03 November 2026
The Conductor Doesn’t Make a Sound: Leading Without Being the Boss
40% Better - Engineering Leadership
About
Lee Atchison never set out to be a leader.
He went from reading paper stack dumps at Hewlett-Packard and posting on Usenet in 1984 to naming himself “chief architect” when a startup’s lead engineer walked out.
Later, at Amazon, he learned that the right data can change anyone’s mind.
Bill and Lee talk about why accidental leaders often do best and why you don’t have to be the boss to lead.
They also cover why everyone should work at a startup once, and what to do when a direct report says, “Stay out of my way for three more years.”
Then they get into Amazon’s experiment culture, and why data takes the emotion out of the room.
Lee closes with his new book, The Software Conductor, a short novel built on the idea that the conductor is the only person on stage who doesn’t make a sound.
The Software Conductor on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0hspXuGz
Lee Atchison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leeatchison/
40% Better: https://40pb.com
He went from reading paper stack dumps at Hewlett-Packard and posting on Usenet in 1984 to naming himself “chief architect” when a startup’s lead engineer walked out.
Later, at Amazon, he learned that the right data can change anyone’s mind.
Bill and Lee talk about why accidental leaders often do best and why you don’t have to be the boss to lead.
They also cover why everyone should work at a startup once, and what to do when a direct report says, “Stay out of my way for three more years.”
Then they get into Amazon’s experiment culture, and why data takes the emotion out of the room.
Lee closes with his new book, The Software Conductor, a short novel built on the idea that the conductor is the only person on stage who doesn’t make a sound.
The Software Conductor on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0hspXuGz
Lee Atchison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leeatchison/
40% Better: https://40pb.com