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Built to Trust

Built to Trust

Written by: Soummya Datta
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Trust isn’t soft. It’s infrastructure.

Built to Trust is a podcast for founders, engineers, and leaders who are building real things — companies, teams, families — and trying to do it without losing themselves.

Hosted by Soummya Datta, a hands-on builder and engineering executive behind hybrid aircraft and high-performing teams, each episode explores the hard lessons that don’t get taught in leadership books: how to fire someone with respect, why urgency needs systems, and how being a parent made him a better manager.

Whether you're scaling a team, hiring your first IC, or just trying to get better at leading under pressure — Built to Trust gives you honest insights with zero fluff.

Copyright 2025 All rights reserved. Economics Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Episode 14 Built to Trust — Season Finale: What We Learned & What’s Next

    Episode 14 Built to Trust — Season Finale: What We Learned & What’s Next
    Nov 21 2025

    A fast, practical wrap-up of Episodes 1–13 with the 10 most useful tools and a 90-day adoption plan to make delivery calmer and safer. Plus: announcing the Built to Trust book—an actionable field guide based on the season, arriving on Amazon in December (paperback + Kindle). Subscribe to catch the launch.
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    18 mins
  • Episode 13 Interface First: Contracts, Seams, and Zero-Drama Integration

    Episode 13 Interface First: Contracts, Seams, and Zero-Drama Integration
    Nov 14 2025

    Most program risk hides at the boundaries. In this episode, Soummya breaks down how to write interface contracts you can’t misread, build daily contract tests, run seam soaks with jitter/loss, and version ICDs so changes land cleanly. Includes a “seam board,” fault menu, and metrics so integration becomes boring—in the best way.
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    25 mins
  • Episode 12 Grow the Humans: Ladders, 1:1s, Feedback, and Fair Promotions

    Episode 12 Grow the Humans: Ladders, 1:1s, Feedback, and Fair Promotions
    Nov 7 2025

    People scale with clarity and reps—not slogans. I share a one-page ladder, a 30-minute 1:1 that changes Monday, feedback that lands, and a fair, evidence-based promotion loop. We cover reps, mentoring vs. sponsorship, parity checks, and how to right-size the process for a 10-person team, a 50–150 group, and a few-hundred-person org. Copyable templates inside.
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    22 mins
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