Steven Puri and Sukha - Episode 47

Steven Puri and Sukha - Episode 47

Author: Bill May 19, 2025 Duration: 54:39
Software engineer to Hollywood powerhouse and back to software.

Raised $21M to fund startups and was a senior executive in Hollywood studios. 

Independence Day, Transformers 1/2, Star Trek, Eagle Eye, Wolverine, etc - all movies where Steven's teams contributed to special effects. The man has worked with legends (and he has a great sense of humor).

We talked engineering, Office Space, leadership, and a few movie insights :-)


‬‭ Steven is the Founder and CEO of The Sukha Company with the mission to help millions of‬‭ people find their focus, achieve more and have a healthy work life.‬‭

Steven's career started as a newscaster/interviewer for the #1 youth news show in the‬‭ DC/Baltimore market (on WTTG-TV) and then as a junior software engineer & Thomas J.‬‭ Watson Scholar at IBM.

After attending USC in Los Angeles, he began working in film‬‭ production and produced computer-generated visual effects for 14 movies including‬‭ Independence Day which won the Academy Award for Visual Effects.‬‭

Steven’s first tech company was Centropolis Effects that produced those CGI effects, and he‬‭ eventually sold it to the German media conglomerate Das Werk when he was 28.‬‭
Steven then produced some indie films and eventually went studio-side to develop and produce‬‭ live-action features as a VP of Development & Production at 20th Century Fox (running the Die‬‭ Hard and Wolverine franchises) and an EVP at DreamWorks Pictures for Kurtzman-Orci‬‭ Productions where he worked on Star Trek, Transformers and more.‬‭

After Fox, Steven returned to building tech companies and founded The Sukha Company -‭‘sukha’ means ‘happiness from self-fulfillment’ in Sanskrit. The Sukha is a focus app that‬‭ bundles all the tools necessary to have a focused experience and a healthy, productive‬‭ workday.‬‭

Steven lives in Austin, TX now.‬‬

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: 100

40% Better - Engineering Leadership
Podcast Episodes
A Mental Health Toolbox - Episode 53 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:00
I've had struggles with anxiety, depression, social anxiety, and imposter syndrome. Here's a list of tools that make those things not problems today. These tools all have extensive research behind them :-)
Do Hard Things - episode 52 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:25
Accept the inevitable - success requiers hard work.When you accept this, life gets way easier.Fighting against hard work - makes things harder.....
Mistakes are Required - Episode 51 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:07
The inspector gave me a list of 6 things to fix. Only one was easy. Every issue was solvable. And each one would take time and effort. It wasn't what I wanted, it was what I got. And it taught me a lot!
Success Metrics - Episode 50 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:34
Car racing, surfing Pipeline, 70 ft free dives, and beating software release predictions. These activities are all built on a stack of small success metrics. Having deliberate and sufficiently detailed metrics lets us ta…
3 Mental Models and 1 Lie - Episode 49 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:51
These mental models (beliefs) were taught to me well before my first leadership role. And the lie was one I started leading with - but dumped in a few months
Being Lucky - Episode 48 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:19
I've been outrageously lucky in this life. And looking back, there's a consistent pattern for how I made luck my friend.Initiative + Optimism -> LuckClover thanks to: Umberto Salvagnin, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Jeff Hancher - Episode 46 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:40
Jeff's journey began as a child growing up in southwestern Pennsylvania.After serving in the United States Army, Jeff began a career as a blue-collar worker at a large corporation.Since that start, he was promoted 10 tim…
Imposter Syndrome- Episode 45 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:36
Oh boy, have I heard stories!!Team leads and managers who were sure any day they'd be discovered as frauds. And yes, I've been that person. Convinced that my team's performance was amazingly lucky hires. And in hindsight…
Above Your Pay Grade - NOT!! Episode 44 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:38
People regularly tell me some version of "that's above my pay grade". But that is not true. The real problem is people don't have a system to bring issues up the org chart and get executive attention, approval, and budge…
Brian Maggi - Episode 43 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:06
Brian Maggi has an impressive list of accomplishments. From building medical education websites to Desktop Technology Manager at Apple to live entertainment and now AI - diverse experience is an understatement. You can l…