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:

January 28, 2021Episode 60: Yazhi Smith (Vista Equity Partners)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Yazhi talk about:
How Yazhi doesn't know what "old" means ;)
A life story framed as Lord of the Rings
Growing up with stereotypical Asian parental expectations, coloring within the lines
>>recordscratch>> growing up in FIJI?! (Kendall spends 5 minutes squee-ing)
rachel's turn to squee, someone who sees the value of useful error logging :heart-eyes:
A first taste of travel in the US
Personal development smorgasbord at IBM
Personal life upheaval driving big changes, no more coloring inside the lines
Moving to the US and starting an IT consulting company
When people usually rebel, how much of a rule-follower Kendall is
Discovering America with gusto, FREE SODA REFILLS :D
Trying out the stay-at-home mom thing and not being able to keep still
Pivoting to building businesses from home
Remembering you're working with actual people, not just resources
Managing resistance to new process implementation through curiosity and humility
How yet again, the problem is people
Getting over yourself to get the job done
The Rules and how to ignore them, for the sake of the children
Why you should own goats
You can find Yazhi on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yazhi/
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
45min
January 14, 2021Episode 59: 2020 in Issues with Authority
Better late than never, rachel and Kendall Have Opinions About 2020:
Introverts and extroverts, living together in perfect harmony (on this podcast, at least)
How to meet new podcast guests, the Kendall Miller Way
Pie and the art of house maintenance
Cheater's yeast, and the ubiquitous breadmaking theme of 2020
Guilt and all its many facets
Coping mechanisms (some people buy bikes, some people go for uphill walks)
2020 episode highlights, sponsored by rachel's terrible internet connection
The substance you're using to get by during the pandemic is (probably) OK
50-something episodes, and over 25,000 downloads!
Find us on Twitter to tell us what you think! @djpiebob and @blatanterror
Discussion of the 2020 episode highlights above :)
Hiring for additive benefits vs sameness
GIving up control to get better results
(Kendall probably does not like beets, stay tuned)
Recommendation for Turn The Ship Around by David L. Marquet
rachel is excited about working on a to-be-named leadership book project
The power of hope as a third way to move forward into 2021
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
56min
December 03, 2020Episode 58: Jibran Kutik (Disney)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Jibran talk about:
Is art school a weird starting point for a designer?
Vowing to never work on web sites (lol)
Having an unusually good experience in the gaming industry
Getting the full "I moved to SF for a startup and it shut down as soon as I got there" experience
Accusations of being responsible for LinkedIn "Stories" ;)
When companies don't grow their own leaders
A good manager tells you when you need to leave to move forward
Bombshell: leaving the SFBA for a startup in the Midwest!
Bringing design practices into the insurance industry -- with humility
Growing up as a leader alongside the company
Partnering with a new-to-tech HR org to build a hiring pipeline
Enjoying interviewing candidates
What an awesome resource the Rands Leadership Slack is
Constant disagreement with everybody ;)
Kendall's argument-winning fantasies
An amazing lesson learned at the right time
Asking for clear direction, transparency works both ways
[We are not sponsored by The Morning Show on AppleTV+]
Understanding motivation as a way to communicate leadership decisions you don't agree with
Being into old cars and how that is a bit of an outlier for a progressive/socialist-leaning person :)
You can find Jibran on Twitter as @jkutik :)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
48min
October 09, 2020Episode 57: Tessa Ann Taylor (The New Yorker)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Tessa talk about:
Studying computer science because she "ran out of math classes" at her high school
ACTUALLY using trigonometry in real life
How all-women educational environments are awesome
Unlearning the Seattle culture in favor of the New York culture
Translating academic experiences into tech industry programming interviews
Getting a foot in the door via content production
Freelancing to live, not living to freelance
The joys?! of maintaining legacy code and CMSes
Management training at NYTimes
Understanding the responsibilities of the middle manager
Going into management to create the environments she wants others to experience
Telling a bad job that you're not a "culture fit" for them
Being intrinsically motivated vs deferring to authority
Remembering that current authority structures are not designed for marginalized people
How leadership experience can be good and bad for non-work interactions
Books Tessa recommended:
https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897
https://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745 + https://www.amazon.com/Doesnt-Have-Be-Crazy-Work/dp/0062874780/
Tessa's favorite leadership book:
https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Self-Deception-Getting-Out-Box/dp/1576759776
You can find Tessa on twitter and on Medium as @c0d3rgirl
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
45min
September 10, 2020Episode 56: Rishi Malik (Container Heroes, Backstop)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Rishi talk about:
Having a nerdy family to kick things off
First exposures to leadership issues while trying to code a game with friends
Our inability to not interrupt people just when they're trying to make a point
Discovering an appreciation for working at smaller companies, starting at larger companies
Needing to see the result of his efforts
Discovering a desire to play multiple roles via competitive ultimate frisbee
Solving the parking problem
Challenges in building a hardware solution
The value of hiring the right person for the environment vs the technical skill
"Are we the right fit for /them/"
Tailoring the technical interview to the context of the interviewee
Leadership variances as a consultant, the authority of the outsider
Guessing (correctly) that most entrepreneurial folk have a complex relationship with authority :)
Developing the skill of motivating people who do not report to you
The value of understanding your audience and their history before trying to influence them
Book recommendation: Never Split The Difference
Progressive Metal band recommendation: Protest The Hero
You can find Rishi on Twitter as @whoisthisogre :)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
48min
August 27, 2020Episode 55: Val Trullinger (UCLA)
In this episode, rachel, Kendall, and Val talk about:
Coming up to technical leadership via graphic design and creative writing
Becoming the person who fixes the printer
"If you can get through Finnegan's Wake, you can get through the technical manual"
Discipline, leadership, making herself heard in the Air Force Civil Air Patrol program and military family connections
Adjusting her military-learned leadership style for training interns
What "IT Communications" means
Learning the important difference between being effective and being right
Resiliency vs perfection
Prioritizing reinforcing the skills you can improve, some weaknesses won't be improved by grinding
Deciding to push through skill deficit for the love of sports
How academia means managing relationships for the long term with a soupçon of Game Of Thrones
Using one's physical assets to project confidence and be heard
Recognizing when you don't have to be the one who is in charge, freeing yourself
The joys of Strongman training and exploring the limits of human strength
You can find Val on the internet at http://pantagruel.net :)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
51min
August 13, 2020Episode 54: Church! What's it good for? (The Religion Issue)
In this Very Special Episode, rachel, Kendall, and Luke talk about:
Coming from different evangelical backgrounds
The shaping of our respective authority issues as related to religious upbringing
Luke's birth /literally/ in a baptismal font :)
What we mean when we say "religion"
Tech salary as a way to fund a church planting career
Leaving the church behind but bringing the leadership lessons along
Good and bad authority structures represented by the church
Detoxing from evangelicisim, finding a new purpose
Choosing between being right or being good
Switching to rachel's background:
Moving to the US at 11, with no real religious upbringing before that
Trying hard to buy into the fundamentalist Baptist faith
Leaving for college and never returning
Atheism vs agnosticism
Whether your beliefs are a choice
The value of faith in one's own community and whether humanity deserves the asteroid treatment
And on to Kendall's Christian upbringing:
Dad fasting and actually praying on his knees for guidance
The weird incentives and blame structures of fundamentalism
Noticing the tendency to open the Bible more often to curse than to bless
Working for a religious organization in China for 10 years
Realizing that much of evangelical Christianity as it is practiced in the US is very much culturally a White American thing
Not needing to understand how praying works
Does it matter if you're wrong about faith? Nah. What matters is being willing to be wrong.
Servant leadership and how it works for both sacred and commercial applications if done well
Back to Luke:
Was the "walk to remember" a kind of psychic break, or prayer?
Realizing all you really need is validation
Only needing a loose grip on the framework to get the benefit
Not wanting to tell people what to do, and all the insecurities that represents
Not being able to follow instructions if the goal isn't clear
How an aversion to certainty can get in the way of leading
What is justice, if not love at scale?
You can accost Luke with ideas for scaling love on Twitter at @saintlukas :)
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
52min
July 30, 2020Episode 53: Aaron Lerch (InVision)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Aaron talk about:
Learning about managing interpersonal issues from his dad, an "interim CEO of ministers"
Putting that learning into practice building and fixing teams at startups
Helping teams identify their own weaknesses as a form of counseling
How this podcast is not sponsored by Knives Out (ps: Kendall has seen the movie since we recorded this podcast and didn't find it as good as Aaron did.)
Following the energy on the management > IC > management cycle
Finally choosing the simplicity of leadership ;)
Long-term career planning
The entire category of software that exists because leaders don't trust their people
Authority trauma from Kendall's past
The realization that leadership sometimes requires making decisions about things without getting concensus from your team first
The relationship between unease at doing the above and lack of comfort with authority in general
Determining how much detail to provide when giving direction
When your positive ability to build concensus turns into a need and a negative
The enjoyment when your authority issues align with your role
How leadership is a lot more about collaboration and cooperation than it is telling people what to do
Rubik's cube, hiking, being underprepared for overnight conditions
You can find Aaron on Twitter at @aaronlerch
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
51min
June 08, 2020Episode 52: Anthony Grimes (Fairwinds)
In this episode, Kendall, rachel, and Anthony talk about:
Feeling late to the Black Lives Matter movement and going to Ferguson
Learning to lead national campaigns for peace
Realizing communication is about storytelling
Being seen, being heard, what it means to win
The need to inspire vision as a leader
Optimism vs hope
Finding affirmation in current events while still taking the long view
Managing frustrations and engaging in self-care
The idea of being "well-adjusted to injustice"
Meeting Cornel West (!) and mentorship from Dr. Vincent Harding (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Harding)
The need to question authority, who benefits from it
Redefining profit to include greater context
Hope in future generations voting with their career choices
Leading "with" vs "over"
The joy of asking a ton of questions :)
What white people can do to join the movement and show support:
Get off the fence
Don't jump in unschooled, but don't wait until you think you know everything either
Don't assume your help will fix everything
Get used to being uncomfortable, exercise those muscles, grow
Don't let this moment pass you by
That Anthony's movie (https://www.anthonygrimes.com/mr-somebody-watts-la) was chosen for the Tribeca Film Festival!
Missing going out and dancing, traveling
You can find Anthony at his website (https://www.anthonygrimes.com), and on most social media as @antbuilder
Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3
...more
52min
May 21, 2020Episode 51: Checking in with our hosts during this pandemic already in progress
In this episode, Kendall and rachel talk about:
Whether Kendall is either hot or a mess or both
How hard it is to set expectations...for anything
Working on developing new patterns because it's not going to go "back to normal" anytime soon
Coping with the death of a parent, most likely of the coronavirus
The unreality of the danger unless it has touched you personally
Weighing one's mental health vs physical health
Putting all plans for travel on hold through the end of the year
How contact tracing works
Dark thoughts about the need for a revolution
Leveraging planning for the future as an emotional coping tactic
More about making new habits...that aren't unhealthy over the long term
Letting yourself feel it
This episode's self-soothing recommendations:
rachel: Socializing via simulwatching movies on chat. Bailing on books you're not enjoying. Animal Crossing.
Kendall: Letterkenny on Hulu. Meeting friends for socially-distanced takeout. Popeye's Chicken.
Obligatory sourdough discussion
Kicking one's own ass in gear when there isn't a reason to go on a drive (yet)
Zoom calls and takeout aren't a substitute for being in the room, for networking, for the hallway track, for the ambiance
Feeling unsafe talking about how bad things might actually be
How good leaders take care of themselves so they don't take things out on their team
Being kind is good for everyone involved
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.