John K. Sawers
Co-Host of Greater Than Code
Amongst John’s weaponry are public speaking, doing the rails thing, and talking about feelings in public. His technology talks aren’t about technology and sometimes he has time to meditate. He remembers the sound of dialup.
Soon, John will no longer write much code, having intentionally (yes, intentionally) moved into management. He seems to think that making people better is more satisfying than making computers better. With that in mind he’s also spent a lot of time mentoring bootcamp developers and supervising workshops focused on deep emotional work.
He spends days at Privia Health, nights as co-founder and CTO of Data Simply and all the rest of it at johnksawers.com and emotionalAPI.com.
John K. Sawers has hosted 95 Episodes.
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225: Uncovering and Breaking Patterns with Tim Banks
March 10th, 2021 | 1 hr 3 mins
Tim Banks talks about uncovering patterns and making the covert overt, taking care of people as whole people, doing the right thing, and changing mindsets by using privilege to speak to power.
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221: Cultivating Strength and Change with Wesley Faulkner
February 10th, 2021 | 53 mins 5 secs
Wesley Faulkner talks about the idea that as a society, we should be sharing responsibility based on strengths and delegating “weakness”. We should be operating as a string quartet! He also talks about how mission statements usually represent false values that are especially harmful to marginalized people and groups and attempting to talk truth to power and enact change.
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217: Robots As "Social Entities" with Laura Major
January 13th, 2021 | 50 mins 40 secs
In this episode, Laura Major, co-author of 'What to Expect When You’re Expecting Robots: The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration' with our previous episode’s Julie Shah, explores the human/robot partnership and how we are attempting to make our world robot compatible. She also talks about the idea of robots as “social entities” and how media affects the way people view robots.
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214: The Righteous Mind with Rylan Bowers
December 23rd, 2020 | 1 hr 5 mins
In this episode, Rylan Bowers talks about the book, “The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt, and with the panel, discusses making rational choices, increasing group-level cohesion, morality, and bridging the gap politically between democrats and conservatives.
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213: This Is Me with Cher
December 16th, 2020 | 50 mins 37 secs
In this episode, Cher talks about making and collecting hot sauce, eradicating stigmas and breaking stereotypes, and recognizing white privilege.
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212: Diversify Tech with Veni Kunche
December 9th, 2020 | 59 mins 21 secs
In this episode, Veni Kunche talks about going from coder to entrepreneur and creating Diversify Tech. She talks about being protective and selective of company partnerships, changes she’s seen over time when it comes to companies hiring over diversity and inclusion, and serving underrepresented people as job seekers in the tech community.
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211: Becoming Humble and Kind with Brandon Weaver
December 2nd, 2020 | 1 hr 4 mins
In this episode, Brandon Weaver talks about recognizing others’ superpowers and spotting potential talent, his own personal journey and transformation towards humility, the importance of community and community leaders, and being autistic and being visible and candid.
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209: Self-Identity and Parenting in Tech with Mia Mollie De Búrca
November 18th, 2020 | 1 hr 5 mins
Mia Mollie De Búrca talks about the trials and tribulations of being a parent while working in tech: returning to work, discrimination and stigma, geographic differences, and psychological safety and privilege.
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205: Breaking Silos and Creating Opportunity Via Remote Work with Amir Salihefendić
October 21st, 2020 | 48 mins 6 secs
CEO of Doist, Amir Salihefendić, talks about growing up as a Bosnian refugee, a founder’s mindset, and the benefits of being a remote-first-oriented company.
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201: Real Rebels Pay Their Taxes with Nils Norman Haukås
September 23rd, 2020 | 1 hr 4 mins
Nils Norman Haukås reflects on our ethical responsibilities as developers. He argues that the technologies we choose to use carry ethical implications, and urges everyone to reflect on this in light of ethics, economical value, and taxes.
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195: Pivoting to PPE with Christina Perla
August 12th, 2020 | 1 hr 12 mins
Christina Perla talks about starting Makelab, a 3D printing company, and how the company pivoted to manufacturing PPEs in lieu of COVID-19. She also gives advice to other women who may be interested in starting a business, recognizing emotional patterns, and allocating company revenue to spend on future current and/or emergency events.
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192: Bringing Our Whole Selves with Siobhán Cronin
July 22nd, 2020 | 50 mins 44 secs
Siobhán Cronin talks about managing change during COVID-19, the pros and cons of bringing your whole self to work, and that people have to do work on themselves to be successful.
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189: Succeeding in Science with Deborah Berebichez
July 1st, 2020 | 1 hr 10 mins
Dr. Deborah Berebichez talks about teaching science to kids in fun ways, data literacy, why getting negative results in science is important, the fact that human performance is contextual, and her path to becoming a scientist and ultimately a TV-show host on The Discovery Channel.
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188: Going Off the Rails with Damien Burke
June 24th, 2020 | 59 mins 32 secs
Damien Burke talks about life being hard: How do we make things easy? Also: treating expertise as transferable to different fields, loving yourself unconditionally, his background in theater and applying it to tech, and "ontological coaching."
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186: The Universe Makes it Happen with Emily Gorcenski
June 10th, 2020 | 1 hr 5 mins
In this episode, Emily Gorcenski talks about hunting Nazis and how doing so involves data science. She also talks about failure and learning and being willing to be wrong, the need for systematic restructuring in America, and nuance, power, and authority.
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182: Labor Organizing with Ellen Wondra
May 13th, 2020 | 50 mins 1 sec
In this episode, Ellen Wondra talks about labor organization. She explains what shareholder and stakeholder economies are, and talks a lot about how things are done in Germany. The panelists speculate about why tech workers aren’t organizing more, and how we could potentially help ourselves and our coworkers if we did.