Decoding Leadership

Jade Rubick

Decoding Leadership - where we break down the intersection of effective and humane leadership, especially in software product development (engineering, product, and design).

  1. JAN 14

    32. Matt Otis on training that works

    Matt Otis has spent his career around building effective training programs. Training is one of the most important aspects of building a successful organization, but it's often not well understood. Matt had a ton of insights on how to make training really land, and set up people with what they need to succeed. This is useful not just if you're doing training programs (for example, how do you train someone on something you don't know?) He also digs into how training is evolving in modern organizations, especially with the advent of AI.

    50 min

  2. 2025-11-25

    31. Diana Larsen on retros, team liftoffs, agile fluency, and more

    Diana was a delightful and insightful guest. She is a well-known expert on agile retrospectives, team liftoffs, agile fluency, and building resilient learning teams. She's probably the best in the world at these topics, so learn from her perspective!

    1h 4m

  3. 2025-10-29

    30. Elaine May on making change and the dangers of SCRUM

    Elaine May joined Decoding Leadership for a conversation on how to effectively make change as a leader. Elaine was an early agile practitioner, using it in very non-agile environments! She wrote about using agile methods five years before the agile manifesto. She taught me about a concept she calls change budgets. And shared how to deal with critics and naysayers. And then we talked about SCRUM and some of the downsides in the way it's practiced.

    44 min

  4. 2025-09-24

    29. Charity Majors on building organizations you can believe in

    Charity and I had a very personal discussion about the tremendous growth you can make personally as a leader, and the meaning you can derive from having an impact on the lives of the people around you. Full of nuance and perspective, Charity shares how her views have evolved over the years, and how her core values as a leader show up in the work she does. Such a pleasure to share this with you!

    45 min

  5. 2025-08-18

    28. Lena Reinhard on making space for leadership that matters

    Lena shares insights on making space for leadership work, addressing the issues leaders face, and strategies for more thoughtful and rewarding leadership. With experience as a CEO, startup founder, and former VP of engineering, Lena offers a wealth of knowledge on overcoming challenges. We discuss managing energy levels, embracing productivity, and the importance of community and self-awareness in leadership.

    48 min

  6. 2025-07-30

    27. Beth Adele Long on reliability and leadership

    I sit down with Beth Long to discuss her extensive experience with reliability engineering from working at companies like New Relic, Jeli, Gruntwork, and Adaptive Capacity Labs. Beth shares her insights on the role of executives in incident management, the balance between product development and reliability, and how different organizations approach incident coordination. We also explore reliability as a product and the importance of organizational culture in effective incident response. I learned a great deal, and thought about some aspects of reliability in completely new ways. I hope you do too!

    46 min

  7. 2025-06-04

    26. Jade Rubick on reflecting power

    Reflected Power is a way to use power you don’t have. Join me as I introduce the concept of Reflected Power. Reflected Power is using the authority of those above you to amplify your influence and achieve your goals. We’ll cover the nuts and bolts of how to use the positional authority of the people around you to be more effective. Curious to hear your thoughts on this approach! 00:00 Reflecting power: leveraging the power you don’t have 00:17 Introduction 01:26 What is reflecting power, and what does it look like? 03:14 They need to be aligned and view it as important 04:04 Can be done with peers, other leaders, and in a networked way 05:14 Don't overuse this tool 05:32 Delegating up, delegating laterally 07:24 Hierarchical thinking can limit us 08:18 Creating space for others to use your power 09:28 Conclusion

    10 min

  8. 2025-05-21

    25. Molly Graham on Google to Glue

    I had the opportunity to interview Molly Graham, who has an impressive background working at Google, Facebook, and Quip, among other places. In 2022, she founded Glue Club, a community for startup leaders to learn from each other. Molly is best known for her concept of 'giving away your Legos,' which she developed from her experience with rapid organizational scaling. We discuss the emotional and practical aspects of change in startups. Molly also shares her (provative, deliberate, rare!) approach to organizational design, executive team dynamics, and her experience giving a TED Talk on the topic of cliff jumping versus ladder climbing with your career. It's a fascinating conversation full of insights for anyone interested in leadership and growth in fast-paced environments.

    49 min
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About

Decoding Leadership - where we break down the intersection of effective and humane leadership, especially in software product development (engineering, product, and design).

Information

  • Creator
    Jade Rubick
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jade Rubick
  • Show Website
    Decoding Leadership