On the Giant Robots Smashing into other Giant Robots Podcast I’ve spoken to and learned from so many incredible women who’ve accomplished great things, and who are working on exciting new ones. From these conversations I’ve learned how I can be a better manager and more fulfilled in my work, discovered a new programming language being created from the ground up, become more informed about the issues women face in the workplace from an incredibly funny designer and author, and gained perspective on what it’s like to join thoughtbot and seen first-hand the positive impact of a smart, thoughtful leader.
Here are just four of the many episodes that have stuck with me from the last year.
In August I spoke with Sarah Cooper, previously a Product Designer, Sarah is a comedian, speaker, and the author of “100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings”. Sarah shared her thoughts with me on management burnout, the creative process, and her latest book.
In October I was joined by Lindsey Christensen, Chief Marketing Officer at thoughtbot. Lindsey taught us what it was like to join thoughtbot and how she has shaped thoughtbot’s marketing strategy, team, and future.
In April, I had a wonderful conversation with Jennifer Dary, founder of Plucky. Jennifer turned the tables on me and we did a corporate counseling session for me right in the episode. We discussed purpose, process, longevity, relationships, and trust. Since recording this episode, we’ve had several our team members attend Plucky’s So Now You’re a Manager” training, with more on the way.
And last month I spoke with Ellen Chisa, CEO and cofounder of Dark. Dark is a new programming language, tightly integrated with an editor, compiler and PaaS, that allows developers to build distributed applications using high-level primitives. We talked about the challenges of building a complete programming platform from scratch, the benefits of a private beta, and making programming more accessible.
Thank you to all the incredible women who took their time to share with us, and thank you for listening.
