Sophia Amoruso's Secrets to Building a Dynamic Company Culture: Lessons from a $350 Million CEO

I believe you will find this week’s episode of the Future of Work Podcast to be extremely fascinating, insightful and exciting. My guest is Tim Mulligan, Chief Human Resources Officer of San Diego Zoo Global. Most of my guests have been from large brands in very traditional business areas, such as technology, finance, etc. with employees that are typically from a primary group of knowledge. But, Tim is directly responsible for managing a wide range of employees in very diverse areas such as horticulture, botany, zoology, catering, retail, and animal trainers, to name a few. When you think about the future of work in that context, it is very different from the future of work in a company like IBM, Coca-Cola or any other company you may be familiar with. And, one would not think of a zoo as being one of the most forward-thinking and progressive organizations that is also ranked as one of the best places to work in San Diego.   Tim and I have a very, very interesting conversation concentrating on redefining culture to focus on performance. Tim has been with the company for quite some time and he shares with us what it was like when he first started and what it is like now; and why he had to move the corporate culture at San Diego Zoo Global to be more focused on performance. We get an inside look at the initiatives and innovations he has implemented around performance and accountability; employee engagement; talent management; Millennials, Baby Boomers and everyone in-between; the role of technology; and the evolution of management and leadership practices at the company. Listen in to Tim’s very unique and diverse experience that you will definitely learn much from. Enjoy!   (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

23 Aug 201559min

This week’s episode is with Eric Severson on work-life integration. Eric is the former Co-Chief Human Resource Officer at The Gap, and is now an Appointee to the U.S. Department of Commerce National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship as well as the director of the Felton Institute. Eric led most of The Gap’s talent initiatives including their move towards work-life integration and the creation of their results-oriented workplace (ROW). The debate around work-life balance versus work-life integration is a very hot topic. We explore Eric’s perspective on the “winning side,” which to him is work-life integration. And, I must confess that I completely agree with him. In this podcast Eric shares in-depth insights into his initiatives at The Gap to encourage work-life integration. We also talk about corporate culture, why work-life balance is no longer effective and why the shift to work-life integration is happening. Eric explains ROW whereby an organization is purely focused on what employees produce and not the hours they spend doing it. Eric also give us his insights and perspectives on Millennials and the different generations of employees, and the role technology management plays. And, Eric answers your questions posed to him on Facebook; and gives his advice to employees, managers and executives.   If you are interested in the work-life balance versus work-life integration debate, you won’t want to miss this podcast. Enjoy! (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

17 Aug 20151h 16min

I’m very excited about this week’s podcast because it is different any of my previous podcasts. My guest is Marcus Buckingham, the New York Times best-selling author of First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently; Now, Discover Your Strengths, and the recently released StandOut. Marcus is also the founder of The Marcus Buckingham Company, which is a human capital management software and education company. Marcus states that most organizations actually are not ready for the future of work. His rationale being that we still measure things in very antiquated ways, particularly around performance management and talent management. We spend an insightful and engaging conversation on this topic including the inner workings of how ratings and reviews work within organizations, the problems, challenges and solutions. We talk about the trends causing the need for change, why measurement is so ineffective today, competency models and more. Marcus shares the four key questions he believes organizations need to ask regarding evaluating performance, and explains why performance coaching and performance evaluation are two completely different processes. We also get Marcus’ insights about engagement and happiness, his advice to organizations on preparing for the future of work, and what employees can do. Don’t miss this fascinating and unique opportunity to listen to Marcus Buckingham on why most organizations are not ready for the future of work! (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

12 Aug 20151h 9min

My guest for this week’s Future of Work podcast is Maynard Webb, the former Chief Operating Officer at eBay; and currently Chairman of the Board at Yahoo!, and board member at Salesforce and Visa. Maynard is also the author of the recently released book, Rebooting Work: Transform How You Work in the Age of Entrepreneurship. This is a really fascinating discussion because Maynard is one of the most influential people in the worlds of business and technology, and is involved in so many amazing projects. We talk about the concepts from his book including the framework of employees, the employee experience, the role that Millennials play in the future of work, and the impact of technology. Maynard is really big on freelancing and I get his take on the future of this economy. Maynard also shares why people need to take professional and personal development into their own hands. We look at all sorts of fascinating topics. We also discuss where Maynard sees the future of work in the next five to ten years, and he shares his advice to management and employees. Maynard is definitely someone that you want to pay attention to. Enjoy this episode with Maynard Webb and let me know what you think!   (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

5 Aug 20151h 8min

This episode of the Future of Work podcast I have the pleasure of speaking with Adam Warby, CEO of Avanade. Avanade is a global technology solutions/cloud management service with over 20,000 employees worldwide. Our focus is exploring why the future of work is all about digital transformation. While there is a lot of discussion happening around digital transformation, there is still not that much clarity around what it actually is, how to do it, what it is going to look like, etc. Adam and I go in-depth around digital transformation, and he shares Avanade’s recent report that identifies four trends that they see as driving digital transformation going forward. We also look at how the workplace is evolving, trends that are shaping the future of work, Millennials, wearables and more. Adam also shares valuable insights for organizations and employees interested in embarking on this digital transformation journey. So, tune in to hear Adam Warby on digital transformation! (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

29 Juli 201556min

This episode of the Future of Work podcast is with Dorie Clark is the author of a new book called Stand Out: How To Find Your Breakthrough Idea And Build a Following Around It. Dorie is also a marketing strategist, professional speaker and adjunct professor at Duke University. For anyone interested in personal branding, this is going to be a very, very interesting podcast. We look at everything ¾  why personal branding is for everyone, how to develop your own niche, how to deal with online trolls, how to grow your network, and more. Both Dorie and I share advice on consistency, frequency and visibility towards building your personal brand. For those of you interested, Dorie also has a great column on Forbes that you can also check out. This was a great conversation and lots of fun. Tune in and listen to Dorie Clark on personal branding!   (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

22 Juli 20151h 13min

This episode of the Future of Work podcast I speak with Nancy Duarte, Principal, and Patti Sanchez, Senior Vice President of Strategic Services, at Duarte. Duarte is known as “persuasive presentation experts,” and those of you who are interested in learning and improving your presentation and speaking skills may be familiar with them. In this podcast, we look at why storytelling is a big part of the future of work. Nancy and Patti have a new book being released early next year about leaders as strong, transformative communicators titled, “The Torchbearer Leader.” I had an opportunity to preview their book and found it very fascinating. We talk about some of the concepts in their book that they refer to as “the torchbearer’s toolkit” as well technology and globalization, technology in storytelling, and storytelling as personal branding. This is a very thought-provoking podcast that will resonate with everyone. So tune in and listen to Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez on why storytelling is crucial to the future of work!   (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

16 Juli 201558min

On this week’s episode of the Future of Work podcast I’m speaking with Dana Bottenfield, VP of Human Resources at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. St. Jude is among one of the most famous research facilities known for the amazing work they do with kids. But, did you know St. Jude was voted as the No. 1 company to work for by Millennials? On Glassdoor, St. Jude received 4.5 stars, 100 percent of their employees recommend their CEO, and 93 percent state they would recommend the company to a friend. These are among the highest numbers I have ever seen for any company. In addition, for the past several years they have also been on Fortune’s Top 100 Companies to Work For. Earlier this year I had the honor of speaking at St. Jude at an internal conference on leadership and management. While there I found out they are an amazing place to work, and I wanted to find out what Dana and her team at St. Jude are doing to create such a desirable work environment. In this podcast, Dana and I explore topics such as driving employee engagement, low-cost initiatives, work-life balance, scaling HR, open and closed offices, and scaling HR. Dana shares her perspective on how the role of HR is evolving, how the workplace is changing, freelancers, and what challenges she faces. I always like to interview interesting organizations and the people running them from a people perspective. And, I think you’ll find this episode with Dana Bottenfield to be both inspirational and educational. Enjoy and let me know what you think!   (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

8 Juli 201555min