Being a change agent CPO with Namrata Sarmah

Reorgs are tricky parts of organizational life. Allison McMillan, a Fractional VP of Engineering is an experienced leader who has worked at companies like GitHub, Forem and General Assembly. Throughout her career she’s been through many reorgs. We talked about what it’s like to lead during a time of high organizational change, building trust with new teams and how to plan during constant change.

The leap to director is often bigger than we imagine. We find ourselves with more responsibility and working at the organizational layer but also having to make sure the people doing the work are aligned. This can be challenging. I asked Sonal Mehta, Director of Engineering at Intuit MailChimp to share her experience navigating what I call the director sandwich. Sonal and I talked about how the role was different than she expected, managing expectations, the role of trusted advisors and so much more. If you’ve just taken on a bigger organizational role or support those who do, there are so many nuggets in here for you.

Kristen Foster-Marks, Technical Lead for the Technology Center of Excellence at Pluralsight has chronic condition PMDD. We spoke about how she takes good care of herself while leading, how she manages vulnerability and authenticity, and being a recovering perfectionist, something I think many can understand.

Shweta Saraf, Director of Platform Engineering at Netflix has worked in a variety of cultures at companies like Cisco, Equinix (formerly Packet), and Digital Ocean. We talked about helping leaders understand their impact on culture, how to ensure people feel heard, how she builds trust, and how she approaches a new team. I know you’ll find Shweta as insightful as I did.

I met Michelle O’Connor, VP Brand & Global Communications at TaxBit through the NYC Fintech Women. I coached her for over a year as TaxBit scaled. I was thrilled she wanted to be part of the series. We talked about how she dramatically reduced her # of hours of meetings, how she thinks about hiring and what she’s learned about guiding culture at scaling startups.

The leap from engineering manager to VP of Engineering while also being a co-founder can feel big. It can also feel like just the right challenge like in the case of Ana Rosas, Co-Founder and VP of Engineering at Valued. We talked about her early career aspirations, what made her take the risk to co-found an early stage startup and her advice for other founder leaders.

The last time David Jarvis was on the series, we talked about being a first-time CEO at Griffin, a startup in a highly regulated industry. Since then he had his first child and took some time off to be with his young family. I asked David to talk about his experience taking parental leave as the CEO of a startup. We talked about how the company handled his absence, how becoming a parent changed him as a CEO, and what advice he’d give CEOs considering taking parental leave.

With their position and responsibility, it’s easy to forget that leaders also go through hard times just like the rest of us. One of the things I really enjoy about Jenn Clevenger, VP of Engineering at Etsy is how much she embraces her humanity, inviting all of us to embrace our own. During our conversation we talked about how she finds balance in the midst of uncertainty, how she keeps perspective and how she thinks about leading others through difficult times.

Diane Scarborough has been an interim CHRO role numerous times. We talked about how she thinks about change, how she quickly gains context, and her secret to creating trust and psychological safety. This conversation is a masterclass in how to have influence without positional authority.

Marty Haught who founded Haught Codeworks sold the business and is currently Director of Engineering at HashiCorp. We talked about the reason he wanted to be an employee again, what the transition was like, and what he’s learned about navigating organizational culture as a leader.

There’s this idea that only someone who has been in an IC role can serve as a leader for others in this area. I don’t necessarily think that’s true. I was happy to meet Jessica Darensbourg, Director of Engineering at Mailchimp who disproves this stereotype. We talked about how she got into leading engineers, how her background is an asset and the best skill she brings to her role.

IBK Ajila, Director, Engineering Leadership Development, Shopify shared how he shifted his career after feeling like he needed a break. We talked about the clues he was nearing burnout, how he turned his break into a career pivot and how he uses his coaching experience in his role.

I met Lauren Nagel, VP of Product at Stackhawk at their offsite where I facilitated a session for their leadership team. I was lucky to sit next to her at dinner where I got to learn more about her. I’d been wanting to feature more product leaders on the series and was happy she said yes. Our conversation covered her leadership journey, why she took the role at Stackhawk and her advice to other product leaders feeling the weight of responsibility.

I’ve worked with LeadDev for several years as the host of Bookmarked which interviews authors and as a workshop facilitator. This gave me a front-row seat to watch the company handle the sudden shift in the market after the world shut down in March 2020. I’m thrilled LeadDev CEO Ruth Yarnit was willing to share her story with me. We talked about Ruth’s unexpected path to CEO, how she thinks about the balance between being internal and external facing, and her advice for other leaders facing a sudden market shift.

I talked with Ellen Chisa about her startup leadership experiences and how she moved to being a partner at investment firm boldstart Ventures which invests in pre-product founders. Though this challenge is slightly different from others, I wanted to cover it because we don’t talk enough about the transition from a leadership role, especially one like CEO. I think you’ll find Ellen wise and her story enlightening.

John Samuel, the CEO of Ablr happens to be blind. We talked about how he struggled to advocate for himself despite having an MBA and career success, how he went from thinking his career was over to becoming a CEO, what keeps him up at night, and his mission to help companies prioritize disability inclusion. He has a book coming out in November, I can’t wait to read it.