Cohesion

This episode features an interview with Leslie Quinton, VP of Communications at Ubisoft, a gaming company with over 20,000 employees and 40 office locations worldwide. With over 20 years of communications experience across multiple industries at companies big and small, Leslie is a walking comms playbook.   

On this episode, Leslie shares her must-do’s for doing global communications right, what the secret ingredient is for improving company culture, and her advice for comms leaders struggling to get company buy-in. 

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“So one of the things that I think that companies did at the beginning and now have really gotten out of a lot more. Trying to rely upon their old ways of doing things and figure out just how to adjust the old way, as opposed to thinking in a completely new way. And I think that’s the virtue of the pandemic. If there is a silver lining to it, is that it forced us to get out of some old paradigms and really shift our thinking. So the companies that didn’t do well in internal communications tried to take their existing model and tweak it. Whereas the companies who did well said. Do this totally differently. We’re going to introduce a whole new platform or we’re going to change who delivers the messages or other things, but that’s, it’s kind of seizing that opportunity in what was really, you know, obviously a global crisis.” — Leslie Quinton

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Episode Timestamps:

*(1:38) - How Leslie got interested in communications

*(3:33) - Leslie’s current role

*(4:55) - Segment: Story Time

*(7:53) - Mistakes companies make that can be turned around easily

*(9:16) - Leslie’s favorite foundation/board she’s a part of

*(11:24) - Segment: Getting Tactical

*(15:36) - Must-do’s for doing global comms

*(20:01) - Improving company culture through comms

*(22:54) - Differences in comms at both large and small companies

*(25:07) - Segment: Seat at the Table

*(28:13) - Advice for comms leaders struggling with getting company buy-in

*(29:45) - Segment: Asking for a Friend

*(37:30) - The next big shift in comms 

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Links

Connect with Leslie on LinkedIn

Follow Leslie on Twitter

Amanda’s LinkedIn 

www.simpplr.com/podcast

This episode features an interview with Guido Ditto, Senior Manager of internal communications and employer brand at Coursera. Guido works with Coursera executives and teams to inform, engage, and connect colleagues around the world. Since joining the company in 2019, he has optimized information sharing with a new intranet, helped employees stay aligned to the company’s lofty mission during hypergrowth, supported the company's transition to remote work, and led comms during Coursera’s IPO. Previously, Guido led creative strategy at New York University.

On today’s episode, Guido shares his takeaways and advice from scaling Coursera’s comms team from pre to post IPO, how interns and early professionals should think about their comms careers, and how to build meaningful professional relationships with executives.

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“The way you build trust with anybody, with a colleague that’s next to you or a leader that relies on you or an executive who is looking to you for an answer is by being your true self. And showing them that you are open to sharing your complete self. And so that sort of gives them a reason to trust you.” — Ditto Guido

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:35) - Guido’s current role at Coursera

*(3:55) - Segment: Storytime

*(6:50) - Building confidence in comms/HR

*(9:10) - A career/project Guido’s worked on that changed his perspective 

*(12:40) - How Guido marketed himself with no traditional IC background  

*(15:25) - Segment: Getting Tactical

*(19:50) - Guido’s process for collecting/analyzing IC data

*(28:45) - Building relationships with executives 

*(32:15) - Segment: Ripped from the Headlines

*(35:10) - Experiencing/leading Coursera’s IPO

*(39:15) - Segment: Asking for a Friend

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Links

Connect with Guido on LinkedIn

Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn 

http://www.simpplr.com/podcast

This episode features an interview with two distinguished executives from Gainsight, the leader in Customer Success software. Robin Merritt is the SVP and Chief of Staff & Community, and previously served as Global Head of Internal Communications at Box. Karl Mosgofian is the Chief Information Officer. He comes to Gainsight after previously serving as CIO of Harmonic, the publicly-traded leader in virtualized cable access and live video streaming. 

On this episode, Robin and Karl dive into best practices for how IT and Comms can work together. They also share why the roles of CIO and Chief of Staff will converge even more in the future, and what they wish they knew earlier in their careers.

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:12) - How Robin got interested in comms

*(3:59) - How Karl got interested in IT

*(5:23) - Robin’s current role at Gainsight

*(6:39) - Karl’s current role at Gainsight

*(7:50) - Segment: Storytime

*(16:20) - Segment: Getting Tactical

*(22:28) - The evolution of IT & Comms and what the future looks like

*(30:38) - Segment: Asking For a Friend

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Links

Connect with Robin on LinkedIn

Follow Robin on Twitter

Connect with Karl on LinkedIn

Follow Karl on Twitter

Amanda’s LinkedIn 

www.simpplr.com/podcast

“I would say that one of the most important things these days is to understand that as knowledge workers, we have the ability to learn anything we need to know. You should never let lack of knowing something be a barrier. Even if you’re slower than everyone else...take the time you need. You have the ability to learn this. It’s a bit of a journey. New technology will come along. There’ll be new things to learn. There’ll be new norms. And you know what? It’s not a race. You will be able to figure this out. You will find ways to learn. You will find ways to have mastery. And so you’re entering at an amazing, amazing time where you can show up with all of your knowledge, all of your skills and be valued and rewarded for it.” — Wendy Pfeiffer

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:05) - How Wendy got interested in IT and her first job in IT

*(3:20) - Wendy’s current role as CIO of Nutanix

*(6:48) - Mentors of Wendy that helped her along the way

*(9:45) - Getting Tactical

*(15:35) - What Wendy has automated successfully during the pandemic at Nutanix

*(21:01) - The importance of doing A/B testing at your company

*(25:49) - Technology’s role in creating company culture

*(32:26) - Asking for a friend

*(39:32) - The next big shift in IT over the next 5-10 years

Links

Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn

Follow Wendy on Twitter

Amanda’s LinkedIn 

www.simpplr.com/podcast

“When you think about internal communications, It's so much about change management. It's about bringing people along on the journey that the CEO or the executive team have created in multiple meetings. They already know it, but now they have to turn around and communicate it. And so they have to make that their own. They have to believe it. And we as humans can really smell when somebody doesn't believe what they're saying. And so you have to just own it and practice it and know it inside and out and bring your own stories and examples to it. It can't just be talking points off of a sheet because the rest of us know when it really isn't yours.” — Laura Klieves

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Episode Timestamps:

*(1:50) - How Laura got interested in communications

*(3:05) - Laura’s first job in communications

*(5:08) - Laura’s current role as Senior Director, L&D and Communications at Malwarebytes

*(7:42) - Segment: Storytime

*(14:00) - Segment: Getting Tactical

*(17:20) - Overcoming learning curves when joining a company

*(20:30) - Must-do tactics for ICs in order to be effective and engaging in a digital workforce

*(25:00) - The critical components of storytelling 

*(29:40) - Ensuring virtual employees have an amazing experience

*(33:25) - Segment: Seat at the Table

*(37:50) - Segment: Asking for a Friend

Links

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn

Follow Laura on Twitter

Amanda’s LinkedIn 

www.simpplr.com/podcast

“What we forget is all of these physical and digital experiences are what you call the culture. Culture is not something that you separately write down and then everybody's like, ‘oh, this is culture.’ It is this amalgamation of all of these beautiful experiences that you have." — Rajamma Krishnamurthy

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Episode Timestamps:

*(1:50) - How Rajamma got into human resources

*(3:20) - Rajamma’s current role as senior director of HR technology at Microsoft

*(4:55) - Focusing on the individual user experience at such a large scale

*(7:55) - Storytime

*(13:50) - Getting Tactical

*(20:40) - How Rajamma stays ahead of the trends of HR technology

*(22:50) - One tech change Rajamma would implement immediately if she could

*(24:35) - What’s not getting enough attention in employee experience

*(26:22) - Ripped From the Headlines

*(29:00) - Asking for a Friend

*(32:02) - Advice Rajamma gives for women who want to break into tech

*(35:15) - The next big shift Rajamma sees coming out of the hybrid working experience

Links

Rajamma’s LinkedIn

Amanda’s LinkedIn 

www.simpplr.com/podcast

“Being young and not knowing how things are supposed to go created in me this real comfort with ambiguity and the acknowledgement that there's a ton of opportunity in ambiguity. So if you can embrace that and lean into it and accept that there's no right way to do anything. Everybody's just trying to chart their own path together. And as long as you're aligned on the goals and you're organized and you're going to stay focused on the objectives that the company is trying to achieve, you can learn a lot and get a lot of responsibility really early in your career.” — Katie Miserany

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:00) - How Katie got interested in internal communications

*(4:15) - Story Time Segment

*(5:08) - The SurveyMonkey to Momentive rebrand 

*(7:55) - Working with Sheryl Sandberg & the Dave Goldberg Family Foundation

*(14:15) - Getting Tactical Segment

*(17:15) - Preparing employees for a successful rebrand

*(21:41) - How the rebrand name came to be Momentive

*(28:25) - Top 3 rebrand must-do’s for internal comms professionals 

*(38:20) - Asking for a Friend Segment  

*(41:10) - Overcoming barriers as a woman 

*(44:00) - The biggest challenge internal communications professionals will face in the future

Links

Katie’s LinkedIn

Katie’s Twitter

Sheryl Sandberg’s books

www.momentive.ai

Amanda’s LinkedIn 

www.simpplr.com/podcast

You want to create an exceptional employee experience. You want the right technology stack, the right processes in place, and you want your people to have the right information at their fingertips when they need it most.

Why not learn from the best of the best?

On the Cohesion podcast, you’ll hear from internal comms, IT, and HR leaders who are innovating and leading the industry forward. These visionaries are changing how things are done at some of the most innovative companies in the world. Listen in as these leaders open their playbooks and tell us how they are increasing employee engagement, collaboration, and productivity on the new frontier of work. 

We’ll bring you quick-hitting tips and tactics on how to improve your employee experience, level up your career, and stand out from the crowd. 

So tap the follow button and get ready to hear from the brightest minds in the world of internal comms. 

Welcome to Cohesion

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