Leadership Is Not About the Limelight I Jonathan Fullam

In this episode of the 40% Better Podcast, Bill Lennan sits down with Jonathan Fullam, VP of Customer Engineering at vCluster, for a thoughtful conversation about leadership, team culture, employee motivation, and the human side of managing technology teams. Jonathan Fullam shares his journey from software engineering into leadership and the lessons he learned from working with strong leaders and role models. He explains why great leaders should put the spotlight on their teams, how to build trust, and why leadership is about helping others succeed rather than seeking recognition. The conversation also explores mental health, burnout prevention, rest and recovery, and the importance of modeling healthy work habits as a leader. Jonathan discusses how leaders can build stronger remote teams through intentional communication, meaningful connections, coffee chats, cross-team collaboration, and consideration for different time zones. You’ll also hear valuable insights on intrinsic motivation, identifying what drives individual team members, preparing future leaders before they receive a leadership title, and creating a culture where people can lead without being managers. Jonathan also opens up about one of the hardest parts of leadership: handling underperformance. He shares why honest feedback, clear communication, understanding individual strengths, and helping people find the right role are essential to effective leadership. Whether you're a technology leader, engineering manager, aspiring manager, or individual contributor looking to grow your leadership skills, this episode offers practical lessons on building happier, healthier, and more productive teams. Topics covered: • Leadership lessons from software engineering • Why leadership is not about the limelight • How great leaders recognize and empower their teams • Preventing burnout and prioritizing rest and recovery • Building trust in remote and distributed teams • Keeping employees intrinsically motivated • Developing future leaders before giving them a title • Creating a culture of coaching and collaboration • Managing underperformance with honesty and empathy • Finding the right role for every team member • Building happy and productive technology teams Guest: Jonathan Fullam Role: VP of Customer Engineering Company: vCluster Connect with Jonathan Fullam on LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanfullam/ Subscribe to the 40% Better Podcast for more conversations on leadership, technology, team building, and becoming a better leader. #Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #TechnologyLeadership #EngineeringLeadership #RemoteTeams #TeamBuilding #EmployeeMotivation #Management #TechLeaders #JonathanFullam #vCluster #40PercentBetter I hope you enjoy this episode! Give it a like, share, and subscribe to not miss the content coming your way weekly. – Bill and the 40 % Better podcast team Connect with Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wblennan/ Visit the 40 Percent Better website here: https://40pb.com/ Listen to 40 % Better on these podcast platforms: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qkqdMPkR9BqYPM7UPa4P0 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/40%25-better---engineering-leadership/id1709546347 Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01ad162e-7a33-4df4-8c29-04c4af0405fc/40-better---engineering-leadership #40PercentBetter #BillLennan #Leadership #TeamPerformance #EmployeeEngagement #PsychologicalSafety #BusinessGrowth #Kaizen #EngineeringLeadership #Coaching The 40% Better podcast with Bill Lennan unlocks previously unheard-of performance levels in teams and leaders. Bill Lennan, founder of 40 Percent Better, interviews experts on employee engagement, psychological safety, engineering leadership, and actionable mental models. Learn how to foster high-performing teams, improve team productivity, and achieve sustainable success in business through a focus on human-centered systems. #technologyleadership #productmanagement #engineeringleadership #leadershipdevelopment #careergrowth #podcast