Scott Krawitz: People Skills for a Technologist

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Joanie interviews Scott Krawitz, the CEO of People Driven Solutions Inc (PDSI).  PDSI provides technology advisory services, such as the “virtual CTO.”  Scott has had many years as a technologist and a leader of technologists and he shares the people strategies he finds work best.

Highlights:

Q: What are the most critical people skills for a technologist?

In nerd parlance, think of it like a network communication model.  There are three stages: transmitting, receiving, and processing a message.

Q: What have you learned from your extensive world travel that has helped you develop your people strategies?

It’s an invaluable experience for any leader to explore different cultures.  Cross-cultural agility is key, especially in America.  You ignore cultural differences at your own peril.

Q: What do you mean by using the right “filter of empathy?”

Scott brings in research from cultural anthropologist, Angeles Arrien.  To learn more, listen to the podcast.

Words of wisdom from Scott:

“It’s always better to under promise and over deliver.”

“Show up and choose to be present.”

“Look for the words between the words.”

Scott offers shout outs to:

NFAR, the National Foundation for Autism Research, and 7CTOs

Contact Scott:

scott@peopledriven.co

619-908-1407

http://peopledriven.co

 

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Franklin Taggart: People Strategies for Creative Minds

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Joanie interviews Franklin Taggart, a mysterious nerd with an interesting past.  Franklin is a musician, podcaster, and audience coach.  He’s an extremely creative nerd and, in this episode, he explains how creativity can actually make you unemployable–and how to get around that.

Highlights:

Q: Are you or are you not a nerd?  Or is it not a binary answer?

Franklin defines and expands the definition of “nerd.”

Q: What’s your story?

It was a long strange trip.  My employment history and my bank account both reflect a significant level of chaos.

Q: How do you communicate best?

With words.  Even though I score 100% introvert on the Myers-Briggs, I can talk about anything at the spur of the moment.

Q: How do you connect with your audience and help others connect with theirs?

Artists are usually really good at what they do, but marketing is a foreign language to them.

The biggest challenge for artists and some authors is being visible.  The first step is to find a level of visibility that is comfortable.  It may be a little bit of a stretch, but not diving into the deep end.  For examples, listen to the podcast.

Words of wisdom from Franklin:

“Failure is not trying.  Everything else is learning.”

“Taylor Swift is not a country artist.”

Contact Franklin:

FranklinTaggart.com

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Joanie Connell: Introduction to Reinventing Nerds

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Hi, I’m Joanie Connell, your host of Reinventing Nerds.

I’m a nerd myself.  But you know what?  I don’t think I’m a whole nerd.  I think I’m about half nerd.  I started out as an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley and, after several years, I decided to go back to graduate school to learn psychology because I wanted to help  engineers and other technical people be better at communicating with each other. It’s been about twenty years now and I love it!  It’s some of my favorite work.

In the Reinventing Nerds podcast, I bring people on who are nerds, and also people who are “people experts.”  For example, there are scientists, engineers, programmers, academics, researchers, doctors–people who are really focused on their technical skills yet have to have those people skills to be successful in their work.  I know it’s hard now.  Everyone wants us to have it all.

I know from being a nerd myself–at least half nerd–how annoying it is to have those schmoozy, salesy, slimy kind of people telling you what to do.  I don’t want to teach people how to communicate in a way that’s not authentic to them.  That’s not what we’re about here.  We’re about learning how to communicate in a way that works for you.

Please subscribe to the podcast.  You can also watch us on YouTube and listen to us on iTunes.  Enjoy!

 

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