and there she is
running only erikak Heslin how you doing
good how are you I’m great now for
everybody watching erica has a fantastic
new book out here it is bringing a human
to work and the subtitle 10 surefire
ways to design a workplace that’s good
for people great for business and just
might change the world which I love and
this is this is out now right it’s lunch
it is it came out last Tuesday September
25th I love it and so my audience is
entrepreneurs what do you think is one
of the most important lessons that
people need to learn from this book the
most important lesson I learned from
this book is to honor relationships and
what I when I think about honoring
relationships it’s with customers it’s
with colleagues and it’s with yourself
as an entrepreneur and what that means
is think about all the different ways
that we connect both via technology here
we are today doing this great Instagram
live but we also need to make sure that
we put technology in its place walk down
the hall get on a plane to deepen those
relationships because when you’re
building a business at the end of the
day people are betting on you and you
need to be creative in ways that you
deepen relationships with them so hiring
is one of the things that my audience
will struggle with a lot entrepreneurs
trying to figure out how to build their
team how to set the culture a lot of
times when they’re starting they only
are looking for I just need that person
have that skill set like I’m having a
programmer so they just need to learn
how to code I’m forgetting to look at
all the other things that go involved
what do you recommend for somebody who’s
just building their first team where
it’s not a thousand person organization
with a big culture but like you’re just
starting to build your culture what
advice would you have for them well I
I’m envious of people that are just
starting because they get to do this
right from the beginning starting with a
clean sheet of paper so the first
chapter in the book is called be real
speak in an authentic voice and it’s
about knowing your values and putting
them down on a piece of paper what do
you want this company even though you’re
just starting to feel like what do you
want it to be about and
– I mean you can find a lot of people
with the technical skills that you need
but are you finding the kinds of people
that will live those values and I had an
interesting conversation with the CEO of
a way luggage I don’t know if you’ve
ever use that luggage but start
upscaling now very you know successful
startup company and even from day one
they started to think about what their
values are and and really use those
values to vet those initial hires how do
you let that out in an interview you
know like an interview is everybody’s on
their best behavior how do you how do
you pull that out in a short amount of
time with somebody when I interview
people I I get it examples you know tell
me about a time when you did X Y or Z
and try to peel back the layers on on
those stories and you talk about
something that didn’t go well how did
you handle it and again if you know some
of these values are that you have use
those in going deeper on those questions
and I agree people are on their best
behavior but a key part of really
vetting that is also through through the
reference day if I give you three people
that you’re gonna call about me they’re
gonna say good things so as a leader of
a company when you’re just starting and
technology really helps support this you
can then figure out all the people you
know in common and get in touch with
them even if they’re not the three
people that I gave you to call so be
creative and talk to people that worked
with them in all different aspects that
they’re at the same level they were
their managers maybe they report it to
them it’s really really critical
especially for those first initial hires
so if you’re an entrepreneur and you
have a business partner and you do maybe
you’re doing sales and marketing they’re
doing kind of the operations what would
you do if your key business partner you
found doesn’t have like they go through
your book right and then they realize oh
my gosh my business partner doesn’t
share the values that I have well that
happens I mean more times than we would
like it to happen and so what I advise
people to do in those situations it’s
oftentimes that both people when you
start a comp
they are starting to realize that
something is not quite right that
there’s many different signs so
oftentimes what people do is they sit
down many times with a with a mediator
you know somebody from the outside
perhaps somebody on their board and talk
about you know what we are both
cofounders we founded this business
here’s the direction in which it’s going
let’s map what you know what are our
skills that we bring to the table and
what are the parts of this business that
we really like do we want to be more
internally focused from our OP from an
Operations standpoint do we want to be
out there fundraising and I think if you
can be in a situation and again
sometimes using an outside person it’s
helpful to really bring to the table
what are your key skills and map them to
where the business is today I mean this
is setting aside sort of who owns what
part of the business and all of that but
I think it’s important and everybody’s
happier when you’re when you are focused
on the part of the business that really
is true and authentic to who you are and
what you bring interesting I wanted to
for somebody who is just maybe on their
own and they’re trying to get their
business off the ground and they’re
trying to even set an inspiring culture
for themselves is there anything that we
can are there habits that we should be
doing is there is there anything we
should be looking at for inspiration so
that like this is the company that I
want to build so that getting up out of
bed is not as difficult every morning
you have a little more belief in
yourself yes so I was funny interesting
last week I was speaking at a conference
and I said to the people in the audience
who works for a company that has a set
of values and a mission and you know
nine every single person in that group
raised their hand maybe one entrepreneur
who was just starting to do it but then
I said keep your hands raised if you
work for a company where those values
are alive where you can feel them where
when you walk into that office in the
morning or when you’re walking out at
night and I’d say two-thirds of the
people lowered their hands so what I
urge people to do is is think about ways
to get those values off the walls and
into the halls and it’s not rocket
science
but it does take discipline and it does
take hard work so what does that mean if
you have a certain type of culture and a
certain voice that that you speak in you
need to think about that across all
kinds of mediums of communication from
how you send people messages to emails
to how you talk on the phone to how you
present at your All Hands meeting and
there’s a woman that I talk about in the
book named Ellen Bennett who’s the CEO
of a very cool startup called heavy and
Bennett
they make these funky cool aprons and
now they’re in over 5,000 restaurants
and and she speaks you know she she’s
she could be crass you know she can drop
the f-bomb at times but she knows who
she is and she told me a fun story where
she saw two employees emailing each
other and she said guys we don’t work at
Goldman Sachs like this isn’t who we are
as a company and so thinking about ways
to bring those values alive you know
another example just because it’s on top
of my mind from my interview with Steph
quarry from away they use slack they had
like many companies do they have a slack
channel called team love where anybody
can go on and highlight a person who’s
who’s lived those values another
important way to do it and that this is
a chapter in the book called mind your
meetings many of us big companies small
companies and every company in between
we are spending more and more time in
our day in meetings so why not use that
instead of being blind and everybody
just texting under the table and and you
know just getting through the meeting
why not make sure that that meeting has
a purpose that you’re using that time to
really connect with the people that you
work for and moving not only your agenda
but also your values and who you are
forward so a meet in the live chat is
asking if this applies can you apply
this to networking as well or is it only
for internal yes you can 100% apply this
to networking when I think about
meetings let’s take that from a
networking perspective and you’re out
there talking to people I break that
down into purpose you know what is the
purpose of this networking event should
you go should you not go I mean we all
have very limited time if you’ve
assessed that this is the right you know
we’re paying event for you that brings
us to number two which is presence be
present we know that physical presence
and psychological and for mental
presence are two very different things
so bring your human to work bring your
human to this networking event when
you’re there you know don’t don’t look
down at your text in the middle of
having a conversation with with with a
person it’s not gonna go well and the
last are protocols which is again left
to our own devices we’re all we’re often
not connecting so when you go to a
networking event be intentional whether
you’re an extrovert or an introvert have
your strategies figure out ways to meet
a couple of people and decide in the
beginning what your purpose is and what
you want to get out of that event a lot
of people these entrepreneurs watching
they have a sense of their mission they
know the values they they want to
espouse but then when it comes to the
pressure situations of being in an event
or being in a meeting there’s the
tendency to want to conform instead of
actually living your values how do you
get them how do you get the the belief
in the fortitude to actually live the
values that you say you’re about it has
to come from the top I mean if the CEO
founder doesn’t believe it there’s very
little one can do to to change his or
her mind except for the fact that right
now we’re in a time where you know
Millennials are gonna make up 75% of the
workforce by 2025 and so every CEO
whether it’s a CEO of a company that’s
been around for a long time or a new
founder whether they believe in some of
this you know softer stuff or not it has
real bottom line business implications
and so I love Millennials I think they
are bringing phenomenal things to the
workplace and they are saying to
companies you know what I’m not gonna
join you if you don’t live those values
or if I join you I’m gonna be one foot
out the door if you’re not living those
values because you know somebody else
across the street can pay me the same
amount of money that’s not the driver so
they’re demanding to work in a more
purposeful meaningful environment so it
is a great time from that perspective
that a CEO whether
more and more whether they believe it or
not are starting to come around
interesting I mean I look at CEOs and
companies and they all have their list
of 13 core values that they throw up on
their website and and on the walls but
you know Pauli even the CEO couldn’t
name what those 13 were without looking
it up and so how are you living it if
you don’t even know what they are why do
you think one quick thing to that to
your point yeah I tell companies 13
values who on earth can remember that 4
to 6 is a sweet spot if you really want
to even 3 if you want people to remember
them to live them you cannot have 13
values it is not going to work and you
know I talk in the book about the
company lyft they have four very clear
values you know one of them my favorite
one its uplift others and they build it
into their All Hands meetings they
celebrate a driver every month and a
back office person who’s lived those
values interestingly when I left my
meeting at lyft this was before uber had
sort of imploded on many levels I said
to myself I wonder given all the
problems I wonder how many values uber
has and at the time they had 14 and as
we know it was not driving a lot of
behaviour or a lot of good behavior so
when Tara the new CEO came in that’s a
big thing that they’ve been looking at
and they’ve reduced the number of values
significantly so that’s it’s a good
point that you raise how many companies
you think actually have three or less
core values well I wouldn’t say anybody
that I know has less than three yeah
Microsoft you know Satya Nadella
has gone through a phenomenal cultural
transformation with three pillars that
they really have focused the whole
company on and since he’s been there the
stock’s up 300% so it’s pretty
phenomenal what he’s done I would say
again that sweet spot for me is is 4 to
6 and when I push back on companies at
at 10 12 14 if you really pull back the
layers many of them are somewhat
repetitive and it and it did the tests
that I use I think you’ll like this it’s
called the fork in the road test how do
you know if your values are alive or if
you have too many when you’re at that
fork in the road
should you hire this person should you
fire this person who’s a good you know
revenue generator but is a you know what
should you do this deal should you
launch this product your values should
guide you and if they’re not you should
go back to the drawing board there’s a
question a live crowd asking if and how
it relates to mentoring can this be
applied yes so chapter nine in the book
is called take professional development
personally and again when I talk about
Millennials and Gen Z more than
compensation they want to learn they
want to grow on the job and mentoring
and figuring out ways to understand how
they want to grow and we know in today’s
day and age there’s not as many rungs in
the ladder so we need to be creative to
help people grow up down and sideways
some companies are even saying you know
what you know my employees said that he
really is interested in improv and wants
to take an improv class and yes it’s a
side hustle but you never know that
could make him a better public speaker
will pay for that as well so to me you
know mentoring is critical as a way to
bring your human to work and again when
we think about companies and leaders who
get it
Millennials want growth and mentoring is
becoming an even more important part of
that equation
another question is from Marco should
your purpose be more about connecting to
the people or pushing your brand I love
this question
it used to be I’ve been doing this for
20 plus years and you used to have a set
of values that that what were more
externally focused how consumers were
gonna see you in your brand and then you
have values that were more internal now
there is one set you’re coming up with
your four to six things and that’s
another great litmus test does this work
for how I’m connecting with my customers
and how and does it work for how I’m
connecting with my employees and smart
companies say that they’re real
customers are their employees because if
they treat their employees well and can
retain their employees and take care of
their employees they know that their
employees in turn will take care of
they’re customers so the companies that
you’ve worked with that have done the
exercise we’ve got four to six of core
values and they’re starting to live it
are you seeing them bring that to their
their marketing more as well so it feels
more focused on the mission of the
business as opposed to just by our
product yes 100% of consumers are drug
there are a consumers behavior what
product they want to buy and are in our
and are willing to buy or being driven
by these values and again not to keep
going back to the Millennials but not
only are they using you know does a
company have values that are alive to
join a company but they’re making
decisions if they’re gonna get on a
certain airplane or if they’re gonna buy
a product based on you know let’s say
you want to buy a piece of clothing
they’re looking at their value around
sustainability and so things like that
are more and more important to this
generation and it’s only going to
continue to be that way another question
what should we keep in mind before
joining a startup business so now flip
at the other side you’re the employees
side what should they be looking at
before they join a company what question
should they be asking so the first thing
I would do is get a copy of my book
interestingly the 10 things the 10
chapters in the book are really in many
ways when at with all the hundreds of
people that I’ve spoken to you know in
writing the book and interviewing them
these are the things it might not be for
this person in particular everything but
by and large these are the things that
people are looking for in a company and
can help them vet what is going to be
the best fit for them now obviously
there are 10 things you they’re not
every company is not gonna have all 10
things or some they’re gonna do better
than others so I would urge you to look
within these 10 things and put little
stars next to the three or four that are
the most important for you but I would
say for everyone that first chapter you
know be real speaking an authentic voice
goes back to the values and are they
alive I mean to me if a company has put
real thought into who they are and what
they stand for it is much easier for
them to align all of these of
our programs and policies so some of the
other chapters in the book for example
there’s one called get back many
employees today want to work for a
company that is involved with charity
work that is involved in something
bigger than themselves in an
organization so that’s important to you
that should be on the list you asked
earlier about professional development
most people I talked to that how much
does a company invest in that it might
be tricky as a start-up but there are
many ways to invest in professional
development where it doesn’t have to be
an investment in dollars it can be
investment in time you know from a
mentoring perspective so that’s a great
way to vet what kinds of companies are
human companies right I mean I guess it
really becomes a great recruitment tool
for companies because you start if you
share your values they’re attracting the
people who actually care about the same
thing as you do have you found any
research on attracting better candidates
or shortening the cycle to bring on
people based off of sharing your values
and making getting the the right people
coming in yes so again the the
attracting candidates goes back to
sharing with them you know the list of
their values and all of these programs
because we know what people want in
joining a company in today’s day and age
you know you have to make a decent
amount of money but beyond money it’s
many of these it’s the top three things
that people want today in a workplace
our purpose and meaning can i connect my
job with the broader goals of the
company and sometimes if you know if
it’s a bigger company it’s harder to do
that even in a small company whoever is
interviewing this person needs to do a
really good job of showing how you don’t
want to be a cog in the wheel so how
does what you do connect to the
organization’s bigger bigger purpose the
second thing that people want today if
they want sex ability they don’t need to
be remote and work from home all day
long but they do want some flexibility
in where when in how they work they want
to be able to take care of their lives
outside
work and so you know I call this in the
book intentional work practices what
kind of programs do you have and I know
many startups aren’t there yet but as
you begin to scale it is important to
think about what kind of a leave a
person gets when they have a baby or
when someone dies or if they need to
take a day off to take you know an
elderly parent to doctor and especially
in this generation this is very
important and again the last pieces is
growth on the job so if you can start to
interview people and hit on even those
three things you know you’ll you’ll be
golden people ask you what’s the book
it’s called bring your human to work
Eric because when people are saying can
we get the e-book is there an eBook
version of this next question what three
to five companies as Erica believe best
resemble what she believes makes a great
company so one of my favorite human
companies is JetBlue and I I like them
in the book they they have five values
so in my in my sweet spot of four to six
and for all of us who fly alive what
you’ll appreciate about JetBlue is that
not only do people know their five
values but they are in a very specific
order fun is one of their values but
thankfully for us safety is number one
and so they really do talk about you
know values in a specific order one
other little anecdote about JetBlue
because it relates so much to what you
were saying about how do you bring these
values to life they have they actually
have a name for it in terms of how they
empower their people to live their
values it’s called jet gray because we
know that life is not always black and
white
and so they proactively say especially
you’re at 37,000 feet we know things are
not black-and-white we empower you to
live your values to bring your human to
work in those in those gray moments so I
love jet gray there’s a company called
dynamic which is a health care
consulting firm and one of the reasons
why I highlight them in the book is that
I come from management consulting it can
be a very inhumane industry you know
you’re working all the time you’re
you’re at the you know beck and call of
your clients you’re on a
playing all the time and so Dan Calista
that CEO left to his big consulting firm
started his his own firm and said you
know what I want to make this the
healthiest company in the world so Dan I
mean does everything from they have a
curator of healthy snacks they have the
best economic chairs and lights and they
bring them to the different client sites
when when people are working locally in
the Philadelphia area they also have a
program called Z mail Z Z Z mail as in
catch some Z’s and he says you know what
no emails after 10:00 p.m. or before
6:00 a.m. unless its mission critical
and the kind things somebody just put
online what is the second company name
again it’s called dynamic with a V it’s
like dynamic but it has to be and really
cool companies so many of us can learn
from what they’re doing if you have
intention I think lyft I mentioned
earlier is one of my favorite companies
there’s also a company probably very few
people have heard of but it’s small and
and I want to I want to me in the book I
give a range like not all of these are
big companies a company called jelly
vision and they do they make you know
when you sign up for online health
benefits there’s almost nothing worse
you kind of want to kill yourself when
you’re sitting there doing that it’s
awful and so they make it fun through
through video and audio and they have
another part of their business called
jack box games and they’re very quirky
and one of the chapters in my book is
called finding the sweet spot between
tech and Kinect and this is another you
know you’ve asked a few questions which
I love about making these values alive
so they I was skeptical they told me
that they have these recruiting robots
and I was like oh my god like what you
know where’s the humaneness and in a
recruiting robot right but one of the
things that people complain about is
that they applied for a job and it goes
into the abyss and it’s so frustrating
you never hear back
so what jelly vision does is you you
send in your resume and you get an
automatic response that’s very aligned
with their fun and quirky culture and it
says hey Evan thanks so much we got your
your resume you know it’s going through
the process
you know I don’t have any pull around
here but I’m really rooting for you and
and people get a giggle out of it and
it’s very as you get to know the company
more in the process you know that this
recruiting robot that’s kind of poking
fun at the fact that you know they’re
using AI to have that first connection
is you know just really part of their
culture that’s interested you guys so
much of hiring – that the the resumes go
through the automatic filters and
looking for key words is there are there
other ways that that robots can bring
your human to work you know it’s a
really is that it really is that balance
and I think every company is trying to
figure out we still need at least in you
know 2018 the robots can do pieces of
this and can do keywords but they don’t
have the level of critical thinking and
connecting of the dots that we have and
so I’m I’m I still believe that the
human touch is critical because you
could have somebody that only has two of
the key words but it’s hope but it’s a
human that knows that that you know the
person in that job is about to leave and
the job is changing and they and the key
part of that job really is the one key
word that this person does have so I
think the jury is still out God if
there’s a comment that should be a bonus
chapter released to the pre-orders well
there’s no more pre-orders because the
book is out yeah it’s right here
bring your human to work it looks
backwards on here but you can go check
it out it’s on it’s on Amazon Barnes and
Nobles everywhere you buy books
everywhere you buy books yes correct
ebook is out audiobook coming soon go
check it out for anybody who wants to
continue to follow your journey Erica
where are you hanging out you can find
me on my website Erica Kaz wyndcomm sign
up for my human headlines newsletter and
I even have a quiz on the website it’s
ten questions that you can take to see
if you are working for a company that
brings its humans to work I love it and
for people who join the newsletter what
are they gonna get they are going to get
you know a sense of what’s going on in
in the in the human aspect of business
who like the person that asked
doing it well and so each week though
each month will be a number of curated
articles about companies that are you
know this first one I’m starting out
with for that first chapter be real
who’s bringing their values alive and
the idea behind the newsletter is that
it’s not rocket science
and everybody and as you’ll see the book
is filled with anecdotes and stories
that that if you read the book tomorrow
you can start doing things different in
your companies so literally the day I
finished my book I started learning
about more and more companies and so the
newsletter is almost like a bring your
human to work 2.0 so that I can continue
to share you know so many examples of
what these companies are doing I love it
Erica thank you so much for taking the
time here for sharing your wisdom guys
go pick up the book and we’ll see you
soon it’s great to meet you Evan take
care okay all right that was fun guys I
got to get back to work but the book
again bring your human to work go check
it out Erica cows win for those of you
watching it on the YouTube channel we
have linked it down below as well
much love and we’ll see you soon raise
now one drop of my self-worth depends on
your it’s supposed to mean if you liked
this interview and you want more air cat
caslen check out the keynote speech he
did I’d worked human the link is right
there next to me I think you’ll enjoy it
continue to believe and I’ll see you
there it really is true that when we
connect and we sit around a table and build trust good things happen
running only erikak Heslin how you doing
good how are you I’m great now for
everybody watching erica has a fantastic
new book out here it is bringing a human
to work and the subtitle 10 surefire
ways to design a workplace that’s good
for people great for business and just
might change the world which I love and
this is this is out now right it’s lunch
it is it came out last Tuesday September
25th I love it and so my audience is
entrepreneurs what do you think is one
of the most important lessons that
people need to learn from this book the
most important lesson I learned from
this book is to honor relationships and
what I when I think about honoring
relationships it’s with customers it’s
with colleagues and it’s with yourself
as an entrepreneur and what that means
is think about all the different ways
that we connect both via technology here
we are today doing this great Instagram
live but we also need to make sure that
we put technology in its place walk down
the hall get on a plane to deepen those
relationships because when you’re
building a business at the end of the
day people are betting on you and you
need to be creative in ways that you
deepen relationships with them so hiring
is one of the things that my audience
will struggle with a lot entrepreneurs
trying to figure out how to build their
team how to set the culture a lot of
times when they’re starting they only
are looking for I just need that person
have that skill set like I’m having a
programmer so they just need to learn
how to code I’m forgetting to look at
all the other things that go involved
what do you recommend for somebody who’s
just building their first team where
it’s not a thousand person organization
with a big culture but like you’re just
starting to build your culture what
advice would you have for them well I
I’m envious of people that are just
starting because they get to do this
right from the beginning starting with a
clean sheet of paper so the first
chapter in the book is called be real
speak in an authentic voice and it’s
about knowing your values and putting
them down on a piece of paper what do
you want this company even though you’re
just starting to feel like what do you
want it to be about and
– I mean you can find a lot of people
with the technical skills that you need
but are you finding the kinds of people
that will live those values and I had an
interesting conversation with the CEO of
a way luggage I don’t know if you’ve
ever use that luggage but start
upscaling now very you know successful
startup company and even from day one
they started to think about what their
values are and and really use those
values to vet those initial hires how do
you let that out in an interview you
know like an interview is everybody’s on
their best behavior how do you how do
you pull that out in a short amount of
time with somebody when I interview
people I I get it examples you know tell
me about a time when you did X Y or Z
and try to peel back the layers on on
those stories and you talk about
something that didn’t go well how did
you handle it and again if you know some
of these values are that you have use
those in going deeper on those questions
and I agree people are on their best
behavior but a key part of really
vetting that is also through through the
reference day if I give you three people
that you’re gonna call about me they’re
gonna say good things so as a leader of
a company when you’re just starting and
technology really helps support this you
can then figure out all the people you
know in common and get in touch with
them even if they’re not the three
people that I gave you to call so be
creative and talk to people that worked
with them in all different aspects that
they’re at the same level they were
their managers maybe they report it to
them it’s really really critical
especially for those first initial hires
so if you’re an entrepreneur and you
have a business partner and you do maybe
you’re doing sales and marketing they’re
doing kind of the operations what would
you do if your key business partner you
found doesn’t have like they go through
your book right and then they realize oh
my gosh my business partner doesn’t
share the values that I have well that
happens I mean more times than we would
like it to happen and so what I advise
people to do in those situations it’s
oftentimes that both people when you
start a comp
they are starting to realize that
something is not quite right that
there’s many different signs so
oftentimes what people do is they sit
down many times with a with a mediator
you know somebody from the outside
perhaps somebody on their board and talk
about you know what we are both
cofounders we founded this business
here’s the direction in which it’s going
let’s map what you know what are our
skills that we bring to the table and
what are the parts of this business that
we really like do we want to be more
internally focused from our OP from an
Operations standpoint do we want to be
out there fundraising and I think if you
can be in a situation and again
sometimes using an outside person it’s
helpful to really bring to the table
what are your key skills and map them to
where the business is today I mean this
is setting aside sort of who owns what
part of the business and all of that but
I think it’s important and everybody’s
happier when you’re when you are focused
on the part of the business that really
is true and authentic to who you are and
what you bring interesting I wanted to
for somebody who is just maybe on their
own and they’re trying to get their
business off the ground and they’re
trying to even set an inspiring culture
for themselves is there anything that we
can are there habits that we should be
doing is there is there anything we
should be looking at for inspiration so
that like this is the company that I
want to build so that getting up out of
bed is not as difficult every morning
you have a little more belief in
yourself yes so I was funny interesting
last week I was speaking at a conference
and I said to the people in the audience
who works for a company that has a set
of values and a mission and you know
nine every single person in that group
raised their hand maybe one entrepreneur
who was just starting to do it but then
I said keep your hands raised if you
work for a company where those values
are alive where you can feel them where
when you walk into that office in the
morning or when you’re walking out at
night and I’d say two-thirds of the
people lowered their hands so what I
urge people to do is is think about ways
to get those values off the walls and
into the halls and it’s not rocket
science
but it does take discipline and it does
take hard work so what does that mean if
you have a certain type of culture and a
certain voice that that you speak in you
need to think about that across all
kinds of mediums of communication from
how you send people messages to emails
to how you talk on the phone to how you
present at your All Hands meeting and
there’s a woman that I talk about in the
book named Ellen Bennett who’s the CEO
of a very cool startup called heavy and
Bennett
they make these funky cool aprons and
now they’re in over 5,000 restaurants
and and she speaks you know she she’s
she could be crass you know she can drop
the f-bomb at times but she knows who
she is and she told me a fun story where
she saw two employees emailing each
other and she said guys we don’t work at
Goldman Sachs like this isn’t who we are
as a company and so thinking about ways
to bring those values alive you know
another example just because it’s on top
of my mind from my interview with Steph
quarry from away they use slack they had
like many companies do they have a slack
channel called team love where anybody
can go on and highlight a person who’s
who’s lived those values another
important way to do it and that this is
a chapter in the book called mind your
meetings many of us big companies small
companies and every company in between
we are spending more and more time in
our day in meetings so why not use that
instead of being blind and everybody
just texting under the table and and you
know just getting through the meeting
why not make sure that that meeting has
a purpose that you’re using that time to
really connect with the people that you
work for and moving not only your agenda
but also your values and who you are
forward so a meet in the live chat is
asking if this applies can you apply
this to networking as well or is it only
for internal yes you can 100% apply this
to networking when I think about
meetings let’s take that from a
networking perspective and you’re out
there talking to people I break that
down into purpose you know what is the
purpose of this networking event should
you go should you not go I mean we all
have very limited time if you’ve
assessed that this is the right you know
we’re paying event for you that brings
us to number two which is presence be
present we know that physical presence
and psychological and for mental
presence are two very different things
so bring your human to work bring your
human to this networking event when
you’re there you know don’t don’t look
down at your text in the middle of
having a conversation with with with a
person it’s not gonna go well and the
last are protocols which is again left
to our own devices we’re all we’re often
not connecting so when you go to a
networking event be intentional whether
you’re an extrovert or an introvert have
your strategies figure out ways to meet
a couple of people and decide in the
beginning what your purpose is and what
you want to get out of that event a lot
of people these entrepreneurs watching
they have a sense of their mission they
know the values they they want to
espouse but then when it comes to the
pressure situations of being in an event
or being in a meeting there’s the
tendency to want to conform instead of
actually living your values how do you
get them how do you get the the belief
in the fortitude to actually live the
values that you say you’re about it has
to come from the top I mean if the CEO
founder doesn’t believe it there’s very
little one can do to to change his or
her mind except for the fact that right
now we’re in a time where you know
Millennials are gonna make up 75% of the
workforce by 2025 and so every CEO
whether it’s a CEO of a company that’s
been around for a long time or a new
founder whether they believe in some of
this you know softer stuff or not it has
real bottom line business implications
and so I love Millennials I think they
are bringing phenomenal things to the
workplace and they are saying to
companies you know what I’m not gonna
join you if you don’t live those values
or if I join you I’m gonna be one foot
out the door if you’re not living those
values because you know somebody else
across the street can pay me the same
amount of money that’s not the driver so
they’re demanding to work in a more
purposeful meaningful environment so it
is a great time from that perspective
that a CEO whether
more and more whether they believe it or
not are starting to come around
interesting I mean I look at CEOs and
companies and they all have their list
of 13 core values that they throw up on
their website and and on the walls but
you know Pauli even the CEO couldn’t
name what those 13 were without looking
it up and so how are you living it if
you don’t even know what they are why do
you think one quick thing to that to
your point yeah I tell companies 13
values who on earth can remember that 4
to 6 is a sweet spot if you really want
to even 3 if you want people to remember
them to live them you cannot have 13
values it is not going to work and you
know I talk in the book about the
company lyft they have four very clear
values you know one of them my favorite
one its uplift others and they build it
into their All Hands meetings they
celebrate a driver every month and a
back office person who’s lived those
values interestingly when I left my
meeting at lyft this was before uber had
sort of imploded on many levels I said
to myself I wonder given all the
problems I wonder how many values uber
has and at the time they had 14 and as
we know it was not driving a lot of
behaviour or a lot of good behavior so
when Tara the new CEO came in that’s a
big thing that they’ve been looking at
and they’ve reduced the number of values
significantly so that’s it’s a good
point that you raise how many companies
you think actually have three or less
core values well I wouldn’t say anybody
that I know has less than three yeah
Microsoft you know Satya Nadella
has gone through a phenomenal cultural
transformation with three pillars that
they really have focused the whole
company on and since he’s been there the
stock’s up 300% so it’s pretty
phenomenal what he’s done I would say
again that sweet spot for me is is 4 to
6 and when I push back on companies at
at 10 12 14 if you really pull back the
layers many of them are somewhat
repetitive and it and it did the tests
that I use I think you’ll like this it’s
called the fork in the road test how do
you know if your values are alive or if
you have too many when you’re at that
fork in the road
should you hire this person should you
fire this person who’s a good you know
revenue generator but is a you know what
should you do this deal should you
launch this product your values should
guide you and if they’re not you should
go back to the drawing board there’s a
question a live crowd asking if and how
it relates to mentoring can this be
applied yes so chapter nine in the book
is called take professional development
personally and again when I talk about
Millennials and Gen Z more than
compensation they want to learn they
want to grow on the job and mentoring
and figuring out ways to understand how
they want to grow and we know in today’s
day and age there’s not as many rungs in
the ladder so we need to be creative to
help people grow up down and sideways
some companies are even saying you know
what you know my employees said that he
really is interested in improv and wants
to take an improv class and yes it’s a
side hustle but you never know that
could make him a better public speaker
will pay for that as well so to me you
know mentoring is critical as a way to
bring your human to work and again when
we think about companies and leaders who
get it
Millennials want growth and mentoring is
becoming an even more important part of
that equation
another question is from Marco should
your purpose be more about connecting to
the people or pushing your brand I love
this question
it used to be I’ve been doing this for
20 plus years and you used to have a set
of values that that what were more
externally focused how consumers were
gonna see you in your brand and then you
have values that were more internal now
there is one set you’re coming up with
your four to six things and that’s
another great litmus test does this work
for how I’m connecting with my customers
and how and does it work for how I’m
connecting with my employees and smart
companies say that they’re real
customers are their employees because if
they treat their employees well and can
retain their employees and take care of
their employees they know that their
employees in turn will take care of
they’re customers so the companies that
you’ve worked with that have done the
exercise we’ve got four to six of core
values and they’re starting to live it
are you seeing them bring that to their
their marketing more as well so it feels
more focused on the mission of the
business as opposed to just by our
product yes 100% of consumers are drug
there are a consumers behavior what
product they want to buy and are in our
and are willing to buy or being driven
by these values and again not to keep
going back to the Millennials but not
only are they using you know does a
company have values that are alive to
join a company but they’re making
decisions if they’re gonna get on a
certain airplane or if they’re gonna buy
a product based on you know let’s say
you want to buy a piece of clothing
they’re looking at their value around
sustainability and so things like that
are more and more important to this
generation and it’s only going to
continue to be that way another question
what should we keep in mind before
joining a startup business so now flip
at the other side you’re the employees
side what should they be looking at
before they join a company what question
should they be asking so the first thing
I would do is get a copy of my book
interestingly the 10 things the 10
chapters in the book are really in many
ways when at with all the hundreds of
people that I’ve spoken to you know in
writing the book and interviewing them
these are the things it might not be for
this person in particular everything but
by and large these are the things that
people are looking for in a company and
can help them vet what is going to be
the best fit for them now obviously
there are 10 things you they’re not
every company is not gonna have all 10
things or some they’re gonna do better
than others so I would urge you to look
within these 10 things and put little
stars next to the three or four that are
the most important for you but I would
say for everyone that first chapter you
know be real speaking an authentic voice
goes back to the values and are they
alive I mean to me if a company has put
real thought into who they are and what
they stand for it is much easier for
them to align all of these of
our programs and policies so some of the
other chapters in the book for example
there’s one called get back many
employees today want to work for a
company that is involved with charity
work that is involved in something
bigger than themselves in an
organization so that’s important to you
that should be on the list you asked
earlier about professional development
most people I talked to that how much
does a company invest in that it might
be tricky as a start-up but there are
many ways to invest in professional
development where it doesn’t have to be
an investment in dollars it can be
investment in time you know from a
mentoring perspective so that’s a great
way to vet what kinds of companies are
human companies right I mean I guess it
really becomes a great recruitment tool
for companies because you start if you
share your values they’re attracting the
people who actually care about the same
thing as you do have you found any
research on attracting better candidates
or shortening the cycle to bring on
people based off of sharing your values
and making getting the the right people
coming in yes so again the the
attracting candidates goes back to
sharing with them you know the list of
their values and all of these programs
because we know what people want in
joining a company in today’s day and age
you know you have to make a decent
amount of money but beyond money it’s
many of these it’s the top three things
that people want today in a workplace
our purpose and meaning can i connect my
job with the broader goals of the
company and sometimes if you know if
it’s a bigger company it’s harder to do
that even in a small company whoever is
interviewing this person needs to do a
really good job of showing how you don’t
want to be a cog in the wheel so how
does what you do connect to the
organization’s bigger bigger purpose the
second thing that people want today if
they want sex ability they don’t need to
be remote and work from home all day
long but they do want some flexibility
in where when in how they work they want
to be able to take care of their lives
outside
work and so you know I call this in the
book intentional work practices what
kind of programs do you have and I know
many startups aren’t there yet but as
you begin to scale it is important to
think about what kind of a leave a
person gets when they have a baby or
when someone dies or if they need to
take a day off to take you know an
elderly parent to doctor and especially
in this generation this is very
important and again the last pieces is
growth on the job so if you can start to
interview people and hit on even those
three things you know you’ll you’ll be
golden people ask you what’s the book
it’s called bring your human to work
Eric because when people are saying can
we get the e-book is there an eBook
version of this next question what three
to five companies as Erica believe best
resemble what she believes makes a great
company so one of my favorite human
companies is JetBlue and I I like them
in the book they they have five values
so in my in my sweet spot of four to six
and for all of us who fly alive what
you’ll appreciate about JetBlue is that
not only do people know their five
values but they are in a very specific
order fun is one of their values but
thankfully for us safety is number one
and so they really do talk about you
know values in a specific order one
other little anecdote about JetBlue
because it relates so much to what you
were saying about how do you bring these
values to life they have they actually
have a name for it in terms of how they
empower their people to live their
values it’s called jet gray because we
know that life is not always black and
white
and so they proactively say especially
you’re at 37,000 feet we know things are
not black-and-white we empower you to
live your values to bring your human to
work in those in those gray moments so I
love jet gray there’s a company called
dynamic which is a health care
consulting firm and one of the reasons
why I highlight them in the book is that
I come from management consulting it can
be a very inhumane industry you know
you’re working all the time you’re
you’re at the you know beck and call of
your clients you’re on a
playing all the time and so Dan Calista
that CEO left to his big consulting firm
started his his own firm and said you
know what I want to make this the
healthiest company in the world so Dan I
mean does everything from they have a
curator of healthy snacks they have the
best economic chairs and lights and they
bring them to the different client sites
when when people are working locally in
the Philadelphia area they also have a
program called Z mail Z Z Z mail as in
catch some Z’s and he says you know what
no emails after 10:00 p.m. or before
6:00 a.m. unless its mission critical
and the kind things somebody just put
online what is the second company name
again it’s called dynamic with a V it’s
like dynamic but it has to be and really
cool companies so many of us can learn
from what they’re doing if you have
intention I think lyft I mentioned
earlier is one of my favorite companies
there’s also a company probably very few
people have heard of but it’s small and
and I want to I want to me in the book I
give a range like not all of these are
big companies a company called jelly
vision and they do they make you know
when you sign up for online health
benefits there’s almost nothing worse
you kind of want to kill yourself when
you’re sitting there doing that it’s
awful and so they make it fun through
through video and audio and they have
another part of their business called
jack box games and they’re very quirky
and one of the chapters in my book is
called finding the sweet spot between
tech and Kinect and this is another you
know you’ve asked a few questions which
I love about making these values alive
so they I was skeptical they told me
that they have these recruiting robots
and I was like oh my god like what you
know where’s the humaneness and in a
recruiting robot right but one of the
things that people complain about is
that they applied for a job and it goes
into the abyss and it’s so frustrating
you never hear back
so what jelly vision does is you you
send in your resume and you get an
automatic response that’s very aligned
with their fun and quirky culture and it
says hey Evan thanks so much we got your
your resume you know it’s going through
the process
you know I don’t have any pull around
here but I’m really rooting for you and
and people get a giggle out of it and
it’s very as you get to know the company
more in the process you know that this
recruiting robot that’s kind of poking
fun at the fact that you know they’re
using AI to have that first connection
is you know just really part of their
culture that’s interested you guys so
much of hiring – that the the resumes go
through the automatic filters and
looking for key words is there are there
other ways that that robots can bring
your human to work you know it’s a
really is that it really is that balance
and I think every company is trying to
figure out we still need at least in you
know 2018 the robots can do pieces of
this and can do keywords but they don’t
have the level of critical thinking and
connecting of the dots that we have and
so I’m I’m I still believe that the
human touch is critical because you
could have somebody that only has two of
the key words but it’s hope but it’s a
human that knows that that you know the
person in that job is about to leave and
the job is changing and they and the key
part of that job really is the one key
word that this person does have so I
think the jury is still out God if
there’s a comment that should be a bonus
chapter released to the pre-orders well
there’s no more pre-orders because the
book is out yeah it’s right here
bring your human to work it looks
backwards on here but you can go check
it out it’s on it’s on Amazon Barnes and
Nobles everywhere you buy books
everywhere you buy books yes correct
ebook is out audiobook coming soon go
check it out for anybody who wants to
continue to follow your journey Erica
where are you hanging out you can find
me on my website Erica Kaz wyndcomm sign
up for my human headlines newsletter and
I even have a quiz on the website it’s
ten questions that you can take to see
if you are working for a company that
brings its humans to work I love it and
for people who join the newsletter what
are they gonna get they are going to get
you know a sense of what’s going on in
in the in the human aspect of business
who like the person that asked
doing it well and so each week though
each month will be a number of curated
articles about companies that are you
know this first one I’m starting out
with for that first chapter be real
who’s bringing their values alive and
the idea behind the newsletter is that
it’s not rocket science
and everybody and as you’ll see the book
is filled with anecdotes and stories
that that if you read the book tomorrow
you can start doing things different in
your companies so literally the day I
finished my book I started learning
about more and more companies and so the
newsletter is almost like a bring your
human to work 2.0 so that I can continue
to share you know so many examples of
what these companies are doing I love it
Erica thank you so much for taking the
time here for sharing your wisdom guys
go pick up the book and we’ll see you
soon it’s great to meet you Evan take
care okay all right that was fun guys I
got to get back to work but the book
again bring your human to work go check
it out Erica cows win for those of you
watching it on the YouTube channel we
have linked it down below as well
much love and we’ll see you soon raise
now one drop of my self-worth depends on
your it’s supposed to mean if you liked
this interview and you want more air cat
caslen check out the keynote speech he
did I’d worked human the link is right
there next to me I think you’ll enjoy it
continue to believe and I’ll see you
there it really is true that when we
connect and we sit around a table and build trust good things happen
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