Engagement That Scales

In episode #8, Rachel is joined by Lakshmi Balachandra to chat about using adaptive language to more effectively connect with your audience.

Every week Rachel Happe chats for 30 minutes with a new guest – no script, no rules.

Rachel and Lakshmi talk about how improv classes might be more powerful than business school, how women and men pitch different, and the difference between asking for the minimum of what you need, and asking for what will make you thrive.

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About Lakshmi Balachandra:

Lakshmi Balachandra is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College. her research examines the impact of trust, gender and other entrepreneurial characteristics in acquiring early-stage funding. She has been a Fellow in the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government focusing on the impact of gender biases on women entrepreneurs. She was awarded fellowships for her research on VC decision-making from the Kauffman Foundation and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

While working for the largest women-owned, women-focused venture capital firm in the country, she founded the Women’s Venture Capital Network, the first network of its kind in the country where she organized, created and managed numerous networking events and educational panels for women professionals in the industry. During (and in-between) her professional career in finance and entrepreneurship, Dr. Balachandra has also been a professional stand-up comedian and improvisational comedian performing in comedy clubs across the country.

In episode #7, Rachel is joined by Harold Jarche to chat about where community fits in the future of work and learning.

Every week Rachel Happe chats for 30 minutes with a new guest – no script, no rules.

Rachel and Harold chat about choosing the right technology for what you are trying to do, how remote work exposes what works and what doesn’t for communications, and how the future of learning lies in community.

Listen now: Prefer video? Watch the chat here.

About Harold Jarche:

Harold Jarche works with individuals, organizations, and public policy influencers to develop practical ways to improve collaboration, knowledge sharing, and sensemaking.

Harold has been described as “a keen subversive of the last century’s management and education models”. Clients appreciate Harold for his extensive experience and network. His internationally renowned blog is “a beacon of light in the dark landscape of organizational learning”. According to one long-time reader, “Harold is one of the best thinkers out there on things relating to learning and work”. Harold helps his clients deal with an increasingly complex networked world.

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In episode #6, Rachel is joined by Heather McGowan to chat about her new book, The Adaptation Advantage, and the opportunities that lie in change.

Every week Rachel Happe chats for 30 minutes with a new guest – no script, no rules.

Future-of-work strategist Heather E. McGowan helps leaders prepare their people and organizations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Her newest book, The Adaptation Advantage – a guide for individuals and organizations navigating the complex and ambiguous Future of Work, was published in April 2020.

Heather and Rachel chat about being open to the bumpiness that change brings, how to be compassionate with ourselves and others, the power of being adaptive in the face of change, and what the future of work and the world looks like post-COVID-19.

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Prefer video? Watch the chat here.

More about Heather:

Future-of-work strategist Heather E. McGowan helps leaders prepare their people and organizations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Third Industrial Revolution was marked by computerization and automation of physical labor, laying the foundation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will be notable for the rapid advancement of technology tools into the domain of human knowledge work. In this world, humans must continuously learn and adapt, and with this transition comes information overload.

Heather gives lucidity to this topic through her illuminating graphic frameworks and powerful metaphors, all backed by deep research. In 2017, LinkedIn ranked her as its number one global voice for education. Pulitzer Prize–winning NYT columnist Thomas Friedman frequently quotes Heather in his books and columns and describes her as “the oasis” when it comes to insights into the future of work. Heather’s sessions help employees and leaders alike prepare for and adapt to jobs that do not yet exist.  

Her new book The Adaptation Advantage is now available.

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In episode #5, Rachel is joined by Alan Pelz-Sharpe, to discuss what the recent COVID-19 crisis has revealed about the technology we use and the technology we build.

Every week Rachel Happe chats for 30 minutes with a new guest – no script, no rules.

Is technology delivering on the promises it has made now that the world is remote first? Will there be a shift from companies building the technologies they want to see and start building the technologies the world needs? Join Rachel and Alan for this fascinating discussion about what the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed about the technology around us.

Prefer video? Watch the episode here.

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More about Alan:

Alan has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, working with a wide variety of end-user organizations like FedEx, The Mayo Clinic & Allstate, and vendors from Oracle and IBM to startups around the world. Alan was formerly a Partner at The Real Story Group, Consulting Director at Indian Services firm Wipro, Research Director at 451 and VP for North America at industry analyst firm Ovum. He is regularly quoted in the press including the Wall Street Journal and The Guardian and has appeared on the BBC, CNBC, ABC as an expert guest. Learn more.

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In episode #4 Rachel is joined by Gretchen Schmelzer, to discuss ways being an effective leader in times of crisis.

Every week Rachel Happe chats for 30 minutes with a new guest – no script, no rules.

Working from home is one thing, managing from home is another. How do you know you are being an effective leader when you can only see your team through a screen? What does this new (for some) model take to work for both you, and your team?

Rachel Happe and Gretchen Schmelzer chat about leading compassionately – and effectively – during a crisis.

Prefer video? Watch the chat here.

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About Gretchen Schmelzer:

Gretchen Schmelzer, PhD is a licensed psychologist, trained as a Harvard Medical School Fellow. She is a trauma survivor, who has worked for twenty-five years with the complex issues of trauma, integration and behavior change across every level of system from individuals, to groups, to large systems and countries, including her role as the expert consultant for documentary film The Silence which aired on April 19, 2011 on Frontline regarding priest sexual abuse in a Native Alaskan Village to ensure adequate resources for viewers and for proper follow on support for trauma survivors.

She has worked with individuals and groups in large clinics, and clinics in housing projects, in residential treatment facilities, on psychiatric units and medical hospital units, and in private practice. Her work includes over a decade of working with traumatized children and adolescents in residential treatment and psychiatric units.

Since October 2014  she is the founder and editor of The Trail Guide, a web-mag featured on www.gretchenschmelzer.com (formerly www.emotionalgeographic.com) dedicated to healing repeated trauma. Her book Journey Through Trauma was published in February 2018 through Penguin Random House.

 Learn more about Gretchen.

In episode #3 Rachel is joined by Liz Miller, to discuss ways to move IRL events to online environments in ways that are engaging AND effective.

Every week Rachel Happe chats for 30 minutes with a new guest – no script, no rules.

As in-real-life (IRL) events are canceled how to you move into online environments that make sense? Can you digitize serendipity? Liz and Rachel chat about the current state of events, and how to think about online events in ways to connect with your audience.

Prefer video? Watch the chat here.

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Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

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Engagement That Scales – C.C. Chapman

In episode #2 Rachel is joined by C.C. Chapman, to discuss the implications and challenges of the sudden shift to distance learning.

Every week Rachel Happe chats for 30 minutes with a new guest – no script, no rules, no edits.

Some people have been working online and remotely for years. Others, not so much. Rachel and C.C. chat about the COVID-19 crisis and the effect on learning. How do you move courses online and create a safe space for learning in an already stressful environment?

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Prefer to watch that chat? Access the video archive here.

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In episode #1 Rachel is joined by Jake McKee, Founder of Community5 and the Dinner5 project.

Every week Rachel Happe chats for 30 minutes with a new guest – no script, no rules.

With countless IRL events being moved online as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, Rachel and Jake to discuss ideas for creating synergy and connecting with your audience when your live, in-person event becomes virtual.

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Music by: https://www.purple-planet.com/

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About Jake McKee

Jake McKee is one of the founders of the modern customer community movement. He led Apple’s well known Global Support Communities. He pioneered efforts at LEGO to engage its adult users in a community – which spawned breakthrough innovations such as the Mindstorms community driven product development (which landed on the cover of Wired Magazine).

He co-founded Ant’s Eye View (later purchased by PwC) which helped firms like Starbucks, Canon, and H&R Block build customer communities that became powerful engines for marketing, sales, product innovation and the customer experience. 

Jake currently runs Community5, a consulting practice focused on helping organizations drive more success with their online communities,  fan engagement programs, and product development processes. He also manages the Dinner5 project, a monthly dinner series that brings senior community leaders together.