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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

By: Fexingo
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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. Every conversation ends with a specific tension left unresolved: Is it better to over-communicate in the first month or let your team discover your style? Should you ever use the word 'accountability' in a one-on-one? This show is for the new manager who has read the articles but still doesn't know what to say tomorrow morning. #NewManager #First90Days #ManagingFormerPeers #LeadershipBasics #CareerDevelopment #ManagementSkills #PeopleManagement #WorkplaceRelationships #ManagerTransition #TeamBuilding #OneOnOneMeetings #GallupSurvey #GartnerFramework #306090DayPlan #PatagoniaCaseStudy #Careers #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo© 2026 Fexingo. All rights reserved. Economics
Episodes
  • How New Managers Can Navigate Their First Performance Review Cycle

    How New Managers Can Navigate Their First Performance Review Cycle
    Jun 29 2026
    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 scores after forced ranking. Luna asks about self-reviews and whether managers should coach their reports before they submit. The episode closes with a practical checklist: read past reviews for patterns, write in batches to avoid drift, and always run your ratings past a peer before calibration. No fluff, just the mechanics of getting reviews right the first time. #PerformanceReviews #NewManager #Careers #Management #HR #Feedback #Calibration #RecencyBias #Leadership #ManagerTips #PerformanceManagement #CareerGrowth #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #MistakesToAvoid #PeopleManagement #FirstTimeManager #Coaching Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 mins
  • How New Managers Can Protect Their Team from Organisational Chaos

    How New Managers Can Protect Their Team from Organisational Chaos
    Jun 29 2026
    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 introduces the 'porous umbrella' framework — where you filter noise but let through enough signal for your team to stay aligned — and walks through a concrete decision tree for when to absorb, when to delegate, and when to push back upward. Luna pushes back with a real story about a manager who over-filtered and ended up blindsided. They close with a practical script for the 'protective no' — how to say no to a request from above without sounding defensive. This is episode 81 of New Manager Conversations with Fexingo. #NewManagers #Leadership #OrganisationalChaos #ShieldingYourTeam #Buffer #SaaS #SayingNo #ManagingUp #PorousUmbrella #DecisionTree #Bottleneck #CareerAdvice #First90Days #ManagementBasics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Careers #LeadershipSkills Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    11 mins
  • How New Managers Can Fire Someone With Respect

    How New Managers Can Fire Someone With Respect
    Jun 28 2026
    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 with the remaining team. Specific advice: have three written performance conversations before considering termination, and deliver the news in under 90 seconds. They also cover emotional preparation and avoiding wrongful-termination pitfalls. A must-listen for any first-time manager facing this uncomfortable but sometimes necessary step. #NewManager #Termination #DifficultConversations #Leadership #Management #Careers #FiringWithRespect #PerformanceManagement #SaaS #Maya #EmployeeTermination #Documentation #WrongfulTermination #TeamMorale #ManagingOut #FirstTimeManager #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    9 mins
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