Hi, I’m Melody Olson
I love the intersection of hard technical problems and building what matters with teams.
Former Senior Engineering Director at Google. Author of Lead Deep (Fast Company Press, 2027).
Engineering leadership experience
I led a 200+ person imagery and perception organization behind Google's model of the physical world, including sensor data collection, computer vision, applied ML, and 3D models. Grew and integrated teams from a team of 8 to 200+. Led through the shift to large models for roads, buildings and other map data. We built platforms that other teams across Google built on, sensors through production serving, and designed and launched our own capture hardware. Before Maps, I spent eight years in Ads, where I launched the first version of DoubleClick Bid Manager (now DV360) and led a measurement data platform used across Google.
Speaking
Some teams do extraordinary work and others stay busy. I help leaders make what matters clear, set teams up to move, and go deep where they can make a difference.
- Make What Matters Unmistakable
- Building a System for Faster and Better Decisions
- When Nothing Is Obviously Wrong: Why Talented Teams Drift
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The bookLead Deep: How Leaders Change What Talented Teams Can Do, forthcoming from Fast Company Press, 2027.