From Engineer to Leader I Justin Ryburn

From Engineer to Leader I Justin Ryburn

Author: Bill August 7, 2026 Duration: 54:20
Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about continuous learning, building strong relationships, and helping others grow. In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Justin Ryburn, Field CTO & Vice President, Global Solutions Engineering at Kentik, to discuss what it really takes to become an effective technology leader. Justin shares lessons from his leadership journey, the importance of a growth mindset, coaching high-performing teams, communicating with executives, and developing future leaders. Whether you're an engineering manager, tech lead, solutions architect, or aspiring leader, this conversation is packed with practical advice you can apply to your own career. In this episode: • How Justin Ryburn transitioned from technical expert to leadership • Why continuous learning is essential for every leader • Building relationships across teams and organizations • Coaching, mentoring, and developing future leaders • How to communicate technical ideas to executives and CFOs • Creating a culture of growth and ownership • Leadership lessons from successes and failures • Handling difficult conversations with empathy • Why great leaders focus on people first • Career growth in technology leadership Guest: Justin Ryburn Field CTO & Vice President, Global Solutions Engineering Kentik Subscribe for more conversations on leadership, technology, engineering management, career growth, and personal development. Connect with Justin Ryburn on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinryburn/ #Leadership #TechnologyLeadership #EngineeringLeadership #TechLeadership #Management #LeadershipDevelopment #CareerGrowth #GrowthMindset #EngineeringManager #CTO #SolutionsEngineering #Kentik #JustinRyburn #40PercentBetterPodcast #BillLennan I hope you enjoy this episode! Give it a like, share, and subscribe to not miss the content coming your way weekly. – Bill and the 40 % Better podcast team Connect with Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wblennan/ Visit the 40 Percent Better website here: https://40pb.com/ Listen to 40 % Better on these podcast platforms: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qkqdMPkR9BqYPM7UPa4P0 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/40%25-better---engineering-leadership/id1709546347 Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01ad162e-7a33-4df4-8c29-04c4af0405fc/40-better---engineering-leadership #40PercentBetter #BillLennan #Leadership #TeamPerformance #EmployeeEngagement #PsychologicalSafety #BusinessGrowth #Kaizen #EngineeringLeadership #Coaching The 40% Better podcast with Bill Lennan unlocks previously unheard-of performance levels in teams and leaders. Bill Lennan, founder of 40 Percent Better, interviews experts on employee engagement, psychological safety, engineering leadership, and actionable mental models. Learn how to foster high-performing teams, improve team productivity, and achieve sustainable success in business through a focus on human-centered systems. #technologyleadership #productmanagement #engineeringleadership #leadershipdevelopment #careergrowth #podcast

Hosted by Bill, 40% Better-Engineering Leadership is a conversation for those who build and guide technical teams. This isn't about abstract theory; it's a practical dialogue focused on the tangible mechanics of morale, motivation, and output. Each episode features a single expert in employee engagement, and together we dissect the specific strategies that lead to measurable leaps in performance. You'll hear detailed explorations into what actually moves the needle for engineers and their managers, translating research and experience into actionable leadership techniques. The goal is straightforward: to provide the insights that can help your team operate at a significantly higher level of effectiveness and satisfaction. Tune in for a focused, deep-dive podcast that cuts through the noise of generic management advice, offering concrete ideas you can apply directly to the unique challenges of engineering leadership.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

40% Better - Engineering Leadership
Podcast Episodes
Why Employee Loyalty Has Nothing to Do With Salary | Ian Watts [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:41
In two decades of coaching leaders across startups to multi-billion dollar corporations, Ian Watts discovered that companies lose talented people not because of compensation, but because they treat employees like replace…
From Dial-Up Belarus to 350 Engineers | Andrei Yurkevich [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:41
In 2002, a 25-year-old Andrei Yurkevich started a software outstaffing business in Belarus with internet speeds under 100 kilobits per second for the entire country—slower than a dial-up modem. Twenty-two years later, he…
SE1E94 - From Dial-Up Belarus to 350 Engineers | Andrei Yurkevich [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:41
In 2002, a 25-year-old Andrei Yurkevich started a software outstaffing business in Belarus with internet speeds under 100 kilobits per second for the entire country—slower than a dial-up modem. Twenty-two years later, he…
Run to the Inevitable: High-Trust Engineering Teams | Josh Carroll [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:53
When Josh Carroll tells his engineers not to bring him their hard problems, he's actually doing the opposite—he's making sure they feel resourced enough to tackle anything. As an engineering leader with 20+ years of expe…
How Failure Made Her a Better Engineer | Sairan Aqrawi [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:16
When Sairan Aqrawi decided to become a swimming coach as a teenager in Iraq, she discovered something critical about leadership: passion alone isn't enough. You need skills, responsibility, and the willingness to take ac…
From Student Entrepreneur to CTO Leading 371 Engineers | Taran Lent [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:38
From College Meal Plans to Multi-Tenant Cloud Platforms: How a CTO Built an 80% Market Share by Stacking the Odds for His Teams with Taran LentWhat started as a hungry college student solving his own problem with slips o…
Leading from a higher level | Prashanth Kumar Tondapu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:34
When Prashanth Tondapu started his company at 27, he had no formal leadership training. What he discovered through building an 85-person engineering team would completely transform his approach to leadership, starting wi…
How Curiosity Builds Better Teams | Durgesh Sukhtankar [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:56
In this episode of the 40% Better podcast, host Bill Lennan is joined by technology leader Durgesh Sukhtankar for a deep conversation on leadership, curiosity, and building high performing product teams.Durgesh shares hi…