REV 0

04/15/2026

We're looking forward to partnering with some great organizations over the next few months to provide Rev 0 workshops.

On 5/14 in Denver, find us at the DBIA Rocky Mountain Regional Education Summit. Dain will teach business owners to apply manager-led development strategies to retain your best people. (register here: https://dbiarockymountain.glueup.com/event/rocky-mountain-regional-education-summit-159565/)

On 5/20, Relational Advisors will host us for a live webinar on embedding feedback into your daily interactions to build trust, drive behavior change, and improve performance. (register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/8317756014362/WN_lXz-lfwRTpiA_wst1GNthA)

On 6/3 and 6/5, we'll be at ACEC Colorado and ACEC Georgia Annual Conferences to share strategies for effective communication and decision-making in uncertain and rapidly shifting environments. (ACEC CO: https://acec-co.org/education-events/annual-conference/ and ACEC GA: https://www.acecga.org/georgia-engineers-summer-conference/)

02/02/2026

Are you looking for ways to support the development of your technical and engineering managers?

We've created a self-paced, online version of Rev 0 Manager Foundations.

It’s the same course content from our flagship program, made more flexible for folks who couldn’t commit to the 12-week program (or who just wanted to go at their own pace).

It costs 90% less, and you never lose access!

learn more here: https://rev0.org/diy-manager-foundations

01/13/2026

We work with technical experts in energy, transportation, manufacturing, oil & gas, technology, aerospace, and construction. In these industries, leaders are navigating particularly complex challenges and high stakes. They need the type of leadership skills and abilities that can’t be learned in a quick workshop or training course.

Workshops and courses are great avenues for transferring knowledge (which we use with new managers and groups), but leadership requires more than book knowledge. The skills and abilities they need to be successful are the type that must be developed over time through repetition, feedback, and practice.

That's why we emphasize coaching for individualized development.

Through coaching, we help engineers and technical experts grow into confident, capable leaders with the tools, support, and clarity they need to lead high-performing teams.

12/30/2025

"What should I focus on now that I’m an engineering manager?"

Here’s the short answer: Your job is no longer about your individual technical output; it’s about getting results through other people.

Most of the challenges engineering managers face (unclear priorities, performance issues, communication breakdowns) aren’t technical problems...they’re people problems.

And people problems require a different skill set.
Your team's success now depends on how well you:
1) Set objectives
2) Organize work
3) Motivate action
4) Develop people
5) Measure performance

Don’t fall into the trap of doing your old job plus a bit of management. You'll need to redefine your role because you need to step away from being the go-to individual contributor. You’re the person responsible for making the team successful.

In practice, that looks like clarity and consistency.
Your team needs clear objectives and regular one-on-ones. They need feedback that’s timely and actionable, and they need to know the “why” behind what they’re building.

When they have that clarity and consistency, feel more ownership, stay more engaged, and do better work.

12/04/2025

Feedback is one of the most powerful tools a manager has.

Used well, it reinforces good work, catches issues early, and aligns day-to-day actions with long-term goals.

It's rare that managers are trained to give or receive feedback effectively. And even fewer know how to make it part of their team’s regular rhythm, so Dain Johnson wrote this short, practical guide to change that.

It’s designed for managers who:
- Want to give feedback that leads to actual change
- Need a consistent way to reinforce expectations
- Are tired of performance conversations that go nowhere
- Are trying to build a culture of trust and accountability

What's inside?
- A framework for future-focused feedback
- Small habits that make feedback easier (and more effective)
- A structure for embedding feedback into 1:1s
- Ways to normalize peer-to-peer and upward feedback
- Tools for building trust and psychological safety
- A sample 1:1 meeting form you can use as-is or adapt

It’s intentionally short and written in plain language for people who are short on time and serious about using feedback to improve performance.

Grab your copy here: http://bit.ly/447QZff

11/19/2025

"I've been an engineer, a project manager, and a business leader. Along the way, I’ve led teams, built systems, and worked through complex problems. Managing people was, without question, the most challenging.

As a leadership coach and organizational psychologist, I better understand how to help other leaders navigate that complexity.

If you're ready to lead a team with more clarity and less stress, I’d love to help you." - Dain Johnson

09/15/2025

Most managers underestimate how much psychology is involved in their job, and that’s where our workshops come in. We distill the complexities of human behavior into practical tools your team can put to work.

Over the past few months, we’ve lead workshops, given talks, and joined panels for organizations across industries. Here are just a few of the topics we've covered:

🔸Take Control of Your Retention Problem🔸
Learn to distinguish between departures that are setbacks vs. opportunities. With a primary focus on the role of a manager, we explore what makes people stay, why they leave, and how to retain top performers.

🔸 Leading With or Without Authority🔸
Learn how to influence others regardless of your position. This session offers practical strategies for cultivating collaboration, enhancing communication, and building trust in technical teams.

🔸Modern Leadership🔸
The manager matters more than ever in the contemporary workplace, but the practice of management has not kept pace with significant advances in the science of management. This session explores practical research in psychology, leadership, and organizational development to uncover the new role of the manager.

🔸One-on-One Meetings: An Underrated Tool for Growth🔸
When done well, one-on-one meetings are a powerful tool for improving retention and performance. This workshop gives you a simple framework to conduct them and use them to improve communication, trust, rapport, engagement, productivity, and ultimately, business outcomes.

🔸The Psychology of Estimation🔸
This session explores why people are inherently poor estimators and how cognitive biases show up in project planning. We illustrate how the standard textbook estimation methods can fail to secure project approval or inevitably lead to cost and schedule overruns. Explore why experience often outperforms education, how to deliver tough news, and communicate estimates effectively with your entire team.

🔸Time Management and Goal Setting🔸
Learn practical, neuroscience-backed approaches to manage time, set goals, build habits, and prioritize in service of gaining traction in every facet of your life. Participants walk away with a fresh mindset and a toolkit of small, intentional changes to help them show up with more focus and impact.

🔸Success Through Succession Planning🔸
Succession planning isn’t just about who will take over for you—it’s about setting yourself and others up for success now. Learn how to uncover the hidden roles in your business, so you can delegate effectively, set expectations, and foster accountability. If you want your leaders to stop wearing multiple hats and creating bottlenecks, this workshop will equip them to equip others to do great work.

Thanks to everyone who’s hosted us or invited us to speak! Could your team use a fresh take on leadership, communication, or the role of a manager?

Send us a message or visit - 𝐫 𝐞 𝐯 𝟎 . 𝐨 𝐫 𝐠 - to explore how we might work together.

07/03/2025

Your best chance of promotion? Demonstrate how it will benefit the business

06/24/2025

If you’re a manager, what part of the job surprised you the most when you transitioned out of an individual contributor role?

Engineers get promoted into management because they were good at solving problems, meeting deadlines, and delivering high-quality work. When they step into the promotion, however, suddenly their success isn’t about their work anymore. It’s about their team’s performance.

And that shift (doing --> leading) throws a lot of people off.

It's not so much that it's harder, but managing a team of technical employees is completely different than doing the work yourself. And without clear training or support, many new managers end up doing what feels productive: they get in the weeds, they spend time solving other people’s problems, or stay buried in tasks.

But the real job of a manager is to:
- Set clear direction
- Help others stay focused
- Develop their team
- Remove the barriers hindering performance

This is a portion of what our 12-module Manager Foundations helps new managers with. It introduces you to the core responsibilities of a manager and significantly eases what can be a very steep learning curve.

Learn more here:

Develop essential management skills for engineers in this self-paced 12-week course designed to boost your leadership confidence and effectiveness.

06/11/2025

Manager Foundations is Rev 0's leadership development program designed by an engineer-turned-psychologist specifically for new managers from technical backgrounds.

For the past four years, this curriculum has helped dozens of first-time managers build the core skills they need to lead with clarity, confidence, and trust.

It has been available exclusively as part of a broader, 12-week live program facilitated personally by our founder, but now, after several months of development and recording, Manager Foundations is now available as a DIY course.

It's self-paced, affordable, and designed for individuals to take on their own.

If you (or someone you know) is stepping into a manager role, spread the word about this awesome course. You can enroll on our website or send us a DM for more info.