Leman Tech Leadership Podcast

▶︎ #187 | The Always-On Leader: You Can't Contract Boundaries You Don't PracticeIn this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska tackles a conversation she's had for years, in corporate hallways, mentoring sessions, and now with leaders across the globe: being always on.The episode opens with a moment from one of Alex's own mentoring sessions: a VP of Engineering spent forty minutes describing the ground rules he'd built to protect his team's focus time, then answered a Slack message at nine at night mid-session. Alex names the gap directly: it's not what you tell your team about boundaries, it's what you do when everybody's watching, because you're the one they learn from.She unpacks three reasons leaders keep overriding their own rules: identity fusion with being reachable, the fear that something breaks if they're not there, and the quiet belief that disconnecting means losing relevance.The episode ends with a practical, one-week challenge: write down your real contract with yourself, name the need underneath it, renegotiate one specific term, and say it out loud to someone who'll hold you to it.Mentioned in the episode:"From Code to People: The CQ Leadership Method That Transforms Technical Experts into Leaders Teams Actually Want to Work For":https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/ ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #186 | Imposter Syndrome, the Funding Gap, and Building the STEMinist Summit w/ AJ Lauer (Founder @Thriving Ibis Leadership Solutions) {Part 2}In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex reunites with Dr. AJ Lauer, founder of Thriving Ibis Leadership Solutions and author of "My Monster Mungo: A Story About Imposter Syndrome," for part two of their conversation. Since they last spoke, AJ broke her ankle, spent two months out of commission, and used the forced pause to realign her business around the work she cares about most: coaching and imposter syndrome.What makes this conversation stand out is the range of perspectives on imposter syndrome the two of them bring together: from women who never felt it at all, to the research showing it often comes down to whether someone has an innate sense of "this is who I am," to AJ’s observation that it frequently is not about lacking answers but about not knowing what questions to ask in the first place.Alex and AJ also tackle a harder, more structural conversation: female founders still receive a small fraction of available funding, and both agree the fix is not only systemic, it is also about community, visibility, and accountability. That conversation is what led the two of them to launch the STEMinist Summit together (October 15-16, 2026): two days of talks, workshops, and curated networking with speakers from companies including Intel, NVIDIA, and NASA, built around real, generation-spanning STEM stories rather than polished LinkedIn versions of them.If you have ever felt like you do not belong in the room, or you are building something and looking for your people, this episode (and the summit it introduces) is for you.STEMinist Summit: https://steministsummit.com/✉︎ FOLLOW AJ ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: AJ Lauer, STEM Leadership AdvisorThriving Ibis Leadership Solutions: thrivingibis.com✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsGet the Book! https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/ Startup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #185 | The Loneliness of the Leader: Who Do You Actually Talk To Now?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska addresses a subject she's lived through herself and hears constantly in mentoring conversations: the loneliness of the leader.Alex opens with a story from a mentoring session: a leader who realized she hadn't had an honest, unfiltered work conversation in months, not because of a rough patch, but because everyone below her filters what they say, and everyone at her level feels like competition. Alex names this as a structural loneliness that comes with the role itself, separate from the burnout and isolation she's covered before.She walks through why the gap forms quietly (the peer network that used to calibrate you disappears the moment you become “the boss”) and why leaning entirely on direct reports or your own manager rarely works.The episode includes a concrete audit: naming who you can be technically honest with, emotionally honest with, and who shows up for you without being asked, plus practical, low-lift ways to close the gap, from small peer groups to reframing your one-on-ones with your own manager.Mentioned in the episode:"From Code to People: The CQ Leadership Method That Transforms Technical Experts into Leaders Teams Actually Want to Work For":https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/ ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #184 | Signal vs. Noise: How to Lead with Simplicity, Vulnerability, and Radical Clarity w/ Keith Zubchevich (@ex-Cisco, @Conviva)In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra sits down with Keith Zubchevich, CEO of Conviva, the company that invented video quality measurement and helped launch 12 of the 15 largest streaming apps in the world. Keith brings 35 years in technology to the conversation, having started as a market analyst and built a career defined by one constant thread: joining companies that solve real problems and leaving the rest alone.The episode opens on the concept of simplicity, not as a personality trait but as a discipline. Keith describes his "signal reports" framework: the idea that ninety percent of everything hitting a leader each day is noise, and that the single most important skill is training yourself to hear only what actually matters. He shares how he builds quiet time into overwhelming moments, and why simplicity requires grace, specifically the willingness to let go of things that feel important but are not.One of the most distinctive practices Keith shares is how he opens his annual leadership offsites: not with wins, not with strategy, but with two questions for every person in the room. What are you not good at? And what is your biggest insecurity? He goes first, always, and shares something real, including his own daily fear that he is not doing a good enough job as CEO. The result, as he describes it, is an instant bond that dissolves the politics, agenda, and interpersonal friction that normally slow leadership teams down. This is not a team-building exercise; it is a structural approach to building psychological safety from the top.The conversation closes with Keith's advice for anyone standing at the crossroads of an IC-to-leader transition or a move into entrepreneurship: never take a job that doesn't scare you. If you can already do it in your sleep, it is not a growth opportunity. The whole purpose of a career, as he frames it, is not to find comfort but to keep overcoming adversity and to build the version of yourself that can rise above the noise and lead others through it.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:Conviva: https://conviva.ai"Behind Every Great Man" podcast by Jessica Zubchevich✉︎ FOLLOW KEITH ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @keithzubchevichWebsite: conviva.ai✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #183 | Return to Office Isn't a Policy Problem. It's a Values Conflict You're Being Asked to Enforce.In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska goes deep on a subject she's been asked about constantly: how to lead your team through a change, like a return-to-office mandate, especially when you're not fully on board with it yourself.The spark for the episode was a question from a manager during a change management workshop: "How do I communicate this with honesty when I don't agree with the decision?" Alex is candid that she's been in that exact position herself, and that most leaders treat RTO pushback as a logistics problem (commute times, desk assignments, productivity data) when what's actually being negotiated underneath is trust and autonomy.Alex walks through the Wheel of Conflict to diagnose what's really happening (focusing on conflict of data, structure, and values) and explains why most RTO friction shows up dressed as the first two but is almost always the third, which is exactly why productivity studies never resolve it. She also brings in the PCM lens on how the same changes land as a completely different kind of loss depending on personality base, and shares the script she uses for leaders who need to defend a policy honestly without either lying to their team or undermining leadership above them.If you're currently standing in front of your team defending a decision you didn't make, this episode gives you the language and the framework to do it without losing trust on either side.Mentioned in the episode:"From Code to People: The CQ Leadership Method That Transforms Technical Experts into Leaders Teams Actually Want to Work For":https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/ ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #182 | Clear Is Kind: Why Most Leaders Avoid the Conversations That Actually Matter w/ Peter Murphy @Pocket PrepIn this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra sits down with Peter Murphy, CEO and Co-Founder of Pocket Prep, a company built to help people pass notoriously difficult certification exams. Peter's path started in aerospace manufacturing at Lockheed Martin, where he was handed leadership responsibility in his first week on the job with zero preparation for it. After failing a critical operations certification exam by a single point, twice, he turned that frustration into the idea for Pocket Prep, a company now 40 people strong, bootstrapped, and built over 12 years without outside investors.The conversation opens with a story about being told to quit, something Aleksandra experienced as a young violinist and Peter recognizes from the world of harsh, dismissive feedback that still shows up in entrepreneurship today. From there, the two move into one of the most honest moments of the episode: Peter's account of trying to fire an employee who had no idea anything was wrong, because Peter had never actually told them. That experience became the foundation for his approach to leadership ever since, built on the phrase “clear is kind” and the understanding that avoiding a hard conversation is not kindness; it is a failure of leadership.For founders and early-stage leaders, Peter offers a refreshingly practical framework for hiring: identify the core functions of the business, be honest with yourself about which tasks you genuinely love versus which ones you are simply afraid to delegate, and bring in people who will care about the product, not just complete a project. He also shares why he personally answered every customer support ticket in Pocket Prep's early days, and the moment he realized that passion for a task is not the same as it being the right use of a CEO's time.The episode closes with a candid look at what entrepreneurship actually demands: the constant mental load, the way every problem in the business ultimately lands on the founder's desk, and how to think about the decision to start something of your own versus building a career as an employee, neither of which is the wrong choice.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“The Coaching Habit” by Michael Bungay StanierPocket Prep: https://www.pocketprep.com✉︎ FOLLOW PETER ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @peterjosephmurphy✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #181 | I Don't Have Answers (and My Team Needs Them Anyway)In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska tackles a subject listeners have been asking her about for years: what to actually say and do when your team needs answers, and you don't have them.Reorganizations, AI-driven restructuring, rolling layoffs, hiring freezes that appear and disappear without warning (change has become constant, not a rare crisis). Alex names the two instinctive but costly patterns leaders fall into under this pressure: manufactured certainty ("everything's fine"), which quietly destroys trust the moment reality catches up, and silence, which teams read as something being hidden. Both come from the same well-meaning impulse: protecting the team from discomfort. Her reframe is the heart of the episode: that was never the job. The job is helping people hold real information, including the information you don't have yet.Alex applies the Wheel of Conflict in a new way here, splitting uncertainty itself into a structural layer (the actual, sometimes-unknowable facts) and a relational layer (trust, anxiety, whether people feel like a priority) and shows why leaders who try to resolve the second with facts they don't have end up either overpromising or going quiet.The episode closes with a simple three-part script listeners can use starting this week, plus a clear challenge: name the one thing you've been avoiding telling your team plainly, and say it, honestly, this week.Mentioned in the episode:"From Code to People: The CQ Leadership Method That Transforms Technical Experts into Leaders Teams Actually Want to Work For":https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/ ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #180 | Ditch the Shock Collar: Why Punishment-Based Leadership Fails (and What Works Instead) w/ Craig Taylor @CyberhootIn this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra sits down with Craig Taylor, Co-Founder of Cyberhoot, a learning management platform built at the intersection of psychology, education, and cybersecurity. With a psychology degree and over 30 years in the industry, including two decades working with Fortune 500 companies, Craig made a pivotal career shift 12 years ago after being let go from a major corporate role. That turning point led him to co-found Cyberhoot, where he applies behavioral science to a problem the cybersecurity industry has struggled with for decades: how to actually get people to care about security.The conversation opens with a question every tech leader has asked at some point: why do smart, successful people and organizations still treat cybersecurity as an afterthought, until something goes wrong? Craig's answer comes through a powerful analogy: the industry has been training employees like dogs with a shock collar, punishing mistakes with fear, shame, and fake phishing tests for 25 years. The result is not better security, it is apathy, disengagement, and employees who simply forward everything to IT because they were never actually taught how to recognize a threat.The discussion broadens into one of the biggest questions facing tech leaders right now: as AI reshapes entire fields, from mathematics to medicine to engineering, will generalists or specialists come out ahead? Craig makes a clear case for the generalist, using examples ranging from Kasparov's loss to Deep Blue to a study comparing doctors who used AI as a thought partner versus those who outsourced their judgment to it entirely. He also offers a sharp warning for leaders: AI can argue a falsehood with total confidence, and the responsibility for the output still belongs to the human using it.Whether you lead a technical team, are responsible for your organization's security culture, or simply want a better framework for building habits that actually stick, this conversation offers a refreshingly human, science-backed alternative to fear-based leadership.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“Never Lose a Customer Again” by Joey Coleman"Cyberhoot {free individual access}: https://cyberhoot.com/individuals✉︎ FOLLOW CRAIG ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @craigmtaylorWebsite: cyberhoot.com✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #179 | My Team Uses AI to Do the Work. How Do I Know If They're Actually Good at Their Job?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska unpacks a question that's been sitting with her since a mentoring conversation a few weeks ago: if a piece of work looks correct, clean, and well structured, how do you actually know whether the person who produced it understands it?The spark was a real story: a leader approved a pull request from one of her strongest engineers. It broke in production. When she walked through it with him afterward, he couldn't explain, ninety seconds in, why the code did what it did (not because he was hiding anything, but because he genuinely didn't know).Alex is direct that this episode isn't "AI is bad" or a case for banning tools. It's something narrower and more urgent: leaders have lost their old visual signal for competence, and most haven't built a new one yet. She reframes the anxiety many leaders feel as a Contracting gap (almost no team has explicitly agreed on what ownership means when a tool did part of the work) and brings in the PCM layer: asking people to "explain their reasoning" lands very differently depending on personality base, and can read as an accusation if it isn't introduced as a team-wide standard set in advance.If you've caught yourself wondering whether your team's output still tells you what it used to, this episode gives you four concrete moves to start rebuilding that signal this week.Mentioned in the episode:"From Code to People: The CQ Leadership Method That Transforms Technical Experts into Leaders Teams Actually Want to Work For":https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/ ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #178 | Female Founders, Fear of Success, and the Leadership Leap Nobody Prepares You For w/ Nita Laad (@ex-Cisco, @ex-HP, @Nexia AI)In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex welcomes Nita Laad: Founder and CEO of Nexia AI, a Silicon Valley startup building an AI-native platform for product management teams. Nita brings a rare arc to this conversation - eight years writing code, then a full-stack leadership career spanning engineering, product, and go-to-market at Cisco and Hewlett Packard, and finally the leap into founding. She is also a 2025 Silicon Valley Business Journal Woman of Influence - and she is not here to make any of it sound easy.The heart of this conversation is the gap between leading in a corporation and leading as a founder - and it is wider than most people expect. Nita is specific: in corporate, the brand, the processes, the HR department, the training programs are all already there. You execute within a system. In a startup, you are the system. Every function lands on your shoulders before you have people to delegate it to, and the iteration cycles are not quarterly - they are sometimes hourly. Alex brings in one of her sharpest questions - not about fear of failure, but about fear of success. The exchange that follows goes somewhere most leadership conversations avoid: self-sabotage, the risk management table the brain runs quietly when you are about to outgrow your current circle, and whether the people around you are actually positioned to help you reach the next level or quietly holding you where you are. There is also a sharp section on why only 2% of women-founded companies get investment, what is finally starting to shift, and what Nita would tell any woman standing at the edge of the founder decision right now. If you are in that place - or you know someone who is - this episode is worth the full listen.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:"Multipliers" by Liz Wiseman"https://nexiausa.com✉︎ FOLLOW NITA ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @nlaadNexia AI: https://nexiausa.com✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #177 | Tech Leadership Q&A: How Do I Push Back on My Manager's Unrealistic Deadline or Scope?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, host Aleksandra Lemańska continues her Q&A series with two closely linked questions: "How do I push back on my manager's unrealistic deadline or scope?" and "Did I actually agree to this, or did I just not object?"On pushing back, Alex reframes the entire conversation: it isn't conflict, it's renegotiating a contract that was never properly set in the first place. Her own approach is calm and practical - when a new urgent request lands, she acknowledges it, then asks what should move down the priority list to make room for it.The second question gets at something many leaders quietly carry: the difference between actually agreeing to something and simply not objecting. Alex is blunt that silence is often treated as agreement, and staying silent to avoid friction creates confusion, wasted time, and resentment down the line.Both questions trace back to the same root cause: gaps in contracting and unspoken beliefs about what should be "obvious." Alex's challenge for listeners: the next time a new request lands on your desk, name it out loud and ask what should give way - and the next time you feel a silent "no," say it. If this episode resonated, share the link with someone who needs to hear it.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #176 | From PhD to Director: What Academia Never Teaches You About Leading People w/ Quentin Reul (Director AI Strategy and Solutions at expert.ai)In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex welcomes Quentin Reul: Director AI Strategy and Solutions at expert.ai, a Belgian-born computer scientist whose one-year English adventure in the UK quietly turned into a decade - a PhD in symbolic AI, a front-row seat to the academic-to-enterprise transition, and eventually a leadership path built through teams of data scientists, software engineers, knowledge engineers, and QA specialists spread across continents.The conversation opens with one of the most underexplored tensions in tech: what actually breaks when you move from academic research culture into enterprise delivery. Quentin is precise about it - it is not about intelligence or even drive. It is the completion mindset. Academia rewards the idea, the paper, the demonstrable prototype. Enterprise rewards the shipped thing, the SOC-compliant thing, the thing a customer can buy tomorrow. The gap between those two modes is where a lot of technically brilliant people quietly stall - and where Quentin has spent years learning to bridge it.If you came up through a technical or research background and are now leading - or thinking about leading - people for the first time, this one will land.✉︎ FOLLOW QUENTIN ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @unlockdatawithquentinYouTube: Quentin Reul on YouTube✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #175 | Tech Leadership Q&A: Why Does the Same Feedback Land for One Person and Wreck Another?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, host Aleksandra Lemańska continues her Q&A series by tackling two questions that go hand in hand: "Why does the same piece of feedback land fine with one person and wreck another?" and "Is it normal to dread one-on-ones with certain people?"Alex's answer centers on communication intelligence, or CQ - the core of her CQ Leadership Method, built tightly to the Process Communication Model. Feedback that doesn't land usually isn't tailored to the person receiving it; it's tailored to how the leader prefers to give and receive feedback. Since there are six personality bases, defaulting to your own style means you are statistically only speaking the language that one out of six people actually needs.She lays out a practical starting point: map your team. List everyone you lead, make a hypothesis about each person's personality base, and note the keywords and communication channels they respond to. Then pick one person and one small adjustment - a different question, a different channel - and test it for a week. This is what builds the CQ muscle: awareness, hypothesis, reps.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #174 | A-Players, Task Monkeys, and the AI Reckoning w/ Francis Brero (VP AI Strategy @HG Insights)In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex welcomes Francis Brero: VP of AI Strategy at HG Insights and Co-Founder of MadKudu, a French-born engineer who swapped the grandes ecoles of Paris for Silicon Valley and has spent 15 years building AI-powered systems for some of the world’s leading B2B revenue organizations. Francis brings a mathematician’s rigour and a founder’s scar tissue to every conversation about teams - and this one is no exception.What drives this episode is Francis’s deceptively simple framework for mapping any team: the task monkey who executes, the problem-solver who adapts, the system thinker who diagnoses root causes, and the rock star who spots the problem before anyone else named it. The conversation moves fast from there - to the hidden cost of keeping “okay” players on the roster, why brilliant jerks are rarely as indispensable as they think, and why the bar for what counts as a rock star has shifted dramatically with AI. If you are managing a team right now and quietly wondering whether you have the right people in the right seats - or whether you yourself are operating above or below the system-thinker line - this episode will give you a sharper lens.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:Radical Candor - Kim Scottvast.ai (GPU rental platform): https://vast.ai✉︎ FOLLOW FRANCIS ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @francisbreroHG Insights: https://hginsights.com✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #173 | Tech Leadership Q&A: How Do I Get My Team to Just Do Their Job Without Checking on Them Constantly?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, host Aleksandra Lemańska continues her Q&A series with one of the most common struggles tech leaders bring to her: "How do I get this person to do their job without checking on them constantly - and how do I trust that it will be done as well as I would do it myself?"Alex traces this straight back to contracting, specifically the contracting gap at the professional level. When scope, success criteria, decision-making authority, and ways of working were never explicitly discussed and agreed on, leaders are left guessing whether "good work" in their head matches "good work" in their team member's head. That gap, not a lack of trust, is usually the real root cause behind the urge to micromanage.Alex’s concrete challenge for listeners is to check their own needs first, then schedule a recontracting conversation with at least one team member this week. If this question is one you - or someone you know - keeps asking, share the episode with them.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #172 | What Silicon Valley Taught a Tech Analyst About Marketing, Authority, and Never Burning Bridges w/ Mark Vena, @ex-Dell Technologies,  @SmartTech ResearchIn this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra sits down with Mark Vena, CEO and Principal Analyst at SmartTech Research, a boutique technology research firm he founded after 25 years of senior marketing and leadership roles at companies including IBM, Dell, Compaq, Alienware, and Sling Media. For 18 of those years, Mark operated at the epicenter of innovation - seven minutes from the Apple campus in Silicon Valley - where he developed a rare ability to see through both the brilliance and the blind spots of founder culture.The conversation opens with a question leaders rarely ask themselves out loud: do you actually need to be an expert in a field to lead it well? Mark's answer is clear and backed by a career that started with a history degree - and led to managing engineering and marketing teams at some of the biggest names in tech.Mark shares a Steve Jobs story you probably haven't heard - a blind audio test during the original iMac development that revealed how much the post-NeXT Jobs had changed as a leader. It's a precise illustration of something Mark returns to throughout the conversation: the ability to evolve. To separate what's worth going to war for from what simply isn't.The episode also covers the AI revolution from a marketing analyst's perspective - and it's more concrete than most takes. Mark describes how AI is shifting the entire content creation model, why the old agency-driven marketing playbook is collapsing, and what he believes will be the signal moment that AI has fully arrived (hint: it involves a Best Picture winner).If you lead a team, are building something, or sit at the intersection of technology and go-to-market, this is a conversation worth your full attention.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:SmartTech Research podcastTV series "John Adams" (HBO)✉︎ FOLLOW MARK ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @markvenaX: @MarkVenaTechGuy✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #171 | Tech Leadership Q&A: Am I Actually Good at This… or Did I Just Get Lucky?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, host Aleksandra Lemańska kicks off a new Q&A series, where she answers the questions tech leaders keep asking her in workshops, keynotes, and one-on-one conversations - the questions that often go unspoken. Today she tackles two that show up constantly with newer leaders: "Am I actually good at this leadership thing, or did I just get lucky?" and "Why do I miss writing code so much?"On the first question, Alex is direct: feeling unprepared as a new leader is not a sign that you don't belong, it is a sign that you are doing a completely different job than the one you were promoted for. She shares a bold claim from her years of working with tech leaders: roughly 90% of leaders were never properly prepared for leadership, and that is a systemic failure, not a personal one. Most people get promoted into leadership as a reward for being great individual contributors, with no real training in the new skill set, mindset, and tool set that the role actually demands.The second question - why leaders miss writing code, building, or doing the hands-on work they used to be great at - gets reframed too. According to Alex, this isn't nostalgia. It's a contracting problem, both with yourself and with your organization, because nobody has defined what "winning" looks like in your new role.Alex closes with a concrete exercise: write down everything you were great at and got promoted for, and next to it, write down what your role actually requires of you today. Compare the two lists - they will look very different, and that difference is the real shift you are navigating. If either question hit home, share the episode with a tech leader who needs to hear it too.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #170 | From Startup Garage to Microsoft MVP: How Continuous Learning Builds Unbreakable Tech Leaders w/ Amit Chandak, @ex-Oracle, @KinerikaIn this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra sits down with Amit Chandak, CTO and Data & AI Lead at Kinerika, a Microsoft Fabric Featured Partner operating at the forefront of cloud data engineering. Amit's career spans three distinct environments: a 10-year co-founder journey building a BI tool from a two-person apartment startup to a 50-person product company, senior engineering leadership at Oracle, and now heading data and AI strategy at a fast-scaling services organization. In 2022, he became a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for his exceptional contributions to the Power BI community - a recognition earned through over 17,000 community solutions and years of relentless self-directed learning.The episode opens with a question that shapes the entire conversation: what actually separates the leaders who compound their impact over time from those who plateau?Amit and Aleksandra dig deep into the IC-to-leader transition - one of the most structurally underestimated challenges in tech organizations. Amit is precise about what gets lost in that shift: the identity of being the best individual performer becomes a liability when your actual job is to build an environment where the team outperforms what you ever could alone.For anyone navigating the tension between lifelong learning and burnout, building a tech team from scratch, or making the mental shift from individual contributor to people leader - this episode delivers the kind of practical clarity that only comes from someone who has lived every stage of that journey.✉︎ FOLLOW AMIT ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @amitchandakYouTube: Amit Chandak✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #169 | I Wrote a Book: "From Code to People"!In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemanska makes an official announcement she has been building toward for over a decade: her first book, "From Code to People: The CQ Leadership Method That Transforms Technical Experts into Leaders Teams Actually Want to Work For", is done. The premiere is July 30th, 2026 - and this episode is her way of celebrating it with the people who have been part of the journey.Alex is candid about what drove her to write it. After 10-plus years of working with tech leaders, engineering teams, data science, cybersecurity, and AI organizations, she kept seeing the same patterns repeat. The same breakdowns. The same blind spots. The same moment where a brilliant individual contributor gets promoted to team lead and loses themselves within months. She wanted to give leaders a single, practical resource they could reach for - not another abstract leadership theory, but a blueprint grounded in real case studies and the frameworks she uses every single day.If you have ever had the thought "I know what I should be doing, I just don't have a clear way to do it all at once," this is the episode - and the book - for you. The book will be available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. An audiobook is planned for later in 2026. A book launch Masterclass, book tour events, and fireside chats are all in the works. Alex's Leadership Pulse newsletter will be the first to know everything.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #168 | From Chaos to Clarity: Change Management, Strategic Simplicity, and the Networking Muscle You Never Built w/ Iryna Lambrianides @ClarityPoint ConsultingIn this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex welcomes Iryna Lambrianides: fractional strategic advisor, COO, and Chief of Staff, and Founder of ClarityPoint Consulting. Iryna's career story is one of radical reinvention: arriving in the US from Ukraine with no network, taking a $7/hour restaurant job, and systematically building expertise across project management, change management, Lean Six Sigma, and organizational strategy until she was restructuring international organizations spanning 60 countries. She's been laid off twice, narrowly escaped two more, and watched her salary nearly triple in five years. Her conclusion: institutions are unstable. Skills are not.What makes this conversation stand out is Iryna's operational precision about the things most tech leaders wave at rather than actually do: translating vision into concrete roadmaps, embedding change management into every initiative before it goes off the rails, and building the networking muscle that most engineers were never told they'd need. She is direct about why change fails: not because people resist change, but because leaders don't plan for it, communicate about it, or measure it. And she has frameworks for all three.If you're a tech leader drowning in simultaneous changes, struggling to make your vision land with your team, or quietly aware that your network is thinner than it should be, this episode will give you both the understanding and the tools to change that.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:Create an MBA by Justin Welsh: https://www.justinwelsh.me/Reinvention Academy — change management certification frameworkMcKinsey & IBM research on organizational change and disruption speed✉︎ FOLLOW IRYNA ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @irynalambrianidesClarityPoint Consulting: https://claritypointconsultants.com/✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #167 | Your Best Engineer Is Your Biggest Leadership Problem - Now What?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemanska addresses one of the most uncomfortable dilemmas tech leaders face over and over again: what to do when your technically brilliant engineer is also destroying the team around them.The problem is painfully familiar. Their output looks great on paper. Confronting or removing them feels risky - what if they quit? And yet every other person on the team is paying a daily cost for this person's behavior. Most leaders know it's a problem. Almost none of them know what to actually do about it.Alex identifies three layers that make this harder than it looks. The first is structural, the second is the leader's own ambivalence, and the third is the absence of contracting. In most teams, the technical bar was clear from day one. The relational bar was implied, and implied contracts are what allow destructive behavior to thrive unchallenged.From the CQ Leadership Method perspective, Alex walks through how to diagnose what is actually driving the behavior - and why the intervention looks completely different depending on the root cause. This is not a personality problem. It is a systems and leadership problem that a personality is simply exposing.If you've been avoiding this conversation, this episode gives you the diagnosis and the tools to stop.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #166 | Staff Engineering in the Age of AI: How Engineering Teams, Roles, and Expectations Are Being Redefined w/ Jordan Cutler @PinterestIn this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex welcomes Jordan Cutler: Staff Engineer at Pinterest, where he leads web platform initiatives supporting over 200 engineers. Jordan's career moved from junior to senior in just two years at Gusto, then through Qualified (recently acquired by Salesforce), and into the kind of cross-functional, multi-team leadership that defines the Staff Engineer role today: a role many leaders still don't fully understand.What makes this conversation stand out is Jordan's unflinching clarity about how AI is not just changing what engineers do, but raising the bar at every level of the career ladder. The mid-level engineer is now expected to do what seniors did three years ago. Juniors entering the market face a job board that has shrunk to under 10% of all engineering listings. And the engineers who will thrive are not the ones who write the most code by hand: they're the ones who can recognize high-ROI opportunities, delegate implementation to AI-powered systems, and build things that compound impact over time.Jordan also shares what the Staff Engineer role actually means: not just leading within a team, but expanding scope across teams, connecting strategic company goals to concrete technical initiatives, and selling ideas in ways that bring people along.If you're leading engineering teams, thinking about what to expect from your engineers in 2026, or navigating your own transition from code-first to strategy-first thinking, this episode will give you a new lens on what the role actually demands now.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:"Radical Candor" by Kim Scott”✉︎ FOLLOW JORDAN ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @jordancutler1✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

#165 | The Promotion Nobody Prepared Them ForIn this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemanska takes on a transition that happens constantly in tech - and almost always without the support it actually requires: promoting your best engineer to team lead, tech lead, or principal engineer.The pattern is familiar. Six months after the promotion, the engineer is frustrated, the team is frustrated, and the person who was your most reliable individual contributor has become your most complicated leadership problem. They're still heads-down executing, ignoring everything else the new role requires - or if you're that engineer, you're working harder than ever, uncertain whether you're doing it right, unsure who to even ask.Alex starts with the question nobody asks out loud: what did nobody tell them about this new job? The job description lies. A principal engineer or tech lead sounds like a more senior version of the previous role. It isn't. It is a categorically different role, and the skills that made someone exceptional before - speed, precision, independent depth of work - can actively work against them now.If you've recently promoted someone or are thinking about doing it, this episode is the conversation that should happen before the announcement.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #164 | From Five Failed Products to 100-Person Company: Delegation, Detachment, and the Real Root of Burnout in Tech w/ Prashanth Tondapu  (ex-@McAfee, @Innostax Tech LLC)In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex welcomes Prashanth Tondapu: CEO of InnoStacks Tech LLC, a 100-person software services company with active R&D in LLM products. Prashanth's story is one many tech leaders will recognise all too painfully: a gifted developer who believed that passion for the craft was enough to build a business, went through five failed products before finding one that worked, and had to systematically shift his own identity to become the leader his company needed him to be.What makes this conversation stand out is Prashanth's unflinching honesty about the mistakes that shaped him: including building in isolation without validating demand, believing he was the smartest person in the room long after that was useful, and learning delegation only after burning himself out by being on every client call, terrified something would go wrong without him. The moment he finally stayed off a call, and nothing went wrong, he says, was the moment he was never the same leader again.If you're scaling a team, struggling to let go of control, or quietly burning out while trying to keep everything running, this episode will meet you exactly where you are.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”“The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment”“The Advaita Philosophy: Recognizing the Oneness of the Universe”“Be Here Now”✉︎ FOLLOW PRASHNATH ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @prashanth-tondapuInnostax: https://innostax.com/✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

#163 | “I Know I Should Say No. So Why Can't I?”In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska takes on one of the most persistent gaps between what tech leaders know and what they actually do: saying no.Almost every leader Alex works with already knows, intellectually, that they should say no more often. They've read about it. They've advised their own team to do it. And then a stakeholder drops something on their desk, a peer asks for support just outside their remit, or their manager adds one more thing to the quarter, and they say yes. Again. The frustration afterward is real. And it's almost never about weakness or conflict avoidance.Alex identifies the three real roots of the problem. The first is identity: for most tech leaders, saying yes was the behavior that built their reputation and career as individual contributors, and the psychological cost of saying no now feels like a betrayal of who they are. The second is the absence of a clear enough set of priorities to say no to: a Contracting failure that leaves every incoming request feeling equally valid. The third is simply not having the language: knowing what you want to decline but having no way to do it that doesn't feel like a fight or a relationship risk.If you've ever walked out of a meeting having said yes to something you knew you shouldn't have, this episode gives you the understanding and the tools to change that pattern.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #162 | VP of Engineering on Leading Without Drowning: Neuroscience, Boundaries, and the Skills Tech Never Tells You to Build w/ Greg Jaworek (ex-Cisco, ex-ABB)In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex sits down with Grzegorz (Greg) Jaworek - VP of Engineering with nearly 20 years of experience spanning software development, agile transformation, corporate organisations, and startups across Poland and internationally. Greg discovered early in his career that he was better at connecting people than connecting lines of code. That realisation became the foundation of an entire leadership philosophy built on self-awareness, systems thinking, and the science of how the brain actually works under pressure.Greg is also the co-founder of NeuroPlus, a community initiative running regular meetups at the intersection of neuroscience and leadership, and an active contributor to the Cavendish Tech Talk mentoring programme in Kraków. His work sits squarely at the crossroads of human performance and technology leadership, which makes him one of the more unusual and grounded voices in the Polish tech scene.The episode goes deep into the leadership transition that breaks most people: the move from leading individuals to leading other leaders. Greg is direct: stop trying to be the smartest person in the room, learn to build systems rather than control outputs, and (most importantly) learn to sell your ideas. He makes a compelling case that selling and negotiating are the most underrated skills in tech leadership, reframed not as manipulation but as the art of positive influence that no AI will replace.If you're navigating the noise of AI transformation, managing your energy in a world that never slows down, or preparing to step into a more senior leadership role, this conversation will give you both the clarity and the permission to do things differently.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”Cavendish Tech Talk:✉︎ FOLLOW GREG ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @gregjaworek✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

#161 | “Nobody Prepared Me for How Lonely This Job Would Be.”In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska opens with a sentence she heard in a mentoring session: one that the person saying it had never said out loud before. "Nobody prepared me for how lonely this job would be." And she gives it the space it deserves.Leadership loneliness in tech is not social isolation in the conventional sense. It's something more specific and more corrosive: being the pressure plate between executives who want results and a team that needs stability, with nowhere to put what that actually costs you. Alex frames this as a structural feature of the tech leadership role, not a personal failure, and backs it with data: manager engagement dropped sharply in 2025, 71% of leaders report increased stress, and 40% of those are considering leaving. This is not a personal crisis. It's a systemic one.If you've ever felt alone in a room full of people, this episode tells you why, and what to do about it.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #160 | A Serial Founder’s Story: What It Really Takes to Build, Fail, and Scale in the AI Era w/ Łukasz Łażewski @LLInformaticsIn this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex sits down with Łukasz Łażewski,  CEO of LLInformatics and one of the most experienced serial Founders in the Polish and European tech ecosystem. Łukasz's career reads like a masterclass in reinvention: from a software engineer in Dublin and Berlin, through a string of startups. A used cars marketplace, an early influencer marketing platform, and Zenloop, a customer insights SaaS that grew into a major B2B player, to his current role advising private equity and family offices on how to extract real technology value from their portfolios. He built a 120-person company almost by accident, alongside his Co-Founder Mariusz, turning technical due diligence work into a full-scale advisory firm.What makes Łukasz's perspective distinctive is that he has lived every stage of the startup lifecycle: product-market fit failures, investor misalignment, COVID pivots, and eventual exits, and come out of it with sharp, unsentimental clarity on what actually matters. He brings that same lens to his work at LLInformatics, helping investment portfolios navigate the shift from manual processes to AI-driven operations.The conversation covers serious ground for tech leaders and founders alike. Łukasz shares his unfiltered take on the AI and junior developer debate, rejecting both the gloom and the hype, and making a compelling case for the rise of the cross-domain generalist. He breaks down why so many layoffs attributed to AI are actually post-COVID financial course corrections with a convenient scapegoat. And he offers three concrete pieces of advice for early-stage Founders: validate relentlessly before you build, embed yourself in communities of fellow Founders, and develop the emotional muscle to separate rejection of your idea from rejection of you as a person.If you're building something, leading a team through uncertainty, or standing at a career crossroads, this one is worth your full attention.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win”✉︎ FOLLOW ŁUKASZ ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @lukasz-lazewski/X: @lukasz_lazewski✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #159 | “I Feel Like a Fraud - And I'm the One Running the Team.”In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska names something that a significant number of tech leaders carry in silence: the feeling that they're making it up as they go, that their success belongs to luck or timing, and that sooner or later, someone in the room will figure it out.That feeling is called the impostor phenomenon, and Alex is precise about what it is and what it isn't. It's not low self-esteem, and it's not a lack of skill. Research consistently shows it's most prevalent in highly competent, high-achieving people. It's a specific failure to internalize evidence of your own capability: successes get attributed to luck, circumstances, or the team around you; failures get attributed entirely to you. In tech leadership, this pattern hits with particular force, because most technical leaders were promoted without preparation for the human complexity of the role, then expected to perform certainty in rooms where they were genuinely still learning.If you've ever sat at the head of a meeting and felt, somewhere underneath the confidence, like you were performing it, this episode is for you.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #158 | From Teenage Entrepreneur to the CTO: Building Teams That Win in the AI Era w/ Ben Wilcox @ProArchIn this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex welcomes Ben Wilcox: a CTO and CISO of ProArch, for a wide-ranging conversation about what it actually takes to lead technology teams in the age of AI. Ben's story is anything but conventional: he started monetising the internet as a 15-year-old, built and sold a web hosting business before most people his age had a bank account, and has spent the last 19 years growing from an individual contributor to holding two C-suite roles simultaneously.Ben brings a rare perspective: one that sits at the intersection of deep technical expertise, security leadership, and people development. He started his career in Microsoft infrastructure and consulting, got into cloud migrations as early as 2008, and found his way into leadership not because he was chasing a title, but because he needed to "reproduce himself" at scale. That origin story shapes everything about how he leads today.The conversation digs into some of the most pressing challenges facing tech leaders right now: how AI is forcing dev and security teams to finally, genuinely collaborate (not just claim they do); why the consultative mindset that got deprioritised during the post-COVID "ship it fast" era is now urgently needed again, but this time at speed; and how the shape of tech teams is changing, with junior roles evolving, the business analyst function making a comeback, and the mid-layer being pushed to add business context to stay relevant.If you lead a team in technology (or you're thinking about making that move), this episode will give you both the strategic lens and the practical mindset to navigate what's coming next.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“People of the Deer”✉︎ FOLLOW BEN ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @ben-wilcoxProArch: https://www.proarch.com✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #157 | Your Team Is Already Having the Hard Conversation. Just Without You.In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska addresses the conversation that most tech leaders know they need to have and keep finding reasons not to. Maybe it's about what AI means for certain roles. Maybe it's about team dynamics that quietly fractured in Q1. Maybe it's about the ambient anxiety sitting just under the surface of every standup: unspoken, unaddressed, and growing.Alex names the three real reasons leaders avoid difficult team conversations: fear of making things worse, not knowing how to start, and a quiet hope that if you don't name it, it won't fully exist. She then dismantles all three, because your team is already having the conversation. Just without you in the room. And a conversation that happens without the leader is almost always harder to recover from than one that the leader initiates.Using the CQ Leadership Method, Alex lays out a clear three-step framework for structuring a difficult team conversation: naming what's happening without dramatizing it; listening to the channel, not just the content: using PCM® to hear what each person actually needs beneath what they're saying; and closing with a Contracting move that turns an emotional exchange into a working agreement with real accountability. She also offers a practical opening script: the actual words you can adapt and use this week, no framework fluency required.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #156 | Lead by Example or Lose the Best: What A-Players Actually Need From Their Leaders w/ Svante Horn @Scandinavian Data CentersJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for a refreshingly candid episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as she sits down with Svante Horn, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Scandinavian Data Centers — a company on a mission to become the energy node, data node, and heat node of their communities, building green, high-performance data center infrastructure across the Nordics.In this episode, Svante brings a non-linear career story — from Morgan Stanley M&A to fixed income sales at Merrill Lynch, through the 2008 financial crisis and a winding "desert wandering" phase — that ultimately led him to one of the most capital-intensive, slow-moving, and purposeful industries of our time. The conversation unpacks what it really takes to attract and retain A-players in a world where top talent no longer tolerates environments built purely for squeezing profit, and where purpose has become as powerful a recruitment tool as compensation. Svante shares his three non-negotiables for leaders who want to keep exceptional people: lead by example without exception, embody the company's purpose authentically, and earn — not just hold — the respect of your team.The discussion also dives into the epidemic of wasteful meetings, the overlooked cost of putting the wrong people in leadership roles, and why the coming AI revolution may be the best thing that ever happened to skilled humans who know how to orchestrate, connect, and build trust. Svante draws a memorable parallel between mentorship and proprietary AI data models — the rarest, most valuable knowledge is what never makes it online. And for anyone sitting at the crossroads between a corporate career and the entrepreneurial leap, Svante offers some of the most grounded, honest advice you'll hear: timing matters, and it's never too late.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:Jim Carrey on Security (and Regret)https://www.amazon.com/Art-War-DELUXE-Sun-Tzu/dp/9388369696✉︎ FOLLOW SVANTE ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @svantehorn✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #155 | The Burnout Nobody Talks About: What Happens When You, the Leader, Are Running on EmptyIn this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska turns the burnout conversation inward: toward the person who is most often the last to receive support, the last to admit they're struggling, and the first to keep showing up with a plan. The leaders themselves.Alex opens by naming what leader burnout actually looks like, and how it's almost the inverse of what you'd expect. Where a burned-out engineer goes quiet and withdraws, a burned-out leader often becomes hyperactive: over-communicating, micromanaging, taking on more instead of less, all while privately running on fumes. The performance of being fine is one of the most energy-expensive things a leader can do.Using the Process Communication Model® (PCM®) from the CQ Leadership Method, Alex explains the concept of the distress sequence — the specific, predictable way each personality type's communication collapses under sustained stress. The over-controlling leader who finds fault with everything. The one who stops making decisions and leaves the team in a vacuum. The perfectionist who disappears into deep work and makes the team feel abandoned. The urgency-mode communicator who turns every problem into a crisis. None of these is a character flaw. They are what happens to all of us when we're depleted, and they land on the team as instability, not as tiredness.If you've been telling your team to protect their energy while quietly neglecting your own, this episode is the one you've been waiting for someone to make.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #154 | Focus Is a Superpower: What 30 Years of Building Teaches Us About Tech Leadership w/ Sarah Biller @FinTech SandboxJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for a powerful episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as she sits down with Sarah Biller, Co-Founder of FinTech Sandbox — a global not-for-profit operating across five continents that provides free access to high-quality data for fintech entrepreneurs — and a seasoned investor, builder, and leader with a non-linear career spanning capital markets, life sciences, venture capital, and fintech.In this episode, Sarah brings a rare combination of grit, depth, and hard-won wisdom to the conversation, starting from her roots in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and tracing a journey through financial crises, failed startups, and breakthrough companies. The discussion centers around what it truly means to lead people — not just projects — and why the relationship a leader builds before the hard moment arrives determines everything that happens after it. Sarah shares why great feedback begins long before the conversation itself, how leaders can stay focused and purposeful in times of crisis and volatility, and why focus, not hustle, is the real superpower in today's technology landscape.From her experience navigating the 2008 credit crisis to leading teams building tomorrow's FinTech infrastructure, Sarah challenges tech leaders to expand their view beyond the sprint and the ship, and to invest in the human dimension of their teams with the same rigor they apply to their systems. ✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones”✉︎ FOLLOW SARAH ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @sarahbillerFinTech Sandbox: https://www.fintechsandbox.org/ ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #153 | Q2 Kickoff Done. So Why Isn't Anyone Moving?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska tackles one of the most quietly frustrating moments in a tech leader's calendar: you've done the kickoff, shared the roadmap, set the goals, and the team still isn't moving. No one is refusing. But the energy is flat, some people are waiting for more clarity, others have already gone off in their own direction, and you're standing there wondering what went wrong.Alex's answer: Nothing is wrong with your goals. The problem is that you delivered one message, the same way, to people who are fundamentally wired differently. And that's exactly what the Process Communication Model® (PCM®), a core pillar of the CQ Leadership Method, is designed to solve.She walks through four PCM® patterns that most visibly surface in tech teams at the start of a new quarter: the person who needs process and structure before they can move; the big-picture thinker who's already gone off-script because the vision wasn't compelling enough; the team member who needs human connection before they can engage with any direction; and the action-oriented person who's frustrated that you're still talking about the quarter instead of starting it. Same goal. Four completely different activation needs.If you've ever presented a perfect plan to a team that responded with polite silence, this episode explains why and what to do instead.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #152 | Stop Fixing, Start Leveraging: A Leader's Guide to Neurodiversity at Work w/ Kari Goldyn @woopa proJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for an eye-opening episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as she sits down with Kari Goldyn, neurodiversity in the workplace expert and Co-Founder of woopa — an organization dedicated to helping organizations unlock the full potential of neurodivergent talent.In this episode, Kari reframes the conversation around neurodiversity, moving away from the language of dysfunction and pathology toward one of strengths, adaptability, and intentional leadership. The discussion unpacks what neurodiversity actually means in a workplace context, how tech leaders can recognize neurodivergent traits in their teams, and what genuine support and inclusion look like in practice. Kari introduces her practical 3-step system — built around understanding individual needs, tailoring communication, and leading with a strengths-first mindset — giving leaders concrete tools to bring out the best in every team member.Drawing on her own lived experience as an AuDHD person, Kari brings rare authenticity and depth to the topic, making this episode both practically actionable and deeply human. Whether you're managing a diverse team or looking to evolve your leadership style, this conversation will change how you see — and lead — the brilliant, unconventional thinkers already on your team.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“UNMASKED: The Ultimate Guide to ADHD, Autism and Neurodivergence”✉︎ FOLLOW KARI ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @karigoldyn/Instagram:@kari.goldynWebsite: https://www.woopa.pl/ Community: https://www.woopa.pl/pro ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #151 | Your Team Is Using AI More. So Why Does Everything Feel Harder?In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska addresses a paradox that's quietly spreading across tech teams in 2026: AI tools are being used more than ever, output is up, speed is up, and yet people are more stressed, more exhausted, and more uncertain than before.Alex's diagnosis is precise. The technology didn't cause the problem. The missing conversation did. When AI tools entered the workflow, most leaders did the completely understandable thing: they said "great, let's use this" and moved on. What they didn't do is renegotiate the psychological contract: the unspoken agreement about what counts as a good day's work, what is expected, and what gets to come off the list when something new gets added. Without that conversation, teams kept adding. And when you keep adding without ever subtracting, you don't get a productivity revolution, you get a burnout machine.Drawing on the CQ Leadership Method and its Contracting pillar, Alex introduces the AI Contracting Conversation: a practical, thirty-minute team conversation structured around three questions: What has actually changed? What needs to be renegotiated? And what new boundaries are we setting together? This is the difference, she argues, between a team that thrives with AI and one that quietly burns out under it.If your team is moving faster but feeling worse, this episode names exactly what's happening — and gives you the conversation to fix it.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #150 | From Hard Trends to Bigger Bigs: Turning Disruption Into Certainty w/ Daniel BurrusJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for a thought-provoking episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as she engages in a compelling conversation with Daniel Burrus, one of the world's leading futurists on global trends and disruptive innovation, and a New York Times bestselling author.In this episode, Daniel shares his groundbreaking perspective on entrepreneurship and leadership, challenging conventional wisdom about how we measure success. The discussion explores why organizations need failure metrics alongside success metrics, and how the biggest problems we face are often the ones we choose to skip rather than confront. Daniel delves into the critical human need for certainty in uncertain times and presents a powerful framework for how tech leaders can anticipate opportunities rather than simply react to change.Through Daniel's expertise in helping leaders separate Hard Trends that will happen from Soft Trends that might happen, this episode provides invaluable guidance for technology leaders navigating rapid transformation. Whether you're leading a startup or an established tech team, Daniel's proven methodologies for turning disruption into strategic advantage offer practical insights for building anticipatory leadership capabilities in today's fast-paced technology landscape.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“The Little Engine That Could”“The Anticipatory Organization: Turn Disruption and Change into Opportunity and Advantage”✉︎ FOLLOW DANIEL ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @danielburrus iona-b-176458189Website: https://www.burrus.com/ Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Daniel-Burrus/author/B001K81A2S ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #149 | Your Team Isn't AI-Resistant. They're Waiting for You.In this solo episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Aleksandra Lemańska tackles one of the most common frustrations she hears from tech leaders right now: "We bought the licenses, we ran the onboarding, and my team still isn't using AI."Her opening statement is deliberately confrontational: your team is not AI-resistant. They are waiting for you.Drawing on the latest research from Deloitte, BCG, Atomicwork, and IMD's 2026 AI Trends Report, Alex dismantles the myth that AI adoption is a tooling or budget problem. The data is clear: the biggest barriers in 2026 are organizational readiness, change management, and the human layer, and those are leadership problems. What's more striking is a BCG finding that leaders and managers are 43% more likely to worry about job security due to AI than their frontline employees, meaning the people responsible for driving adoption are quietly carrying the same fear as the teams they're meant to lead.If you're a tech leader watching AI initiatives stall despite investment and good intentions, this episode is the honest, practical reset you need.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:Deloitte 2026 State of AI in the Enterprise Report2026 State of AI in IT report (Atomicwork)BCG’s AI at Work 2025 ResearchIMD’s 2026 AI Trends Research✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #148 | Leveraging Incubators, Building Products & Thriving Startup Team w/ Fiona Bao @GenpulseJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for an insightful episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as she engages in a dynamic conversation with Fiona Bao, the visionary Founder and CEO of Genpulse. This startup is pioneering a network where health data fuels personalized AI agents and accelerates medical discovery.In this episode, Fiona shares her perspective on the challenges and opportunities for startups in today's highly competitive market. The discussion highlights the importance of leveraging networking, incubators, and proximity to the right people and resources to gain a competitive edge. Fiona also delves into the critical role of securing funding, emphasizing how financial capacity impacts the product, team dynamics, and the well-being of the Founder.Through Fiona's experiences and strategic insights, this episode provides valuable guidance for entrepreneurs navigating the startup ecosystem. Whether you're launching a new venture or seeking to pivot your leadership approach, Fiona's journey offers many thoughts for building an innovative business in the tech industry.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order”✉︎ FOLLOW FIONA ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @fiona-b-176458189X: https://x.com/FIFI_BA0 Genpulse: gen-pulse.com✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #147 | Change Is Not Going to Stop — But Your Team's Suffering CanEvery tech leader asks the same question eventually: "When will it slow down? When will I finally have time to think, plan, and breathe?" In this episode, Alex gives the answer that nobody wants to hear — and the reframe that makes it survivable.It won't slow down. Constant adaptation isn't a phase. It's the new permanent state of tech leadership. And the leaders who accept that earliest are the ones who stop being destroyed by it.In this episode, your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, reframes what resilience actually means: not the ability to endure constant stress without breaking, but the ability to return to balance quickly after a disruption — and that is a skill that can be built systematically, not a personality trait you either have or don't.The core of the episode walks through a worked example using the CQ Leadership Method's 4-phase Change Checklist: the role restructure from Junior-Mid-Senior to Mid-Senior-Staff Engineer. Alex maps every risk this change creates when handled poorly — high turnover, distress spikes, motivation drops, trust erosion — and shows exactly how each phase of the checklist addresses them. From the Prep Phase where data and stakeholder buy-in are built, through Communications and Training tailored to individual personality Bases, into Implementation and Stabilization with real pulse checks built in.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #146 | From Big 4 Consulting to Building a FemTech Startup w/ Maggie Lusk @ex-KMPG, @ex-Deloitte, @Seala SyncJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for a compelling episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as we engage in a conversation with Maggie Lusk, an experienced consultant and Founder of Saela Sync, a pioneering FemTech Startup. Maggie shares her journey from her consulting days at KPMG and Deloitte to founding a startup that builds the first adaptive hormone and performance intelligence platform for women.In this episode, Maggie opens up about the hard decisions faced by entrepreneurs and the challenges of building a product from scratch. She shares her personal health story, which inspired her to create an app that provides the support she lacked when she needed it most.We discuss the impact of health issues on performance, efficiency, and creativity, emphasizing the importance of maintaining health to achieve extraordinary results. Maggie also highlights managing the complexity and the importance of focus required to build something remarkable, as well as the significance of smart networking and community engagement for Founders.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:Dr. Ellen Langer’s work“The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health”✉︎ FOLLOW MAGGIE ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @maggieluskSaela Sync: www.saelasync.com✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #145 | 70% of Tech Change Initiatives Fail — And It's Not a Technical ProblemSeventy percent of organizational change initiatives fail to meet their intended outcomes. That number has been consistent across industries and decades — and in almost every case, the failure has nothing to do with the technology involved. It's a people problem. A communication problem. A leadership problem.In this episode, your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, walks through the five root cause buckets behind the 70% failure rate — lack of employee buy-in, insufficient leadership support, poor planning, poor communication, and treating go-live as the finish line — and makes the case that most of these are not mysteries. They're predictable, avoidable, and still happening everywhere because leaders either don't know what to look for or are too overwhelmed to act before the damage is done.The episode also addresses the buy-in problem specifically: why one-size-fits-all communication consistently fails in tech teams, why announcing a restructure on a Friday afternoon is a distress trigger for a significant portion of your team, and why a leader who publicly signals ambivalence about a change will watch their team mirror it within days.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #144 | Directions of Tech Teams Transformation, Meaning of "AI Natives" & Creating Thriving Startups w/ Punit Jajodia @ProgramizJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for an insightful episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as we engage in a conversation with Punit Jajodia, an experienced Startup Co-Founder and the current CEO at Programiz. Punit shares his journey of starting a startup with friends, navigating pivots, and the critical role of a leadership technology background at various stages of a tech organization.We delve into the dynamic changes occurring in tech team structures and the evolving landscape of leveraging AI. Punit explains what it truly means to integrate AI into an organization and the concept of being AI Native. He emphasizes the growing importance of documentation as it serves as the foundational fuel for AI models to learn.This episode also explores the necessity of continuous learning in leadership within the technology sector. Punit provides valuable insights into how leaders can adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing environment, making this discussion essential for anyone looking to stay ahead in the tech industry.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“Click. How to Make What People Want.”✉︎ FOLLOW PUNIT ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @punitjajodiaProgramiz: https://www.programiz.com/✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #143 | The IT Burnout: 6 Categories That Are Quietly Destroying Your TeamThe data is already alarming: 62% of IT professionals feel physically or emotionally drained, 47% of tech leaders feel that way every single week, and only 21% can be considered genuinely healthy when it comes to burnout risk. But the bigger problem isn't the scale — it's that most leaders are treating burnout as one thing, and applying generic fixes to what is actually six very different problems.In this episode, your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, introduces the 6 Burnout Categories from the CQ Leadership Method: Stretching Too Much, Excessive Workload, High-Pressure Environment, Constant Learning Pressure, Work-Life Imbalance, and Lack of Recognition. Each one has a different set of early behavioral signals. Each one requires a different leadership response. And any single category, left unaddressed, is enough to lose someone.The episode unpacks what each category looks like before the crisis point — because by the time someone hands in their notice, you've already lost. Alex shares Maya's story: perfect delivery every sprint, never a complaint, gone in two weeks because nobody saw her as a person beyond her output. Replacement cost: six to nine months of lost productivity and over $40,000 in recruitment. Recognition isn't a soft problem. It’s a strategic one.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #142 | From Legal Practice to Technology Program Delivery w/ Deborah Kaminetzky @DeFacto PMJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for an enlightening episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as we sit down with Deborah Kaminetzky, a seasoned lawyer turned tech entrepreneur. As the Founder of DeFacto PM, Deborah delivers comprehensive technology program delivery for ERP, SaaS, and infrastructure implementations.In this conversation, Deborah shares how her background in Law and English studies, as well as her years of experience as a lawyer, equipped her with the skills necessary to successfully pivot and work in the technology space. We explore the importance of a risk register in making entrepreneurial and leadership decisions and discuss the art of leading without authority, particularly in a project management setup.Deborah emphasizes the significance of involving people in decision-making processes and how coaching or mentoring can propel leaders in technology to the next level. Her insights offer a roadmap for those looking to navigate the intersection of law, technology, and leadership.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee” Podcast:“The Game with Alex Hormozi” Podcast:✉︎ FOLLOW DEBORAH ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @deborah-kaminetzky-pmp-fractional-project-managerDeFacto PM https://www.defactoprojectmanagement.com/✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #141 | Nobody Wakes Up Wanting to Ruin Your Day: The OK-OK Matrix Every Tech Leader NeedsMost team friction isn't malicious. It isn't even intentional. It's the result of people operating from belief systems they developed as children and have never consciously examined — and a leader who understands that will respond to difficult behavior completely differently than one who takes it personally.In this episode, your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, reminds you about the OK-OK Matrix: four positions that shape how people show up in every interaction, every meeting, and every moment of pressure. Each position comes with its own automatic set of beliefs, feelings, and behaviors — and most tech leaders, under deadline pressure, quietly default to "I'm OK, You're Not OK" without realizing the damage that creates.When a leader exits OK-OK, their team mirrors it. Distress is contagious. Psychological safety erodes. And the harder the leader pushes, the more they confirm to the team that they aren't trusted. Alex uses Mike's story to show how a single operating assumption from a boss — "he knows what he's doing, I don't need to explain" — can put a strong person into a three-month distress spiral.The episode closes with a practical, 10-second internal check to run before any difficult conversation, and a framework for identifying your own most common exit from OK-OK — so you can build the habit of returning before the conversation goes sideways.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #140 | Scaling Nations, Building Ecosystem & Building Leadership Lifelong Learning w/ Ajit Shah @YPO, @Lotus HoldingsJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for an enlightening episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as she engages in a rich conversation with Ajit Shaw, a seasoned entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across diverse business sectors. Currently serving as the Director and CEO of Lotus Holdings, Ajit leads a family office with ventures in real estate, handmade rugs, healthcare, IT, offshoring, and business process outsourcing. He is also a YPO Board Member.In this episode, Ajit shares his vision of "local roots and global branches," discussing his efforts to empower Nepalese people as exceptional remote workers on the global stage. The conversation delves into the advantages and challenges of remote work setups, highlighting the importance of building ecosystems and communities that support professional growth.Ajit emphasizes the significance of doing work that supports others and the value of lifelong learning in leadership. Through his experiences and insights, this episode provides a valuable roadmap for leaders looking to harness the power of remote work while fostering community and continuous development. Whether you're leading a global team or nurturing local talent, Ajit's journey offers inspiration for creating impactful and sustainable business practices.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“Sam Altman Biography: His Journey from Y Combinator to Artificial Intelligence Visionary, OpenAI, AGI & Gen AI | The Optimist Behind ChatGPT and the Race to Build the Future of AI”The Founders Podcast✉︎ FOLLOW AJIT ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @ajit-shah-7610a745YPO https://www.ypo.org ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #139 | You Can't Debug a Human: Why Your Developer Skills Are Failing You as a LeaderYou were exceptional at your job. Then you got promoted — and suddenly the skills that made you great started working against you. In this episode, your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, breaks down the most common and most costly transition in tech: moving from expert individual contributor to people leader, and why so many technically brilliant professionals struggle to make that shift.You can't debug a human relationship. You can't refactor someone's motivation. You can't unit-test trust. These aren't philosophical observations — they're the exact gaps that explain why 86% of employees say poor communication causes workplace failures, and why 44% of tech professionals miss deadlines because of unclear communication. The problem isn't a lack of technical skill. It's that technical thinking, applied to people problems, consistently produces the wrong output.Alex walks through Mike's story — the best developer on the team, now drowning in his second week as Team Lead — to make the stakes concrete. Then she introduces the three things the CQ Leadership Method gives you that no amount of technical expertise can replace: a pattern recognition system for human behavior through PCM, a contracting approach that eliminates ambiguous agreements before they become conflicts, and the Wheel of Conflict framework that helps you diagnose what's actually broken instead of fighting the same team dysfunction on a loop.✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/

▶︎ #138 | AI Community, Building Thriving Startups & Dev Teams Change w/ Oleksandr Paraska @Togal.aiJoin your host, Aleksandra Lemańska, for a compelling episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast as she sits down with Oleksandr Paraska, an experienced Machine Learning Engineer and CTO, currently leading as the CTO at Togal.ai. In this insightful conversation, Oleksandr sheds light on the often-overlooked aspect of change management processes within organizations, particularly during tech implementations and transformations.The episode explores the intricacies of building effective tech teams and the critical role of sales skills in the success of startups. Olek also shares his experiences and the benefits of being part of an AI community, emphasizing the importance of community support for startup Founders and Tech Leaders alike.Through Olek's expertise and stories, this episode offers valuable perspectives for leaders navigating the challenges of tech transformations and team dynamics. Whether you're leading a tech initiative or building your startup, Olek's insights provide a roadmap for fostering a supportive community and implementing successful change management strategies.✔︎ Mentioned in the episode:“On Bullshit”✉︎ FOLLOW OLEKSANDR ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @shonikoTogal.ai: https://www.togal.ai/ ✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanskaTikTok: @aleksandra_lemanskaX: @lemanskillsStartup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scpwww.lemanskills.comJoin Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/