Why every tech problem is actually a people problem... ft. Elisabeth Hendrickson
Release Date: 02/18/2026
Why every tech problem is actually a people problem... ft. Elisabeth Hendrickson
Uncommon Leadership
What if I told you that all those technical problems keeping you up at night—missed dates, buggy releases, burnout—are actually just symptoms of a team that doesn't feel safe enough to tell the truth. Hi! This is Michael Hunter, and I’ve spent over 35 years debugging code. Today, I help CEOs, founding teams, and heads of people debug themselves and identify those hidden patterns that are stalling growth and success. And I’ve learned that the code is usually the easy part. The hard part is the squishy stuff: the silence in the meeting room, the fear of speaking up,...
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Uncommon Roundtable: How High-Performing Tech Leaders Build Resilience
Uncommon Leadership
Why do we treat joy or happiness as a reward? Something we’re allowed to feel only after the sprint is over, or the code is shipped, or the crisis is averted. When we cut out joy to focus solely on getting it done, we trigger a dangerous biological shift called predatory aggression—a state where our doer brain takes over, shutting down curiosity, connection, and empathy. The very emotions we need to survive the storm and be truly resilient. In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Roundtable, we explore the true ROI of Joy. Our expert panel brings decades of...
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The High Cost of Fitting In: Reclaiming Your Power as a Neurodivergent Leader ft. Rita Ramakrishnan
Uncommon Leadership
For many tech leaders—especially the neurodivergent—success often feels like a performance. You mirror the behaviors you see, fit ourselves into neurotypical boxes, and pay for it with our mental and physical health. But leadership doesn’t have to be a grind. When you stop fighting your own wiring and start leveraging your Pattern Recognition Engine, you don't just work faster—you work with Cognitive Ease. In this episode of Uncommon Leadership Podcast, Michael Hunter sits down with neurodivergent executive coach and researcher Rita Ramakrishnan to debug the Masking Tax...
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From Debt to Real Wealth: Debugging Your Financial System ft. Julie Murphy
Uncommon Leadership
You cannot separate your numbers from your nervous system. When you operate from a "hijacked" state—driven by financial pasts, debt snowballs, or "rich but empty" milestones—you’re driving on the rough shoulder of the road. You’re wrecking your suspension (your health and relationships) and wondering why the journey feels like a grind. Success without joy is neither an achievement nor joyful. It’s just a "leaky container" waiting to drain your energy. In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, I, Michael Hunter, am joined by Julie Murphy, a...
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Moving from Values on the Wall to Authenticity in the Room ft. Henry Suryawirawan
Uncommon Leadership
If you see your team stalling, projects dragging, and an invisible friction you can’t quite name—this podcast is for you. When tech leaders feel a gap between expectations and outcomes, their first natural response is often to withdraw or try to fix the situation with more rules and processes. And without even realizing it, that distance creates a cycle of silence. Your team begins to play it safe, hiding the very "human data" you need to actually move forward. In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, I, Michael Hunter, am joined by Henry Suryawirawan—an engineering...
info_outline![Why Great Leaders Get Stuck [And What Actually Frees Them] ft. Gary Montalvo show art](https://assets.libsyn.com/content/196866440?height=50&width=50)
Why Great Leaders Get Stuck [And What Actually Frees Them] ft. Gary Montalvo
Uncommon Leadership
Tech leaders are struggling because they’re carrying too much— too much pressure to have answers, too much responsibility for outcomes, too little space to be human. And it’s exhausting. In the latest episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, I, Michael Hunter from Uncommon Teams, sit down with leadership and mindset coach Gary Montalvo for a deeply honest conversation about what actually blocks leaders from creating healthy teams, resilient cultures, and sustainable results. From his early days as a 22-year-old art director at Sony Music to building his own...
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Uncommon Roundtable: How High-Performing Tech Teams Actually Build Resilience
Uncommon Leadership
As leaders, we’re taught to push through. Work harder. Focus longer. Stay disciplined. But what if resilience isn’t built by endurance at all? What if it’s shaped in the small, almost invisible moments—how teams reset, reconnect, and rehumanize their work before exhaustion sets in? In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Roundtable Podcast, Michael Hunter from Uncommon Teams brings together a group of deeply respected practitioners to explore resilience not as a personal trait—but as a systemic capability. What unfolds is an honest, experience-driven...
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The Hidden Dynamics That Make or Break Tech Teams ft. Keith Klain
Uncommon Leadership
Most leaders believe their teams go quiet because people fear conflict, don’t know what to say, or lack confidence. But that’s almost never the real reason. In this episode of Uncommon Leadership, Keith Klain joins me to reveal a harder, more human truth: Teams go quiet when they stop trusting how honest their leaders will be with them. Keith shares the shift that transformed every organization he led—from global banks to fast-paced tech teams. When he stopped treating information as currency and started telling people the real “why” behind decisions,...
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Six Pillars of Resilient Leadership ft. Jim Carlough
Uncommon Leadership
What if the real competitive advantage in your organization isn’t your strategy or your technology— but the way you show up for your people when everything feels uncertain? In this episode of the Uncommon Leadership Podcast, I’m joined by Jim Carlough—a veteran healthcare executive, strategist, and author. Jim’s journey spans from captaining sports teams in his youth to helping organizations find their footing again. Through every experience, Jim kept returning to the same anchors: persistence, focus, and a genuine responsibility to his team. And this became the...
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How Top Leaders Build Teams That Speak Up ft. Fortune Buchholtz
Uncommon Leadership
Are your teams holding back? Are they experimenting, speaking up, or taking risks when the stakes are high? If not, you're dealing with a problem that hasn't surfaced yet. And it's not a skill problem. Or a process problem. It’s most likely a culture problem. When your people don’t feel safe, they don't take risks. They hide their vulnerabilities. And in an environment like this, even your best talent stays silent — or quietly leaves. Hi there! Welcome back! I’m Michael Hunter from Uncommon Teams, and in this episode of the Uncommon...
info_outline- Technical problems are almost never only technical problems
- Real trust isn't built by forcing people to bring their whole selves to work. It’s built by respecting boundaries and letting people choose what to share.
- It only takes one person to name the elephant in the room. Once named, the fear dissolves, and the team can actually go from pretending to solving.
- Learn to be Kind not Nice. Nice is selfish—it’s about protecting your comfort by avoiding conflict. Kind is selfless—it’s about protecting the team by addressing the hard truth before it causes failure.
- Self-Reflection as a leader helps you respond to situations instead of simply reacting.