Engineering and Leadership Podcast - podcast cover

Engineering and Leadership Podcast

Pat Sweet, P.Eng, MBA, CSEP, PMPwww.engineeringandleadership.com
Helping engineers thrive. Engineering || Management || Leadership || Productivity

Episodes

The Key to Successful Digital Transformation Projects

In this episode, I discuss digital transformation projects with speaker, author, and former football player Tanvir Bhangoo, and why these projects are much less reliant on technology than you might expect.

Mar 18, 202246 minEp. 49

Why Clarity is the Secret to Great Communications and Stronger Teams

Dolores Hirschmann believes that clarity of message is critical to effective leadership. A leader’s team can’t buy in to a vision without first understanding it. In today’s episode, Dolores helps engineering leaders understand the importance of clarity of message, how to tell if your messaging is clear, and provides practical steps on how to improve your communications.

Feb 08, 202242 minEp. 46

Making Soulless Companies a Thing of the Past

Ralf Specht is on a mission to rid the world of soulless companies. On today’s episode, he explains why it’s good for business for a company to have soul, and gives great advice on how to reinvigorate your organization with the “Soul System”.

Feb 01, 202250 minEp. 45

Business Engineering: Why Engineers Should Have Business Skills

Duncan Oyevaar believes in the power of business engineering. He has seen that organizations can dramatically improve themselves by equipping their engineers with excellent business skills, and he’s got the data to prove it. Today, we talk about why engineers need to understand a business’ financials, value stream mapping, continuous improvement, and the importance of listening to your staff.

Jan 24, 202259 minEp. 44

EL042 – From CEO to Master Coach: The Story of one Engineer’s Mission to Empower Others

Joseph Seiler has spent his career helping engineers do incredible work by empowering them and stepping back to let them do incredible work - first as the president and CEO of his own company, and today as a Master Certified Coach. Joseph's experience provides incredible lessons learned for engineering managers of all stripes, most especially the value of coaching as an engineering manager.

Nov 03, 202156 minSeason 1Ep. 42

EL041 – How to get your Engineering Teams to Take Ownership and Stay Curious (and why it’ll save your company)

Peter Drucker, the father of modern management thinking once said that "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." That wasn't a knock on how important strategy is, rather, he's emphasizing the importance that culture plays within an organization. Today's guest would share that sentiment. Today, I speak with Dan Langevin, the CTO of Vericred about the role culture plays in a technical organization, and specifically about the importance of both accountability and curiosity for Vericred's engineering t...

Oct 26, 202146 minSeason 1Ep. 41

EL040 – How to instantly make your meetings shorter, more productive, and less painful

Meetings are a fact of organizational life. The fact that so few of us have ever been trained to run excellent meetings is a bit of a shock. We all know they're needed, and we all know they're mostly painful and wasteful. If you follow even a few of the ideas in this episode, you and your team will be more engaged, efficient, and effective in your work.

Oct 19, 202135 minSeason 1Ep. 40

EL039 – How to become a better leader by letting go

One of the struggles many engineering leaders have is knowing how and when to let go and allow their teams to move forward with their daily work. It can be incredibly difficult to know how to transition from working in the team to working on the team. This leads to micromanagement, impaired performance, and a dearth of leadership and direction. Luckily, Peter Docker addresses this exact problem in his new book, Leading from the Jumpseat: How to create extraordinary opportunities by handing over ...

Oct 13, 202151 minSeason 1Ep. 39

EL038 – How to find (or become) an engineering mentor

Mentorship in the world of engineering is an incredible tool. It helps those being mentored improve job performance, satisfaction, and achievement of long-term goals. For the mentor, it helps connect with earlier stage professionals, organize their thoughts and frameworks around their work, and gives them a chance to give back. Finding or becoming and engineering mentor is a brilliant move at any point in your engineering career.

Sep 27, 202145 minSeason 1Ep. 38

EL037 – Demystifying Sales and Selling for Engineers

Sales and business development are key skills for engineers who want to grow in their careers. For many senior engineers and engineering managers, helping to grow their company through new business is an absolute necessity. In this episode, you'll learn what sales is really all about, why it's important for your growth, and why you already have a lot of the skills needed to be great at helping to grow your engineering firm.

Aug 30, 202150 minSeason 1Ep. 37

EL036 – Culture of excellence: How to build brilliant engineering teams through incredible culture

Culture is the glue that holds an organization together. It's the unwritten, ethereal rules of engagement - the collection of "how things work around here". Today, I speak with Mark Kinsella, VP of Engineering at Opendoor about organizational culture: what it is, why it's important to engineering organizations, and how to drive excellence through excellent engineering culture.

Aug 03, 202141 minSeason 1Ep. 36

EL034 – Leading Engineers to Success in Hybrid Workplaces

In this episode of the Engineering & Leadership podcast, I interview psychologist Dr. Robin Rosenberg about the risks posed by hybrid workplaces, how to overcome them, and the future of hybrid work.

Jul 12, 202150 minSeason 1Ep. 34

EL028 – How to launch a successful tech start-up

In today's episode, I speak with Brett Fox, a seasoned high-tech executive and entrepreneur who has made a career of launching successful businesses and turning around foundering ones. He answers all the most important questions about launching a successful startup, and shares particular insight into the importance of having a fantastic founding team, why clarity of thought is critical, and why the COVID-19 pandemic might just be the perfect time to launch a new venture.

May 16, 202142 minSeason 1Ep. 28

EL027 – How to change the world through a mission-driven team

In today's episode, Vivian and I discuss the importance of mission in leading a team, why she decided to move on from her "dream job" at McKinsey, how she's successfully building a remote technical team, and what the future holds for Juni.

May 10, 202146 minSeason 1Ep. 27

EL026 – Learning, Teaching, and the Pursuit of Engineering Management Excellence

Dr. Lucas Marino is a principal life cycle engineer for the COLUMBIA submarine program, engineering manager, educator, small business owner, and family man. In today's episode, we discuss the importance of learning and teaching for practicing engineers, pursuing passions, and keeping it all in balance.

May 03, 202147 minSeason 1Ep. 26

EL023 – Leadership Lessons from a CTO

In today's episode, I speak with Andrew Hinkelman, founder of Priority-1 Group, and former CTO of Parametric, about leadership and management in the technical world, and how to set yourself up for success as a leader in tech.

Mar 22, 202143 minSeason 1Ep. 23

EL022 – Managing Brilliant Jerks

In today's episode, I interview Dr. Katrina Burrus about the challenges technical experts face when moving in to management, the importance of cultural fit, and the kinds of skills you need to succeed as a manager.

Mar 13, 202140 minSeason 1Ep. 22

EL021 – From the Shop Floor to the Corner Office

In this week’s episode, I interview Josh Mathias, the Managing Director at the Hythe Group, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm from the UK on leadership, management, and his ascent from the shop floor to the corner office.

Feb 06, 202130 minSeason 1Ep. 21