#2: Steve Valenza on Empathy, Helping Others Recognize Their Potential, Transparency in Leadership

The SEO Leadership Podcast

Steve Valenza (@steve_valenza) is Product Manager of technical SEO at REI. In this episode, Steve walks through how unlocking your true potential as a leader often looks like helping everyone around you recognize their own potential. Steve has been in the SEO industry for around 7 years, falling into SEO almost by accident. Through agency work after his college graduation, Steve found himself gravitating towards SEO considering it to be an intriguing and deep puzzle to solve - a puzzle that would ultimately lead him to REI. Steve always dreamed of connecting his passion for the outdoors with his work, and has found an incredible overlap between his recreational passions and how he has been able to grow as a leader through his role at REI. In this episode, Steve drives home the need to be empathetic, always trying to get the smartest person in the room (and by association never being the smartest person in the room), and being 100% transparent with those who you lead. This transparency should cover both successes and failures. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Steve and hope that you learn as much as I did from his leadership style.
The SEO industry is full of good advice on effective SEO tactics - our goal through this podcast is to become better SEO leaders. In the SEO Leadership Podcast, we dive into the minds of some of the top performers in the SEO industry and beyond. Explore the strategies, disciplines, and decision making frameworks that shape leaders through in-depth interviews. Join us as we embark on this journey of becoming better SEO leaders together.

View our show notes at: https://www.seoleadership.fm/episodes
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