auziros:jeana-tahnk

Jeana has been in the tech industry for 15+ years, both as a communications professional and writer. As Director of Global Communications at Auth0, she works with her internal team and external agencies to amplify the company's visibility worldwide and establish its leadership in the identity industry. When she is not working, she can most likely be found on a field watching one of her three kids playing sports, or cleaning up after her one-year-old retriever who chews everything.

Senior Director, Global Communications

Jeana Tahnk

Former SVP of Engineering and CTO at Glassdoor and Ask.com bolsters management team

**BELLEVUE, Wash. – Oct. 7, 2021 –** The [Auth0 Identity Platform](https://auth0.com/), a product unit within Okta (NASDAQ: OKTA), today announced that [Bhawna Singh](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhawnasingh/) has joined the company as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Engineering. With more than two decades of engineering and technology leadership, Singh will be instrumental in continuing to build and lead Auth0’s talented team of engineers in transforming technology and increasing value to its growing customer base.

Prior to joining Auth0, Singh held senior engineering and technology roles, including SVP of Engineering and CTO at Glassdoor, where she was responsible for technological innovation overseeing the company’s websites and mobile platforms, in addition to its software engineering data platform and machine learning teams. Before Glassdoor, Singh held engineering leadership roles at Ask.com, Sybase, and AT&T. As SVP of Engineering, Singh will lead the high growth of Auth0’s solutions, strengthen trust and reliability for their global customer base, and continue to invest in engineering excellence. 

“The technological complexity of identity, innovation of the company’s solutions, and transparent and inclusive workplace culture immediately drew me to Auth0,” said Singh. “I’m excited to join a global team filled with experts that continuously innovate and all share one common vision — secure access for all.”

“Identity is one of the most strategic investments an organization will make today, and as a company deeply passionate about our customers and dedicated to continuous improvement, Bhawna will play a critical role in helping us shape the future of identity and enabling our customers to accelerate innovation,” said Shiv Ramji, Chief Product Officer at Auth0. “With deeply experienced leadership in engineering and technology, Bhawna is an invaluable addition to Auth0, and we are honored she is joining us.”

To learn more about Singh and Auth0’s engineering team, visit [Auth0’s blog](https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-welcomes-bhawna-singh-to-the-team).

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

### Media Contacts:
Global Communications 
Auth0 
[press@auth0.com](mailto:press@auth0.com) 

Matter Communications for Auth0 
[auth0@matternow.com](mailto:auth0@matternow.com) 

### Investor Contact:
Investor Relations 
[investor@okta.com](mailto:investor@okta.com)

Bhawna Singh Joins Auth0 Leadership Team as Senior Vice President of Engineering

dave-wilner

Dave Wilner is the Chief Revenue Officer for Auth0, responsible for all field teams including Sales, Marketing, Professional Services, Support and Customer Success. Dave has spent the last two+ decades in executive roles at high growth, highly successful software companies. In another life, Dave was also a litigation partner at AmLaw 100 international firm Cozen O’Connor. In this life, Dave lives in Issaquah, WA with his wife Brenda and their two sons, and their adopted pit bulls Bo and Mona.

Chief Revenue Officer

Dave Wilner

Learn how to make your meetings better for everyone

I’ve been managing teams in tech for two decades, some small, some numbering five hundred plus. During this time, I’ve presided over two dozen sales kickoffs, hundreds of team meetings, and countless offsites. I can run a pretty good meeting, if I may say so myself.

But I stink at garden variety, plain ol’ bread, and butter, one-on-one weekly calls. 

I like making big, bold, strategic bets, then getting teams on board to run with me up a mountain. I don’t have the same affinity for the more predictable, repetitive parts of my job — like 1:1s. It’s an area I’m constantly trying to improve and one that I imagine many other folks in similar positions may struggle with.

And so, as something of an authority on the topic, I present to you the top ways to screw up your 1:1 meetings.

1. ***Show up late/repeatedly reschedule***: Nothing shows one of your direct reports how (un)important they are in the grand scheme of your day as you consistently showing up late. Don’t do it. The same goes for rescheduling every week or at the last minute. Show respect for their time, lest they feel unimportant.
 
2. ***Jump right in***: There are a host of surveys that conclude feeling as though their manager cares about them, their families, and their interests is a critical part of avoiding turnover in team members. Though you may be itching to get to the data, fight the urge to dive into the substance and instead take some time to make a personal connection. Also, surveys aside, it’s a pretty tough time for many folks at the moment. Letting people blow off some steam is just the decent thing to do.

3. ***Be a shitty listener***: While you may be thinking about the board presentation you have in two hours or the budget fight looming with your CFO, chances are your direct report is 100% focused on their conversation with you. Multitasking, or obviously glancing at other things, suggests you aren’t listening, and you’re not engaged. And candidly, it’s a whole lot easier to listen and focus if you are holding someone’s gaze (or so my wife tells me...)

4. ***Set no agenda or don’t read theirs***: Starting every 1:1 with “how’s it going?” and having nothing of substance to inquire about thereafter suggests the call is just an item to be checked off of your daily task list. Identify some things you want to cover prior and send a note confirming. Also, if your direct proposes an agenda prior to the meeting, take a minute to read through and prepare. Show that you value their work, their priorities, and their time.

5. ***Provide no encouragement***: Leaving your team member with a bit of inspiration &mdash; something to feel positive or excited about &mdash; will be important to their motivation during the time you are apart. This is especially important if your 1:1 is one of the only meaningful interactions you have with them. If you have constructive criticism or a tough message to deliver, get it done early in the call, and bookend it with acknowledgment of growth or progress in another area. 

6. ***Multi-task***: See 3. above. I can knock out 25 email responses in a 30-minute 1:1 if I’m not listening. It’s tempting, but the work will still be there after the call. Remove the temptation by closing Slack or Safari, so you can focus on your team member.

7. ***Make it about you***: After coming out of a stressful meeting with your boss, a key customer, or some other high-intensity call, it can be tempting to use a 1:1 with a direct report as a time to exhale. Don’t vent about your day, debrief them on your last call, or otherwise show up without focus or purpose. But, as per the point above, you can be human and talk about the latest NCAA game that had you shouting at the TV.

One to one time with direct reports is a foundational element of managing teams. When done well, these calls can increase productivity, reduce simmering tensions, and provide the guidance and inspiration that so many folks need in their day-to-day work. These conversations will unfortunately not work to perfection with little to no effort from you. Take a few moments to consider last week’s 1:1 meetings, and check yourself against the pitfalls above. If you find yourself being a shitty listener, ordering shoes online while offering (faux) contemplative nods, talking about yourself, or just being endlessly critical, make the time to get better. It will make you a better boss, I promise.

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

Top 7 Ways to Screw Up Your 1:1 Meetings

Industry veterans Sue Barsamian, Sameer Dholakia, and Simon Parmett join Board

**BELLEVUE, Wash. – Jan. 12, 2020** – The [Auth0](https://auth0.com/) Identity Platform, a product unit within Okta, today announced the addition of three industry leaders to its Board of Directors: Sue Barsamian, former Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Software; Sameer Dholakia, former CEO of SendGrid; and Simon Parmett, former CEO of MuleSoft. Barsamian, Dholakia, and Parmett each have deep technology and SaaS industry experience and will play a key role in guiding Auth0 on its next chapter of growth. 

* [**Sue Barsamian**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/suebarsamian/) has more than three decades of marketing, sales, product, and business operations experience in both early-stage and Fortune 50 organizations, including HPE and Mercury Interactive. She also serves as a board member for Box, Gainsight, NortonLifeLock, Xactly Corp, and formerly Segment (acquired by Twilio in November 2020).

* [**Sameer Dholakia**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sameerdholakia/) most recently served as the CEO of SendGrid was instrumental in SendGrid’s successful IPO in November 2017 and led the company through its $3 billion acquisition by Twilio in February 2019. He has more than two decades of experience in scaling high-growth companies, including VMLogix, Inc. (acquired by Citrix Systems), Citrix Systems, SendGrid, and Twilio. Dholakia also serves as a board member for PagerDuty.

* [**Simon Parmett**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-parmett/) is a seasoned leader with three decades of experience leading global companies, including Agile Software, Oracle, and MuleSoft. Most recently, Parmett was CEO and General Manager of MuleSoft and was previously President of Field Operations, where he designed and led MuleSoft’s growth to over a billion dollars in revenue. He was also instrumental in shaping MuleSoft’s successful IPO in 2017 and subsequent $6.7 billion acquisition by Salesforce in 2018.

“Sue, Simon, and Sameer offer broad expertise, and we are honored to welcome them to our Board,” said Eugenio Pace, CEO, and co-founder of Auth0. “Their experience in scaling high-growth technology companies will be very valuable to Auth0. We are thrilled they will be applying their experience and counsel to our work on growing and scaling the company.”

These new appointments add to the existing levels of tech industry leadership and experience in Auth0’s Board of Directors. Jennifer Ceran, former CFO of Smartsheet, joined the Board in May 2020.

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />
### Media Contacts
Auth0 Global Communications 
[press@auth0.com](mailto:press@auth0.com) 

Matter for Auth0 
[auth0@matternow.com](mailto:auth0@matternow.com)

Auth0 Adds Three Key SaaS Leaders to its Board of Directors

Former People Lead at Apple and Mercedes-Benz strengthens management team

**BELLEVUE, Wash. – Oct. 7, 2020 –** The [Auth0](https://auth0.com/) Identity Platform, a product unit within Okta, today announced that Carolyn Moore has joined the company as Senior Vice President (SVP) of People. With more than three decades of experience in global human resources, Moore will be integral in furthering Auth0's commitment to its award-winning culture and being a world-class organization during its next phase of rapid growth.

As SVP of People, Moore will unify and implement a holistic strategy for global recruiting, human resources (HR) operations, HR business partnership, employee experience, culture, and internal communications, to guide Auth0 to its next evolution of global growth. Previously, Moore held senior people and HR-related leadership roles at Fortune 500 organizations, including Mercedes-Benz, Apple, and Samsung.

"Auth0's dynamic company culture, recognition as a global remote work pioneer, passion for its people, and dedicated leadership team immediately drew me in," said Moore. "The company's approach to its culture&mdash;the care, investment, and commitment&mdash;is unmatched in my experience. I look forward to building upon the organization's strong people-driven culture and taking Auth0 to new heights."

"As a company passionately dedicated to our talented people and culture, Carolyn will play a key role in supporting our people and processes as we continue to increase the size of our team and recruit from all corners of the globe," said Eugenio Pace, CEO and co-founder of Auth0. "With unmatched knowledge and expertise in talent acquisition and people leadership, Carolyn is an invaluable addition to Auth0 and we are thrilled she is joining us."

Underscoring Auth0's award-winning culture, the company was recently recognized as the #1 large company to work for in Seattle Business Magazine's '[100 Best Companies To Work For'](http://seattlebusinessmag.com/100-best-companies-work/100-best-companies-work-large) award. Auth0 was also listed as one of the top 10 best Seattle companies to work for in [Hired's 4th Annual Brand Health Report](https://hired.com/blog/highlights/2020-brand-health-report/), alongside Microsoft, REI, Starbucks, and Costco. Both awards recognized Auth0 for its highly differentiated culture, commitment to creating a workplace where people truly enjoy working, and generous employee benefits. 

After growing 70% in 2019, Auth0's rapid growth has continued through 2020. The company recently announced a [$120 million round of Series F funding](https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-helping-navigate-through-times-of-transformation/) in July, bringing Auth0's valuation to $1.92 billion and total capital raised to more than $330 million. 

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

### Media Contacts:
Global Communications 
Auth0 
[press@auth0.com](mailto:press@auth0.com) 

Matter for Auth0 
[auth0@matternow.com](mailto:auth0@matternow.com)

Carolyn Moore Joins Auth0 Leadership Team as Senior Vice President of People

T025590N6-UDX9W3FC6-569c8c488b84-512 avatar

T025590N6-UDX9W3FC6-569c8c488b84-512

He is an Engineering Manager that has been building applications for almost 20 years. He believes that strong teams build amazing software and lead people following the open-source principles of trust, empathy, generosity, and collaboration. He has experience leading teams both in large organizations and startups, as well as successfully running his own company. He is also a skillful designer and expert CSS and HTML developer becoming a Bootstrap’s Core Team member, an Eclipse Foundation Committer, a CSS Ticks and A List Apart author, and a technical speaker. He is currently managing the team that improves Auth0's developer experience.

Developer productivity Lead, Engineering

Andres Galante

A guide for new managers to motivate, structure, and empower a team

"Andres! I need some career advice: I'm trying to lead a team, but I have no idea what I'm doing!"

This is a cry for help I received recently from a good friend of mine. He went on to say:

"I've been taking more of a technical leadership role, trying to coordinate the work other people are doing, make sure we meet our deadlines, etc. It's been tough; I only know how to do things people tell me to do. My boss has been supportive, but when I go to him and ask what he recommends I do, he tells me to think about it myself - on the one hand, it's great that he's giving me more freedom and responsibility, on the other hand, ahhhh I don't know what to do with myself."

It's a common pattern, the skills that made us successful developers don't translate well to being an effective leader. We need to learn a new set of tools to motivate, coordinate, and build a strong team.

This conversation led me to think more about what I've learned throughout my career, leading teams as technical lead and people manager. It boils down to one thing: 

People before product. Always.

The concept is simple: People build products, great teams are made of engaged people, engaged people build the best products.

A straightforward concept, the challenge lies in the implementation. Throughout this article, I'll explain how to motivate, structure, and empower a team.

## Teams Need a Purpose

Why does our team exist? Teams that can honestly answer that question have an edge, and as leaders, it's our responsibility to give our team purpose.

Lewis Carroll famously wrote that if you don't know where you want to go, it doesn't matter which path you take. A mission statement is the light at the end of the tunnel; once we know where we are going, we can better plan our path.

The team's mission should illustrate how their work supports the larger mission of the company. It helps everyone on the team understand that we don't write code for the sake of writing code, but to support our customers' needs and hopefully make their lives better.

Explaining how to create a team mission statement is out of scope for this article; however, there are many excellent publications on the subject, I especially like [How to Create a Team Purpose Statement in Three Steps (and Why)](https://peopleleaders.com.au/create-team-purpose-statement-in-three-steps/) by [People's leader](https://peopleleaders.com.au).
 
After defining the mission statement, incorporate it into the weekly work lives of the team. Start every planning meeting by reiterating the team's mission and ensuring that every task relates to the team's mission. In a perfect world, if a task doesn't fall under the umbrella, then it's a sign that you should be working on something else. Do the same with demos, start by reading the mission, then demo how the team has followed it. 

Since organizations continually shift and evolve, mission statements should too. It's important to challenge your mission periodically, making sure it's always relevant.

Teams with a clear mission are motivated, but having a reason to work doesn't get you to the finish line, we'll also need structure.

## Teams Need Structure

Developers often have a repulsion towards team processes, mainly because we've all had bad experiences: endless meetings, a rapidly-changing focus in daily standups, and pointless estimation exercises. But done well, processes and structure enable us to deliver better code more efficiently.

There is no such thing as a team without a process; even if it isn't explicit, every team has an underlying structure that keeps them together. By surfacing it, we have a chance to question and evolve it.

The team I lead follows three straightforward rules:

1. Limit tasks to three days in length (whenever possible)
2. Never get blocked
3. Keep work-related communication in the team channel, avoiding direct messages at all costs

Simple, right? Here is how these rules make us more effective:

### Improve Progress by Creating Small Tasks

We've found that limiting tasks to three days increases our throughput since it means that we have something done every few days and, hopefully, shipped to customers. 

This practice is valuable for three key reasons:

* It generates an important sense of progress since stagnation is the enemy of productivity;
* It increases visibility and coordination by informing what each member of the team is working on at any given time; and,
* It creates shorter feedback loops and incentivizes constant iteration.
* Estimating becomes less important since every task is around the same size.

Keeping tasks small is a team sport. Sometimes we aren't able to break things down, and that's okay, but my experience is that we can most of the time. With practice and discipline, our team now maintains a median throughput time of 3.2 days (as of writing).

### Improve Flow by Never Getting Blocked

Being blocked is normal, either due to a lack of knowledge, context, or project dependencies. What shouldn't be normal is to wait until the next day's stand up to ask for help.

That's why, on my team, anyone who gets blocked and doesn't find an answer within 10 minutes will raise their hand. We commit to assist a teammate asking for help immediately.

To avoid constant disruptions, there is a goalie rotation where members of the team take turns to be the one who gets all the interruptions, deals with PR reviews, answers questions from other teams, and helps their teammates. Like in soccer, but in our case, instead of defending the goal, they preserve our efficiency and productivity.

### Improve Communication by Keeping It Open

I've learned this from participating in open source communities: communication should always be out in the open. By keeping all work-related conversations, even the smallest ones, on an open team channel, we give the entire team the opportunity to participate in the discussion, which improves knowledge sharing and team coordination, since everyone is aware of what we all are working on at any given time. Sharing is caring.

As a result of our practices, we have very few meetings, reducing interruptions and providing us space for deep work. For example [Stand ups'](https://twitter.com/andresgalante/status/1221846031811239936) main goal is to support, communicate, and remove impediments; they should never be a status report. We get the same benefits by having seamless communication on the team chat, we don't get blocked, and we follow team progress on our board by having small tasks. 

Ask your team whether they'd do standups if the managers were not in the room. If the answer is no, it's a clear indication that you have a status report.

### Now Find Your Own Voice

The process I just described works for us, but every team has its own dynamics. Three days might be too short of cycle time for the nature of the work some teams do, or others might have too many junior developers and will need more guardrails.

I highly recommend writing a team working agreement, a set of rules that the whole team is accountable to follow and enforce. I really like this [guide to team working agreements](http://www.payton-consulting.com/agile-team-working-agreements-guide/).

Processes are meant to change and evolve. Be flexible; if something is not working, just stop doing it! During retrospectives, we question our process. Do we want to keep working like this? Can we try something new next time? Retrospectives are the single most important meetings, don't skip them!

## Play to Their Strengths

The board is set; we have explicit rules and a motivated team with a clear mission. As leaders, our goal is, of course, to ensure our team wins.

Soccer is a team sport, and it's [every player's job to help a team win](https://blog.linkedin.com/2013/09/10/your-job-is-not-your-job-linkedin-speaker-series-with-fred-kofman), both scoring and defending. A soccer manager wouldn't ask a striker to defend as his main role; it's obvious: a sticker might be brilliant scoring goals but lousy at defining them. 

In the same way, when we know our team member's strengths, we can set them up for success.

The simplest way to know what people's strengths are is to ask openly. During [one-on-one](https://css-tricks.com/the-importance-of-one-on-ones/), ask questions like: What is your strongest skill? What are you most interested in? What do you want to spend more time doing? 

As leaders, our responsibility is to build effective teams by empowering individuals to perform at their best and not micromanage or do their work. Delegate, give team members autonomy: set clear goals that people can be accountable for and remove ourselves from the equation. [Jess Mink](https://twitter.com/minkjess?lang=en) wrote about [how to delegate](https://auth0.com/blog/what-can-only-you-do/): Think about the things only you can do and delegate the rest.

This is something we can't fake: real autonomy, delegation, and accountability are based on trust; trust is the single most important thing that binds a team together.

## Use These Best Practices

In short:

* Motivate by creating a team mission statement that gives the team meaning.
* Develop a team agreement to provide structure.
* Empower the team to be the best they can by delegation, autonomy, and accountability.

And overall, just use extreme common sense, which, as leaders, means following uncomplicated solutions. Most of the time, the simple approach is the right one. Common sense and simplicity go a long way.

How has your leadership created a successful team? What ideas do you have to help others be better leaders? Tell me in the comments or [tweet me @andresgalante](https://twitter.com/andresgalante) (DMs are open!)

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People Before Product

Industry veteran Jennifer Ceran joins Board; Auth0 adds new VPs to bolster leadership

**BELLEVUE, Wash. – May 13, 2020 –** The [Auth0](https://auth0.com/) Identity Platform, a product unit within Okta, today announced that [Jennifer Ceran](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferceran/) has joined its Board of Directors. Ceran has more than three decades of technology and SaaS industry experience and will serve as an integral member as Auth0 continues its exciting growth. As CFO of Smartsheet, a modern SaaS work execution platform, Ceran leads the Finance, Procurement, IT, Facilities/Real Estate, and Operational Excellence efforts, and was instrumental in Smartsheet’s successful IPO in April 2018. She will also serve as the chair of Auth0’s Audit Committee. 

“We are honored to welcome Jenny to our board, and look forward to her counsel as a trusted advisor to our company,” said Eugenio Pace, Auth0 CEO, and co-founder. “Her experience at Smartsheet will be invaluable in adding to the incredible diversity of thought that is represented across our Board of Directors.” 

“The opportunity to serve on Auth0’s Board represents a highlight in my career and one that I am very excited to dive into. Auth0’s success and future potential are undeniable,” said Ceran. “I greatly respect Eugenio, the senior leadership team, and the rest of the board members, and look forward to working collaboratively to guide Auth0 on its next stage of growth.”

In addition, Auth0 announced the appointment of three prominent executives to its leadership team: 

* [**Holly Files**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyfiles/) joined as Senior Vice President of Customer Success to enable customers’ business goals through product utilization and business transformation, and extend Auth0’s mission of putting the customer first. She was previously GVP of Customer Success at New Relic. 
* [**Cassio Sampaio**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/csampaio/) joined as Vice President of Product and will drive Auth0's product roadmap to continue delivering innovation towards the needs of application builders. He was previously Director of Business Operations (Cloud Infrastructure) at Apple. 
* [**Ken Oestreich**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenoestreich/) joined as Vice President of Product Marketing and is responsible for corporate positioning, product introductions, and driving adoption of the Auth0 platform. He was previously VP of Product Marketing at WSO2. 

“To support Auth0’s rapid growth, we continually seek the brightest minds and experts within their respective domains to contribute deep knowledge to our organization,” added Pace. “Holly, Ken, and Cassio offer incredible expertise and immediately add value to Auth0 as a world-class organization.” 

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

### Media Contacts
Jeana Tahnk 
Corporate Communications 
Auth0 
[jeana.tahnk@auth0.com](mailto:jeana.tahnk@auth0.com)

Hannah Carroll 
Matter for Auth0 
[auth0@matternow.com](mailto:auth0@matternow.com)

Auth0 Board of Directors Welcomes Smartsheet CFO as New Member

kaycie-east

As PR Manager, Kaycie supports public relations and global communications efforts for Auth0 in the AMER region. When not promoting the Auth0 brand, Kaycie can be found hiking, traveling, or searching for the next best bite to eat.

PR Manager, AMER Region

Kaycie East

Pace honored at Washington’s most acclaimed C-Suite executive leadership awards

**BELLEVUE, Wash. – January 30, 2020 –** The [Auth0](https://auth0.com/) Identity Platform, a product unit within Okta, today announced its CEO and Co-founder, Eugenio Pace, was honored at Seattle Business magazine’s [Executive Excellence Awards](http://seattlebusinessmag.com/executive-profiles/winners-2020-executive-excellence-awards), one of the Pacific Northwest’s most prestigious business leadership events, for his exceptional leadership practices and successes in the business community. 

[Pace](http://seattlebusinessmag.com/executive-profiles/2020-executive-excellence-awards-eugenio-pace-co-founder-chief-executive-officer), one of 16 award recipients – along with some of the state’s most respected business leaders from corporations and nonprofits including Zillow Group Inc., Rosetta Stone Inc., Textio, and Washington Women’s Foundation – was honored for his principled leadership practices, and commitment to his team and business community. 

“I am truly humbled to receive this prestigious award and be recognized alongside such a distinguished lineup of professionals, who I look up to for their exemplary leadership,” said Pace. “This award is truly the accomplishment of my entire team – a team that pushes me to be a better leader day in and day out, and never stops pushing boundaries to innovate and deliver only the best to our valued team, customers, and communities.” 

The eighth annual awards ceremony held on January 23, 2020, received nearly 100 applicants this year, a record-breaking year for entries. After a lengthy review process, only 16 individuals were selected by a judging panel based on which leaders have shown outstanding leadership in guiding their companies to success.

“Regardless of industry, successful executives share several traits,” said Seattle Business magazine Editor in Chief Rob Smith. “According to ghSMART's 10-year study of 17,000 C-suite executives, called the CEO Genome Project – featured in Harvard Business Review – top-level leaders excel at four behaviors: the ability to make quick decisions with conviction; achieving buy-in from employees and stakeholders; the ability to adjust to a rapidly changing environment; and producing results.”

The 2020 Executive Excellence Awards are featured in the magazine’s February print issue and online: [http://seattlebusinessmag.com/executive-profiles/winners-2020-executive-excellence-awards](http://seattlebusinessmag.com/executive-profiles/winners-2020-executive-excellence-awards).

## About the Executive Excellence Awards 

The Executive Excellence Awards is considered to be one of the Pacific Northwest’s most prestigious business leadership events of the year. Over the years, this awards program has hosted C-suite executives from companies and organizations such as Starbucks, Amazon, Alaska Airlines, Expedia, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Symphony, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and many more.

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

### Media Contacts:
Kaycie East 
Auth0 Communications 
[press@auth0.com](mailto:press@auth0.com)
 
Alexandria Plew 
Matter for Auth0 
[auth0@matternow.com](mailto:auth0@matternow.com)

Eugenio Pace of Auth0 Honored for Executive Excellence by Seattle Business Magazine

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Product Officer join company to support hypergrowth

**BELLEVUE, Wash., Sept. 17, 2019 —** [Auth0](https://auth0.com/), a global leader in Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS), today announced Barry Plaga as chief financial officer (CFO) and Shiven Ramji as chief product officer (CPO), two key appointments to the senior leadership team.

[Plaga](https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-plaga-97204b14/) joins Auth0 as a seasoned CFO with more than two decades of experience overseeing financial and operational functions. Previously, Plaga served as the CFO and COO of Guidance Software, where he oversaw the financial planning, accounting, and treasury functions of the company worldwide, as well as managing investor relations, IT, legal, and operations.

As CPO, [Ramji](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivenramji) will guide Auth0's product vision, innovation, design, and strategy, and brings more than 15 years of experience in B2B and B2C product management, and business development. Before joining Auth0, Ramji served as the SVP of Product at DigitalOcean, where he led the strategy of DigitalOcean's products, pricing, and partnerships.

"Barry and Shiven bring incredibly deep experience and a proven history of taking fast-growing technology companies to the next level," said Auth0 CEO and co-founder Eugenio Pace. "We are very excited to welcome them to the team, and will leverage their collective expertise to propel Auth0 through its next phase of growth."

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

### Media Contacts

Jeana Tahnk 
Corporate Communications 
Auth0 
[jeana.tahnk@auth0.com](mailto:jeana.tahnk@auth0.com)

Meghan Gardner 
Matter for Auth0 
[auth0@matternow.com](mailto:auth0@matternow.com)

Auth0 Expands C-Suite with New Executive Appointments

auziros:mckenzie-mayer

Customer Identity (CIAM) Product Comms lead, driving collective storytelling across Okta and Auth0. Making technology accessible for everyone.

Customer Identity Product Comms Lead at Okta

McKenzie Mayer

Consecutive reports highlight the breadth of Auth0’s identity capabilities

**LONDON – Sept 3, 2019 –** [Auth0](https://auth0.com/), a global leader in Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS), today announced it has been selected as an Overall Leader in two KuppingerCole Analysts Leadership Compass reports – IDaaS Access Management and Identity API Platforms. The IDaaS research report evaluates vendors delivering cloud-based access management capabilities, and the new Identity API Platforms report focuses on using APIs to provide identity management in agile, DevOps, and more complex IT environments.

Digital transformation is driving the need for APIs to link different systems and services together to create a seamless experience. Identity API Platforms is a new segment established by KuppingerCole to evaluate vendors that are solving this need. By exposing key identity functionality via APIs, Identity API Platforms support the requirements of IAM, Federation, IDaaS, CIAM, and more with a focus on being developer-centric.

Auth0 is positioned as an Overall Leader in both Identity API Platforms and IDaaS Access Management. According to Martin Kuppinger, founder of KuppingerCole, “Auth0, with its rich set of APIs and SDKs, is an extremely developer-friendly IDaaS AM service that offers rapid deployment and is forward-leaning in its approach to create and support a flexible identity ecosystem.”

Kuppinger adds: “Organizations seeking a developer-friendly IDaaS platform with great extensibility, support for open standards, DevOps, and microservices should consider Auth0 on their shortlist.” KuppingerCole also named Auth0 an Overall Leader in the 2018 [Leadership Compass for Consumer Identity Access Management (CIAM)](https://auth0.com/resources/whitepapers/leadership-compass-for-ciam).

“Today’s API-driven economy is a primary driver of Auth0’s ongoing growth and represents a significant portion of our business,” said Eugenio Pace, CEO and co-founder of Auth0. “Our placement in these reports is further validation of our overall approach and our focus on the builders of applications. We are grateful to KuppingerCole for the recognition.”

Develop an action plan for thinking about identity from an API platform perspective vs. a point solution in a new whitepaper from KuppingerCole and Auth0: “[Do Identity Right – So Your Digital Business Strategy Succeeds.](https://auth0.com/resources/whitepapers/identity-digital-business-strategy)”

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

### Media Contacts

Mark Fowler 
Racepoint Global for Auth0, EMEA 
[auth0@racepointglobal.com](mailto:auth0@racepointglobal.com)

Auth0 Named Overall Leader in KuppingerCole Leadership Compass Reports for IDaaS and Identity API Platforms

kapehe-jorgenson

Kapehe is an R&D Content Engineer for Auth0 with a passion for learning and teaching. With her primary focus on ReactJS and JavaScript, she is impressed with what code can create for the web. Technology and web development are constantly evolving and naturally bring that need for continual learning. She enjoys writing tutorials, hosting local meetups, and learning with others to expand coding knowledge.

R&D Content Engineer

Kapehe Jorgenson

Platform Engineer Dorrin Poorkay on the challenge of scaling and the benefits of calm leadership

Platform Engineer [Dorrin Poorkay](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorrin-poorkay-94552b82/) came to [Auth0](https://auth0.com/) after working as an infrastructure engineer for a local startup facing rapid growth where she handled [Amazon Web Services (AWS)](https://aws.amazon.com/) infrastructure. She also maintained the cloud infrastructure (OpenStack) at the [University of Louisville](http://louisville.edu/), where she also earned her degree in computer science and engineering.

Sitting down with Dorrin was not your typical "let's meet in a conference room" because Auth0's a globally distributed company. We kept in touch via Slack, Google Docs, and Zoom. I learned more about her path to Auth0, what it’s really like to be a platform engineer, and her favorite programming language — all while being on the other side of the United States from each other.

![Photo of Dorrin Poorkay](https://images.ctfassets.net/23aumh6u8s0i/chaGa7c9KKM8i2ZOja0i2/6a6360c8eee3f36061e8a1c6cccb186e/dorrin-poorkay-2)

**On the daily life of a platform engineer at Auth0:**

Platform engineers design and build the underlying infrastructure for applications to run on. Given that we’re responsible for the foundation of our entire product, a lot goes on in a typical day of platform engineers.

Some days I'm on-call and responding to incidents — those days are chaotic, but fun! Other days I work on building new infrastructure, automating our current one, and making improvements.

I always start my day with coffee and aim to be productive right from the start. Over the years, I’ve found I’m most productive after my first cup of coffee and again late at night. I try to structure my day by scheduling meetings during my "downtime" (when I’m least productive) and snoozing Slack and my phone to minimize distractions.

During my on-call week, things are a bit different as I have to be alert and respond to pages quickly, but I adjust by planning for the interruption beforehand and setting expectations. When I am on-call, each day is unique. The flow of my day depends on what happens. Sometimes you wake up at 3:00 a.m. to a page. Most of the time our incidents are short but if incidents are long (say a few hours) then your teammates will fill in for you to get some rest and sleep. It balances out nicely. While most of our incidents do not mean “widespread outage”, we proactively monitor all of our systems and can be paged preemptively before our customers can experience issues.

Whether on-call or not, a light lunch and an hour of exercise are also included in my daily routine. I also find time to learn about topics that I am passionate about. For example, these days I spend most of my time programming in [Go](https://golang.org/) which I enjoy immensely.

<include src="TweetQuote" quoteText="On being a platform engineer at Auth0: Some days I'm on-call and responding to incidents - those days are chaotic, but fun! -Dorrin Poorkay"/>

**On moving up to the challenge of scaling and maintaining a service that can’t have any downtime:**

When I came to Auth0, I was really looking for a challenge.

I started my career with a few internships during college and a few weeks before finals I landed my first job at a local startup. It was extremely fast-paced and as chaotic as small startups can be. I thoroughly enjoyed it until it was time for me to move on to a more challenging job.

What attracted me to Auth0 was the engineering talent, specifically evident in the engineers I spoke to [during the Auth0 interview process](https://auth0.com/blog/how-we-hire-engineers/), the [Auth0 blog](https://auth0.com/blog/), and, of course, the [identity platform](https://auth0.com/docs/getting-started/overview) product, but the big attraction was the challenge of scaling and maintaining a service that can’t have any downtime.

Working at a startup at a much smaller scale had its own challenges but things like writing postmortems, doing root cause analysis, measuring SLAs of services were not part of my daily job. Auth0 has a unique challenge of "can't be down at all.". We serve billions of authentication requests and none of them can fail. Banks, airlines, news websites, or anyone using Auth0 expect a very high Service Level Agreement (SLA) because our service is critical to the success of theirs.

**On keeping up with rapid changes in the engineering field:**

Engineering changes quickly. I keep up by reading — lots and lots of reading. I try to read a few articles every day. The tech industry moves very quickly, you have to keep up. I also implement new technologies I’m curious about in my personal projects. Although when there is not a lot of time to do personal projects, reading is still the best substitute.

I get a lot of my exposure to the tech industry's ins and outs from [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/), [my twitter feed](https://twitter.com/fseekme) and different Slack workspaces. In terms of books, I've been reading [Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment](https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Programming-UNIX-Environment-3rd/dp/0321637739). It might seem like it's not necessarily knowledge in the world of cloud, containers and serverless but it's a great read that continues to be helpful in my day-to-day job.

<include src="TweetQuote" quoteText="The tech industry moves very quickly, you have to keep up. -Dorrin Poorkay, Platform Engineer for Auth0"/>

**On her favorite project for Auth0 (so far):**

We had [another record growth year in 2018](https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-announces-record-year/) and are on track to continue that rapid growth. That means we’re always looking at ways to scale our systems to meet customer needs while we improve our products and services. Our product and engineering teams are also continuing to expand — we have to develop more tooling and services around our platform and infrastructure to keep up with our growth. My favorite projects (so far) aim to solve many of these challenges with code by blending programming and infrastructure knowledge.

**On what it’s like to work remotely from Louisville, KY and its great tech community:**

Most people think of fried chicken and bourbon when they hear Kentucky. While it is true that Kentucky has great chicken and bourbon, it also has great coffee shops, micro-breweries, and co-working spaces. Those places are usually where you see remote workers hacking away at their laptops.

I was born and raised in a big city, so it took a while to adjust to life in Louisville. I’d describe it as a big city with a small city feel. We have a close-knit tech community which has its own Slack workspace. We also have a lot of tech meetups around town. So if you’re working remote and looking to socialize with other software engineers, there’s plenty to do here!

->![Louisville, Kentucky](https://images.ctfassets.net/23aumh6u8s0i/5X808xp71KOaN6J34cZ69b/f70ed2c326fbe15bb0532245e6c14adf/louisville-kentucky-2)<-

Check out two of our local [meetup](https://www.meetup.com/) groups:

* [Kubernetes and Cloud Native Computing Louisville](https://www.meetup.com/Kubernetes-and-Cloud-Native-Computing-Louisville/)
* [Louisville AWS User Group](https://www.meetup.com/Louisville-AWS-Users-Group/)

**On the importance of calm leadership:**

During my on-boarding, I joined an incident call (we collaborate via video chat on incidents to facilitate communication). My fellow colleagues were on the call, but I noticed our Chief Technology and Product Officer and co-founder, [Matias Woloski](https://auth0.com/blog/authors/matias-woloski/) was also on the call. Even though he was incident-commanding and aware of the urgency, he remained calm. To me, this shows how Auth0 leadership contributes to a culture of openness where engineers are not afraid to touch production, make mistakes, ask questions, and be confident in taking ownership.

**On her favorite Auth0 value:**

That would have to be: [We are obsessed with delivering customer value](https://auth0.com/blog/our-culture-and-values-at-auth0/).

Most of what we do is for customers. Even though as platform/infrastructure engineers we don’t write code directly for the product, we still put a lot of emphasis on how a tool we’re implementing, a change we’re making, or infrastructure improvements affect customers.

**On being a woman in tech:**

Growing up my mom highlighted the importance of a role model. Being a surgeon, my mom was already a strong woman in a male dominant field. Because of her, nothing felt unachievable to me. I was encouraged to take classes like math and physics in school; I was very good at it. My grandfather also highlighted the importance of "allies" to me. An ally is basically an advocate that [boosts and draws attention to an oppressed group’s own voices](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-male-ally_b_596d49d8e4b05561da5a5a05). He encouraged us, especially his daughters and granddaughters, to be career and science driven. I'd like to extend this analogy and say I find that having such role models and allies is beneficial to women in tech.

I have been privileged to work with great people over the years and my exposure to negativity has been small. Unfortunately, that's not the same experience for everyone. We need more allies, education, awareness, support, and empathy as we still fight discrimination and bias. This year, UI Engineer [Dasha Nikitina](https://www.linkedin.com/in/darianikitina/), R&D Content Engineer [Kapehe Jorgenson](https://auth0.com/blog/authors/kapehe-jorgenson/), and I will be attending [Women Who Code (WWC)](https://women.dev/) this Saturday, April 13th, in San Francisco. Come meet us at the Auth0 booth!

**On the advice Dorrin would give to someone interested in this field:**

First is to try to understand the reason behind your task. Why are you typing this command or writing code this way? This thinking gives you a deeper understanding of the tech you’re using. It also helps you with troubleshooting problems that might arise in the future, and for me personally, it brings a lot of joy to know the ins and outs of what I’m doing.

Second is to keep looking if you haven’t found the right place! There are so many companies with different cultures, tech stacks and standards that you can find a company that matches all your values.

**Join the Auth0 Team**

As you've learned, we are growing rapidly at Auth0. We have multiple engineering job openings available in our [career page](https://auth0.com/careers). You can learn more about our hiring and interview process through our [How We Hire Engineers](https://auth0.com/blog/how-we-hire-engineers/) post. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments below!

---

Meet the Experts: Dorrin Poorkay

jenny-obrien

I'm a former business journalist who's fascinated by the intersection of tech and business strategy — in particular how the right solution can transform an idea into reality. I specialize in ROI, data privacy, and identity.

Business Content Manager

Jenny O'Brien

Two of Auth0’s most confident colleagues share how they overcame feeling like fakes to reach the leadership team

At some point, we've all felt it — that sweaty moment when you're certain everyone is going to figure out that we can't really do whatever it is we said we could do: we're impostors. But to rise to the level of impostor syndrome, that feeling has to happen more often than feeling confident. Ironically, the syndrome seems to strike some of the most capable and talented.

Here at Auth0, we've been talking about why impostor syndrome is so prevalent in the tech industry and how various people have worked through it. Discussions ended up revealing that some of our most seemingly confident colleagues have contended with impostor syndrome. We asked them to share their strategies.

<include src="TweetQuote" quoteText="@auth0’s @mgonto and @CloudCISO_Joan share their strategies for overcoming impostor syndrome."/>

## Martin "Gonto" Gontovnikas, VP, Marketing & Growth and acting VP, Product, Auth0

![Martin "Gonto" Gontovnikas leading a hackathon activity during Auth0 company offsite](https://images.ctfassets.net/23aumh6u8s0i/5miHC981Oy3hGgGVRsdz4M/6404d039c22af179f950433c63092e09/impostor-syndrome-auth0-gonto-in-action)

If you've seen [Gonto](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mgonto/) energetically taking a conference stage, then connecting with people in the halls after he's wowed the audience, you'd be stunned to learn that this guy still suffers from impostor syndrome. His brash, warm style suggests that he's always been great at thinking on his feet and conveying his enthusiasm to others.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BE0JxHC66Rc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

But the same ability that makes him a fast thinker in all situations worked against him when it came to feeling he'd earned his success (VP of Marketing by 27). "To me, impostor syndrome is feeling that you got to wherever you are by luck and external forces instead of by your own efforts," says Gonto. "What I really don't like about it is that you question your own thoughts: Do I have enough experience? Is it right? Is it correct?"

### Meditation as a Way to 'Discard' Unwanted Thoughts

Gonto says he's worked hard on his "obsessive" need for control in his personal and professional life, turning to a psychologist for help because he found himself unable to accept compliments even when his grades and athletic achievements visibly demonstrated his skill.

"I'm a very rational being, but I can still kill ideas with fear," says Gonto.

But that ability to cancel a good thing with a thought also made Gonto realize he could use that ability to his benefit.

To get a handle on his rapid-fire thinking, Gonto turned to meditation. "Meditation is a form of training that allows me to become conscious of my thoughts at a certain point in time and order my brain to do something. Let's say I get this random thought of insecurity. I can 'be there,' consider the thought as just insecurity and therefore discard it by focusing on my body. Maybe I wasn't aware of being insecure or didn't know why when I first felt it. Meditation helps me get the why if I want it, or if I prefer, it helps me discard anxious, insecure thoughts."

### Creating 'Vulnerability-Based Trust'

One of Gonto's more daunting recommendations is creating 'vulnerability-based trust' with your team members. As a late-stage startup, Auth0 requires a team that can make rapid decisions together and that means being able to trust your team when you speak bluntly &mdash; and when you need them to call you on your crap, says Gonto.

But encouraging people to test you with hard questions understandably sets off some insecurity bells for people. If you're one of those people, Gonto says that creating more trust can be the answer. That means sharing something that makes you feel vulnerable &mdash; maybe a concern or a hesitation about a work situation or something personal &mdash; sharing more will create the empathy that will create the trust. The goal is to get to where anyone can ask the questions needed &mdash; people have to be able to think out loud together.

Recently Auth0 revamped our landing pages, but Gonto disagreed with the direction supported by two other managers. He felt a bit insecure about sharing his point of view, but credits meditation and the environment of trust he's created with his colleagues in helping him set aside the insecurity so he could share his opinion. Because he took that risk, they were able to come to a mutually acceptable agreement.

### The Impostor Syndrome Edge

As uncomfortable as impostor syndrome can be, it might not always be a bad thing, says Gonto. "A lot of times this feeling of being an impostor happens just as you're taking on a new challenge or stretching into a new role. When I think about successful folks like Sheryl Sandberg, Natalie Portman, and Howard Schultz who have [said they have impostor syndrome](https://www.fastcompany.com/40447089/its-not-just-you-these-super-successful-people-suffer-from-imposter-syndrome), it makes me wonder if maybe there's something about it that can give you an extra edge."

Despite the discomfort of impostor syndrome, Gonto sees benefits in how he's become obsessed with how the mind works, which has helped him better understand other people, leading him to be a better manager. "Unconsciously I see life as chess with 1,000 possibilities. Sometimes overthinking helps," he says, "and sometimes it doesn't."

### How Staying With the Feeling Makes It Go Away

Ultimately, Gonto relies on the power of the mind to convince him of both the negative and the positive. "We do things because of our beliefs. I convinced myself (and therefore installed a new belief in my brain) that I will only grow and learn new things when something makes me feel scared and uncomfortable."

After having a bad moment following mistakenly saying something he knew he shouldn't have, Gonto says he kept the bad moment going by arguing in his head. He wasn't able to release the feeling until he allowed himself to fully feel it and accept it. "Things happen. We can't change them. Staying with the feeling that the event created and knowing that the feeling will go away and isn't forever is what makes it go away faster. If we fight against our feelings, we make them 'stay' for longer"

### Making Time for Reflection

Even for an obsessive thinker, dealing with the constant flow of thoughts can be too much. "I think you need to find time to reflect. You need to find time in your week to think and write. What I do is survey the people around me: How do you think? What do you do for thinking? This gives me new ideas on how to approach life and work" Finding time to reflect on the information gathered allowed Gonto to change beliefs he's been holding onto since he was a kid:

- All ideas need to be mine; I have all the answers. As we grow the organization, Gonto says, ideas can come from anybody on the team and we should foster autonomy. As a manager, I can just guide the discussion instead of assuming ownership of all the ideas.

- The objective of life is not to suffer. That's a lie, says Gonto. "If you don't suffer, you don't feel the good things either. You need to learn no emotion is forever."

"People are afraid of talking about impostor syndrome, their psychologist, or meditation because they think it's not ok to look for help (inward or outside). You always have to be yourself. Don't be afraid of who you are &mdash; it just gives you more insecurities. We are best when we are ourselves. It's all about being genuine and accepting ourselves, our thoughts, and our emotions as they are"

## Joan D. Pepin, CISO/VP of Operations, Auth0

![Auth0 CISO Joan D. Pepin overcame impostor syndrome and now helps women develop leadership skills](https://images.ctfassets.net/23aumh6u8s0i/2AcuG3v6Emxuy3i4PpE1zf/5997e6c78a40ab1681f38f5dd7767e7a/joan-talking-0)

[Joan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanpepin/) manages to command a conversation and inspire empathy and loyalty in the same breath. She speaks directly and clearly on complex topics without skimping on intellectual or emotional reactions and regularly inspires with her belief that [leadership is a skill that can be learned](https://auth0.com/blog/five-things-to-be-a-better-leader/). Joan says she's contended with impostor syndrome, but has since cured herself. She shared her method in an interview with Auth0 Community & Technical Content Manager [Kim Maida](https://twitter.com/KimMaida) and during a recent _On Wednesdays We Wear Leadership (OWWL)_ meeting.

_OWWL is an Auth0 group dedicated to developing leadership skills that meets monthly and shares insights via an internal Slack channel._

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lAraWX64ZJw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

### Defining the Problem  

Known for her [systematic method of problem solving](https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/videos/joan-theory-of-problem-solving.mp4), it's no surprise that Joan applied a similar approach after recognizing her primary symptom &mdash; not feeling "expert" enough to handle the challenge she'd taken on.

As a first step of defining the problem of why she was feeling this way, Joan started thinking about what made someone an expert and she reached an intriguing conclusion: "Impostor syndrome is interesting because there's this belief people have that out there in the world &mdash; "expertise exists &mdash; and I don't believe that's true. Who is the actual authority on X, Y, Z? There are increasingly informed opinions. Someone with a PhD in biology offers an informed opinion, but that doesn't mean they know everything."

While working on this line of thought, Joan realized that there are relatively few bodies of experts with the authority to hand down edicts. In fact, she came up with only one &mdash; the [Académie française](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_fran%C3%A7aise), a council imbued with the power to decide whether or not a word may officially enter the French language by the government of France.

The idea that there are only a few experts and everyone else is working with "varying degrees of opinion and experience" fascinated Joan. "This hit me: I don't fully know, but I have the ability to keep figuring it out. And if I don't know what I'm doing, I don't think anybody does."

{% include tweet_quote.html quote_text="“This hit me: I don’t fully know, but I have the ability to keep figuring it out. And if I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t think anybody does.” @auth0’s @CloudCISO_Joan on her impostor syndrome breakthrough."%}

### Analyzing Your Particular Situation

As a next step in addressing something that makes you feel like an impostor (such as a talk, presentation, or job opportunity), Joan recommends a [gap analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap_analysis), where you objectively compare your skills to the perceived "experts."

Impostor Syndrome Gap Analysis &mdash; Ask yourself:

- What did they do that was specific to this that I don't have?

- What makes them more special than me?

- What do I have that is different/more powerful in this situation?

"Nobody really knows what they're doing," says Joan. "The world is a complex place filled with interdependencies. No one can absolutely predict the future. When looking up the chain (e.g., to your boss, their boss, their boss's boss), do any of them actually know what they're doing any more than you do? People figure it out as they go along."

### Breaking Down Impostor Syndrome

The thing about impostor syndrome is that it will break down under intellectual pressure, says Joan.

1. First, ground yourself. Understand that we're all just doing our best and none of us really know what we're doing. Then, think: "Well, I made it here, so I must at least know how to be here and be me, and do what it is I'm already doing."

2. Next, ask yourself some important questions: "Do I even want to know what I'm doing?" Knowing the ins and outs of all you do actually sounds pretty boring. Instead of making you feel afraid, let opportunities excite you. Practice asking yourself these questions until you start to feel that glimmer of interest.

3. Learn how to be okay with being wrong. Since no one is an expert, everyone is going to be wrong from time to time. But if you're building on what you do know and continually using your skill to gain additional knowledge, you can identify as a learner. "When you identify as a learner, being wrong doesn't come as blow," says Joan.

4. Let learning empower you. Recognizing and acknowledging that you don't know everything and have opportunities to learn and grow is actually very empowering. It gives you the opportunity to objectively analyze your experience and set new goals.

 - Ask:

 - Have I done something similar before?

 - Have I been faced with other difficult situations and overcome them in the past?

 - Self-talk:

 - I've solved problems in the past; I can solve this one, too.

5. Practice. Like anything else you've learned, overcoming impostor syndrome is a skill you're going to need to strengthen with practice. Taking the leap to do something you've never done before is tremendously powerful. The more you do it, the more you'll feel comfortable with doing it.

## Supporting Friends/Family with Impostor Syndrome

Even if you've felt like an impostor yourself, the temptation to tell someone else who looks more confident and more capable that they're "awesome" when they're feeling insecure can be strong &mdash; except it doesn't honor their lived experience. Instead, you can provide more help by supporting their skills. Letting them know that you have confidence that they'll figure it out can help. During the conversation, you might try the following:

- Acknowledge they have the skill to learn new things.

- Give them an example: X person (they admire) didn't know either, and they figured it out; I'm confident that you can, too.

- Encourage them to ground themselves in something they do (or have done) and feel good about. Help them bridge the gap between that experience and the new opportunity: "I know this is a little different, but haven't you done something similar before?"

{% include tweet_quote.html quote_text="Impostor syndrome isn’t a leadership barrier. @auth0’s @mgonto and @CloudCISO_Joan share strategies to increase comfort as you broad"%}

## Impostor Syndrome Resources

*Breaking Down the Types*: Talking about impostor syndrome can be challenging. [This Fast Company post breaks it down into 5 types](https://www.fastcompany.com/40421352/the-five-types-of-impostor-syndrome-and-how-to-beat-them) that can make it easier to identify your personal impostor challenge and come up with strategies that might work best for you.

*Alternative Strategies*: Maybe you tried some of the things in this article and they just didn't work for you. Does that mean you're stuck feeling like a fake? No. There are definitely more approaches to try. Our Human Resources Director, [Maris Krieger](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariskrieger/), suggests you explore these [21 strategies](https://startupbros.com/21-ways-overcome-impostor-syndrome/).

_Kim Maida, Auth0 Community and Technical Manager - Content, contributed to this story._

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

Honest Conversation About Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

332d7898dae6bc56031ac3507a0248ba

I'm a full-stack developer with a passion for technology and code. I love writing tutorials for developers to showcase a particular technology whilst building something useful at the same time. Right now  I can mostly be found developing for the front-end, playing around with Docker, or tinkering with Unreal Engine and electronics!

Developer Experience Engineer

Steve Hobbs

Exploring the positives and negatives of being an introvert in a world full of noise

I think, deep down, I always knew I was an introvert — even before I knew what an introvert was. I remember from a very young age that I would usually prefer my own company over the company of others. Not just because there was a hint of anxiety whenever any social occasions surfaced with people I didn't know well, but because being on my own meant that I could relax and _be myself_. I felt such joy whenever the prospect of my parents going out and me getting the house to myself came up. It wasn't that I didn't like my parents (they are great parents) but because I would be able to enjoy not having to interact with anybody for a time, and recharge. I could exist in my own peaceful little world, free of judgment.

![Energy comparison between introverts and extroverts](https://images.ctfassets.net/23aumh6u8s0i/33qnRJiqctTaDUFxzcHLh1/f70ce0e87559d559bf29bae0b711acac/introversion_1)

[[Source](https://medium.com/@anthonypjshaw/are-you-really-an-introvert-161e09819466)]

Today, this feeling of needing to take some time out to recharge and recuperate still hold true. The challenges are different, though. Daily adult life can present all sorts of activities and interactions that are necessary to engage in, but which also drain our metaphorical batteries. Simply going to work in an open-plan office every day would set me on a course for some much-needed downtime at the end of the day. Being in a position with some responsibility, my day was filled with meetings and other tasks with members of my team. This I was happy to do, but care had to be taken so that I didn't become too exhausted and "run on fumes" as the hours went on.

<include src="TweetQuote" quoteText="It's important to realize that social anxiety and shyness are not inherently tied to introversion. Introversion is a built-in personality trait mostly influenced by genetics, whereas the degree of social anxiety or shyness is learned through our positive — and negative — interactions with our environment and with society."/>

## Finding Yourself on the Introversion/Extroversion Spectrum

Around [a third to a half of people identify as being introverted](https://introvertdear.com/news/there-might-not-be-as-many-extroverts-in-the-world-as-we-think-science-says/). Therefore, it’s important to recognize the environments in which you feel the most comfortable and able to do your best work. It’s equally important to recognize the different personality types that exist within your teams if you happen to be in a leadership role.

The [classic indicator](https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/extraversion-or-introversion.htm?bhcp=1) of whether somebody is an introvert or extrovert is to look at how they prefer to recover energy. Introverts tend to seek out solitude and quiet, away from human interaction in order to relax and recharge. Extroverts, on the other hand, can quickly grow tired of being alone and will seek out the company of others so that they may feel comfortable and engaged.

In truth, all of us lie somewhere along the spectrum between introversion and extroversion. Some of us are at an extreme, others towards the middle (the so-called [Extroverted Introvert](https://introvertspring.com/6-signs-youre-an-extroverted-introvert/)) and anywhere in between!

![Introversion and shyness infographic](https://images.ctfassets.net/23aumh6u8s0i/6gLHtCxe7bshp50ZL2ob2a/85bb98b4818b1388b87483859269cae2/introversion_3)

[Source](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/introverts-happiness-tips-tricks_n_5730770)

It's also important to realize that [social anxiety and shyness are not inherently tied to introversion](https://www.andymort.com/introversion-or-social-anxiety/). Introversion is a built-in personality trait [mostly influenced by genetics](https://introvertdear.com/news/are-you-born-an-introvert-or-do-you-become-one/), whereas the degree of social anxiety or shyness is _learned_ through our positive — and negative — interactions with our environment and with society. The trend is that, because introverts are naturally quieter and more reserved in their communication with others, they are assumed to be shy. In reality, people all across the introvert-extrovert spectrum can exhibit socially anxious behavior — which can present quite [a problem if you happen to be extroverted](https://themighty.com/2018/05/what-its-like-to-be-an-extrovert-with-social-anxiety/)!

I've also heard it said before that "introverts hate people". I, for one, don't hate people. I just prefer to be around the few people that I know and love rather than groups of strangers. I favor engaging in one-on-one conversation or in very small groups over bigger groups, and I find small-talk very difficult. These are the kinds of things that give the impression that I "hate" people, but in actual fact, it's probably because a lot of the time you've caught me outside of my preferred social environment!

## You Don't Have to Be Extroverted to Be a Leader

As a lead software developer at my previous place of work, being introverted meant facing a number of challenges, like leading a team and helping them to achieve objectives, as well as the [environmental challenge of working in a large open-plan office](https://www.intheblack.com/articles/2018/11/05/why-open-plan-offices-kill-teamwork). My day would be filled with interactions with other developers, with members of the senior leadership team and general chat with friends and co-workers. On top of that, we would often be [pair programming](https://www.codementor.io/pair-programming) for a large part of the day. As you can imagine, these activities really ate into my energy budget for the day and I found myself having to plan out my day in more detail so that I could recover some of this energy at the right time. Sometimes this meant staying late at the office when it was quieter — not a healthy activity!

However, one part of my role — to be a leader — was one that I found surprisingly rewarding. Contrary to popular belief, not only can [introverts be extremely effective leaders](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/251177) in the workplace, but studies suggest that they can [actually perform better than their extroverted counterparts](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/introverts-are-more-likely-to-be-successful-ceos-study-claims-a7689621.html). Introverts tend to be deep thinkers and try to explore all the options before acting on a decision. Because we tend to be fantastic listeners, we are more able to come up with the right solution to problems. On top of that, introverted leaders are more likely to delegate and empower other team members, which is beneficial to individuals and thus the whole team.

If you're reading this and you happen to be an extrovert who is possibly also in a position of leadership, know that the quieter of your team members may be harboring some great ideas but require the space and the right environment in order to express them. They are much more likely to respond favorably in a small group session or one-on-one than in big groups. If you're having trouble teasing ideas out of someone, try chatting with them individually to see if they start to open up.

<include src="TweetQuote" quoteText="Around a third to a half of people identify as being introverted. Therefore, it’s important to recognize the environments in which you feel the most comfortable and able to do your best work. It’s equally important to recognize the different personality types that exist within your teams if you happen to be in a leadership role."/>

## Changing My Work Environment

These days, I work remotely for [Auth0](https://auth0.com), mostly from my home office. There are [many benefits to working outside of the office](https://auth0.com/blog/we-are-thankful-for-these-benefits-of-working-remote/). As an introvert, it affords me hours of uninterrupted, focused work when I need it. I am fortunate that the [culture here at Auth0](https://auth0.com/blog/our-culture-and-values-at-auth0/) is extremely conducive to remote working. We collaborate almost exclusively using Slack, which implies asynchronous communication; I don't have to answer that message straight away if I'm up deep into a task that I want to finish. Plus, I no longer need to commute to the city, which would often take a whole two hours of my day. _Two hours_!

More than that, it allows me to have the solitude that I need in order to function properly as a human being. This means I have more energy for family time at the end of the day, which is especially important when you have a wife and a young child.

![Remote working](https://images.ctfassets.net/23aumh6u8s0i/3V0JO72tZPHkkv4huzIokO/2cc86f8fad351e1140ad175c94376b66/introversion_2)

[[Source](https://open.buffer.com/remote-work/)]

There are [challenges in working remotely](https://auth0.com/blog/surprises-in-my-switch-to-remote-work/) that are not obvious until you actually start doing it. Occasionally, [introverts get lonely too](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-closeness/201601/5-tips-help-introverts-keep-becoming-lonely) and mixing my working week between working from home and hot-desking (utilising desk space in an office that does not belong to any one person) tends to satisfy any need for social interaction that I may have during the day. There are a number of places I go, between local business development offices that provide free hot-desking space, to the local supermarket cafe. Even just getting out of the house and going for a walk can do wonders to restart the brain and provide a sense of structure to your day.

One of the perks of working at Auth0 is the company off-sites. Every year, the various teams meet for a week of brainstorming, activities, talks, and collaboration. Naturally, after a day of working the tendency is to all head out together for food and drink. This scenario can be quite challenging for an introvert as the days can be very intense, especially when you're just meeting team members face-to-face for the first time. Scheduling in regular intervals of free time is an absolute must for situations like these, which allows the extroverts to gather together for their downtime, and the introverts to scurry back to their hotel rooms for a much-needed breather!

## Some Useful Resources

If you have read this as an introverted individual, I hope that you can relate to my experiences and I would love to hear about the kind of experience you have had as introverts in the discussion below.

I would like to leave you with some resources that I've found very useful over the years to help me understand what it means to be introverted. Hopefully, you will find some of them useful too!

- [Introvert, Dear](https://introvertdear.com/): A Community for Introverts and Highly Sensitive People. Great blog, but also [check out their podcast](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-introvert-dear-podcast/id1375366625)
- [Quiet Revolution](https://www.quietrev.com/): Website and blog of Susan Cain, author of the ["Quiet"](https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352153) book. Also, check out [her TED talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KYU2j0TM4) on the same topic
- [The Introverted Leader](https://www.amazon.com/Introverted-Leader-Building-Quiet-Strength/dp/1523094338/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544117953&sr=8-1&keywords=the+introverted+leader): a great book by Jennifer B. Kahnweiler on using your introversion as a source of strength in the workplace, and how to help build a more introvert-friendly environment at work

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

All Introverts Are Shy — and Other Introversion Myths

Auth0 “leads the pack” in Product, Market, and Innovation categories

**BELLEVUE, Wash., – December 20, 2018 –** [Auth0](https://auth0.com/), a global leader in Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS), today announced that it has been selected as an Overall Leader in the KuppingerCole Leadership Compass for Consumer Identity Access Management [(CIAM)](https://auth0.com/b2c-customer-identity-management). This research report takes a thorough look at the overall CIAM industry, leading vendors, and the importance they play in managing millions of identities, and processing potentially billions of logins and other transactions per day. To download the full report, please click [here](https://auth0.com/resources/whitepapers/leadership-compass-for-ciam).

The Leadership Compass provides an overview of the industry and evaluates vendors based on the use cases, experiences, business rules, and technical capabilities required by B2C companies today, and their anticipated needs in the future. The criteria also involved evaluating overall functionality, security, partner ecosystem, licensing models, as well as specific features such as authentication options, APIs, IoT integration, and Single Sign On (SSO).

Auth0 is positioned as an Overall Leader in the industry, and is also featured in the Leadership category for the Product, Innovation/Technology, and Market categories. According to John Tolbert, lead analyst and author of the report, “Auth0 offers a full set of CIAM capabilities that can be integrated with customers’ existing IT infrastructure, including legacy applications. Auth0 has a high DIY value.”

Tolbert adds, “They identified a previously untapped segment in CIAM: developers. Auth0’s successful business model challenges traditional IAM and CIAM delivery models. Auth0 is a strong contender in the CIAM space, especially for organizations that need quick-to-deploy CIAM solutions. Those that have programming expertise alongside major consumer-facing applications should strongly consider Auth0 when doing RFPs.”

“Recognition of our unique value proposition for consumer enterprises from an analyst firm as well-regarded as KuppingerCole is incredibly gratifying,” said Eugenio Pace, CEO and Co-founder of Auth0. “We are thrilled with our placement in this report, and look forward to continuing to provide B2C customers with the product innovation and technology partnership they expect from a market leader.” 

The company’s developer-centric Universal Identity Platform and its extensibility options are why major [consumer enterprises](https://auth0.com/customers) rely on Auth0 for their identity needs. For more information about Auth0’s B2C offering, please visit: [https://auth0.com/b2c-customer-identity-management](https://auth0.com/b2c-customer-identity-management).

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

## **Media Contacts:**
Jeana Tahnk 
Corporate Communications 
Auth0 
[jeana.tahnk@auth0.com](mailto:jeana.tahnk@auth0.com)

Kasia Hall 
Matter for Auth0 
[khall@matternow.com](mailto:khall@matternow.com) 
971-246-7898

Auth0 Named Market and Technology Leader in KuppingerCole Leadership Compass for Consumer Identity Access Management

Auth0 CISO Joan Pepin to speak Women Who Code Portland’s Networking Night + leadership advice video.

Want to know what it takes to be a successful woman in infosec?

Join us at [Women Who Code Portland’s Networking Night](https://www.meetup.com/Women-Who-Code-Portland/events/253324140/) on Thursday, Aug. 16 from 5 - 8:30 p.m. to hear what this group of notable women have to say about how they got into InfoSec, what their roles are like, and advice for someone breaking into the field. (Special thanks to sponsor [Mozilla](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/).) The panel will include:

- **Joan Pepin** , Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and VP Operations, Auth0
- **LJ Johnson** , Sr. Director, Information Security, Nike
- **Miki Demeter** , Security Researcher, Intel
- **Moderator:** Ann Wallace, Technical Cloud Consultant, Google

Recently, Joan expanded her Auth0 CISO role, adding VP of Operations to her title. As a preview, we asked her to offer some leadership advice for people stretching into new roles:

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<include src="TweetQuote" quoteText="Stretching into a new role? Here’s some advice from @CloudCISO_Joan — and an opp to hear her in person in Portland this week! #WWCode"/>

Auth0 CISO Joan Pepin to Speak at WWC Portland Networking Night

joan-pepin

As CSO, Joan is responsible for the holistic security and compliance of Auth0's platform, products, and corporate environment. She brings 20 years of experience to the role, with a career that has spanned a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, defense, ISPs, and MSSPs. Previously, Joan served as Business Information Security Officer (BISO) at Nike, Inc, CISO, and VP of Security at Sumo Logic, and held different positions at Guardent/Verisign/Secureworks organization. Joan holds a patent for developing the methodology to assess whether a communication contains an attack. She is also is a well-recognized thought leader and has spoken at major events, such as RSA, WhiteHat Security Summit, and Forrester Security Summit, and is frequently called upon for her expertise and commentary in Cloud Security and Compliance in large-scale and DevOps/CI environments.

Chief Security Officer (CSO)

Joan Pepin

Leadership is a skill that can be learned. My talk, given at Women Who Code Connect 2018, gives tips on growing your knowledge.

Five Things That Every Leader Could Use to be a Better Leader

Industry leaders join company to drive next stage of growth

**BELLEVUE, WA - OCTOBER 5, 2017** - Auth0, the global leader in Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS), announced three additions to its executive team, further strengthening its core leadership. The recent expansion of the leadership team is in response to [Auth0’s rapidly accelerating growth in revenue, enterprise customers, and headcount.](https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-announces-record-year/)

The new executives are:

* **Joan Pepin, Chief Information Security Officer:** Joan is responsible for the holistic security and compliance of Auth0's platform, products, and corporate environment. She is a recognized thought leader in security and previously held positions as Business Information Security Officer at Nike and CISO at Sumo Logic, a leader in cloud-based log management and analytics.

* **Lewis Carpenter, Chief Marketing Officer:** Lewis oversees the company’s brand strategy and leads the team driving Auth0’s marketing efforts. He is the former CEO of Winshuttle, a leader in Application Data Management, and has helped build several market-leading technology companies.

* **Jeremy Freeland, General Counsel:** Jeremy is responsible for all legal affairs of the company. He has worked as inside and outside general counsel for several early and mid-stage information technology companies, and has significant experience with technology based transactions.

"Our tremendous success over the past year has been fueled by the amazing people who work at Auth0," said Eugenio Pace, CEO. “The addition of Joan, Lewis, and Jeremy provides us with deep expertise in each of their respective areas, and bolsters an already outstanding leadership team that will manage the next stage of growth for Auth0. We’re thrilled to have them on board for the journey.”

According to [Forrester Research](https://www.forrester.com/report/The+IAM+Market+Will+Surpass+13+Billion+By+2021/-/E-RES138932?objectid=RES138932 ), the identity and access management market is expected to surpass $13 billion by 2021. This growth is due to an ever-changing digital landscape and customer demand for secure and seamless authentication across all channels. Companies need an extensible and robust identity and access management platform more than ever and are turning to Auth0 to handle their most complex identity needs, quickly and securely.

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />

**Media Contact:**

Jeana Tahnk

Auth0

[jeana.tahnk@auth0.com](mailto:jeana.tahnk@auth0.com)

"leadership"