805conversations

My passion is culture

"Focus on the team, not the individual."

Helen Russell is the Chief People Officer at Atlassian. She had a great conversation with Mark and Patrick about talent, leadership, teams, and learning.

Atlassian is a company that creates software that allows teams to work together better. She was formerly of Santa Barbara-based SONOS until recently. Her background includes working at a WPP company, Kantar, which was intriguing as Mark works with WPP company, J Walter Thompson.

This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:

• What's the role of HR in the new, dynamic, fast-growth economy where companies grow at 35% and more

• How you have to rethink how you work with high-potential employees - they have to outpace the business's rapid growth, as their jobs will inevitably morph every six months.

Looking for exponentially bright people and move them up and through the organization

• GRIT - it's not just intelligence - it's drive and determination that is the hallmark of top performers

• Why companies need to rethink Performance Ratings - and focus instead on team performance

• What we care about is Collective Success

• Her sports background

• The discussion and definition of Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace was enlightening

• The most diverse perspectives help high impact teams deliver results

• "What are the skills required for our future company?" Incredible insight into the role of HR in the C-suite

• How to craft a talent strategy for your company

• How HR is now more like the CMO

• The question each of us (entrepreneurs) should ask ourselves, "Are we the right person to hire people in our company?" Should we pass that to a professional?

• A book recommendation: WHO by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

• Her go-to icebreaker to start off an interview. "Last night, you were with a friend, and telling them about today's meeting. How did you characterize it to them?"

• We talked about the recent acquisition of TRELLO by Atlassian. We love TRELLO. This led to a discussion about mergers and corporate culture.

Tying Research to Community

"We're not old enough to have a history - we're all about the future."

Chris Kimball is the President of California Lutheran University (CLU). He chatted with Mark and Patrick about his passion for History, Baseball and the role of the University in the community.

CLU is the charter sponsor of the 805conversations podcast, and it was excellent having this time with Chris to talk about the role of the University, his background and questions you don't always get to ask a University President - as most of us don't get the chance at this type of conversation. Chris is a real sport and took all of our questions easily.

This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:

• How do you attract talent to the University?

• A brief history of the University

• How CLU were early adopters in online education

• A great discussion about his love of Baseball history and his current class where he teaches to undergrads, and how it aligns nicely issues facing the country

• His favorite baseball movies and why

- The Natural

- Field of Dreams

- Eight Men Out

- League of their own

• The corollary between Baseball stadiums and College campuses and community centered involvement

• History - when and how he got interested in it

• Mark almost got Chris to agree with his premise of stalling teaching history until people are 40 years old, instead of at 16

• 2017 is the 500th Anniversary of the Lutheran Movement and CLU's plans to celebrate that

• How do you run a faith-based institution in a secular society - challenges and opportunities. The Lutheran Experience

How do you want the public to see this art?

"I love the process of Discovery."

Glenn Wharton, Clinical Associate Professor of Museum Studies at New York University sat with Mark and Patrick to talk about art, new media, community, and conservation.

"How do you want the public to see this art?" Is one of the primary questions Glenn would ask artists during an interview process when he's documenting the art, how it's to be displayed or portrayed. This discussion and the resulting threads that cover Glenn's career in art conservation are fascinating for sure.

This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:

• The definition of a 'clinical associate professor.'

• Glenn's a UCBS Gaucho!

• How and when he fell in love with the conservation of art (Mt Calvary monk in Santa Barbara)

• Volunteering at the Getty

• Replication vs. Restoration

• A sidebar conversation about his work on the King Kamehameha statue in Hawaii and how that work spurred a complete change in how he approached art and his career

• Art values vs. Community values - intersection

• What is Community-based Art and why is it so fascinating

• What is Participatory Art

• Note: Patrick, remember, is an Art Professor and this was a conversation that could have gone on for several hours. He threatened to mute my mike so they could chat ;-)

• His work at MOMA and the field of time-based media

• Mark brought up the discussion of the preservation of Digital Art (think Wavefront and animation). Glenn was the first Time-Based Conservator in the United States. This was before it was even a field of study. He currently is one of the top experts in the world.

• An in-depth talk about the interaction between the museum and the artist with several amusing anecdotes (wait until you hear the one about Tino Sehgal)

• The Variable Media Initiative

While we enjoy every conversation, there are times when a true pioneer joins us in the studio. Glenn is one, and we sincerely appreciate the time he spent with us.

We had a bit of a post-interview conversation about the role of 805conversations, we speak mostly about business, and in this instance felt that are focused entirely on cultural issues was importnat. We hope you agree.

How to communicate your big idea in 90 seconds

Sarah Keas and Haley Pavone, winners of the CIE Elevator Pitch Competition sat with Mark and Patrick to talk about the road leading to the competition.

About the Elevator Pitch Competition:

Hosted each fall, the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's Elevator Pitch Competition allows undergraduate and graduate students to share product ideas, innovative services or a startup plan at any stage of development.

This year the 7th Annual Elevator Pitch Competition took place on Nov. 9 at the Performing Arts Center Pavilion. New this year was the addition of Cuesta College, which submitted their top four student companies. Students across all majors were encouraged to apply. Entries from 50 Cal Poly students were whittled down to the top six, who presented their ideas in a high-pressure, fast-paced, 90-second pitch to the judges, all startup founders.

Cal Poly student, Haley Pavone, the founder, and CEO of PashionFootwear, is developing a convertible high-heel shoe now undergoing research and development in the CIE's Hatchery program. She was the top pick of a panel of four judges for the $1,000 prize. In addition, she received the $500 Audience Choice award.

Cuesta College student, Sarah Keas, received the $1,000 top prize. Her Breathe Bans proposal offers a new take on a device that provides emergency shots for allergic reactions that are more convenient to carry and use because of its small size and versatile design.

QUALITY OF CHARACTER IS YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

"Hiring is the key.”

John Greathouse, Professor of Practice at UCSB, co-founder of Rincon Ventures and renowned Santa Barbara entrepreneur sat for an extended conversation with Mark and Patrick about teaching, writing, and coaching. John’s a local treasure.

This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:

What’s’ a Professor of Practice – and who else at UCSB is one? Hint, previous podcast guest Trip Hawkins

A brief dip into John’s history which reads like a history of Tech in Santa Barbara

How he manages to fill a room at UCSB with 350 students reliability every quarter.

His three things – you know we love lists of three

– Investing

– Teaching

– Writing

How his 4th-grade teacher told him he was a writer – at that young age. You can now find John’s writing at Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal

Why he loves writing so much (it’s about endorphins firing)

We talked at length about Corporate Ethics (you’ll remember a similar conversation with Sarah about Ethical Marketing)

John tells a great story (that he tells his students) about Contextual Ethics

What’s your company’s Moral Code – with a shout out to another podcast guest, Shaun Tomson – Commit to the Next Wave

Love the story about the Bell Ringer Award that he used to have. You will too.

More about Rincon Ventures and the ethos that they’ve created there

John is such a humble guy, he’d never tell you all of these things. So we’re glad to have gotten him to open up on the show

Bonus: If you can find a clip from the show that he can Mark were on (The Food Network) we’ll send you a postcard of thanks.

SPEAKING FORWARD

"Remember your keys vs. Don't forget your keys."

Burke Franklin, local entrepreneur, writer, and martial artist, sat with Mark and Patrick to talk about his back story and philosophy about business. Very interesting character who also loves to sail. You can learn even more about him here.

This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:

Selling word processors in the late 80's

How he got the business bug from his grandfather who was an entrepreneur just after WWII

Working at the Sharper Image Catalog writing ad copy

Why he (still) answers the phone at 2 am

Why going to tradeshows is a brilliant strategy for honing your pitch

His book, Business Black Belt and the podcast that went with it

How he got involved in Martial Arts

Interesting sidebar about audio triggers, like sense memory that reminds you of times in the past

What his business, Business Power Tools, is all about

You'll also enjoy our conversation about 'double-negatives' in our speech and how to avoid them. This is where the title of this episode comes from.

The amazing story behind packedkits.com

"We started that night"

Angel Speier (pronounced Spire) is the co-founder, with her husband of PackedKits. She met with Mark and Patrick for a candid and funny conversation about how they decided to build a company the night that he had his first Chemo session.

Packed Kits are designed for people enduring chemotherapy, and the caregivers who accompany them. The idea came from practical experience when Angel and Kevin started going to UCLA Medical Center for treatments.

This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:

-Background on Angel and Kevin, where they're from and their families

-More backstory about how they met, got married and started their family

-The day they got the diagnosis

-How Kevins background as Pre-Med and Angel's experience in Fashion and Product development uniquely qualified them to launch the company

-The story behind Packed Kits and why it's such a great idea

-Mark and Patrick let Angel take them through each of the kits, Medical, Plush, Fun and Dopp

-Angel's focus on the experience of someone opening the package for the first time and a story about one of their customers who was sent a kit and her experience of opening it and breaking down.

-They donate 10% of each sale to charity and frequently give kits to non-profits to use for fundraisers

Patrick and I both wish Angel and Kevin the best. They're fighters. We love that.

If you want to purchase a kit, go to http://PackedKits.com.

Angel loves writing, she's blogging at http://PackedKits.com.

"They delivered the Talk of their Lives"

Mark Sylvester, host of this show and Executive Producer of TEDxSantaBarbara did a quick recap with Patrick about the recent TEDx event in Santa Barbara.

Note: This is the second show that Mark and Patrick have talked about TEDxSantaBarbara. The first one was several weeks before the event.

This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:

-It's a 6-month effort that took a core team and 60 day-of volunteers to produce.

-The importance of the User Experience on the overall planning of the event

-An anecdote about the Speaker Mixer held the night before the event - you can only imagine the speaker's nerves, 12 hours before the event started

-Why a Speaker Coach is so critical to the success of the event. Our coach is also the Co-Producer and wife of Mark. Kymberlee Weil from Strategic Samurai has coached over 120 talks to date.

-When talking about how challenging it is to find a unique point of view on a familiar topic, Patrick gave a perfect analogy of how artists have approached singing the National Anthem.

-A couple of Kymberlee's tricks for speakers are revealed.

-All of the Talks are now available - Watch them here

-What is the narrative arc of the event and how is that crafted by the producers

-The Magic of TEDx and how it gets you thinking about topics you have not paid attention to

-Why the breaks between sessions are so important

-Tastes of TEDx - how artisanal snacks made the breaks even more aligned with the overall user experience

-The role of Music at TEDxSantaBarbara - putting more E into our TEDx

-The show ends with a discussion of how improv played an important part to a few key elements in the day.

Note: Mark thanks sponsors at the beginning and end of the podcast. These are the podcast sponsors, not sponsors of TEDxSantaBarbara. You can see all of the event partners here.

The invisible hand of the editor." - Patrick remarks on the importance of editing and coaching

Links to the Talks, photos of Rehearsal, The Event, The 805CameraBus at the After Party and fun shots from one of our Volunteers are also on TEDxSantaBarbara's site.

Feeding a Culture of Trust - Tom Holt, CEO, Urbane Cafe by 805connect

I think about listening carefully

"6 out of 10 adults fear running out of money."

Kevin Bourke, CFP, the founder of Bourke Wealth Management and noted Author, sat with Mark and Patrick to talk about his practice and his novel approach to managing finances. We thought this would be a great interview to have after we had talked with Professor Harry Starn about training Certified Financial Planners. We were right.

This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:

Kevin's been doing financial planning for 30 years and tells us a bit about his backstory

Hear about his fascination with finance, part of Marks' neverending quest to find out what caused the guest to choose their career path

His attitude about cold-calling - doesn't bother him, hear why.

How he got his first business license and it wasn't for being a planner

His philosophy about the role of the Financial Planner in your life - think Quarterback, if you like sports analogies

When do you hire a Financial Planner? When there's a life event, that causes an accumulation of wealth or a distribution of wealth

Why'd he write his book? Looking at his LinkedIn page, you'll see he's written a lot over the years.

How's he been able to keep 100% of his clients? Secret: Effective onboarding strategy of 4-6 meetings per prospect

One of his red flags with a new client? They treat his staff poorly. Interesting comment

What's the question that prospects don't know to ask? What happens to the money if he leaves? Answer: He has a succession plan with other planners

Teaching at UCSB Extention - he loves to teach

The power of Storytelling - we finished the interview the same way we did with the Professor - talking about storytelling and professional services

Who's his favorite group to talk to: Service Organizations