A Geek Leader Podcast - inspiring technical and creative leaders around the world

John Rouda: technical leader, author, speaker, educator
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The ultimate podcast for aspiring leaders in the creative or technology fields. John Rouda discusses leadership topics, interviews some of the greatest minds today and teaches you practical leadership tips, techniques, tricks and hacks to improve motivation, negotiation, and other much needed skills for leaders today.

  1. 5D AGO

    AGL 448: MichaelAaron Flicker

    About MichaelAaron MichaelAaron Flicker is founder and president of XenoPsi Ventures, a brand incubator firm providing financial, marketing and intellectual capital to a growing portfolio of companies. He launched the business as a high school freshman 27 years ago in Ridgewood, NJ. Strategically, he focuses on managing XenoPsi Ventures portfolio of businesses, launching new companies and building equity-based partnerships with advertisers via XenoPsi Ventures’ innovative remuneration packages based on equity, not billable hours for services rendered. He is president of Method1, Function Growth and Z/Axis Strategies, three of XenoPsi Ventures professional services portfolio companies. He is also the president and founder of the Wellow compression sock e-commerce brand launched in November 2021 with no outside investment. He is a co-founder of the Consumer Behavior Lab in tandem with Richard Shotton. The CBL’s mission is to explore how behavioral science can be applied to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of media and marketing. In 2022, he was recognized as one of the “40 Under 40” by NJBIZ. He is a Board Advisor to Shady Rays and Frances Prescott. Between 2022 – 2024, XenoPsi was named every year to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. MichaelAaron has worked with many of the country’s leading brands including Nike, JPMorgan Chase & Co, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, ACE Insurance, Chubb, & Evan Williams Bourbon. Outside of work, MichaelAaron is Executive Director of Super Science Saturday (a Northern New Jersey science extravaganza for kids), a loving husband, and father of three beautiful children. Today We Talked About Background Behavioral Science 17 Brands What is the “Why” behind what works Human Mind Not what we say, but how we behave Ikea affect Choices of words matter A->B Testing your leadership style Assume everyone has your best intention in mind Respond with open ended questions Connect with MichaelArron LinkedIn Book Podcast Leave me a tip $ Click here to Donate to the show I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

    33 min

  2. DEC 12

    AGL 447: Bogdan Micov

    About Bogdan Bogdan Micov is the go-to transformation expert for elite entrepreneurs, sales professionals, and leaders who want one thing: permanent emotional freedom – Fast. With deep mastery across NLP, Hypnosis, Timeline Paradigm techniques, Quantum Linguistics, and Polarity Integration, Bogdan created The BeRelentless Method™ – a surgical approach that deletes years of emotional baggage, identity friction, and subconscious sabotage in a single day. The Psychology of Calm Power: Why Cortisol Is Killing Your Performance From Overthinking to Overpowering: Deleting Your Emotional Brakes Stop Coping — Start Deleting: The End of Self-Help as You Know It Burnout Isn’t a Strategy Problem — It’s a System Glitch The Identity Reboot: Remembering Who You Were Before the Fear Set In After surviving a stroke at 33 and walking away from $50M+ in high-ticket sales, Bogdan rebuilt his life around one core truth: you don’t need more mindset work – you need deletion. Helped 300+ high-performers permanently eliminate internal blocks and friction Clients have collectively generated $25M+ in revenue post-transformation Survived a stroke and rebuilt his nervous system and performance from the ground up Creator of The BeRelentless Method™ and The Finger Snap Method™ His work is trusted by 300+ top performers across industries who were tired of managing their triggers, battling burnout, or hiding behind productivity hacks and finally wanting to feel clear, calm, and powerful from the inside out. This isn’t coaching. This is system re-coding Today We Talked About Emotions Brain Chemicals Freedom Stroke Ownership of your emotions Results Emotions coming from our Thinking…. Our meaning making process Conditioning – learning from past experiences Cause and Effect Emporement.. get out of that victim’s mindset Perspective Lenses – Deleting, Distorting, Generalizing What are your limiting beliefs? limiting decisions? Challenge the fruitfulness of your thoughts Weaken the belief Question how it serves you After it is removed, how would you feel Give examples Karate Connect with Bogdan LinkedIn Instagram – DM Bogda “Podcast” YouTube Leave me a tip $ Click here to Donate to the show I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

    53 min

  3. DEC 5

    AGL 446: Tamara Laine

    About Tamara Tamara Laine is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, fintech founder, and business growth strategist. As the founder and CEO of MPWR, she is transforming how credit and capital are accessed by gig workers, women, and underserved communities through AI and alternative data. A former gig worker herself, Tamara brings lived experience to her mission of building a more inclusive financial system. She has launched and scaled eight-figure tech ventures, advised banks on equitable capital access, and is a recognized expert in financial inclusion, ethical tech, and economic innovation. Tamara also co-hosts What the Frac?, a podcast on startup growth. Today We Talked About Ethical AI Innovative Leadership Journalism vs. Entrepreneurship Leadership Start with Why? Emotional Leadership Grounded in a good foundation Product first, then Vision Executive Coaching Empathy as a leader Empathy takes Time Being a Mentor Your network, and how you treat your community What the Fract show Connect With Tamara Website LinkedIn Podacst – What the Frac? Leave me a tip $ Click here to Donate to the show I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

    39 min

  4. NOV 28

    AGL 445: Len Ward

    About Len Len, a former Wall Street VP on the institutional equity trading desk, transitioned from the high-stakes world of finance to become a digital marketing expert—and now leads the AI revolution at Commexis, an AI consulting and product development firm. His career began at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse during the dot-com boom, where he saw how emerging technologies transform industries. That experience sparked his shift into entrepreneurship, launching an e-commerce business and self-teaching SEO, paid media, and digital growth. With a rare blend of financial insight, entrepreneurial experience, and AI expertise, Len brings practical, forward-thinking guidance to today’s business leaders. He’s a sought-after voice for business leaders ready to understand how AI is changing marketing, operations, and growth—and what it takes to stay ahead. Today We Talked About Len’s bcakground Build custom GPTs Run reports for you AI for Marketing The Power of AI AI Chatbot Analytics AI leadership What is Commexis?   Connect With Len LinkedIn Website Leave me a tip $ Click here to Donate to the show I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

    36 min

  5. NOV 21

    AGL 444: Steven Werley

    About Steven Steven Werley is a father, husband, brother, son, former Army Ranger, marketer, and entrepreneur on a quest for purpose, hope, and growth. There is no singular theme to his work. Some pieces are geared toward business owners and marketing executives, while others speak to individuals like him who are still discovering their path in life. For Werley, writing serves as a form of therapy. He pursues it not for celebrity status, a book deal, or any ulterior motive, but simply as an outlet for his thoughts. If those thoughts happen to help others along the way, he views it as a welcome side effect. Werley has long considered the sharing of knowledge a rather primitive aspect of humanity. Wisdom and experience circulate widely, yet society often fails to prepare its children for life’s challenges—not from a lack of collective experience, but from an inability to prioritize the lessons imparted by parents, teachers, business leaders, scientists, doctors, and even politicians. He champions transparency above all. Those seeking hidden tricks to amass overnight millions, become beloved leaders, master parenting, or unlock the meaning of life may depart feeling unfulfilled. At the time of this writing, Werley is no world-renowned expert in any field, including parenting or business. As he has noted from the outset, growth remains one of his core goals. He aims to foster it by documenting his knowledge, goals, and learnings. If there is a single force to propel progress, it is the commitment to learn something new each day and to infuse love into every interaction. Among the most enduring lessons is that simple acts of kindness can unleash tidal-wave chains of events, rippling through the lives of countless others. Today We Talked About Military background Entrepreneurship Sales AI’s help with Sales Feedback loops “This is The Play“ Stoacism Connect with Steven Website LinkedIn Podcast Closable AI Leave me a tip $ Click here to Donate to the show I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

    31 min

  6. NOV 14

    AGL 443: Product Driven with Matt Watson

    About Matt Matt Watson learned the power of product-driven development the hard way. In 2003, at just 22 years old, he founded VinSolutions with exceptional technical talent but little product focus. The team built flawless features—yet few customers wanted to use them. Everything changed when the company shifted its mindset from “coders” to true product owners. By transforming its development culture, VinSolutions cut cycle times in half, dramatically increased feature adoption, and scaled to $35M in recurring revenue before being acquired by AutoTrader for $150M in 2011. He carried those lessons to Stackify, where a product-first culture was embedded from the very beginning. Developers weren’t just writing code—they were innovating by deeply understanding user problems. That approach fueled another success story, leading to Stackify’s acquisition by Netreo in 2021. Today, as founder of Full Scale, Matt helps other technical leaders make the same transformation. With a team of more than 300 developers serving 60+ clients worldwide, Full Scale demonstrates that a product-first approach works across time zones and geographies. This isn’t theory—it’s battle-tested experience from building and scaling multiple successful software companies. Today We Talked About Background Coding Product Driven Empathy Purpose Leadership Field Trips Feedback loops Product Managers could become the bottle neck Getting engineering involved in product Learn to say NO What if we “don’t do it” One way Door, or Two way Door Decisions Don’t stress about 2 way door decisions How you communicate every day Courage Thank and reward people for sharing Delegate  Hire people you trust learn to let go don’t be the bottle neck Create Personal Relationships to build Trust Know the Why? Connect with Matt LinkedIn Website Book Full Scale Podcast Leave me a tip $ Click here to Donate to the show I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

    38 min

  7. NOV 7

    AGL 442: Emily Chase Coleman

    About Emily Emily Chase Coleman is a visionary in higher education analytics, reshaping how institutions use data to drive strategy. As the Co-founder of HAI Analytics Inc., she helps colleges and universities make informed, data-backed decisions about enrollment, financial aid, and student success. With over 20 years in higher education leadership and a PhD in Social Psychology and Statistics from Cornell, Emily is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between data science and institutional strategy. At HAI Analytics, Emily is leading the charge in making predictive modeling and data visualization tools more accessible to university decision-makers. Her team has developed an innovative software-with-service platform, empowering institutions to use analytics for long-term sustainability without relying on full-time consultants. Emily is also a strong advocate for education reform, challenging outdated models in admissions and financial aid. She critiques the high-price, high-discount tuition system for exacerbating socioeconomic disparities and pushes for test-optional admissions to promote equity in college access. Beyond higher education, Emily champions women in leadership and tech, sharing insights from her journey as a female founder in edtech and data analytics. She is passionate about increasing representation in STEM and creating pathways for women entrepreneurs. Today We Talked About Background Higher Education Analytics and Data Visualization for data modeling Interactive Dashboards Understanding the Data Connect With Emily LinkedIn Website Leave me a tip $ Click here to Donate to the show I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

    20 min

  8. OCT 31

    AGL 441: Magdalene Amegashitsi

    About Magdalene Magdalene Amegashitsi is an accomplished digital and data leader, currently serving as Senior Manager in Digital Advisory at Avanade, where she brings over 12 years of experience in helping organisations unlock value from data through AI, data strategy, governance and digital innovation. Throughout her career, Magdalene has held a variety of roles spanning Data & AI advisory, data science, team leadership and digital ethics. Her hands-on approach and strategic vision enable mission-driven organisations to transform through intelligent solutions that tie business, data and technology together. A passionate advocate for inclusion, leadership and empowerment, she founded the Women’s Employee Network (WEN) for the UK & Ireland at Avanade in 2019. Under her leadership the community grew to 150+ active members, fostering growth, connection and professional development for women in technology and leadership.  In 2023, she took on the role of Co-Chair for the WEN for the Europe Chapter (covering 16 countries), broadening her impact across the region. Magdalene’s dedication to driving change has also been recognised across the tech industry. Notably, she was selected as one of six Role Models and Ambassadors for the Tech Talent Charter “Doing It Anyway” campaign and in 2022 received the TechWomen100 Award by WeAreTheCity. Outside of her corporate role, Magdalene invests in mentorship, hosts webinars, and partners with charities to support girls from under-privileged backgrounds in entering STEM and tech fields. Her personal mission: do what matters — creating impact, developing people, and building inclusive futures. Today We Talked About Magdalene’s background AI Anaiya AI Governance AI Strategy Roadmap Value Data and Analytics Time Saved Change Adobption Journey AI Ready Culture High Engagement Have Champions in each department/area AI Transformation Engagement Technical Mastery Transformational Leadership Organizational Navigation Connect with Magdalene LinkedIn Leave me a tip $ Click here to Donate to the show I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again! #1 in Technical Leadership

    41 min
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4.9
out of 5
47 Ratings

About

The ultimate podcast for aspiring leaders in the creative or technology fields. John Rouda discusses leadership topics, interviews some of the greatest minds today and teaches you practical leadership tips, techniques, tricks and hacks to improve motivation, negotiation, and other much needed skills for leaders today.

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