40% Better - Engineering Leadership

The world of technology is ever-evolving, and with it comes the need for effective leadership.

In this episode we delve into the unexpected journey of leadership within the tech industry, highlighting insights from a recent conversation on the 40% Better Podcast with Lee, a seasoned technology leader.

This discussion reveals how leadership often emerges not from a deliberate pursuit but rather through unique experiences and opportunities.

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Chase F., Chairperson of the National Privacy Council, to discuss leadership, cybersecurity, privacy, career growth, failure, and the importance of building strong teams. Chase shares his unique journey from a 20-year career in law enforcement to cybersecurity, IT leadership, teaching, entrepreneurship, and privacy advocacy. He explains how his experience as a detective, undercover officer, dive master, and field training officer shaped his approach to leadership and helped him transition into the technology and cybersecurity space. The conversation explores why cybersecurity is ultimately a people and culture problem, not...

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Zach Stein, Director of Information Technology at RuffleButts®, to explore his leadership journey, the transition from individual contributor to technology leader, and the lessons he has learned along the way. Zach shares how he grew from being the first developer at a company into a leadership role, building teams and taking on greater responsibility over a decade-long career. He discusses why communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and empathy can matter more than technical skills when hiring and leading software engineers. The conversation also dives into building a blame-free engineering culture, c...

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Dr. Debra Clary, Founder & Leadership Advisor at The Clary Group, to explore the powerful connection between curiosity, leadership, performance, and personal growth. Dr. Debra Clary shares why curiosity is not simply an innate personality trait, but a skill and mindset that can be encouraged and developed. They discuss how curiosity impacts leadership performance, why organizations often unintentionally discourage curiosity, and how leaders can create a culture where asking questions, exploring ideas, and challenging assumptions are encouraged. The conversation also explores the neuroscience behind curiosity, learning, fear, and dopamine...

In this episode of the 40% Better podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Brandon Rockhold, VP Engineering at Aquia, to explore the principles of effective leadership, psychological safety, trust, emotional intelligence, and building high-performing technology teams. Brandon shares his journey from software engineering to leadership and explains how he stepped into management to protect and strengthen a team culture he deeply valued. The conversation explores why low ego and high support environments help teams collaborate, learn, and perform at their best. They also discuss how leaders can build trust by leading by example, creating psychological safety, embracing vulnerability, and recognizing their...

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Kevin Dias, Founder of Ambiki, to explore leadership, remote teams, customer-driven product development, and the unexpected paths that lead to leadership in technology. Kevin shares how his leadership journey began by starting a college ski team and how that early experience shaped his approach to solving problems, building relationships, and taking initiative without waiting for authority or permission. The conversation covers practical leadership lessons, including why leadership is about trust and relationships, how to make better decisions, the importance of Nemawashi, and why great leaders don't always need...

In this episode of the 40% Better podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Crystal Rowland, Founder & Senior Consultant at Path to Serenity Consulting, for a powerful conversation about self-awareness, workplace well-being, emotional regulation, leadership, and finding purpose in your career. Crystal shares her personal journey from working in the insurance industry to developing training programs focused on workplace well-being, emotional awareness, and helping people become more present at work. She explains how observing gaps in communication and training led her to create workshops that addressed not only professional skills but also the human side of work. The conversation explores why self-awareness...

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with LJ Morris, Chief Technology Officer at ProScore Technologies, to explore the leadership lessons that shaped his career and his approach to building high-performing teams. LJ shares the incredible story of organizing a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain at just 13 years old, an experience that sparked his passion for leadership and taught him the importance of bringing people together around shared experiences. The conversation covers servant leadership, psychological safety, building trust, learning from failure, employee retention, communication, emotional intelligence, and creating a workplace where people feel valued and...

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Jonathan Fullam, VP of Customer Engineering at vCluster, for a thoughtful conversation about leadership, team culture, employee motivation, and the human side of managing technology teams. Jonathan Fullam shares his journey from software engineering into leadership and the lessons he learned from working with strong leaders and role models. He explains why great leaders should put the spotlight on their teams, how to build trust, and why leadership is about helping others succeed rather than seeking recognition. The conversation also explores mental health, burnout prevention, rest and recovery...

Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about continuous learning, building strong relationships, and helping others grow. In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Justin Ryburn, Field CTO & Vice President, Global Solutions Engineering at Kentik, to discuss what it really takes to become an effective technology leader. Justin shares lessons from his leadership journey, the importance of a growth mindset, coaching high-performing teams, communicating with executives, and developing future leaders. Whether you're an engineering manager, tech lead, solutions architect, or aspiring leader, this conversation is packed with practical advice you can apply to your...

Leadership is more than managing people. It's about coaching them to grow. In this episode of 40 % Better, Bill Lennan sits down with Craig Hunt, Chief Technology Officer at Sagecrest Solutions, to discuss what separates great leaders from average managers. Craig shares how early leadership failures shaped his career, why leadership should be taught before someone gets promoted, and how coaching, ownership, transparency, and succession planning create high-performing teams. The conversation also explores AI in leadership, employee engagement, company culture, startup growth, and why investing in people delivers long-term business success. Whether you're a CTO, engineering manager, founder, team lead, or...

What does it really take to become a great engineering leader? In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Matt Delacour, Chief Technology Officer at CoinList, to explore the leadership lessons that shaped his journey from entrepreneur and data scientist to CTO. Matt shares how coaching transformed his leadership style, why communication often matters more than technical ability, and how collaborative leadership creates stronger, more engaged engineering teams. He also discusses hiring, career growth, mentoring senior engineers, building high-performing teams, and why long-term thinking beats chasing every opportunity. If you're an engineering manager, software developer, startup...

Leadership is not about a title. It is about seeing a problem, taking initiative, and helping people succeed. In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Natalie Renee Parker, Founder | Organizational Development | Talent Management | Employee Engagement at Natalie Parker Enterprises, to explore what real leadership looks like in today's workplace. Drawing from her experience across HR, talent management, organizational development, and executive coaching, Natalie shares practical lessons on employee engagement, leadership development, workplace culture, career growth, and creating meaningful impact without waiting for permission. Whether you're a first time manager, an executive, HR professional, or someone...

What does it actually take to get real business value from AI? Jimi Li, CTO at ALM Media, has spent the last three years running AI initiatives inside a company that just went through a successful private equity exit — and he's got the framework to prove what works. From his early days in GE's global leadership program to building L'Oreal's e-commerce platform at scale, Jimi's career has always centred on one question: how does the work you're doing connect to business impact? That same lens is exactly how he approaches AI today. In this episode, Jimi breaks down the three ca...

40 Percent Better Podcast with Bill Lennan featuring Jonathan Domsky, Founder and Coach at Untangled Coaching. In this episode, Jonathan shares his journey from accidental entrepreneur to leadership coach and explains how personal growth, self-awareness, and better leadership practices can transform businesses and lives. Jonathan talks about building a successful company, learning leadership through experience, creating strong team cultures, and why great leaders do not need to be the smartest person in the room. Instead, they need to empower their teams, remove obstacles, and help people succeed. They discuss leadership development, entrepreneurship, finding your purpose, overcoming limiting beliefs, building accountability, and...

40 Percent Better Podcast with Bill Lennan featuring Dominic Vogel, President of Vogel Cyber Leadership & Coaching. In this episode, Dominic shares his journey from cybersecurity leadership to entrepreneurship, the lessons he learned from burnout, and how self-awareness transformed his approach to leadership. They discuss the connection between leadership and cybersecurity, building trust, embracing uncertainty, the importance of curiosity, and why cyber risk should be treated as a business priority, not just an IT issue. Dominic Vogel talks about creating meaningful impact, developing stronger leaders, and helping organizations understand that security starts with people, culture, and better decision-making. Topics covered: • Leadership lessons fr...

In this episode of 40 Percent Better, Bill Lennan sits down with Victor Augusteo, CTO @ Boon, for a wide-ranging conversation on leadership, decision-making, artificial intelligence, construction technology, and the mental models that shape success. Victor shares lessons from his personal leadership journey, explaining how concepts like enlightened self-interest, situational awareness, and pattern recognition influence both business and life. The discussion explores how leaders can develop stronger decision-making skills, build resilient teams, and create systems that scale knowledge across organizations. The conversation also dives deep into the relationship between human cognition and AI, comparing neural networks to human thought processes and examining...

In this episode of 40 Percent Better, Bill Lennan sits down with Dave Bair, Operations Executive: Certified Change Management Professional; Collaborative Design & NLP Practitioner, to explore the leadership principles that help teams thrive in complex and fast-changing environments. Dave shares his leadership journey, the transferable skills that shaped his career, and why creating clarity, trust, and psychological safety is essential for high-performing teams. The conversation covers learning organizations, effective communication, cultural learning, team dynamics, and the evolving role of leaders in modern organizations. Whether you're a manager, executive, team leader, or aspiring leader, this episode offers practical insights on building trust...

In this episode of 40 Percent Better, Bill Lennan sits down with Craig Taylor, CEO and Co-Founder of CyberHoot, to talk about leadership, cybersecurity, communication, and the power of positive reinforcement in workplace training. Craig shares his journey from early leadership experiences and public speaking failures to building a cybersecurity company focused on making security awareness engaging, human, and effective. The conversation dives into leadership lessons, root cause problem solving, social anxiety, Toastmasters, AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, and why most cybersecurity training fails employees. You’ll also hear how CyberHoot is changing the way organizations approach cybersecurity awareness through ga...

In this episode of 40 Percent Better, Bill Lennan sits down with Gavin McMahon, CEO of fassforward and author of Story Business, for a fascinating conversation about leadership, storytelling, team alignment, and the power of creating shared context. Drawing from his experience working with organizations around the world, Gavin explains why storytelling is one of the most effective tools a leader can use to inspire action, build trust, and help teams make better decisions. The discussion explores how leaders can create motivated, high-performing teams by focusing less on directing every task and more on helping people understand the bigger picture. Topics...

In this episode of 40 Percent Better, Bill Lennan sits down with Jimmy Burroughes, Founder of Aidencoach.io, to explore what real leadership looks like beyond job titles and hierarchy. The conversation dives deep into practical leadership lessons drawn from military cadets, software teams, and modern organizations struggling with complexity, trust, and execution. Jimmy shares his core philosophy of leadership as a mindset, not a position, and introduces powerful ideas like friction removal and compound performance through his Simplify to Amplify approach. Together, Bill and Jimmy unpack why so many teams feel stuck despite working hard, and how clarity, ownership, and...

Welcome to 40 Percent Better with Bill Lennan featuring Joshua Gould, Group CEO @ thebigword In this episode, Bill Lennan and Joshua Gould dive into leadership, AI, business growth, technology transformation, and what it really takes to build resilient teams in a rapidly changing world. Joshua shares his journey of growing thebigword from a $6 million business into a company generating over $100 million in revenue. The conversation explores AI evolution, leadership principles, communication skills, sales mindset, startup challenges, hiring resilient people, and how technology can strengthen human potential instead of replacing it. Topics covered: • AI and leadership in modern business • Building resilient teams • Scalin...

In this episode of 40 Percent Better, Bill Lennan sits down with Charley Wedeen-Zittle, Sr. Value Engineer at Box, for a raw and thoughtful conversation about leadership, power dynamics, and what actually makes people thrive at work. Charley shares how her leadership journey began early in life, shaped by a strong sense of responsibility and a belief that if you care, you step up. From student leadership to navigating complex workplace environments, she reflects on lessons learned the hard way, including balancing efficiency with empathy and learning how to lead with people, not over them. This conversation goes deep into what...

Step inside a real-world tech leadership journey in this episode of 40 Percent Better with Bill Lennan and guest Juan Boyce, Chief Technology Officer, Principal Software Engineer at Boyce Tech. Juan shares how he got started in software engineering at startups, where leadership often shows up before the title does. He talks about automating his early work, earning recognition from leadership, and learning how to influence teams through action rather than authority. The conversation explores the difference between startup environments and large companies, why hands-on problem solving matters, and how early exposure to responsibility can shape stronger engineers and leaders. Juan...

Welcome to the 40% Better podcast with your host, Bill Lennan!

In this episode, we sit down with Rob Zuber to explore his candid journey into leadership—from the trial by fire of the startup world to managing complexity in scaling organizations. This conversation is a masterclass in how to build a high-performing culture by putting people first.

Rob dives deep into the non-negotiables of modern leadership, emphasizing why psychological safety isn't just a buzzword, but the foundation for true innovation and honest feedback. We discuss the critical role of clarity in leadership, how to cultivate intrinsic mo...

What does it actually take to get real business value from AI? Jimi Li, CTO at ALM Media, has spent the last three years running AI initiatives inside a company that just went through a successful private equity exit — and he's got the framework to prove what works. From his early days in GE's global leadership program to building L'Oreal's e-commerce platform at scale, Jimi's career has always centred on one question: how does the work you're doing connect to business impact? That same lens is exactly how he approaches AI today.
In this episode, Jimi breaks down the th...

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Jeremy Hass shares powerful insights from his leadership journey, shaped by his experiences in the military, startups, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Jeremy dives into the importance of resilience, risk-taking, and personal growth, explaining how embracing challenges can lead to long-term success in both life and business. He also discusses how Brazilian Jiu Jitsu transformed his mindset, teaching discipline, adaptability, and emotional resilience.
The conversation explores how leaders can build strong teams, communicate effectively, and develop future leaders within their organizations. Jeremy also shares practical advice for navigating failure, pursuing meaningful...

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Tamara Laine shares her unconventional leadership journey from teaching dance at a young age to working in documentaries, journalism, and eventually leading in the tech world.

Tamara breaks down how taking risks, embracing failure, and building resilience shaped her career and leadership style. She explains why confidence is built through repetition, how communication is a learned skill, and why breaking big goals into micro tasks is essential for success.
The conversation also explores leadership in startups, building effective systems, and how great leaders empower their teams while staying adaptable. Tamara...

Serial entrepreneur Oscar Hedaya, founder of SPACE and The Space Safe, joins Bill Lennan on the 40% Better podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on what real leadership looks like across industries. Oscar's career has taken him from visual merchandising in New York to touch-screen gloves, electric mobility, and now the world's first smart safe with a built-in camera, touchscreen, tamper sensors, and app connectivity. Along the way, he's built and led teams of 25+ people across hardware, software, firmware, and design, and he shares the hard-won lessons that came from managing very different personalities under one roof. The conversation digs into the...

Most organizations measure engagement. But engagement only tells you who's busy, not who's going to stay. Andrea D. Carter, organizational scientist and creator of the Belonging First methodology, joins the 40% Better podcast to share why belonging is measurable performance infrastructure and what technical leaders need to build it on purpose. Andrea is CEO and Founder of Andrea Carter Consulting and creator of the Belonging First Methodology.
Andrea developed the first scientifically validated framework for measuring workplace belonging, starting with a two-year study across 3,500+ employees in Canada's mining sector. The findings were clear: belonging gaps aren't primarily a diversity...

In two decades of coaching leaders across startups to multi-billion dollar corporations, Ian Watts discovered that companies lose talented people not because of compensation, but because they treat employees like replaceable widgets instead of human beings with aspirations beyond their job description. As founder of Employee Success Company, Ian developed the ACTS Method after reverse-engineering what allowed him to build teams with minimal turnover across 60 locations nationwide, recruiting over 400 loyal team members who knew exactly how much he cared about their personal success.
Ian shares why the best leaders work themselves out of a job by making themselves unnecessary...

In 2002, a 25-year-old Andrei Yurkevich started a software outstaffing business in Belarus with internet speeds under 100 kilobits per second for the entire country—slower than a dial-up modem. Twenty-two years later, he's President and CTO of Altoros with 350+ engineers across 25 countries, plus multiple spin-off companies including Protofire, a Web3-focused venture. Andrei shares why he spent two years answering seven questions that should have taken two hours, why distribution must always come before delivery, and how giving everyone equity ownership creates the type of organization where people leave, gain experience, and choose to return.
Discover why Andrei's biggest hi...

In 2002, a 25-year-old Andrei Yurkevich started a software outstaffing business in Belarus with internet speeds under 100 kilobits per second for the entire country—slower than a dial-up modem. Twenty-two years later, he's President and CTO of Altoros with 350+ engineers across 25 countries, plus multiple spin-off companies including Protofire, a Web3-focused venture. Andrei shares why he spent two years answering seven questions that should have taken two hours, why distribution must always come before delivery, and how giving everyone equity ownership creates the type of organization where people leave, gain experience, and choose to return.
Discover why Andrei's biggest hi...

When Josh Carroll tells his engineers not to bring him their hard problems, he's actually doing the opposite—he's making sure they feel resourced enough to tackle anything. As an engineering leader with 20+ years of experience who's scaled teams at agencies, startups, and now Skylight, Josh has learned that leadership is problem-solving with people, not code. He shares why his old boss told him to "run to the inevitable"—why waiting to have hard conversations makes everything worse—and how discovering he has ADHD transformed his listening skills after painful 360 feedback revealed he was making conversations about himself when trying to sho...

When Sairan Aqrawi decided to become a swimming coach as a teenager in Iraq, she discovered something critical about leadership: passion alone isn't enough. You need skills, responsibility, and the willingness to take action. That early lesson would carry her through 30 years of engineering across the Middle East and United States, where she learned that failure isn't the end—it's where real growth begins.

Sairan shares why she tells young engineers that no one will die from their mistakes, using this extreme framing to help them understand that taking risks is essential for growth. Discover why she believes th...

When Sebastien Jean was five years old, he organized all the neighborhood kids into a military parade after seeing his first air show. Kids much older than him willingly followed this little commander up and down the street for 20 minutes while parents watched from their porches. That early leadership moment would eventually lead him to become CTO of Fizon Electronics, a company that makes 20% of the planet's SSDs.
Sebastien shares how his unconventional path through the Army Reserve Signal Corps taught him that to be a good leader, you first have to be a good follower. Discover why he...

From College Meal Plans to Multi-Tenant Cloud Platforms: How a CTO Built an 80% Market Share by Stacking the Odds for His Teams with Taran Lent
What started as a hungry college student solving his own problem with slips of paper and a bicycle turned into a career building mission-critical payment platforms serving 80% of colleges nationwide. Taran Lent, CTO of Transact Seaboard (soon to be Illumia), shares how sports taught him that being coached means someone believes in your potential, and why he refuses assignments when he knows they're set up to fail.
Discover why Taran believes the most...

When Prashanth Tondapu started his company at 27, he had no formal leadership training. What he discovered through building an 85-person engineering team would completely transform his approach to leadership, starting with a personal crisis that became his greatest teacher.
In this deeply personal conversation, Prashanth shares how his wife's cancer diagnosis three years ago shattered his illusion of control and led him to discover Advaita philosophy and the power of emotional regulation. Learn why he believes being a witness to your emotions rather than being consumed by them is the first critical skill every leader must develop.
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Discover why traditional technical skills aren't enough anymore. Bryan O'Neill, engineering leader with 35+ years of experience, shares how communication skills and growth mindset are becoming more valuable than pure coding ability in the age of AI-assisted development.
In this conversation, Bryan breaks down practical strategies for helping engineering teams adapt to rapid technological change, from creating AI wins channels to sending engineers to practitioner-led conferences. Learn why the best engineers are making the shift from focusing on "bits and bytes" to understanding business value, and how AI tools are changing the role of software engineers from coders to...

In this episode of the 40% Better podcast, host Bill Lennan is joined by technology leader Durgesh Sukhtankar for a deep conversation on leadership, curiosity, and building high performing product teams.

Durgesh shares his leadership origin story, from engineering roles at GE Healthcare to helping teams transition from project based delivery to true product ownership. Together, Bill and Durgesh unpack why leadership starts long before a management title, how curiosity drives better decision making, and why empowered teams consistently outperform deadline driven ones.

The conversation explores practical leadership lessons including building product oriented teams, creating psychological safety...