Tea with Rich. Getting Real.

This weeks episode hits on part two of our dialog with Erik Dodier, where he continues to reflect on his first 90 days of retirement, and we get into some deep topics related to the intermingling of our personal and professional journeys.
This weeks conversations touch upon topics like: 

• The need for adaptability in business and personal life
• The significance of focusing on what you love to build a fulfilling life
• Reflecting on their journey of building a legacy through their work
• The importance of recognizing patterns in business and life to make informed decisions
• Rich shares his experience of feeling overwhelmed during his transition from leadership
• The value of mentorship and supporting younger leaders.
• The need to design your life around your passions and interests

We, of course, continue to shoot the sh!t a bit too, per usual.

Peace. -t

...

On this episode Erik Dodier updates us on life 90-days into his retirement from PixelMEDIA/RafterOne, and we explore Erik's transition from a structured work life to a more flexible yet structured personal schedule, where he continues to focus on health, wellness, personal growth and what's next. The trio discusses hobbies, family time, and travel adventures, while also reflecting on the challenges and opportunities that come with retirement. 

Erik emphasizes the importance of staying engaged and finding new ways to contribute to the community, including potential teaching opportunities and personal projects.

Peace. -t

In this episode we welcome Harvey to the pulpit, where we discuss the evolution of the e-commerce landscape, particularly focusing on some deep Demandware history and stories, and the emergence of (and move to support) Shopify in the Enterprise space.

With a combined 60+ years of eCommerce experience between the three of us, there's no shortage of stories.

We reflect on our experiences in the industry, the impact of the post-COVID slowdown on agencies, and the importance of customer-centricity and trust in leadership.

Harvey shares insights from his journey transitioning from brand-side roles to agency leadership, emphasizing the need for empathy and understanding in the agency-client relationship.

The conversation also touches on cultural shifts within organizations and the future of partnerships in the e-commerce space. In this conversation, we delve into various themes surrounding networking, business relationships, and personal growth. We reflect on our experiences in B2B and D2C commerce, the impact of loss on their lives, and the importance of community.

The discussion also touches on career journeys, unexpected paths, and future aspirations, culminating in a rich dialogue about lessons learned and the significance of relationships in both personal and professional contexts.

We'll skip the Chapter listing here as we whipsawed through dozens of topics and reflections on our paths.

About Harvey:

Find him on on LinkedIn folks. His history is to rich to summarize, and too amazing for me to simplify into a few choice sentences. He's a true OG in the total-commerce landscape.

Peace. -t

In this episode of Tea with Rich, we welcome Dylan Runne to share his journey from starting a Business Analyst (ish) at Sapient and Accenture to founding Fenom Digital and eventually selling it to WPP.

He discusses the challenges and successes he faced in the commerce industry, his transition into venture capital with Bambu Ventures, and his current role as CEO of Billfold.

Dylan also opens up about his personal passions, including powerboat racing and cooking, and emphasizes the importance of health and wellness in maintaining a successful career.

In this engaging conversation, the speakers delve into the profound impact of leadership presence on team dynamics, the importance of networking and relationship building in business (even at those late late events), and the critical role of mentorship in personal growth.

They share personal anecdotes about their experiences in leadership roles, the lessons learned from mistakes, and the significance of being aware and empathetic in professional settings.

The discussion emphasizes the value of surrounding oneself with capable individuals and the necessity of being real and authentic in interactions, especially in the age of social media.

Chapters

00:00 - Introductions
02:35 -  The Decision to Start an Agency
08:45 - Landing That First Major Client
09:49 - The Birth of Fenom Digital
11:56 - Sometimes You Have to Live On-site
13:06 - When Global Agencies Doubled Down on Commerce
17:39 - New Beginnings in Venture Capital and Investing
21:02 - Being The New Guy In a New Venture
25:17 - Innovations in Customer Engagement with BambuMeta
30:50 - Staying in Shape with Personal Passions
36:56 - Knowing When to Slow Down and Reset
45:20 - Late Nights as Strategic Networking for High Performers
49:57 - Controlled Chaos at 200MPH
52:19 - Advice for New Entrepreneurs: Surround Yourself with Talent
54:36 - Advice for that Next Big Talent Looking for a Break
59:58 - Get Someone to Believe in You and Start Saying Yes
01:06 - Rich on the Reason He Started Teaching and Mentoring
01:11 - Paying it Forward and Always Being There for Others
01:13 - Closing Comments and Some Shooting the Sh!t

About Dylan Runne:

Dylan is the Founder and former CEO of Fenom Digital, an agency focused on creating and managing enterprise class Commerce sites on the Demandware platform, also formerly known as Salesforce Commerce Cloud. 

Fenom Digital was purchased by WPP in 2023, where Dylan eventually took over all North American Commerce operations for their VML group.

Dylan also founded Fenom Ventures, a privately held investment group, and is currently a general partner at BambuVentures, an investor and board member at BambuMeta, and the acting CEO at Billfold, a POS company based in Brooklyn, NY.

Prior to this he was just a regular dude with a dream to be an entrepreneur, with stints at MediaHive and Accenture as a Solution Strategist, and a BA at Sapient Razorfish. Ish.

You can find him on LinkedIn of course. For the full CV.

Peace. -t

...

In this episode of Tea with Rich, we welcome Erik Dodier, my business partner of 3 decades, who is two days from his retirement after 30 years at the helm of PixelMEDIA (aka RafterOne). 

This episode is a doozy, as I surprise Rich with our guest, and we get into a number of way way back stories about Erik and I as collaborators, business partners, and learning to trust and work with each other.

We start, ish, with a discussion on Erik's upcoming transition from an ultra-structured work-life to the unknowns of retirement, and he shares some his early thoughts on how he may spend his first few weeks and months, and the emotional challenges of stepping away from a long career. The group of us reflect on our personal experiences with retirement, and the anxiety that can accompany significant life changes.

We then, sort of, let Rich take over the Podcast, and ask questions of Erik and I around our personal and working relationship together over three decades, how we got through the hard times, and our thoughts on culture.

Erik Dodier and Rich Lyons reflect on how they met, their journey together in the business world, and the importance of building relationships. We then dive into the dynamics of our partnership, Erik and I, and the magic that was Pixel.

We share insights on overcoming challenges, the evolution of company culture, and personal growth, including the significance of tattoos as a form of self-expression. The discussion continues with an emphasis on the value of trust, communication, and the realities of entrepreneurship, providing listeners with a candid look at our experiences and lessons learned over the years.

Chapters

00:00 - Introductions and Shooting the Sh!t

01:38 - Erik on “Stepping Away" and Transition Plans

04:21 - Potential Hobbies Post-Retirement

09:55 - Eriks Health Gadgets and Wellness Routines

11:09 - After 30 years of work - How do you Make the Transition Out

20:35 - Erik's Discusses his Background and Decision to Step Away from Pixel/RafterOne

31:37 - Navigating Life After Retirement

34:52 - Erik Recalls the First Time He Met Rich Lyons

36:25 - Erik Talks About the Art of Transitioning Clients Between the Two of Us

38:00 - Erik on the First Time TJ/Thomas Swore in Front of Clients

40:27 - The Hidden Magic of Being 50-50 Partners from the Start

43:08 - The Dynamics of Friendship and Business

47:30 - (Q) How Did You Guys Get Through the Hard Times?

54:52 - Perspectives on the Evolution of Company Culture

01:00 - Erik's Talks About His Desire for a Tattoo. Maybe.

01:02 - We Are Constantly Evolving and Maturing. Embrace it.

01:06 - Erik Summarizes His 30 Years in the Entrepreneurial Arc.

01:09 - Closing comments.

Peace. -t

...

In this episode we welcome Mallory Rosen, a long-time friend we met through our Strategic Alliance and Partnership collaborations.

After a good deal of opening banter, our conversation explores themes of partnerships, self-advocacy, and the balance between work and family life.

Mallory discusses her experiences with chronic illness, the importance of mental health, and how her career in partnerships has shaped her perspective on business and relationships.

This episode emphasizes the value of good partnerships and the need for open communication in both personal and professional settings. We each provide a perspectives on the critical role of partnerships in business, emphasizing the importance of communication, enablement, and building trust.

During the Q&A dialogs, Rich and I share personal stories and reflections on our careers, highlighting life lessons and mantras that guide us. The discussion also touches on the challenges of navigating the always pesky work-life balance, especially for working parents, and concludes with book recommendations that have influenced our perspectives.

Chapters

00:00 - Opening Chit-chat and personal anecdotes

01:57 - Babies. Time shifts. Travel packing. And Crosswords.

07:54 - Mallory Shares Her Story

13:05 - Transitioning to Partnerships and Consulting

17:57 - The Importance of Relationships and Trust

20:58 - Finding Downtime and Recharging as a Working Mom

26:48 - Supporting Each Other and Building Strong Partnerships, at Work and at Home

29:11 - Mallory on "I'm only allowed to be messy in my closet."

33:11 - Sidebar - The Great Underwear and Socks Debate

34:14 - Cleanliness Habits and Relationship Compatibility

38:25 - The Importance of Partnerships and Alliances

42:31 - The Three Legs of a Great Partnership Program

46:58 - The Critical Role of Partner Enablement

Q&A Time. Mallory Gets to Probe Rich and Tea

52:47 - What is a Job You Did That is Not on Your Resume

01:02 - What are Some of Your Personal Mantra's

01:14 - Pivoting from Career-focused to a Mom with a Job

01:19 - Making Your Relationship as Parents, Priority #1

01:23 - Final question. What's One Book you Should Read?

01:26 - Closing Comments

A bit about Mallory..

Mallory Rosen,

Director of Strategic Alliances, Hero Digital

Mallory is focused on the company's Salesforce Alliance and GTM Strategy. With a diverse background on the Client, ISV Partner, GSI and Growth Consulting Partner sides of business, Mallory brings a diverse lense to her thinking, collaboration, and overall partnership management approach. Mallory prides herself on being a trusting, loyal and appassional collector of good people, with a track record of success in strategic partnerships. Her number one job is being a mom, a wife and a friend.

You can find her on LinkedIn obvs...

Peace. -t

...

In this episode we welcome back Rob Garf, and get into questions from Rob that we each send time pondering. Like, how we view our purpose in life, and how we stay motivated to succeed.

We start with the usual - shooting the shit, including Rich’s Iceland trip, Tea getting bored on sabbatical, and Rob discussing his dream to live on the Cape. I open up about having never visited the Cape, despite spending may entire life an hour away. 

We then shift the more serious topic of our purpose and how to stay motivated after achieving ‘success’. 

Thomas expresses his desire to be one less worry in peoples day, while Rich talks about the importance of maximizing potential and serving others.  We also discuss the idea of living well and making a positive impact on others. Tea reflects on his current state of zen and contemplates next steps in terms of where to apply his energy to make a difference.

Rob Garf reflects on the importance of work-life balance and being present in all aspects of life, and we spin up a dialog on the myth of what balance really is.

Rob shares a story about meeting the founder of Life is Good for a mentoring moment, and learning about prioritizing family, friends, work, and charity. Rich and Thomas answer a question from Rob on pivotal moments in our careers - where we discuss key turning points with Demandware, and growing through the experience.

Chapters

00:00 - Catching Up and Rich’s Iceland Excursion

05:29 - Signs That I Might be Getting Bored

06:25 - Check-in with Rob Garf, and his Dream To Live on the Cape

07:28 - Rob's Discusses "No Airplane August"

08:55 - Rob Educates Tea on What “The Cape"

12:16 - The Boys Pressuring me to go do Dreamforce

16:16 - Storytime. The Nudist Chased by a Homeless Guy with a Blowtorch in San Francisco

17:32 - Q&A Time - Rob Asks How We View and Define Our Purpose, and Plans for the Future

20:54 - Rich on Purpose, Staying Motivate, Serving Others and Paying It Forward

28:00 - Sidebar - The “I don't know how much time I have left” topic

29:39 - Living Long vs. Living Well

30:48 - Tea Rambles on How He Views His Purpose and Staying Motivated

37:20 - Contemplating Next Steps, and Focusing on Helping Non-profits

43:08 - Using LinkedIn for good, and why we publish there.

44:28 - Rob on Contemplating His Own Values, and Serving Others

47:11 -  Mentorship and Work-Life Balance

52:20 - Q&A - Rob Asks About Key Inflection Points to Success That Stand Out

55:27 - Tea Tells a Series of Early DWRE Days Inflection Point Stories

01:02 - Rich Tells a Few Amazing Inflection Point Stories

01:08 - Rich on early PAB's and a proper Partner and Customer Success Program

01:11 - Closing out and a bit (more) of shooting the shit

Peace. -t

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In this episode of Tea with Rich, we welcome guest Rob Garf, a retail and digital insights legend. This is part one of a two part dialog, and is 100% focus on Rob, his history in commerce, and his current role at Salesforce. 

Rob is currently the VP & GM of Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce.

We begin with the usual shooting the shit, and then move into the more serious topics where Rob shares his background in retail and digital, starting from collaborating with his dad, his early digital days at LIDS (1999, ish) and as an analyst at AMR Research and IBM. Rob also talks about his journey at Demandware (2011) and the challenges they faced before becoming a successful company. The conversation drifts between personal and professional quite a bit, and wraps-up with a discussion about the first we met and plans to record a Part 2 of with Rob. 

The conversation between Rich Lyons, Rob Garf, and Thomas covers various topics, including their experiences with different platforms and services, the importance of building trust and relationships in business, the balance between work and personal life, and the significance of community and authenticity. 

We also touch on the creation of the Garfie and the phenomenon it has become, and the impact of finding your purpose in life. The conversation is filled with personal anecdotes, insights, and a sense of camaraderie.

We end with a promise to shoot a Part 2, soon, and give Rob a chance to ask questions of Rich and Tea.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Welcoming the Guest

09:02 - Rich gets food poisoning at Taylor Swift in Paris

09:50 - Rob Garf Introduces Himself

10:23 - Rob's Background in Retail and Technology

18:02 - How Rob and Tea Met

19:59 - Rob swears for the first time, I'm pretty sure...

20:34 - How Rich and Rob Met

24:01 - Rob on his current role at Salesforce - GM for Retail and Consumer Goods

25:43 - Rob on Industry Insights and Building Trust and Relationships

27:56 - Rob talks about a proud parenting and travel moment

33:36 - Rob explains the Garfie, and finding his persona online

40:06 - Closing chatter and PSA - there will be another Garfie episode

Peace. -t

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In this episode of Tea with Rich, we are joined by Frank De Maria, the Vice President of Digital Engineering and Platforms at Miller Knoll. Frank is a brand-side legend, and one of the most experienced, kind, and bright leaders in the technology and e-commerce field. 

We of course being by - you know it - shooting the shit and catching up before Frank shares his story and background in the industry, where he started as a developer and eventually moved into a number of senior leadership roles. Frank touches on the importance of having in-house expertise and control over his technology stack, as well as the challenges of standardizing design systems across multiple brands. 

We then get into a dialog on the role of a leader (e.g. blocker and tackle for your team), the most productive hours of our days, and the constant challenge of balancing work and family, with an emphasis on the the importance of loyalty, hard work, and building strong relationships. 

We get into a some gnarly questions (see Chapters below), including franks perspective on maturing the tech stack, how we deal with failure and what’s next for me (Tea) - which is a challenge to answer so I basically ramble on the reality of my head space right now, how we handle failure, and what we do to reset/recharge - and how we manage the short, mid and long resets.

We end with Franks final question for us - our perspective on the state of the Digital Agency/SI (and ISV) industry and the what opportunities might lie ahead for them.

Chapters

00:00 - Welcome and Shooting the Sh!t

07:00 - The time Tea tried to steal Frank from Rich’s

08:00 - Frank De Maria Introduction

09:16 - Rich and Franks first meeting - 25 brands launched in a year

11:41 - Frank on how his journey started with late 90’s web production work

16:29 - Frank tells the story of meeting Tea (aka TJ, Thomas, etc.)

20:03 - That one time Tea talked Rich out of a Vegas Tattoo

23:37 - Frank talks about his team at Miller-Knoll, and Experience Design Collaboration

30:09 - A day in the life of Frank

32:17 - Open dialog - our thoughts on the most productive hours of the day

33:31 -(Q) Tea asks Franks advice for the next generation of leaders in our space?

35:00 - Imposter syndrome, just wanting to do a good job, having an impact and helping others

40:38 - (Q) Teas asks Franks perspective on tech stack maturation (e.g. moving toward composable)

47:40 - Commercial break, ish - Rich and Tea talk about their Herman Miller chairs

51:05 - Rich and Frank talk the importance of strong relationships

54:14 - The sacrifices we have made to be successful - and the urban myth of balance

57:02 - (Q) Frank asks Rich about ‘the late 90's bankruptcy story’

01:06 - (Q) Frank asks Tea - what's next for you? Everyone wants to know.

01:10 - Everyones superpower should be networking (and the power of making introductions)

01:14 - (Q) Frank asks us how we reset and recharge, and how we handle failure at this stage of our careers?

01:15 - Tea goes first and answers the reset and failure-handling questions 

01:21 - How Rich resets, and deals with failure

01:30 - The BEST way to disarm a leader when you need help...

01:32 - (Q) Frank asks us what we think about the current state of the Agency industry

About Frank

Frank is the Vice President of Digital Engineering and Platforms at MillerKnoll (NASDAQ: MLKN, https://www.millerknoll.com/) supporting its collective of dynamic brands. In this role, Frank oversees the technologies responsible for driving the global digital and retail business, including systems such as ERP, WMS, POS, OMS, CRM, and various web, commerce, content, marketing, and integration technologies supporting both B2B and B2C businesses. Prior to joining MillerKnoll, Frank spent over sixteen years in progressively more senior technical roles at consumer goods giants Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL) and Jarden Corporation (NYSE:JAH) transitioning from hands-on engineering roles and into leadership roles.

Peace. -t

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In this not-so-short Rich and I catch up on our recent activities, including my evolving golf game. Rich decides to inject a PSA slash commercial break on skincare, where we comically get into our routines, including beard and hair. Us talking about skincare is probably worth the listen, as I butcher a few words and make up some news ones.

We then get into a dialog around our recent trips, like Rich in Paris, Ireland and Malta, and my recent trip to Stagecoach and The Robb Report Culinary Masters event in Cali, where our team won the cooking completion under the tutelage of Chef Jamal James Kent, a Michelin starred legend, whom sadly passed away unexpectedly the day before Fathers Day.

This. Like most of our shorts. Is Rich and I just shooting the shit and catching up with each other, talking past guests, and a bit on our industry, a few of my recent LinkedIn posts, and our love of the SFCC platform. We end the freestyle session with me admitting I joined a proper Country Club. Like. Super proper. 

We then get into our favorite part of these gatherings. Random questions for each other. If you only listen to a small part of the show, head down to the 29th minute - where Rich and I get real with each other.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Catching Up

01:02 - Commercial Break. Sunscreen. PCP's and Skincare freestyle.

03:15 - More Skincare chatter. BBL. Moxy. And Cryofacials. 

08:05 - Forehead real estate. And Beard care.

11:50 - We will not be talking about my doctors appt.

13:50 - Taylor Swift and Jelly Roll // aka vacation updates.

16:13 - Tea talks about his trip to the Robb Report Culinary Masters Event

21:50 - Music Festivals and Appreciating Performances

24:28 - The Impact (good and bad) of recent Social Media Posts

29:02 - (Q) What's one thing you wish people would stop doing?

34:36 - (Q) What's one of your worst fears?

41:30 - The burden and gift of accountability - to our Customers and our Staff 

45:06 - The Power and Responsibility of Entrepreneurship

Peace. -t

...