TotalPicture Podcast

Welcome to the TotalPicture Podcast. What’s going on across the pond? You know, in Europe? With the pandemic and the steroid jacked-up president raging and his sycophants tap dancing and lying, the media in this country has sort of forgot about UK’s financial hari-kari act known as Brexit, as well as what’s going on in the European Union, and how the EU is reacting to the dumpster fire raging across the United States.

I’m here today to correct that omission.  Welcome to a special European Insights edition. I’m Peter Clayton. Today, my special guest is my good friend, Gregg Robins. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Gregg is the founder of Robins Advising, a Wealth Management Consultancy, advising his clients on how to deal with the most complex problems and situations that they face in the management of their personal wealth and their business interests. His career in financial services has included leadership roles in banks, such as Citigroup, UBP, and UBS.

Gregg received his B.A. in Economics at Rice University. He was awarded a Marshall Scholarship, and received his Masters and Doctoral Degrees at Oxford University, with a specialty in Finance and a geographical focus on Russia and Eastern Europe.

Gregg has taught and lectured in leading business schools, including the Executive MBA Programs of the NYU Stern School of Business and the New Economic School in Moscow. Gregg is a longtime resident of Switzerland, with years lived in the United Kingdom and Russia. He is fluent in Russian, Spanish, and French, and joins us today from his home in Geneva.

TALKING POINTS:

* What's happening in Europe? Business - Economy - COVID?

* What's top-of-mind to the average European?

* What the hell is happening with Brexit?

* How do Europeans feel about America?

* How do Europeans feel about the European Union?

* How closely are Europeans following the presidential election? What are their thoughts/opinions?

* You work in wealth management. What are the top concerns of the wealthy as we approach 2021?

RESOURCES:

* Silenzio Sound the Alarm (Amazon Link)

* Robins Advising:

* Joe Biden Gettysburg Speech

* Richard Hass, “Present at the Disruption” Foreign Affairs

* Ezra Klein: Why We’re Polarized (Amazon Link)

* Anne Applebaum: Trump is a Super-Spreader of Disinformation: 

The End of Jobs, The rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations

 

Welcome to the podcast version of a Future of Work episode of TotalPicture Media. My name is Peter Clayton. My special guest today is Jeffrey Wald, an Entrepreneur who has started three technology companies the most recent, WorkMarket - sold to ADP in 2018 – for undisclosed millions (or billions) of dollars. He remains with ADP, and is the author of a new book titled, The End of Jobs, The rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations – and that’s  the topic of our conversation today. I was introduced to Jeff and The End of Jobs by Jessica Miller-Merrell who interviewed Jeff for her Workology podcast, which I edit.

TALKING POINTS

Jeff, thanks for joining me. I’ve been looking forward to our conversation.

* Here’s a quote: “No More than 52 articles per year.” Let’s start by having you give us a brief background of WorkMarket, and the problem it solves for companies that want to hire freelance talent.

* In the first chapter of The End of Jobs, I really appreciated the historical aspect of your book: Especially the section on unions and regulations. Would you mind telling our viewers and listeners about the Ludlow Massacre?

* Why have labor unions all but collapsed in the US?

* I think there is a correlation between the decline in union i.e. manufacturing jobs, and the long-term trend (as you write), of 25-54 year olds without college degrees dropping out of the labor force. But where are they going?

* Now there are apps for everything: Taskrabbit, UpWork, Instacart, Uber Eats, Rover (which is dog walking with 1099’s) – how are all of these platforms changing freelance work?

* You bring up an interesting question: Does someone who drives all day for Uber or Lyft think of themselves as self-employed?

* Let’s discuss the title of your book: The End of Jobs. It seems that more and more companies are adopting strategies to bring in contract workers. Jeff, has the pandemic accelerated the shift from FTE to an on-demand workforce?

* Another point you make in The End of Jobs regarding Regulatory: “Many of today’s labor laws and regulations are more than 100 years old and were drafted in response to very different needs.” To add to this mess, Jeff, each state has its own definition of employees vs freelancers. I guess that keeps lawyers busy. But wouldn’t update and streamlining some of this benefit both employers and employees?

* However, the fact remains that payroll and income taxes make up about 90% of government tax receipts. So the feds (and most states), have a vested interest in keeping as many W2 workers as possible. You write extensively about co-employment claims. Can you unpack this for us?

* You serve on a lot of boards. Can you please explain the Board Room Friction today between:

* The CFO

* The CHRO

* THE COO

* THE CLO

* THE CEO

* At first I thought Andrew Yang was crazy with his proposal for a Universal Basic Income. I no longer think this is crazy. What’s your opinion of UBI?

* The Fair Labor Standards Act’s definition of employee is somewhat Monty Python: “the term employee means any individual that is employed by an employer.” This is the kind of nonsense everyone is faced with.

* You believe that health care should be decoupled from work. But I don’t see any political will to do so. What needs to happen to make that a reality?

* Has COVID 19 changed your predictions in the chapter titled What On-Demand Labor Teaches Us?

* In addition, do you think this not-so-normal-new-normal will speed the adoption of task-based employment?

* Your suggestion for Alumni Labor Clouds reminded me of a once-great client of TotalPicture Media named ...

Welcome to TotalPicture Media and WTF 2020: An Influencers’ Guide to Navigating the Shit Show.

My name is Peter Clayton. Thank you for tuning in to the podcast version of my interview with Craig Fisher.

Craig FisherTalentNet Media

Between COVID-19. Climate Change, Black Lives Matter, a government in complete disarray with no leadership, no conscience, not integrity, no honesty – it feels like we’re adrift in a sea of daily “oh my god, what happened now?” For me, the media noise has become too much and after Ruth Bader Ginsberg died, I’ve had to just tune it out to stay somewhat sane. On most days I write in my journal: Avoid social media, avoid the news, stay focused on what you can control, and don’t get lured in by shiny objects.

So, here’s WTF 2020 - I think that the group of influencers, thought leaders, subject matter experts, innovators, and visionaries I’ve invited to participate in this series can give all of us some inspiration, a renewed sense of purpose — or a least some hope! Today, I’m delighted to welcome back to TotalPicture Media, Craig Fisher yeah, FishDogs! Craig Is the founder of employer brand and recruitment tech/process strategy firm, TalentNet Media. He has led Global Marketing, Employer Brand, and Recruiting Innovation at Allegis Global Solutions - North America’s largest RPO and staffing company. He has led talent acquisition teams at the Fortune 500 level owning recruitment process, marketing, and technology. His digital branding methods have been adopted as best practices by companies like LinkedIn, Toyota, YUM! Brands, Microsoft, and many more. He's the author of Inbound Recruiting, and a popular keynote speaker at tech, social media, HR / recruiting, and sales conferences worldwide, and who the hell know whenever we’ll see those again. One of the questions I have for Craig.

TALKING POINTS:

* Craig, it’s great to see you again! Even if it’s over Zoom!

* What’s life like in Dallas these days?

* How has the pandemic impacted you personally?

* How are your boys? Are they all back in school?

* Like I mentioned in my intro, up until recently, you were working for Allegis Global Solutions, Why did you leave?

* Tell us about your company, TalentNet Media

* I know TalentNet is producing virtual conferences. Give us some background and war stories.

* Tell us about your TalentNet Live Dallas 2020 Event Nov 20th

* It seems to me one of the advantages to producing a virtual conference – you can book a whole bunch of presenters and not have to worry about paying for airfare, hotels, food, etc.

* You seem to prefer Hopin as your event platform. What are it’s advantages?

* Based on your experience, what's the biggest common mistake virtual conference producers make?

* What are your clients telling you?

* What do your clients want from you?

* What do you envision for 2021? (RE recruiting)

* Do you believe there will be more tech consolidation?

* When do you think Live Conferences will return? And when they do, will anyone come, exhibit, sponsor, etc)

* Will we ever see events on the scale of HR Tech, UNLEASH, SHRM again?

* Are you booking virtual conferences for 2021?

* Will people ever return to their offices? When?

* Are Jobs in TA moving toward contract vs FTE?

* Is AI and machine learning helping to lessen bias in recruiting?

* What has surprised you in 2020?

* What has inspired you?

RESOURCES:

TalentNet Media: http://talentnetlive.com/

Hopin: https://hopin.to/

It's 2020, so of course, a tree fell on William's house the day we were set to record this.

William TincupPresident, RecruitingDaily

Welcome to TotalPicture Media and another edition of WTF 2020 AN INFLUENCERS’ GUIDE TO NAVIGATING THE SHIT SHOW. My name is Peter Clayton. Thank you for tuning in. So, what’s your opinion of 2020 so far? Here’s mine: (Video Clip, Pennywise the Clown)

Between COVID-19. Climate Change, Black Lives Matter, our political shit show, a government in complete disarray with no leadership, no conscience, not integrity, no honesty -- we’re adrift in a sea of daily “what happened now?” Is this every man, woman, and child for themselves? It sure feels like it! The fucking Titanic is sinking and we’re all on it!

I think that the group of influencers thought leaders, subject matter experts, innovators, and visionaries I’ve invited to participate in this series can give all of us some inspiration, a renewed sense of purpose — or a least some hope! Today, I’m delighted to welcome back to TotalPicture Media, my good friend William Tincup. William is the President & Editor-at-Large of RecruitingDaily. At the intersection of HR and technology, he’s a writer, speaker, advisor, consultant, investor, storyteller & teacher. William has written over 250 HR articles, spoken at over 350 HR & recruiting conferences and he’s conducted over 1300 HR podcasts & webinars. He holds degrees from three universities including an MBA from Case Western, serves on numerous boards, and has SHRM SCP Certification, and SPHR from the HR Certification Institute. And we were supposed to record this last week, but it’s 2020 and a tree fell on his house.

TALKING POINTS WITH TIMESTAMPS:

2:10. How has the pandemic impacted you personally?

12:57 Tell us about the pivot RecruitingDaily has made because of COVID 19

21:00. The transition to Video Conferencing

24:00 What’s been your experience with hosting and producing virtual conferences?

28:00 When do you think Live Conferences will return? (Companies are going to produce their own events.)

36:00 As I mentioned in my open, you serve on a number of boards of companies in the HR Tech space. Do you believe there will be more tech consolidation next year? 39:00. Will people ever return to their offices? When?

48:00. Use Case Podcast with Daniel Fellows, Get Optimum

51:00 Will remote work change income?

55:00. It's been a hell of a year for recruiters Is AI and machine learning helping to lessen bias in recruiting?

01:01:00. Pick up the phone and call someone!

01:02:53 What has inspired you?

01:06:19. The murder of George Floyd

01:08:54 Anything you would like to share?

RESOURCES:

RecruitingDaily: https://recruitingdaily.com/

Welcome to TotalPicture Media with your host, Peter Clayton. Thank you for tuning in. So, what’s your opinion of 2020 so far? Here’s mine: You May want to watch the video version of this interview.

We’re living in a country so politicized it feels like we’re all riding in carnival bumper cars fueled by crack cocaine and operated by Pennywise the Clown. Even the COVID 19 pandemic that has turned the world upside-down is politicized.

Then, there’s climate change. The West Coast is burning, the Gulf Coast keeps getting pounded by hurricanes, the Midwest was flooded most of the spring, destroying millions of acres of crops. The permafrost is melting in Siberia. Ice shelves are collapsing and breaking apart.

Then there’s Black Lives Matter and the fact that black people keep getting murdered. For no apparent reason. Other than the fact that they happen to be black.

This dumpster fire of a year gave me an idea for a series of vodcasts I’m calling WTF 2020 – AN INFLUENCER’S GUIDE TO NAVIGATING THE SHITSHOW.

 Today, I’m delighted to welcome back to TotalPicture Media John Sumser, principal analyst for HRExaminer, an independent analyst firm covering HR Technology and the intersection of people, tech, and work. If you’re watching or listening to this, chances are you know John.

 TALKING POINTS:

* John, thanks for agreeing to participate in my latest attempt to grasp some sort of reality in this surreal nightmare we all find ourselves in. I know you’re waking up every morning in beautiful Northern California with air quality worse than Beijing. So, how are you and Heather doing?

* Before we get started in the WTF segment, I recently watched again, your closing keynote at the College Recruiter Bootcamp held in Mountain View at the Googleplex. Our friend Steven Rothberg gave me permission to post the video (which I produced, directed and edited), on my YouTube Channel and newly resurrected TotalPicture website. Your session was titled AI, Algorithms, and Who Owns the Outcome? Noting that “the rules have changed.”

* Models are Simplifications

* Questions are Better than Answers

* Machines have Opinions

* Work the Fundamentals

* New Kinds of Management

* So, this was from December 2018. Would you mind going through this list and giving us a 2020 refresh on some of these concepts?

* Onward and Downward to WTF 2020: What do you envision for 2021 regarding HR tech?

* What are your clients telling you?

* Speaking about AI, does AI still matter?

* This, from a question you helpfully submitted: In your opinion, why do HR vendors and departments need ethics boards?

* Is this the same old HR from last year or has something really changed?

* Is AI and machine learning helping to lessen bias in recruiting?

* Do you envision more tech consolidation next year?

* More vendors cutting staff and/or going out of business?

* More companies laying off recruiters? More recruiters becoming independent contractors?

* Do you think there will be any Live Conferences in 2021? (and If so, will anyone come, exhibit, sponsor, etc)

* Do you think the trend this year to host virtual conferences will continue in 2021?

* What's your opinion of virtual conferences? Do they work?

* Will people ever return to their offices? When?

* I keep hearing news reports that WFH has people fleeing San Francisco and the Bay Area. True?

* I want to play a clip from your HR Tech Wee...

Let's Face it: There's Nothing Normal About this "New Normal"

I feel like we’re living in one very long episode of Breaking Bad. Someone on Twitter wrote,

“Canada is a nice, friendly, country living on top of a meth lab.”

For many groups, there’s nothing normal about this ‘new normal’ we’re living in. That’s especially true for college students. COVID 19 has completely upended college life.  This is Peter Clayton with TotalPicture Media. I wanted to talk with an expert in college recruiting to get a sense of how the pandemic of 2020 is impacting students, faculty, administrators and recent grads. And I have one: Joining me today is the founder and President of College Recruiter, Steven Rothberg.

College Recruiter, launched in 1996, is the leading job search site used by students and recent graduates of all 7,400+ colleges and universities who are seeking internships, part-time jobs, seasonal work, and entry-level career opportunities. College Recruiter’s customers are primarily Fortune 1000 companies, federal government agencies, and other employers who want to hire dozens, hundreds or thousands of students and recent graduates each year.

TALKING POINTS:

1. Steven, welcome back to TotalPicture Media. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today.

2. Tell us about the journey your company, College Recruiter, has taken since February/March of this year – how has COVID changed your business?

3. It seems that disruptive is the adjective du jour this year for just about everything. However, it can truly be said that all aspects of college have been disrupted. Probably right up there with hospitality and travel. What are you hearing from students?

a. From faculty and administration?

4. One of your comments on your recent guest appearance with our friend William Tincup on the Use Case Podcast had to do with internships, and what several companies, including PwC, are doing. Can you share that with us?

5. I’ve been fortunate to be involved with the College Recruiter Bootcamp for the past couple of years, producing videos at your events, thanks to the sponsorship of AllyO. So Steven, will there be a virtual Bootcamp this December?

6. I know you’ve been blogging about the rising cost of college tuition and the fact that many universities are charging the same for virtual as being on campus. Can you explain why?

7. Your model relies on Fortune -100 companies hiring at scale. Is any of that happening now?

8. Another blog topic on CollegeRecruiter.com – taking a gap year. That certainly has been in the news, given that a number of students have decided to take a gap year rather than pay for a year of no on-campus anything. What can you tell us about the prevalence of this – and the pros and cons?

a. How are students reacting to virtual classrooms?

9. What do college seniors need to do NOW to find a good job after they graduate in 2021?

10. Have you attended any virtual events this year and if so, what is your takeaway?

11. Do you think the current reliance on WFH will have a long-term impact on staffing and employment?

12. Has the focus on hiring a more diverse workforce (especially at large organizations) impacted college recruiting?

a. Are different colleges getting targeted, such as traditional African American universities?

13. What would you like to share, particularly with college students that we haven’t discussed?

 

Inside View of the HR Tech Alliances Virtual Collaboration Zone Events with Ward Christman

Welcome to the podcast version of TotalPicture Media. I’m your host, Peter Clayton. Today, we’re going to take a deep dive into virtual events. How to host them. How to participate successfully in them. After all, if you’re interested in hosting an event or attending one these days, the only way to do that is virtually (unless you’re the Florida chapter of SHRM, who recently hosted a live in-person event where many of the speakers appeared via Zoom, apparently, which qualified them for a Darwin Award from our friends Chad and Cheese).

Ward Christman, HR Tech Alliances

I’m joined today through the magic of Zoom (no surprise), by my good friend and fellow LRP exile -- Ward Christman. Ward is the evangelist for all things related to HR Tech Alliances. Not only has he turned his signature Collaboration Zone Events virtual, but he’s also greatly expanded their frequency – hosting a new virtual Collaboration event every month! Yeah, full-day multi track virtual events once a month! So, we’re going to pick Ward’s brain on how the hell he pulls this off. Because I can tell you as someone who’s entire video production has shifted to Zoom for the past eight months, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make this all of this online technology work. One heads-up, this was originally recorded in video and around 13 minutes in Ward does a live demo of his database system – it’s pretty easy to follow along but you may want to check out the YouTube version of the conversation. You can find the link in the video section on TotalPicture.com. Now here’s my conversation with Ward Christman with HR Tech Alliances. Enjoy.

TALKING POINTS:

* Ward, it’s great to see you. I think the last time we were together was at UNLEASH in Amsterdam. How have you been?

* As I said in the intro, you’ve been hosting your Virtual Collaboration Zone events on a monthly basis. How long have you been doing this?

* How have you been able to get folks to play along, Ward – sponsors, judges, contestants, collaborators? I’m guessing there was a certain amount of resistance to this idea.

* Your events run a full day – 9AM to 5PM – how are they structured?

* So speaking about Zoom, it looks to me like you’re using the Zoom Meetings platform. Did you look at other vendors like On24? Why did you choose Zoom as your platform?

* I would bet this has been a learning experience for you – it certainly has been for me -- let’s face it, everyone’s work lives have been upended due to Covid-19 – what adjustments or changes have you made as you’ve gained more experience hosting these events?

* What pitfalls do people need to be aware of?

* Switching to the attendee side for a minute – I recently published a blog post titled “A Zoom Video Survival Guide,” (I’ll put a link to this and other resources in the show notes). I think most people watching or listening to this are at least familiar with Zoom and other meeting apps like Skype and Go-to-Meeting, however, that does not mean they’re aware of the tech they need to use Video conferencing effectively. One example: basic things like using ethernet for your internet connection instead of WiFi makes a huge difference! As you know, Ward, a lot of newer laptops no longer have ethernet ports which means you have to get and adapter and Cat5 cable – Ward, I’m sure you’ve run into the same thing – so how do you get all of the attendees, contestants, collaborators, judges – all of you event participants up to speed on the tech they’re going to need?

* Back in the good ol’ days, I’ve been fortunate to attend live Collaboration Zone events and take part in a number of Round Table Topic Discussions – they’re always fun,

How to Work With HR Tech Influencers Part 2 Featuring Sarah Brennan and William Tincup  (Encore Podcast)

"One of the things that you can do and I think is highly underutilized is that you can't be at every show. There are Bloggers, writers, practitioners, influencers, that are at a lot of these shows. And it's not unusual to reach out to some of these people that are at them. A lot of the shows publish their blogs squad or whatever that is for the particular show ahead of time, to reach out and say hey you know we know you're going to be there we'll cover your flight down or you know the equivalent amount of money or hotel room -- whatever that is if you'd be willing to write a wrap-up post. What did you learn? Tell us about the event that we could share out. Maybe send a few tweets out, or have your team retweet the content that's going on at some of these shows using the hashtag. So that hashtag and your brand are still affiliated even if you're not there. You go to a show like SHRM you would never see every single vendor in that expo hall. Even at some of the larger tech conferences, you don't have time to see every single vendor. And so as people are looking through those feeds, they don't even know you're not there. Because you're still sharing and you're participating in a conversation. You don't have to ignore it just because you're not there." Sarah Brennan

Welcome to Part 2 of our special series on working with HR influencers, Analysts, and Advisors. Today, William Tincup and Sarah Brennan will tell you about street teams, how analysts bring a different perspective to the advisory role. The different kinds of Influencers. Why it's important to do readership surveys and how to use them. What are the most effective social media platforms? What industry conferences do I need to attend? How do you form an advisory group?

Sarah Brennan and William Tincup Lead a Roundtable at the HR Tech Summit in Toronto Organized by Brad Sutton.

In Part One of our special series on Working with HR Tech Influencers, Analysts, and Advisors, Brad had this to say:

"Working with entrepreneurs and CEOs and heads of marketing. I realize that not everybody really understands how to create awareness in the space and have sold to the HR buyer before in the past, I knew there was a certain amount of credibility you need to have coming in the door of course and that's obviously who you work with and what have you done for them? But then also there is that element of having a name that's recognizable right? I think the worst thing that can happen is you're sitting in front of a buyer and you're amongst a pool of competitors and no one's heard of you before." Brad Sutton.

In Part 2 of this series, you'll hear from Sarah and William. Don't miss this podcast!

Sarah Brennan, Founder, Accelir | People, Technology & Future of Work | Researcher | Speaker | Consultant | #HRTech Startup Advisor

Improving the impact of technology on people, business, and the future of work by partnering with the companies that build it, advising investors that support it and educating companies wanting to develop innovative talent attraction and retention strategies.

My research, strategies, and industry insights as an advisor, writer, and professional speaker have been used globally with Corporate Executive, HR & Recruiting Teams; Associations/NonProfits helping educate members on Talent; and HR Technology Vendors and Investors.

Lets talk about how we can work together [email protected]

William Tincup President at RecruitingDaily.com

I am the President of RecruitingDaily. At the intersection of HR and technology, I'm a writer, speaker, advisor, consultant, investor, storyteller & teacher. I've written over 200 HR articles, spoken at over 150 HR & recruiting conferences and ...

How to Work With Influencers - A 3 Part Series (Encore Podcast)

Brad Sutton

Welcome to a Leadership Channel Podcast on TotalPicture. I'm your host, Peter Clayton. The three main players in this podcast series are Brad Sutton, Sarah Brennan, and William Tincup. Today Brad Sutton from GSV AcceleraTE joins me. [Update - Brad Joined Eightfold.ai in February 2020.]

Have you ever been in a situation where you say to yourself, "wow, why didn't I think of that?" I have. Many times.

I'll give you two examples: About 10 years ago Chris Russell called me and with a great idea called JobsinPods, "the only podcast where real employers talk about their jobs and how to get them." Several years ago I bought JobsinPods from Chris, a serial entrepreneur with a new idea every day. Currently, the 'Mad Scientist of Online Recruiting' is Managing Director of RecTech Media, and a Recruitment Marketing and Employer Branding Consultant.

Here's the second example: At the recent HR Tech Summit in Toronto, I had a meeting in the  Collaboration Zone with Brad Sutton, (organized and produced by my buddies Ward Christman and Larry Cummings, co-hosts of the HR Tech Collaboration News Podcast here on TotalPicture). Brad is Global Alliances Leader with GSV+ASU Summit at GSV AcceleraTE. At the conclusion of our meeting, Sarah Brennan @ImSoSarah and William Tincup @williamtincup joined us, followed by a group of founders and executives representing start-ups attending the event. As soon as everyone was seated, Brad welcomed the group to a round-table discussion on how to work with influencers and advisors. I literally fell into one of the most dynamic, interesting, and informative conversations I've ever had at a conference.

Why didn't I think of hosting a collaboration zone meet-up on how to work with influencers? Oh well, at least I recorded this podcast series to share with all of you! (And there's Las Vegas and NOLA in September.}