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The Tension Podcast
#24: Matt Tressider — Care vs. Candor
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#24: Matt Tressider — Care vs. Candor

Life and Leadership Lessons from the CEO of Leadr

Matt Tresidder is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Leadr. He joined Leadr after six years at the unicorn startup Pushpay where he led all facets of the sales team.

Matt joined Pushpay as the first US-based salesperson. After succeeding as a high performer in sales, Matt was promoted to SDR Director and then Vice President of Sales where he led a team of 130+ sales reps.

Matt is passionate about hiring, training, and developing leaders at every level of the organization. This passion is the foundation of why Leadr exists to develop 1M leaders through its software.

Matt studied at Life Leadership College in Auckland. He is a recent graduate of Seth Godin’s altMBA and the Wharton Business School Executive program.

Born in New Zealand, Matt moved to Seattle with the Pushpay team where he met his wife Kiasa. Matt and Kiasa now live just outside of Dallas with their dog Lucy.

Leadr is a tool based on the belief that one of the key pieces of success in the war on talent is one-on-ones.

Leadr posits that all employees must have 5 things in order to be successful:

  • Regular 1:1 meetings with their manager at least every two weeks

  • Understanding and recognition of their unique strengths

  • Receives frequent feedback from their manager

  • Has clearly documented goals

  • Has a personalized learning and development plan

Leadr has over 14 eBooks around these topics and more on their website. Matt has also co-authored a new book, Management is Dead.


Episode Description:

Sometimes, the only way to become a better leader is by building your experience and making mistakes. Matt Tresidder experienced this at Pushpay when he moved from the company’s first sales hire to the VP of Sales in just three years. Matt is now the CEO and co-founder of Leadr, a people development software focused on hiring, training, and developing leaders at every level of an organization.

In this episode, Matt reflects on some of the biggest leadership lessons he’s learned throughout his career, and he shares some practical insights about his approach to leading in periods of economic uncertainty, hiring Gen Z employees, prioritizing one-on-one meetings, and much more. 

Episode Recap:

  • How did you end up in the U.S. after growing up in New Zealand? (2:14)

  • What motivated you to work at Pushpay even though it didn’t pay? (7:24)

  • What were the biggest lessons you learned at Pushpay? (9:39)

  • Can you tell us about the moment you realized your mindset about leading people needed to change? (19:16)

  • How did the altMBA assignment about empathy impact the way you lead? (26:45)

  • What’s the origin story of Leadr? (30:25)

  • What changed when you joined Leadr that helped you not feel imposter syndrome anymore? (37:10)

  • Why should one-on-ones be a top priority, and how can leaders conduct them effectively? (46:00)

  • How do you prioritize culture in the midst of economic uncertainty?(56:34)

  • How does trust inform your leadership style? (1:00:07)

  • What do leaders need to know about hiring Gen Z? (1:04:32)

  • How to connect with Matt and learn more about Leadr (1:09:19)

Links and Resources Mentioned:  

Discussion about this podcast

Tension
The Tension Podcast
The Tension Podcast equips leaders to embrace complexity, transform opposing ideas, and unlock powerful breakthroughs. Through thought-provoking interviews, insightful book reviews, and deep-dive explainers, we explore how mastering paradoxes can lead to clarity, alignment, and innovation in work and life.