they reach your teams. Alignment, as in people really agreeing on what to do, why, and how to get it done. It's also one of those leadership things that sounds so simple and straightforward in theory. But we all know that...
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Disability & Leadership in Tech
When you're ill or disabled and working in the tech field, the long hours can be not just counterproductive, but discriminatory. And it is also because of these stated ideas of productivity and leadership that disabled leaders often remain invisible, but they do exist, and we are here to talk to...
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Being Stylish and Belonging in Tech: From Trying to Fit in To Expressing Yourself In a culture of Hoodies And Jeans
“What does a leader look like?”, is a question we come back to here often, and this time, we take it literally: I meet with five exceptional senior leaders to talk about what it’s like being interested in style and fashion in tech, of all places, where it’s long been seen as most fashionable not…
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Welcome Back! A Note from Lena
The Leadership Confidential podcast is back from a short hiatus. New episodes coming soon!
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Real Talk on Allyship in Engineering: Using Your Position to Support Others
"I don't think about being an ally as a badge or a thing... I start from the point of view of wanting to be a better person and be good to the people around me." While many discussions about allyship in tech focus on company-wide initiatives, what concrete steps can individual contributors and...
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Supporting Neurodivergent Employees: A Guide for Engineering Leaders
“People don’t always take it well, unfortunately. But managers, a lot of the time, don’t do it out of malice.” Neurodivergent employees face unique challenges in tech—struggling with information overload, unspoken workplace norms, and the pressure to mask their differences. Yet, many…
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When Your Boss Won't Let Go: Surviving Micromanagement
“The micromanager is rather someone who uses the details for control. You want to assert your own perspective on most things. You take the lead in driving projects, making decisions, taking direction, and not allowing your team any room or space to do that.” While most advice about…
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Debugging Product vs Engineering: Breaking Down Silos and Building Trust
“This collaboration and making it work really well is such a critical factor to delivering great software for your clients.” In theory, product and engineering teams share the same goal - building great software that solves real problems. Yet in practice, these teams often find themselves working...
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Cutting Through the AI Hype: A Practical Guide to Building Your AI Strategy
How do you respond when your boss or board asks “What's our AI strategy?” In this episode, Lena Reinhard talks with Daniel Paulus, VP of Engineering at Checkly, about developing a pragmatic approach to AI initiatives that creates real value while avoiding the pitfalls of hype-driven development....
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From Metrics to Impact – Making Engineering Work Count in Business
“Can you actually explain in clear terms how your company makes money? If you can't, that's a problem.” In today's tech landscape where efficiency and productivity metrics are increasingly scrutinized, it isn't enough to just write good code. You need to demonstrate how your engineering…
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Handling Ambiguous Environments
How do you lead your team through ambiguity? As an engineering leader, one of your key responsibilities is to navigate and guide your team through the uncertainty that often comes with new projects and goals. You are to ensure your team has the information they need to do the work that needs to…
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Surviving the Job Search While Staying True to Your Values
"Interviewing knocks down pretty much everyone's confidence." With all the lost time and huge frustration that comes with interviewing, it's easy to compromise your values in favor of feeling the relief that comes from getting to the end of the interviewing process and finally landing a job. In…
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Imposter Syndrome in Leadership: The Story of A Fraud
“There's way more variability in people than a Python environment.”—Many leaders (myself included) have felt it: “Everyone has it all figured out, but I don’t”, also known as Imposter Syndrome. And you may have been told (unironically) at some point to “be more confident”, “fake it ‘til you make...
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The Engineering Leadership Report 2024: The Data on Shifts in the Tech Industry & What It Means for Leaders LCPS01E03
A special episode of this podcast. Like many of you, during the tech downturn of the last 2 years, I've been trying to understand the real data beyond anecdotes and bold news headlines, on questions like: What does the tech industry look like now? How exactly have organizations and their…
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Being a "non-technical" engineering manager in an industry that treasures technical skills - LCPS01E02
What should engineering leadership roles look like, and how "technical" should managers be? What's been a hotly-debated topic in tech for decades has gotten very real, very often for my guest today—because he’s always been a bit of an outlier: My guest Jay has been an engineering leader for over…
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From Engineer to Team Lead to Teams Lead: What Got You Here Won’t Take You Further - LCPS01E01
How “technical” should an engineering manager be? And what do different paths into engineering leadership look like?—These questions have been the topic of hot debate in tech for a very long time, even more now as the industry is going through big changes with layoffs and strategy shifts. That’s...
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Trailer
Are you tired of outdated leadership myths, of "real leaders" who are "born with it", always confident, and have it all figured out? I am, because I know the reality: I've been an engineering leader and CEO, and now coach and mentor dozens of leaders every week who feel the same. Now I invite you...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
What does it take to be a leader in tech? The 'born genius', bold visionary? Can you lead if that's not you?I'm Lena Reinhard, long-term technology leader, and I believe that leadership can be learned. Many of us face similar challenges in this work, but we don't talk about them enough in the open: The difficult choices, hidden doubts, lessons learned the hard way, and growing the skills not all of us were born with.My guests and I are here to change that: You'll get real talk on hard things in technology, finding community, and becoming the engineering leader you can be. Join us!
HOSTED BY
Lena Reinhard
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard have?
Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard currently has 19 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard about?
What does it take to be a leader in tech? The 'born genius', bold visionary? Can you lead if that's not you?I'm Lena Reinhard, long-term technology leader, and I believe that leadership can be learned. Many of us face similar challenges in this work, but we don't talk about them enough in the open:...
How often does Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard release new episodes?
Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard has 19 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard?
You can listen to Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard?
Leadership Confidential with Lena Reinhard is created and hosted by Lena Reinhard.
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