Most people think leadership in technical companies is about being the most knowledgeable person in the room. Knowing the answers, setting the direction, and solving the hardest problems yourself. But the longer you spend actually doing the job, the more obvious it becomes that this is almost never what matters.
The real challenge is much simpler to describe and much harder to execute. Getting people aligned on what actually matters, making sure they’re working on the right problems, and then building the environment where they can keep improving how they do it. Most teams don’t fail because they lack talent, they fail because they slowly drift away from focus without realizing it.
In this episode, I sit down with Nancy Cable, Senior Director of Manufacturing at Ursa Major, to talk about what leadership actually looks like inside a fast-scaling aerospace company. We get into how she thinks about building and scaling manufacturing systems, why hiring for attitude and initiative matters more than pure technical skill in her world, and how she thinks about managing teams that are growing quickly in both size and complexity.
A big theme in this conversation is the tension between chaos and structure. In an environment where teams are building real hardware fast, it’s easy to get pulled into constant tactical firefighting. The real leadership challenge is knowing when to step into that chaos, and when to step back and make sure the system is actually scaling in the right direction.
Episode Highlights
00:00 Setting the stage for leadership in aerospace
01:00 From Propulsion to Scalable Aerospace Manufacturing
04:24 Inside Manufacturing at Ursa Major
07:10 How Leaders Show Up, Not What They Represent
09:54 Building teams with emotional and technical diversity
13:14 The mistake of treating everyone the same
18:05 Hiring for initiative over pure technical ability
20:59 Why Hiring Isn’t About Finding Perfect People
24:06 Culture screening and the ‘airport test
28:57 Balancing chaos vs structure in fast-moving teams
30:57 Staying grounded when everything feels tactical
Key Takeaways
- Leadership is not about having all the answers, it is about making sure the team is working on the right things.
- Most teams do not fail from lack of talent, they fail from lack of focus and alignment.
- Hiring for initiative and attitude matters more than purely technical skill in fast moving environments.
- Scaling is not just doing more work, it is building systems that can handle growth without losing speed or clarity.
- Great leaders do not create answers, they create environments where better answers surface and get used.
- Culture is not a one time screen, it is reinforced through every hire, decision, and interaction.
- The real challenge of leadership is balancing chaos and structure without losing direction.
Links & Resources
Nancy Cable
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nancy-cable-583929b
Matt Gjertsen
Website:https://www.bettereverydaystudios.com/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgjertsen/
YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@BetterEveryDayStudios
