This week on Left to Our Own Devices, Erica sits down with Denielle Pemberton-Heard, Chief Legal Officer and managing director at Diversified Search Group, a woman-founded search firm that recruits leadership through a DE&I lens. Denielle is the perfect person to chat with about leading in this moment. As part of an organization that prioritizes giving underrepresented people a seat at the table, Denielle shares that now more than ever, it’s important to prioritize this framework of recruiting, as we all figure out how to approach flex and the future of work. The hard skills are table stakes at this point. Organizations want leaders who are empathic, self-confident, self-aware, emotionally intelligent, resilient, and willing to lead. In other words, companies want leaders who have excellent soft skills, which is where DivSearch comes in. Denielle also highlights the importance of reaching out to ask for help, spending time in community, and finding grounding in simple rituals, like a twice-yearly phone call with an old friend or the simple joy of dance. This conversation with Denielle offers an inspired look at the future of work.

On the first episode of Season Three of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica welcomes Beto Guajardo, President of Atlanta-based Focus Brands International, a leading developer of some of the most iconic and beloved brands in the foodservice industry—including Schlotzky’s, Cinnabon, Carvel, and Auntie Anne’s, among others. Long time friends from Kellogg Business School, Erica and Beto discuss what it was like for Beto to move into a new role in the middle of a pandemic, the long game to building up emotional capital with one’s team, and the company’s daily Covid contingency meeting—a ritual that sprung up virtually overnight when the world shut down last March. As the Hybrid work model approaches, Beto recognizes that while he and a handful of other leaders have been spending time working from the office, he understands that, as of right now, returning to the office is a personal choice that individuals have to make based on what’s best for themselves and their families. If there’s one thread that has weaved throughout Beto’s accomplished career, it’s his focus on connecting with people genuinely and authentically, which can be most clearly seen in his retelling of his final day as Head of Global Strategy at Starbucks. This season opener is a masterclass in connected leadership.

On the season finale of Season Two: The Rituals Edition, Erica has an incredible guest—keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author, and equality evangelist, Eve Rodsky. Shaped by a difficult upbringing with a single mother in New York City, Eve learned important lessons early on around resilience, responsibility, and care. In this episode, you’ll hear about her first ritual—going to a march related to social justice every year on her birthday with her mother, as well as her current ritual—a nightly communication check-in with her husband. Eve has dedicated her life to equality, including by helping partners divide domestic responsibilities more equitably and by helping organizations get to a place of equality and psychological safety. Eve and Erica also discuss this inflection point in history: where either Covid will push mothers out of the workforce, or as a society we’ll rise up to make a new, more equitable future of work where women aren’t penalized for having dependents. Don’t miss this important conversation.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!: Erica’s second book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic is available NOW! Grab your copy wherever books are sold.

On this episode of Left to Our Own Devices, the tables have been turned! In honor of the launch of Erica’s new book, Rituals Roadmap, Erica sits down on the other side of the interview hot seat with author and multigenerational workplace expert, Lindsey Pollak. On this episode, Erica and Lindsey discuss Erica’s career journey, the moment Erica decided to write the second book (at an Italian restaurant over a glass of red wine), as well as how we can tell what a ritual is, how rituals have anchored leaders and companies in these turbulent times, and a little about Erica’s own rituals.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!: Erica’s second book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic is available NOW! Grab your copy wherever books are sold.

Something as simple as asking, “How was your day?” can make a huge impact. That’s what the people at GoHealth Urgent Care learned when they began a simple but powerful ritual: an End Of Day report from each of their healthcare clinics summarizing the day. This brief email summary has kept everyone at GoHealth connected and energized, especially during the relentless slog of the pandemic. On this week’s episode Erica sits down with Andy Biga, GoHealth’s Chief People Officer, to chat about the EOD as well as how they’ve been staying resilient in an overwhelming time for healthcare providers. Hint: it involves great people and great relationships to keep the whole thing running smoothly.

When Covid hit, many businesses struggled. Some even closed. But for Chipotle, business has been booming. And it’s no surprise as to why (besides the delicious food, of course) when you ask their Chief Diversity, Inclusion and People Officer, Marissa Andrada. Which is exactly what Erica did for this week’s episode. Andrada shares how everything Chipotle does is based on their values, which reinforce their purpose to cultivate a better world. And these values have led the charge in Covid times when they were making decisions around everything from hazard pay, to recognition ceremonies, to weekly lunch rituals. As Andrada so aptly puts it, “people-first decisions are all about how we take care of our people throughout this time.” Listen to this week’s episode to hear a pandemic success story, made possible because of a commitment to values and people first.

For a company whose whole technology platform was dedicated to getting people OFF technology, the pandemic forced Meetup to stop and reframe their purpose as facilitating connection in meaningful and safe ways. CEO David Siegel chats with Erica on this week’s episode about how they managed this pivot, how virtual events have opened up global access, the four components of a great Meetup, their future plans to go back to the office by building an immersive community experience, and expanding their employee population by hiring more remote candidates. This week’s episode is an absolute must-listen for leaders who want to incorporate more safe and meaningful connection into the New Year.

If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that a lot of the changes that were on the way have been accelerated into fruition. Take fitness—there had already been a trend toward connected fitness (boutique and home fitness merged) and then the pandemic hit, sending this change into overdrive. Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, the former Head of Marketing of Peloton and the rest of the team over at Peloton have seen this acceleration happen in real time. On this week’s episode of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica sits down with Tisch Blodgett to chat about staying connected to community through fitness, seeing women caretakers bear the brunt of the Covid burden, and how technology doesn’t quite replicate the water cooler moments at the office, but can be amazing for connecting virtually to long distance friends and family for rituals like Shabbat dinner.

On this week’s episode of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica sits down with an old friend and the woman who inspired it all. Ashley Peterson, originally Erica’s Starbucks barista on the Upper West Side and now managing her own Starbucks in Midtown, was the catalyst for Erica’s first book, Bring Your Human to Work, after the two shared a very intentional, “human” moment one morning. Ashley just gets it. From getting to know her patrons, their kids, their orders, and even their nannies, to empowering her partners to make a “commitment” each shift (like learn five customer’s names), Ashley embodies what it means to “bring your human” to work and to life. Erica and Ashley catch up on what it’s like managing a Starbucks in a pandemic, the rituals that Ashley incorporates at her store, and how a passion for people drives everything she does.