Description
This week James apologizes, Darin discovers laptop computers, Garret tries to do less work, and Tyler “uses James as an excuse”. All of that and special guest Ari Gerber discusses being the only female on a leadership team.
Show Notes
“Boiled eggs” in all the forms
Executive Director of People and Investor Relations “Facilitator” ARI upgrades her Apple technology
Oh...and she’s on this week's episode
Update on spreading Jelly with a spoon
Garret’s personal experience
Scoopability vs spreadability and smash factor
Darin finds spoons for jelly a “left handed” experience
He may have been using his left hand
White bread vs wheat or multigrain bread (so many factors here)
Ari may believe that toast and bread are the same thing
Luci the Dog update...Still kicking
Wife’s core values are still a mystery
James wins the aldermanic election (failed to mention “unopposed”)
James still playing his gold plated CEO violin
Top 5% for James - Ari in her pure Quad 1
Strategic Team finishing the support migration to Hubspot
May not be terrible at managing things after all
Product releasing (currently not happening)
Great conversation with Tyler about short term path
“Failed releases” (question the quotes)
Follow the existing rules (documented or not)
Obsessed with Obsidian (note taking app)
Finally remembered that my computer is a laptop
Product L10™ - scored a 4.4
Started with a Todo not done
“Solved after playing my violin”
Support tickets not being solved within SLA’s
Support migration project carries on
Top priority for the company
Expected a lot of negative Zoom calls
Short Term / Long Term plans for support and engineering
Session with James on the Engineering vision
“All the things” have me a little behind
All the walls around budget and plan
Retail and 3PL Sales L10’s™ - scored 4.0 and 3.6
Ari’s D&E was terrible (more from her on that)
Clean approach and sticking to the agenda
Organized all the feedback now onto deciding our approach
Ari - Yes she’s a full participant this week
“I don’t have L10’s™ so no headlines there”
Happy to not have the same meeting all day every day after 3 weeks
No employees scored below a 12 (out of 15)
Realized that Ari and Garret IDS’ing™ about me doesn’t work
Root - Garret doesn’t have the ‘W’ or ‘C’ for managing this seat
Career planning finally got delegated
Finally got over the hump here
Renegotiated the timeline with the entire company
Ari may have just tried to throw in a teaser for next week’s episode
Investor / Funding Update
All fascinating - no conversation has been the same
James (as always, only 1)
I’m so excited to get into Garret not wanting to be your manager
Seems a lot like engineering’s solution of “I’ll just do less work”
My one big headline... pause for a sidebar around EO Forum retreat
It’s proper background to the 1 big headline
Now too the headline “I wanted to come back and apologize for being a miserable ____ the last 8 weeks”
Feeling of tearing down others instead of building us all up together
Wasn’t the failures that had me angry
I was scared in a way I’ve never been scared before
Choice of fear or anger...I chose anger
Who not How led me to some clarity
Focusing on anything but the number one thing I need to focus on is wrong for the company
Back to the headline “I am sorry”
Second Thing (or 1.2) - The thing that needs to be done is clear
Take the emotional side and put it away when it comes to people issues
Are you now clear on, I just need to find the 8, 10, 12 areas of the company to find the “who” for?
Failing younger (or earlier) has less ramifications than failing older (or later)
When do you want to learn the hard lessons
00:55:55 - Topic 2 (1) - Ari is in town (like actually in Chester, IL with James)
What’s it like to be the only female (young relatively speaking) on the leadership team
How do we avoid becoming a company of “30 year old white guys”
This week - moderated by James - An interview of Ari (Q&A - a must listen)
How are you feeling, what’s on your mind?
“I would love to not be the only female of the leadership team”
What was it like to be “just” facilitator Ari, and how has that changed moving into a full participant in that L10?
Learned the value of having a voice and making it heard in an intentional way
As you are approaching your tenth (AKA 1.5) year, you used to introduce yourself as “I don’t know anything about the business” in interviews, do you still feel that way?
“I no longer introduce myself that way… I do know about the business now”
Where are we blind as an organization or executive leadership team? What blind spots do you or have you seen in us when it comes to things that you as a female think about that we as men don’t have to?
Real time story on speaking with investors and the Ari Filter
What do you hear, see, etc. from others within our organization that you may be privy to as the only female on the leadership team? (No details needed here)
One of the few things I love being in the People seat is I tend to get news
You have one of the more interesting college degrees I’ve ever heard of. You light up talking about it. Can you share how experiences in your education have helped you?
“Creativity is taking two things that currently exist and putting them together to create something new”
At the risk of sounding cliche, what’s the biggest hurdle or glass ceiling that you have in front of you, that you are going to bust through, that we as men don’t have to worry about?
“Believe you can or believe you can’t...you’re right”
Teaser - Ari and James planted a seed for a new company today and Ari sees herself as a potential CEO (possible perfect combination)
01:27:40- Questions and Long Answers
01:27:40 - After Show - NADA!
The Credits
Hosts, Garret Richardson, Tyler Samples, Darin Kelkhoff, and James Maes
Show Notes by Garret Richardson
Proofing and Title by Darin Kelkhoff
Editing, Mixing, and Mastering by Brenton Wainscott
