5: Being Underrepresented in the CTO Chair with TaxBit’s CTO, Tramale Turner
With management experience in such varied, acclaimed brands as Nintendo and Volkswagen, Tramale Turner is no stranger to stepping outside of his comfort zone - as all leaders should.
Now CTO at TaxBit, he’s at the forefront of digital assets and continues to show the product of his remarkable journey.
We hear from Tramale in this episode of Leaders Unscripted, where he discusses the art of introspection, making outsized impact, and creating opportunities for underrepresented voices.
This Episode Covers:
- Tramale’s staggering career to date, with huge brands like Nintendo & volkswagen
- Being a leading Black male voice in an industry where such representation is seldom seen
- How leaders model the way through introspection
- Finding comfort in the learning and development to be found outside one’s comfort zone
- Creation of opportunities for underrepresented voices, and a legacy that endures beyond him
Episode Highlights:
“I always have (and some people might even complain about it) an overly optimistic perspective. I always think about the opportunity whenever I see a challenge, because I've seen so many terrible things.” - 4:30 - Tramale Turner
“I went through a number of growth spurts, learning how to work at a really big company like Volkswagen and a really old and storied, but extremely popular company like Nintendo. Again, I was just really learning how to become a better version of the leader that I've aspired to be.” - 9:20 - Tramale Turner
“I grew up in Southeastern Michigan in Detroit. I am, remain, and will always be a Black male. One of the memes in our industry is that you just don't see a lot of people that look like me, period - certainly when you look at leadership, the C level or the executive suite.” - 18:10 - Tramale Turner
“Leaders model the way. The way to show up and to be a resonant leader is to walk the talk, do what you say is the thing that you would want people to do.” - 22:45 - Tramale Turner
“If doing impactful work also means stepping a little bit out of my comfort zone - which I think every leader should do, be comfortably uncomfortable - I will learn as much as I need to, because I know I'm going to need to learn a lot.” - 28:00 - Tramale Turner
“If you can be a person that said, ‘I made it easier for underrepresented voices, and people to be accepted and acceptable in these seats of leadership and executive execution, that's a pretty damn good thing’. So I endeavour to have the opportunity to lean into that.” - 35:30 - Tramale Turner
Links & References:
Constellary: https://www.constellaryhq.com/
Suzan Bond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanbond/
Tramale Turner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tramale-turner-31b24a/