Episode 36

full
Published on:

13th Mar 2025

Technical Ownership Demands Emotional Intelligence with Taha Hussain

🎯 Engineering Leadership: The Power of Ownership with Taha Hussein

Join Matt Watson and former Microsoft, Walmart, and Yahoo engineering manager Taha Hussein for an illuminating discussion on fostering ownership in engineering teams. This episode delves deep into the psychological and emotional dimensions of leadership that transform good engineers into exceptional leaders.

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Connect with Matt Watson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwatsonkc/

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🔍 Key Discussion Points:

Why emotional intelligence trumps technical skills in leadership

The "Rider and Elephant" model of behavioral change

Breaking through self-limiting beliefs in technical teams

How to scale ownership culture in large organizations

The critical balance between challenging and supporting team members


⏱ Episode Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction and the importance of ownership

01:12 - Understanding barriers to taking ownership

02:39 - The reactive vs. proactive mindset in engineering

05:37 - The Drama Triangle in team dynamics

11:24 - Creating psychological safety in teams

15:20 - Building confidence in technical teams

18:27 - Emotional intelligence in engineering leadership

21:44 - The Rider and Elephant analogy

25:48 - Overview of leadership development courses


📝 Featured Quote:

"People who don't like themselves, thinking 'I did something bad, I'm a bad person,' they're not gonna do anything good. You want to give them a good feeling that they're good and they can still make those changes." - Taha Hussein


🎓 Special Offer:

Access Taha's FREE course on ownership - limited time offer for listeners!

Click here: https://taha-hussain-f902.mykajabi.com/top-tech-leader/

Connect with Taha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahahussain/


📣 Ready to Transform Your Leadership Journey?

Whether you're an aspiring engineering leader or a seasoned CTO, this episode offers invaluable insights into building high-performing teams through emotional intelligence and ownership. Like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on more leadership wisdom. Share your thoughts: How do you foster ownership in your team?

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About the Podcast

Product Driven
How to build better software and software teams
Building software products requires caring more about the product than it does the technology used to build the product. On this podcast, we discuss bringing a product driven mindset to every step of the product development process.

About your host

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Matt Watson