Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

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WorkLab: Vital facts about the future of work. (microsoft.com)

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The Figure-It-Out Mindset with Colette Stallbaumer, General Manager of Microsoft 365 and Future of Work at Microsoft

Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

06/15/21 • 27 min

How do the leaders of one of the biggest and most successful tech companies in the world lead in the Hybrid Revolution? With a figure-it-out mindset. Today on the podcast, Erica chats with Colette Stallbaumer, General Manager of Microsoft 365 and Future of Work at Microsoft. Colette explains Microsoft's approach to Hybrid work—it’s centered around a three-part framework: people, places, and processes. They’re using technology and research to implement best practices around empowering managers, hiring diverse talent, embracing flexibility, creating connection and culture in new ways, and staying agile with touch points. Because at the end of the day, as Colette asserts, leading IN a crisis is far different than leading OUT of a crisis.

Instead of taking our bad pandemic habits (like working into the evenings and weekends and taking endless back-to-back Zoom calls) with us into the Hybrid Revolution, Microsoft is shifting away from reactive and into proactive processes. Colette also shares some professional and personal rituals from that past year that made quarantine a bit brighter. Listen in to hear insights from one of the leading vanguards in the future of work.

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Quotes:

1:48 – "We no longer believe that work is a place, right? It’s more of a state of mind and that we want to help be successful in this new normal from anywhere.”

3:05 – "In Hybrid, which we’re moving into now, there isn’t a standard. Everything becomes more complex in flexible work. And that’s really the new leadership challenge for every leader and every organization. It’s going to be figuring that out and figuring out how to empower people in this new, new normal.”

12:43 – "We have a three-part framework around people, places, and processes...And it obviously starts with people. Getting that people piece right is critical."

23:38 – "The key to flexibility is lots of little things that can have a big impact.”

24:21 – “Taking just a small break—even 5 to 10 minutes between meetings—has a dramatic impact. It resets your brain, it lowers your stress levels, and it increases your cognitive function. And so we just last month came out with a new default setting in Outlook, so people could set that automatically in their organization."

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Hungry for Connection?: President of Focus Brands International (Cinnabon, Carvel, Auntie Annies!) Beto Guajardo, Shares his Secret Sauce for Successful Business During Covid and Beyond

Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

05/04/21 • 34 min

On the first episode of Season Three of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica welcomes Beto Guajardo, President of Atlanta-based Focus Brands International, a leading developer of some of the most iconic and beloved brands in the foodservice industry—including Schlotzky’s, Cinnabon, Carvel, and Auntie Anne’s, among others. Long time friends from Kellogg Business School, Erica and Beto discuss what it was like for Beto to move into a new role in the middle of a pandemic, the long game to building up emotional capital with one’s team, and the company’s daily Covid contingency meeting—a ritual that sprung up virtually overnight when the world shut down last March. As the Hybrid work model approaches, Beto recognizes that while he and a handful of other leaders have been spending time working from the office, he understands that, as of right now, returning to the office is a personal choice that individuals have to make based on what’s best for themselves and their families. If there’s one thread that has weaved throughout Beto’s accomplished career, it’s his focus on connecting with people genuinely and authentically, which can be most clearly seen in his retelling of his final day as Head of Global Strategy at Starbucks. This season opener is a masterclass in connected leadership.

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Quotes:

5:42 – On the daily Covid contingency meeting: “That call every single morning really created a sense of purpose and being and belonging. And what’s really interesting about it—I can say with complete clarity—we became a better team because of the pandemic. We became a stronger and closer team because of the pandemic. And what drove us to get there was something that no one ever saw coming. And that was, we’ve got to change the way we work together. We’ve got to be together every single day if we’re going to move with the agility that we need to in order to help our business franchisees overcome the challenges they have out there in the field.”

18:17 – “As a leader in transition, the advice that I would give to another who might be going through the same thing is how important it is to take the the time to just talk about and listen to one another, not with regard to what’s happening in the business, but what’s happening in your life, right? How are you feeling; how is your family? How have you been dealing with this difficult time of isolation, given the pandemic? Let’s get to the point where, even if it is over a Zoom call, we can genuinely look each other in the eyes and say with compassion, ‘I care about you and want to know how you’re doing.’”

20:00 – On why he wants the camera on during meetings: “I shared with the team, ‘Hey it’s really important that I can see you, because I want to know who you are, and I want to know that you’re okay.’ And I think as a leader, it’s important that you set those expectations that connectedness matters to you. It really matters. You have to go out of your way to make sure that you are modeling and requesting that the right behaviors are in place in order for that connectedness to grow.”

29:21 – On the true measure of success: “The measure of success for the team is that we all recognize that there will be an end. That someday you’ll walk away, for whatever reason—new opportunity, personal reasons. And only then will you be able to look back on our time together, and if you can say that, ‘I grew as a person, and I grew as a professional, and I am better off today than what I was before I began this journey with you as an individual,’ then we were successful together.”

Focus Brands website

Diversified Search Group website

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Soft Skills are the New Hard Skills: How to Recruit with DE&I in Mind, with Denielle Pemberton-Heard, CLO and managing director of Diversified Search Group

Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

05/11/21 • 29 min

This week on Left to Our Own Devices, Erica sits down with Denielle Pemberton-Heard, Chief Legal Officer and managing director at Diversified Search Group, a woman-founded search firm that recruits leadership through a DE&I lens.

Denielle is the perfect person to chat with about leading in this moment. As part of an organization that prioritizes giving underrepresented people a seat at the table, Denielle shares that now more than ever, it’s important to prioritize this framework of recruiting, as we all figure out how to approach flex and the future of work. The hard skills are table stakes at this point. Organizations want leaders who are empathic, self-confident, self-aware, emotionally intelligent, resilient, and willing to lead. In other words, companies want leaders who have excellent soft skills, which is where DivSearch comes in.

Denielle also highlights the importance of reaching out to ask for help, spending time in community, and finding grounding in simple rituals, like a twice-yearly phone call with an old friend or the simple joy of dance. This conversation with Denielle offers an inspired look at the future of work.

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Quotes:

5:00 – on defining terms: “Diversity tells you who’s in the room. Inclusion tells you who feels welcome in the room. Equity is who has access to the room. And Justice is really about who in the room is taken seriously; who has their concerns heard.”

7:40 – on the types of leadership skills their clients want: “A level of empathy and compassion. Gravitas and a track record of a history of accomplishment. A willingness to lead and to speak up. Individuals who are centered in however they present themselves—and that’s just really having a level of self-confidence and awareness. A high EQ, someone that can read the room and thoughtfully pivot and make adjustments. And a level of resiliency. Especially if you’re really going to bring new voices to the table. People that perhaps may have been shut out or, for whatever reason, not given opportunities. You really see what people are made of when you take the time to listen to their story, and you understand the level of resilience that it takes for certain people to achieve the level of accomplishment that individuals do.”

16:23 – “Covid has given us a bit more permission to understand that life can be imperfect and confusing and complicated, and we’ve all gone through a really scary time.”

17:02 – “We do need to bring our human to work and be productive in a way that’s best for our own health.”

28:40 – “This next generation of leaders and workers are unapologetically themselves.”

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How to Design a Space for Creative Flow with Chief Strategy Officer at A+I, Peter Knutson and Chief Design Officer of Publicis Groupe, Bastien Baumann

Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

05/25/21 • 39 min

As we start thinking about the epic “Return to the Office,” many are thinking about space and how it can be used more intentionally for collaboration, creativity, and productivity. Peter Knutson, chief strategy officer at architecture firm A+I and Bastien Baumann, chief design officer at Publicis Groupe join Erica on the podcast this week to discuss this very topic.

A+I and Publicis Groupe partnered together to form Le Truc, “a New York City-based center of creative excellence for clients, converging 600+ creatives, producers, and creative strategists from Publicis Groupe New York agencies into one dynamic, collaborative space.” So for these two creatives, space and how to use it to maximize creative flow is top of mind. As we’ve seen in the last year, employees have proven they can be just as productive at home as they were at the office, which leads to the question, why come back at all?

Bastien asserts leaders must give their people a real tangible reason to come back. Peter maintains that people are why we will want to return to the office—people are the pull. Listen in for a thoughtful conversation around people and space and why we gather.

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Quotes:

Peter 9:58 – “The idea that comes to you in the shower happens because creativity is hard and amorphous, right? It’s not something you can grab and force. It’s something that you have to sort of coax and cajole a little bit. You have to fight with it sometimes. You have to prepare and just wait sometimes. I think that for us, it was really meaningful to think about Le Truc as the challenge to be creative, especially to be creative on the timeline for others is a huge pressure. And this idea of, what is the space that allows you to wrestle with the uncertainty of the creative impulse? What is the version of the idea in the shower in the office? Is it more than a conference room and a desk? Is it something other? And I think that’s where we’re really pushing this is, what is the variety of physical environments that can change the way you’re experiencing the world in a way that gives you that moment or that inspiration that’s going to let the idea come out, let the idea become formed? And then how do you form it afterwards? Because nobody has the right idea; nobody imagines the perfect thing the first time it enters their brain. And that challenge is fun to tackle as a spatial one.”

Bastien 12:56 – “Thinking about creativity and how it works—it’s two basic steps: diverging steps and converging steps. So you need two steps. You need one where you’re going to be by yourself, feeding yourself about the problem, what’s the problem? And then you’re going to have to exchange that problem with others. So it’s really collaboration. And open space is amazing for that because you’re with everybody. But you need that time where you’re by yourself—you need to do the things, you need to craft the thing, you need to find the solution. This time you don’t need anybody, so that’s why you go to a library or you try to hide everywhere you can, in a coffee space or whatever. I think the spaces of today for creatives are good for collaboration but very bad for crafting by yourself.”

Peter 20:04 – “Even in just the beginning instances of this, Hybrid is a completely different thing than working all in person or working all remotely. And there’s an imbalance between the people who are on a call and the people who are physically in the room that is impossible to overcome. There is language that your body says that is impossible to replicate on a Zoom call.”

Bastien 23:25 – “I think you need to give people a reason, a very tangible reason of why should I go back to work? Because I’ve proven to you that I’m as productive as I used to be when I stay at home.”

Peter 25:35 – “I think there’s so much to be said for, ‘We are the reason to go back to the office’ right? We are the pull. People are the pull. And the relationships you form and nurture and exhaust and trust and depend on.”

Peter 26:16 – “I’ve yet to feel, at the end of the day, exhilarated by eight solid hours of Zoom meetings. And I think it’s because the joy of being social doesn’t quite transcend to this environment.”

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Lessons From Your Covid Furry Friends: How to be Truly Human at Work with Banfield Pet Hospital President, Brian Garish

Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

05/18/21 • 28 min

When Covid hit, several industries were hit hard, but some thrived immensely. One such industry that’s seen a huge uptick in business this past year has been the pet industry, as 11 million households got a new pet in 2020. Wow! That’s a lot of new family members. But Banfield Pet Hospital is here to help new pet owners manage all that animal energy.

On this week’s episode, Erica sits down with Banfield Pet Hospital president, Brian Garish, to talk all things cats, dogs, and leadership in the (hopefully pet-friendly) Hybrid Revolution. With over 1000 hospitals and over 19,000 associates servicing all these new furry friends, how does Brian lead through it all? By talking to his people. Brian leads with empathy and knows that the key to an empowered, passionate workforce is one that feels heard and sees vulnerability modeled at the top. This conversation imagines an optimistic future of work, where we can continue giving our pets the “best year of their lives” indefinitely, through flexible work options.

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Quotes:

4:23 – “When you think about being a leader in a company, and being part of the conversation of, ‘what’s the hybrid work force going to look like? what are the hybrid working conditions going to look like?’ It can’t be made with just an executive team, it has got to have your people’s voice involved in the conversation.”

10:16 – “Culture is my top priority and has been my top priority. The strategic direction of the company is a second priority because strategy without empathy is a wasted idea.”

10:41 – “More so now than ever, people want to be seen, they want to be heard, and they want to be understood. And we have that opportunity to do that even better.”

12:30 – “The theme of our session for the year for 2020 was ‘b empowered, b passionate, and b here.’ We wanted our associates to be empowered to truly own the hospital experience and own what they needed to do to take care of each other and take care of pets and clients. The passion is about really connecting to our purpose, which is making a better world for pets. And being here is out Banfield shows up for society. Well we were thankful that that was the theme because that really anchored us in 2020 once the pandemic really started to come in.”

17:35 – “We can’t be our best selves if we don’t take care of ourselves. Our hospitals and all of our associates need our leaders to be present and to be fully available. And you’re not going to be if you’re burned out.”

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BONUS EPISODE: The Value of a Woman’s Hour: How COVID has shaped women’s lives and rituals with Eve Rodsky

Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

02/02/21 • 36 min

On the season finale of Season Two: The Rituals Edition, Erica has an incredible guest—keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author, and equality evangelist, Eve Rodsky. Shaped by a difficult upbringing with a single mother in New York City, Eve learned important lessons early on around resilience, responsibility, and care. In this episode, you’ll hear about her first ritual—going to a march related to social justice every year on her birthday with her mother, as well as her current ritual—a nightly communication check-in with her husband. Eve has dedicated her life to equality, including by helping partners divide domestic responsibilities more equitably and by helping organizations get to a place of equality and psychological safety. Eve and Erica also discuss this inflection point in history: where either Covid will push mothers out of the workforce, or as a society we’ll rise up to make a new, more equitable future of work where women aren’t penalized for having dependents. Don’t miss this important conversation.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!: Erica’s second book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic is available NOW! Grab your copy wherever books are sold.

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Quotes:

“What [the research] shows is that, when you communicate more consistently, there is psychological safety and connection there. It is a ritual. And rituals allow you to do things that maybe if it’s a one-off wouldn’t. It allows you to bring up hard conversations and to say, ‘You know what this isn’t working, but I know I can come back to this tomorrow night.’ And that’s what that communication ritual does for Seth and me. We say, ‘You know what, we’re going to table this. Let’s come back when emotion is low and cognition is high.’”

“To really build a new society after this horrific reckoning...To me the silver lining is, an hour holding our child’s hand at the pediatrician’s office is just as valuable as an hour in the boardroom. I think we can build that through ritual. I think we can build that through communication. I think we can build that through psychological safety and empathy. But it’s going to take not just women doing it. It’s going to take men. It’s going to take our workplaces.”

“The leaders we talk to and how much they recognize that being a whole human being is actually better for their company and better for society.”

“Nothing is going to replace [our previous rituals]. And I think we should grieve for the lost rituals. we should grieve for the fact that we are right now losing those connection times with friends. Or we’re losing the ritual of that daily walk with your grandma, or whatever it was, that we can’t do now.”

Eve’s website

Eve’s book, Fair Play

The Fair Play Deck

Order Erica’s NEW book, Rituals Roadmap

GoHealth Urgent Care website

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Because People are Your Business with Andy Biga, Chief People Officer of GoHealth Urgent Care

Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

01/19/21 • 30 min

Something as simple as asking, “How was your day?” can make a huge impact. That’s what the people at GoHealth Urgent Care learned when they began a simple but powerful ritual: an End Of Day report from each of their healthcare clinics summarizing the day. This brief email summary has kept everyone at GoHealth connected and energized, especially during the relentless slog of the pandemic. On this week’s episode Erica sits down with Andy Biga, GoHealth’s Chief People Officer, to chat about the EOD as well as how they’ve been staying resilient in an overwhelming time for healthcare providers. Hint: it involves great people and great relationships to keep the whole thing running smoothly.

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Quotes

“Relationships are the foundational piece of how you learn and grow.”

“People are your business, right? From an HR perspective I don’t know what’s more important than that.”

“If the customers feel like they had a positive interaction with a provider, on a relationship-based experience, they’re more likely to follow that provider’s directions.”