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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 Build Team Norms in Their First 90 Days
Episode 48 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the most overlooked aspects of stepping into a leadership role: establishing explicit team norms. Lucas and Luna explore why written norms—covering meeting behavior, response times, decision-making protocols—prevent confusion and conflict, especially when managing former peers. They walk through a concrete example from a 50-person marketing ag
How New Managers Can Delegate Their First Big Project
Lucas and Luna tackle the most common struggle for first-time managers: giving up control and delegating a meaningful project. They walk through a concrete case of a new manager at a mid-sized SaaS company who had to hand off a critical client deliverable to a junior team member. Lucas shares a specific framework called the 'three-layer brief' for delegating without micromanaging, and Luna pushes
How to Run Your First Team Retrospective as a New Manager
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a crucial skill many first-time managers overlook: leading a team retrospective. Lucas breaks down the specific structure he used when he managed a five-person content team at a B2B SaaS company in 2023 — including the three-question format ('What went well?', 'What didn't?', 'What will we change?') and how he avoided common pitfa
How New Managers Can Make Smarter Hiring Decisions in Their First Year
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a high-stakes challenge many first-time leaders face: making hiring decisions without a track record to lean on. Lucas shares a real case from a mid-stage SaaS company where a new manager, three months in, had to replace a departing team member. The episode drills into one specific decision framework — 'hire for pattern, not promi
How New Managers Can Transition From Peer to Boss Without Losing Relationships
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest transitions in a new manager's career: moving from peer to supervisor. They walk through the story of a marketing team lead at a mid-size tech firm who had to manage three former colleagues after a promotion. Lucas breaks down the key mistake most new managers make—trying to keep everything the same—and offers a concrete framework: the nine
How New Managers Can Praise Their Team Effectively
Episode 43 of New Manager Conversations tackles a subtle challenge: giving praise that actually motivates. Lucas and Luna explore why generic 'good job' doesn't land, and how specificity, timing, and audience matter. They break down the science of effective recognition using a real example from a study of 1,200 software engineers at Microsoft, where the most-valued feedback was tied to a specific
How New Managers Can Use One-on-Ones as Coaching Tools
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how new managers can transform their weekly one-on-ones from status updates into genuine coaching sessions. They anchor the discussion on a concrete framework: the '80/20 rule' for one-on-ones — 80% listening and asking questions, 20% directing. Lucas shares a specific example from a first-time manager at a mid-sized SaaS company who cut her own talking time
How New Managers Can Handle Impostor Syndrome in the First 90 Days
Episode 41 of New Manager Conversations tackles impostor syndrome head-on. Lucas and Luna discuss why so many new managers feel like frauds in their first 90 days, using the example of a first-time manager at a mid-sized tech company who discovered that 70% of her peers experienced the same doubts. They break down practical strategies: naming the feeling, collecting concrete evidence of your own c
How New Managers Can Tell Their Team's Story Upwards
In Episode 40 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a skill rarely taught in leadership training: how to effectively communicate your team's wins, challenges, and needs to senior leadership. Using a concrete example — a product manager whose team shipped a feature on time and under budget but got zero recognition at the all-hands — Lucas breaks down the 'upward briefing' framework. H
How New Managers Can Build a Feedback Culture From Day One
Episode 39 of New Manager Conversations tackles a critical gap in most first-time manager playbooks: building a culture where direct reports actually seek out and act on feedback, rather than just receiving it. Lucas and Luna examine a real case from a mid-size B2B SaaS company where a new manager named Priya inherited a team conditioned to avoid difficult conversations. Using a specific framework
How New Managers Can Ask for Help Without Looking Weak
Episode 38 of New Manager Conversations tackles a paradox many first-time leaders face: the need to seek guidance without undermining their authority. Lucas and Luna break down why asking for help actually signals strength, not weakness, using the example of a product manager who inherited a struggling team. They discuss specific framing techniques — like shifting from 'I don't know' to 'I want to
How New Managers Can Set Expectations With Their First Direct Report
In this episode of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna tackle a topic every new manager faces but few prepare for: setting expectations with your very first direct report. They walk through a concrete example — a new manager named Priya who inherits a senior engineer, Marcus, who has been at the company for six years. Lucas breaks down the four key conversations Priya needs to h
How New Managers Can Coach Not Solve
Episode 36 of New Manager Conversations tackles the single most common mistake new managers make: solving problems instead of coaching their team through them. Lucas and Luna break down the 'tell vs. ask' trap using a real example from a product team at a mid-sized SaaS company. They discuss the Socratic method for one-on-ones, how to resist giving the answer when you already know it, and why the
How New Managers Can Navigate Office Politics Without Playing Games
Episode 35 of New Manager Conversations tackles office politics — a topic new managers are often told to avoid, but can't afford to ignore. Lucas and Luna break down how to recognize influence networks and build strategic relationships without compromising your values. They discuss real scenarios like navigating cross-functional friction, understanding who actually makes decisions in a reorg, and
How New Managers Can Use Their First 90 Days to Build Trust
In this episode of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the specific tactics new managers can use in their first 90 days to build genuine trust with their team. They use the example of a product manager at a mid-size SaaS company who started by running 30-minute 'listening tours' with each direct report, asking three structured questions, and then publicly implemented
How to Run Your First Team Brainstorm as a New Manager
New manager and feeling pressure to generate brilliant ideas in your first team brainstorm? In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down a specific case: a new engineering manager at a mid-size SaaS company who inherited a team of senior ICs skeptical of her process. They walk through the before-and-after of a failed brainstorm that turned into a productive one — using a technique called the 'brainw
How New Managers Can Give Constructive Feedback to Senior Stakeholders
Episode 32 of New Manager Conversations tackles a delicate challenge: giving honest, constructive feedback to senior stakeholders who outrank you. Lucas and Luna walk through a specific case — a first-time engineering manager who needs to tell the VP of Product that her aggressive roadmap is hurting team velocity. They break down the preparation, the framing, and the follow-up, with concrete phras
How New Managers Can Address Underperformance Without Writing Them Off
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest first-year challenges: addressing a direct report's underperformance when you inherited a struggling team member. Instead of jumping to performance improvement plans, they explore a three-step diagnostic framework that separates skill gaps from motivation gaps from environment gaps. Using a concrete example of a
How New Managers Can Run Their First Skip-Level Meeting
Lucas and Luna walk through the mechanics of a first skip-level meeting for a new manager — why it matters, how to prepare, what questions to ask, and how to avoid the common pitfalls of triangulation or putting direct reports on the spot. Using a concrete example of a new manager at a mid-sized B2B SaaS company, they break down the three-part agenda: building trust, understanding team dynamics, a
How New Managers Can Protect Their Team From Scope Creep
Episode 29 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo tackles one of the most common yet undiscussed pitfalls for first-time leaders: scope creep. Lucas and Luna walk through a real scenario from a mid-size SaaS company where a new manager's team got buried under cross-functional requests. They break down why saying 'yes' feels like the safe move early on, and how a simple decision framework — the
How New Managers Can Run Their First One-on-One
In Episode 28 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the mechanics of a new manager's first one-on-one meeting with a direct report. They walk through a real example involving a marketing coordinator named Priya and her new manager, Jason. The hosts discuss why the first one-on-one sets the tone for the entire relationship, how to structure the conversation—starting w
How New Managers Can Set Boundaries With High Performers
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a delicate challenge many new managers face: managing their star players without letting them run the show. Lucas walks through a real case from a health-tech startup where a top-performing engineer started overruling sprint priorities, and the new manager had to step in without losing the employee's trust. They discuss the differ
New Managers How to Delegate Without Feeling Guilty
As a new manager, delegating tasks can feel like you're offloading work or losing control. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the psychological barriers to delegation and offer practical techniques to do it well—without guilt. They discuss the 'task audit' method, the '80% ready' rule for letting go, and how to distinguish delegation from dumping. Real examples from a marketing team and a sof
How New Managers Can Manage a Team During Company Reorganization
Episode 25 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the toughest tests for a first-time manager: leading a team through a company reorg. Lucas walks through a real case study of a marketing manager at a mid-size SaaS company whose team was restructured three months into her role. He breaks down the three biggest mistakes new managers make when the org chart changes — freezing under uncertainty,
How to Give Your Team Negative Feedback Without Crushing Morale
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest skills for new managers: delivering negative feedback to a team member without destroying their motivation. They break down the specific case of a product manager named Priya who had to correct a senior engineer's recurring missed deadlines. Lucas explains the 'SBI' framework—Situation, Behavior, Impact—and walks through exactly how a manag
How New Managers Can Manage a Former Peer Now a Direct Report
Episode 23 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the toughest transitions in management: suddenly overseeing someone who was your equal. Lucas and Luna dive into the real mechanics, using a concrete example. They break down the first crucial conversation, how to reset expectations without damaging the relationship, and why ignoring the elephant in the room makes everything worse. If you've r
How New Managers Can Get Early Wins Without Overpromising
Episode 22 of New Manager Conversations dives into the delicate art of early wins. Lucas and Luna examine a real case: a first-time marketing manager who landed a 15% engagement lift in her first six weeks — only to have her boss treat it as the new baseline. They break down the difference between credible momentum and the overcommitment spiral, drawing on behavioral science around anchoring and t
How New Managers Can Set Their Team Up for Prioritization
Episode 21 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the trickiest early leadership skills: helping your team prioritize when everything feels urgent. Lucas and Luna dig into the 'priority debt' trap — where new managers pile on tasks without clear sequencing, leading to burnout and half-finished work. They break down a real framework from a product leader at a mid-sized SaaS company who uses a
How New Managers Can Handle Team Conflict Between Direct Reports
In episode 20 of New Manager Conversations, hosts Lucas and Luna tackle a topic every first-time leader dreads: mediating conflict between two direct reports. Using a real-world case from a mid-size tech company where a senior engineer and a product designer clashed over ownership of a feature spec, Lucas breaks down the specific steps a new manager took to de-escalate the situation without pickin
How New Managers Can Address Impostor Syndrome With Their Teams
Episode 19 of New Manager Conversations tackles a hidden challenge for first-time leaders: impostor syndrome — not just their own, but their team's. Lucas and Luna explore how new managers can recognize when a direct report is secretly feeling like a fraud, and what to do about it. They zero in on a specific case: a senior analyst named Priya who consistently delivers strong work but refuses to ta
How New Managers Can Help Burned-Out Team Members
Episode 18 of New Manager Conversations tackles a sensitive but increasingly common challenge: what to do when a direct report is clearly burned out. Lucas and Luna explore a 2025 study from the Workforce Institute at UKG, which found that 43% of employees say their manager had a significant impact on their burnout level — but only 23% felt comfortable raising it. They walk through a specific case
How New Managers Can Handle Being Wrong in Front of Their Team
New managers often feel pressure to have all the answers. But what happens when you make a mistake in front of your team—or give bad guidance? In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore why owning errors builds more trust than projecting certainty. They break down a specific case: a first-time engineering manager at a mid-size SaaS company who misdiagnosed a sprint bottleneck, blamed the wrong proces
How New Managers Can Run Their First Team Retrospective
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna explore why running a team retrospective is a low-risk, high-impact move for first-time managers. They walk through a real example from a 12-person marketing team at a mid-sized B2B SaaS company where the new manager, Priya, facilitated her first retrospective eight weeks in. Lucas breaks down the three-part structure—start, stop, contin
How New Managers Can Stop Solving Everything Themselves
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna explore why new managers fall into the trap of being the team's go-to problem solver—and how to break the cycle. They break down the 'hero manager' pattern using a concrete case from a mid-sized SaaS company where a newly promoted director was fielding 40+ Slack DMs a day trying to unblock her team. Lucas shares research from a 2025 McKi
How New Managers Can Make Better Decisions Under Pressure
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how first-time managers can sharpen their decision-making when the stakes feel high and time is short. They drill into the 'OODA loop' framework—Observe, Orient, Decide, Act—developed by military strategist John Boyd, and discuss why new managers often get stuck in the 'Orient' phase, overanalyzing instead of acting. Using a concrete example from a marketing
How New Managers Can Navigate Office Politics Without Playing Games
Episode 13 of New Manager Conversations tackles a topic every new leader faces but few talk about: office politics. Lucas and Luna break down why influence isn't about scheming but about understanding how decisions actually get made. They focus on a concrete case: a new product manager at a mid-sized tech firm who needs buy-in from engineering, sales, and legal to launch a feature — but has no for
How New Managers Can Coach Rather Than Solve
Lucas and Luna explore the shift from problem-solver to coach that trips up many new managers. Using the case of a former software engineer turned team lead at a mid-size tech company, they break down the 'question-first' approach, the three types of questions every manager should ask, and why solving your team's problems actually slows them down. The episode includes practical examples of redirec
How New Managers Can Build Trust With a Hybrid Team
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the challenges new managers face when leading a hybrid team. They focus on a 2023 Microsoft study showing that hybrid employees trust their manager 20% less than in-office peers. The hosts discuss practical tactics: deliberate over-communication, scheduling regular 1-1s, and creating virtual water-cooler moments. They also examine a Buffer case study on tran
How New Managers Can Give Constructive Feedback to Underperformers
In episode 10 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest first-year leadership challenges: giving constructive feedback to a direct report who is underperforming. Using the real-world example of a new manager at a mid-size SaaS company who had to address a senior engineer's missed deadlines and sloppy code, they walk through specific phrases, timing, and follow-up steps
How New Managers Can Handle a Micromanaging Boss
Lucas and Luna tackle a common but tricky challenge for new managers: dealing with a boss who hovers and second-guesses every decision. Using the real-world case of a new regional manager at a midsize logistics firm, they explore why micromanagement often flares when you step into a leadership role, how to distinguish helpful oversight from damaging control, and the specific conversation structure
New Managers How to Read Your Team Dynamics Early
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how new managers can quickly read and shape team dynamics during their first 90 days, focusing on a real-world example from a mid-sized tech company where a new manager named Priya inherited a team split by unspoken tension. They discuss specific tactics like the 'conversation map' exercise, tracking meeting participation, and using one-on-ones to surface hi
New Managers and the Art of Saying No
Episode 7 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the hardest skills for first-time leaders: saying no to your team, your boss, and yourself. Lucas and Luna walk through a real scenario — a new marketing manager at a mid-size SaaS company who inherited a team drowning in low-impact work. They break down the 'strategic no' vs. the 'defensive no,' why new managers overcommit, and a simple framew
How New Managers Can Run Better One-on-Ones
Episode 6 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo focuses on the most underutilized tool in a new manager's toolkit: the one-on-one meeting. Lucas and Luna break down why most 1-on-1s fail, what the research says about frequency and structure, and how to shift from status update to real coaching. They reference a specific Google re:Work study showing that managers who hold consistent weekly 1-on
How New Managers Can Set Boundaries Without Burning Bridges
Episode 5 of New Manager Conversations tackles one of the trickiest skills for new leaders: setting boundaries with your team while maintaining trust and approachability. Lucas and Luna unpack a real-world case from a mid-size tech firm where a first-time manager asked her team to stop Slack messaging after 8 PM. They discuss why new managers often avoid boundaries, the difference between rigid ru
The Delegation Trap New Managers Fall Into
In this episode of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle a common but under-discussed challenge for first-time leaders: the delegation trap. Lucas walks through the research from Harvard Business Review showing that 67% of new managers struggle to let go of their old responsibilities, leading to burnout and team frustration. They focus on a concrete case study of a marketing manager at
Giving Feedback to a Direct Report Who Resists It
Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest new-manager scenarios: giving critical feedback to a team member who deflects, argues, or shuts down. Lucas breaks down a specific case from a manufacturing team where a high-performing engineer, Maya, consistently rejected any performance suggestions. He walks through the manager's mistake of avoiding the issue for six weeks, then how a structured approach
Managing Former Peers Without Losing the Friendship
In episode 2 of New Manager Conversations, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the hardest transitions in any career: managing people who used to be your peers. They break down why the friendship changes, not ends, and share a concrete 30-day framework from Harvard Business Review research and real-world cases at companies like Mailchimp and a mid-size marketing agency. Learn why the first one-on-one aft
First 90 Days How New Managers Succeed or Fail
A single statistic — 60 percent of new managers fail within the first 18 months — anchors this episode. Lucas and Luna unpack why the transition from individual contributor to manager is so treacherous, using a real case: a top sales rep at a mid-size tech company who was promoted to team lead and saw her team's performance drop 20 percent in her first quarter. They explore the psychology of manag
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