Uncommon Leadership

Dave wants to know things. He doesn't so much enjoy the learning part of that.   Dave Rodabaugh has 23 years of experience making analytical data products by turning THIS data into THAT model.   He also has a track record of teaching others to do it, and helping them turn into data leaders.   Data products are built by teams of people, not by technology, Dave holds.   We discuss the frameworks tha...

Zach believes dissent and debate are critical to understanding each other.   Zach Bonaker proudly describes himself as a "Benevolent Troublemaker," by which he means a catalyst for positive disruption. He applies his wealth of experience steering both Fortune 500 companies and startups and his deep expertise in systems thinking and fostering team-centric approaches to work to skillfully advance or...

Kimberly teaches her people to be selfish.   Kimberly Lowe-Williams is a Black female Director of Infrastructure and Site Reliability, with over 10 years of experience as a leader and people manager. She prides herself on being a leader who empowers her team, promotes diversity, and values everyone's opinion. She's broken down barriers and challenged stereotypes, inspiring others to do the same. S...

Raphael customizes his Zoom background to be what he wants to see on video calls.   Raphael helps founders scale their businesses by enhancing their customers' experiences.   He's taking his nearly-two-decades of experience building relationships with customers and leading international teams at B2B SaaS and tech companies into a thriving solo practice. He has a talent for bringing a company toget...

Muness shows people he hears them. "That is so unusual, it disarms them."   Muness Castle is a data and engineering leader with over 20 years of experience. He specializes in data engineering, strategy, management, organizational design, and architecture. Muness has led or consulted with teams at Shopify, Zapier, JPMC, LivingSocial, Staples and many more.   We discuss the importance of clear commu...

Wendy has loved learning people's stories, motivations, and history from a very young age. "I was always the new kid. I had to learn how to read people," she remembers. Wendy Moore is a founder, social entrepreneur, and technologist passionate about creating work environments so that everyone can thrive. Her career has given her opportunities to work around the world with top innovation leaders, c...

Antoinette considers herself a compulsive teacher. And a perpetual loudmouth. Antoinette Coetzee is a professional coach whose pattern in life seems to be to learn something, master it, and then immediately want to share it with. Personal development, new possibilities, a more supportive society, and 3 pugs are what gets her up in the morning. We chat about the close ties between our leadership an...

Melissa's first job was at a company so special that no one working there realized it was special. Melissa Boggs is a keynote speaker, leadership coach, and employee experience designer. She is host of the Wild Hearts at Work podcast, a roller skater, and an ardent defender of the Oxford comma.  We chat about the power of storytelling, consistently showing up, and taking up our full space in formi...

Devan believes engineers are more than just a subtype of human.   Dr. Devan Kronisch has worked in nonprofits, academia, and the tech sector focusing on learning and development, coaching, and DEI. With a doctorate in psychology and an international background, they have a knack for solving communication challenges as well as bringing in both the outside perspective and the big-picture view.   We...

Jenny values diversity so much that she has a hard time with people who don't value diversity.   Jenny Tarwater is an Enterprise Coach working with large organizations to achieve their outcomes, generally using Agile values, principles, and practices. Her default stance is to put people and culture first and be curious about how they impact the overall system and practices.   She is an internation...

Kim never knows what face to make while somebody is reading her bio.   Kim Crowder is the founder & CEO of Kim Crowder Consulting. She is also one of the country's most sought-after and transformative leadership, marketing and communications facilitators, speakers, and advisors. Kim has been named by Forbes as a "Top Anti-Racism Educators Companies Need Now" and has been featured pretty much every...

Nalani believes it's ok to want something and yet not be willing to do the work to get it.   Nalani Rodriguez helps leaders transform their relationship with work for both themselves and their teams. She believes that leaders hold particular power, influence, and responsibility to create the conditions for themselves and others to live this reality.   We chat about building the muscle of awareness...

Ray would rather talk with anyone who is available than the "right" person he can never get a hold of.   Ray Myers is Tech Lead of Chaos Engineering at Indeed.com and host of Craft vs Cruft on YouTube.   We chat about leveraging curiosity to find and resolve people's pain, understand their concerns and priorities, and find innovative solutions to the systems behind tough technical and people probl...

Faye finds 75% of her job is convincing people that if they would stop treating their employees like crap, most of their problems would go away.   Faye Thompson brings humanity to the workplace and supports organizations as they adopt modern ways of working.   We chat about how encouraging employees to express their authentic selves at work brings greater creativity, innovation, and job satisfacti...

Samantha believes that people deserve to be their biggest selves.   Samantha Hartley helps consultants multiply their revenues without exhaustion by working with perfect clients on transformational engagements. As a result, they build profitable, joyful consultancies.   Before starting her business, Samantha worked in international marketing for The Coca-Cola Company in Moscow, Russia, and its Atl...

Anu's first job was building helicopters.   An experienced technology leader, trainer, author, leadership and executive coach, Anu Arora thrives in complex environments that require both technical and interpersonal excellence.   As the founder of Infinite Potential Leadership, she helps leaders find their way to thrive.   We chat about identifying our strengths and purpose, showing value at every...

Karin wants each person to experience their life rich with purpose and meaning, integrating their unique body and soul wisdom.   Karin Lubin is a well-being coach, trainer, and exercise enthusiast driven by a desire to inspire and energize leaders and teams. She does this through self-reflection for clarity and wisdom while building inner and outer strength. She uses body building, passion, reflec...

Paul believes we must help our people become whole and complete if we want our people to make whole and complete pictures for our customers.   Paul Carvalho is a leadership coach and psychotherapist often disguised as an Enterprise or Agile coach and consultant. He helps motivated people discover, ignite, and develop their inner strengths to improve relationships with themselves and with others so...

"I've made plenty of mistakes along the way," Louise readily states.   Louise Perold has been leading teams for several decades, first in South Africa and now in Portugal. She's been focused on quality throughout, including co-organizing a testing conference in South Africa for a number of years, and she currently serves on the board of the Association for Software Testing.   We chat about becomin...

Vanessa believes that if work is constantly feeling difficult, we're not doing it right.   Vanessa Bennett is the CEO of Next Evolution Performance, a global high-performance coaching business using neuroscience to help driven leaders and teams to optimize profitability, productivity, and energy, and to decrease their effort, sickness, burnout, and mental health problems. This ensures that success...

Than connects with people through humor and lightheartedness. Than Som is an experienced leader and a founder of her local Agile community. From an early practitioner of Extreme Programming developed into a thriving career helping teams find their best way to become the teams they want to be. We chat about her early experiences having outsized impacts, the ways emotions drive our actions, identify...

Cindy has been described by her daughter as a rolling stone that gathers no moss related to her work history.   Cindy Carless has enjoyed multiple career changes and is currently transitioning to work as a death doula and freelance coach and facilitator.   In contrast, she has lived in the same house for over 20 years except for a 2-year attempt to settle in Fredensborg, Denmark.   We discuss enga...

Joanne sometimes finds seeing the reality of who she is scary. Joanne Perold runs a small coaching business and has been leading teams, individuals, and organizations since the early 2000s. We chat about speaking people's language, sussing out what people are ready for, and signals we might be heading into a trap—and how to recover when we miss those signals and fall in. - Joanne's weekly centerin...

George has worked as an organic vegetable farmer, a theatre technician, and a tv repairman.   George Dinwiddie is an independent consultant helping organizations learn to develop software more effectively. He explores ways that people can make better decisions for themselves and their organizations.   We talk about using other people's points of view to help them get what they need, doing what is...

Esther finds medieval history relevant to looking at organizations because the past is always in the present.   Esther Derby has been called one of the most influential voices within the agile communities when it comes to developing organizations and transforming management. She helps people adjust their environment to work more effectively together.   We chat about understanding and adjusting tea...