Making the transition into leadership - A CTO's guide to making the move

Kris Owens is the Founder of Nova and a tech Recruiter. Dan Harper is a Tech Career coach at Velocifire and a CTO at Homes.com.au. Joel Nation is the CoFounder and CTO of both Imminently and Decisively. Kris Owens is the Founder of Nova and a tech Recruiter. The conversation explores the importance of engineers transitioning into leadership roles and their challenges in dealing with people. Dan Harper shares his experience of helping engineers become effective leaders and the need for engineers to develop people skills alongside technical skills. They discuss the mindset shift required to move from individual contribution to team leadership and the rewards of seeing the impact of building and leading a team. They also touch on the signs to look for in identifying potential leaders and the importance of communication and mentoring in developing leadership skills. They also highlight the importance of being opinionated and having strong opinions, but also being willing to admit when you're wrong and pivot. They discuss the role of leaders in creating a culture of open communication and feedback, and the value of robust discussions and diverse perspectives. They also touch on the assessment of soft skills in the hiring process and the ongoing measurement and development of these skills in the workplace. "Your effectiveness, your impact as a technical person is capped by how well you deal with people."