4: The 2 Most Critical Components of a CTO Career with Andy Skipper

In this episode, Adam speaks with Andy Skipper, the founder of CTO Craft and a seasoned CTO coach. Andy delves into the benefits of coaching for new CTOs, the growth of the CTO Craft community, as well as offers advice for navigating leadership challenges.

CTO Craft helps thousands of CTOs and Senior Engineering Leaders build skills, experience and resilience, to survive the pressures and demands of the most senior technology role in modern business, as well as provide real commercial impact within their organizations. CTO Craft helps both new and experienced CTOs by providing a safe space for learning and growth among one of the largest peer networks of senior engineering leaders in the world.

Alongside the free community, they help hundreds of CTOs through private mastermind Circles, one-to-one CTO coaching, conferences and other resources. The CTO Craft mission is to increase the success of technology-enabled startups and scale-ups by providing CTOs with the skills and support they need.

Prior to coaching and mentoring new leaders, Andy held CTO roles at Made.com, Comic Relief, and interim roles at dozens of companies such as JustPark, Intu, Threads Styling, Living Maps, Spyscape, VONQ and The School of Life, and has advised and invested in several massively successful businesses in the UK, as well as many VC firms and accelerators.

Timestamps:

3:00 Addressing leadership gaps through coaching.

10:36 Emotional intelligence improvements in personal life.

16:39 Convincing CEOs about coaching benefits.

20:28 Value of external mentoring groups.

24:03 Networking opportunities at CTO events.

29:11 Managing personal expectations in leadership roles.

31:50 Importance of CTOs focusing on the first team.

Stay connected with Andy on LinkedIn

Resources Mentioned:

CTO Craft | Website

CTO Craft Events | Website

CTO Craft | YouTube

Patrick Lencioni's Books | Amazon

Find more from Adam on LinkedIn and YouTube.