Episodes

This is a special treat for all the listeners to A Geek Leader Podcast. My guest today is David Neal. Like me, he’s from the south and I’m sure you couldn’t tell that by either of our accents. He’s a well known keynote speaker, software developer, Microsoft MVP, and technical leader. He’s a father of 5 sons (that’s right FIVE!!!) and an amazing artist who sketches all of his keynote presentation slides. I’ve met David several times at conferences in the Southeast and most recently at CodeStock ...

Your team doesn’t just “trust” you because of your title. When I started at my most recent position where I head up the IT group at a mid-sized company just south of Charlotte, NC, I wasn’t granted full trust of my team. Just like, when you get a new boss, you don’t fully trust them. You can’t tell them just anything at first. You have to learn how they react to things, how they accept feedback, etc. As a leader, we must remember that trust works both ways, and people don’t automatically trust y...

Being an IT leader you get lots of opportunities to work with vendors. Sometimes you welcome the calls, most of the times you don’t. This episode I’ll go over some tips to help you work with vendors and make the best choice when deciding which vendor go with. Vendor management is an important aspect of leading a technology team. Vendors at conferences or trade shows They usually are giving way gifts in exchange for a scan of your badge. Remember nothing is ever free. If they scan your badge, y...

I recently gave a talk on Employee Engagement for millennials. Here are my thoughts on the subject: Engagement Stats https://www.themuse.com/advice/10-shocking-stats-about-employee-engagement 70% of employees not engaged at work 89% of companies think employees leave for more $$$ but only 12% actually do 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least 1 time per week but only 13% of disengaged employees receive weekly feedback 75% of people voluntarily leaving their job, don’t qui...

If you’ve every flown on an airplane then you’ve heard the flight attendant say: In the event of the cabin loose pressure, an oxygen mask will automatically appear in front of you. To start the flow of oxygen, pull the mask towards you. Place it firmly over your nose and mouth, secure the elastic band behind your head, and breathe normally. Although the bag does not inflate, oxygen is flowing to the mask. If you are traveling with a child or someone who requires assistance, secure your mask on ...

So you got a new job and now you have to deliver the bad news that you’re putting in your 2 week notice. How do you do it without burning bridges, saving face, and leave the position better for you having been there. Below are some tips that might help you out: Have a plan. I don’t recommend quitting a job until you’ve already accepted an offer somewhere else, or have a side income stable enough to cover your basic needs (food, rent, etc.) Write a formal resignation letter. Before you tell any...

I’ve been noticeably absent from the podcast for the past couple of months, so where have I been? I planned to take 2-3 weeks off from the podcast and take my family on a much needed vacation to Turks and Caicos. On our 3rd day of the trip I got the call that no son wants to get. My dad has cancer. At first the doctors were optimistic said they thought it was treatable so they scheduled scans and started chemo. I made it a point to spend as much time visiting him as I could. I decided to put th...

Whenever I talk about leadership at an event, I usually get a several people that either email me or talk to me afterwards to tell me how great that it all sounds, but that they can’t do those things. For some reason, something won’t let them. It’s usually either fear or a lack of confidence, which I address in previous episodes: But sometimes its this thought or belief that we have to be perfect in order to be a leader. I heard a really smart man one time say that: Leadership is about Progres...

We all have feelings of inadequacy. Many times I have this fear, that someone is going to show up at my door and shut it all down. They will tell me that I’m not qualified to write about leadership, or to host a podcast, or to build websites or mobile apps, or to teach. And it will all be over. Everyday, at some point in that day, I suffer from feelings of being unqualified to do the work that I know I’m meant to do. Sometimes I let mistakes that I make, thoughts that I have, and my feelings ge...

Most people in Technology struggle with communication… better yet, most people in business struggle with communication. I’m no exception to that, but I’m working on it. Here are some of the things that I’ve learned and implemented to help me with communication. One of the reasons some of us are bad at communication is due to fear. We’re afraid to let people that we don’t know, what we don’t know. We’re afraid that they will think less of us or something… But really, if we only new how little th...

In this episode I interview Anthony Roldan from HubSpot about the companies culture code. I was pretty much blown away with the autonomy and freedom that HubSpot offer’s their employees. Their growth is amazing and there is no doubt that they are a leader in the marketing software industry. I’ve followed their blog for a while and used lots of their free tips and tools for marketers in the past, but this was my first time meeting and talking to one of their employees. Some of my key take aways...

You can’t grow if you don’t stretch If you’re looking for advice on yoga, flexibility or getting shape, then you’re in the wrong place. This is going to be a short episode about getting better. Ever had a rubber band, and stretched? If you stretch it too far to fast, it snaps. We’re the same way. We need to stretch ourselves in small steady ways. If you stretch a rubber band a little bit, and hold it for a long time, it’ll loose some of that tension that makes it spring back. It becomes easier...

Part of being a great leader is being a great learner. If you decide to be leader, either in a leadership/managerial role, or just leading those to your left and to your right, you must also decide to never stop learning. When you stop learning, you stop leading. Last week my wife and I rented “The Intern.” It’s a movie with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. De Niro plays the part of a 70+ year old widower who is board with life and wants to have something to get him out of the house. He’s a re...

When most people talk about Leadership they talk about the psychology side of it, but I believe that it goes much deeper that than. In this episode I’m going to talk a lot about brain chemicals and I’m going to get a little deep into the biology of leadership. I was first made aware of such a think when Simon Sinek talked about the makeup of the brain in his famous “Start with Why” TEDx Talk a few years ago. I was fascinated with the fact that his “golden circle” was grounded in biology and not ...

A few months ago I read the Jesse Itzler book, “Living with a Seal.” I heard it was really funny, and I knew a little about Jesse through some podcast interviews that I heard him on. I also thought it might motivate me to get in serious shape, however, it sort of scared me a little bit. In this book, Jesse meets this Navy Seal, who he calls “Seal” and invites him to live with him for 31 days and to train them. Seal reluctently says yes only if Jesse will agree to do whatever Seal says, whenever ...

I loved this book (click here to pick it up for yourself). It took me a few weeks to read through it all, but I really enjoyed the wonderful stories that Richard Branson tells about his experiences in Entrepreneurship and leading the Virgin Group. He breaks down the book into four main categories: Listen, Learn, Laugh, Lead and then gives a nice recap of his top tips. Many of his insights and stories are from the Virgin group of companies and can seem a little like marketing or promotional mater...

SMART Goals.. Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistic. Time Bound. Specific – The Goal must be specific in nature. Which of these is better? Improve on customer service. Or Increase our customer service survey rating by 10% over the 2015 numbers by July 2016. Measurable – The goal must be clearly measurable. In the example above, you can see that the first goal was not measurable. Improve… is not measurable unless you put some numbers and a way you will be measuring the improvement. I use...

Yesterday I gave a talk for the South Carolina iSTEM group at Saluda Trail Middle School. It was exciting to speak to teachers. Teachers that are working towards bettering the education experience. If you don’t know what STEM is, its an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education. I spoke on the Hour of Code, which is an initiative from Code.org to get students to learn an hour of code (or coding) this week. The Hour of Code is backed by Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple and...

In order to be a leader, you must be brave. I’ve focused on leadership for many years now, and my wife even says I focus on it too much sometimes J. I see countless people that have so much potential for leadership, but have never stepped out and gave it shot due to fear. Now Fear isn’t always bad. There are good fears too. For example, I’m afraid of snakes. God gave me that fear so that I don’t get bit by one of those suckers and die. That’s a healthy fear, at least I tell myself it is. Okay, a...

As I’ve said before, I’m reading Richard Branson’s book, The Virgin Way. This book is full of amazing nuggets of greatness. There’s a whole section on hiring the right people, which, is where these three rules come from. I’ll be adding in some of my own tips at the end. Don’t Delegate, Do it yourself. Hiring is important. So much so that you can’t always trust others to hire the right people. I’ve found that many times when interviewing someone, I just get a “feeling” whether they will fit in ...

Below are some things you can do to improve your luck. I hope you enjoy this episode and please leave me a review in iTunes to help spread the word. 1. Go to where the luck is. – People get lucky when they are in the right place at the right time. The more often you’re in the right place, which is something you can totally control, the more likely that you’ll be there, when the right time comes. Make sure you’re working hard and going where the opportunities live. 2. Don’t put all your eggs in...

A lot of time people confuse being a good speaker with being a good leader. They aren't related, but usually, with a little practice, you can become a good speaker, just like with practice you can become a good leader. It does help your influence if you're a good speaker, whether you're speaking at meetups, conferences, or just to a small team in a conference room. To see some of the best speeches or talks, check out TED.com Know your subject. Be sure you are an expert on the topic you are prese...

Things aren’t always going to be good as a leader. As a leader we must learn to lead in the good times and in the bad. Leading through a crisis is just a fact that will come along with being a technical leader. I recently was able to both witness a good leader lead through a crisis and be the leader in a different crisis. I want to share a few things that I took away from it. Stay Calm. The best way to lead in a crisis is to stay calm. I try to tell my team that no one’s going to die here (we’r...

As a Professor and a leader, I’m passionate about college student’s success both in and out of the classroom. I should be an expert at this, seeing as I’ve been either in college or working for a college (I’m a professor) for more than 15 years. Here are a few tips that will help students be successful. Stay busy (get involved) – Studies show that students that are involved in more than 1 campus organization or student activity have higher GPA’s than students that are not involved at all (sourc...