Episode 117
Why Technical Leaders Undersell Themselves and How to Stop
Most leaders will tell you they hate bragging — and they mean it. But somewhere between "I don't want to be that person" and never talking about what you've done, a lot of genuinely talented people quietly disappear from the conversations that shape their careers. Josh opens with a real scenario — joining a new company and being asked to introduce himself at an all-hands — and the tension of threading that needle. Bob admits this is his kryptonite. As a self-described introvert and chronic underseller, he's spent years over-correcting away from self-promotion because it feels slimy. The episode digs into the nuance between "I" stories and "we" stories, and why the most effective communicators learn to weave both together naturally.
The harder truth surfaces when Bob connects this to the Capital One Agile layoffs — 1,100+ roles eliminated, not because the work wasn't valuable, but because no one made the case for it. Servant leadership culture convinced an entire profession that talking about results was someone else's job. It wasn't. Josh drives it home with Nick Saban's retirement: Alabama is still good, but they're not the same, because the person whose presence elevated everyone around them is gone. That's you. You are the face of your franchise, whether you're comfortable with it or not. Stop underselling. Start telling.
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