1035: Workslop, Glass Cliffs and Inviting Your Fears to Tea, with Carly Taylor

In Episode #1035, Carly Taylor (Founder of Rebel Data Science) returns to join Jon Krohn for a wide-ranging conversation about leading engineering teams when the ground keeps moving. Carly shipped nine Call of Duty titles in roughly five years at Activision, where she led game security, and has since been a director of engineering at Microsoft and Field CTO for gaming at Databricks. She is also one of the most entertaining people in data on LinkedIn, where more than 200,000 people follow posts she cheerfully calls unhinged. In this episode, she explains why obsessing over the future produces analysis paralysis, which fundamentals never change, how to tell AI slop from AI used well, what the Buddhist practice of inviting Mara to tea has to do with public speaking, and what the glass cliff means for women being promoted into leadership.

Additional materials: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.superdatascience.com/1035⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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In this episode you will learn:

(00:04:07) The mindsets that still work in 2026

(00:23:25) Why AI slop breaks a social contract

(00:28:49) Exploring versus grinding in a career

(00:54:37) The glass cliff for women in leadership