Leading What You've Never Done Before

Leading What You’ve Never Done Before is an episode about a leadership challenge almost everyone hits as they grow: your scope expands faster than your resume.

Most technology leaders start out managing what they already know, then suddenly find themselves responsible for domains they’ve never personally practiced. That can feel exposing, especially if you built your credibility as “the expert.” In this episode, Kevin breaks down why trying to become the expert in every new area is a trap, why ignoring unfamiliar teams is even worse, and what effective leadership looks like when you can’t rely on depth.

You’ll learn how to lead through intent, constraints, interfaces, and feedback loops, how to evaluate how decisions are made, not just what decisions were made, and how to stay accountable without becoming a bottleneck. Kevin also shares practical questions you can use in any domain, plus guidance on building trust with specialists, creating space for disagreement, and designing systems that consistently produce good outcomes.

If your responsibilities are growing into areas you’ve never owned before, this episode will help you lead them with confidence, and without pretending to be the smartest person in the room.

• When, why, and how to stop coding as your day job talk: https://www.kevingoldsmith.com/talks/when-why-and-how-to-stop-coding-as-your-day-job.html
• Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
• The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022 (https://itdependsbook.net)
• Your host: Kevin Goldsmith (https://kevingoldsmith.com)
• ConFoo 2026 (https://confoo.ca/en/2026)