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:

August 12, 2021Episode 70: Dee Mirai (Vanna.com)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Dee talk about:
Coming from dropping out of school in at 16 years old
The struggles of being a manager in a bar in Singapore as a teenager
Developing "scripts" for the various interactions that kept recurring
Internships as cheap labor rackets
Immediate promotion from intern to being in charge of customer comms
Premonitions about layoffs
The camaraderie of joint suffering
Kendall admits that Marketing runs the universe
Gatekeeping as an indicator of a real discipline
The difficulties of managing people who are significantly older than you, especially in Singaporean culture
Predicting her own future, again
Iterating toward a less blunt approach to management
Preferences for feedback via chat vs in person
Experiencing joy when reports succeed
Self-reflection when reports are failing
Cooking experiments
You can find Dee on twitter or instagram as @tomyumsushi :)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
51min
July 30, 2021Episode 69: Aye Thu (Slack)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Aye talk about:
Being an Old (Java 1.0 certified!)
Realizing he used to be "hard to work with"
Transitioning away from electrical engineering and into enterprise software
The idea that management is where people who can't build software anymore "go to die"
Starting to understand that there is more to life than writing Java code
Moving to Las Vegas and having his life changed by the Zappos culture
Parades!
Learning how to be a better manager from a good team
How knowing the wrong things to do is not the same as knowing the right things to do
Starting a company...to help managers do a better job (at 1:1s)!
Discovering that marketing and sales is hard and that most places don't invest in management tools :(
Finding a desirable culture and good work-life balance at Slack
Wishing he had a good leadership mentor earlier in his work life
The fact that the immature asshole developer is a pretty common archetype
Enjoyment of kettlebell exercises and a whole new world for Kendall
You can find Aye on LinkedIn and on Twitter as @damnitjim ;)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
48min
June 03, 2021Episode 68: Brett Nekolny (Brandfolder)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Brett talk about:
Realizing you're the facilitator person in your friend group..and in college, and grad school...
The reality of mechanical engineering not living up to the idea of it
Getting that first software engineering job with no software engineering background
The power of networking
The consequences of having no real management experience
How being less outgoing/energetic than Kendall affects one's management style
Leadership based in assembling the Avengers and stepping aside
Modeling team interactions and desired behaviors
Hiring a leadership coach and how it was lifechanging
How authoritarian leadership slows things down
Surprise beekeeping hobby!
Biking as a mental health practice
You can find Brett on LinkedIn, on Twitter as @bnekolny, and on the Rands Leadership Slack.
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
46min
May 13, 2021Episode 67: Miki Habryn (Splunk)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Miki talk about:
The three eras of Miki so far: technology, self-identity, and relationships
Early failures to thrive -- early admission to college, and the professional world
Navel-contemplation and some key realizations
Getting a job with room to evolve and let off steam
The differences among marketing-driven, engineering-driven, and sales-driven companies
A change of pace: the finance industry :)
The Google-related diaspora of an early household
Flying ever-nearer to the flame of leadership, getting burned, and taking another orbit
Delaying the investment in building relationships until she could fully be herself at work
The requirement for executive support when driving change
Making an incremental transition and beginning to invest in relationships
Engineers and the skewed power dynamic involved in managing them
Scalability in the decisionmaking process
Decoupling personal life from professional life, intent and authenticity
3D printing as aspirational pandemic hobby
You can find Miki on Twitter as @dichro and on Instagram as @hbmiki
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
49min
April 29, 2021Episode 66: Irina Kukuyeva (Kukuyeva Consulting)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Irina talk about:
Moving to LA from Moscow during elementary school
Enjoyment of donuts and data
Getting alignment before doing things (shocking, right? :))
Shaving yaks in order to work at JPL
Learning how to learn, learning in the trenches
Accommodating the needs of team members
How leadership as a consultant is different
The perils of messy data
How it's never too soon to begin collecting the data you need
Deepening her social network
Dealing with ageism as a university instructor
Dealing with Kendall's assumptions about interest in data :)
You can find Irina at https://www.ikukuyeva.com/
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
48min
April 15, 2021Episode 65: Kari Bancroft (Webflow)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Kari talk about:
Getting management experience in the nonprofit world
From a young age, wanting to be...a math teacher? :)
Finally getting some management training
Working with a personal leadership coach
Strategic vs tactical planning
Learning and re-learning the value of self-care
The practice of self-promotion
Doing away with a bad hiring practice
Allowing for awkward silences
An unexpected enjoyment of gardening
Leading too much in one's personal life
You can find Kari on Twitter at @karianneban
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
43min
April 01, 2021Episode 64: Matt Rogish (Kimball)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Matt talk about:
The impact of coming from an entrepreneurial family
The siren call of "freedom"
Needing a team to make a dent in the universe
What's valuable about an MBA program, and how it's like an endless Group Project
Kendall's Epic Disclaimer and differing recollections of their mutual origin story ;)
What having kids teaches you about leadership
The N Dysfunctions of a Serial Startup Exec
How everybody's got a boss
Deep Thoughts courtesy of Star Trek
The concept of anti-hobbies
You can find Matt on the internet on Twitter @mattrogish and on mattrogish.com
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
50min
March 18, 2021Episode 63: Dominique Simoneau-Ritchie (Wealthsimple)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Dominique talk about:
Getting into computers so she could communicate with her friends
How crappy Dreamweaver was
Benefiting from IBM programs
Stepping into project management
Leaving IBM for a much smaller company...
Making assumptions about working patterns...with mixed results :)
How hiring quickly is in tension against achieving diversity
Practicing giving feedback via "speedback sessions"
Needing to know the "why" before following the rules
Asking for her promotions
Getting ready to garden and an obsession with whole grains
Painting for 3 weeks
What's hard about children :)
You can find Dominique on Twitter @dominiquesr and on Medium under her full name.
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
46min
March 05, 2021Episode 62: Yaz Erkan (Pex)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Yaz talk about:
A love of languages, molecular biology, art
The less-than-romantic reality of becoming an architect
How creation is creation--programming is a creative act
A painful introduction to the responsibilities of management
Finally becoming an architect (of software ;) )
Guilting himself into becoming a people leader
Moving to the US, going back to smaller companies/startups
Kendall's insecurity about title inflation :)
That the relationship you have with your team/manager is often more important than the work
Cultural variances in leadership styles and expectations
The downsides of being pre-emptively trusting
Balancing the responsibilities of leadership with the responsibilities of family
A secret management coaching weapon at home :)
Kendall's atrocious parenting ;), Yaz's difficulties teaching his kid how to play guitar
Being a beekeeper?! So cool! Additional fascinating hobbies
Yet another recommendation for the Crucial Conversations books
Yaz recommends The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier, Crucial Conversations by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan, Multipliers by Liz Wiseman, and reading The Daily Stoic.
You can find Yaz on the internet on LinkedIn and at https://yagiz.medium.com/
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
49min
February 11, 2021Episode 61: Lena Reinhard (CircleCI)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Lena talk about:
Starting out in finance, the arts, classic cars journalism, and more...
Uses (appropriate or not) for creativity in leadership
Realizing that a potential lifelong career in banking would be...boring
First startup experience as a web copywriter
First formal leadership experience as a bootstrapped startup CEO
Ebola outbreak response...no biggie, right?!
Becoming more intentional as a leader, learning about leadership frameworks
Growing out of the 'relationship' as a cofounder, wanting different things
Big, International, Complicated :)
Becoming a regular old Engineering Manager, and...immediately becoming a VP of Engineering
Twitter as a source of leadership learning, despite the trashfire
Managing in all directions, 360 degree leadership
Acknowledging that leadership successes depend on the quality of the team
Hiring tenets, "value add" vs "culture fit"
Finding the right role at CircleCI
Authority and how to swing it, understanding power distance
Maintaining a list of hobbies to take up as a hobby
A strong desire for "really good fries"
A recommendation for poetry books by Omar Sakr, more books recommended below
Working on dialing back the tendency to take charge in non-work life (such a familiar struggle :))
More books Lena recommends:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50887097-why-fish-don-t-exist
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43131602-into-the-planet
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39731655-in-extremis
You can find Lena on the internet at:
http://twitter.com/lrnrd
https://lenareinhard.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenareinhard/
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
50min

FAQs about Authority Issues:

How many episodes does Authority Issues have?

The podcast currently has 100 episodes available.