Manisha Sahni joins to unpack the real challenges of managing global engineering teams—beyond time zones and into the “hidden work” of leadership.

Manisha explains why distributed teams don’t run on autopilot: leaders must intentionally build unity, ownership, and belonging across cultures. She shares how trust is created through consistent connection—not only through work meetings, but also through lightweight social moments that turn “avatars into friends” and reduce friction in daily collaboration.

The conversation dives into practical operating rhythms for multi-time-zone teams: choosing which meetings truly need to be live, leaning heavily on asynchronous communication, and raising the bar for documentation and handoffs. Manisha highlights how explicit written context—assumptions, decisions, and expectations—becomes essential when teams are distributed, and how rotating meeting times can spread the load fairly across regions.

They also explore common cultural mismatches: some engineers may avoid challenging senior leaders in group settings, while others thrive with ambiguity and research-driven ownership. Manisha shares coaching stories showing how leaders can adjust their style to unlock performance—by clarifying expectations, involving engineers in decision-making, and practicing “assume positive intent” with curiosity instead of judgment. Federico adds examples from Latin America about why people sometimes say “yes” to be polite, creating alignment issues unless expectations are validated early.

Finally, Manisha shares what led her to become a fractional engineering leader: she loves learning new domains, helping startups and scale-ups through transitions, and delivering focused outcomes when companies need senior leadership but aren’t ready for a full-time hire. She remains open to both fractional and full-time roles—depending on where she can create the most meaningful impact.

If you lead global teams (or plan to), this episode is a practical reminder: intentional relationships + clear expectations are what make distributed execution actually work.

About Manisha Sahni:

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/manishasahni/

- https://www.manishasahni.com/

- https://www.manishasahni.com/mentorship

About Federico Ramallo ✨👨‍💻🌎

🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers

- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/

- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io

- ✅ https://prevetted.ai

🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡

- 🎯 https://prevetted.ai/podcast

- 🐦 https://x.com/PrevettedPod

- 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevetted-podcast

00:00 Introduction to Manisha Sahni

01:23 Challenges of Managing Remote Teams

05:46 Effective Operating Rhythms for Distributed Teams

09:03 Building Personal Relationships in Remote Work

10:47 The Importance of Intentional Connections

16:30 Cultural Differences in Engineering Teams

22:47 Understanding Team Dynamics and Cultural Differences

26:06 The Importance of Setting Expectations

28:37 Navigating Change Management in Organizations

32:09 The Role of One-on-Ones in Team Communication

39:19 Transitioning to Fractional Leadership

Charlene Li joins Federico Ramallo for a special 100th-episode conversation on disruptive leadership, business transformation, and her upcoming book Winning with AI. Charlene shares how she “fell into” being an analyst and author—starting at Forrester in 1999 after stepping back from running businesses to focus on family—then building a career at the front edge of major tech disruptions: the internet, search, social media, and now generative AI.

They unpack why ChatGPT’s interface was a breakthrough that made AI accessible to anyone with a browser, and why adoption often comes down to how people interact with AI—whether through chat, voice, apps, dashboards, or embedded tools like CRMs. Charlene explains that “winning” with AI is not about using shiny tools or chasing ROI in the abstract; it’s about creating or extending competitive advantage based on each organization’s definition of success. Her key message: AI must serve the business strategy, not run alongside it.

Charlene outlines why she chose a 90-day plan: leaders need a clear starting point. The 90-day blueprint helps teams align AI to strategy, build momentum, and create a rolling 18-month roadmap—where strategy is “written in ink,” but plans are “written in pencil” and updated quarterly. She argues that when everyone has access to similar models and tools, speed becomes the moat—not just adopting AI quickly, but adapting the organization quickly.

A major theme is that digital transformation is never about the technology—it’s about people. Charlene compares building trust in AI to onboarding a new hire: train, evaluate, delegate, and add QA (including “AI checking AI”) based on your organization’s tolerance for risk. They also explore AI fluency, identity disruption as roles change, and how leaders can support teams through ongoing transformation without burning people out.

Charlene closes with practical advice: ignore hype by anchoring AI to your biggest goals and problems, learn by doing (and learning publicly), and lean into new ways of working—like “vibe coding”—that may democratize building tools while requiring “Goldilocks governance” to stay safe and fast.

About Charlene Li:

- https://winningwithaibook.com

- https://charleneli.com

About Federico Ramallo ✨👨‍💻🌎

🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers

- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/

- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io

- ✅ https://prevetted.ai

🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡

- 🎯 https://prevetted.ai/podcast

- 🐦 https://x.com/PrevettedPod

- 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevetted-podcast

00:00 Introduction to Charlene Li and Her Work

01:30 Journey into Business Transformation and AI

02:54 The Impact of AI on Business Strategy

06:26 Defining Success with AI

10:53 Creating a 90-Day AI Roadmap

13:47 Speed as a Competitive Advantage

15:19 Transforming Organizations with AI

18:04 Connecting AI to Business Strategy

20:05 The Role of CEOs in AI Adoption

22:51 AI as a Collaborative Assistant

25:56 Building Trust in AI Decision-Making

29:36 The Future of Jobs in an AI World

30:52 Fostering AI Fluency in Teams

32:47 Navigating Identity Changes with AI

36:26 The Importance of Continuous Learning

38:05 Avoiding AI Hype and Focusing on Value

41:48 The Future of No-Code and Low-Code Solutions

44:54 Differentiation in an AI-Driven World

John Klymshyn & Isaac Naor join Federico Ramallo for a special episode: three voices, three lessons, and three stories inspired by Open the Valve, the third installment in the “Intersections That Illuminate” series. They unpack how creativity shows up at key intersections—like rest and risk, language and music, and brain and mind—and why this book is meant as encouragement for creative practitioners, not a step-by-step “how-to.”

The conversation moves from big themes to real moments: gratitude as a daily posture, a shooting star as a reminder to grab what’s fleeting, and how collaboration can sharpen (and lovingly challenge) the work. Federico shares how co-authoring the Spanish adaptation, Abre la Válvula, became more than translation—bringing cultural context, humor, and meaning so the ideas truly land across Latin America, Spain, and beyond.

They also explore a core idea: creativity can be solitary, but it doesn’t have to be lonely—solitude can mean focus, purpose, and momentum.

The episode closes with a simple invitation: start anywhere, take notes, and then go make something—because the point is to open the valve and let the work flow through you.

About Open the valve:

- https://openthevalve.com/

About Federico Ramallo ✨👨‍💻🌎

🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers

- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/

- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io

- ✅ https://prevetted.ai

🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡

- 🎯 https://prevetted.ai/podcast

- 🐦 https://x.com/PrevettedPod

- 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevetted-podcast