Episode Description
Joe Cheng is the CTO of Posit and the creator of Shiny. He joins Michael and Hadley to talk about why he almost walked away from AI work entirely over ethics concerns and what it takes to lead a team that didn't necessarily choose you. Plus, why saying yes to everyone is a worse strategy than it sounds. Bonus: Hadley calls out Joe's people-pleasing in real time.
What's inside:
- Joe's 2012 self-doubt spiral that accidentally created Shiny
- Why Joe almost quit working on AI entirely
- The "loaded guns" problem with releasing AI tools
- Hadley's blunt leadership style vs. Joe's people-pleasing
- Nobody actually wanted to make Joe CTO?
- Joe's take on curiosity, duty, and fear as motivators