The Combustion Chronicles

By Shawn NasonBusiness Education Management

The Combustion Chronicles episodes

November 16, 2022People, Culture, Engagement, & Experience (with Cheryl Whiting-Kish)
What does it mean to optimize the employee experience at your company?
While many corporations spend money and time marketing their business to consumers, can that same effort and intention be applied to making your workplace a suitable and appealing place to be?
Beyond this, what does it look like to lead a team well, affirm their stories, maximize their potential, and equip them with the tools to succeed?
Shawn Nason speaks with Cheryl Whiting-Kish on today’s episode to discuss her beginning as a Hooters Girl, the leadership experience she gained on the way to becoming HOA Brands’ current Chief of People Officer, and more.

In This Episode
(2:16) Cheryl discusses how her beginning influenced where she is today
(3:56) How restaurants can improve the employee experience
(5:59) Cheryl recalls a time when this experience mentality made a difference
(8:09) Cheryl’s role as a consultant on a Hooters casino project
(10:55) What she learned from working in Operations
(13:08) How executives can push ahead and move into the future
(15:39) Preconceived notions about the Hooters brand
(19:55) Best advice Cheryl received regarding leadership
(21:17) The Combustion Questions
What We Learned From Cheryl
Businesses have to put money and effort into making a workplace and employee experience optimal and appealing.
It’s important to pay attention to who people are as individuals and their potential.
Read, research, and stay on top of what future generations like and want. Build those things into your programs NOW.
Shine a light on the stories of your team members.
Know thyself and that you are amazing!

Notable Quotes
[04:47] - “If you want to get the results that you’re going for externally, then we have to make it just as much fun, just as appealing, just as exciting as we would to the external customers.”

[05:17] - “Experiences drive beliefs, and beliefs drive behaviors.”

[07:22] - "What really drives us as human beings is knowing that we're part of something bigger than ourselves."

[20:18] - “We cannot lead if we don’t start with self first.”

Our Guest
Cheryl Whiting-Kish is the Chief People Officer at HOA Brands, which operates and franchises close to 400 Hooters restaurants in 38 states. With a background in consulting and leadership, her focus is identifying talent and giving team members the space and freedom to shine, grow, and become whomever they want to be, wherever their path leads them.

Resources & Links
Cheryl Whiting-Kish
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-whiting-kish-0ba7b01

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
25 min
November 09, 2022Magical Moments, Fearless Impact, and Jumping into the Friction (with Robin Daniels)
What does product marketing have to do with customer experience?
It’s not enough that customers are aware of your brand’s existence, as a marketer, you have to know your product really well, experience the end-to-end process, and figure out a way to make the consumers fall in love with what you do.
In this episode, Shawn Nason and Robin Daniels discuss a marketer’s role in ensuring a good customer experience, leading with positive and fearless impact, and providing magical moments to your consumers.

In This Episode
(02:20) - Robin’s 2.5 IPOs
(05:34) - From converting a prospect to ensuring a good customer experience
(07:31) - The best kind of customer experience
(10:37) - Robin’s long journey leading to his current role
(14:32) - The difference between understanding a brand’s existence vs falling in love with what the brand does
(19:52) - Merging the roles of CMOs and Chief Experience Officers
(23:48) - How can organizations help develop radical relationships?
(29:24) - Robin’s advice to his younger self from 20 years ago
(31:51) - The Combustion Questions
What we learned from Robin
The need for marketers to experience the end-to-end process.
Understanding what customer experience is about – focusing on their experience, not our experience.
Being an easy partner to work with is also an important part of customer experience.
The best marketing engine you can create is word of mouth.
Your communication skills will either make you succeed or fail in business.

Notable Quotes
[06:18] - “The best marketers I’ve known, they also take the time to learn the product and stay with it.”

[07:34] - “The best marketing and the best kind of customer experience is about, how do you remove the friction points at every step of the way?”

[11:22] - “I was always more driven by the potential of what could be, than the fear of just staying stale.”

[20:01] - “Experience is such a part of creating a brand that people fall in love with, but also creating very strong word of mouth.”

[29:32] - “If you really wanna see your career take off, it doesn’t happen if you just do the bare minimum. You have to go all in.”

Our Guest
Robin Daniels is a three-time Chief Marketing Officer, and a veteran of 2.5 IPOs, and currently serves as an advisor to fast-growth companies around the world. He spent more than 20 years in marketing and growth leadership roles at such companies as Salesforce, Box, LinkedIn, Matterport, and WeWork. His areas of expertise include product marketing, brand-building, and sales transformation, among many others.

Resources & Links
Robin Daniels
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robingdaniels/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
37 min
November 02, 2022Vision Boards, Bridge Builders, & Mushrooming Collaboratives (with Cassandra Crowe)
How can we elevate the human experience in healthcare?
COVID-19 has immensely affected the healthcare system, but how can it shift from the changes brought by the pandemic? Hospitals and systems really need to think about the experience of the patients, especially today in this new generated focus.
So what is the role of Chief Experience Officers in breaking down these silos in healthcare? Is there still a space for collaboratives? How can we keep the human experience at the forefront?
Join Shawn Nason as he talks to Cassandra Crowe to learn more.

In This Episode
(02:17) - Cassandra’s transition to Sharp HealthCare in 2020
(05:42) - Breaking down the silos in the health system
(10:08) - Cassandra’s childhood dream, and her journey to becoming a CXO
(14:09) - Working in an organization that does experience as a strategy
(15:50) - The most important thing Cassandra learned as a certified patient experience professional
(18:53) - How can we keep the human experience at the forefront?
(21:15) - An experience idea that healthcare should emulate from another industry
(22:59) - The best advice Cassandra has ever received about leadership
(24:11) - The Combustion Questions
What we learned from Cassandra
Experience officers as bridge builders, dot connectors, and collaborative formers.
You should expect good service when you walk into a healthcare organization.
Experience is connected to everything that you do.
In terms of creating a good experience, a lot of it is intuitive and based on regulations.
The need to put experience design methodology at the forefront of your brain in everything we do.

Notable Quotes
[08:25] - “Our job is to make sure the work is meaningful and connected to a bigger strategic objective.”

[16:27] - “In the healthcare space, letters behind your name mean a lot to certain people.”

[17:29] - “If you’re not sure where I fit, then we won’t ever get to success.”

[23:01] - “You don’t have to have a title to be a leader, you have to have heart for people.”

Our Guest
Cassandra Crowe serves as chief experience officer at Sharp HealthCare, her latest stop in 20+ years of leadership in patient experience and service excellence. She is a dynamic professional with a proven track record of elevating the human experience through collaborative relationships, and high-impact strategies and initiatives.

Resources & Links
Cassandra Crowe
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandracrowemba/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 min
October 26, 2022The Principles of a Priceless Customer Experience (with Greg Boullin)
If you want to build an outstanding Experience Ecosystem™, understanding your customers is critical.
But this is often easier said than done. Data and research can be difficult to mine for the right insights. Monitoring the metrics of a product life cycle can take your focus away from the end consumer big picture.
Company leaders need to learn the importance of keeping their focus on the needs of the people they serve, finding the right problem, and designing the solutions for it.
What are the principles of a priceless customer experience? How can you understand your customers more? Is there a place for maverick-minded people in the financial industry? Shawn Nason talks to Greg Boullin to learn more.

In This Episode
(02:19) - Greg recalls the best day he’s had at MasterCard
(03:57) - The key elements of good in-person research
(09:17) - Using experience design to be a force for good
(13:09) - MasterCard is more than just a credit card company
(14:56) - Greg’s advice to leaders of B to C to B companies
(17:01) - Maverick-minded people in the financial industry
(19:09) - How can we create more human obsession in the financial industry?
(20:44) - The best advice Greg has ever received about leadership
(22:36) - The Combustion Questions
What we learned from Greg
The importance of listening, observing, and trying it yourself when doing research.
Act with purpose, lead with the heart, and make a positive impact.
CX is about remaining genuinely focused on the needs of the people that you serve.
The purpose of a business is to create a customer.
The need to understand and respect different cultures.

Notable Quotes
[07:55] - “If you get more participation from engineers, product managers, executives, the investment follows.”

[10:23] - “It’s time for doing well by doing good to become business as usual.”

[14:57] - “Ultimately, you need to be focused on what delivers value for the end consumer.”

[17:40] - “Maverick mindset allows us to accelerate vitality for the business.”

[22:00] - “Get experiences of lots of different cultures and that will accelerate your learning and your career potential as it relates to leadership.”

Our Guest
Greg Boullin is the Senior Vice President of Experience and Innovation at MasterCard. Greg and his team are charged with de-risking the introduction of new products and services through customer-centric research and insights in close collaboration with experience design, engineering, and product teams.

Resources & Links
Greg Boullin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregboullin/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 min
October 19, 2022The Secret Sauce for Designing for Humans (with Aarthi Murali)
If you get the human experience right, you’ll get the numbers that you need.
Customers and employees should never be disconnected in any way, shape, or form, no matter what industry you’re in. It is crucial for leaders of organizations to think about how they can create delightful experiences for human beings that engage with their brands.
The question is, what is the secret sauce for designing for humans? What does it mean to have an outside-in approach? How do we pull the three concepts of employee experience, customer experience, and brand experience together?
Join Shawn Nason and Aarthi Murali as they discuss all this and more.

In This Episode
(02:11) - What does Aarthi’s average week look like?
(05:02) - Aarthi’s approach to human experience
(07:53) - Should the Chief Customer Experience Officer report to the CEO at an organization?
(10:17) - The outside-in approach versus the inside-out approach
(13:22) - Why Aarthi joined M&T Bank
(17:34) - Aarthi’s journey and how it influenced her role today as a Chief Customer Experience Officer
(22:10) - The advice Aarthi would give to people who want to be in a similar role in the industry
(23:35) - What is Aarthi’s next big idea?
(25:45) - The Combustion Questions
What we learned for Aarthi
In any industry, you can’t decouple customers and employees.
The outside-in approach – putting ourselves in an empathetic lens.
The further away you go from customer-facing roles, your customers tend to be different.
What's most important is to think about beliefs and behaviors.
The Chief Experience Officer role should be responsible for pulling together the three concepts of experience: employee, customer, and brand.

Notable Quotes
[06:25] - “I've been very much on this mission to connect the dots and make sure that when we think about experiences, it's human experiences and designed for humans.”

[09:14] - “It's incredibly important that the (Experience Officer) role is empowered, has complete decision rights and has full empowerment to drive the change.”

[12:31] - “Experiences are a set of choices that you allow the customers to make that delight them.”

[15:29] - “It is very important for every single employee in that journey from front to back to connect to understand their piece of that journey.”

[22:11] - “One of the things I would say is incredibly important in any role, especially for this role, would be to have an incredibly open mind and a growth mindset.”

Our Guest
Aarthi Murali is M&T Banks’ first Chief Customer Experience Officer. She focuses on enabling teams across the enterprise to design delightful end-to-end experiences for customers, while building out capabilities to support them.
She is a customer fanatic at heart and in practice, and believes that taking an outside-in approach is key to making a difference in people’s lives.

Resources & Links
Aarthi Murali
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarthi-murali-0a6b90/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 min
October 12, 2022Stitching Together Relationship-Centered Experiences (with Fred Gerantabee)
A consumer’s first exposure to the brand is always important. With every new generation that comes up, brands should never assume that these people already know what you’re offering to them.
How do you create that first touch in trying to bring a customer into the fold? How do the three pillars of content, messaging and value work together to build the right experience? What is an “experience toolkit,” and how can you use it to strengthen multiple verticals across your entire Experience Ecosystem™?
Join Shawn Nason and Fred Gerantabee explore all this and more.

In This Episode
(02:23) - Fred’s experience of diving into a new industry with his foundational toolkit
(06:17) - The right product, right message, and the right experience
(09:34) - How do you build the right experience for your customers?
(14:30) - Fred’s transition from the tech industry to becoming a CXO
(19:08) - How Fred saw technology outside of a box
(22:15) - Beating the adoption curve in digital innovation
(23:49) - How becoming a CXO culminated everything Fred has done in his career
(25:10) - Fred’s advice to someone starting out in experience design
(27:04) - The Combustion Questions
What we learned from Fred
You have to be very much forward facing with consumers.
Understanding what is the environment in which you’re working
The success of things should always come from a collective effort
The CXO is the connector in any organization
Always think about what you would want to see as a shopper.

Notable quotes
[06:49] - “If it is something where you are bringing consumers into a new category, how do you convince them that it’s the right time to enter and it’s the right product to meet?”

[09:48] - “The success of things that I look to bring to the market are not solely mine.”

[12:03] - “It’s for me to work with my colleagues and create those relationships that we embark on together to say, to achieve these things, we need to do all of this together congruently.”

[21:33] - “The evolution of your brand is not just about yet another campaign or another stunt. It is about creating the coolest products that you can put out in a number of channels in the market.”

[23:56] - “To be a CXO, you have to definitely be a generalist in many senses. You have to understand how the different pieces come together.”

Our guest
Fred Gerantabee is the CXO of FGX International, which is part of eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica. He is an award-winning technologist, author and executive whose career has spanned the client, platform, and agency worlds across a variety of verticals.
During stints at Walt Disney Internet Group, WPP, and FGX, Fred has focused intensely on leveraging digital platforms, product development, and brand to create amazing first-touch experiences for consumers.

Resources & Links
Fred Gerantabee
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredgerantabee/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
32 min
October 05, 2022Weaving, Disruption, and Purpose (with Antonia Hock)
One of the many important things that businesses need to learn is to have the right discipline in knowing your signature identity as a brand. Are you the disruptor, or are you being disrupted? If your answer is neither, that is going to be a big problem.
How do you build an experience-based brand? How do you make your employees and leaders more productive? And most importantly, how do you weave purpose into leadership?
Join Shawn Nason as he talks to trailblazer and acclaimed futurist, Antonia Hock.

In This Episode
(03:25) - You’re either disrupting or being disrupted
(04:35) - Having a signature identity and building your brand around it
(06:23) - Building an experience-based brand and investing in customer experience
(08:21) - The future of consumer behavior and what it means for businesses
(12:43) - How customer centricity came into focus on Antonia’s journey
(14:55) - Having a maverick in C-suites of established companies today
(17:38) - How can leaders within an organization create better experiences all around?
(20:42) - Leading with the purpose behind the work
(23:58) - The Combustion Questions
What we learned from Antonia
If you’re doing customer experience as a program, you’re going to lose.
COVID allowed us to reimagine connections
Invest in career development and employee development
Think about purpose and how to weave it from top to bottom
Having a questioning mindset that is tied to purpose

Notable quotes
[07:23] - “When you think about an experience-based brand, that is a leadership team that is thinking about the consumer first and building it into everything they do.”

[10:01] - “More and more businesses are exploring this concept of purpose. That's another great consumer behavior trend.”

[16:19] - “If you're going to embrace a maverick, you have to be ready for what they're bringing in their toolkit.”

[19:23] - “Invest in great skill development and in portable things that make your employees more productive and leaders more productive.”

[20:42] - “Leading with the purpose behind the work gets at the root of a lot of things that teams are really looking for right now.”

Our guest
Antonia Hock is a trailblazer and acclaimed futurist in the world of organizational transformation, leadership excellence, and building experience-based brands. Her career is rooted in building cultures of customer-centricity, implementing game-changing leadership strategy, and innovating customer experiences, all with an emphasis on tangible results and lasting impact.
Before launching Antonia J.A. Hock & Associates as a global consulting firm focused on transformational leadership and innovation, Antonia spent six years as the Global Head of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center. Her FutureForward™ program is a practical and actionable approach focused on leadership development, the future of consumer behavior, and how to navigate disruption.

Resources & Links
Antonia Hock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonia-hock/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
29 min
September 28, 2022Finding the ‘Why’ Behind CX (with Gene Lee)
If you went to two different coffee shops that both had the same quality of coffee for the same price, which would you choose over the other? And more importantly – why?
It all comes down to the customer experience – and being able to answer “why” is the key to any company’s CX. Join Shawn Nason and Gene Lee to discover how employee trust, culture and buy-in impact CX, why good CX is more human-obsessed than customer-obsessed, how to start figuring out the answer to your business’ “why,” and more.

In this episode
(02:22) - Explaining the value of CX
(04:21) - Everybody needs to be part of customer experience
(05:03) - Building the trust in an organization
(06:44) - The mistakes that Gene went through, and how he was able to turn things right
(12:13) - How Gene’s previous career experiences led him to his current role in CX
(19:46) - Creating more human obsession in the industry
(24:14) - Gene’s advice to himself as he was starting out his journey in CX
(25:26) - The Combustion Questions
What we learned from Gene
Once you get past the “why” and buy-in, it then becomes about trust.
Adoption is key, not just the understanding of concepts.
Having the right culture is what it takes to get CX done
The importance of empathy and understanding what your customers go through.

Notable quotes
[05:09] - “Once you have the trust, the who, when and how, becomes a lot easier.”
[05:33] - “You gotta build your trust with your peers, stakeholders, and partners.”
[08:03] - “Don’t fall in love with the tool and try to convince the organization, use it and show them the value of it.”
[21:05] - “Bring the customer in as you concept and co-create. Be closer to the customer.”
[23:13] - “You have to go slow to move fast and really understand the problem and understand what areas of experience that we can move the needle.”

Our guest
Gene Lee is the Vice President of experience design at Autodesk where he leads a talented, multidisciplinary team responsible for delivering a seamless end-to-end customer experience across the entire digital customer lifecycle.
Previously, he served as chief experience officer at Mailchimp, and also had the opportunity to work at Sony PlayStation, Nickelodeon, Scholastic, Landor, Y&R, among many other great brands.

Resources & Links
Gene Lee
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gene337/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 min
September 21, 2022Shifting from Patient Experience to Human Experience (with Nicole Cable)
In every industry, there’s always more than one type of person, customer or title that helps shape the Experience Ecosystem™. In healthcare, it’s been known as “the patient experience” – but now, as leaders begin to look at the way providers, employees, patients and their families all impact a hospital’s ecosystem, the human experience has become more apt.
Why is focusing on the human experience critical in every industry? How do you measure the value and ROI of such a subjective thing in a metrics-obsessed world? What do you need to know to leverage the human experience in your company’s ecosystem? Join Shawn Nason and Nicole Cable to learn more.

In this episode
(01:57) What drew Nicole back to healthcare
(05:09) What human experience looks like in a healthcare setting
(10:30) Keeping leadership focused on human experience, not just metrics
(16:43) The ROI of experience in healthcare
(22:15) How diversity helps an organization stay human-obsessed
(26:04) Nicole’s advice for those in CX
(29:04) The Combustion questions
What we learned from Nicole
Connect with and learn from other human-obsessed individuals in your field.
Diversity matters, and helps you learn from others with unique or different experiences.
Everybody’s experience – not just the patient – matters in the healthcare Experience Ecosystem™.

Notable quotes
[06:02] – “The one thing that we did religiously was our team members always came first. So I am of the mindset that if you don't take care of the team members, they're not gonna take care of a patient.”
[13:24] – “The saying that I hear all the time is ‘Nothing about me without me’. Don’t do anything for me without my input and I feel like that’s important from a patient experience perspective.”
[24:33] – “Don’t ever have a fear to speak up because what you give us may be the differentiator for everything that we do. No idea is a bad idea, and all voices are welcome and heard.”
[25:57] – “I think you have to be willing to go out there and do things that some people might think you’re crazy for doing it, but if it’s the right thing to do, you need to stand by it.”
[27:00] – “You have to be willing to humble yourself to know you don’t know everything cos no matter what they say I am, I am still learning and growing in my world.”

Our guest
Nicole Cable is the Chief Experience Officer of CareMax, Inc., which is a network of value-based clinics providing primary care, dental care, social services and more. Previously, she served as the Chief Experience Officer of InnovaCare Health.

Resources & Links
Nicole Cable
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolelcable/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
34 min
September 14, 2022Beyond DEI: Shaping the Employee Experience (with Mark Rickmeier)
A company’s Experience Ecosystem™ can be a vast and complex thing. But where exactly does the employee experience fit in, how does it impact the overall environment – and what can leaders do to shape an employee experience that works in tandem with the rest of the ecosystem?
Join Shawn Nason and Mark Rickmeier to explore how remote work has altered the employee experience, why experiences are more impactful for employees than fancy offices and other perks, and what employers can do to start going beyond basic DEI initiatives and shape a truly effective Experience Ecosystem™.

In This Episode
[02:03] The PechaKucha storytelling framework
[05:44] The TXI office experience prior to the pandemic
[06:58] Outgrowing and letting go of the experiences that helped shape TXI’s culture
[07:25] Why rent is a dumb way to facilitate experiences
[08:12] How different tools help TXI bridge the connection gap as they transition to remote work
[10:39] Fostering a sense of connection and belonging by finding other ways to bring people together
[14:22] Finding other DEI leaders, and Mark’s learnings as part of Loyola University’s inaugural program for DEI Leadership
[18:34] The importance of giving everyone an equitable understanding of what growth means
[23:36] The Kermit Collective camps, the unconference approach, and what other leaders can learn from it
[27:28] The best advice Mark has ever received about leadership
[29:59] The Combustion Questions
What we learned from Mark
You can do more in-depth experiences around bringing people together than you could just shopping money and rent where it's gonna sit empty most of the time for most of the people.
Using rent to foster connection is a stupid use of resources these days.
The value of “Cooperatition”.
You should have a dedicated budget and leaders who are getting trained in DEI.
Take things that are implicit and make them very explicit.
Busy is the new stupid.

Notable quotes
[08:32] - “You need to have everything easily accessible to improve transparency and equitable access to everyone.”
[10:40] - “Unlearn and let go of some of the things that historically worked to experiment and find new things that work.”
[27:00] - “The most important way to learn is through admitting and owning up to failure.”
[28:52] - “Your time as a leader is not just when you’re busy doing a bunch of things.”

Our guest
Mark Rickmeier is the Chief Executive Officer at TXI, a product innovation company. He has created more than 100 mobile apps, custom-built web applications, and intuitive user experiences for clients like the Field Museum, Roger Ebert, AccuWeather, and Tyson Foods.
In 2014, Mark founded the Kermit Collective, a high-trust community of leading software companies, to help get new ideas and insights from outside of his own bubble.
He is the author of the Sticky Note Game and created a concept called the Inclusion Meeting Card game.

Resources & Links
Mark Rickmeier
Website: https://markrickmeier.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrickmeier/

Shawn Nason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasonshawn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manonfiresocial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manonfiresocial
Website: https://shawnnason.com/
MOFI: https://www.mofi.co/

The Combustion Chronicles Podcast
Website: https://shawnnason.com/combustion-chronicles-episodes/

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35 min

About The Combustion Chronicles

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Join the unapologetic Shawn Nason as he deep dives into the power, influence, and opportunities embedded in Experience Ecosystems™. When bold leaders fuel big, consumer-centric ideas with courage,…

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The Combustion Chronicles

The Combustion Chronicles episodes

About The Combustion Chronicles