People at Work

A business that tells lighthearted romantic stories for a living must have a distinct advantage: storytelling. At Meet Cute this couldn’t be more true.

CEO Naomi Shah joined me on People at Work to talk about why the human story of every person at Meet Cute is critical to their culture. From the very beginning Naomi wanted to build an organization based on human connection and care, starting with each individual’s needs and circumstances.

But, actions speak louder than words (or stories). For Naomi and her team, it’s crucial that the lived experience actually supports her beliefs about what people need to thrive at work.

Even though Meet Cute exists in a traditionally unforgiving environment with deadlines and demands, Naomi emphasizes the mental health and wellness of every person. Examples of real actions to support this include mental health days, work “love” language that declares working styles and preferences, and being open and supportive of therapy blocks in calendars.

Naomi generously gets into details of this and more in our time together. This is a refreshing conversation for leaders everywhere, especially those who are currently trying to make a distributed model work while keeping people and their wellbeing front and centre.

About our guest:

Naomi Shah is the founder + CEO of Meet Cute, a venture-backed media company that has produced over 300 original light-hearted romantic comedies in podcast form. In high school, Naomi won the Inaugural Google Science Fair at the age of 16 and did a TEDtalk about her research, and placed 1st at the Intel Science Fair four years in a row.

You can connect with Naomi on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/naomicshah, on Instagram @nshahster, on Twitter @naomicshah, and on Facebook facebook.com/listenmeetcute.

From pursuing an MBA at MIT, to Vipassana and 10 days of silence in India, then back to a pressure cooker job at McKinsey, Rahul Kulkarni knows a thing or two about dealing with stress and taking care of your mental well-being.

Rahul founded Sukhi to help answer a simple question. How do we reimagine what work-life balance looks like in the modern work era? Sukhi provides scientifically backed, month-long courses called Journeys that focus on well-being, productivity, and community.

Rahul and I chatted about how the pandemic has brought mental wellness and burnout to the forefront of the conversation and how being a good leader is no longer just about the productivity of your team. Instead, it’s about showing up for your employees and showing that you care about them as humans and not just task rabbits. We also discuss how inequity can creep into hybrid work and some steps you can take to make sure fully remote employees are treated the same way as in-office employees.

About our guest:

Prior to Sukhi, Rahul was a strategy consultant with McKinsey, a global health official, and facilitated group therapy sessions in Boston. Following mindfulness training in India, he looked to combine his passion for analytics, diversity, and mental resilience to support workplace connection. When not on a Zoom call, you can see him playing guitar in his 90’s cover band - Matchbox 30ish.

You can connect with Rahul on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/rahul-kulkarni-6b084b44.

The “humanization” of work must surely be one of the leading themes in the discussion around the 21st century workforce. We have the ongoing global health crisis to thank for that. The pandemic has at least one endearing quality: it’s helped us accelerate the importance and care of people in the workplace.

But smart leaders like Phyllis Reid-Jarvis have been thinking about the humanization of work for some time. Phyllis believes that we’re finally shifting from performative to authentic work environments. Here, people can be more demanding and intentional about how they want to work and what they want from their leaders.

In this episode of People at Work, Phyllis shares her perspective on how to practically build people-centric workplaces and elevate leadership acumen to rise to the challenges ahead of us thanks to new ways of working.

About our guest: 

Phyllis Reid-Jarvis helps leaders use the principles of Conscious Leadership to create diverse, inclusive and psycho-socially safe and healthy workplaces. She is a proud Winnipegger that enjoys walks by the Red River, in the Exchange District or at the Forks, followed by a meal at one of the many amazing restaurants in the area!

You can connect with Phyllis on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ultimatepotentials and on Instagram @ultimatepotentials.

Resources:

The Ultimate Potentials resources page includes their introductory Managing a Remote Workforce manual.

Be honest: do you actually know what your organization’s purpose asks you to do? Many of us have spent hours articulating what our purpose is but we haven’t taken the next step to put it into action.

Chip Walker and Liza Haffenberg of StrawberryFrog are on a mission to change this. Their concept of “movement thinking” helps people galvanize around their company’s purpose and spur actions in support of it. They believe a movement is purpose activated.

In this climate of social impact and values alignment for employees and consumers, it’s time for all of us to take a stand on what our organizations are here to do. If you can mobilize your purpose into a movement, your whole company and everything you care about, will thrive.

About our guests:

Liza Haffenberg is a movement maker with a passion for helping companies activate their people through purpose – galvanizing employees, changing culture and driving growth. Heading StrawberryFrog’s Movement Inside™, Liza develops people-first solutions that ignite positive change for employees while solving business problems.

You can connect with Liza on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/liza-haffenberg-78a50622, on Instagram at @lizahaffenberg, on Facebook at facebook.com/liza.haffenberg, and on Twitter @Lizahaffenberg.

Chip Walker is recognized for his expertise in brand creation and re-invention, and has led the charge in transforming brands such as Goldman Sachs, Lexus, Bank of America, Jim Beam, and Heineken. Chip is a speaker, columnist, and the author of the new book Activate Brand Purpose which he co-wrote with Scott Goodson – Founder & CEO of StrawberryFrog.

You can connect with Chip on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/chipwalker, on Instagram @walker.chip, on Facebook at facebook.com/chip.walker.nyc, and on Twitter @ChipWalkerNYC.

Resources:

The 7 Keys of Chip's Book

As a Dad to two young boys, it is more than a full-time job taking care of them. Between soccer practice, baseball practice, swimming lessons, and play dates I am basically their chauffeur. I’m fortunate that I have a lot of help from their grandparents and my wife, but not everyone has that support system and juggling two full-time jobs (parent + your career) is incredibly difficult. Employers need to understand that and leaders need to be a support system.

Heather Odendaal is the co-founder and CEO of WNORTH which is a global network and community of women aiming for, or already on, a senior executive leadership track. Through her relationship with WNORTH members, Heather has heard all about the good and the bad when it comes to how employers have and haven’t supported mothers and women of color in the workplace. I had the opportunity to chat with her and get her thoughts on what to expect as we slowly transition to whatever this new normal of hybrid work is.

We spoke about why prescribing a rigid schedule to employees just doesn’t work anymore, how we should expect a dip in productivity as we transition back into the workplace, and why it’s important to schedule meetings and other key events at times when working parents are able to attend.

About our guest:

Meet Heather Odendaal—an accomplished Canadian entrepreneur, brand builder and event producer whose experience in corporate environments inspired her to create and co-found WNORTH, a global organization dedicated to the development of women mid-career on a trajectory towards senior executive leadership.

Heather currently resides in Whistler, BC, and is a Director on the board of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce. In her spare time, you can find her judging local food & wine festivals, and skiing with her husband and two children.

You can connect with Heather on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/heatherodendaal.

Our original Jostle website in 2012 was focused on the concept of empowering your employees. Which is why I was really looking forward to chatting with Avnish Goyal, Founder & Chair at Hallmark Care Homes, about his Empowerment Days program.

Avnish is the type of leader who very strongly believes in empowering all of his employees to be better versions of themselves. He runs Empowerment Days which are when he gets hundreds of his employees in a room to focus on personal development. One of the most interesting parts to me is that he actually opens it up to his competitors and colleagues in his sector to bring their employees as well.

Avnish and I chatted about where his passion for personal development came from, why it’s a never ending journey, and how he’s managed to use things he’s learned in his personal and professional life.

About our guest:

Avnish Goyal is the Founder & Chair of industry-leading care provider, Hallmark Care Homes. He is also the Chair of Care England, an Advisory Board Director, Patron of The Care Workers' Charity, and Ambassador of E2Exchange and the Alzheimer’s Society. Avnish founded the Hemraj Goyal Foundation in memory of his late father, supporting charities on issues such as trafficking, menstrual dignity, empowerment of women, and education of children from disadvantaged backgrounds both in the UK and abroad.

You can connect with Anvish on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/avnishgoyal.

Learning the basics of communication is key to having productive conversations. This includes active listening, giving feedback, and identifying stakeholders. But is that enough to really get your ideas heard and gain traction?

No, says Dr. Nicole Tschierske. We can’t stop there. If we want to rally people around our ideas, we need to go beyond the basics. Now we get into choice of words, desired outcomes, tone, timing, and more, to help us engage and convince our audience.

If you’re ready to go to the next level with your communication, give this episode of People at Work a listen. If we all communicate with clear purpose as Nicole suggests, perhaps we’d get more done and be happier at the same time.

About our guest:

As a Scientist and Positive Psychology Coach, Nicole helps her clients strategically turn their career frustrations into a renewed love for their work. She’s a huge fan of Mary Poppins who inspires her to bring magical moments to the work she does.

You can connect with Nicole on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/drnicoletschierske.

Resources:

‘Women in STEM, Reimagined’ is a free masterclass series dedicated to helping participants stand out with confidence, become the go-to expert in their area, and spark their next-level career move. It’s open each March and September and you can get on the waitlist at womeninstem-reimagined.com

If you’ve been working this past year and a half, you know that where and how we work has changed. But, do you know that career management has had a seismic shift too?

It stands to reason that if employees are expecting changes in work habits, recognition, and care for their individual needs, that attitudes towards careers are changing too.

Denise Cooper joins me on People at Work to talk about the new landscape of career management. The basis of employment has always been a contract for work in exchange for pay. Climbing the career ladder meant increasing pay with increasing importance or status in an organization.

Those days are gone. Now, as all things job and career become more human-centric, we must transcend the contractual way of thinking. A key shift according to Denise, is understanding that all workers are knowledge workers (not just those who work in offices).

Once we do that, we open up a much more diverse and engaging conversation about career development. In this conversation, Denise encourages us to question performance standards and reward systems, see organizations as communities working together, and encourage space for individual stories.

Whether you’re a manager or an individual contributor, the memo is here: career development has changed. Take a listen to Denise’s perspective on how we use this shift to showcase our own brilliance and that of our team.

About our guest:

Denise Cooper is an Executive Trainer with 25 years experience in Human Resources, apprentice patio builder, and amateur gardener.

You can connect with Denise on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/denisecooper and on Instagram @denisecooperinc.

Resources:

Denise's book, Remarkable Leadership Lessons, is available on Amazon.

Her podcast, Closing the Gap with Denise Cooper, is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Things are changing at work, and they’re changing fast. It’s not only the overnight shift to remote work that’s keeping leaders up at night.

It’s also the new landscape of employee-powered workplaces. Here, employees care about what their organization stands for and how it contributes to the greater good.

Rachel Klausner is so invested in the idea of social impact as a key driver of all things good for business (most importantly, its people), that she started a social impact platform called Millie.

Rachel’s keeping a keen eye on what’s happening in the realm of social impact, and she joined me on People at Work to emphasize what leaders should be focusing on. We chat about generational shifts (PSA: the philanthro kids are here), why employee resource groups matter, starting small is better than not starting, and giving the keys to passionate individuals.

Now’s the time to make social impact a firm part of your culture, not a convenient add on to serve your marketing agenda. Listen in and hear why and how you can build authentic and credible social impact with your organization. Your people are counting on it.

About our guest:

Rachel Klausner is the founder and CEO of Millie, a social impact platform bringing giving and volunteering to workplaces of all sizes. When she’s not running a small tech company or podcasting under a blanket, Rachel is hiking with her daughters (read: bribing them with Skittles up mountains) or trying new art mediums to amatuer-out with.

You can connect with Rachel on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/millie-giving.

Employee engagement is something companies have focused on for years, but when you look at the Gallup polls and the research we’ve barely moved the needle?

Why is that?

One big reason is that a lot of it focuses on the company instead of the person. Employee engagement is always tied to productivity, profitability, and what leaders want to see from their engaged employees. It’s a selfish view and we are likely better off focusing on how to increase the happiness of our employees in the workplace.

On this episode I spoke with Eric Karpinski who is the author of Put Happiness to Work. He spoke about how to develop habits to improve social connection and deal with negative emotions.

Here are just a few of the tips he shared on how to improve social connection:

There’s so much more to this episode and some great tips for dealing with negative emotions. I guarantee you’ll get something valuable out of this episode so give it a listen.

About our guest:

Eric Karpinski has been on the cutting edge of bringing positive psychology tools to workplaces for over 10 years. Eric is a key member of Shawn Achor’s GoodThink team, trained as a scientist at Brown University and has an MBA from the Wharton School. He and his wife are regular work-advice columnists on Psychology Today and his new book, Put Happiness to Work, is available now.

You can connect with Eric on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/erickarpinski.