Leader's Playbook: Recent Episodes
Global Mentor Network
Leader's Playbook is a show about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. Our hosts, Thuy Vu and Dr. Diane Hamilton, talk with innovative thinkers across various sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game. We can’t wait to share our leaders' insights with you.
Today’s guest is Livia Freudl, Senior Vice President and Head of Human Resources at Varian.
Varian’s Intelligent Cancer Care is shaping the future of oncology by building shorter paths between consultation and treatment, connecting the world through intelligent thinking, data, insights, and solutions to deliver advanced care for each patient’s unique journey.
In her role at Varian, Livia oversees all operational and strategic human resources activities including talent acquisition, talent management, performance management, learning & development, compensation & benefits, workforce analytics, employee experience, diversity & inclusion, and organizational development.
In this episode, you’ll hear about Livia’s expansive global cultural experiences that inform her leadership, how Varian is promoting a wider cultural awareness by fostering curiosity, empathy and even self-awareness, and how she works to keep employees engaged and mentally/physically healthy in today’s hybrid work models,
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Dr. Diane Hamilton and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Livia Freudl’s background - from dreams of a professional harpist to global corporate HR
- Benefits of experiencing so many different cultures - Germany, Indonesia, the Middle East, and the U.S.
- What have organizations done to address the challenges of working parents?
- Empathy, and curiosity vs. rote learning
- Improving cultural awareness - requires curiosity, empathy and self-awareness
- Dealing with biases in the workplace
- Cross-training and job rotation within a company - adding valuable perspective
- Keeping teams engaged, healthy and enjoying their work in the new work models
Resources/Links:
Varian
Livia Freudl
Global Mentor Network Website
Global Mentor Network on Twitter
Global Mentor Network on LinkedIn
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Today’s guest is Tracy Ting, CHRO of Encore Capital Group, a global specialty finance company with operations and investments across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Tracy brings almost three decades of combined finance and HR expertise to her role, and is an award-winning CHRO who enhances shareholder value through strategic business growth and cultural transformation at multi-national companies. At Encore, Ms. Ting is responsible for people, culture, communications and ESG, providing strategic vision and enterprise leadership. Prior to Encore, Ms. Ting was the Chief People Officer at Avanir Pharmaceuticals and SVP & CHRO at Affymetrix.
In this episode, you’ll hear how Tracy spearheaded the creation of a global set of values for Encore, written by employees, that distilled ten different sets of values down to just three. She shares the metrics by which all these values are measured, and explains how a company’s core values should hit the heart more than the head. Tracy talks about the challenges and successes Encore faces post-pandemic regarding the future of work. She addresses how they make ESG initiatives their standard operating procedure rather than just a "special project.”
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Dr. Diane Hamilton and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Tracy Ting background
- Involving all voices in the co-creation process
- Distilling ten sets of company values down to three: We care, we find a better way, we are inclusive and collaborative
- Feeling values in your heart vs. head
- The impact on global employee engagement
- A constant search for incremental improvements
- Thinking through the future of work, and making ESG the new normal
- Metrics for measuring ESG and who wants to see them
- ESG has been a multi-year journey of incremental progress
- Five pillars of ESG: Consumers, people, operating responsibly, environmental, and community
- The biggest challenge in global collaboration is getting the right people at the table
- Advice- Tracy has a lot of it!
- Be open
- Navigate the new
- Don’t be afraid of mistakes
- “I don’t know what I don’t know.”
- Be strategic in your career progression, think two steps ahead, not one.
- Figure out your superpower and market it
- Never compromise your core values
Resources/Links:
Tracy Ting LinkedIn
Encore Capital
Global Mentor Network Website
Global Mentor Network on Twitter
Global Mentor Network on LinkedIn
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Today’s guest is Susan Hailey, Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at OpenText. As an expert in leading all aspects of human capital and talent for high-growth organizations in technology and life sciences, Susan is known for innovation, results, and creating high-performance teams around the globe.
In this episode, you’ll hear about the benefits and importance of interdepartmental “cross-pollination”, hiring process differences in cultures around the world, evaluating interviewees’ responses to behavioral interview questions, and some of the challenges facing talent acquisition professionals in today’s rapidly changing environment.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Dr. Diane Hamilton and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Susan’s backstory
- HR challenges in a global team
- High-functioning companies ‘cross-pollinate’ across departments
- Cultural differences in talent and recruiting- India
- The theory of ‘weak ties’ in a job search
- Behavioral interviewing questions and how they are answered
- The pros and cons of panel interviews
- Online video interviews - the new normal
- Challenges around limits on travel and global time zones
- Generational challenges around new tech and other changes
- Talent advice for the near future - mindful hiring and scrutiny of high-level executives
Resources/Links:
Susan Hailey LinkedIn
OpenText Careers
Speaker Profile - Talent Acquisition Week
Real Talk with Susan Hailey
Book: The Silo Effect
Global Mentor Network Website
Global Mentor Network on Twitter
Global Mentor Network on LinkedIn
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Today’s guest is Eva Andres, SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer for Juniper. Juniper strives to deliver network experiences that transform how people connect, work and live. Their solutions power connections in education, healthcare, secure banking and more. From Junos to Apstra and Paragon to Mist AI, Juniper pushes the envelope on predictability, programmability, automation, and insights. By making experience the top priority, Juniper creates agile networks that transcend customer expectations.
Eva is responsible for charting Juniper’s global people strategy, fostering diversity, inclusion, and growth among their most important asset, the employees. She leads the human resources organization and the Juniper Networks Foundation Fund, which inspires the next generation of engineers and innovators. With over 20 years of global leadership, Andres has held executive human resources roles ranging from startup to multinational organizations, and has a proven ability to prepare and lead organizations through transformation and growth. Prior to joining Juniper, she held senior leadership positions at Virtustream (Dell EMC), Documentum, and Dupont.
In this episode, we discuss about the renaissance of the work environment post-Covid, broadening the scope of what is discussed with potential job candidates, screening out candidates who are too focused on titles and hierarchies and hiring and training multi-dimensional candidates that will power Juniper into a sometimes unknowable future.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Dr. Diane Hamilton and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Eva’s back story & matching talent to business objectives
- Thinking more broadly about job candidates and skill sets
- Interview questions - why do you want Juniper and what can we offer you?
- Candidates want to know Juniper’s culture and responsibility before the job details
- The focus on soft skills and emotionally intelligent leadership
- Titles, pay levels and motivation
- Changes in the way we work - it’s not just in/out of office
- Anticipating needs in an unknown future - utilizing data and trends
- Using personality tests - only for team building and training, not hiring
Resources/Links:
Eva Andres on LinkedIn
Juniper Website
Global Mentor Network Website
Global Mentor Network on Twitter
Global Mentor Network on LinkedIn
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
My guest today is Chief People Officer of 2K, Bobbie Grafeld. She leads 2K's People Team, including HRBPs, talent acquisition, total rewards, talent and organization development, employee relations, people operations, and DEI. 2K is a videogame publisher managing some of the most creative, respected and premium brands in games today.
Founded in 2005 within Take Two Interactive, 2K develops and publishes interactive entertainment for PC, console and mobile platforms. Their world-class team of engineers, developers, graphic artists and publishing professionals are stewards of a growing library of critically-acclaimed franchises such as Battleborn, BioShock, Borderlands, The Darkness, Mafia, NBA 2K, PGA TOUR 2K, Sid Meier’s Civilization, WWE 2K, and XCOM.
In this episode, I talk with Bobbie about her 6-year career break to start a family and returning to the workforce as an admin at PayPal. From there she found a path through Walmart to 2K. You’ll hear about HR challenges in tech-related fields, the importance of training managers at every level, AI as an HR tool, and pivoting quickly during the pandemic.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Dr. Diane Hamilton and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Bobbie’s non-linear path to 2K
- Surprising differences - perception vs reality in the hiring process
- HR challenges in tech-related fields
- Qualities that stand out in potential tech employees - soft skills
- 2K’s Manager Academy training
- The costs of having poor managers
- AI’s impact on the HR space
- Standing out as a candidate - then and now
- Data - distilling down, and curating/synthesizing to support the story
- Generational differences and communication
- Joining 2K during the pandemic
- Giving back and corporate responsibility
- Building the tech workforce for the future
Resources/Links:
Bobbie Grafeld LinkedIn
2K Website
Global Mentor Network Website
Global Mentor Network on Twitter
Global Mentor Network on LinkedIn
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Our guest today is Megan D. Burkhart, EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer at Comerica. Comerica Inc. is a financial services company headquartered in Dallas with three major divisions: commercial banking, retail banking, and wealth management. Megan’s position oversees Diversity & Inclusion, HR Operations, Technology & Risk, HR Consulting, Learning, Talent and Organizational Change Management, Talent Acquisition and Total Rewards.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Dr. Diane Hamilton, and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Megan’s background and path to her current position
- Employees’ and job candidates’ wishes and desires post-Covid
- Reimagining benefits packages
- Career development - it’s not just about “moving up”
- What has and has not worked at Comerica
- Performance and incentives
- Retaining top talent with retirement benefits
- Keeping in communication with great employees that leave the company
- Balancing compensation in a competitive market
- Leadership development programs
- Investment counseling around stock purchases, 401k’s and retirement
- Psychological/soft skill development and situational leadership training
Resources/Links:
Comerica Website
Global Mentor Network Website
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
My guest today is Ola Snow, Chief Human Resources Officer at Cardinal Health. Ola oversees the company’s Human Resources, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Community Relations, Communications, Environmental Health and Safety, Security, Real Estate, Facilities and Aviation organizations. Her passion for DE&I has propelled her to become a co-executive sponsor for the company’s DE&I Council and an advisor for the company’s Black and African American Racial Equity Cabinet, two internal groups charged with challenging the status quo and ultimately helping to advance DE&I within the organization. Snow’s leadership has been recognized by several organizations including Top 50 HR, Columbus Business First and the National Diversity Council.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Dr. Diane Hamilton, and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Ola’s path to her current success
- Shaking up the status quo at Cardinal Health - curiosity, transparency and truthtelling
- A “comprehensive listening strategy” with employees
- M&A failures - culture clashes and lack of time
- Recruitment for ‘careers’, not jobs
- Employee retention and engagement
- Management roles are completely different than five years ago
- Leadership training - listening and soft skills
- What employees expect from their leaders these days
- Vulnerability to set the tone as a leader
- Looking outside your industry and company size for best practices
- Simplifying and streamlining
Resources/Links:
Ola Snow at Cardinal
Ola Snow LinkedIn
Global Mentor Network Website
Global Mentor Network on Twitter
Global Mentor Network on LinkedIn
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Our guest today is MetLife EVP and Chief HR Officer Susan Podlogar. Our discussion focuses on MetLife’s wellness programs and initiatives, building and living an inclusive culture, and asking for (and acting on) employee feedback. Susan shares many statistics and data points around employee wellness both at MetLife and in general. She has actionable steps you can take to start or build your own company’s wellness culture – creating empathy and connection within your teams.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Thuy Vu and Dr. Diane Hamilton and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Susan’s entire life and her passions have prepared her for this global position
- MetLife’s early adoption of wellness for employees- since the 1800s!
- The impact covid had on MetLife’s programs and how they pivoted quickly
- Creating empathetic culture begins with leaders
- Getting your employees to want to participate in wellness programs–
- Encourage/incentivize
- Expect participation
- Give examples of success
-
Evaluate effectiveness -surveys/feedback
-
Some of the direct and indirect costs of poor employee health
- Gen Z is most interested in wellness programs and is the least mentally healthy generation
- Some mistakes companies make with wellness programs
- Starting a program at your company– ask your employees what they need!
- Asking for feedback and ensuring it is used
- The next focus for MetLife? Focusing on remote and hybrid team inclusion
- Go to GlobalMentorNetwork.net for our newsletter, blog, and more tips for elevating your impact
Resources/Links:
Susan Podlogar LinkedIn
MetLife
Global Mentor Network Website
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Our guest today is DocuSign Chief People Officer Joan Burke. Join us for a discussion about how DocuSign’s corporate values: “Trusted, Loved, Responsible” are kept top of mind for every decision around they treat customers, partners, and employees. We’ll talk about HR initiatives covering DIE to ESG, DocuSign for Forests, how the company has handled the pandemic, DocuSign Impact volunteering, and more.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Thuy Vu and Dr. Diane Hamilton, and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Joan came out of retirement to join DocuSign and is happy she did
- More about “Trusted, Loved, Responsible” corporate values
- How DocuSign is dealing with a hybrid and remote workforce
- Supporting managers to better deal with remote teams
- Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at DocuSign
- Health and safety
- HR representation and diversity on the Board of Directors
- Cybersecurity
- Pro-active plans in place for any issues
- Most challenging in your career? Covid!
- $1000 allowance (twice!) for anything that helped employees deal with the pandemic
- For companies that don’t have the budget for expensing, try shut-down days every quarter
- Volunteering, donating holiday party money, and living our values
- Go to GlobalMentorNetwork.net for our newsletter, blog, and more tips for elevating your impact
Resources/Links:
Joan Burke LinkedIn
DocuSign Website
Global Mentor Network Website
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Today Dr. Diane Hamilton speaks with our guest, Andrea Alexander, Chief People Officer at Rent the Runway about issues with hybrid workplaces and experiencing “different cultures” within the same company depending on your workplace arrangement. Andrea also defines “social capital” and tells us why it’s so important to productivity in today’s workplace models.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Thuy Vu and Dr. Diane Hamilton, and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Discussion Points:
- Andrea’s backstory includes time at McKinsey & Co.
- What is “social capital” and why do we need it?
- Our definition of productivity is changing
- How productivity ties in with engagement
- Avoiding silos between teams in a virtual environment
- Ensuring all employees progress at the same rate, no matter their office location
- How can leaders uncover if their culture is “working”?
- Monthly surveys, 360 evaluations, and simple active listening
- Taking time to train rising employees for the future – don’t do it all yourself or pile on the most reliable person on the team
- How social capital can enable better DEI practices
- What should a DEI conversation look like?
- Change is uncomfortable, but people are getting pretty used to it from this pandemic, so implement your changes now
- Go to GlobalMentorNetwork.net for our newsletter, blog, and more tips for elevating your impact
Resources/Links:
Rent the Runway Website
Andrea Alexander LinkedIn
Global Mentor Network website
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
My guest today is Betsy Sutter, EVP and Chief People Officer for VMware in Palo Alto, CA. VMware is a leading provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control. Betsy’s job focuses on everything HR/culture for more than 38,000 employees worldwide.
Join us for a discussion around how VMware is building innovative platforms and programs that impact people, global communities, and the environment – which, in turn, contribute to employee engagement and company profitability. From the “Take 3” program which encourages employees to work in a completely different department/position for three months, to “epic shut down days” where the entire company ceases operations to give everyone a break, to the 18 weeks of parental leave granted to women and men, VMware is at the forefront in creating great employee culture.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Thuy Vu and Dr. Diane Hamilton, and powered by the Global Mentor Network.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Betsy’s current position and how she started when the company had only 100 employees
- Some of the biggest changes over the years as the company has now grown exponentially to about 35,000 employees, and what has remained a constant
- Flex and remote work– how have the last two years challenged VMware?
- Addressing mental health with VMware’s programs for employees
- How do you see wellness and health programs developing for your employees over the next 5/10 years?
- How VMware maintains a strong company culture with a widely distributed, remote workforce
- The ‘resi-mmercial’ design of the Palo Alto campus
- VMware’s strategies for inclusion of the remote/distributed workforce around the world
- Moving away from traditional job descriptions to “outcomes” desired
- How do you spark innovation and creativity within a remote workforce, when that often happens at a physical location in group settings?
- Do you follow the HR/workforce trends of any companies that you admire?
- How Betsy personally stays balanced and well
- DEI and ESG are top priorities for the C-suite at VMware
- Go to GMN.net for our newsletter, blog, and more tips for elevating your impact
Resources/Links:
Betsy Sutter LinkedIn
VMware Website
Global Mentor Network website
Thuy Vu LinkedIn
Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Welcome to the Leader's Playbook. I am your host for this episode, Thuy Vu, and I’m CEO and co-founder of the Global Mentor Network, where our mission is to build and foster the transformational leaders of tomorrow while democratizing leadership opportunities. This podcast is a show about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Our guests today are Mary O'Hara and Kristen Wood of Blue Shield of California, a nonprofit health plan with $21 billion in annual revenue serving 4.5 million members in the state’s commercial, individual, and government markets. Mary is EVP of people and engagement at Blue Shield, and Kristin is VP and Head of Talent for Blue Shield.
Join me as we hear from these two powerhouses about Blue Shield’s “internal mobility” strategies and methodologies for increasing retention and loyalty of its employees, promoting talent from within, and making sure that talent is as diverse as the communities that Blue Shield serves.
Leader’s Playbook is a podcast hosted by Thuy Vu and Dr. Diane Hamilton, powered by the Global Mentor Network.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Introduction and backgrounds - Mary O’Hara and Kristin Wood from Blue Shield of California
- How do you define “Internal Mobility?”
- How are you dealing with the “great resignation” and its workplace trends?
- Blue Shield’s commitment to “growing our own” through pipeline and pathway programs
- What can a company do to implement programs like this?
- What numeric targets does Blue Shield aim for as far as internal promotion?
- What specific guidelines do you have in place to move people into leadership or management?
- How Blue Shield is achieving diversity in hiring– looking outside the typical ivy league schools and more into the communities we serve
- Handling the skepticism about diversity, are we just “checking boxes” or do we have a true solution
- Mentorship and sponsorship programs within Blue Shield– why every organization should have these types of programs
- Tell us about what didn’t work in Blue Shield’s program implementation?
- Starting small with pilot programs to prove they work
- “Fail fast and rebrand quickly”
- What are some of the benefits Blue Shield is seeing from its internal mobility programs?
- Go to GlobalMentorNetwork.net for our newsletter, blog, and more tips for elevating your impact
Resources/Links:
Kristin Wood LinkedIn
Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
Welcome to the Leader’s Playbook podcast. Leader’s Playbook is brought to you by the Global Mentor Network, and hosted by GMN’s CEO and Emmy-winning journalist Thuy Vu, along with Dr. Diane Hamilton - author, radio host, and Founder/CEO of Tonerra. Every two weeks, we’re talking to thought leaders from a diverse group of organizations, specializing in talent development, workplace culture, employee engagement, and more. Join us for discussions with top human capital experts at forward-thinking companies, including PWC, VMware, Blue Shield, Rent the Runway, Metlife, DocuSign, and more.
Thuy Vu is a seven-time Emmy winner and recipient of a prestigious Edward R. Murrow award for in-depth journalism. Thuy is a board member at The RealReal public company and has also been an Advisor at DocuSign, the most widely used eSignature and digital transaction management platform in the world. Co-Founded by Vu and Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Keith Krach, the Global Mentor Network is a pay-it-forward enterprise with a noble mission to solve one of the world's great challenges: building the next generation of diverse, transformational leaders.
Dr. Diane Hamilton is the Founder and CEO of Tonerra, a consulting and media-based business. She is a nationally syndicated radio host and keynote speaker. Hamilton has authored multiple books, including Cracking the Curiosity Code: The Key to Unlocking Human Potential, and The Power of Perception: Eliminating Boundaries to Create Successful Global Leaders. She was named to Global Leaders Today's list of top leaders along with Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Sheryl Sandberg. LeadersHum included her on their list of 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership and in the Top 10 Most Powerful Women Leaders in HR.
Resources/Links:
Global Mentor Network website
Thuy Vu LinkedIn
Dr. Diane Hamilton LinkedIn
The Leader’s Playbook is pleased to welcome Zaina Orbai to the show today. Zaina is the Chief People Officer at The RealReal (TRR) the world's largest and most trusted resource for authenticated luxury resale. With headquarters on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, TRR’s vision is a community dedicated to a more sustainable future by extending the life cycle of luxury fashion.
Join your host Dr. Diane Hamilton for a discussion with Zaina about what is working, and what has been modified, improved, or thrown out at TRR to adjust to the rapidly changing workforce landscape today.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Thuy Vu and Dr. Diane Hamilton, and powered by the Global Mentor Network.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- What was your path to your C-level position at RealReal?
- HR is a fun topic to work in and teach, how have you seen it change in the last two years?
- People have recalibrated their lives around money, time, and energy since the pandemic
- Three questions that leaders asked their teams at RealReal and how it changed things
- How does your leadership team help employees work through roadblocks?
- The three-prong approach to discovering :
- Motivations
- Interests/passions
-
Strengths/skills
-
How can leaders discover hidden talents within their teams?
- Making connections with remote colleagues– proximity is not the only connection builder
- Being more intentional with any conversation, remote or in-person
- “Re-skilling” or “Up-skilling” internal candidates for newly open internal positions instead of rushing to post job openings
- Unfortunately, most women wait until they have all the skills for new jobs, men just say, “I can do that.”
- Has RealReal done any mentorship training? What can be done to improve the mentoring process?
- The 90-minute leadership modules RealReal offered to leaders were a big hit
- What can someone do today to increase engagement at their company?
Our guests today are Jonathan Fear, VP, Coupa University at Coupa Software Inc., and Sean Burns, Global Head of Learning & Development at Coupa Software. Join us for a discussion on Coupa’s best practices in fostering a culture of “passion” and “purpose” – from onboarding to work/life balance, Sean and Jonathan care deeply about their employees and work tirelessly to make Coupa an ideal employer.
Leaders Playbook is a podcast hosted by Thuy Vu and Dr. Diane Hamilton, and powered by the Global Mentor Network. We share stories about how to drive transformational impact in your organization. We talk with innovative thinkers across various industry sectors to hear about the best tools, resources, practices, and strategies to help you and your team reach the top of their game.
Register for free on GMN.net to have access to our full library of content and resources on professional development.
Discussion Points:
- Introduction and backgrounds - Sean and Jonathan
- You two have obviously found your ‘passion’-- how do you explain the phenomenon of the great resignation, presumably a lot of the people quitting have lost their sense of passion?
- Personally, I miss being with people, when work continues in a remote or hybrid setup, what can be done to keep people engaged?
- When people feel disconnected, they should identify what they are missing from “before” and try to recreate that as much as they can
- Coupa’s business could seem a bit ‘dry’ to an outsider, tell us how you and your employees continue to find purpose
- ‘Coupa Chats’ and other tools such as Employee Resource Groups
- Volunteer Time off to do good works
- Massive disruptions such as 9/11 and Covid often lead people to reevaluate their lives
- The Coupa org chart is upside down, also called the servant/master scenario where leadership supports the teams, not the other way
- The words “Purpose” and “Values” may not inspire on their own, how do you ensure that these words inspire?
- You do so much to benefit both the company and the employees, why is that so important
- Emotional intelligence and awareness
- Go to GlobalMentorNetwork.net for our newsletter, blog, and more tips for elevating your impact
Resources/Links:
Coupa Website
Jonathan Fear on LinkedIn