New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics

Episode 7 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the hardest skills for first-time leaders: saying no to your team, your boss, and yourself. Lucas and Luna walk through a real scenario — a new marketing manager at a mid-size SaaS company who inherited a team drowning in low-impact work. They break down the 'strategic no' vs. the 'defensive no,' why new managers overcommit, and a simple framew...

Episode 6 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo focuses on the most underutilized tool in a new manager's toolkit: the one-on-one meeting. Lucas and Luna break down why most 1-on-1s fail, what the research says about frequency and structure, and how to shift from status update to real coaching. They reference a specific Google re:Work study showing that managers who hold consistent weekly 1-on...

Episode 5 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the trickiest skills for new leaders: setting boundaries with your team while maintaining trust and approachability. Lucas and Luna unpack a real-world case from a mid-size tech firm where a first-time manager asked her team to stop Slack messaging after 8 PM. They discuss why new managers often avoid boundaries, the difference between rigid ru...

In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a common but under-discussed challenge for first-time leaders: the delegation trap. Lucas walks through the research from Harvard Business Review showing that 67% of new managers struggle to let go of their old responsibilities, leading to burnout and team frustration. They focus on a concrete case study of a marketing manager at...

Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest new-manager scenarios: giving critical feedback to a team member who deflects, argues, or shuts down. Lucas breaks down a specific case from a manufacturing team where a high-performing engineer, Maya, consistently rejected any performance suggestions. He walks through the manager's mistake of avoiding the issue for six weeks, then how a structured approach...

In episode 2 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest transitions in any career: managing people who used to be your peers. They break down why the friendship changes, not ends, and share a concrete 30-day framework from Harvard Business Review research and real-world cases at companies like Mailchimp and a mid-size marketing agency. Learn why the first one-on-one aft...

A single statistic — 60 percent of new managers fail within the first 18 months — anchors this episode. Lucas and Luna unpack why the transition from individual contributor to manager is so treacherous, using a real case: a top sales rep at a mid-size tech company who was promoted to team lead and saw her team's performance drop 20 percent in her first quarter. They explore the psychology of manag...