Benjamin Wirtz
Managing Director at Scalable Leaders
Sydney, Australia
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With over 15 years of experience in building companies and leading teams in Product, Design and Engineering, Benjamin F. Wirtz has helped numerous people in tech become accomplished leaders in their own right. He has learned from world class leaders at organisations such as Google and Atlassian, as well as many established coaches and executives.
While sharing his strategies and processes of building products that generated over $100,000,000, he recognised the pressure on Tech teams and their Leaders to excel without adequate support.
Based on his experience of working with over 50 leadership teams at over 50 Tech companies, he crafted the Scalable Leader program, addressing the challenges that tend to overwhelm Leaders in Tech during their leadership transition and growth.
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Why the jump into Leadership is extra hard for people in Tech – and what to do about it
If you're a manager in Product, Design or Engineering, you need to be a Leader.
But why do so many Leaders end up firefighting and stressed out? What makes Leading Teams in Tech harder than other areas of a business, and how can you set yourself up to succeed (or at least survive)?
It's all about asking yourself 3 simple questions – join us to find out.
This session can be anywhere from 30-60 minutes long. It is aimed at any Leader in Tech (e.g. Engineering, Design, Product, Data Science or other technical craft), at any level. Whether they are trying to get into Leadership, or need to develop Leaders underneath themselves.
Recent testimonial from a similar session: "Today's season was a life changer. I gave up on leadership roles after a terrible experience. This gives me new hope."
Managing and Leading Teams in Tech – Without Losing Your Mind
82% of Managers are seen as lacking in Leadership skills by their employees – and 87% of leaders wished they had more training before they started.
A coincidence?
Managing and Leading Teams in Tech is extra hard – because as Individual Contributors, people in Tech don't hone their skills to solve 'people problems' nearly as much as working their 'technical problems' muscles.
So what does 'good' look like when it comes to leading Teams in Tech? How can you build and sustain confidence in yourself, and confidence of your stakeholders? And how can you create a safe and engaging team culture?
Those are the questions you will learn to answer during this workshop. You will take away some of the best practices used by Leaders at organisations such as Google, Atlassian, Zip, Sendle and CultureAmp every day to get the best out of their teams.
Last but not least, you will understand how to grow yourself as a leader on an ongoing basis.
And the best part? It's all delivered in a very practical way, with real life case studies and role play to practice what you learn in a safe space instead of having to 'test in prod'.
Who is this workshop for:
- New-ish Leaders in engineering, design, product or delivery functions who want to make sure they survive the transition into Leadership without burnout.
- Aspiring Leaders in Tech who want to accelerate their career by learning and getting recognised for key leadership skills.
- Established Leaders who never had formal training and find themselves struggling in situations such as having to give tough feedback or managing up.
Testimonials from previous Scalable Leaders event attendees:
- "Today's session was a life changer. I gave up on leadership roles after a terrible experience. This gives me new hope."
- "Ben can say things you already know in a way that resonates and make you understand it even better."
- "Really liked the role play, it was super effective."
- "I feel more confident and became much more intentional about the relationship with my manager."
This is a full-day workshop.
Acing Your First Year as a Leader in Tech – Without Losing Your Mind
Moving into Leadership can be as daunting as it can be rewarding. It's easy to worry about managing up, performance reviews, and creating a great team culture – no matter how excited you may be about the potential salary increase and exclusive access to information as a Leader.
Folks in Marketing, Sales or HR spend their whole career solving 'people problems'. We in Engineering, Design, Data Science and Product Management spend much of our career on learning about complex technical problems and creative problem solving.
The good news is: Mastering Leadership does not have to be hard. Join us to learn how to survive as a Leader, accelerate your growth, unlock your potential, and avoid the burnout.
This session can be anywhere from 30-60 minutes long. It is aimed at any aspiring or new-ish leader in Engineering, Design, Product, Data Science or other technical craft.
Recent testimonial from a similar session: "Today's season was a life changer. I gave up on leadership roles after a terrible experience. This gives me new hope."
Why the jump into Leadership is extra hard for Developers – and what to do about it
Moving into Leadership can be the most stressful, or the most rewarding step in your career.
The big, positive impact you can have, bonuses, equity, and exclusive access to information – it’s easy to get excited about being a Leader.
Equally, it is easy to worry about delegating, giving and receiving feedback, setting and managing expectations, team culture, hiring and retaining top talent, effective hybrid or remote work, and managing redundancies or restructures.
Unlike folks in Marketing, Sales or HR, we just don't spend as much time flexing the "interpersonal skills" muscle as we build abstract and creative problem solving skills in our early career.
The good news is: Mastering Leadership does not have to be hard – there are simple concepts you already know that can be applied to managing people.
This talk has been well received by aspiring as well as established leaders. Duration can be tailored to any slot size between 30 and 60 minutes. By default, this talk includes audience engagement, but can be given without.
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