Authority Issues

By Rachel Perkins and Kendall Miller

Welcome to Authority Issues, a podcast about leadership, management, and competitive prescription writing.

Hosted by Rachel Perkins (aka piebob), and Kendall Miller... more

4.6

88 ratings

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FAQs about Authority Issues:

How many episodes does Authority Issues have?

The podcast currently has 100 episodes available.

Authority Issues episodes:

May 12, 2022Episode 80: Anurag Sharma (Chargebee)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Anurag talk about:
Getting left in charge as a career progression mechanism
An "unusual" level of interest in affecting long-term strategy and systems thinking from an economics background
Betting on more candidates by giving them an opportunity outside of their current background
The vagueness of product management and strategy
Instilling a culture of ownership/safety when everyone is working remotely
How sometimes more meetings is...good? At least when onboarding, as a way to develop culture by seeing other people interact.
Onboarding that results in checking in code within 5 days
LOUD NOISES
Admiration for one's leaders, learning by watching them
Authority as responsibility to one's team vs power
Intermission to enjoy Kendall's dog
Safety to make mistakes as a child, wanting that for your team
rachel has Opinions about calling your colleagues your "family"
Loyalty to people vs company
Enjoyment of natural places
Using leadership skills to improve life with friends and family
You can find Anurag on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asblr/
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
42min
January 20, 2022Episode 79: Is it OK to be happy right now?
In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about:
Coping mechanisms: are some worse than others? Where is the line?
What happens when a planner can't make any plans?
rachel's effusive declarations about indie sewing patterns
Kendall's...disappointing COVID experience
Why does it seem wrong to feel happy when people around the world are suffering?
When it's helpful to compartmentalize
Clarifying what you're actually feeling guilty about
Happiness as self-care
How much authenticity is too much, at work?
The need for a mechanism for feeling hope
Hitting that bucket list
A song that changed the path of a life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXk5dXYw728
A quick detour for hot tub recommendations and rap lyrics from Kendall
The value of self-understanding, introspection, honesty
Polarization for good and bad reasons
Doing the little things that make you happy (like making a podcast with a good friend <3 )
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
50min
January 06, 2022Episode 78: Sean O'Connor (Datadog)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Sean talk about:
The genesis of this podcast, and who we have to thank
How taking the traditional path of CS to engineering leadership is the rare case
Getting into guiding and mentoring at a small company named Huge (lol)
Being glad for having done the deathmarch type work when you were younger
Learning many important lessons via a failed startup
Why consulting is often not appealing
Finally getting into bonafide engineering management, with no training
A free podcast idea: Awkward Silences
The blessing and curse of being a problemsolver
The idea that listening is an action
Not being able to let go of puns
Timing complexity when trying to promote internally
How high trust environments must exist across a given company to work well, and how this makes hiring a much higher stakes proposition
Intent to 3D print and make things out of wood
You can find Sean at seanoc.com
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
47min
December 17, 2021Episode 77: Making an ass out of u and me (assuming positive intent)
In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about:
Dietary constraints for gout sufferers
Non-traditional Thanksgiving fare and excitement about cabbage rolls
Kendall's adventures in escalating vegetarianism
The definition of "assuming positive intent"
How the power dynamic matters
Why it's unreasonable to expect marginalized people to assume positive intent by default
Kendall realizes once again he's playing the game on "easy" mode
When assuming positive intent works well, why it's valuable and to whom
Why this episode has the "explicit" tag :)
A time when Kendall did not assume positive intent
The dangers of making "assume positive intent" a corporate policy
How this relates to injustice in the greater social world
Kendall's unflagging optimism about people
rachel's tactics for navigating a situation where you can't assume positive intent
Why intent is not as important as impact
How to serve a colleague or employee who reports discrimination
Our desire for more topics to discuss, tweet us at @djpiebob and @blatanterror with your requests!
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
50min
December 02, 2021Episode 76: Marilyn Cole (Tuft & Needle)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Marilyn talk about:
Wishing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our guest :)
Growing up in a household that had computers
Working in tech: doing math, but also making money!
Going back to school, getting an internship at Google
The value of just having credentials (why to get a Masters degree)
The Wrong Kind of Management Training
Going back to being an IC....briefly
Getting crappy leadership advice
When not to "lighten the mood" and how the rules are different for men vs women
Enjoying the peer support of being a leader among several instead of being The One Boss
Educating Kendall about K&R, a rare opportunity to gatekeep for rachel :)
Enjoying being involved in decisionmaking vs being The Authority
Enthusiasm for houseplants and reading during the pandemic
You can find Marilyn on Twitter as @mmmarilyn :)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
48min
November 11, 2021Episode 75: Eli Daniel (Jellyfish)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Eli talk about:
The most apt failed startup name ever
A terrible first experience as a manager and being voluntold to try it again
Enjoying the force multiplier of leadership vs individual contribution
Oracle acquisition zingers (nice one, Kendall)
Being Guild-less at Spotify
Going from being told what to build to asking what should be built
Learning that it's important to also care about the business plan
Communicating and marketing business context to [naive|entitled] engineers
How that context helps drive a more collaborative process and empowers engineers
How big is too big? Kendall asking the important questions
The inevitability of acquiring a "superstructure of bullshit"
Outgrowing the "rah rah" aspect of working at a company
Feelings of beard inadequacy and enjoyment of bicycles
The romance of building a sailboat with your life partner
You can find Eli on the Rands Leadership Slack and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-daniel/
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
49min
October 21, 2021Episode 74: The Future of Remote-First is Now! (also: Doesn't "Return to Work" imply we stopped working at some point?)
In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about:
Kendall's amazing inflatable hot tub
Having a little bit of guest visit enjoyment, as a treat
The quaint marvel that is rachel's small-town paper's Police Blotter
(here's the video i reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mG2RGp-lcw&t=5s )
Wildlife encounters
Not blaming people who choose safety over working a service industry job
The need for a social safety net
A heartwarming tale of anonymous free fancy dinner
How companies who think "remote first" was just a phase are losing employees to the ones who realize it is the way of the future
The investment in support and infrastructure needed to successfully implement a "remote first" workplace
Ego-driven leadership and the need to survey one's domain
A theory about innovation needing people being in a room together
Whether the ability to multi-task during your Zoom meetings /really/ mean you're more productive?
How not having drive-by interruptions all day definitely helps
The possibility of a cultural split among companies -- in-person culture vs remote-first culture
Whether our listeners want more of this kind of episode--let us know!
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
48min
October 07, 2021Episode 73: Why do people cling to their shitty ways? How and when do we embrace change?
In this episode, rachel and Kendall talk about:
More than you wanted to know about grocery store ginger purchases
How some people use the term "a couple" to mean something other than exactly 2 and that they are Wrong
Examples of technologies that suck but people still use
Being caught up in the glories of the past (rachel would like to point out that she used a sharpie to black out Gene Simmons on her KISS shirt)
The downsides of Agile/continuous shipping of things vs Waterfall (warning, heresy inside)
Blaming growing inflexibility as one gets older
Unselfawareness in the face of serial shittiness
Two reasons: arrogance or laziness
How one gets stuck, how to know if you're stuck
Recommendations:
rachel: The Great British Sewing Bee (tv show, if you liked GBBO, you'll probably like this too)
rachel: The Alienist (kinda gruesome, moody period crime drama)
Kendall: fail videos from user mrmrmike on YouTube (great way to learn things NOT to do)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
48min
September 16, 2021Episode 72: Money is all that matters (a Very Special Installment)
In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about:
Spending money on Things and our feelings about that
Are we the baddies?
The nature of golden handcuffs
What is "enough"?
"Work" as a social outlet
Contentment vs. satisfaction
Kendall's wanderlust and associated twitchiness
Enabling satisfaction for your employees
Impact and the effectiveness of giving money vs. personal involvement and time
Whether it's simpler (NOT easier) to be "poor"
Underlying feelings of guilt/not deserving
The stress of not being able to make working "good" for one's employees
Recommendations for (unrelated) books:
Kendall recommends: James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time
rachel recommends: Gamechanger and Dealbreaker by L.X. Beckett (and Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler, Ron McMillan)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
53min
September 02, 2021Episode 71: Amy Chantasirivisal (Unicycle)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Amy talk about:
The olden dayze of Geocities and people hating on Javascript
The scrum leadership to management pipeline
Kendall's Litany Of Agile Atereotypes
Getting promoted Too Fast
Hypotheses about the ability to succeed using progressive management philosophies
Wanting to leave the tech industry "better than we found it"
Joining early for a greater impact on the culture
Focus on strategy vs process as a signifier of seniority
Twitter as a leadership training ground
Leveraging authority should be uncomfortable
The "ooh, shiny" approach to hobby acquisition
Woodworking nerdery, a macrame + shelf project!
You can find Amy on Twitter at @amychanta
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
47min

FAQs about Authority Issues:

How many episodes does Authority Issues have?

The podcast currently has 100 episodes available.