Lead Prompt Podcast

Technolibertarianism, The Sovereign Stack and the War for Attention [2026w12]

Contributed by Lukas

Is the state the only entity stealing your sovereignty? In this episode of Lead Prompt, John Collins breaks down the evolution of Technolibertariani...

Being overwhelmed (TLP 2024w39)

Contributed by Lukas

Last week I was totally overwhelmed, which resulted in me recording this episode one week late. Why does this happen? Notes: Last week I wa...

2024 wrap and 2025 predictions (TLP 2024w52)

Contributed by Lukas

Wrapping up 2024 trends in technology, business, and the economy, and making 2025 predictions. Notes: Wrapping up 2024 trends in technology...

AI as a force multiplier (TLP 2025w1)

Contributed by Lukas

AI is a force multiplier when applied correctly, it is the horizontal scaling of intelligence. Notes: In the military, a force multiplier is...

All software is broken (TLP 2025w2)

Contributed by Lukas

After over twenty years in the software industry, I feel like users and developers are far too tolerant of poor quality products. Notes: Tod...

Algorithms are the new journalists (TLP 2025w5)

Contributed by Lukas

We are witnessing in real-time the birth of the new access media, and this time it is driven by who controls the social media algorithms. Notes: ...

Where are the hackers now (TLP 2025w14)

Contributed by Lukas

Where are all of the hackers now, and is that culture still alive? Notes: When I first got into computer networks in a big way in the 1990s,...

The death of critical thinking (TLP 2025w15)

Contributed by Lukas

I am convinced that we are witnessing the death of critical thinking in modern times. Notes: I am convinced that we are witnessing the deat...

Leadership blind spots (TLP 2025w16)

Contributed by Lukas

Recently I delved into a topic that was escalated to me, that turned out to be far worse than I thought. Let's talk about leadership blind spots. ...

Opinions stated confidently are not facts (TLP 2025w17)

Contributed by Lukas

Opinions that are stated confidently do not magically become facts. Let's talk about the fallacy of arguments from authority. Notes: I am en...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 5: Building trust

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss trust, why it still matters in 2020, and how you can build and maintain it.

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 3: Leading by example

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explore what leading by example really means, and how you must begin by setting a worthw...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 4: Reverse delegation

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explore the dangers of reverse delegation and servant leadership.

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 1: What is leadership?

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to answer the question "What is leadership?", by providing my definition of leadership, in ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 2: Handling escalations

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to offer you some advise on how to handle escalations coming from customers, prospects, the...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 6: Your default mode is confidence

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss your self confidence as a leader, why it matters so much to you and your team, a...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 7: Resilience

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss resilience, including your own personal resilience as a leader, and also how you...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 8: Present solutions not problems

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss why you should train your team to present solutions and not problems, and to mak...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 19, web search as ten blue links

Contributed by Lukas

Google are moving to AI driven search, and they are clearly moving away from the ten blue links model that gave them web search dominance. That is a...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 9: You need to believe in what you are selling

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss why you need to believe in what you are selling, in order to appear credible.

DEI training is a waste of time (TLP 2024w45)

Contributed by Lukas

This week, I want to explain to you why I believe DEI training is a waste of time, as bias is an innate part of being a human being. Notes: ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 10: Handling someone quitting your team

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss how you should react to someone quitting your team, what processes you should ha...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 11: How to pitch

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss how you can improve your pitching skills, not only for selling products, but als...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 12: On determining fact from fiction

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss why a leader should be very wary of something that looks too good to be true, as...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 13: Leaders should create gaps

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explain to you why a leader should deliberately create gaps in their team, to allow othe...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 14: Letting go of bad ideas

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explain to you why a leader should let go of bad ideas, before they become bad implement...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 15: The benefits of Scrum

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to try to convince you of the benefits of the Scrum process, in spite of some common appreh...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 16: Deciding who you work for

Contributed by Lukas

Today I am going to one simple question: who do you work for? As a leader, the answer you give will define the style of leader you are. For full tra...

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 17: Hero-driven development

Contributed by Lukas

Today I am going to discuss hero-driven development, which is an anti-pattern that is endemic in the software development industry. Hero-driven devel...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 18, Acknowledgement versus agreement

Contributed by Lukas

Today I am going to discuss the differences between acknowledgement versus agreement, and how your active listening style might be hurting your commun...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 19, Consolidating a dot zero release

Contributed by Lukas

Today in the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to explain why you should do a number of quality patch releases after each major release to consolida...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 20, Project estimates are unreliable

Contributed by Lukas

Today in the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to share with you why I believe project estimates are unreliable, and why we should stop placing so m...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 21, How our relationship with the office has changed

Contributed by Lukas

Today on the Tech Leader Pro podcast, I am going to discuss how our relationship with the office has changed, from private offices to remote work, per...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 16, new weekly format

Contributed by Lukas

Topics covered this episode: - Blogging is dead, Twitter is almost dead , podcasting? - Saying no to bad features - Transactional mentorship - W...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 17, the doom is getting doomier

Contributed by Lukas

Topics covered this episode: - The slide towards tech Neo-Luddism - Why are some technologists spreading FUD about AI? - We must separate the tec...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 18, a better Twitter

Contributed by Lukas

Topics covered this episode: - The invite-only beta of Bluesky - Lots of folks are scrambling to build Twitter clones, but who is building a bette...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 22, On dealing with recruiters

Contributed by Lukas

Today I am going share my experiences of working with recruiters for many years in the tech industry, from the perspective of a hiring manager. I wi...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 20, the Irish Times AI hoax

Contributed by Lukas

Today I am going to discuss the recent AI hoax that impacted upon the Irish Times, resulting in them mistakenly publishing an opinion piece by a con...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 21, removing the Twitter app from my phone

Contributed by Lukas

As an experiment this week, I decided to uninstall the Twitter app from my phone, to force myself to reduce my time on the platform. Let's see how I g...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 22, greppr has launched

Contributed by Lukas

I have just launched greppr, a new web search engine that has no filters, no tracking, no ads. The service is a public beta, with a small index and fe...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 23, when did the smart phone become our master key?

Contributed by Lukas

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how much time I spend on my smart phone, and how over time, those phones have become the de facto master keys ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 24, active versus passive online discovery

Contributed by Lukas

There are two main ways to discover new knowledge online: active via research, and passive via social network feeds. This week I want to explore why p...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 25, leadership and reputational harm

Contributed by Lukas

Whether we acknowledge it or not, our reputation proceeds us into a room like a forward-facing shadow. If people look forward to your arrival, or drea...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 26, why the US beats the EU on tech innovation

Contributed by Lukas

This week I read a headline about why its a bad idea for young people to start a company in Ireland. I agree with this, but would broaden that out t...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 27, the Twitter rate limit fiasco

Contributed by Lukas

Last week Twitter gave their millions of users a lesson on the impacts of rate limiting a service. In this episode, I will discuss why that was an i...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 28, the fediverse should be built on a blockchain

Contributed by Lukas

In my opinion, all existing social media fediverse implementations are a not truly free, because if they can ban a user or block an instance, they h...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 29, never accept statistics on face value

Contributed by Lukas

I have seen many instances both in my career, and in life in general, of garbage statistics presented in reports being accepted on face value. Why i...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 39, the curse of knowledge

Contributed by Lukas

This week my web search engine greppr came under a bot attack, in this episode I will discuss what happened and how I fixed it. Notes: Leade...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 40, social media is a brutal mirror

Contributed by Lukas

At times like this, I hate social media: the ugly side of many people starts to show via this brutally honest mirror. Notes: The world is a ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 41, staying calm under pressure

Contributed by Lukas

As a leader, you need to think about how you react when things go wrong. Your example matters. Notes: In the software industry, bugs are a f...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 30, drink from a glass not a fire hose

Contributed by Lukas

In an information-rich environment, with a lot of loud background noise, each of us needs to have our own built-in triage mechanism. Without it, we ...

Online refugees are fleeing to Bluesky (TLP 2024w46)

Contributed by Lukas

The center ground of moderates is becoming a no man's zone, with the Left moving to Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, while the Right have taken over ...

Conducting annual reviews (TLP 2024w47)

Contributed by Lukas

It's that time of year again, when I need to conduct many annual performance reviews over the coming weeks. Notes: It's that time of year a...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 23, Turning up at meetings

Contributed by Lukas

Today I am going discuss why a leader needs to be a great at meetings, and to leverage these opportunities to communicate to the fullest. Topics:...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 32, my thoughts on the Tesla battery range lawsuit

Contributed by Lukas

Tesla are being hit with another lawsuit, this time about their claimed battery range of their cars. The reality is these are range estimates not gu...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 33, The subtle art of power plays

Contributed by Lukas

As a leader you will often have to operate in a hostile environment, and employ a reasonable degree of hostility to survive. In this podcast, I will...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 42, delete your code

Contributed by Lukas

The more legacy code your team maintains, the greater the impact on their productivity. Legacy code is a tax, and should be deleted when possible. ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 47, Neo Web 1.0

Contributed by Lukas

We lost the spirit of Web 1.0, can we ever revive that via a Neo Web 1.0 renaissance? Notes: I am back! It may be sentimentality, but I rea...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 1, making computers work for you

Contributed by Lukas

Today I want to talk about automation, specifically how you use technology to automate your life. Notes: A new year, and a new weekly sequen...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 34, online confirmation bias

Contributed by Lukas

The internet is now the industrial group-think complex. No matter how outlandish someone's beliefs are, group support is available online. Notes:...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 35, gaming group dynamics

Contributed by Lukas

Once one understands the dynamics of a group, they can influence it from inside or outside of that group. Group dynamics often result in individuals...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 36, content promotion on X versus Hacker News

Contributed by Lukas

I done a cross-post of one of my blog entries on X (Twitter) and Hacker News this week, and got significantly better results from Hacker News. As a ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 37, engineers doing sales

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes software engineers need to do sales, so we might as well get good at it. Notes: This week an engineering colleague and I found ou...

The Internet has failed (TLP 2024w21)

Contributed by Lukas

In the early days of the Internet, we thought it would bring enlightenment via free knowledge, instead we have hate, division, toxicity. Notes: ...

Easing back on X (TLP 2024w23)

Contributed by Lukas

Ten years ago I wrote about my desire to ease back from Twitter, now I feel the same way about X. What has really changed? Notes: Recently I...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 38, analysis of a bot attack on greppr

Contributed by Lukas

This week my web search engine greppr came under a bot attack, in this episode I will discuss what happened and how I fixed it. Notes: I am ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 48, firefighting requires new fires

Contributed by Lukas

The problem with firefighting in an organization is that it requires a steady stream of new fires, and fires are bad. Notes: Recently I sugg...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 49, my feature requests for Grok AI

Contributed by Lukas

Grok AI from X is a chat bot with a cool personality that is fun, but I want more utility. Here is my list of requested features. Notes: Run...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 50, at the mercy of algorithms

Contributed by Lukas

So many careers, especially in content creation, are already at the mercy of algorithms. Notes: Running late (again)! So many careers, esp...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 52, 2023 wrap and 2024 predictions

Contributed by Lukas

Wrapping up 2023 trends in technology, business, and the economy, and making 2024 predictions. Notes: Wrapping up 2023 trends in technology,...

The CrowdStrike outage (TLP 2024w29)

Contributed by Lukas

This week I will provide a summary of the CrowdStrike global outage, and why we are so vulnerable to such issues. Notes: This week I will be...

Burnout (TLP 2024w51)

Contributed by Lukas

The warning signs are there, I am burned out. Notes: It has been a few weeks now since my last podcast, and my topic today will explain why....

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 4, sales is story telling

Contributed by Lukas

Today I want to talk about getting better at sales, which is fundamentally about story telling. Notes: I'm a few weeks late due to a flu. ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 5, AI is great but start with a cron

Contributed by Lukas

Today I want to convince you that you should start using scripted automation before complicated AI. Notes: Computers are automation machines...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 6, Blame is a circular game

Contributed by Lukas

Leaders, if you help create a blame culture via your own example, do not act surprised when you get blamed. Notes: Leaders, if you help crea...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 7, You are probably in a cult

Contributed by Lukas

If your ideology prohibits you from accepting objective reality, you are probably in a cult. Notes: Today I want to talk to you about cults,...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 8, sentient AI is just another mimic we are blind to

Contributed by Lukas

Humans being fooled into thinking AI is sentient is the same as birds thinking a bug is a leaf. Notes: Take it from a computer scientist: AI...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 11, the Google Gemini fiasco

Contributed by Lukas

Today I want to talk to you about the Google Gemini fiasco, the latest bad product launch by Google. Notes: Today I want to talk to you abou...

There are only two ways to sell a message (TLP 2024w36)

Contributed by Lukas

Politicians want you to vote for them, sales and marketing folks want you to buy their products, while you manager wants you to deliver results. The...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 12, the AI training data market place

Contributed by Lukas

A marketplace for high-quality training data models for AI is about to emerge, and it will be extremely lucrative. Notes: A good data model...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 13, we are all avatars now

Contributed by Lukas

After the pandemic, it feels like we are all online avatars now. Do you truly know anyone anymore? Notes: After the pandemic, it feels like...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 14, be careful where you place your deference

Contributed by Lukas

The amount of authority figures you defer to in your life should be a very short list indeed. Notes: Recently I seen Dune part two, and it g...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 15, new leader anti patterns

Contributed by Lukas

After twenty plus years in the tech industry, you start to spot patterns. One such situation is when a new leader joins an organization. Notes: ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 16, getting to the truth

Contributed by Lukas

By asking why, repeating back, and sticking to first principles: you can drive your team towards a truthful outcome. Notes: During the week ...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 18, The new knowledge acquisition bottleneck

Contributed by Lukas

The new knowledge acquisition bottleneck is accessing silos of private content that can be used to train modern AI models. Notes: Decades ag...

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 19, Engineers are not your customers

Contributed by Lukas

As an engineering leader, I'd like to share some harsh truths about managing engineers. Notes: As an engineering leader, I'd like to share ...

Compliment your enemies (TLP 2024w37)

Contributed by Lukas

For every promoter you will have several detractors so you must be ready to deal with them. Compliment your enemies to disarm or confuse them. No...

Leave your meetings (TLP 2024w38)

Contributed by Lukas

I think we need to normalise leaving meetings that are wasting your time. Notes: Last week, I attended a workshop that had many people in at...

Stoic resilience (TLP 2024w25)

Contributed by Lukas

Increasingly I believe that the most important trait for a leader is mental resilience. Notes: Last week I had a difficult week. In one wee...

We cannot all be right (TLP 2024w26)

Contributed by Lukas

We are all convinced that we are right, but when we disagree then someone must be wrong. Notes: Today I want to talk to you about the truth,...

Stand back and let them fail (TLP 2024w27)

Contributed by Lukas

As leaders our instinct is to help others we see failing, however you cannot help someone who refuses your help. Notes: Today I want to talk...

Promising up and blaming down (TLP 2024w28)

Contributed by Lukas

The worst management anti-pattern is promising up, and blaming down. Notes: In my experience, the number one management anti-pattern is prom...

It really is that simple (TLP 2024w31)

Contributed by Lukas

A great leader can make anything seem simple and clear, because they are great communicators. Notes: I missed last week due to a holiday. T...

Generating logo images with Grok (TLP 2024w33)

Contributed by Lukas

This week I used Grok to render a new logo for my web search engine greppr, and got great results! Notes: I missed last week due to a holida...

Silicon Valley envy amongst executives (TLP 2024w34)

Contributed by Lukas

In many traditional industries, you will find executives who really wish their companies were Silicon Valley companies. Why is this? Notes: ...

There is no Moore's Law for AI (TLP 2024w35)

Contributed by Lukas

I feel like we're in the vertical scaling phase of language model design, I look forward to federated model architectures running on cheap commodity...

Align on goals not culture (TLP 2024w40)

Contributed by Lukas

Cultural conflict is fine (how we do things), but conflict on strategic goals is not (what we are building). Notes: Senior leaders tend to s...

The three types of communication (TLP 2024w42)

Contributed by Lukas

There are three main methods of communication commonly used in a business context. Notes: I was traveling last week so no episode. Three fo...

Always front load your project risk (TLP 2024w43)

Contributed by Lukas

On why it is so important to tackle the riskiest topics at the beginning of your projects. Notes: As we near the end of the year, like many ...

The demise of software engineers due to AI is greatly exaggerated (TLP 2025w6)

Contributed by Lukas

There is a huge gap between the expectations senior manages have for AI replacing software engineers, and the reality on the ground. Notes: ...