What happens when you walk away from being the expert and step into a role where credibility isn’t guaranteed?

This conversation explores what leadership really looks like when titles don’t carry authority, KPIs can either help or hurt, and progress depends more on listening than speaking. From engineering and quality to product marketing and P&L thinking, Warren Bryant shares what it takes to lead at a higher altitude—without losing trust, speed, or yourself in the process.

This one is for leaders navigating career pivots, complex stakeholder environments, and moments where clarity matters more than control.

Key Discussion Points

00:00 – Why leadership breaks when people are ignored

02:00 – Leading at a higher altitude: tradeoffs, roadmaps, revenue

03:45 – Why people management matters more than technical mastery

05:00 – Turning failure into momentum instead of morale loss

06:30 – Learning from what worked, not just what failed

08:00 – Setting expectations and eliminating business surprises

09:10 – When everything goes sideways despite doing “everything right”

10:45 – The KPIs that actually matter (and the ones that quietly destroy culture)

13:10 – Why bad KPIs create bad behavior

14:40 – Walking away from mastery into a completely new role

17:00 – How to rebuild credibility when you’re the outsider

19:15 – Listening past the PowerPoint to find real customer pain

21:05 – Career pivots: when to move, how to stay the course

23:00 – Leading without authority in full crisis mode

24:45 – Delegation that scales instead of bottlenecks

26:10 – Running your product line like you’re the CEO

28:00 – Early curiosity, failure, and building instincts as a leader

30:30 – Leadership lessons from racing, mentoring, and teaching others

33:40 – Why success should still be fun

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