About this episode

This episode discusses the importance of communication as a core skill for CTOs and senior engineering leaders, featuring insights from Kathleen Lucente on building influence in the C-suite.

What if the most underused asset in your tech organization is your voice? Build your own CTO Playbook at www.theCTOplaybook.com — the leadership platform built for the full CTO journey. Coaching, podcast, and community to help you lead with clarity, confidence, and strategic impact. In this episode, I sit down with Kathleen Lucente, founder and CEO of Red Fan Communications, to explore why communication is now a core leadership capability for enterprise technology leaders. Stepping into the role of business leader changes everything, and learning to speak the language of finance is essential inside the boardroom. The most effective CTOs build influence across the C-suite by understanding how the CFO, CMO, CEO, and head of sales each think about value.  Kathleen reflects on her career in high-tech PR, from journalism at EDN to shaping innovation narratives at IBM Research and advising companies through IPO moments. Her experience shows how authority is built long before a keynote or media interview. If you’re focused on CTO leadership, executive communication, and increasing your influence in the enterprise, this conversation will challenge how you think about your role and…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Horner

Guest: Kathleen Lucente

Topics covered

• communication skills
• CTO leadership
• C-suite influence
• business leadership
• executive communication

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Red Fan Communications, IBM Research, EDN

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• 91: The Hardest Upgrade for Technical Leaders: Leading Without Losing Your Edge · April 13, 2026 · 39 min
• 90: Data Is a Leadership Problem, Not a Technical One — A Playbook for CTOs · April 6, 2026 · 38 min
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