Mistakes were made

In this conversation, Carlo and Michelle delve into the critical topics of mental health, burnout, and the importance of supportive leadership. Michelle shares her personal journey through burnout, highlighting the signs, symptoms, and the cumulative nature of stress that can lead to burnout. They discuss the differences between stress and burnout, the impact of personal life on work performance, and the role of leaders in recognising and supporting their teams. The conversation emphasises the importance of open dialogue about mental health, the need for self-care, and the potential for growth and resilience after experiencing burnout.

If this episode brings up difficult feelings, support is available.

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If you are in immediate danger, please contact your local emergency services.

I’ve crossed paths with Rhody Hill a few times over the years, first during the VMware V-Champions days and again in various roles across the tech ecosystem. Every time, I walk away a little wiser. She has built partner ecosystems in big tech, led teams across the Asia Pacific and Japan, and now shares honest leadership lessons through her Substack, Nuggets of Gold.

It was these Nuggets of Gold that lead me to us recording this podcast. It was titled “Beware the shadow you cast”, and this line jumped out at me:

That sentence landed hard. It made me reflect on how much influence leaders have without realising it and how your tone, stress, energy, or offhand comment can shape the whole team’s culture. So I reached out and asked her to unpack it with me.

Rhody shares the story of coming back from a long holiday to feedback she didn’t expect: her team had become too reliant on her. While trying to help, she’d actually disempowered them. It changed how she leads forever. She even built a question bank to remind herself not to jump straight into solution mode.

This hit me hard because I’ve been there; having the answer doesn’t mean you should always give it, especially if you want to grow your team’s confidence and independence.

APJ – Asia Pacific and Japan - A common regional designation used in global tech companies. Includes markets such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia, and others.

OKR – Objectives and Key Results - A goal-setting framework used by teams and individuals to align efforts and measure outcomes. Commonly used in tech companies to track quarterly or annual goals.

SKO – Sales Kick-Off - A team-wide or company-wide event at the beginning of a sales period (often annually) to align strategy, motivate the team, and launch new initiatives.

GM – General Manager - A senior leadership role responsible for the performance of a business unit, geography, or function.

KPI – Key Performance Indicator - A measurable value that indicates how effectively an individual, team, or organisation is achieving its goals.

Working to Your Strengths with Ross Rotherham

CliftonStrengths felt like “just another quiz” until it didn’t. In this episode, Datadog sales engineering leader and coach Ross Rotherham helps unpack what CliftonStrengths actually is, how to turn raw talent into mature strengths, why energisers matter, and how to spot your blind spots before they trip you up. We also dig into the clean line between mentor and coach, and a tiny switch that makes feedback land better: ask for advice about next time.

I also share the lovely feedback from Episode 1, say thanks to everyone who messaged, and commit to bringing you more real mistakes. Big shout-out to guests who are willing to be vulnerable, it is not easy and we appreciate it.

CliftonStrengths in plain English, and why it focuses on what’s right with you

Raw vs mature strengths, and aiming talent at outcomes

Energisers, the conditions your strengths need to thrive

Blind spots, how your superpower can land badly at volume eleven

Mentor vs coach, use the right tool at the right time

Advice, not feedback, a small wording change that unlocks better input

Practical listening habits leaders can model

In this episode, I sit down with Jeff Smith to unpack what it really takes to build trust and credibility as a first-time leader. 

Through stories from his time leading technical teams across APJ and scaling startups, Jeff shares lessons on showing up with humility, earning trust by being useful, and letting go of the need to have all the answers.

Rudy and Al are once more joined by Justin to talk Fuax and even do a couple of debates.

00:00 - Rambling

03:00 - TOS Updates

09:45 - Games

21:00 - Debates 

Thanks everyone for listening!

New upload that should work!

Rudy and Alan are joined once again by Justin. This time with fewer audio gremlins.  

The guys discuss the 2017 Erratta, Gaining Grounds 2017, and the TOS Kickstarter progress. 

Thanks for listening! 

Theme Music link

Alan, Rudy, and Justin are back to chat about The Other Side. Also some talk the latest Jacob Lynch tech, and debating the flip for turn 6.

Thanks for listening.

*The audio quality of this episode is not the greatest, but we are working on some solutions to improve it for future episodes.