Happy Here: Recent Episodes
Wisq
Help your people be happier at work. Join Wisq CEO Jim Barnett as he hosts HR thought leaders around the world for conversations about building culture, belonging and connection at work, and employee engagement. We’ll ask about their challenges and the specific approaches they took to address them.
Jim speaks with Amy Lavoie, Chief People Officer, Torch, about what truly engaged organizations look like. Amy, a leading expert in people science, has studied and practiced the science of happiness and success at work, guiding some of the world’s biggest brands on how to engage their people for outsized performance. In this episode, Amy and Jim dig into the connection between happiness and business results. Amy talks about the key drivers of happiness at work: purpose, empowerment, clarity, growth, connection, and well-being. Lastly, Amy and Jim talk about showing feelings at work—and how Amy leans into emotions as an opportunity to reflect and glean valuable insights.
In the fourth episode of Happy Here, Jim speaks with Rich Deal, Executive Vice President and Chief HR Officer, FICO. Rich has been with FICO for 22 years, and in his role, he focuses on attracting, engaging, developing and deploying talent through innovative human capital management strategies. As a distributed, global team, FICO embraces autonomy and trust with its 3,400-person workforce. “Physical proximity should not be a proxy for performance or commitment. Get past that,” Rich says. Rich also talks about how important it is to connect change to employee feedback, so that people feel their voices are heard, and the power of finding purpose and meaning in work.
In the first episode of “Happy Here,” Jim talks with Diana Chapman, founding partner at Conscious Leadership Group and advisor to leaders, about putting conscious leadership at the heart of culture. Just like an athlete embraces a mindset that allows them to be present and quick, Diana says, businesses can benefit from adopting an open, creative and relaxed mindset. Leaders can avoid drama in the workplace by creating an environment of learning and growing – and anyone who takes responsibility for their influence is a leader. Jim and Diana also discuss creating trust between teams, making decisions with a “whole body yes” and embracing a sense of play at work.
Jim hosts Cynthia Burks, board member and HR advisor, for a conversation about belonging and the role of intentionality in building an inclusive culture. Cynthia shares about some of her experiences leading people during the pandemic, including the remote work challenges they faced. The pandemic brought a series of challenges—and learnings—that we can bring with us into the future, Cynthia says. Jim and Cynthia also talk about meaningful connection during the workday, as well as finding a strong sense of psychological safety at work, or in Cynthia’s words, having “permission to be human.”
Jim speaks with Joan Burke, former Chief People Officer at DocuSign, about helping people do the work of their lives. Like many HR professionals, Joan says she entered the field because she wanted to help people be successful. And at the end of the day, Joan says, helping people be successful starts with empowering managers and developing their leadership skills so that, in turn, they can support the employees they manage. Joan and Jim also talk about building a sense of belonging at an organization, linking work with a higher level of purpose and meaning, and a famous quote that reminds Joan to embrace vulnerability as a leader.