Episode 366 | Heather Wilde - Natural Leader

Guest:

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Heather Wilde talks with Dave Rael about values, culture, leadership, speaking in front of crowds, and building great products

Heather Wilde is CTO of ROCeteer, and is also known as the “Unicorn Whisperer” due to her special focus on entrepreneurs. She is a personal and professional growth expert, executive coach, author, and speaker. As a founding employee of Evernote, she oversaw the company’s growth from thousands to 100,000,000 customers. Among her other awards, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid selected her for a commendation for her work in increasing STEM education. Wilde's writing as a columnist for Inc and Forbes spans social media, entrepreneurialism, startups, leadership, fundraising, and diversity issues. She currently lives in Las Vegas, NV.

Chapters: 0:36 - Dave introduces the show and Heather Wilde2:36 - Heather's work at Evernote6:20 - Heather, the conference speaker10:36 - Moving from being a developer into leadership13:57 - How Heather got started in software18:08 - The nature of the CTO role20:12 - Heather on culture26:35 - Heather's story of failure - building a game product without a significant total addressable audience30:34 - Heather on entrepreneurship and the viability of businesses33:05 - Heather's book recommendations36:43 - ROCeteer and Heather's experiences as a fractional CTO40:53 - The things that have Heather most excited44:32 - Heather's top 3 tips for delivering more value47:01 - Keeping up with Heather

Resources: ROCeteer Evernote Chris O'Neill Ari Meisel on Developer On Fire The Peter Principle IBM PCjr Tony Hsieh Evernote Breach E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game) Segway Dean Kamen AntarctiConf Matthew Renze on Developer On Fire

Heather's book recommendation: Code Name Ginger: The Story Behind Segway and Dean Kamen's Quest to Invent a New World - Steve Kemper Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't - Jim Collins Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us - Seth Godin Foundation - Isaac Asimov The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation), The Stars, Like Dust; The Naked Sun; I, Robot - Isaac Asimov Ray Bradbury Neil Gaiman H. G. Wells Ready Player One: A Novel - Ernest Cline The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories By Philip K. Dick - Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams - Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams Wool - Hugh Howey

Heather's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Always think from someone else's perspective Make sure what you do has benefit beyond the now Pay attention to the world around you