The Clarifier

Why I Bet on Potential Over Perfection

Meet Natalie Glance, Duolingo’s Chief Engineering Officer, as she digs into the contradictions of modern leadership: How do you give employees the space to fail and learn while still hitting your team’s targets? Can you really build a diverse, empowering culture when you're sprinting on the startup treadmill? In this conversation, she reveals what it felt like to be a math-loving girl and to encounter unsettling data at age 12. That experience still informs how she thinks about managing (and equipping others to manage) folks from underrepresented groups.  She describes how she strives to scope roles thoughtfully and set folks up for success vs. “meddle” and explores why she now resists the temptation to over-invest in ensuring the success of a single team member, opting instead to attack problems at a “design level”.  Joining the conversation is Natalie’s executive coach and founder + CEO of Talentism, Jeff Hunter. Together, with host Angie D’Sa, they expose Natalie’s journey with executive coaching and hard won lessons from the perspective of a woman in tech. Talentism frameworks referenced in this episode:  * Big4 [https://talentism.com/ideas/purpose/] (tool to learn about a person)  * 4D [https://talentism.com/ideas/the-4d-model-scaling-your-company/] (tool to understand levels of people management)

Transforming My Trauma Into My Purpose

Meet Simmone Taitt [%20https://www.linkedin.com/in/simmonetaitt/], founder + CEO of Poppy Seed Health [https://www.poppyseedhealth.com/about], who is rewriting the rules of pregnancy, loss and postpartum support. With 24/7 1:1 access to doulas, midwives, and nurses, Poppy Seed Health offers on-demand emotional and mental health support.  Simmone opens up to Angie D'Sa, her executive coach, about how she transformed her personal trauma into profound purpose. And what it looked like to get out of her own way and build her team.  Simmone shares a challenging part of her founder journey - one where she was slow to replace a star performer who left the company. And how limiting narratives got in the way of fast hiring and thoughtful onboarding.  When she faced those narratives head on, she evolved as a leader and her business experienced positive momentum. If you've ever felt intimidated by putting together a team or been the new hire, this conversation is for you. Listen in and apply Simmone's hard won learning in your own life and work. To learn more about how Angie and other Talentism coaches guide their clients, check out Talentism.com [http://Talentism.com] The Clarifier team wants to hear from you. What are the challenges you are experiencing as a founder or manager right now? As the manager or the person being managed? Send an email or voice memo to podcast@talentism.com [podcast@talentism.com] describing your challenge and we might just address it on the show.

I Thought I was Helping, But Really I was Judging

Meet Joel Keating [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-keating-286a043/]. He’s Grindr's SVP of Engineering & Chief Information Security Officer. He's joined by his Talentism coach, Gregory Kim [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorykim2/]. Together, they describe how paying attention to Joel’s “This Sucks” response can open up the door to curiosity and unlock solutions to big problems at work. But, this only works if the curiosity is genuine. We learn that sometimes Joel can go through the motions: set up a meeting, ask questions, get feedback. But if under those behaviors Joel is actually harboring judgment, it doesn’t unlock anything.  Greg and Joel have come up with a simple system to avoid the trap of hidden judgments. Joel exposes his expectations. All the time. This act is so simple, but when repeated regularly it has created powerful clarity for Joel and those around him.  Everyday at Grindr, Joel applies the frameworks he learned through coaching. The problems at work don’t go away, but he is able to move through them with more agency and clarity, making the next challenge that much more manageable. Listen in and apply Joel's hard won learnings to your work context. For more on the frameworks Joel references, visit Talentism.com [http://www.talentism.com/]

I Unlocked My Intuition by Confronting My Fear

Meet Evan O'Donnell [https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-o-donnell-44380011/] an early-stage investor + co-founder of the VC firm, Timespan.  Evan shares his powerful journey of overcoming the deep-seated fears instilled from growing up closeted as a gay man, striving for perfection to avoid the perceived catastrophe of being outed. Through self-work, Evan shed the limiting armor he had built up and transformed his heightened perception from a self-protective mechanism into a "superpower" for intuition, creativity, and problem-solving. By continuously confronting his fears, he has found a way to unlock new possibilities for personal growth and professional success. Host Angie D'sa [https://www.linkedin.com/in/angiedsa/], Talentism coach + partner, highlights how fear so often limits leaders' ability to learn and unleash their unique potential. In conversation with Evan, Angie learns: * How pursuing entrepreneurship felt scary -> "it's the purest form of self-actualization” * How his armor still showed up at work, even after he came out * How he methodically grapples with fear when it shows up at work * How this deepens trust with his co-founder and they make better decisions as a result * How his “super perception” drives faster feedback loops and better business outcomes If you want to learn more about the framework Angie references in this episode, check out Purpose in the Big 4 model [https://talentism.com/ideas/purpose/].

Then One Day, I Was Just Like my Boss

Meet Meghan Joyce [https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanvjoyce/] the founder + CEO of Duckbill [https://www.getduckbill.com], an AI-and-human powered answer to tiresome but deeply necessary life admin - think renewing your passport or making appointments with doctors who actually take your insurance. But MJ wasn't always "Founder or Bust." In fact, she has spent most of her career working for pretty iconoclastic founders. First at the ride-sharing app Uber, then at the health insurance provider Oscar. In this episode, MJ vividly describes what it felt like to be baffled or upset by her boss’s behavior. And admits she now sees herself doing some of those same baffling things as founder and CEO! As Joni Mitchell might put it, she’s looked at life from both sides now. Her executive coach of over 11 years, Libbie Thacker [https://www.linkedin.com/in/libbiethacker/] (coach + partner at Talentism [https://talentism.com]), has been with her through all the ups and downs and joins us as well. Listen as MJ brings rare insight into how bosses and employees so often miss each other and what to do about it.