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An Anthropologist’s Guide to Building Cultures
What happens when a self-taught programmer with a background in anthropology finds himself leading engineering teams? In this candid, humorous, and emotionally resonant talk, Robert Harris shares his journey from BASIC on a Commodore 64 to building psychologically safe, high-performing cultures in modern software organizations.
Blending fieldwork with frameworks, Robert explores the human side of engineering leadership—imposter syndrome, accidental management, and the painful lessons that shaped his philosophy. Drawing on his training in anthropology, he offers a practical guide to shaping team culture through shared language, rituals, experiences, and artifacts—from flaming pull request beacons to rubber duck onboarding kits.
Attendees will leave with:
•A fresh perspective on leadership rooted in emotional intelligence and cultural design
•Actionable strategies for building trust, accountability, and psychological safety
•A toolkit of metaphors, rituals, and artifacts to transform team dynamics
Whether you’re a reluctant manager, a seasoned leader, or just someone who’s ever stepped on a rake in production, this talk will help you turn dysfunction into culture—and culture into your team’s greatest asset.
About Robert Harris
Robert N. Harris is the Founder & CEO of Coded2Lead LLC, a coaching practice dedicated to transforming software engineers into emotionally intelligent leaders. A 4x software engineering executive based in Houston, TX, Robert draws on 20+ years of pragmatic leadership experience - alongside a unique academic background in psychology and anthropology - to tackle the toughest problems in technology: the human ones.
His claim to fame is helping small engineering teams punch above their weight. He’s helped companies shrink product cycles from months to weeks, launch new products in months instead of years, and scale revenue by 10x.
He’s mentored tech leads, managers, and founders across industries, blending technical rigor with surreal metaphors, visual storytelling, and deeply empathetic insight. Whether he's refining a brand identity or helping a developer navigate imposter syndrome, Robert’s approach is iterative, creative, and always human-centered.
When he’s not coaching, you’ll find him in the garden, under the stars, or behind the wheel - using race cars, astronomy, and nature as unexpected mirrors for leadership growth. His mission: to help engineers debug themselves, lead with courage, and build systems where people thrive.
If a business is willing to invest in software engineering, he’ll make sure they get the most out of that investment.
More About Robert »ARE YOU READY TO GET STARTED?
Two and a half days of insightful sessions, inspiring ideas, and meeting your peers. Learn the skills and methods that will take your organization to the next level.
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