Tech World Human Skills

Stories are like mustard on a ham sandwich. A little lifts everything. An inch thick and you lose the room.



Tim Chinchen has spent 30 years in technology, half of that leading pre-sales teams. In this episode he walks through the storytelling habits that move deals and the ones that sink them. Why some cultures expect you to share your life before you share your ask. Why breaking a client's website inside a demo can work better than showing them a feature list. Why the classic hero's journey does not hold up in a 40-minute call where the exec might get pulled out after ten.



The conversation unpacks a three-act structure you can drop any story into, the three business themes every commercial story eventually serves (making money, saving money, and not getting sued), and the habit of putting the last thing first so even a distracted audience gets the point.



Tim also shares where he still gets it wrong. He recently used an AI note-taker to review his own job interviews and was told he used too many stories. The lesson is that the right number is rarely the maximum.



This is for sales engineers, pre-sales leaders, technical consultants, and anyone using narrative to get technical ideas across to people who have other things going on.



About the guest: Tim Chinchen has spent 30 years in technology, the first 15 as a developer and architect, the next 15 leading pre-sales teams. He ran Northern European sales engineering at Acme Packet before the company was acquired by Cisco for 3.7 billion dollars, and has spent the last 8 years running global pre-sales at PagerDuty. Find him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timchinchen/

Show notes footer:

Enjoyed this episode? Here's what to do next:

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Explore the Technical Storytelling Professional Program: https://www.elevatedyou.live

Follow Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timchinchen/

Tech World Human Skills is the podcast for technical professionals who want to communicate, influence, and lead at the highest level.

How to get better results from your technical team is one of the most searched questions in tech leadership. And the answer is almost never about hiring better people. It is about how you assign work, how you give feedback, and how much oversight you are actually running.

In episode 78 of the Tech World Human Skills podcast, Ben Caird joins Ben Pearce for the third episode in a mini-series on leadership in tech. Ben Caird has 25 years in software and technology and 15 years leading large operational teams across enterprise SaaS. This episode is the most practical of the three.

What you'll learn:

Match work to people by mapping aptitude and confidence, not just availability

Give feedback that describes specific behaviours rather than character judgements

Use the WIT framework (When, Impact, Therefore) to make feedback land without triggering defensiveness

Diagnose whether your oversight is creating discipline or bureaucracy

Balance honesty and empathy when a direct conversation cannot be avoided

About Ben Caird: Ben has 25 years in software and technology, with over 15 years leading large operational teams across enterprise SaaS environments. He specialises in building high-performing teams, driving operational improvement, and leading transformation at scale.

Episode Highlights:

[16:35] — Ben introduces the idea that feedback is rocket fuel for performance and explains why even Djokovic still has a coach.

[19:25] — The difference between giving feedback on behaviours versus judgements, with a sharp example about someone on their phone in a meeting.

[22:20] — Ben shares the WIT framework from a BBC producer and walks through exactly how to use it in a tech leadership context.

Connect with Ben Caird: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcaird/

Enjoyed this episode? Here's what to do next:

📩 Get Ben's weekly newsletter — practical ideas for technical professionals, straight to your inbox: https://www.techworldhumanskills.com

🔗 Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benpthoughts

🌐 Explore the Technical Storytelling Professional Program: https://www.elevatedyou.live

Tech World Human Skills is the podcast for technical professionals who want to communicate, influence, and lead at the highest level.

Most technical people get promoted because they're the best at the job. Then they spend the next 18 months quietly struggling. Nobody told them it is a completely different job. Malcolm Murphy has spent his career in technical pre-sales, leading solutions consultant teams across major vendor organisations. His view is blunt: the skills that got you promoted will actively hold you back as a manager.

What you'll learn:

Identify the three distinct buckets every new tech leader must manage from day one

Build a proactive hiring bench before you even have a role to fill

Set clear performance expectations without fearing the conversation

Delegate outcomes instead of activities to unlock your team's performance

Develop your people in a way that drives retention more than any salary increase

About Malcolm Murphy: Malcolm Murphy has spent the majority of his career in technical pre-sales, moving from UNIX engineer to leading solutions consultant teams across major vendor organisations. He currently specialises in insider risk and human risk management at Mimecast and runs the Pre-Sales Leaders Forum community in the UK.

Episode highlights:

[approx. 5 min mark] Malcolm breaks down the three buckets every new manager must own: people, business, and company leadership

[approx. 17 min mark] Why hiring is not something you do alongside your job. It is your job. How to build a proactive bench before headcount opens up

[approx. 36 min mark] The micromanagement trap and why your personal blueprint for success might be the worst thing you impose on your team

Connect with Malcolm: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/Malcolm-Murphy

Enjoyed this episode? Here's what to do next:

📩 Get Ben's weekly newsletter — practical ideas for technical professionals, straight to your inbox: https://www.techworldhumanskills.com

🔗 Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/benpthoughts

🌐 Explore the Technical Storytelling Professional Program: https://elevatedyou.live

Tech World Human Skills is the podcast for technical professionals who want to communicate, influence, and lead at the highest level.

In this episode, Ben Pearce and Panos Malakoudis discuss the evolving landscape of leadership in the age of AI. They explore the five essential human competencies that modern leaders need: Insight, Integration, Inspiration, Integrity, and Impact.



Panos Malakoudis runs his own company - Citium Solutions. He spent many years leading Consultancy and Engineering teams at Microsoft. Then he led coaching programs for the Microsoft leadership community and even got a Guinness World Record for it.



Show Links

Ben Pearce LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benpthoughts/

Tech World Human Skills Home - https://www.techworldhumanskills.com

Panos Malakoudis Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmalakoudis/

Citium Solutions - https://www.citiumsolutions.co.uk/

Panos Forbes Page- https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbescoachescouncil/people/panosmalakoudis/



Takeaways

Leadership is changing due to rapid technological advancements.

Empathy has become a crucial competency for leaders post-COVID.

95% of AI pilots fail due to lack of insight and connection to business needs.

Leaders must integrate technology into their decision-making processes.

Inspiration is key to managing change and addressing team fears.

Integrity involves understanding the ethical implications of AI usage.

Measuring impact is essential for assessing the success of AI initiatives.

Leaders should create a culture of experimentation and support.

The fear of becoming obsolete (phobo) affects both leaders and teams.

The five competencies are not new but need to be reframed for today's challenges.



Keywords

leadership, modern leadership, human competencies, AI, coaching, change management, integrity, impact, technology integration, inspiration

In this episode Ben Pearce and Nic Neate discuss what it's really like to build and be part of an AI native engineering team. Nic shares his experiences and insights on how AI is fundamentally changing the way software is developed, the skills required for engineers in this new landscape, and the challenges organizations face in adapting to these changes.



Nic Neate is the CTO of @Nimbus. He has many years working in the software world and previously worked at Metaswitch and Microsoft.



Show Links

Ben Pearce LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benpthoughts/

Tech World Human Skills Home - https://www.techworldhumanskills.com

Nic Neate Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nic-neate-b3515210/

Nimbus - https://www.nimbusmaps.co.uk/





Takeaways

AI is fundamentally changing software engineering.

Vibe coding is using AI to write code.

AI native means riding the wave of AI tooling.

Being AI native enables you to do so much more.

AI can do it in 10 minutes what you could do in a week.

Context engineering is a key skill for engineers.

Decision making is crucial in an AI native world.

You need to invest in your tool chain.

Recruitment processes need to change for AI roles.

Maximize value for people working in AI.



Keywords

AI native engineering, software development, generative AI, engineering teams, AI tools, context engineering, software productivity, AI integration, engineering leadership, tech transformation