Workplace Champions: Recent Episodes
Brett Knowles & Jack Sweeney
Workplace Champions: The strategies of talent-minded business leaders are exposed inside the realm of mid-sized businesses when business journalist Jack Sweeney and performance thought leader Brett Knowles spotlight innovations in human capital management (HCM). The Workplace Champions Podcast is all about inspiring business leaders as they learn from the failures, Ah-ha! moments, and workplace successes of other small and medium business leaders. It’s no secret that small and mid-sized businesses adapt more aggressively and innovate more nimbly than firms many times their size. And yet, in the realm of employment these companies are less visible and vastly less reported upon than large enterprise business, but their combined influence is large and growing larger as a new class of workplace champions emerge.
Brett & Jack discuss the workforce rantings of Elon Musk and the new Twitter owner's November 16th deadline for employees to decide whether to leave or stay. Is Musk's leadership style solely responsible for the turmoil at Twitter or are their other contributing factors?
This episode's featured Workplace Champions expose how leaders seek to optimize work environments to empower people to do their best work. While Jack views the talent mind set of each of the three featured finance leaders as the upshot of extensive leadership experience, Brett points out their maybe a method behind the Musk "madness."
This episode features the workforce insights and commentary of CFO Anat Askenazi of Eli Lilly, CFO Ambereen Toubassy of Airtable, and CFO Evan Goldstein of Seismic.
Brett & Jack discuss how hiring challenges have led certain organizations to be more tolerant of poor employee behaviors – a development that could be putting growing numbers of businesses at risk. Meanwhile, Brett points out that new hires continue to fetch bigger salaries creating an imbalance with existing employee salaries. Also, performance is not driven by talent alone. Brett says product issues are sometimes thought to be talent issues leading management to put in motion a string of misguided remedies.
This episode features the workforce insights and commentary of CFO Asil Syed of Rippling, CFO Ambereen Toubassy of Airtable, CFO Bryan Morris of Demandbase.
Brett & Jack discuss why organizations must have a value proposition for their employees. This episode each of our featured Workplace Champions gives us different perspectives on what they've done to help attract human capital to their organizations. Again, the question management teams need to be asking: What's the value proposition that will help us attract the best talent? This episode features the workforce insights and commentary of CFO Claire Bramley of Teradata, CFO Rajesh Gupta of OakNorth Bank, and CFO Mark George of Norfolk Southern.
Brett & Jack discuss why organizations must have a value proposition for their employees. This episode each of our featured Workplace Champions gives us different perspectives on what they've done to help attract human capital to their organizations. Again, the question management teams need to be asking: What's the value proposition that will help us attract the best talent? This episode features the workforce insights and commentary of CFO Claire Bramley of Teradata, CFO Rajesh Gupta of OakNorth Bank, and CFO Mark George of Norfolk Southern.
This episode features the workforce insights and commentary of CFO Adam Swiecicki of Brex, CFO Manish Sarin of Sprinklr, CFO Jason Keen of Mills Nebraska, and CFO Komal Misra of Starry
Brett & Jack discuss how growing numbers of businesses are facing an employee retention crisis as they battle escalating workforce attrition and struggle to fill job vacancies. As the crisis grows in certain industries, more finance leaders are sounding the alarm on escalating business risk and dedicating more time to solving the current talent equation.
Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Efrain Rivera of Paychex, CFO Anisha Sood of First Choice Health, CFO Will Johnson of Iterable, and CFO Adriana Carpenter of Emburse.
Brett & Jack discuss why a 4-year degree isn’t quite the job requirement it used to be and how finance leaders are reworking their company’s talent equation. Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Brandon Maultasch of Moloco, CFO Steve Vintz of Tenableand CFO Kent Kelley of Unanet.
Brett & Jack discuss how finance leaders of high growth firm’s are becoming increasingly focused on the ebb and flow of their firm’s talent pipelines. Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Gina Mastantuono of ServiceNow, CFO Josh Siegel of CyberArkand CFO Sarah Spoja of Tipalti.
Brett & Jack discuss how learning and development is one of five key elements of employee engagement - and explore reasons why L&D too often gets overlooked. Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Dave Bernhardt of SentinelOne, CFO Joan Hilson of Signet Jewelers and CFO Herald Chen of Applovin.
Brett and Jack discuss how the leadership narrative benefits hiring, and why department hiring budgets may someday soon be replaced. Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Cassandra Hudson of EngageSmart, CFO Nitesh Sharan of Soundhound and CFO Michael High of Shell’s Deep Water Gulf of Mexico.
Brett and Jack weigh-in on Zoom firing squads, the move to hybrid workplaces and hiring’s enormous impact on your company’s funnel. Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Jim Morgan of CallRail, CFO Amol Chaubal of Waters Corporation and CFO Justin Judd of BambooHR.
Brett and Jack discuss the move by Amazon and other companies to pay employees daily will trigger new approaches in salary administration. Plus, more developments in the age of the "great resignation." Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CEO Craig O'Neill of Versapay, CFO Michael Rosen of Digital Power Marketing, CFO Kurt Shintafferof Apptio.
Brett and Jack discuss the marriage of fintech and human capital management, and the of the growing mandate for employee success. Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Sameer Ralhan of the Chemours Company, CFO Robert Alvarez of Big Commerce, CFO Laurence Caponeof Pipedrive.
Brett and Jack discuss the highs and lows of executive compensation, and why corporate culture may trump all. Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Gregg Clevenger of LiveVox, CFO Charles Freund of FLEETCOR and CFO Jill Klindt of Workiva.
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Brett and Jack talk the power of the mission, the CEO return-to-work agenda and covid’s delta variant backlash. Featuring the commentary and insights of workplace champions CFO Beth Clymer of Jobcase, CFO Todd McElhatton of Zuora and CFO Scott Dussault of Workhuman.
Prahanth Mahendra-Rajah, CFO, Analog Devices
Maria Manrique, CFO, O’Reilly Media
Ian Charles, CFO, Flexe
Scott McFalane, CEO, Avalara
Featuring the Workplace Champions
CFO Harmit Singh of Levi Strauss &Co.
CFO Mark Shifke, of Billtrust
CFO Bill Kelley of Treehouse Foods
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Featuring the Workplace Champions
CFO Arleen Paladino of Crum & Forster
CFO Guy Blanchard of Aerofarms
CFO Mike Rasic of Synapse
CFO Ross Tennenbaum of Avalara
This Episode Features Human Capital Insights & Commentary from:
Tom Berquist, CFO, TIBCO,
Terry Coelho,CFO BioDelivery Sciences ,
Kevin Ingram,CFO, FM Global,
Robert Linder, CFO, Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar
The Workplace Champions Podcast explores the innovative workforce practices of talent-minded business leaders tasked with opening a new chapter of growth for their midsize organizations.
More keenly aware of the competitive price of employee burnout and workforce attrition — many midsize companies are today busy rethinking how they attract, hire and inspire employees.
This Episode Features Human Capital Insights & Commentary from:
Dynshaw Italia, CFO, Soldo
Brad Kinnish, CFO, Aryaka
Will Bondurant, CFO, Castlight Health
The Workplace Champions Podcast explores the innovative workforce practices of talent-minded business leaders tasked with opening a new chapter of growth for their midsize organizations.
More keenly aware of the competitive price of employee burnout and workforce attrition — many midsize companies are today busy rethinking how they attract, hire and inspire employees.
This Episode Features Human Capital Insights & Commentary from:
Chad Cohen, CFO, Adaptive Biotechnologies
Tom Tuchscherer, CFO, TripActions
Deborah Ricci, CFO, Guidehouse
Dan Stokely, CFO, Ampio Pharamceuticals
More keenly aware of the competitive price of employee burnout and workforce attrition — many midsize companies are today busy rethinking how they attract, hire and inspire employees.
The Workplace Champions Podcast explores the innovative workforce practices of talent-minded business leaders tasked with opening a new chapter of growth for their midsize organizations.
This Episode Features Human Capital Insights & Commentary from:
Ross Tennenbaum, CFO, Avalara
Kieran McGrath, CFO, Avaya
Drew Vollero, CFO, Allied Universal
Sandra Harris, CFO Tupperware Brands
More keenly aware of the competitive price of employee burnout and workforce attrition — many midsize companies are today busy rethinking how they attract, hire and inspire employees.
The Workplace Champions Podcast explores the innovative workforce practices of talent-minded business leaders tasked with opening a new chapter of growth for their midsize organizations.
This Episode Features Human Capital Insights & Commentary from:
Michelle McComb, CFO, Bluecore
Brian Whalen, CFO, Branch
Markus Harder, CFO, Contentful
More keenly aware of the competitive price of employee burnout and workforce attrition — many midsize companies are today busy rethinking how they attract, hire and inspire employees.
The Workplace Champions Podcast explores the innovative workforce practices of talent-minded business leaders tasked with opening a new chapter of growth for their midsize organizations.
More keenly aware of the competitive price of employee burnout and workforce attrition — many midsize companies are today busy rethinking how they attract, hire and inspire employees.
The Workplace Champions Podcast explores the innovative workforce practices of talent-minded business leaders tasked with opening a new chapter of growth for their midsize organizations.
More keenly aware of the competitive price of employee burnout and workforce attrition — many midsize companies are today busy rethinking how they attract, hire and inspire employees.
The Workplace Champions Podcast explores the innovative workforce practices of talent-minded business leaders tasked with opening a new chapter of growth for their midsize organizations.
Join us when Mike Walters, CEO of USA Financial, explains how a loyal network of financial advisers and new technology adoption
-- and some solid hiring -- is helping the Grand Rapids, Michigan, financial company to open a new chapter of grow
“Sometimes we’ll be competing against very large agencies that are global in nature—so they’ve got offices in New York and in Hong Kong and in Munich. At other times, we’ll be playing against a specialty firm that operates out of maybe just one geography, like San Francisco or New York, and operates only in one sector, like tech. So it’s for us both interesting and hard because we sit in the middle. We have good ways to compare ourselves against the smaller firms and to position ourselves against the larger ones.” –*Phil Carpenter*
Indianapolis, Indiana—As companies grow and advance beyond their entrepreneurial roots, talent often becomes a major growth hurdle. To meet the demands of an expanding workforce, firms must steadily enhance their talent best practices. Join us when Justin Tysdal, Cofounder, Seven Corners, explains how talent became the primary path for opening a new chapter of growth for the international travel insurance firm.
Guest: Justin Tysdal, Cofounder, Chief Strategy Officer Company: Seven Corners Headquartered: Indianapolis, Indiana Ownership: Privately Held Revenues:$40 Million Employees: 150 Contacts:www.sevencorners.com @sevencorners (Twitter) From Brett’s Strategy Note * BIG step to get outside help. * Apollo – proactive, structure * Need for new ideas , innovation * Transparency * KPIs * THANK people
Having grown to 38 offices and more than 900 employees, Risk Strategies Company has entered the ranks of leading national insurance brokers with a strut that signals an appetite for M&A. Join us when the firm’s founder and CEO, Mike Christian, explains how acquiring companies in key markets, with key business practice areas, has made the firm a discriminating buyer inside an industry known for its frequent waves of consolidation.
Thrilled to introduce our first WORKPLACE CHAmPIONS e-Book. Featuring employee hiring and retention insights from a DOZEN talent minded CEOs from midsized firms
LINK To Download e-Book: http://bit.ly/2nS0KJy
What if your company had unique lines of sight into the compensation best practices and approaches of your customers, and what if those lines of sight annually generated reams of data endowing your firm with a pool of strategic data that few firms—if any—can yet match? Join us when Xactly Corporation CEO Christopher Cabrera explains how customer insight became a primary driver of his firm’s future growth.
Featuring CFO Thought Leaders Few names are better known in the realm of multiplatform games than Unity Technologies. The software developer’s focus on “democratized game development” has primed the pump for independent game producers and led Unity to boast that its technology is already responsible for roughly 70 percent of virtual reality and augmented reality experiences. With few competitors in sight, Unity Technologies CFO Mike Foley says that the developer has begun to leverage a concept dubbed “radical transparency” that aspires to endow every employee with a generous look-see at the financials.
As a one-time IT systems engineer, Phong Le has a finance career whose early roots run deep inside the technology realm, where today he serves as CFO of MicroStrategy—one of the data world’s pioneering innovators. Join us to hear Phong explain how burgeoning data insights are summoning finance leaders to become the organizational catalyst for quicker business decision-making.
Eight years from now, when Lance Ruttenberg blows out the candles on a birthday cake celebrating his company’s 100th birthday, the CEO of American Textile Company will be savoring an industrial hallmark that no Fortune500 CEO has ever known. Lance and his brother Blake are today the third generation of Ruttenbergs to own and lead the textile firm first established in 1925. While the company may not be in the same weight class as other successful firms with generational-family origins (Ford Motor Company, IBM Corp.), ATC’s longevity is a testament to an ownership/management model that has successfully served an industry, a family, and a devoted employee population for nearly 100 years.
MMTL: Along the way, you’ve made a lot of hires, so we’re going to ask you, “How do you make a great hire?” Matt: We follow this principle that we picked up in a book called Traction, by a guy named Gino Wickman. It’s an operating system for businesses called the EOS. We follow their people process, and it works quite well for us. It comes down to three things: Does the person get it, do they want it, and do they have the capacity to do it? If I could unpack that for you, what it means is that when we define a seat or role in the business and we start looking for people to fill that seat, the first thing we look for is, Do they understand the role? Do they get it? Do they understand what it entails, and if they do, then do they want it? Is this something that they think they would have a lot of fun doing? If they have fun, they’ll likely be good at it. Then, do they have the capacity to do it? It’s never a good idea to take somebody who’s never done a job or something even remotely close to that role and put them into it. This likely means that they don’t really have the capacity for it. We’re usually looking for people with a little bit of experience. Capacity is a lot of stuff rolled up in that, but it’s the anchor, right? They need to know and have the ability and the time and the wherewithal to do the job. The whole “get it, want it, have the capacity to do it” thing has been a game-changer for us in just simplifying how to find the right people.
FREE E-Book: Learn how talent-minded CEOs from a dozen midsized companies Get, Retain and Engage Top Talent https://workplacechampions.gr8.com/
Join us when Chris Byers charts the evolutionary path that is leading Formstack to open a new chapter of growth as the software developer grows its workforce and sheds new light on its hiring the internal workings of Formstack’s workforce.
Indianapolis, Indiana - As companies grow and advance beyond their entrepreneurial roots talent often becomes a major growth hurdle for companies that must steadily enhance their talent best practices if they are going to meet the demands of an expanding workforce. Join us when Justin Tysdal, Co-Founder, Seven Corners, explains how talent became the primary path for opening a new chapter of growth for the international travel insurance firm.
Guest: Justin Tysdal, Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer Company: Seven Corners Headquartered: Indianapolis, Indiana Ownership: Privately Held Revenues:$40 Million Employees: 150 Contacts:www.sevencorners.com @sevencorners (Twitter) From Brett’s Strategy Note * BIG step to get outside help. * Apollo – proactive, structure * Need for new ideas , innovation * Transparency * KPIs * THANK people
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Warwick, Rhode Island — Join us when Tim Hebert, CEO of Atrion, explains how by making Atrion's focus on attracting and retaining talent a top priority the IT services firm would experience more than 25 percent growth annually enabling Atrion to grow to more than $150 million in annual sales.
From Brett’s Strategy Notes: * All about pro-actively changing things * Felt culture the thing to work on * Requires an investment in time… from 0% last year to 15% this year
Brett's Book Reference * Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't By Jim Collins
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