Left to Our Own Devices with Erica Keswin

Mental Health in the workplace is top of mind, especially these days. With all that's going on in the world, Covid continuing to upend plans, and burnout running rampant through organizations, leaders need practical, tactical solutions to helping their people (and themselves!) deal with mental health challenges. So on this final day of Mental Health Awareness month, Erica moderates a mental health roundtable discussion featuring leading experts in the diversity, inclusion, and belonging space. On this episode we have Daisy Auger-Dominguez, chief people officer at VICE media, Leonora Zilkha Williamson, human capital strategy and executive coach, and Nicholas Griggs-Drane, director of diversity and inclusion at Endeavor. In this episode, the panelists discuss how to recognize mental health matters in the workplace, how leaders and employees alike need to feel psychologically safe in order to be honest and vulnerable (and how to model that from the top), how different generations and geographical regions process mental health matters differently, why having mental health benefits are table stakes now in the recruiting process, and why it's so important to give people time to unplug and rest in order to combat burnout.Thanks to Terawatt for presenting this panel—“Because everyone deserves a good coach.” Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:Quotes:Leonora: “We absolutely need to understand the state of your mental wellness in order to build what's going to come next for you.”“Gen Z is not going to stand for having mental health be something that's shoved under the rug and looked down upon. For them—and I see this in my classroom at Vanderbilt—it is no different to tell a professor that you're not coming to class because you're having a mental health breakdown than it is to say, ‘I have Covid.' Those are equally valid reasons to bow out for the day.”Daisy:“The work of diversity, equity, and inclusion is about creating a wholeness, a connectedness, a belonging in the workplace, and it's really hard to feel connected and a sense of belonging in the workplace when you can't share what is happening in your life.”“Awareness is nice, but awareness without action doesn't get you anywhere…The action comes from your managers…How do you encourage the conversations with your employees so that they feel comfortable coming to you, they feel a sense of trust coming to you, that even if you don't have all the answers, you're showing that evidence of care.”Nicholas:“The industry is moving toward a goal of diversifying our spaces, but when you have someone from an underrepresented group in a space where they may not feel welcome, there's additional burdens they're experiencing.”“Mental health and mental wellness are directly attached to your experience and how you experience your day to day and how you experience yourself when you show up to work and how all those then connect.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsTerawatt's websiteDaisy's book, Inclusion RevolutionLeonora's website, Platinum Rule AdvisorsErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to Work Text ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life.Connect with the panelists on LinkedIn:DaisyLeonoraNicholas Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

What does it take to scale a business from an idea to unicorn status? Suneera Madhani would say to look to family values—specifically the ones her Pakistani parents instilled in her. With her brother, Suneera co-founded Stax Payments, a fintech platform now processing $23 billion in payments, so it's clear that these immigrant family values are working. Suneera speaks with Erica about her three-bucket principle to prioritizing what matters most, Stax's rituals around shared meals, why they've chosen a hybrid model for the office, and how onboarding should be intentionally thought through from the moment a prospective hire receives an offer letter. Suneera also runs the CEO School, a platform dedicated to educating women entrepreneurs on how to scale their businesses and go from founder to CEO. Suneera launched this platform after learning that less than 2% of female founders ever break $1 million in revenue, so now she aims to increase that number. CEO School includes a podcast as well as a membership with monthly classes, community events, fireside chats, and a quarterly curated product box. Additionally, Suneera's new CEO School Course—an 8-week experience, with workshops on power, pitch, process, product, people, and profit—is open for enrollment May 19th-May 25th, and you can sign up below!  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotifyResources:Quotes:“Less than 2% of female founders ever break 1 million in revenue.”“This [success] was all a compilation of saying ‘yes.' Saying yes to opportunity, saying yes to following my heart, following my passions. But I will tell you, there was a point last year where I faced complete, utter burnout. That's usually what happens when we say ‘yes' to too many things. We really have to recalibrate, where can I say ‘no'? And without feeling guilty about saying no. It's definitely a struggle.”“You can have your plate and you can fill it sky high, but usually if you look at a healthy plate, it's balanced in three components. That's how I view the three-bucket principle.”“I think onboarding begins from the offer letter; it begins even on the interview process…So we take it all the way back to say, ‘How can we drive incredible experience all the way through?' And that's just done with purpose and intention and showing your value system.”“I work with my brother; this is a family business as well. Part of our DNA was always one team, one dream. And we're always team above self. That's how I want our people to be, and that's truly this team that we have.”Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsThe CEO SchoolThe CEO School courseStax PaymentsSuneera's post on immigrant family valuesSuneera's Forbes article on the Great ResignationErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life.Connect with Suneera:InstagramCEO School InstagramStax Payments InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Contrary to popular belief, the highest performing teams are not necessarily conflict free. In fact, healthy disagreement—or creative friction—leads to more innovation, more trust, better ideas, and higher performance. Amy Gallo, author, podcast host, and contributing editor at Harvard Business Review, sits down with Erica on this week's episode to discuss how to disagree in a human way. This conversation equips leaders and employees alike to build trust and psychological safety in relationships and teams (the foundation of healthy conflict), navigate difficult conversations, and establish norms around disagreement. They also touch on how and why there are gender differences in disagreement and advocacy, why a hybrid work environment makes conflict more difficult, and how to approach—top down OR bottom up—disagreement on whether employees should return to the office fully or be able to keep a flexible schedule. Anyone who's ever struggled with conflict in the workplace will find this conversation enlightening and helpful.  Amy's latest book, Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone, Even Difficult People, is out September 13th and available for pre-order now.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:Quotes:“That leads to what Patrick Lencioni, the author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, calls artificial harmony. So it's this idea that we look like we're getting along, we're all nodding and agreeing, but then there's this sort of simmering tension or resentment that's underneath the surface that never comes up. Or comes up sideways, and you have these big explosions.” “You need trust in order to have disagreements. You need to respect the other person in order to voice your disagreement. You need to have a sense of belonging and safety. And when you don't have those things, whether it's in a marriage or on a team, it's going to look like everything's fine, because disagreements aren't coming up, but things often are very, very wrong. And you're not going to get all of the benefits of disagreeing, right you know, [like] innovation. What Linda Hill at Harvard Business School calls creative friction, that comes with you and I disagreeing, we're gonna come up with a better idea if we surface our underlying assumptions, and we articulate our point of view, and we go to bat for our ideas and then collaborate and integrate each of our ideas into something better, right? We get better work outcomes. We also tend to have stronger relationships because to disagree you need to have trust, and once actually have disagreed, you do have a conflict and you've worked through it, you've set the precedent that our relationship will survive even if we disagree.”“Having difficult conversations, having disagreements are table stakes when it comes to trying to create inclusive work environments.”“One of the basic things is, as a leader, if you haven't said out loud, ‘We will not always see eye to eye, and I think that is a good thing,' say that tomorrow to your team. Because you have to lay the groundwork that disagreement is a normal, inevitable part of other human beings interacting. And it's not going to be shut down if it comes up. We're going to hear it, we're going to listen to it. And setting norms around how do we do that.”“Part of me believes we need to reclaim this language that's always negative. To me, conflict is when our needs, wants, desires are not aligned. And we have to figure out how to align them or how to get to an answer where at least some of those desires, wants, and needs are met, but maybe not all of them.”“You need to be crystal clear about why you actually want people back [in the office]. What purpose is it serving for the organization, for them as employees? You know, people have gotten used to being able to pick up their kids from school or at the bus stop. You're asking them to disrupt a routine that they've gotten used to and, as you say, have been able to do their jobs just as well.”“Given what the labor market looks like right now, I would be very hesitant to enforce something that's going to make a lot of people unhappy. There are people who are willing to leave over [forced RTO], and a lot have.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsAmy's websitePre-order Amy's book, Getting AlongErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Amy:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

When Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy pitched their second book, Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay, to their publisher in January 2020, the authors were met with questions about its relevance. Fast forward six months (and three months into a new and terrifying global pandemic), and the publisher recognized this was, in fact, a very relevant book to publish. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. In these turbulent times, with millions participating in The Great Resignation, new Covid variants emerging every few months, derailing our collective plans to move on, and many dealing with the grief they've experienced from the loss of loved ones to the virus, Big Feelings couldn't have come at a better time. Liz Fosslien, the co-author and illustrator stopped by Left to Our Own Devices to dig deep into big feelings. On this episode, Liz and Erica discuss the new book, how to express selective vulnerability (aka, bringing your most appropriate self to work), the importance of being intentional and taking time to connect and check in with colleagues, and how to introduce more stability into our teams during ever-changing times. Liz also offers two salient examples from Humu and IDEO on how to onboard in ways that will give new hires a sense of psychological safety as well as permission to bring their human to work.Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay, by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy is out today! Pick up your copy wherever books are sold. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotifyResources:Quotes:“Our work is not an invitation to be a feelings firehose. We talk about this a lot in the context of leadership. And we have a practice that we call selective vulnerability. So it's really, how do you balance sharing, which builds trust and does bring teams together and increases performance over the short and long run, but you also can't really over share, right? It is still a workplace context and especially if you're leading a team, part of your role is to create stability and clarity for that team.”“I have emotions, some of them are really, really difficult. You will have them too, that's perfectly okay. But as your leader, I'm still thinking about how to make sure we're all okay together in the future.”“I will say, I am an introvert. My job involves a lot of writing and thinking, so I personally love working from home. I think back on being in an open-office floor plan, and it boggles my mind how I got anything done ever because it's so overstimulating. So I think the keys are, when you are in person, really prioritizing relationship building and connection and seeing that as how you're going to perform better in the long term.”“I've learned to take a deep breath and say, ‘Okay, we should have that five minutes [at the beginning of a meeting] just to check in with one another. And it actually makes the call much, much nicer. So I think it just requires you to be more intentional and have the moment of, ‘What do I want out of this meeting, what is my goal in connecting with this person, and then how can I structure the next 30 minutes to make that happen.'”“Somehow I always forget how restorative it is to just step away from my computer and walk outside. And I'm lucky enough to live in California, where that's an option year round. It's like, wow, being outside in the sun for five minutes has this huge impact, and I'm just always not doing it!?”On Humu's onboarding: “[Laszlo Bock] was like, ‘Hey, this is your first day, and I just want to reinforce that the interview—the audition is over. You're not auditioning anymore. You're here and we want you to grow and learn and ask a lot of questions. You're going to make mistakes, but you don't need to be worried about your position—that part is over.'”“The audition is over! We're so excited you're here, you're bringing all these valuable skills to the team. Please lean into your abilities—that's why we hired you.”“The 7 emotional states [from the book]: are uncertainty, comparison, anger, burnout, perfectionism, despair, and regret.”Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsOrder Liz and Mollie's book, Big Feelings, out nowLiz and Mollie's websiteLiz's websiteErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Liz:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Gary Ware was working as a VP at a digital ad agency when he realized that  being completely depleted, feeling broken, and having no drive to do anything was perhaps *not* normal. Gary was experiencing what many of us have faced, especially during the pandemic—burnout. So Gary took an improv class and realized play is what was missing in his life. On the podcast this week, Gary chats with Erica about his journey from burnout to breakthrough by incorporating play and games into the work day. He illustrates how applied improvisation and games help teams and colleagues unlock creativity, confidence, and better communication. Gary shares the challenges of reimagining in-person games to an online environment once the pandemic hit, signs an employee may be on the verge of burnout, why playing a silly game as a team before a client call can make everything go more smoothly, and why sense of intimacy must be created if we want to form a genuine connection.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:Quotes:On his former position: “The vibe was, ‘You sleep when you're dead. Hey, you know what, we're here to work, we're here to work hard.' It was interesting because it was, ‘work hard, play hard,' however there was no playing at all. When you work a 12-hour day and then you go home, the last thing you want to do when you go home is do anything other than sleep.”“As a leader you can start to understand, are people showing up to meetings and *not* bringing their whole selves? And I don't think it's intentional. When you're running at that [overworked] level for so long, you start to deplete yourself. Are people being a little bit more cynical than before? Those are some of the early signs that people may be starting to burn themselves out.”“That's the beauty of play. Play is pleasurable and when you're in true play you want to share with other people.”“We started creating psychological safety just by playing these silly games. We started seeing the purpose of, ‘Oh, wow, this is actually helping us listen better. This is helping us connect better with each other.' And of course, performance increased.”“One of the cool things about [the 5 Things game] is that it starts to prime your brain to look for connections, to look for these blind spots. And then when we would go into meetings, we would be more open to suggestions from our clients. We would actually see [more] ways that we could help our clients.”“When the pandemic first happened and everything stopped being in person and went virtual, it was challenging. How can we create this intimacy when we are miles apart, on camera, and people are stressed out. And so I had to reimagine everything. I had to essentially dissect all my activities and say, ‘Alright, what's the purpose here. Can it work in a virtual environment?' But in the spirit of ‘Yes, and,' I would go into these meetings, and I would just be quite frank with them, and I'd say, ‘Look, I get it. You've probably been on Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting, and the last thing that you want is to do some silly games.' And I would just call out the current environment. And by doing that, it creates this level playing field of like, ‘Alright, cool. You're not trying to sugar coat this situation like nothing wrong is going on in the world.'”“When you create a sense of intimacy, that's where the oxytocin happens. That's where we get the dopamine and the endorphins and then we can focus.”“With the companies I'm working with, how they're looking at their office is almost like a clubhouse. ‘We're all together. This is going to be the time when we're going to connect. This is the time when we're going to do things that are more experiential so that when we disperse, we can be more productive. We will feel like we made those connections.'” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsGary's website, Breakthrough PlayErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Gary:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Few activities prepare a young person for the world of work better than participation in team sports. With skills like leadership, performance under pressure, work ethic, teamwork, problem solving, and the ability to strategize, athletes are naturally set up to be successful. And that's just what this week's guest, former Team USA Women's Hockey team captain and three-time Olympic medalist, Meghan Duggan, has found. Meghan joined Erica on the podcast to discuss her transition from leading the Olympic team to gold to manager of player development for the New Jersey Devils NHL hockey team. Meghan's main focus these days is planning and strategizing with recent draft picks and young pros at the beginning of their career life cycle so they can become full-time, multi-million dollar NHL players. Meghan talks about the moment she decided she would be an Olympian (at just 10 years old!), why family and professional rituals matter, and her work as president of the Women's Sports Foundation, where they work to build greater equity, inclusion, and participation for girls and women in sports. Anyone going through a professional transition will find Meghan's journey and this episode helpful.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:Quotes:“I had to dig deep. I had to go through some hard times and look myself in the mirror and figure out, okay, hockey's gone, but you're a mom, you have all these qualities you've learned through playing, like you mentioned Erica—leadership, performance under pressure, work ethic, the ability to strategize and solve problems and work as a team—I had innately in me, and I had to find ways to bring them out and figure out how I was going to use those things and add value somewhere else.”“I think rituals are huge, right? They get you in the right mindset, they make you feel prepared, they give you confidence. I love those things. You know if you have your own rituals, you can always fall back on them when things are hard or things go awry. They're so important, and I love watching rituals play out in the sports world.”on the Women's Sports Foundation: “We do a ton of research around what sports do and how they bring different things into our lives, right? For young girls, whether it's physical health, mastering skills, discipline, confidence, leadership, positive body image, all these things. We talk about C-suite women. When you look at that, 94% of C-suite women played sports at a young age, which is just incredible, right? But not surprising when you think about what sports bring into our lives.”  Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsMeghan Duggan - Team USANJ DevilsWomen's Sports FoundationErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Meghan:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

From a one-man business consultant working out of a spare bedroom in 2007 to a team of 100 employees, 1 billion dollars secured in business financing, and a leading fintech marketplace for small businesses, Joe Camberato—or, Grow By Joe, as he's known on the internet—knows a thing or two about growth. Which makes sense, because Joe's mission is to help drive growth, both for clients and employees. So how does he do it? This week on the podcast, Joe Camberato, founder and CEO of National Business Capital, speaks with Erica about how to build a business from scratch. And the secret for Joe is to harness the power of culture. And culture doesn't have to be overcomplicated, but it does have to be experienced. Joe discusses NBC's team rituals, like the 9:01 AM daily stretch that gets everyone centered for the day, how they build fun into the day-to-day work, how their culture team intentionally crafts events and resources for the company, and why leaders should let people have the flexibility they need to deal with stuff going on in their lives—we're all human after all. Listen in for a straightforward approach to bringing fun back to work. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:Quotes:“If you're having a tough time getting people to come back, I think it's a really good time to relook at your business and your culture. People want more today than just a place to show up to work. They want a fun environment and companies that bring more to the table.”“How do you explain culture? It's not an easy thing to explain. I feel like you really have to experience it and see it and witness it. One word is fun. We talk about this all the time…there's not a rule book that says you can't have a fun time in the office; you can't have fun while doing your work. And it's not just all about having fun. We hold ourselves highly accountable…It's about work/life integration.” “We're not so stiff and stuff with things. We respect and understand things happen in people's lives. If something comes up or something happens, I'm not worried about, are they using their PTO day for that? I really don't care. If it's a life thing go figure it out, go handle it, go do it.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsGrow By Joe Youtube channelNational Business Capital websiteErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Joe:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

How do we shift society as a whole towards more diversity and inclusion? It starts with the people and brands defining culture itself—“the icons, visionaries, renowned experts, award-winners, champions, leading brands and institutions.” And nowhere do they influence culture more than at Endeavor, a company that represents this top tier talent in sports, entertainment, fashion, live events, and media. On this episode, Erica spoke with Alicin Williamson, Chief Inclusion Officer, and Nicholas Griggs-Drane, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Endeavor. Alicin and Nicholas help build D&I into the fabric of Endeavor, and thus the culture at large. In this episode Alicin and Nicholas discuss how to make sure everyone can show up as their full selves, using science and stories about underrepresented groups to shift the conversation, how to onboard with D&I baked in, and why putting diversity and inclusion first is a competitive advantage. This episode is an absolute must-listen for anyone in HR and people functions.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:Quotes:Alicin:“You can't talk about growth mindset without talking about inclusion.”“One of the ways I think about this is defragmentation of power. There is more agency that individuals have and are thinking about as they figure out how they spend their time, and what they're willing to have happen and do. And, frankly, underrepresented people—people of color, LGBTQ+, women—have a lower tolerance for having to navigate around the delicate egos that we have had to forever.”“The notion of diversity often ends as soon as you say yes. ‘We're so excited to have you. You're reflective of these voices that we're interested in having and we don't have.' And then you show up, and you're expected to assimilate. So it's really important for the hiring managers and the onboarding team to remember—we're not actually indoctrinating anymore. That's not what the business is. We want them—these voices, whoever it is. They're going to set us on this path to the future. Make sure that we give them the tools and the support to do that.”“This is more than logistics. The world is reopening; hopefully we'll continue in the same direction. There are a lot of people who didn't get to bury loved ones. There are a lot of people who sat home by themselves for nearly two years. There are a lot of people who have needed to navigate things that they were already challenged with, and that they found things were exacerbated by this global pandemic and trauma. We are ready to make it so that people—however we bring them together, in whatever intention—that it is meaningful. That is mindful of what had to be navigated and overcome to get from [say] Jersey to the Flatiron.”Nicholas: “What does it mean to be an employee at one of our businesses, right? At a specific vertical? What does that mean when you're in a hybrid model? How do you get that engagement so people feel seen and that we're meeting them where they're at in this half-virtual world still, no matter how much we want it to be fully in person. We have to adjust, and it is a competitive advantage when we do. And specifically with underrepresented people. The marketplace is hot.”“We have this conversation all the time—you can recruit underrepresented people all you want, right? But if they're not set up for success on day 1, 2, 3 through their 90 day entry point, they will walk out the door, and they have every right to walk out the door because they were failed.“There's all these pieces of making people feel a part of the organization  in a way that's authentic—we should do this for everyone—but if you as a people manager have that ability, and then you can systemically build that into your practice…I think it's understanding that onboarding people takes work. And people notice it if you don't. And then they will go to the next person who cares about their time and their energy and their expertise or their career that they're putting in your hands.”Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsEndeavor's websiteErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Alicin:LinkedIn Connect with Nicholas:InstagramLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Whether joining a meeting from Zoom, on a walk, or in-person, Jeannie Weaver knows that intentional connection is key to how she leads a team of 45+ in the retail marketing and special experiences space at AT&T. The pandemic disrupted so much, but it never changed—only reinforced—her approach to leadership: start with people. Her team has been able to thrive through these turbulent times by recognizing individual contribution, curating experiences together, and focusing on gratitude. In this episode, Erica and Jeannie discuss how to actually walk the walk, how daydreaming helps Jeannie feel most like herself, and why grace and vulnerability for ourselves and others is the most important takeaway from the past two years. Jeannie is a model of leadership for anyone responsible for a large team in an even larger corporation. Listen in for a human-centered approach to this type of organization.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:Quotes:“When you start with people as your approach, the results come.”“We will get together because there's just this craving of the energy, the human connectedness, right? I want to be with people, but I want to be with people with intention.”“I need to make sure this is not a ‘do as I say,' but truly ‘do as I do,' and I need to tell you that I am doing those things—‘Oh, I took a walk today.'”“Starting with gratitude in the book club and in meetings [equalizes everyone]. People you normally didn't hear from now put forward things that are on their heart, that are important to them. And then that starts to snowball. Other people start lighting up and engaging and participating.”  Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsAT&T's Hello LabErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Jeannie:TwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Food is a vessel for connecting people. It helps build community and break down barriers. That's the vision behind Season Four's first guest, James-Beard-award-winning chef, TV personality, and author, Chef JJ Johnson. Chef JJ's most recent restaurant venture, FIELDTRIP, is a made-to-order dining experience based around rice, as it's the universal ingredient that connects us all and can be found at the center of the table in almost every community. In this episode, Erica and Chef JJ discuss the impact of the pandemic on the restaurant industry, how FIELDTRIP pivoted to donate meals to healthcare workers on the front line, how Chef JJ hopes the industry will come back more equitably for all stakeholders, and the answer to his own “Now What?”—how he plans to utilize the Series A round he raised to grow his business. On this Pi Day, Chef JJ's experience with centering community around good-for-you food offers accessible insights to anyone seeking to bring people—in work and in life—together around a shared meal. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources: Quotes:“Food was this vessel of connecting people to then make—hopefully the food that was going to hospitals around the country—was making doctors and nurses and frontline workers and anyone that worked under those roofs perform better.”“The great thing about the restaurant industry is we're fighters, we figure it out. Hopefully it evolves, and when I say I don't think it will come back the same, I hope that tipping comes back differently, I hope that minimum wage comes back differently. I hope we can really figure out for people to look at the industry as, not a luxury, but a necessity. And I think a lot of people look at restaurants as a luxury, but they employ a lot of people, and even some of our first jobs are in restaurants.”“On the spaghetti effect, that has helped camaraderie, right? Because now when people come into FIELDTRIP, you see firefighters coming in, you see police officers, you see guys that have lived in this community for 100 years—their family—and they're all eating next to each other and then having a conversation, ‘Oh, what's in your bowl?' ‘What's that black rice taste like?' And then that helps build community. Or break down barriers that weren't able to be broken down before.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsChef JJ's websiteFIELDTRIP's websiteErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Chef JJ:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Here we are, two years after March 2020, when everything changed. Things are FAR from back to normal. People are quitting their jobs in record numbers. Mental health challenges remain at an all-time high. And flexibility isn't going anywhere. So how do leaders retain top talent and run their businesses during all this uncertainty?On Season 4 of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica is asking, “Now What?” And leaders from all walks of life will help her find the answer.

What's a human leader to do as we all try to figure out how to navigate the future of work? There are so many variables right now around the return to the office, working from home, hybrid models, and everything in between, that it can be tough to make the smartest and safest decisions. And we can't do this difficult work alone. That's why for the finale of the Hybrid season of Left to Our Own Devices, we're running a special episode: a live webinar (previously recorded) from keynote speaker, bestselling author, and founder of Happier, Nataly Kogan, called the Awesome Human Hour. Nataly invited Erica on the weekly webinar, and they discussed why in this transition period, honoring relationships, focusing on well-being, and shifting to outcomes instead of hours is a great start. They also talked about why leading with vulnerability, transparency, clear communication, and gratitude are powerful ways to ensure engagement from employees and leaders alike. And as always, Erica reminded us that rituals are a sure-fire tool for offering the people in our organizations psychological safety, a greater sense of purpose, and a boost in performance, especially in uncertain times. Listen in for two expert takes on how to be an awesome human leader during this transition. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:– “We have just gone through something incredibly stressful...Acknowledge for yourself and for others—your team, your organization—everyone is coming into this depleted. We are not at our best in terms of our energy and our focus because we've just gone through something really exhausting, and it's not over. It still has ramifications.”– “Why are change and transition so hard? Your brain only has one job: keep you safe from danger. Any uncertainty signals possible danger to your brain. What does the brain do when it senses danger? It starts to look for everything that could go wrong. It's so important for you individually and for you as a leader of a team to recognize that, as we're going through this transition, everyone's brain is looking for, ‘What about this change am I not going to like? What is going to be annoying? What is going to be frustrating?' Not because they're negative people—there's no such thing. It's just that's how our brain deals with change. It starts to focus on what could go wrong because it thinks that it can protect us.”– “When you share what you're worried about, you give everyone else permission to acknowledge what they're stressed about. And that creates a sense of connection, common experience, and psychological safety, that actually helps to reduce that stress. I've been looking at some research about leaders who handle crises the best, and the most effective leaders during crises (which is what we're going through right now) are those who openly acknowledge their challenges and create a space for people on their team to do the same.”– “We all want to connect, and it is important, but when we get busy and stressed, it goes to the bottom of our list. Not because we're bad people, but just because our brain is going, ‘What do I need to do?' Just putting on your to do list: check in, is transformative. Be intentional but also be making these concrete to-do's part of your schedule, part of your day. Don't feel weird about scheduling kind things.”– “The pandemic was a wake up call. When people are under extreme stress, we can't talk about performance.”– “Leaders ask me this a lot: ‘How do I encourage well-being and self care for my team?' You cannot teach what you don't practice….Before I burnt out, I was the leader who told my team to take the weekend off, and make sure you're taking time for you. And you know what I did on the weekends? I sent them emails, I worked on public documents that they can see, so I just created an atmosphere of a lack of trust because I wasn't practicing. So the number one thing you can do as a leader is, you have to make your own emotional fitness your number one priority. What do I mean by emotional fitness? Emotional fitness is a skill of cultivating a more supportive relationship with yourself, your emotions, your thoughts, and other people.”– “Creating a ritual, creating something that is meaningful to you, that is a positive experience, that makes you feel comfortable, actually signals safety to your brain.”– Tip for practicing Emotional Fitness: “Make a quick list: what are some things that fuel you? Maybe your list includes a creative hobby that you used to do. Learning something new is really fueling. Our brain loves to learn something new...Make it intentional for yourself to practice a few of those things. Make them part of your daily fuel up.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsNataly's websiteNataly's book, Happier NowJoin a future Awesome Human HourErica's websiteErica's course How to Bring Your Human to Work for Leaders starting Sept. 2021Order Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Nataly:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

We're half way through summer, which means the official “return to office” date, the day after Labor Day, is fast approaching. Many companies expect that their employees will be back in the office in some capacity. Which means NOW is the time to be thinking about how to navigate that transition. Enter executive start up coach Alisa Cohn and her client, co-founder and CEO of startup Common Paper, Jake Stein, to chat with Erica about how they're both figuring out this transition time. In the episode you'll hear Alisa reflect on her first offsite since the pandemic and the feeling of magic that face-to-face connection created, how Jake is thinking about building rapport, trust, and understanding with new hires in a future of work that isn't necessarily geolocated, how matching the message to the medium is more important than ever, why old rituals may or may not translate as well in a different context (office setting versus WFH-during-a-pandemic setting), and why reopening may be tougher on us all psychologically than the initial lockdown. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:Alisa 3:22 – “Being in the same room, being able to have that human connection, that human contact was priceless, and I would say we really savored it because I think that we know that that could be taken away from us.”Alisa 7:13 – “What have we experienced and enjoyed actually, about remote work, and then what do we need to fine-tune as we figure out what our version of back-to-office looks like.”Jake 8:44 – “We're four people who've all worked together before. And so we have a base level of trust and rapport and understanding, and we're trying to recruit more people and one of the things that's most important to me, is how do we develop that rapport and trust and understanding in a context where there's not a kitchen to go talk at the water cooler or a Friday lunch for us to cater. And so I think we'll have to do different things, and it's something that we'll need to be really intentional about, and I don't, candidly, have all the answers.”Jake 18:12 – “You really need to start from first principles, thinking, what am I trying to accomplish? And then also, what are the pros and the cons of the mediums that are available?” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsAlisa's websiteCommon Paper websiteErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Alisa:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Jake:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

For the July 4th holiday week, we're replaying the Season Two finale, featuring Eve Rodsky. As the discussion around Hybrid work and equity around the Return (or not) to the Office continues to heat up, Eve's perspective on how women are impacted is ever important. As one woman noted to me recently, “I want to take advantage of my company's offer to work from home on Thursday, but the two men on my team aren't going to do it.” Women especially want flex, but don't want to be left behind if they're “out of sight; out of mind” when it comes to career advancement. Companies navigating a return to the office without intention and a plan for inclusion could result in leaving people in need of more flex (i.e.: mostly women, people of color, differently-abled people, and caretakers) behind.Original air date: 2/2/21Original show notes: In the season finale of Season Two: The Rituals Edition, Erica has an incredible guest—keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author, and equality evangelist, Eve Rodsky. Shaped by a difficult upbringing with a single mother in New York City, Eve learned important lessons early on around resilience, responsibility, and care. In this episode, you'll hear about her first ritual—going to a march related to social justice every year on her birthday with her mother, as well as her current ritual—a nightly communication check-in with her husband. Eve has dedicated her life to equality, including by helping partners divide domestic responsibilities more equitably and by helping organizations get to a place of equality and psychological safety. Eve and Erica also discuss this inflection point in history: where either Covid will push mothers out of the workforce, or as a society we'll rise up to make a new, more equitable future of work where women aren't penalized for having dependents. Don't miss this important conversation.   Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:Quotes:13:30 – “What [the research] shows is that, when you communicate more consistently, there is psychological safety and connection there. It is a ritual. And rituals allow you to do things that maybe if it's a one-off wouldn't. It allows you to bring up hard conversations and to say, ‘You know what this isn't working, but I know I can come back to this tomorrow night.' And that's what that communication ritual does for Seth and me. We say, ‘You know what, we're going to table this. Let's come back when emotion is low and cognition is high.'” 21:11 – on this covid inflection moment to build something better for working mothers: “To really build a new society after this horrific reckoning…To me the silver lining is, an hour holding our child's hand at the pediatrician's office is just as valuable as an hour in the boardroom. I think we can build that through ritual. I think we can build that through communication. I think we can build that through psychological safety and empathy. But it's going to take not just women doing it. It's going to take men. It's going to take our workplaces.”22:20 – “The leaders we talk to and how much they recognize that being a whole human being is actually better for their company and better for society.”28:38 – “Nothing is going to replace [our previous rituals]. And I think we should grieve for the lost rituals. we should grieve for the fact that we are right now losing those connection times with friends. Or we're losing the ritual  of that daily walk with your grandma, or whatever it was, that we can't do now.”Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsEve's websiteEve's book, Fair PlayThe Fair Play DeckErica's websiteErica's book, Rituals RoadmapErica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Eve:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

The pandemic accelerated several workplace trends, but none more rapidly than the conversation around holistic well-being. How do we think about wellness at work? How do we integrate work and life instead of trying to force an impossible balance? How has the pandemic changed our view of well-being in a way that's holistic and gives mental health equal weight? At the end of the day, “We bring work to life by bringing life to work.”This week on the podcast, Erica chats with two women leading the transformation of workplace well-being: Jen Fisher, author, podcast host, Thrive Global Editor-at-Large, and Chief Well-being Officer at Deloitte, and Keren Ehrenfeld, Managing Director in Global Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley and Head of Healthcare and Transportation Debt Capital Markets practice. Jen, Keren, and Erica discuss how to recognize burnout, how each individual's view of wellness is different, how managers are one of the biggest impacts on wellness at work, and how wellness can be achieved from organizational, team, and individual levels. This is an absolute must-listen for leaders looking to move into the future of work with well-being as a top priority. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:Keren 10:02 – “When your demands exceed your capacity is when you hit the burnout level. And that's the thing we're trying to avoid, and that looks different for everyone.”Keren 10:56 – “We all know at the end of the day, the best relationships and employee happiness really depends on who your manager is.”Keren 11:23 – “Number one is to understand what burnout looks like is really, really important. Being able to look at someone or your people or even have a conversation and notice when they're exhausted or losing steam or a little bit irritable or sometimes we start hearing people be a little bit cynical about their job, right? Or people who are superstars start to lose their mojo a little bit and their work product is not as good as it was. Noticing those things and instead of getting annoyed or angry at it, it's then understanding how to have the conversation and building in some strategies that can help the employee or help your friend or whoever the person might be. Keren 12:07 – “So once you spot [burnout], how do you source it? How do you source the burnout? What is the real problem here?…Of course unsustainable workload is one of them…but there's also lack of control about how and when you work your best…just having that conversation around having more control can alleviate a lot of the burn out.”Jen 26:27 – “How do you continue to maintain the authenticity and vulnerability? I don't think our workforce is going to let us go back, right? So much has changed and there's such a demand societally for people to be able to show up and be who they are.”Jen 27:54 – “At the team level it's really about behaviors and norms. How do we get together as a team? Because we know all the research shows that the people who have the biggest impact on your day-to-day wellbeing are the people that you spend most of your time with. And for those of us that work, the majority of our waking hours during the week are spent at work, right? So those people that we're engaging with on a regular basis are the people that have the biggest impact on our wellbeing, so for most of us, that's our team. So how do we as teams get together and talk about what do we want our wellbeing behaviors and norms to be? What do we want standard working hours to look like? How do we get in touch with each other outside the standard working hours? What does common or accepted response time to emails look like? What are the expectations around learning and development? Do we all want to step away from our laptops for lunch everyday? Just having those conversations and creating norms on a team so that everybody understands what's expected of them and when it's expected. It also creates a platform and an environment where I can speak up.”Jen 29:29 – “Every individual must have agency and feel empowered to take care of their own wellbeing. We can do as much as we can possibly do at an organizational and team level; I cannot force you to take care of yourself.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsJen's book, Work Better TogetherErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to Work Text ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life.Connect with Jen:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn Connect with Keren:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

What's important to you? What are your non-negotiables? What are your goals? When it comes to negotiating what's best for each person in the hybrid workplace, answering those questions is a great place to start, says Mori Taheripour, this week's guest on Left to Our Own Devices.Mori is a globally recognized negotiation and DEI expert, executive, Wharton professor, and author of Bring Yourself: How to Harness the Power of Connections to Negotiate Fearlessly. Erica and Mori discuss why it's important to be straight forward about our needs at work, how companies will have to look at the future of work on a more individual, holistic level, and why it's key to set boundaries with our values in mind and learn to communicate effectively and with curiosity. Listen in for a thoughtful conversation around bringing our best selves to work and life in an authentic way, and stick around to the end for some sage advice Mori gives to Erica as the parent of two college-bound kids. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:6:46 – “Companies are going to have to look at this very differently as well. and you can't just force feed people into what this used to be. A lot has changed, and so I think they'll have to have individual conversations, because one size does not fit all. And I think that part of those conversations, obviously there has to be some amount of compromise, because it could be that they want a lot of people back just to create that sense of camaraderie and connection, even a greater sense of maybe innovation and bringing people together—that energy that is hard to replace even at your finest moments virtually, right? So I think those conversations have to be tailored to people.”8:44 – on being straightforward about your needs: “I'm hoping that the HR folks, your boss, your manager, or whatever it is, will be able to have those conversations so it's more like collaborative problem solving as opposed to ‘this is the way it's going to be, and this is what you have to do,' because I don't think workforces will fare that well if that's how they approach it.”11:33 – “Everybody doesn't deserve every part of you and all the information you have at the beginning. You give a little, you take a little, you give a little. And then, as you become more comfortable, even in that first negotiation, that first conversation, you can see that natural progression, because the connection is made, the empathy is created, the rapport is built.”12:28 – “It's also the values piece of it, right? Being very true to who you are from a values perspective. So that's less about, not necessarily behavior, so much as it is knowing your boundaries and the things that are important to you.”17:25 – on the conversations around the future of work: “Too much has changed to unsee what has happened. And so I think a lot of those conversations are going to change, pick up, be a little more malleable, pliable, and really individualized.”23:42 – “When I first started teaching negotiations, it took me a little while, but the essence of it is communicating effectively and being heard, and being curious and going into conversations not with your mind made up but being open to ideas and somebody else's ways of communicating with you and perspective—hearing things from a different perspectives before you actually draw your own, and maybe what you end up with is far better than you ever thought was possible because it was innovative and you were open and curious.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsMori's websiteErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Mori:InstagramTwitterLinkedInConnect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

How do the leaders of one of the biggest and most successful tech companies in the world lead in the Hybrid Revolution? With a figure-it-out mindset. Today on the podcast, Erica chats with Colette Stallbaumer, General Manager of Microsoft 365 and Future of Work at Microsoft. Colette explains Microsoft's approach to Hybrid work—it's centered around a three-part framework: people, places, and processes. They're using technology and research to implement best practices around empowering managers, hiring diverse talent, embracing flexibility, creating connection and culture in new ways, and staying agile with touch points. Because at the end of the day, as Colette asserts, leading IN a crisis is far different than leading OUT of a crisis. Instead of taking our bad pandemic habits (like working into the evenings and weekends and taking endless back-to-back Zoom calls) with us into the Hybrid Revolution, Microsoft is shifting away from reactive and into proactive processes. Colette also shares some professional and personal rituals from that past year that made quarantine a bit brighter. Listen in to hear insights from one of the leading vanguards in the future of work.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:“1:48 – "We no longer believe that work is a place, right? It's more of a state of mind and that we want to help be successful in this new normal from anywhere.”3:05 – "In Hybrid, which we're moving into now, there isn't a standard. Everything becomes more complex in flexible work. And that's really the new leadership challenge for every leader and every organization. It's going to be figuring that out and figuring out how to empower people in this new, new normal.”12:43 – "We have a three-part framework around people, places, and processes...And it obviously starts with people. Getting that people piece right is critical."23:38 – "The key to flexibility is lots of little things that can have a big impact.”24:21 – “Taking just a small break—even 5 to 10 minutes between meetings—has a dramatic impact. It resets your brain, it lowers your stress levels, and it increases your cognitive function. And so we just last month came out with a new default setting in Outlook, so people could set that automatically in their organization." Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsMicrosoft Future of WorkErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Colette:LinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

How do you develop great talent in turbulent times? What about for a future of work which has never yet existed? By being a people-first leader. This week on Left to Our Own Devices, Erica sits down with Susan Justus, VP of Talent Development at Betterment, a digital automated investment platform. Susan has spent many years in the talent development space and understands that building relationships with people “beyond the task” (part of The Betterment Way) is key. To develop employees with clarity, confidence, and purpose, leaders must be able to connect on a deeper level and reinforce psychological safety, EQ, transparency, and values. The work itself must also be meaningful for people to truly connect to an organization and thrive. And at Betterment, they really listen to their people. Which is why this summer, they're running testing grounds on their hybrid model to work out any kinks, find balance, and help everyone prepare for the full hybrid model which will kick off in the fall. Listen in for more on this Hybrid model that every leader should be paying attention to. Please Follow, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:3:30 – “I've really tried to deepened the connection that I have by getting to the core of who they are as individuals, not just about the work…we're moving so quickly in regards to our priorities, our OKRs, and the things we're focused on for the year and for the quarter, etc. that sometimes we forget who our people are. So this past year, one of the ways I've shifted is really getting to know my team first in terms of, what's important to them at this moment? How can I support them? Because the better they are, in terms of how they're doing, the best work they can bring into the organization and what they bring to the team.”10:53 – “We do have folks internal within the people team that are going to start these hybrid team sessions in the summer just to get people comfortable with what it looks like to be in the office and those who may be virtual or not based in New York. Just to get them comfortable with the idea of, what does it look like to have a hybrid team in place? What best practices do we need to put in place because obviously we have to start all over again in really figuring out, how do we find the balance and make our team most effective in this new way of working? So there will be a bunch of testing grounds around this summer just to get people to a good place by the fall when we fully reopen.”12:15 – “How can you lead your team in the most inclusive manner? How can you make them feel safe? Because at the end of the day, that builds trust. Trust is a really important behavior to demonstrate for your teams so they feel like they belong within your team, within the organization.”13:08 – “How can you give your team members the work that really makes them thrive and they're excited about. That they feel like they're connected to the organization—even if they're virtual. Being really transparent about, ‘You're doing this project because this is the ultimate goal that we're looking to solve for, and this is the part you play in that ultimate goal.”15:29 – “We've found that defining the behavior and what it looks like in action is so critical to anything we do around development at Betterment. Because if people don't understand what does that behavior even look like in action, why would they be interested in participating in the training, if the expectation isn't aligned to the actual training and purpose of their role? So we're trying to be more and more intentional about communicating that across the board with everything that we offer around education.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsBetterment websiteErica's websiteOrder Erica's book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica's book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human' to 66866 to sign up for Erica's newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Susan/Betterment:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

As we start thinking about the epic “Return to the Office,” many are thinking about space and how it can be used more intentionally for collaboration, creativity, and productivity. Peter Knutson, chief strategy officer at architecture firm A+I and Bastien Baumann, chief design officer at Publicis Groupe join Erica on the podcast this week to discuss this very topic.A+I and Publicis Groupe partnered together to form Le Truc, “a New York City-based center of creative excellence for clients, converging 600+ creatives, producers, and creative strategists from Publicis Groupe New York agencies into one dynamic, collaborative space.” So for these two creatives, space and how to use it to maximize creative flow is top of mind. As we’ve seen in the last year, employees have proven they can be just as productive at home as they were at the office, which leads to the question, why come back at all?Bastien asserts leaders must give their people a real tangible reason to come back. Peter maintains that people are why we will want to return to the office—people are the pull. Listen in for a thoughtful conversation around people and space and why we gather. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:Peter 9:58 – “The idea that comes to you in the shower happens because creativity is hard and amorphous, right? It’s not something you can grab and force. It’s something that you have to sort of coax and cajole a little bit. You have to fight with it sometimes. You have to prepare and just wait sometimes. I think that for us, it was really meaningful to think about Le Truc as the challenge to be creative, especially to be creative on the timeline for others is a huge pressure. And this idea of, what is the space that allows you to wrestle with the uncertainty of the creative impulse? What is the version of the idea in the shower in the office? Is it more than a conference room and a desk? Is it something other? And I think that’s where we’re really pushing this is, what is the variety of physical environments that can change the way you’re experiencing the world in a way that gives you that moment or that inspiration that’s going to let the idea come out, let the idea become formed? And then how do you form it afterwards? Because nobody has the right idea; nobody imagines the perfect thing the first time it enters their brain. And that challenge is fun to tackle as a spatial one.”Bastien 12:56 – “Thinking about creativity and how it works—it’s two basic steps: diverging steps and converging steps. So you need two steps. You need one where you’re going to be by yourself, feeding yourself about the problem, what’s the problem? And then you’re going to have to exchange that problem with others. So it’s really collaboration. And open space is  amazing for that because you’re with everybody. But you need that time where you’re by yourself—you need to do the things, you need to craft the thing, you need to find the solution. This time you don’t need anybody, so that’s why you go to a library or you try to hide everywhere you can, in a coffee space or whatever. I think the spaces of today for creatives are good for collaboration but very bad for crafting by yourself.”Peter 20:04 – “Even in just the beginning instances of this, Hybrid is a completely different thing than working all in person or working all remotely. And there’s an imbalance between the people who are on a call and the people who are physically in the room that is impossible to overcome. There is language that your body says that is impossible to replicate on a Zoom call.”Bastien 23:25 – “I think you need to give people a reason, a very tangible reason of why should I go back to work? Because I’ve proven to you that I’m as productive as I used to be when I stay at home.” Peter 25:35 – “I think there’s so much to be said for, ‘We are the reason to go back to the office’ right? We are the pull. People are the pull. And the relationships you form and nurture and exhaust and trust and depend on.”Peter 26:16 – “I’ve yet to feel, at the end of the day, exhilarated by eight solid hours of Zoom meetings. And I think it’s because the joy of being social doesn’t quite transcend to this environment.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsA+I websitePublicis Groupe websitePublicis Groupe launches Le TrucBastien’s websiteErica’s websiteOrder Erica’s book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with A+I/Peter:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebookConnect with Publicis/Bastien:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebookConnect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

When Covid hit, several industries were hit hard, but some thrived immensely. One such industry that’s seen a huge uptick in business this past year has been the pet industry, as 11 million households got a new pet in 2020. Wow! That’s a lot of new family members. But Banfield Pet Hospital is here to help new pet owners manage all that animal energy. On this week’s episode, Erica sits down with Banfield Pet Hospital president, Brian Garish, to talk all things cats, dogs, and leadership in the (hopefully pet-friendly) Hybrid Revolution. With over 1000 hospitals and over 19,000 associates servicing all these new furry friends, how does Brian lead through it all? By talking to his people. Brian leads with empathy and knows that the key to an empowered, passionate workforce is one that feels heard and sees vulnerability modeled at the top. This conversation imagines an optimistic future of work, where we can continue giving our pets the “best year of their lives” indefinitely, through flexible work options. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:4:23 – “When you think about being a leader in a company, and being part of the conversation of, ‘what’s the hybrid work force going to look like? what are the hybrid working conditions going to look like?’ It can’t be made with just an executive team, it has got to have your people’s voice involved in the conversation.”10:16 – “Culture is my top priority and has been my top priority. The strategic direction of the company is a second priority because strategy without empathy is a wasted idea.”10:41 – “More so now than ever, people want to be seen, they want to be heard, and they want to be understood. And we have that opportunity to do that even better.”12:30 – “The theme of our session for the year for 2020 was ‘b empowered, b passionate, and b here.’ We wanted our associates to be empowered to truly own the hospital experience and own what they needed to do to take care of each other and take care of pets and clients. The passion is about really connecting to our purpose, which is making a better world for pets. And being here is out Banfield shows up for society. Well we were thankful that that was the theme because that really anchored us in 2020 once the pandemic really started to come in.”17:35 – “We can’t be our best selves if we don’t take care of ourselves. Our hospitals and all of our associates need our leaders to be present and to be fully available. And you’re not going to be if you’re burned out.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsBanfield websiteErica’s websiteOrder Erica’s book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to Work Text ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life.Connect with Brian:LinkedInTwitterInstagramFacebookConnect with Banfield:LinkedInTwitterInstagramFacebookConnect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

This week on Left to Our Own Devices, Erica sits down with Denielle Pemberton-Heard, Chief Legal Officer and managing director at Diversified Search Group, a woman-founded search firm that recruits leadership through a DE&I lens. Denielle is the perfect person to chat with about leading in this moment. As part of an organization that prioritizes giving underrepresented people a seat at the table, Denielle shares that now more than ever, it’s important to prioritize this framework of recruiting, as we all figure out how to approach flex and the future of work. The hard skills are table stakes at this point. Organizations want leaders who are empathic, self-confident, self-aware, emotionally intelligent, resilient, and willing to lead. In other words, companies want leaders who have excellent soft skills, which is where DivSearch comes in. Denielle also highlights the importance of reaching out to ask for help, spending time in community, and finding grounding in simple rituals, like a twice-yearly phone call with an old friend or the simple joy of dance. This conversation with Denielle offers an inspired look at the future of work.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:5:00 – on defining terms: “Diversity tells you who’s in the room. Inclusion tells you who feels welcome in the room. Equity is who has access to the room. And Justice is really about who in the room is taken seriously; who has their concerns heard.”7:40 – on the types of leadership skills their clients want: “A level of empathy and compassion. Gravitas and a track record of a history of accomplishment. A willingness to lead and to speak up. Individuals who are centered in however they present themselves—and that’s just really having a level of self-confidence and awareness. A high EQ, someone that can read the room and thoughtfully pivot and make adjustments. And a level of resiliency. Especially if you’re really going to bring new voices to the table. People that perhaps may have been shut out or, for whatever reason, not given opportunities. You really see what people are made of when you take the time to listen to their story, and you understand the level of resilience that it takes for certain people to achieve the level of accomplishment that individuals do.”16:23 – “Covid has given us a bit more permission to understand that life can be imperfect and confusing and complicated, and we’ve all gone through a really scary time.”17:02 – “We do need to bring our human to work and be productive in a way that’s best for our own health.”28:40 – “This next generation of leaders and workers are unapologetically themselves.” Diversified Search Group websiteErica’s websiteOrder Erica’s book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Denielle:InstagramLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

On the first episode of Season Three of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica welcomes Beto Guajardo, President of Atlanta-based Focus Brands International, a leading developer of some of the most iconic and beloved brands in the foodservice industry—including Schlotzky’s, Cinnabon, Carvel, and Auntie Anne’s, among others. Long time friends from Kellogg Business School, Erica and Beto discuss what it was like for Beto to move into a new role in the middle of a pandemic, the long game to building up emotional capital with one’s team, and the company’s daily Covid contingency meeting—a ritual that sprung up virtually overnight when the world shut down last March. As the Hybrid work model approaches, Beto recognizes that while he and a handful of other leaders have been spending time working from the office, he understands that, as of right now, returning to the office is a personal choice that individuals have to make based on what’s best for themselves and their families. If there’s one thread that has weaved throughout Beto’s accomplished career, it’s his focus on connecting with people genuinely and authentically, which can be most clearly seen in his retelling of his final day as Head of Global Strategy at Starbucks. This season opener is a masterclass in connected leadership.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:5:42 – On the daily Covid contingency meeting: “That call every single morning really created a sense of purpose and being and belonging. And what’s really interesting about it—I can say with complete clarity—we became a better team because of the pandemic. We became a stronger and closer team because of the pandemic. And what drove us to get there was something that no one ever saw coming. And that was, we’ve got to change the way we work together. We’ve got to be together every single day if we’re going to move with the agility that we need to in order to help our business franchisees overcome the challenges they have out there in the field.”18:17 – “As a leader in transition, the advice that I would give to another who might be going through the same thing is how important it is to take the the time to just talk about and listen to one another, not with regard to what’s happening in the business, but what’s happening in your life, right? How are you feeling; how is your family? How have you been dealing with this difficult time of isolation, given the pandemic? Let’s get to the point where, even if it is over a Zoom call, we can genuinely look each other in the eyes and say with compassion, ‘I care about you and want to know how you’re doing.’”20:00 – On why he wants the camera on during meetings: “I shared with the team, ‘Hey it’s really important that I can see you, because I want to know who you are, and I want to know that you’re okay.’ And I think as a leader, it’s important that you set those expectations that connectedness matters to you. It really matters. You have to go out of your way to make sure that you are modeling and requesting that the right behaviors are in place in order for that connectedness to grow.”29:21 – On the true measure of success: “The measure of success for the team is that we all recognize that there will be an end. That someday you’ll walk away, for whatever reason—new opportunity, personal reasons. And only then will you be able to look back on our time together, and if you can say that, ‘I grew as a person, and I grew as a professional, and I am better off today than what I was before I began this journey with you as an individual,’ then we were successful together.” Focus Brands websiteErica’s websiteOrder Erica’s book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life.Connect with Beto:InstagramLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

We’re over a year into a global pandemic, and the world of work has changed in countless ways. As vaccines continue to roll out and restrictions start to lift, we’re seeing companies and leaders from every industry try to navigate how, when, and why they’ll return (if at all!) to the office. The Hybrid Revolution is here.On Season 3 of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica Keswin sits down with the leaders and executives facing this challenge head on.

On the season finale of Season Two: The Rituals Edition, Erica has an incredible guest—keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author, and equality evangelist, Eve Rodsky. Shaped by a difficult upbringing with a single mother in New York City, Eve learned important lessons early on around resilience, responsibility, and care. In this episode, you’ll hear about her first ritual—going to a march related to social justice every year on her birthday with her mother, as well as her current ritual—a nightly communication check-in with her husband. Eve has dedicated her life to equality, including by helping partners divide domestic responsibilities more equitably and by helping organizations get to a place of equality and psychological safety. Eve and Erica also discuss this inflection point in history: where either Covid will push mothers out of the workforce, or as a society we’ll rise up to make a new, more equitable future of work where women aren’t penalized for having dependents. Don’t miss this important conversation.  ANNOUNCEMENT!!: Erica’s second book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic is available NOW! Grab your copy wherever books are sold.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:“What [the research] shows is that, when you communicate more consistently, there is psychological safety and connection there. It is a ritual. And rituals allow you to do things that maybe if it’s a one-off wouldn’t. It allows you to bring up hard conversations and to say, ‘You know what this isn’t working, but I know I can come back to this tomorrow night.’ And that’s what that communication ritual does for Seth and me. We say, ‘You know what, we’re going to table this. Let’s come back when emotion is low and cognition is high.’” “To really build a new society after this horrific reckoning…To me the silver lining is, an hour holding our child’s hand at the pediatrician’s office is just as valuable as an hour in the boardroom. I think we can build that through ritual. I think we can build that through communication. I think we can build that through psychological safety and empathy. But it’s going to take not just women doing it. It’s going to take men. It’s going to take our workplaces.”“The leaders we talk to and how much they recognize that being a whole human being is actually better for their company and better for society.”“Nothing is going to replace [our previous rituals]. And I think we should grieve for the lost rituals. we should grieve for the fact that we are right now losing those connection times with friends. Or we’re losing the ritual  of that daily walk with your grandma, or whatever it was, that we can’t do now.” Eve’s websiteEve’s book, Fair PlayThe Fair Play DeckErica’s websiteOrder Erica’s NEW book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Eve:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

On this episode of Left to Our Own Devices, the tables have been turned! In honor of the launch of Erica’s new book, Rituals Roadmap, Erica sits down on the other side of the interview hot seat with author and multigenerational workplace expert, Lindsey Pollak. On this episode, Erica and Lindsey discuss Erica’s career journey, the moment Erica decided to write the second book (at an Italian restaurant over a glass of red wine), as well as how we can tell what a ritual is, how rituals have anchored leaders and companies in these turbulent times, and a little about Erica’s own rituals. ANNOUNCEMENT!!: Erica’s second book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic is available NOW! Grab your copy wherever books are sold.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes:“[A ritual is] something in your life, that if it didn’t happen—that day or that week or that month—something would just feel really off. There would be a void if it didn’t happen. The second piece of the definition is, a ritual is something that goes beyond its practical purpose.”“How do you transition from work to home when all you have to do is roll over from one room to the next room…we’re rethinking so much about these rituals and missing them.”“Rituals can help bring some structure to how we’re going to continue to connect.”“Rituals don’t have to cost anything. Rituals are accessible to anyone. Doesn’t make it easy necessarily, but it takes intention and discipline to think about how you might incorporate rituals into your life personally, into your team. Focusing on rituals externally, in terms of client and business development. I think that’s the beauty of it—that they’re accessible to all of us.”Lindsey’s websiteErica’s websiteOrder Erica’s NEW book, Rituals RoadmapOrder Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life.Connect with Lindsey:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Something as simple as asking, “How was your day?” can make a huge impact. That’s what the people at GoHealth Urgent Care learned when they began a simple but powerful ritual: an End Of Day report from each of their healthcare clinics summarizing the day. This brief email summary has kept everyone at GoHealth connected and energized, especially during the relentless slog of the pandemic. On this week’s episode Erica sits down with Andy Biga, GoHealth’s Chief People Officer, to chat about the EOD as well as how they’ve been staying resilient in an overwhelming time for healthcare providers. Hint: it involves great people and great relationships to keep the whole thing running smoothly. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes“Relationships are the foundational piece of how you learn and grow.”“People are your business, right? From an HR perspective I don’t know what’s more important than that.”  “If the customers feel like they had a positive interaction with a provider, on a relationship-based experience, they’re more likely to follow that provider’s directions.” GoHealth Urgent Care websiteErica’s websitePreorder Erica’s forthcoming book, Rituals RoadmapErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Andy/GoHealth:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

When Covid hit, many businesses struggled. Some even closed. But for Chipotle, business has been booming. And it’s no surprise as to why (besides the delicious food, of course) when you ask their Chief Diversity, Inclusion and People Officer, Marissa Andrada. Which is exactly what Erica did for this week’s episode. Andrada shares how everything Chipotle does is based on their values, which reinforce their purpose to cultivate a better world. And these values have led the charge in Covid times when they were making decisions around everything from hazard pay, to recognition ceremonies, to weekly lunch rituals. As Andrada so aptly puts it, “people-first decisions are all about how we take care of our people throughout this time.” Listen to this week’s episode to hear a pandemic success story, made possible because of a commitment to values and people first. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes“We spent a lot of time as a leadership team defining who we are and what it is that we stand for. So our purpose is cultivating a better world. And then we defined some values, which I think come, not only from the 25-year history of Chipotle (at the time), but also personally as leaders—what we value. What our morals are.”“At the end of the day, people-first decisions are all about how we take care of our people throughout this time.”“Relationships are so important that it’s not just about what you see on the outside, I think it really is about getting to understand people, especially if they’re different from you.”“If people can’t bring their best selves to work, how are they really contributing to their fullest? How are they really delivering in the way that they want to?” Chipotle’s websiteErica’s websitePreorder Erica’s forthcoming book, Rituals RoadmapErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Marissa/Chipotle:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook 

For a company whose whole technology platform was dedicated to getting people OFF technology, the pandemic forced Meetup to stop and reframe their purpose as facilitating connection in meaningful and safe ways. CEO David Siegel chats with Erica on this week’s episode about how they managed this pivot, how virtual events have opened up global access, the four components of a great Meetup, their future plans to go back to the office by building an immersive community experience, and expanding their employee population by hiring more remote candidates. This week’s episode is an absolute must-listen for leaders who want to incorporate more safe and meaningful connection into the New Year.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes“We’re the technology that gets people off technology. We’re the technology that facilitates in-person. And getting together in person.”“We had a real existential crisis as a company. Where we said, ‘But our goal is all about in-person! We’re selling out if we move to online.’ And then we took a step back and we said, ‘Wait a second, no, we’re wrong. Our goal is not about in-person. Our goal is about keeping people connected to each other in meaningful ways. And safe ways.’”“It’s forced us to do things as a company that we never would have done if not for the pandemic that actually make for much better experiences.”“Community needs a driver. A meeting needs a driver…The organizer is at the center of everything. The success of a Meetup group is not because the topic is cool, not because they’re in the right location…it’s because the organizer is passionate about what they do.”“Meetup is all about community and Meetup has always historically been about getting together in person, so we don’t have an office right now…and we are going to go back to office connecting because we’re inherently about both community in-person and online.”“The reason for an ERG succeeding is because there’s an organizer who’s super passionate about making that ERG successful.” Meetup websiteErica’s websitePreorder Erica’s forthcoming book, Rituals RoadmapErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life.Connect with David:TwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that a lot of the changes that were on the way have been accelerated into fruition. Take fitness—there had already been a trend toward connected fitness (boutique and home fitness merged) and then the pandemic hit, sending this change into overdrive. Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, the former Head of Marketing of Peloton and the rest of the team over at Peloton have seen this acceleration happen in real time. On this week’s episode of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica sits down with Tisch Blodgett to chat about staying connected to community through fitness, seeing women caretakers bear the brunt of the Covid burden, and how technology doesn’t quite replicate the water cooler moments at the office, but can be amazing for connecting virtually to long distance friends and family for rituals like Shabbat dinner.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes“I had resigned from Peloton because ironically, I wanted to spend more time with my family. Didn’t realize quite how much time I was going to spend with my family when I made that decision.”“When I joined Peloton four years ago, when I met Jon the co-founder and CEO and he talked about revolutionizing the fitness industry, and he talked about taking the best of boutique fitness and the best of home fitness and merging them together into this new category called connected fitness, where you could get an amazing workout, like you were getting in a boutique cycling studio, but get it in the comfort and convenience of your own home… That trend had started before, the pandemic obviously accelerated it.”“We’re the most connected and also the most alone. The things we all took for granted about work of, like, the five-minute hallway conversation, or the, talking to someone over lunch at their office, all of that is gone. And the only connections over work are just sitting, staring at each other through a computer and doing the work.”“Peloton for so many people, not only has the instructor been that source of connection, but the community of other riders.”“A lot of companies have now realized what many of us have known for many years, which is, if I’m good at my job, I’m going to be good at my job whether I’m sitting at my house or sitting at a desk in an office. You can attract a much more diverse workforce by allowing things like flexibility.”“Watching all these moms logging on—most of them work. And they’re all stepping away from their job to log their kids in…I think about the impact this will have on women, particularly caretakers, for the next few years, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.” Erica’s websitePreorder Erica’s forthcoming book, Rituals RoadmapErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Carolyn:TwitterLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

On this week’s episode of Left to Our Own Devices, Erica sits down with an old friend and the woman who inspired it all. Ashley Peterson, originally Erica’s Starbucks barista on the Upper West Side and now managing her own Starbucks in Midtown, was the catalyst for Erica’s first book, Bring Your Human to Work, after the two shared a very intentional, “human” moment one morning. Ashley just gets it. From getting to know her patrons, their kids, their orders, and even their nannies, to empowering her partners to make a “commitment” each shift (like learn five customer’s names), Ashley embodies what it means to “bring your human” to work and to life. Erica and Ashley catch up on what it’s like managing a Starbucks in a pandemic, the rituals that Ashley incorporates at her store, and how a passion for people drives everything she does. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes“For me really it’s just getting to know people and meeting them where they are. A lot of times people are on the go, in a rush. They want to just get their coffee and go. And it’s up to you to actually make that human connection and say, ‘Hey, how are you? How’s your day going?’”“All of my customers became more like family because they appreciated the fact that I got to know them on a different level, and I was going to have their drink ready, and I genuinely cared about their wellbeing and about their family…My passion wasn’t for the coffee and for the business, my passion was for the people.”“As a mom, as a store manager—I have a job to do. And I have people watching me and counting on me. So I try to remain positive everyday.” Erica’s websitePreorder Erica’s forthcoming book, Rituals RoadmapErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Ashley:Instagram Connect with Starbucks:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Radio Flyer, the Chicago-based company that makes those iconic red wagons that kids have pulled along sidewalks for generations, has survived through a crisis or two. After all, the company was founded over a hundred years ago in 1917, right before the 1918 flu pandemic ravaged the world. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when Covid struck in March, they’d be able to survive through resilience, an intentional culture, and a marathon mindset. CEO Robert Pasin sits down with Erica to discuss what’s changed and what hasn’t for the historic family-run brand. Robert, a former marathoner himself, knew that this time would come with ups and downs, just like on a long run, and knew what to do to prepare for it—starting with the commitment to keeping everyone on and forgoing layoffs. What resulted was a team that, knowing they were secure in their jobs, could stay focused on delivering delight to families and kids that would be spending a lot more time at home with their toys.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes“The very first question I got at the very first meeting was, ‘Are there going to be layoffs at Radio Flyer?’ And fortunately we had gone through and looked at that as a leadership team. We ran a bunch of projections, and assuming even if we had some really significant sales decreases, we had decided that we could not have layoffs.”“[My bi-monthly update] really has helped center me also, and it helps me while I’m not seeing everyone at work, I think about the team, and I think about who might be reading this. And it helps me connect in that way to people too. So it’s been really good. It’s been really powerful for both me and I’ve gotten lots of great feedback from the team on it also.”“I went for a run with my 15-year-old son, and he started asking me questions about when I used to run marathons, and how I’d get through it. Then I started reflecting on the techniques I would use going through the marathon—the highs and lows of the marathon—and then at the end of the run, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is great material for my email for the team!’ So I put into the email that story.”“One of the gifts of this period of time of working from home was that I got to have lunch with my wife of 26 years regularly and go for walks and take breaks with her. And we’ve never done that.” Radio Flyer websiteRobert’s book, Radio FlyerErica’s websitePreorder Erica’s forthcoming book, Rituals RoadmapErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Robert:LinkedInFacebook Connect with Radio Flyer:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

What do you do when you run a program that has hundreds of young adults spread across the world for an intentional gap year, and a global pandemic strikes? The only thing you can do: stage an emergency evacuation to bring every kid that’s abroad back home, ASAP. And that’s exactly what Abby Falik, Founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year, did back in March. And then she swiftly shifted how this organization—dedicated to re-imagining the transition into adulthood by facilitating a yearlong immersion experience abroad for high school graduates—could still make a significant impact, despite their main program being on pause for the next school year. What emerged was a new virtual program, the Global Citizen Academy, a leadership experience that “equips determined young people worldwide with powerful skills for a lifetime of social impact.” And the incredible silver lining to all the chaos that ensued this year is that Abby and her team were able to dramatically scale their reach and impact at a lower cost and more sustainably. This episode is an absolute must-listen for any leader that wants to develop and grow their impact with their teams, their communities, and the world.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:1:58 – On advice in business school: “The key piece of advice everyone wanted to leave us with was ‘Relationships are everything. People are everything.’ You cannot move forward in the world without centering the relationships in your life.”6:08 – “It’s really about creating a throughline, a consistent connection that persists, despite the waves. Everything around us is changing so fast, all the time. And there’s a steadiness that can come from knowing that I connect with myself in the morning [through meditation], I have other rituals in the evening that are just about closing out the day. I write down three things that brought me joy during the day. There have been plenty of days in the last six months where that’s been hard to find. But even if I can’t come up with something, it’s the reminder that, ‘Oh, I’ve got to try harder tomorrow. Open your eyes for what’s worth savoring, because there IS a lot here.’”7:42 – On Covid’s impact on history: “As a global community, we have walked through a doorway. One chapter of human history has closed. And we’re sitting in this liminal space before we know exactly what comes next. And as an entrepreneur, it’s been highly energizing to sit here and feel like, ‘Okay, what does the world need next, and how do we build it?’ Because we can’t just default to what the market solutions and the least common denominator might build on the other side.”12:29 – On their Global Citizen Academy: “ We experimented with a radical approach to pricing, that’s ‘Pay What You Can.’ To really demonstrate that this was not meant to be an elite or exclusive experience. And 60% of the students who are joining us from 50 countries are receiving full scholarship.” 13:12 – On the purpose of Global Citizen Academy: “The notion is to help them find their people, their purpose, and their power to make an impact. These are kids that didn’t want to sit on the sidelines as the world comes apart at the seams. That they want to figure out how to develop themselves in ways that the world needs now.”16:24 – “Our alumni get through college on average one year faster than the national average. And to me even more significantly they report feeling more fulfilled with the experience. They have more self awareness, more confidence, more resilience, more ease with ambiguity. And then they end up in jobs where they report 80% of them feel like they are highly engaged and making a difference in some way. And that’s compared to 30% when we benchmark against national stats. And so, you’re turned on. You’re an agent of your learning and of your life in a way that our traditional  educational paradigm is teaching and reinforcing the opposite behaviors.”20:54 – “We’re honoring the beginning of meetings with more of a commitment to connecting as people….so our Monday meeting is now all virtual, but we do a really intensive check-in before we get going. In fact we start every meeting with a moment or two of mindful reflection to cleanse the palate and be deliberate about that transition. So we ring a bell and everyone’s quiet. And then in our team meetings, we’re breaking into small groups and talking about a prompt that elicits a more human and personal conversation.”22:08 – On a meeting ritual: “There are other rituals we’ve kept [since before Covid], that have always shaped our meeting and time together. So, in our senior team meetings, we start with a check-in that we call The Stoplight. And everyone goes around and tells whether they are green, yellow or red. Which is an indicator of how present they are and how much attention they feel they are able to put on the meeting and the conversation. So green means ‘I’m all here,’ a yellow means, ‘I’m almost here, but a little distracted and pulled,’ and a red means, ‘I’ve just got fires burning in the back of my mind, and it’s hard for me to be present.’”25:17 – “I think there’s a power in there for leaders in finding the strength in vulnerability and the confidence and humility both to show up a little bit more whole.” Abby’s websiteGlobal Citizen YearErica’s websitePreorder Erica’s forthcoming book, Rituals RoadmapErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect Abby:TwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Global Citizen Year:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

We all have the basic human needs of meaning, connection and purpose. While in the past, these needs were often met through religious institutions, the reality is we’re seeing less and less participation in organized religion. But those basic human needs built around community remain. Enter Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile, co-founders of the Sacred Design Lab, a “soul-centered research and development lab.” Angie and Casper work with various organizations to “develop products, programs, and experiences that ground people’s social and spiritual lives.” They joined Erica on the show to talk about their work and how it’s evolved in Covid times. If you’re struggling with how to bring deeper meaning and purpose to your organization, this one’s for you! Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:QuotesCasper4:20 – “We’re spending more and more with the people at the very heart of our circle—the people we live with most predominantly—and a lot of those outer circles have fallen away—acquaintances, maybe even strangers we share a sweet moment with. So some of the relational needs we have right now in the pandemic, in order to stay safe, are new things to do with the people we spend all our time with and unstructured serendipitous ways in which we can interact with strangers, obviously at a safe distance or digitally. And you can’t schedule that. So that’s quite a tricky thing in terms of gathering. I think we’re really missing that sense of connecting to others in these kind of sweet, serendipitous moments.”15:29 –  “How are people already congregating? What are the moments in which, you know, could be as small as celebrating birthdays or milestones or coming together to mourn something that’s gone horribly wrong, and then to develop that and give it some structure and formality.”Angie9:37 –  “That’s a big feature of what ritual can do, right, is to help mark experience, to give it a beginning and an end and to allow us to each have our own personal experience but to externalize it together.”10:42 –  “We talk about these needs for meaning and connection and purpose as soul needs. We often use three B’s to describe them. We call them belonging, becoming and beyond. So belonging has to do with knowing and being known, loving and being loved. Becoming has to do with growing into the people we’re called to be. And beyond is that connection to something greater than ourselves.” Sacred Design LabCasper’s websiteCasper’s book, The Power of RitualErica’s websitePreorder Erica’s forthcoming book, Rituals RoadmapErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Angie:InstagramLinkedIn Connect with Casper:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

The Houston-based Black Sheep Agency is a creative and brand strategy firm that works with clients that are changing the world. That’s why founder and CEO, Aimée Woodall, feels it’s so important to celebrate tiny victories along the way. After all, changing the world means playing the long game. Especially when the pandemic has added so many obstacles. But it’s also added an opportunity for Aimée’s team to light the path for other companies attempting to navigate Covid times. Since the Black Sheep Agency was positioned to transition easily to #WFH due to a cultural foundation built on trust, vulnerability, and fluid communication, they barely skipped a beat when the pandemic struck. Seeing an opportunity to assist their clients with difficult transitions, Black Sheep created helpful resources based on their own successful internal transition. Listen to find out how Aimée and the Black Sheep team use staying nimble and responsive, celebrating the small stuff, and prioritizing vulnerability as strategies to maneuvering through a changing world.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify 2:15 - “For me especially in business, and I think as a part of my soul and who I am—I’m just a connector. Connecting with people, and learning from them, and listening to them, and sharing real life and vulnerability is what feeds my soul and keeps me going.”6:23 - You know a lot of people fell into crisis whenever the pandemic hit because they weren’t set up for things like remote work. Or they weren’t using the right technology to have that kind of fluid communication that you need when you’re all working from home. And we were already in that groove. So our groove continued. And we were able to take the things that we were already doing and translate those things into some community conversations that would help other people.”8:10 - “There are just a lot of really big variables right now, all at the same time, colliding against each other, and creating so much uncertainty for planning far out. So how do we become really good short-term planners and stay nimble and responsive to those things—is more important than ever.”11:31 - “The most important thing…is making sure that everybody’s okay. Making sure that everyone is taken care of. And for every person that’s different. That’s not just a blanket approach…so personally at our agency, we’re doing lots of regular check-ins with one-on-one individuals to find out how they’re doing, how their families are doing, what they’re doing to keep a positive attitude and to take care of their mental health, and really to get through this, and then we respond to those things.”34:11 - “Maybe that will be what comes out of all this that is good for society —is that we were over-scheduled and over-booked. And there was this thing called flex time before, but what did that really mean?…There’s an opportunity here to really redefine what flex time means and how we work. And we probably will still have to continue to schedule ourselves, but what if we scheduled ourselves with some of those things interwoven that make our work better and make us feel better as people? I’m excited about that.”  The Black Sheep Agency websiteErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Aimée:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Thirty years ago when Bill Koenigsberg started his company, Horizon Media, the largest privately owned media agency in the world, most of his peers were trying to keep business matters separate from personal life. But Bill set out to create a culture that would attract people who would want to be personally invested in building something special with him. But since Bill had a 30-year head start, when everything shut down from Covid, his decades of building a people-focused culture helped them pivot quickly. Listen to hear all about how they’ve adapted old rituals, like switching Bill’s handwritten anniversary notes to anniversary Zoom calls, and created new ones, like the Bill Daily, weekly cooking classes, and reading time for the children of employees. If there’s one thing that rings true, now more than ever, it’s Bill’s motto—“Business is Personal.” Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes5:04 - “When I started my company, I didn’t have very much money. And I felt that if I could built a culture to attract talent and make employees feel that they had a seat right next to me, I could actually build something pretty special.”8:05 - “Early on, I would send a personal anniversary note to people, a hand- written note…Now 30 years later I am sending 2500-2700 personal anniversary notes. Every single day they go out because someone is celebrating an anniversary every single day. And obviously with Covid, I can’t write something personal because we’re not in the office, so I decided when we went out on Covid six months ago to do an anniversary call everyday…so I found a new way to connect and bring ‘business is personal’ to life by having those conversations with them. And that’s been great.”14:48 - “These early days [of Covid] were really, really dark. Our clients were in trouble, the economy was shut down, we didn’t know if we were going to get paid, all my employees were worried about their jobs, were they going to have jobs? So I decided to start to leave them an evening thought of inspiration, something to look forward to, some hope. And when I did that, I started getting emails back from my employees…the next day I did another one, and that’s how the Bill Daily started.” 18:59 - “All the sudden I’ve got 15 people on a screen, and they’re all in their own home environment. There’s just something very personal about that, and they’re all talking about their own experiences.” Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signupsHorizon MediaErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Horizon Media:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

But what about employees at companies that don’t offer mental health services, like Modern Health, as a part of their benefits? Enter Empower Work, a free, volunteer-run, text-based counseling service. Jaime-Alexis saw a huge inequity with those who didn’t have access to mental health resources, so she founded this easy, free way for any worker to get support. Peer volunteers are trained, working professionals and often come away from an exchange feeling just as transformed as the person on the other end seeking help. Let’s face it, well-managed mental health is a human need, and having access to support is essential—not only during a global pandemic, but in day-to-day life during more normal times too. A must listen for every human.Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify QuotesAlyson2:59 - On recognizing the pandemic was still impacting her despite having certain advantages: “I remember sitting at my computer, and I felt so bad—I couldn’t complain to my team or my coworkers because I’m home, I’ve got a roof over my head, I have plenty of work to do, I have a job, I’m in good health, and I don’t have kids—like what could I possibly be complaining about? And that’s when I realized this really is impacting everyone.”5:43 - On her being vulnerable allowed her team to do the same: “It created space for people to open up and talk about their own experiences and I think that alone allowed us to say, ‘Okay, what can we do to support each other? We’re all going through this now—what can we do?’”14:30 - “So just by rolling out the product, before people have even used it, people are going to their Heads of People in HR saying, ‘Thank you so much for showing us 1. you care about us as people and 2. that you’re creating a safe space for us to be vulnerable and to support each other during these difficult times.’ So I think that what’s going to drive change is at the company-wide level. It can be bottoms up or tops down, but it very much helps when you have someone at the executive level sharing their own story being vulnerable and saying, ‘Here’s why we’re investing in all of your mental health. You don’t need to wait until you’re in crisis mode or struggling with depression to engage in your mental well being.’”19:38 - “No matter how much technology we have, no matter how advanced technology gets, we as humans will always crave [human connection] and it’s so important to our happiness and fulfillment.”27:55 - Answering the question, what makes you feel most like you?: “Honestly I feel like it comes back to leading with vulnerability and just being honest about who I am. One of the reasons for starting Modern Health was to create a space where it’s okay to do that at the leadership level.”Jaime-Alexis 34:47 - On the difference in conversations since Covid started: “Now with the onset of Covid, the complexities of what’s happening across the country from an economic standpoint to the structural racial inequities we’re seeing on full display—this is impacting people in really, really new ways that the human brain is not built to process. We’re not equipped to deal with this much information and this much emotional overload that so many folks have experienced in the last couple months, and we’re seeing that in conversations.”38:55 - On the power of their support platform to all involved: “The transformation that happens in these exchanges is really profound. And it’s profound on both sides…Volunteers say that they feel incredibly energized, motivated, moved, really leave the conversations, too, in a different state. Because they can see the evolution of their support in real time in those conversations.”42:08 - “We built Empower Work to address both the emotional and the tactical components of what someone’s experiencing, so they have a space to be vulnerable and talk through what’s at stake for them.”45:31 - “What do workers need at vulnerable moments? That question drove all of our initial research, all of our looking at the market space, and really what we saw was this huge inequity. For folks who had access to resources—amazing, great—and if you didn’t, it really had this negative ripple effect that you would see—particularly for women and people of color—across the rest of their jobs and careers. They would see financial and emotional setbacks following these adverse experiences and not having support.” Modern Health websiteEmpower Work websiteText ‘Hello’ to 510-674-1414 to start a chat and get supportErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Alyson:TwitterLinkedIn Connect with Modern Health:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Jaime-Alexis:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn  Facebook Connect with Empower Work:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

How does a smart woman navigate being hired to the c-suite of a huge media company in the middle of a pandemic? She honors relationships, of course! VICE’s new Chief People Officer, Daisy Auger-Dominguez, joined the team in late spring in the midst of global chaos. But she was able to integrate successfully because of her commitment to investing in relationships. And people from her team all over the globe could feel it. From her Sunday write-ups that keep everyone on her team in the loop, to her pledge to meet one-on-one with each team member at least quarterly, Daisy has proven to those around her that she will invest in them, and it will pay dividends. She also comes to the table with a charge to re-examine and re-imagine the workplace—from the conditions that got us here in the first place, to the conditions necessary to build more diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams. Listen to hear how Daisy invests in others to build a better future for everyone.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes12:24: “Very early on in the pandemic, we established a new ritual, like many families, of a weekly Zoom on Sundays with my family...it is the highlight of my week. It is where I replenish, it’s where we laugh, it’s where we celebrate, it’s where we celebrated me getting this job, it’s where we celebrate the babies...it's been such an amazing experience.”15:35: “As the leader of our people and culture for the organization, I need to be able to be available to everyone from the most junior employee to everyone in between. So it was very quickly making myself available to all of these employees, which was exhausting, but it was the right investment...Because now I’m able to solve or ideate in ways a lot quicker than I would have if i had not built those relationships early on.”20:37: “We have to spend time re-examining everything we’ve done. From how we engage with each other to how we think about our systems and processes, from a people and culture lens. We need to re-imagine how we hire, how we even source and screen and identify talent and make sure that we are designing the right interventions  so those processes are fair. We have to be rethinking our policies and processes. What are the conditions that have led to the organizations we have now?”31:43: “I send my team a weekly note...Every other week I check in with them and it’s the one thing that everybody tells me, around the world—and I’ve done my one-on-ones with my team—where they say, we’re so glad that you do that, because you humanize yourself. You get yourself closer to us, so that we feel that we know you. We feel that we understand you, and we also feel like you’re going through the same stuff we are.” Daisy’s websiteErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Daisy:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedIn

What does professional development look like in 2020? For the team at Udemy, “the leading global marketplace for learning and instruction,” it’s all about learning. It’s their whole platform, after all. On the first episode of Season Two, Rituals Edition, Erica sits down with Udemy’s SVP of People, Places and Learning, Cara Allamano, and VP of Learning, Shelley Osborne, to talk about how crucial it is to keep learning, both personally and professionally, especially as we’re seeing an incredible shift in the global workforce due to the pandemic. Indeed, they’ve seen enormous growth since the pandemic began, with courses around resilience and working from home well soaring in popularity. Listen to find out how their entire philosophy around the importance of learning set up Udemy perfectly to meet this global moment of change—that is to say, no matter what’s going on in the world, continuously learning is always a great bet. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify QuotesCara:3:03 – “I’ve had some wonderful mentors over the years that have really taught me about the intersection between business and people and how they don’t have to be mutually exclusive. That actually there’s true power in helping people achieve success individually, and that ultimately feeds into the success as a business in the broader context. And really focusing on learning as the lever that helps us get there.”15:54 – “As tenures at companies have gotten shorter and there’s more of a shift toward an individual really owning and managing their career—they see learning as the currency. They see so much change in the world, that the only way to continue to really be successful is to be able to continuously upskill, continuously grow in their role. And how do you do that? It’s through learning.”Shelley:17:11 –  “So D.E.A.L. stands for Drop Everything And Learn...And what we’re really trying to do is give people permission. We want to give people the automatic ability to stop and learn and recognize that it’s part of their workday to set aside time for learning.” 31:27 – On showing her team how the pandemic was impacting her: “I had a team member ask me directly, how could I be so positive with everything that’s going on? And I had this awakening moment where I realized, oh I need to let them know I’m struggling too. And took that time to be more real and authentic than I’d ever been before about how I felt about the pandemic, the challenges, everything that we were facing. And I just saw the dynamic within my team change.” Links, Websites and ResourcesUdemyShelley’s coursesShelley’s book, The Upskilling ImperativeErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkPreorder Erica’s book, Rituals RoadmapText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Cara:LinkedIn Connect with Shelley:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn Connect with Udemy:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

When the world as we know it came to a screeching halt in March 2020, what did we humans do? We did what we’ve always done—return to the rituals that keep us grounded, sane, and focused on what matters most.In this second season of Left to Our Own Devices: Rituals Edition, Erica Keswin checks in with leaders about how they pivoted during a global pandemic, continued with the rituals they’d always loved, and created new ones to help navigate these crazy times.Most of these rockstar guests of this season are featured in Erica’s upcoming book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines into Workplace Magic, out January 26th, 2021, which you can preorder here. As always, Erica digs deep to find out what it means to be human, really human—in work, at home, and in life.Left to Our Own Devices is a podcast that explores how to bring our human to work and life. It all boils down to one simple thing: honoring relationships. And it’s not rocket science, but it does take intention.Each week, workplace strategist, speaker, and bestselling author, Erica Keswin interviews CEOs, founders, philanthropists, thought leaders, and people just like you to find out all the ways they bring their human to their own lives.Honoring relationships has never mattered more.

As CEO of global non-profit, DoSomething, and a working mom doing it all from home, Aria Finger has found creative ways to keep her kids entertained with Frozen on repeat, her team in good spirits by pivoting to virtual rituals, and her relationships with her friends well-nurtured through intentional calls and Zooms. But even this superstar confesses to missing the old norms like business travel and walking meetings. So these days to keep everyone sane (including Aria herself!) she’s encouraged a Co-workers’ Bill of Rights to mitigate the flood of Zoom meetings, maintained DoSomething’s weekly stuffed-penguin ritual, and kicked off new initiatives to engage youth like Senior Homies, where young people call seniors in their life to check in with them and report back the stories and wisdom they learned—what a win-win! Listen for a shot of positivity and enthusiasm directly into your day. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:-3:08: “Relationships are everything...I’ve been texting like crazy with all of my friends, of course, and Zooming like crazy to stay in touch. And it’s just more important than ever now...Now is the time to feel more connected than ever because we’re all going through this unbelievable time.”-6:19: “There was this Co-workers’ Bill of Rights we saw that was really smart. Zoom is great, but if a co-worker says, ‘I need to be off Zoom for the next hour,’ you say, ‘Okay, cool. That totally works.’ If something can be done via email, especially for working moms and dads where a 9 p.m. email is much easier than a scheduled Zoom which might interfere with nap time—how do we adjust our compassion and empathy for our co-workers during this new time and ways that can make it much easier for folks who might not be able to do the normal nine to five?”-8:45: “Back pre-COVID, a coffee date with a co-worker was good for your mental health, or in your meeting with a senior leader, you got your steps in and you also got your coffee. Whereas now a 30-minute video call can provide some of those things, but often it feels like a burden instead of a break.”-14:57: “From the very beginning of the pandemic, the number one concern for young people was senior citizens—their own grandparents, other people’s health—what could they do? And so the campaigns team super smartly launched a brand new campaign called Senior Homies, which is all about calling your own grandparents, a senior you know or get in touch with a random senior center, and have a conversation. It could be via Zoom, it could be via phone, with a senior, to fend off isolation. It gives these seniors a relationship, but also, you learn stories. So we ask them to swap stories and then report back on what are the stories they’ve swapped with a senior.”DoSomething.orgErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Aria:TwitterLinkedIn Connect with DoSomething:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify QuotesAlyson2:59 - On recognizing the pandemic was still impacting her despite having certain advantages: “I remember sitting at my computer, and I felt so bad—I couldn’t complain to my team or my coworkers because I’m home, I’ve got a roof over my head, I have plenty of work to do, I have a job, I’m in good health, and I don’t have kids—like what could I possibly be complaining about? And that’s when I realized this really is impacting everyone.”5:43 - On her being vulnerable allowed her team to do the same: “It created space for people to open up and talk about their own experiences and I think that alone allowed us to say, ‘Okay, what can we do to support each other? We’re all going through this now—what can we do?’”14:30 - “So just by rolling out the product, before people have even used it, people are going to their Heads of People in HR saying, ‘Thank you so much for showing us 1. you care about us as people and 2. that you’re creating a safe space for us to be vulnerable and to support each other during these difficult times.’ So I think that what’s going to drive change is at the company-wide level. It can be bottoms up or tops down, but it very much helps when you have someone at the executive level sharing their own story being vulnerable and saying, ‘Here’s why we’re investing in all of your mental health. You don’t need to wait until you’re in crisis mode or struggling with depression to engage in your mental well being.’”19:38 - “No matter how much technology we have, no matter how advanced technology gets, we as humans will always crave [human connection] and it’s so important to our happiness and fulfillment.”27:55 - Answering the question, what makes you feel most like you?: “Honestly I feel like it comes back to leading with vulnerability and just being honest about who I am. One of the reasons for starting Modern Health was to create a space where it’s okay to do that at the leadership level.” Jaime-Alexis 34:47 - On the difference in conversations since COVID started: “Now with the onset of COVID, the complexities of what’s happening across the country from an economic standpoint to the structural racial inequities we’re seeing on full display—this is impacting people in really, really new ways that the human brain is not built to process. We’re not equipped to deal with this much information and this much emotional overload that so many folks have experienced in the last couple months, and we’re seeing that in conversations.”38:55 - On the power of their support platform to all involved: “The transformation that happens in these exchanges is really profound. And it’s profound on both sides…Volunteers say that they feel incredibly energized, motivated, moved, really leave the conversations, too, in a different state. Because they can see the evolution of their support in real time in those conversations.”42:08 - “We built Empower Work to address both the emotional and the tactical components of what someone’s experiencing, so they have a space to be vulnerable and talk through what’s at stake for them.”45:31 - “What do workers need at vulnerable moments? That question drove all of our initial research, all of our looking at the market space, and really what we saw was this huge inequity. For folks who had access to resources—amazing, great—and if you didn’t, it really had this negative ripple effect that you would see—particularly for women and people of color—across the rest of their jobs and careers. They would see financial and emotional setbacks following these adverse experiences and not having support.”Modern Health websiteEmpower Work websiteText ‘Hello’ to 510-674-1414 to start a chat and get supportErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Alyson:TwitterLinkedIn Connect with Modern Health:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Jaime-Alexis:InstagramTwitterLinkedIn  Facebook Connect with Empower Work:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

When the world turns upside down but you’ve got to continue running a company from home while quarantined with your partner, four kids, and two dogs, what do you do? Adapt—while maintaining the rituals that keep you anchored and satisfied. That’s what Kara Goldin, Founder and CEO of Hint, a healthy, flavored beverage company, did to shift their services in the midst of the pandemic, even if it meant stocking the retail shelves with Hint water herself. Being the head of a health company, Kara knows that to stay sane and healthy, especially during these uncertain times, she and her team must continue their pre-pandemic restorative rituals, like starting the day with time outdoors with her dogs. This episode is useful for any leaders that want tips on how to pivot their business swiftly and effectively during tough times. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Quotes6:40 - “I don’t think there’s anything that takes the place of human interaction. I think people do miss going back into an office to some extent. Not everybody. And certainly there’s pluses and minuses for people who have kids at home, right? There’s a lot of people I’ve talked to have said, ‘In order to focus, I need to actually get out of the house.’ I think we’ll try and get back to having the office option as soon as possible.”13:51 - On quarantine health habits: “A lot of people have really gotten into more of a program and a ritual of getting outside daily and breathing it in. It’ll be really interesting once people start going back to work, if that shifts.”24:35 - On why she wrote her book: “It’s okay to have a journey; it’s okay to be afraid of failure; it’s okay to have a pandemic, all of these things. But it’s really about how you deal with it.”25:21 - On starting a company: “What’s the worst that can happen? You’ll learn a lot of lessons along the way.”Pre-order Kara’s book, UndauntedHint WaterErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Kara:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:10:14: “I get really excited and passionate and energized when I get to connect with people. I really believe that that serves as a way to build the most important building blocks for not just your personal life, but your professional life—which is trust. Trust is built on real, authentic relationships.”21:23: on their Core Values Story: “The idea there was to ensure that we as a team don’t just preach values, don’t just learn by heart our values and the behaviors behind them, but actually take the time to reflect on our Values in Action.”22:26:  “Nobody has any confusion about what are our values on management team. Everybody thinks about this…where do I see our Values in Action?…It got to the point where it cascaded throughout the organization because my management team, my team, has started bringing it to their teams, to their table.”Erica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Bank Leumi USA:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:4:53 — On the discipline of getting 100 touches on the soccer ball everyday as a kid: “At a young age—I didn’t know then—but what it taught me was the things I could control. if I focused on the controllables, I would get better. And I would not focus on what other people around me were doing, how many touches they were getting, but I would focus on what I could do.”8:09 — On relationships being her biggest asset as an agent: “The biggest value I add to a new athlete I may sign is my relationships with key decision makers in our industry. And I’ve invested in those and maintained those over long periods of time because I actually care about the people.”11:03 — On remembering the details to show you care: “The people I’m dealing with now—general managers, team owners—I know their kids, their kids’ names, some of their kids’ birthdays. That just shows, ‘Hey, I care about you as a person.’”15:57 — On a holistic approach to the client-agent relationship: “Everything about what I do in business—I have this unwavering commitment to understanding...my client in a holistic way, as an individual. That is, for me, the most important and best part of my job.”28:33 — “I always tell my clients, ‘Whatever you’re going to put out on social media must be authentically you."JWI Women to Watch 2019 - Danielle Cantor JewelerErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Danielle:InstagramTwitter Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

You might think being quarantined with your work partner AND your life partner could be challenging, but Heidi Zak and Dave Spector, married co-founders of intimate wear company, ThirdLove, have mastered this balancing act. Erica chats with Heidi and Dave about how they’re running their company and their family together during quarantine. You’ll hear all about their Wellness Wednesday initiative, getting silly with their teams on Doughnut Tuesday, and how quarantine finally encouraged consumers to give online bra shopping a try—something digitally-native ThirdLove was ready for and built for from the ground up.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: StitcherOvercast GoogleSpotify Resources:7:21 – Dave on this new working normal: “The challenge really has been so much of work, certainly in this country, is bumping into people—the water cooler conversations, right? And whether it’s about work or not about work—if it’s not about work it’s that bonding; building a relationship with somebody about their personal life or what they did last night. Or it is about work, or they’re mixed together. And that kind of conversation—the impromptu, the bumping into somebody, the going over to their desk—is frankly a lot easier than scheduling something—a meeting or having to Slack or email somebody. And I think the challenge that we face, like so many other companies—and we’re adapting too—is how do we recreate that?” 11:50 – Dave on Wellness Wednesday: “If we’re giving you the day off, the commitment is you’re not doing work, and you’re having a day for yourself. And if the day for yourself means catching up on Netflix, great. If it means playing with your kids, great. If it means time alone, awesome. But the important thing is you’re taking time for yourself to focus on your mental health.” 20:06 – Heidi on the rapidly digital relationship with customers: “I think you’re seeing today the shift from offline to online that might’ve taken three to five years occurring in six to eighteen months...I just think people are really thankful to have options that can work and make them feel safe, right? And also with a really high service level.”ThirdLoveErica’s websiteErica’s book, Bring Your Human to WorkText ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Heidi and Dave:Heidi:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Dave:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook ThirdLove:InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook Connect with Erica: InstagramTwitterLinkedInFacebook

If you’ve found yourself talking to your team while giving your kid a bath, this is the episode for you. How do you show up for the people in your life while not abandoning yourself? It’s not easy, and as author of The Likeability Trap and MSNBC anchor Alicia Menendez tells us, “Finesse is hard to teach.” But we can all do it! Start by acknowledging loved ones in your life that may need a little extra TLC right now, and be sure to uplift invisible voices in the workplace. And—last but not least—recognize your own limitations in this moment. Alicia offers a nuanced, one-size-certainly-does-NOT-fit-all approach to relationships and connection. You’ll appreciate her perceptive, thoughtful approach to this Covid moment and how she uses her platform and position to elevate those around her. This episode is a must-listen for anyone wanting to level up their EQ and become a better friend, a better colleague, and a better human being. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts  You can also listen to the show on:  Stitcher Overcast  Google Spotify Quotes7:38 — “I think it’s really important to have conversations with your managers about what success looks like in this moment. Or to have conversations with the people you manage about what success looks like.”8:47 — On recognizing your own limitations “The way that I am is—I want to do it all. So I had to get really clear with myself about which of these three projects were in first position, second position, and third position.”14:12 — On doing pandemic check ins with loved ones: “It has made me take into account, who in my life might need an extra layer of support or care and to move them to the top of my list.”15:05 — “I will say that…I have a very clear sense of who I am as a friend. I will not talk everyday likely. We will not text everyday, but when the shit hits the fan, I will be there. And I will be there in a real way, and I will show up, and I have learned—I did not always know this—how to show up based on what you need, not based on what I think you need or how I would want someone to show up for me.”16:25 — On showing up for people when it matters most: “A small note, a small present can go a very long way, like the way in which those critical moments stick with people—I’ve experienced it, you’ve experienced it. You never forget who extended you a kindness in those moments.”25:13 — “I will say, you know how writing a workplace book is. You do such a deep dive on research…Some of it fundamentally changes the way that you see your place in the world… A lot of the research particularly around women of color—you know I am Latina, but I am very fair skinned. I present in the world as a white, non-hispanic person. I have the ability to pass in and out—thinking about the fact that Black women in particular really can feel so invisible in the workplace…it made me think about how important it is to call it out. And to really make sure that I’m showing up in a way that acknowledges the work they’re doing—not just to them. That is nice, but really the value is making sure that that work is elevated to the people above who are in a position to make strategic choices.”  Alicia’s website Alicia’s book, The Likeability Trap Alicia’s podcast Erica’s website Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to Work Text ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Alicia: Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Connect with Erica:  Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook 

Join Erica as she sits down with this author, speaker, strategist, and Duke professor to hear about how to build professional relationships with genuine connection and service. Dorie also shows us what NOT to do by sharing a cringeworthy story of a time when she found herself in a rather untransparent situation. She’s also the master of working from home, having been in the #WFH crew since 2006, so her insight on this way of working, that we all now find ourselves in, is especially prescient. Listen to this episode especially if you need a little encouragement to be the expert that you already are. The world needs you! Oh, and you’ll love her wholesome daily ritual. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts  You can also listen to the show on:  Stitcher Overcast  Google Spotify Resources:9:33 — On selling authentically: “I think that there is really nothing wrong, now or ever, with taking the approach, ‘Hey! I have a thing. This thing might be useful to you. If it is, I would be glad to tell you more about it. If it is not, please click here, and you will not hear one more word about it.’” 10:50 — On selling during the quarantine: “As long as we are super clear, and no one feels tricked and no one feels pressured, then I actually think it’s a great time to be selling things. That people might really feel like, ‘Gosh, actually, I have more time to devote to this,’ or ‘This is exactly what I need right now.’” 13:03 — On honoring relationships: “I think the most important thing that we can be doing as professionals who are selling in some capacity—it’s just being really honest and transparent about what is what.” 26:00 — On using her best skills to be helpful: “I don’t really want to give my opinion just to hear myself talk. Ideally the goal is to give my opinion in a way that can be useful to people. So when I feel like I’m able to do that, that really feels like, ‘Ah yes! That’s the idea!’” Dorie’s course, Recognized Expert Dorie’s website Erica’s website Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to Work Text ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Dorie: Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Connect with Erica:  Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

You’ll hear Brian tell the story of how he recently produced a radio ad from his closet on his iPhone while hiding from his kids who were homeschooling in the next room, and how he’s holding shorter, more frequent board meetings to stay on top of the changing world of work. Brian shares how he honors relationships by tapping into the wisdom of those closest to him and by doing what’s best for all stakeholders. You’ll hear about how Mack Weldon is giving back to the community by donating clothes and PPE to those who are fighting for all of us on the front lines. You’ll also hear about how they invite their customers to participate in their initiatives to help the foundations with which they partner, further reinforcing their values and mission.  Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: Stitcher Overcast Google  Spotify  Resources:“This situation has really brought to life the importance of relationships. The impact of [the pandemic] and the impact it’s having on people—there’s no one-size-fits-all situation.” – Brian Berger On their give back initiatives: “That’s how we’ve tried to build customer equity—through smart, appropriate, brand-resonant types of initiatives that really show that in addition to being a profit-making enterprise, we care about the community that we’re in and what’s going on in the world.” – Brian Berger “The power that this particular generation of employees—I mean it is so important that they work for a company that actually cares about the world they’re occupying.” – Brian Berger  Good+Foundation Get 20% off your Mack Weldon order. Use the code “DEVICES” at checkout today! Erica’s website Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to Work Text ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Brian: Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook  Connect with Erica:  Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Erica and Randi discuss the rituals Randi’s (already) remote team uses to stay connected, and how they’re pivoting in COVID times. They also talk about her involvement in a new crowdfunding platform, PledgeCamp, and how it’s transparent, blockchain technology ensures that funders know exactly where their money is going. Randi’s one of those people who is so upbeat but real at the same time—she’ll leave you smiling and wanting to join her family’s bedtime dance parties. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts You can also listen to the show on: Stitcher Overcast Google  Spotify Resources: “I think so many of us as adults have very complicated feelings, professionally and personally about this lockdown, but I actually think our children might remember this as some of the best time of their lives.” – Randi Zuckerberg “A few weeks ago [my son] had never even opened a computer. And now it’s almost expected that in a few weeks, he’s learned perfect online etiquette and balance.” – Randi Zuckerberg “Our lives are full of rituals these days. On Friday night we eat dessert before dinner...it started several years ago—that’s how we decided to celebrate Shabbat. I wanted to find a way to have the kids look forward to the end of the week. Monday afternoon now, we call it ‘Garbage Lunch,’ and what I mean by that is, Tuesday mornings we get our Instacart deliveries so on Monday, I’ve got to get rid of everything that’s almost expiring in the fridge. The kids have no idea what they’re gonna get. They might get a piece of chocolate cake and yogurt and avocado. We laugh about it.” – Randi Zuckerberg BooksDot Complicated by Randi Zuckerberg Bring Your Human to Work by Erica Keswin Randi’s website Pledgecamp Erica’s website Text ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Randi: Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Connect with Erica:  Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook 

Despite being a multi-hyphenate, Shiza has a deep focus on building an intentional, deliberate, “chosen” community. You’ll hear about how she creates gatherings and experiences that energize all involved. And you’ll hear about the vision behind her new venture, Our Place, which is an ethical, sustainable, mission-driven kitchenware line, rooted in the belief that when you bring people together around a home-cooked meal, you make the world smaller in the best way. Everything Shiza does is rooted in intention, community, tradition and identity. Which is why, when you hear about Shiza’s team rituals and her strategies for managing life and work in quarantine, you’ll see how they point right back to her intentions. Resources: “Relationships are everything.” – Shiza Shahid “My community is chosen. It’s not accidental...I chose each and every person that I spend time with and very often I’m choosing them because I admire them. I admire their values. I admire their intellect. I admire what they’ve done in the world, what they’re driven to do. I admire the way in which they lift me up and the way that I can do the same for them, so it’s very much a community of people who are on the same wavelength.” – Shiza Shahid “A lot of our experiences are designed for extroverts...If we can start to think about how different kinds of people connect, then we can create gatherings that really bring out the best in all of us and that leave us feeling energized and not depleted.” – Shiza Shahid “Home cooking is the bedrock of culture and tradition...You come into my kitchen and you will know who my mother is, who my grandmother was—it is built into our DNA. When everything else falls apart, home cooking remains this place where we express our identity.” – Shiza Shahid Erica’s website Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to Work Text ‘human’ to 66866 to sign up for Erica’s newsletter where she shares how to honor relationships well and how to bring your human to work and life. Connect with Shiza: Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Connect with Erica:  Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

What does it mean to be human, really human—in work, at home, and in life? How can we bring our whole selves to everything we do? Left to Our Own Devices is a podcast that explores how to bring our human to work and life. It all boils down to one simple thing: honoring relationships. And it’s not rocket science, but it does take intention. Each week, workplace strategist, speaker, and bestselling author, Erica Keswin interviews CEOs, founders, philanthropists, thought leaders, and people just like you to find out all the ways they bring their human to their own lives. Honoring relationships has never mattered more.