

As I began my journey aspiring to be a great leader for my team, in a fast-paced, tech startup,...
As I began my journey aspiring to be a great leader for my team, in a fast-paced, tech startup, I realized early into my leadership journey that people are used to thinking one can only be strong in either, this or that and not both. I call it “setting expectations in binaries”. How can the same person be —social AND task-oriented? Empathetic for her colleagues AND be radically candid? Intuitive about decisions AND be data centric? Kick-ass and warm-and-fuzzy? If that sounds familiar, you also know questioning the status quo is easier said than done. I will share with you my frameworks that I use to bring my entire self to work so that I can play to my strengths despite social norms.
In this chat, I want you to walk away with:
Mallika Rao loves solving difficult problems in tech. She mindfully rose through the ranks as an IC and tech-lead in both big and small companies and now enjoys her work as an Engineering Leader at a startup. She believes that her team and people are the company's first customers and walks this talk every day. She has helped scale the team in both number and culture and product in revenue and customer happiness with one core value, i.e. servant leadership.
How do you manage your team? How do you address a complicated situation, like for example, a staff needing to clock out right away? How do you manage without that help at that time?
As mid level Engineer contemplating Lead/Manager roles, how do I know if I will be good at leading a team and working with people more?
How do you maximise your opportunities to find jobs which appeal to you in terms of your values? Thanks
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