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New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics
New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics
Lucas and Luna explore the first 90 days of a new manager, from navigating the transition from peer to boss to building credibility without authority. Each episode examines a specific management challenge using real cases: how a tech lead at Spotify handled team pushback on code reviews, why a retail store manager at Patagonia reversed a 15% turnover by changing one-on-one meeting structure, and what data from Gallup's 2023 manager engagement survey reveals about the most common mistakes new leaders make. Lucas brings the research and frameworks — the Gartner manager readiness model, the 30-60-90 day templates from Harvard Business Review, and compensation data from Payscale — while Luna tests them against her own experience managing a marketing team and pushes for the messy human decisions behind the charts. They don't prescribe a single playbook; instead, they argue about when to impose structure and when to let norms emerge, how to handle a former peer who now resists direction, and what to do when your first hire quits in week six.
Episodes
How New Managers Can Handle a Micromanaging Boss
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a challenge that nearly every first-time leader faces: a boss who can't stop hovering. Drawing on a 2024 Center for Creative Leadership survey and a real case from a marketing manager at HubSpot, they break down why micromanagement spikes during leadership transitions, how to proactively build trust through communication rhythms,
When You're the Youngest Manager on the Team
Being a new manager is tough. Being the youngest person in the room — or managing people with decades more experience — adds a whole new layer. In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle the specific challenges of leading when you're the least experienced person on your team. They share research-backed strategies from Harvard Business Review and real-world examples of how to build credibility without
How New Managers Can Delegate Without Dumping
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest skills for first-time leaders: delegation that builds capability, not resentment. They break down the difference between delegating and dumping, sharing a practical framework from former Intel CEO Andy Grove's 'task-relevant maturity' concept. You'll learn how to assess a direct report's readiness for a task, ho
How New Managers Can Handle Decision Fatigue
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle decision fatigue — the hidden drain on new managers who suddenly face dozens of choices daily. Lucas shares research from a 2024 Cornell study showing managers make an average of 35 job-related decisions per day, with cognitive depletion setting in after the 20th. They discuss the 'decide once' principle used by figures like Obama
How New Managers Can Navigate Their First Performance Reviews
Episode 131 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the most stressful moments for any first-time leader: conducting performance reviews. Lucas and Luna unpack the specific case of Sarah, a first-time manager at a mid-sized software company who inherited a team with mixed tenure and uneven performance. They discuss how to frame reviews as coaching conversations rather than verdicts, the import
How New Managers Can Handle Difficult Conversations with Direct Reports
Episode 130 of New Manager Conversations tackles the specific challenge of initiating and navigating difficult conversations with direct reports. Lucas shares a framework he learned from a senior HR executive at a Fortune 500 firm — the 'SBI model' (Situation, Behavior, Impact) — and walks through a real example of addressing chronic lateness in a team member. Luna pushes back on the model's perce
How New Managers Can Run Their First One-on-One
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna break down the art of the first one-on-one meeting with a direct report. Using the real-world example of a new team lead at a mid-size SaaS company who inherited a team of seven, they walk through a concrete structure: how to set the agenda in advance, what questions to ask first, and how to avoid the trap of treating the meeting as a st
How New Managers Can Influence Without Authority
Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest challenges for new managers: getting things done when your team doesn't directly report to you. They break down the concept of 'influence without authority' using the real-world example of a project manager at a mid-sized tech firm who had to coordinate across engineering, marketing, and sales without any direct reporting lines. Lucas shares three concrete
How New Managers Can Manage Their Energy Not Just Their Time
Episode 127 of New Manager Conversations tackles a challenge that rarely gets formal airtime: energy management. Lucas opens with a specific story about a first-time manager at a mid-sized SaaS company who scheduled back-to-back 1-1s all morning, then had nothing left for strategic thinking by 2 PM. He and Luna explore the difference between time-blocking and energy-blocking, drawing on research f
How New Managers Can Handle Impostor Syndrome
New manager Sarah Chen felt like a fraud after being promoted to lead a data science team of eight. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore why impostor syndrome hits new managers especially hard and what to do about it. They break down a specific tactic from executive coach Dr. Marcia Reynolds: the 'evidence log' — a simple practice of writing down three things you did well each day for thirty da
How New Managers Can Navigate Office Politics Without Playing Games
Episode 125 of New Manager Conversations tackles the uncomfortable reality every first-time leader faces: office politics. Lucas and Luna break down why 'staying above the fray' is a recipe for irrelevance, using the concrete example of a product manager who lost her team's budget because she refused to lobby. They share a three-part framework: map the influence network without being a gossip, bui
How New Managers Can Protect Their Team From Scope Creep
New managers often struggle to shield their teams from scope creep — those last-minute requests, vague additions, and 'small asks' that quietly blow up a quarter. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the specific case of a product design team at a mid-sized B2B SaaS company that lost three weeks of roadmap time to unmanaged scope creep in Q2 2026. They walk through a concrete framework — the
How New Managers Can Manage Up Without Selling Out
New managers often hear 'manage up' as corporate-speak for flattery. But in this episode, Lucas and Luna break down what managing up actually looks like in your first 90 days — using a concrete case: a first-time engineering manager at a mid-size SaaS company who had to convince a skeptical CTO to fund a refactor. They cover the three-step framework for earning upward influence: understanding your
How New Managers Can Build a Feedback Culture
In episode 122 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna explore how new managers can cultivate a culture of feedback within their teams. Using the example of Bridgewater Associates' radical transparency approach—and why it mostly doesn't work for normal teams—they discuss practical, lower-risk methods like feedback warm-ups, 'continue/stop/start' templates, and modeling vulnerability by asking
How New Managers Can Set Team Norms Early
Lucas and Luna tackle a challenge every new manager faces: establishing team norms without coming across as controlling. Using the example of a product team at a mid-sized SaaS company called Tendril, they break down how to set expectations around communication, decision-making, and meeting etiquette in the first 30 days. They discuss the 'working agreement' framework—a simple document co-created
How New Managers Can Host Effective Skip-Level Meetings
In episode 120 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a skill most first-time leaders overlook: the skip-level meeting. Lucas opens with a striking stat from Google's Project Oxygen — that managers who regularly meet with their direct reports' direct reports see 12% higher team retention. They break down exactly how to structure a 25-minute skip-level so it doesn't feel like a surveil
How New Managers Can Transition from Peer to Manager
In this episode of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the trickiest transitions in a manager's journey: moving from peer to boss. Using the real-world example of a team lead at a mid-sized SaaS company who was promoted over four former teammates, they break down the three concrete shifts that make the difference — changing how you participate in meetings, how you
How New Managers Can Rebuild Trust After a Mistake
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle a subject every new manager eventually faces: making a significant mistake and then having to rebuild trust with the team. They break down a real-world scenario: a first-time manager at a mid-sized B2B software company shared incorrect quarterly targets during a team all-hands, causing confusion and frustration. The discussion walks through the three-step rep
How New Managers Can Develop Their Own Leadership Voice
New managers are told to find their own leadership style, but what does that actually mean? Lucas and Luna examine why copying someone else's approach often backfires, then walk through a three-part framework for developing a leadership voice that feels authentic and still commands respect. They discuss the difference between style and substance, how to borrow specific moves without becoming a clo
How New Managers Can Establish Their Authority Without Being Bossy
Lucas and Luna explore a subtle but critical skill for new managers: establishing authority without coming across as bossy or authoritarian. They dig into the research on 'soft dominance' from organizational psychologist Dr. Lindsey Cameron at Penn's Wharton School, who studied 150 new managers over two years. Key finding: the managers who earned the most respect from their teams used a mix of cle
How New Managers Can Give Feedback That Sticks
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest first-year leadership skills: delivering feedback that actually changes behavior. They break down the 'feedback sandbox' method, a concrete four-step framework that avoids the common pitfalls of vague praise or exploding criticism. We walk through a real scenario from a new manager at a mid-sized SaaS company, s
How New Managers Can Coach Underperformers Without Rescuing Them
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest transitions from peer to manager: addressing a team member who isn't meeting expectations—without falling into the trap of doing their work for them. They walk through a real case from a first-time manager at a mid-sized SaaS company, where a formerly strong individual contributor started missing deadlines and p
How New Managers Can Lead a Team Through Change
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a challenge every new manager faces: leading a team through change. They anchor the discussion around a concrete example from a mid-sized tech company where a new manager successfully guided her team through a product pivot. Lucas breaks down the concept of 'change curve' and explains why new managers often skip the critical step
How New Managers Can Delegate Without Losing Control
New managers often struggle with delegation — either they micromanage or they dump tasks and hope for the best. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a specific framework: the 'task-transfer ladder' adapted from Julie Zhou's 'The Making of a Manager.' They walk through a concrete example from a first-time engineering manager at a mid-size SaaS company who had to hand off a critical integration p
How New Managers Can Spotlight Their Team Members
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a subtle but crucial skill for new managers: giving credit to your team members effectively. They discuss why spotlighting team members builds trust and motivation, and share concrete tactics like the 'attribution pause' and the 'skip-level shout-out.' The conversation includes real-world examples from a new manager at a mid-size
How New Managers Can Say No Without Burning Bridges
Episode 110 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the toughest transitions for first-time leaders: learning to say no without damaging relationships or losing credibility. Lucas and Luna walk through a real case from mid-2026 involving a rising engineering lead at a mid-sized SaaS company who was drowning in cross-functional requests after her promotion. They break down a concrete framework
How New Managers Can Handle Decision Fatigue
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle a problem many first-time managers quietly struggle with: decision fatigue. Lucas shares a specific framework from a study of judges and parole decisions to illustrate how mental depletion erodes judgment by the afternoon. They discuss why new managers face an especially steep cognitive load — more decisions, less experience, and tighter feedback loops — and
How New Managers Can Run Effective Status Meetings
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a topic every new manager dreads: the status meeting. They break down why most status meetings waste 30 minutes of everyone's week and offer a specific framework to fix them. Lucas introduces the 'three-by-three' structure: three minutes of prep, three agenda items maximum, and a three-word status per person. They walk through a r
How New Managers Can Receive Feedback Without Getting Defensive
Episode 107 of New Manager Conversations explores a skill almost nobody teaches: how to accept feedback as a new boss. Lucas and Luna break down the specific psychological triggers that make direct reports hesitate to critique their manager, and why the classic 'feedback is a gift' advice backfires. They unpack a real example from a first-time engineering manager at a midsize SaaS company who lear
How New Managers Can Run Their First Difficult Performance Conversation
Episode 106 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo tackles the most daunting moment of the first 90 days: the first difficult performance conversation. Lucas and Luna break down a real-world case — a new manager named Priya who must address declining output from a ten-year veteran named Raj. They walk through the five-minute prep framework, the conversation structure that reduces defensiveness,
How New Managers Can Run Their First Team Offsite
Episode 105 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo tackles a milestone most first-time leaders dread: planning and running a team offsite. Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world case — a new manager at a mid-sized B2B SaaS company, six months into the role, taking eight direct reports to a one-day offsite. They break down the pre-work (setting a clear purpose, gathering input without over-eng
How New Managers Can Run One-on-Ones That Actually Work
Episode 104 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo tackles the single most underused tool in a new manager's toolkit: the weekly one-on-one. Lucas and Luna break down why most one-on-ones are a waste of time—and how to fix them. They walk through a concrete structure from manager coaching veteran Kim Scott, including the 'state of the union opener,' the five-minute rule for listening, and the o
How New Managers Can Navigate Cross-Functional Conflict
Episode 103 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the hardest and least-taught skills for first-time leaders: resolving conflict with peers in other departments. Lucas and Luna break down a real scenario—a new product manager clashing with engineering over deadlines—and walk through three specific moves: separating positional from personal stakes, finding the shared metric, and escalating wi
How New Managers Can Lead a Team Through a Reorganisation
Episode 102 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the hardest tests for a first-time manager: leading a team through a reorganisation. Lucas walks through a real scenario based on a mid-size tech company where a new manager named Priya was told her five-person team would be absorbed into a larger group, with two roles eliminated. Lucas and Luna break down the concrete moves Priya made in her
How New Managers Can Handle Imposter Syndrome
New manager imposter syndrome is a hidden career trap. Lucas unpacks a 2024 study from Catalyst showing 67% of first-time managers report feeling like a fraud, and why it hits hardest during the first 90 days. He and Luna walk through the specific moments that trigger it: hiring someone older than you, giving feedback to a former peer, and sitting in your first budget meeting. They discuss a pract
How New Managers Can Build a Personal Board of Directors
Episode 100: Luna and Lucas tackle a challenge every new manager faces: who do you turn to for honest, unbiased advice when you can't go to your boss or your old peers? They explore the concept of a 'personal board of directors' — a small, handpicked group of mentors and peers from inside and outside your organisation. Lucas shares the story of a first-time manager at a mid-sized tech firm who, af
How New Managers Can Set Boundaries with Their Old Team
Episode 99 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the hardest transitions: going from peer to boss and needing to set boundaries with people who were once your equals. Lucas and Luna break down the specific moment when a new manager has to say 'I can't be in that group chat anymore' or 'I need you to come to me with problems, not just vent.' Using the real example of a marketing team lead who
How New Managers Can Navigate Office Politics Without Playing Games
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the trickiest challenges for new managers: office politics. Using the example of a first-time manager at a mid-sized tech firm who inherited a team with a powerful informal leader, they explore how to map influence networks, build alliances with peers, and protect your team without getting tangled in drama. Lucas shares a specific framework — the 'thre
How New Managers Can Handle a Team Member Who Resists Change
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the toughest challenges for new managers: a team member who actively resists a necessary change. They break down a real scenario from a mid-sized SaaS company where a senior engineer refused to adopt a new sprint process, costing the team time and morale. Lucas shares a three-step framework he learned from an internal coach at Atlassian: diagnose the s
How New Managers Can Manage Their Energy Not Just Their Time
In this episode of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore a fresh angle on the first 90 days: managing your energy, not just your calendar. Most new-manager advice focuses on time-blocking and to-do lists. But as Lucas explains, a new manager's real bottleneck is often their own depleted reserves — especially when you're managing former peers and absorbing the team's anxiet
How New Managers Can Ask for Help Without Looking Weak
In this episode of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle a surprisingly tough skill for new leaders: asking for help. Drawing on research from Harvard Business Review showing that 87% of first-time managers avoid asking for support in their first six months out of fear of appearing incompetent, they break down why this instinct backfires. Lucas shares a concrete case from a
How New Managers Can Take Ownership Without Overstepping
In episode 94 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the trickiest leadership challenges: taking ownership of a problem or project without steamrolling your team or micromanaging. Using a real-world example from a mid-size SaaS company where a newly promoted engineering manager inherited a failing product launch, they break down the difference between ownership and overreach. L
How New Managers Can Transition From Peer to Boss
This episode tackles one of the trickiest transitions in management: becoming the boss of people who used to be your peers. Lucas and Luna walk through a real scenario from a software engineer named Priya who was promoted to team lead at a mid-size SaaS company. They break down why the first team meeting after promotion sets the tone, how to have the 'new rules' conversation one-on-one with each f
How New Managers Can Build Trust With a Sceptical Team
In this episode of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest situations for a first-time leader: walking into a team that doesn't trust you yet. They break down a specific case from a software engineering team where the new manager inherited a group that had been burned by three previous bosses in two years. Lucas shares the concrete playbook that turned thin
How New Managers Can Give Constructive Criticism Without Crushing Morale
This episode of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo tackles one of the hardest leadership skills: delivering criticism that actually helps people improve without making them defensive. Lucas and Luna anchor the discussion around a real-world case: a new manager named Priya who needs to tell a talented but underperforming designer named Marcus that his recent work is off the mark. They walk thro
How New Managers Can Coach a High Performer Who Wants Your Job
Episode 90 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the trickiest leadership challenges: coaching a direct report who is ambitious, competent, and openly gunning for your role. Lucas and Luna break down a real scenario — a senior analyst named Priya who outperforms her peers, asks pointed questions in all-hands meetings, and has told her skip-level she wants to be a director in two years. They
How New Managers Can Delegate Without Losing Control
In this episode of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest transitions for a first-time manager: letting go of the work you used to do yourself. They break down the 3-level delegation framework from Tessa West's Jerks at Work, using a real example of a marketing manager moving from execution to oversight. Lucas explains the common trap of 'delegating and di
New Manager Conversations with Fexingo First 90 Days Managing Former Peers and Leadership Basics
In Episode 88 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the trickiest transitions in leadership: going from peer to boss. They break down the specific case of a new manager at a mid-sized marketing agency who inherited three former teammates on her first day. Lucas shares the three-conversation framework — expectations reset, role clarity, and feedback charter — that helped her av
How New Managers Can Coach a Struggling Team Member
Episode 87 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the hardest leadership challenges: coaching a team member who is clearly underperforming. Lucas walks through a specific case study from a retail operations team at a mid-sized company, breaking down the three-stage coaching framework he used as a new manager himself. Luna pushes back on common pitfalls like waiting too long or sugarcoating fe
How New Managers Can Say No to Their Teams
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore one of the hardest skills for new managers: saying no to requests from their own team. Using a real case from a mid-size SaaS company where a team lead had to decline a data access request, they break down a four-step framework—pause, clarify, explain, offer an alternative. They discuss why no is not a rejection but a redirection, and how saying no protects
How New Managers Can Run a Team Retrospective That Builds Trust
Episode 85 of New Manager Conversations tackles the team retrospective — a meeting many new leaders avoid because they fear criticism or blame. Lucas and Luna walk through a real example from a mid-sized tech startup where a first-time manager used a structured retrospective to surface a recurring deployment delay, and turned it into a team-driven solution. They discuss the three-part format (what
How New Managers Can Give Clear Instructions Without Micromanaging
New managers often swing between being too vague and too controlling. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dissect the 'task brief' method used by engineering teams at Basecamp and how it applies to any role. They walk through a concrete example: a marketing manager assigning a competitive analysis report. Lucas explains the five elements of a clear brief: context, desired outcome, constraints, resourc
How New Managers Can Rebound From a Leadership Mistake
Every new manager eventually makes a mistake that erodes trust—whether it's a poorly handled meeting, a hasty decision, or forgetting to loop in a key stakeholder. In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack a real case: a first-time manager at a mid-size SaaS company who publicly dismissed a team member's idea in a sprint review, then had to rebuild credibility. They walk through the specific repair s
How New Managers Can Navigate Their First Performance Review Cycle
Lucas and Luna break down what new managers need to know ahead of their first performance review cycle as a reviewer. They cover three specific pitfalls: the recency bias trap, the anchoring effect from your own rating history, and the danger of averaging good work into a mediocre score. Lucas shares a concrete framework from a tech company's calibration session where managers revised initial scor
How New Managers Can Protect Their Team from Organisational Chaos
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into one of the hardest new-manager challenges: shielding your team from organisational chaos without becoming a bottleneck. Using the example of a director at a fast-growing SaaS company who lost her best engineer because she protected him from every distraction, they explore the difference between 'covering for your team' and 'buffering strategically'. Lucas
How New Managers Can Fire Someone With Respect
Episode 80 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the hardest tasks a new manager faces: terminating a team member. Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world scenario—a manager at a 50-person SaaS company named Maya who had to let go of a low-performing employee who was also well-liked. They discuss pre-termination documentation, the actual conversation script, and how to handle the aftermath
How New Managers Can Handle a Team Member in Career Transition
Episode 79 tackles a tough new-manager scenario: when a high-performing team member tells you they're exploring a move — either internally or to another company. Lucas and Luna break down a real situation where a first-time manager at a mid-size SaaS company learned that her senior engineer was interviewing elsewhere. They walk through how to respond without overreacting, how to keep the conversat
How New Managers Can Set Boundaries With Their Team
Lucas and Luna tackle one of the trickiest transitions for new managers: moving from peer to boss while maintaining relationships. They discuss the 'friendship-to-authority' spectrum, share concrete language for setting boundaries without damaging trust, and walk through a real scenario involving a former teammate who keeps texting after hours. Lucas cites a 2025 study from the Center for Creative
How New Managers Can Handle a Team Member Who Knows More Than Them
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle a situation every new manager dreads: leading someone who is more technically skilled or experienced than you are. They explore why this dynamic is common, especially for first-time managers promoted from within, and discuss practical ways to shift from being the expert to being the orchestrator. Using the example of a software engineer turned team lead at a
How New Managers Can Handle Feedback From Their Own Team
Episode 76 of New Manager Conversations tackles a subtle but defining challenge: receiving feedback from the people you now manage. Lucas and Luna break down a 2024 study from The Journal of Applied Psychology showing that managers who solicit upward feedback in their first 90 days retain team members at 40% higher rates. They walk through the concrete script for asking 'What should I stop, start,
How New Managers Can Run a One-on-One That Actually Matters
Episode 75 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo dives into the single most underused tool in a first-time manager's kit: the weekly one-on-one. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete case: a new engineering manager at a mid-size SaaS company who inherited a team of six and initially treated 1:1s as status updates. They break down why that fails, the three-question framework that replaces it,
How New Managers Can Navigate Office Politics Without Playing Games
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a topic many new managers dread: office politics. Drawing on a 2024 survey by the Center for Creative Leadership showing that 60% of new managers feel unprepared for political dynamics, they explore how to navigate relationships with peers, senior leaders, and stakeholders without compromising integrity. Lucas breaks down a framew
How New Managers Can Run Their First Skip-Level Meeting
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna break down the skip-level meeting — a one-on-one between a manager and their direct report's direct report. They explain why skip-levels matter for building trust, gathering honest feedback, and identifying blind spots. Lucas shares a concrete structure: open with a broad question about what's working, ask about blockers, and end by aski
How New Managers Can Use Weekly Syncs to Save Time
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore why most new managers' weekly one-on-ones are wasting time and how to fix them with a structured sync. They discuss the 'manager sync backlog' — the hidden cost of unaligned expectations — and offer a concrete framework: the 'Three-Item Agenda' that centers on priorities, blockers, and feedback. They also touch on research from Harvard Business Review showin
How New Managers Can Onboard Remotely in the Hybrid Era
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the trickiest challenges for first-time leaders: onboarding a new hire when you're remote and they're remote. They break down a specific case: a new manager at a 200-person B2B SaaS company hires a senior engineer who lives three time zones away. Lucas shares a three-phase onboarding framework he picked up from a GitLab man
How New Managers Can Build a Feedback Culture on Day One
Episode 70 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: Lucas and Luna tackle a challenge most new managers miss — how to establish a culture of honest, continuous feedback before you even face your first tough conversation. Using Amazon's 'narrative memo' practice and Bridgewater's radical transparency as real-world anchors, they walk through one concrete tool: the weekly feedback loop. Lucas expla
How New Managers Can Build Trust With Their Team Quickly
In episode 69 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the toughest challenges for first-time managers: earning trust fast without resorting to authoritarianism. They break down the 'trust battery' framework from Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, then contrast it with a real-world example from a mid-sized tech company where a new manager turned arou
How New Managers Can Delegate Without Dumping
Episode 68 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo tackles the hardest transition for first-time leaders: learning to delegate without turning into a dumping ground. Lucas and Luna break down why delegation often fails, using a concrete case of a marketing manager who handed off a campaign launch but kept checking every detail. They discuss the 'task-shift trap' where managers offload work but n
How New Managers Can Handle Imposter Syndrome
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle imposter syndrome among new managers, using a 2025 study from the Harvard Business Review that found 67% of first-time managers report feeling like frauds in their first six months. They discuss why this is so common, how it manifests as overworking or hesitating to decide, and offer three concrete tactics: pre-mortems, asking 'what would my boss tell me?', a
How New Managers Can Run a Post-Mortem That Actually Prevents Rework
Episode 66 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the least-taught but most critical skills for first-time leaders: running a project post-mortem that doesn't devolve into blame or vanish into a drawer. Lucas and Luna walk through a real example from a mid-market SaaS company where a new manager named Priya turned a botched feature launch into a repeatable process — cutting rework by 40% in h
How New Managers Can Manage Up Without Oversharing
Episode 65 of New Manager Conversations tackles a delicate balancing act: keeping your boss informed without flooding them with irrelevant updates or revealing vulnerabilities too early. Lucas and Luna break down the concept of 'information diet' for your manager, using a real-world case of a first-time engineering manager who reset her skip-level relationship by categorizing updates into three bu
How New Managers Can Give Feedback That Actually Lands
Giving feedback is one of the hardest skills for a new manager. But there's a framework that makes it easier: the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) model. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down SBI with a concrete example — an engineer who keeps derailing team meetings with off-topic tangents. They walk through how to prepare the observation, how to deliver it without triggering defensiveness, a
How New Managers Can Build a Personal Operating System
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna explore how first-time managers can build a personal operating system to stay organized, reduce overwhelm, and model intentional work habits for their teams. Rather than generic productivity advice, they walk through a concrete framework: structured weekly planning via time-blocking, a decision log to track and learn from daily choices,
How New Managers Can Build Influence Without Authority
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the trickiest challenges for first-time leaders: building influence when you don't have formal authority. Using the real-world example of a product manager at Microsoft who led a cross-functional team of engineers, designers, and marketers without being their boss, they break down three specific tactics — finding the 'pain
How New Managers Can Build a Personal Operating System
In episode 61 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle a challenge most new leaders face: building a reliable personal operating system before chaos sets in. Lucas breaks down the story of Mira, a first-time engineering manager at a mid-size SaaS company who realised her calendar fragmentation was costing her team 8 hours per week. They walk through three concrete layers —
How New Managers Can Create a Decision-Making Framework
In Episode 60 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a challenge most first-time leaders overlook: how to build a simple decision-making framework for your team. Lucas walks through a real case from a marketing team at a mid-size B2B SaaS company where the manager used a 'decision tier' system — separating low-stakes, high-speed calls from high-stakes, consensus-driven ones. They disc
How New Managers Can Coach Underperformers Without Micromanaging
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the trickiest situations a new manager faces: coaching a direct report who is underperforming without falling into the micromanagement trap. Using the case of a marketing manager at a mid-sized SaaS company named Priya, they break down a four-step framework: diagnose the root cause (skill vs. will), set a transparent 'get b
How New Managers Can Lead Team Meetings That Actually Work
Episode 58 of New Manager Conversations tackles the most dreaded hour on any manager's calendar: the weekly team meeting. Lucas and Luna walk through a specific case — a first-time manager at a 200-person logistics software company who inherited a 90-minute status-update marathon that left everyone drained. They break down the three structural fixes that turned it around: changing the agenda forma
How New Managers Can Set Boundaries With Former Peers
Episode 57 tackles one of the trickiest transitions for a new manager: shifting from peer to boss without losing the friendship or the respect of your former teammates. Lucas and Luna break down a real scenario involving Allison, a new engineering manager at a midsize SaaS company who found herself still getting pulled into after-work gossip and last-minute favor requests from her old squad. They
How New Managers Can Fire Someone in Their First Year
Episode 56 tackles the hardest conversation a new manager can face: terminating an employee. Lucas and Luna walk through a real case from a mid-size SaaS company where a first-time manager had to let go of a peer-turned-direct-report. They discuss the signals that indicate termination is the right call, how to prepare legally and emotionally, and the script for delivering the news with respect. Th
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رختکن بازندهها
Deadline: White House
Thrilling Threads - Conspiracy Theories, Strange Phenomena, True Crime, Unsolved Mysteries, etc!
The Daily Conspiracy Podcast
