Podcasts about Gravity Payments

They're baffled! Absolutely baffled! You remember how a few weeks ago, on Labor Day I said that business owners were celebrating the predicted end of this supposed "labor shortage" because that marks the day unemployment benefits came to an end? Well, guess what? Those job applications didn't come pouring in, as they would have hoped. In fact, people are still sitting on their asses, refusing to work. Hmm, it's almost like it's not the unemployment benefits to blame but their low ass wages that their offering at these jobs. Michael Lastoria, the owner of &pizza offered a $16 minimum wage and saw hundreds of applicants come in, in every single position the company offered. Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments saw his profits TRIPLE in the past half decade after making the bold move to raise the minimum salary to $70k a year. It's guys like these that represent the fact that people are not only willing to work, but be extremely productive in that work (and help skyrocket company profits) if they are given a decent goddamn wage. Like I said, we're done working for shitty wages. It ain't cuttin it, man. We'll sit at home on the couch all damn day, unemployment checks or not. At least until we're compensated fairly, and we'll procrastinate. We'll wait until that opportunity arrives. We know our labor, our efforts to get up off our asses, are worth a helluva lot more than what the typical corporate company is offering us. Yet most CEOs wanna follow the corporate protocol of exploiting workers for the benefit of the owner and shareholders. Our laziness is speaking loud and clear "If you want us back at work, pay us more". Point blank. Simple. I love it. We're seeing a national protest of procrastin8rs uniting together and it's great to be a part of it. I mean you figure, why work so hard just to be poor? It doesn't make sense. Best to be lazy. I mean, you'll be poor either way, right? Might as well sit at home then and refuse to work. Read the Transcript/Blog of this Episode: http://www.procrastin8r.com/blog/fairpay Subscribe to the Newsletter: http://www.procrastin8r.com/subscribe

In 2015, Seattle CEO Dan Price became an overnight celebrity following his decision to raise the base minimum salary for all of his employees at Gravity Payments to $70,000. But some of his former employees say the glossy magazine features and talk show appearances painting him as a benevolent leader were a façade — that the day-to-day work at the company was far from glamorous.

Welcome to another episode of the Tech for Good Live podcast! If you're new here, this is a show where we gather together to discuss tech being for good, but most likely tech being used for EVIL *manic laugh*.  In this episode we're chatting about a generous (edit: former) CEO, a recruitment crisis in the care sector and iRobot (not the crappy Will Smith film). Host Bex is joined by TFGL pod regular Greg Ashton and Producer Paul. Our guest for this episode is Ume Pandya. Ume is the Design & Product Director at HealthLumen. He is also a Venture Partner at the impact investor Bethnal Green Ventures. This episode was recorded on August 16th 2022 Stat of the week  CEO Dan Price from Gravity Payments paid his staff £66k as standard and is calling for other companies to do the same: CEO who pays staff $80K minimum wage calls for companies to pay a fair wage - LadBible UPDATE:  Dan Price, CEO who cut his pay so workers made at least $70,000, resigns - Washington Post Charity news of the week Crisis in the social care sector as vacancies increase by 52% over the last 12 months Government intervention needed to curb the workforce crisis in social care - Care England  Tech news of the week Venture firm a16z proving once again that having all that money doesn't make you any smarter, as they once again fund Adam Neumann. a16z says ‘WeBack' to WeWork's Neumann with its biggest check ever - TechCrunch  This investment in Flow comes just after reports surfaced that VC Billionaire Marc Andreessen fought against a proposal to build new affordable housing units in his ultra-wealthy hometown of Atherton, CA.  Rant of the week  The iRobot Deal Would Give Amazon Maps Inside Millions of Homes The iRobot Deal Would Give Amazon Maps Inside Millions of Homes - Wired And finally… Some loon made an exo-suit for a snake  ---------------------------- Listeners, what did you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts.  Get in touch on twitter @techforgoodlive or Email at hello@techforgood.live  We'd love it if you gave us a nice iTunes review and told your pals about this podcast! Thanks to podcast.co for hosting our podcast.  Also, please don't forget this podcast is run by volunteers and we survive on sponsorships and donations. Right now one of our primary goals is to make sure all of our podcast episodes are accessible by making sure EVERY episode is transcribed. Sadly this costs money and we desperately need your help to make this become a reality! So if you've ever tuned into one of our podcasts or attended one of our events please consider chipping in the price of a cup of coffee.

Monica Lewinsky co-hosts Pivot! She and Kara discuss Andrew Tate's ban from Meta and TikTok, Dan Price's exit from Gravity Payments amid assault allegations, and the latest in the Trump investigation. Also, CNN axes Brian Stelter and “Reliable Sources," and the Finnish Prime Minister's party fallout. Then, a listener question on social media regulation. You can find Monica on Twitter at @MonicaLewinsky. Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or via Yappa, at nymag.com/pivot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dan Price, goes viral almost every day. The now former CEO of Seattle's Gravity Payments first flooded the news and social media years ago after taking a pay cut to give his employees a pay bump. And he's maintained a good image online for years, by saying the right things for the right audiences.Price resigned last week amidst abuse allegations that were largely fueled by his social media persona.New York Times technology correspondent Karen Weise has been writing about Dan Price for years. She's here to tell us about her latest report.We want to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram @SeattleNowPod, or leave us feedback online: https://www.kuow.org/feedback

Dan Price, the so-called “Best Boss in America,” resigned as chief executive of Seattle-based Gravity Payments on Wednesday, saying that his “presence has become a distraction” and that he would “focus full time on fighting false accusations made against me.” A day later, the timing of his departure appeared not to have been a coincidence. It turns out Price announced his resignation the same day he responded to questions from The New York Times, which published an exposé on his alleged pattern of bad behavior on Thursday. Previously famous for raising the minimum pay at his company to $70,000, Price now stands accused of separate incidents of alleged  transgressions. He has denied wrongdoing.

On this week's episode, Nathan, Mike, and Mahler talk about hybrid species, Tasmanian Tigers, a potentially fatal herpes virus, k-leather, illegal wildlife products, Freya the walrus, taxing the Trump Organization, Fix libel, the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, Gravity Payments, two overbearing imbeciles, and so on.

Dr. Joseph A. Allen has written more about meetings in the academic literature than anyone. He is a Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Utah. On the show, he shares recent research that shows hybrid meetings are better than either in-person or virtual meetings. Dr. Allen shares his rules for effective meetings, whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid; and how to foster inclusivity and engagement. Do you know your people? Have you talked to them? What do they want? Encourage participation. … There are ideas out there that will solve the problems in our organizations. We just need to let our people share them.   Key Takeaways [2:01] Dr. Allen has written more on meetings in the academic literature than anybody else! [3:11] Having poor meetings is a problem in nearly every organization. [4:33] In the first week of  March 2020, Dr. Allen and his co-author Karin Reed predicted that video meetings and remote work would happen in five to 10 years. Instead, they started two weeks later in the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown! Web video cameras were hard to find by May! [6:13] Dr. Allen collected data in June 2021 for a study showing that face-to-face meetings before the pandemic weren't great, virtual meetings were as good as face-to-face meetings, and hybrid meetings were better than either. If you make sure everyone is seen and heard, hybrid meetings can be the most inclusive type of meeting. If you don't put the effort into it, they are challenging to do well. [8:15] Early adopters were running hybrid meetings that started on time, ended on time, and had an agenda and a purpose. They encouraged participation. They were following the best practices Dr. Allen had been preaching for years. If you do those best practices, you can have a good meeting in any format. [9:41] In virtual or hybrid meetings, there should be one camera for each participant. We can't continue to set up conference rooms with the “bowling lane” approach. We need to work toward finding the best way to use multiple cameras and microphones. [11:18] If you don't know how to facilitate a meeting based on the agenda, you will not hold a good meeting. Dr. Allen talks about the need for procedural communication, to interrupt a monologue and steer the conversation back to the objective. He also notes that most meeting leaders have a blindspot to their faults and think they do a better job of facilitating meetings than they do. [15:30] Dr. Allen says it is paramount to use your camera in a video meeting. If you want your voice to be heard, turning your camera on provides the additional input of facial expressions and gestures. Don't turn off your camera so you can check your email. Be engaged. Leaders, run your meetings so participants need to be engaged, or you are giving them an out not to engage. [17:42] Who needs to be in the meeting? Part of planning for a meeting is selecting who needs to be invited. [18:21] Everybody doesn't need to be invited to every meeting. They need time to do their regular work. With the pandemic and seven-step “commutes,” managers started filling commute time with more meetings. Sometimes sharing the meeting minutes is better than having everyone in the meeting. Or record the meeting and others can play it back at 2X speed. [20:5] Between choosing phone or video, you should hold a video meeting when you're meeting someone that you've not worked with a lot. If you don't see each other, someone might be confused over your meaning. [22:24] The more complex an issue, the more important it is to have a virtual environment that allows sharing charts as well as seeing each other. Phones are good tools for simple issues. [23:09] If you don't know how people are going to react to what you throw out there, use the strongest communication modality you can. In-person or video is better than phone, email, or text to communicate a complex message. [24:13] Joe recommends a virtual commute, which is taking the time to get your brain ready to work, and after work, getting your brain ready to be home. You could listen to a podcast, a book, or the radio. You are giving your brain the natural cues to transition to the next environment with its activities.[26:23] It's psychologically healthy to take breaks, reflect, and focus. Joe has a paper on meeting recovery under review at a journal. This is discussed in his book, Suddenly Hybrid. Humans need moments to be human. Without transition time, we start to burn out. Meeting recovery is a big issue. Make meetings 25 minutes or 50 minutes long so people can take a break before their next meeting! [31:09] The best practices for any meeting, in-person, hybrid, or virtual: Have an agenda, start on time, end on time, have a purpose, and describe the purpose at the beginning of the meeting. [31:40] The best practices unique to hybrid meetings: The leader sets ground rules, like calling people by name and asking them to participate; it's OK if the answer is, I don't have anything to add. That way, everybody gets a chance to be seen and heard on this. Set a ground rule that it's not OK to turn the camera off and disengage. It's up to the participants to help and participate. [32:54] Dr. Allen strongly recommends the leader rotate the location of the hybrid meeting, either office or a remote location. It reminds the leader how hard it is to participate remotely and how important it is to engage the remote participants. The leader should set the rule for the discussion part of the meeting that remotes chime in first before anyone in the room does. [33:57] It's easy for the people in the room to create a tiered communication system, where the people in the room are primary and the people on video or audio are a secondary group. This derails the sense of team effectiveness. Rotate who speaks first among the remote participants; if you know your team, you know who will respond well to being called on first and share their thoughts briefly. [36:57] Gary Hamel, author of Humanocracy, has advocated for years that we stop managing people like Napoleon, command and control. Now managers are insisting we get back to work nine to five. Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments recently said, “If you get your work done, that's all that matters.” [37:44] Surveys of workers show that some people want to work from home more and some people want to work from the office more. To retain your top talented folks, establish policies and procedures around hybrid work that allow people to work from home when they need to and work in the office when they need to. Add some required days where people come together and re-energize the team. [39:28] On days when you bring everybody in, have people collaborate. Why commute for an hour to sit in a box? Collaboration is skills-based. Leaders can read about it and implement it. It can be done even by people who are introverts because they know that collaboration on their team is important to their success. On all-hands days, have team meetings and things that cannot easily be done virtually. [41:40] CEOs, are you creating an environment for your leaders to learn how to do this really hard stuff that is leadership today? [43:01] One size does not fit all. Different teams have different requirements. Get to know your people and provide a sense of flexibility that might be a little more uncomfortable than you would like. If you don't accommodate your people, you may lose them, even though they may find out the grass is not always greener over there. [47:20] Dr. Allen issues a challenge to the listeners: 51% of our meetings are rated as poor. The ways to improve meetings are not rocket science. Take stock of your meetings. Think about what would be the ideal situation. See what you may not be doing and try it. Encourage participation. There are ideas out there that will fix problems in our organizations. We just need to let our people share them.   Quotable Quotes “There isn't actually a course in the management schools across the country that trains people on how to run effective meetings; why would we do effective meetings?” “Everybody had to figure out what was going to work for them in their environment.” “What we learned is that we can do this. We can meet remotely. We can make it work effectively.” “Early adopters are often those people who know how to make the Apple Watch work really well. Or they know how to pull things up on the screen that you don't know how to do. They're the people that take on technology and just embrace it.” “The meeting leader, who comes in with an agenda and a purpose, gets steamrolled by somebody … who just goes off on their favorite topic. … That leader needs to know that they can say, ‘Thank you for that comment. That's meaningful. I'd like to get your thoughts on this.'” “You know that one bad meeting causes three more meetings! That is scientifically shown across a lot of different samples and a lot of data. It's worth the effort to make the meetings better because it means we should have fewer meetings moving forward.” “[A ‘virtual commute' is] that psychological and meaningful human transition from one thing to the next. And we need that transition time. Without it, we start to really burn out.” “It's easy for those folks in the room to create a tiered system of communication, where the people in the room are the primary and the people that are not in the room, whether it be on video or audio, become a secondary group. That ... can derail the sense of ... ‘team.'” “[Collaboration] can be done even by people who are not the most collaborative or wanting to be. … Introverted people … learn how to do it, anyway, because they know that collaboration in their team is really important for the success of their team.” “It's all about: Do you know your people? Have you talked to them? What do they want? And if you go against what they want, be prepared for the ramifications! Be prepared for the mass exodus that's been happening in some organizations.” “Encourage participation. … There are ideas out there that will solve the problems in our organizations. We just need to let our people share them.”   Resources Mentioned Theleadershippodcast.com Sponsored by: Darley.com Dr. Joseph A. Allen Dr. Joseph A. Allen on LinkedIn Karin M. Reed on LinkedIn Apple Watch Suddenly Hybrid: Managing the Modern Meeting, by Karin M. Reed and Joseph A. Allen Suddenly Virtual: Managing Remote Meetings Work, by Karin M. Reed and Joseph A. Allen Gary Hamel The Future of Management, by Gary Hamel with Bill Breen Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them, by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanina Dan Price Gravity Payments

This week's Misogynist of the Week is Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments.

Dan Price is CEO of Gravity Payments and his attitude towards how work should be done is a great proof of concept that could lead to a mutually beneficial reversal in hiring and onboarding processes.

02:14 - Ashleigh's Superpower: Ability To See “The Vision” * The Queen's Gambit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen%27s_Gambit_(miniseries)) 03:35 - Intentionality: “People First” * Call Me Out: Intention vs Impact * “This Doesn't Make Sense” Log * Emotional Fitness Surveys * “Dare To Lead” Book Club 10:55 - Listen * Digging in to Defensiveness / Uncomfortableness * Little Things Add Up * Building Connections and Relationships 15:10 - Building Trust – Why is vulnerability not professional? * Alleviating Fear * North Star: Being Excellent To Each Other * Self Awareness & Emotional Intelligence * Discernment * Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs) 21:02 - Personal Growth and Development * Brené Brown (https://brenebrown.com/) * Glennon Doyle (https://momastery.com/) * Morning Pages (https://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/) * The Holistic Psychologist: Future Self Journaling (https://theholisticpsychologist.com/future-self-journaling/) 27:24 - Intersexuality and Identity: How do you show up? * Privilege * Gender * Somatics * Safety * Solidarity 36:37 - Making and Dealing With Mistakes * Taking Feedback * Lead With Gratitude * Ego Checks 40:05 - Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) * Visibility and Understanding * Health and Wellness Benefits * Sacred vs Safe Spaces / Safe vs Brave Spaces * Dan Price 45:52 - Fundraising & Venture Capital (VC) * The House of Who (https://www.houseofwho.com/) Reflections: Mandy: Eating a shame sandwich in order to learn and grow. Chanté: North Star = Being excellent to each other. Ashleigh: Celebrating intersections of identity. Aaron: The “This Doesn't Make Sense” log. This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep (https://twitter.com/therubyrep) of DevReps, LLC (http://www.devreps.com/). To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode) To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps (https://www.paypal.me/devreps). You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well. Transcript: PRE-ROLL: Software is broken, but it can be fixed. Test Double's superpower is improving how the world builds software by building both great software and great teams. And you can help! Test Double is hiring empathetic senior software engineers and DevOps engineers. We work in Ruby, JavaScript, Elixir and a lot more. Test Double trusts developers with autonomy and flexibility at a remote, 100% employee-owned software consulting agency. Looking for more challenges? Enjoy lots of variety while working with the best teams in tech as a developer consultant at Test Double. Find out more and check out remote openings at link.testdouble.com/greater. That's link.testdouble.com/greater. MANDY: Hello, everybody and welcome to Episode 272 of Greater Than Code. My name is Mandy Moore, I use she/her pronouns, and I'm here with our new panelist, Aaron Aldrich. Welcome, Aaron! AARON: Thanks! And hey, I'm Aaron. I use they/them pronouns and I am also here with Chanté Martínez Thurmond. CHANTÉ: Hey, everyone, Chanté here. I use she/her/ella pronouns and I am so glad to introduce our guest today, Ashleigh Wilson. Welcome, Ashleigh. AARON: Thank you for having me! Hello, Ashleigh here and I use she/her pronouns. CHANTÉ: Ashleigh is the Founder and CEO of Auditmate, the world's first elevator and escalator auditing system. After discovering that customers were an afterthought to most companies, Ashleigh left the corporate world and founded Auditmate under a "people first" mentality. Ashleigh knows discrimination first-hand as a queer woman working in the tech industry and she aims to create a space where everyone has permission to be human. What a great bio. ASHLEIGH: Thank you. Thanks for having me. CHANTÉ: It's a pleasure. Ashleigh, the first question we ask our is what is your superpower and how did you acquire it? ASHLEIGH: My superpower is my ability to see the vision and it's a bit of a witchy. I don't know where it comes from, but the best visual representation I've ever seen of it as if anyone has seen The Queen's Gambit and when she can move the chess pieces on the ceiling? When I'm in the zone, and it's often when I'm half sleep, it just connects and I'm like, “Oh, this is how it works,” and I can just see the path forward. I can't force it. [chuckles] I don't get to choose when it happens. It just happens, or it doesn't. But when I get those deep downloads on the vision and the path forward, and then I think the skill that's been learned to couple with that is then how to make a plan to execute it because the vision can be one, but that execution does not work alone. [chuckles] AARON: That's awesome. I like that and I like that you mentioned the skill that gets paired with that. I can relate to a superpower can't exist in a vacuum; it needs some way to be harness and used. [chuckles] ASHLEIGH: Absolutely. CHANTÉ: I love that, too. Aaron, where you're going with that, because what it makes me think about Ashleigh, just reading your bio and kind of getting a preview of some of the things you care about, how have you been intentional about building a people first organization, or a startup in this space and using that superpower and maybe either finding people who compliment you there, or who are distinctly different? But I'd love to hear how you've been intentional about that. ASHLEIGH: Yeah. I think it starts with first of all, when you feel othered in any organization, like coming in and being able to set the culture is like, “Oh, I'm going to do all of these things.” But as Aaron mentioned earlier, it's not in a vacuum and so, I think the intentionality has been, what is the mission? What is the north star? How do we treat each other? And then at every new hire at every new customer acquisition, it then iterates, iterates, iterates, and iterates. You have to be willing to learn, to take feedback, and to eat a shame sandwich every once in a while, when you screw it all up and you have to admit it [chuckles] because it happens every single time. I've been called to the carpet. I think one of the biggest ways that I've been intentional is being communicative about call me out, call me out. I'm never going to know all of the things all the time and I think that my team knows me well enough to know my intentions, but it comes in intentions versus impact conversation. I can only know my intentions unless you tell me how this impacts you. I can't know and so, creating a culture of my team being able to call me out and be like, “Hey, your intention was good. The impact sucked. Let's talk about it.” [chuckles] AARON: What's that like practically to get folks like on that side and able to call you out because I know for – I'm thinking about it and I know I can to jump into any corporate culture, even startup and be like, “Yeah, I feel comfortable calling out my boss on this.” [chuckles] ASHLEIGH: Yeah. I don't think we feel like we have a corporate culture at least yet. AARON: Yeah. ASHLEIGH: But that also took time in creating. So one way that we did it was we have something called that this doesn't make sense log so that people can just document either things in the system, or things in the culture, or things in policies that just are kind of dumb. Like why do we do this this way? This doesn't make sense. This makes my job harder than it should be. The we need to get X done, but you're making us do Y and Z that don't go toward the greater mission. And then also we created an emotional fitness survey for every employee so that each person – and it's left in one place so each person says, “I want to receive praise publicly, or privately,” or “If I need to get feedback, I want to receive it like this,” or these just different questions on how people to be communicated to. I think setting up those conversations as people log in and it's okay to speak up, it's okay to push back, I expect you to push back on me makes people feel more comfortable, but it takes a while. It does. CHANTÉ: I love that. I use something very similar to that for my own consulting business in my firm and it's been something that we really lean into helpful to just make sure that it's transparent and it's a nice reminder as a leader that your answers to questions can change. Giving people permission to say, “You know what, how I'm showing up today is different than how I showed up yesterday, because life.” [chuckles] ASHLEIGH: Totally. CHANTÉ: So I really love that. The other sort of burning thing that I have for you is, because I read that you had been in this business so I'm guessing that you had learned from people and maybe it was a family business. I might have missed that part. I'm curious how doing it your way this time with these sort of principles is different than the way maybe you were mentored to do it, or what you've seen in the past and why that's important. ASHLEIGH: Yeah. I don't know that I had ever seen it modeled before. I was raised in the elevator industry and before that, my stepdad was in the elevator industry and my dad was salesman of any type, door-to-door salesman selling vacuums to cleaners, to cars, to whatever the case may be and I've never fallen in line. I was always the kid in school that was like, “Why do you do it that way? When you can do it this way? Why are we doing this? That doesn't make sense and that doesn't feel good?” And people are like, “Well, we don't really care how you feel,” and I'm like, “But why it doesn't feel good?” Like why do people want to work where it doesn't feel good? This doesn't make sense to me.” That feeling in my tummy has always been so wrong that it's either a hard yes, or a hard no and I'm like, “How do you operate in a hard no all the time?” Why do we expect people to operate in these visceral responses to this? Just watching how teams have responded and how you almost want to beat the individuality out of people to get performance to a certain standard, or something, like that somehow makes it better for everybody to be like that whole homogeny equals happiness saying? It was never true to me and so, I think I always had this if I feel like this, there has to be someone else that feels like this. I cannot be the only one that wants to show up as my true self and talk about feelings in business meetings! I cannot be the only one. This has to exist. I started a Dare to Lead book club at the Elevator office, which [chuckles] I'm sure you can imagine how that went over. Everybody showed up and I was like, “Oh, so y'all want to act like this is okay and that everyone seems okay. But then look at all of these white cis men in my Dare to Lead book club. Huh.” So it just kind of gave me the affirmation that I needed to say, “People do want to feel good. People do want to talk about and this does actually help the bottom line.” CHANTÉ: I personally love it. What I do for my day-to-day is focus on culture and focus on diversity, equity, inclusion accessibility, and organizations, whether it's on teams, products, services, and offerings. I think that people underestimate what it takes to build something that's special, especially there's not a culture budget. There's a budget for recruiting. There's a budget for performance stuff and for growth. But I'm like, “But what is the fascia? What is the stuff that keeps it together?” And it is the culture. I often like to say, as we're thinking about the future of work and building the next iteration of what work should be in decentralized teams working from home, we do need to lean into the sort of the soft skills that are actually aren't that soft, but they're those emotional intelligence stuff. That makes a huge difference. So is there any advice you might have to leaders like you who are like, “Okay, I guess I might read a Dare to Lead book,” or “I might start to prioritize this”? Where can they start, or what are practical things that you've learned along the way in leading your company in this fashion? ASHLEIGH: Listen. Listen is the first one. Listen when you get defensive, because those moments when your team says something to you that seems so small, insignificant, and annoying because you have all of these big things to do and all of the – you're pushing the company forward and there's this little voice that someone was brave enough to say this little thing that you're like, “Ugh.” That defensiveness, that feeling, whatever that small thing is, is probably a big thing, or will become a big thing and being able to own up to whatever it is that's making you defensive, or uncomfortable and truly listening in and digging into what is the root cause of that? Because it's generally, I don't know if you know the saying like something about the wrapper, it's never the wrapper. You get into a fight about the wrapper on the counter, that's never the wrapper. It's not throwing away the wrapper. It's the underlining way of how we are making people feel and for me, it's been about being able to truly dig into those things. The doesn't make sense log came from one of those experiences. My team, we were in these meetings and they would bring up these little things and be like, “Hey Ashleigh, well, what about this?” And I'm like, “It's not the time for that. We're talking about Z. Why are you bringing up A? We're in this super deep meeting about Z and you're talking about A,” and then they were like, “You're not listening to us. You say that you are people first, but you're not hearing us,” which is like a dagger to the heart. It's gutting and I had to sit with it for days because I was like, “I know I'm people first. I know my intention is right. How am I not translating it? How are my actions not matching my intentions?” When I boiled down to it, it was people didn't have an easy way to bring up little things to me and so, those little things would start to get bigger and then they would bring them up in big meetings because my schedule is booked. We don't have water cooler talk. We don't have walking by someone's desk and being like, “Hey, what's happening with blah, blah, blah?” That stuff doesn't exist and so, these little things were starting to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger because there wasn't an easy place to just discuss them. So creating one log alleviated so much pain and made people feel heard about, “Hey, this one email has a misspelling and no one's paid attention to it.” Just little stuff. And then the second thing is that we've been starting is more personal time. We started what I call an AuditMate lounge, which is on Fridays and it's just meant to be logging on and just hanging out with each other. It's water cooler time. You can be working, you can be doing other things, but this is not a business meeting. This is not meant to get things done. It's meant to just hang out. AARON: I like that. I just started working at a new company this month and similar to the team I'm on at least, the DevRel has similar like, “Oh, we're just going to hang out for a bit because I'm around,” [chuckles] and whatever. I've really appreciated it because it's something that I feel like when you're in an office, it's easy to lose track of all the time that you spend just being around those people and building those relationships because it's just rolled into, “Oh, I was getting a coffee,” or “Oh, we went to get lunch,” or “Oh, we went to do this,” and “Oh, I walked by a desk and said ‘Hey' for a few minutes.” But especially with COVID with everyone remote and at home, or remote companies, it's so easy to forget about that stuff and forget about building those connections that are more than just, “Hey, we work on this thing together.” It's like, “Oh yeah, also, we're people. We should hang out and talk about what people do,” [chuckles] which is sometimes just nothing. ASHLEIGH: Absolutely and it's how we build trust! AARON: Hmm. Yeah. I think that's a big thing, too. MANDY: What are your favorite ways to build trust? ASHLEIGH: Oh, well, I never really thought about it like that. I'm a Scorpio moon and rising so I like all of the deep things like, “Hi, I'm Ashleigh. Tell me about your trauma.” So I think the biggest way [chuckles] that I like to build trust is just in deep conversation, really getting to know each other, being vulnerable, and being able to just take the mask off. MANDY: Do you think you can do that too much, though with coworkers? Where do you find that balance? Because I struggle with that myself. Like how do you be open and completely vulnerable, but professional at the same time? ASHLEIGH: Why is vulnerability not professional? MANDY: That's a great question. ASHLEIGH: I think that's where – and I don't have an answer to it. It's kind of what I'm rambling. But why is vulnerability pegged with femininity and why is vulnerability loaded into being unprofessional, or too much, or too whatever? I think that the vulnerability that I don't want to expose too much is if it's loaded with fear because feelings aren't facts and I don't want to unload fear onto my team if there's something that I'm nervous about. I feel like it's my responsibility to hold those things and to alleviate some fear. But I think unpacking with my team that we can be vulnerable and that is actually more professional because it does make us more efficient. It does make us more trusting, I guess, would be the proper word there. The personal things that I don't share as far as vulnerability is there's some personal life stuff that I don't share, but not because it's not professional, but because it's sacred more. AARON: I think you mentioned something interesting about fear that gets at an interesting balance. From a leadership perspective, you have some responsibility about the vulnerability that you share and what you're able to be vulnerable with your team that maybe different than you want from an individual contributor on that team. You probably want to hear the fears of your team like, “Tell me what you're worried about so I can either alleviate those, or we can work to be in a good place.” But at the same time, sounds like you have some responsibility that I can't unload that on you because I'm the one who's supposed to be [laughs] taking care of that. How does that play out me besides just that one generic scenario? Are there ways you find that balance difficult to walk, or? ASHLEIGH: Yeah, like fundraising. My team needs to trust that I'm going to pay the bills. I don't want them to be worried about having money for payroll, or that we're going to be set up for our next raise, or that, right? There's some basic survival stuff that can be so linked to trauma of if we don't feel like we're going to have food on our tables for our family, if we don't feel like we're going to have continual pay, if we don't – those sort of things that are just human nature. We can't think and we can't perform because it is my duty to take care of my family and if I can't take care of my family with this company, I need to go do what I need to go do. So that's where it's my responsibility to those fears – especially when you are rational, if I'm having imposter syndrome about raising money as a queer woman and it's irrational because, maybe not irrational but loaded because of statistics, I shouldn't unload that on them, or I need to have someone, a mentor, someone that I can go to because they need to be expressed, but that could get bigger and bigger and bigger when shared with my team. So I really think about our north star is being excellent to each other. When my vulnerability is serving to them is when I share and not just when it's serving to me, because it'll make me feel better to express that I'm scared about funding, but it will not make my team feel better. It will, in fact, make them feel worse. CHANTÉ: What I hear is this dance we have to do as folks who have founded companies, or leaders of those companies to have what I consider again, that emotional intelligence. It's like – [overtalk] ASHLEIGH: Totally. CHANTÉ: Because self-awareness is huge and when you get a chance to – when you know your traps, or the traumas and the triggers that keep you stuck, or actually help to get you to another place, you can notice them in others and then the regulation is really important as well to really build relationships that are trusting and then discern it. It's like timing is everything to be like, you have to be able to read the room. You have to be able to be perceptive, read people's faces, and understand that they may have disassociation. They might be smiling, but they actually might be scared shitless [laughs] as you're like, “Oh, we're raising around.” I love how you how you kind of introduce this thought around Maslow's hierarchies of needs. People want to be able to put food on the table and be able to take care of their responsibilities whether that's a family, or a spouse, significant other, friend, or community and that is why we work. [chuckles] We need the money because we're in this capitalistic system. So I just love how you're doing that and where my mind takes me is how did you have the wisdom to do that? Who has been either an example that you admire, do you have a coach, do you have a community? Where are you learning these awesome things? Because I feel like you're so in touch with this emotional intelligence piece that so many people are missing. ASHLEIGH: Thank you. I appreciate that. I did not used to be, [chuckles] to be quite honest and I learned about emotions getting freshly sober at like 24 from Brené Brown. I had no idea. I had no idea. I quit drinking and remember starting to read one of her books and saying that an emotionally intelligent person knew 30 emotions and I was like, “Wait, there's more than happy and sad? You're telling me there's 30? That I should be able to name 30 and know what they feel like in my body?” CHANTÉ: Right, and according to her new book, she has even more stuff. ASHLEIGH: [laughs] Yeah. CHANTÉ: I think there's like 80 plus. ASHLEIGH: I'm like, “Wait, what?” [laughter] “This is a thing?” And that's when it kind of dawned on me, when people would say to me, “You don't get it. You don't get it,” and I'm like, “I don't get what?” And then I was like, “Oh, I'm not going to be able to know what you're feeling until I know what I'm feeling. Cool, great. I have a lot of work to do.” [chuckles] So that's when I think I started unpacking and learning. I was raised by an alcoholic and then became one and then getting sober at a young age was like, “Oh, this is mine and that's yours and I didn't know that I ended and you started.” So really learning and starting to place those things for me and then just reading a lot, a lot of Eastern spirituality, I read a lot of Buddhism books, a lot of yoga books, a lot of Brené Brown vulnerability, shame, rumbling type books. And then I think it's just kind of been like I'll take this from that and really, it just leads from what feels good and what doesn't. MANDY: Personal growth is essential. I'm in the same boat almost. I, too, am sober and it has changed my life. Over the past 2 years, I have done so much work on myself that sometimes I'm doing too much, but I learned – [overtalk] ASHLEIGH: Totally. That's a thing. [overtalk] MANDY: Brené Brown is one of my heroes, Glennon Doyle, too. ASHLEIGH: I was just going to mention her. Yes, oh my God! MANDY: I love Glennon. Yeah. So personal growth is, I mean, journaling. Every day, I make it a habit and a practice to sit down and just write out my thoughts and my feelings. I highly, highly suggest to anybody who will listen to me to do the same thing. ASHLEIGH: Same. [chuckles] MANDY: Morning Pages are a wonderful thing. If you can do it in the morning, just get everything out of your head. Even the dumbest little thoughts, “dumbest little thoughts.” I mean, there are no dumb thoughts, but just getting all the, I call it taking the trash out. ASHLEIGH: Oh, I like that. MANDY: And just even snippets of any weird dreams, or just little nagging thoughts that are in the back of my head. Getting all those things out is just so essential. ASHLEIGH: Yeah, absolutely. And do you know The Holistic Psychologist? MANDY: I do. ASHLEIGH: Yeah, and her future self-journaling has also been really helpful at times, like sitting down in the morning and saying, “My future self will feel like this and this is how my future self will take care of me today” has also been really powerful along those same lines. CHANTÉ: Mandy, I loved your question earlier when you were like, “How do you know? Some people are not comfortable in doing that.” So I feel like what's also really true about organizations and teams is just you can have somebody who's kind of the sage, or most wise elder on the team who's like, “I've been through this, I've walked this path,” and then there's people who are like, “Huh, vulnerability.” And then the magic of that leader in the room is finding, or recognizing the spectrum of that and being all these things are actually welcomed and everybody's experience matters. So how do you do that for your team? I'm imagining you have people who are newbies on this journey with you, or people who are like, “This is the best.” Maybe they gravitated and wanted to join you because they recognize parts of themselves in you, but how do you manage that part for your team and kind of carry and make room for the full spectrum of folk? ASHLEIGH: Yeah. I think I'm still learning that one. I think we're always learning that one as our teams constantly change and evolve. The emotional fitness survey helps. I definitely call people out and I'm like, “Okay, how does this feel to everyone? Everyone has to talk, I'm waiting and I will for you to talk,” which I know can be jarring for folks that don't want to share in a group. So really making sure to get everyone's input, that everyone gets used to speaking up in front of the group, and that it is just around Robin mentality, but then also developing those one-on-one relationships so people feel kind being like, “Hey, I'd rather share with you my idea after the call,” or whatever the case may be. But I think it's my job to hold space, it's my job to shut up sometimes and pass the mic, and it's my job to push and to pull. So to really, really look at those levers of who's ready for more and who has the potential to and wants to develop that potential. Maybe it's fear, or maybe it's something that's blocking them that I can help them see. And then for other folks they're like, “Hey, I'm good. I'm chilling. I want to be right here. I don't want to be the big boss. I want to be your right-hand human and let me stay where I'm at.” I'm in my lane. Go away.” So I think it's just really listening to folks and then also help to see what may blocking our views. CHANTÉ: I think I shared that the work I do is diversity, equity, and inclusion accessibility stuff and I often lead a lot and facilitate a lot of conversation around helping leaders and their teams recognize their identities, or intersectionality and recognizing social location and how that plays out with power privilege. One of the things we read about you is that you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and I'm guessing that that's a very prominent identity for you because you shared it online openly. Thank you. But I know there's other parts to you. So what are the identities that you lead with? We could start with the most obvious and kind of learn more about you from there. ASHLEIGH: Yeah. So I lead with queer always. Queer is through and through who I am. I realize the privilege I have with the way that I present to the world. In most instances, I will always be safe and I think that it's my responsibility as a VC-backed founder to take that space and I don't really own that for me. I have the privilege of being safe and so, let's make this known and let's make room for more folks while I'm here. I can elbow folks out of the way so that we can keep some more space. But the other parts of me. Gender, I don't really know right now, I'm kind of at the point that I think it's really garbage shit right now. So I don't really know. [laughs] I struggle. I've been in the dance with gender for a while and it's like, I feel like I would be taking up too much space to come out as non-binary and I know that non-binary, you don't have to look a certain way. I realize I have a lot of cis presenting privilege and it's not about that for me. I finally have landed on the conclusion that I don't give a crap about gender at all. It's more genderless and even non-binary feels too boxy for me. I don't know, I'm kind of ambiguous on that right now. [chuckles] AARON: Actually, I'm just generally agnostic you. ASHLEIGH: Yeah. I feel that. [laughter] CHANTÉ: Yeah. And I loved your response. I'm really into somatics and noticing bodies because bodies show up in space. [chuckles] ASHLEIGH: Yeah. CHANTÉ: People are triggered by bodies sometimes and recognizing it could be that your race, your ethnicity, it could be your age, or your ability, or where you grew up and accent. Are there any other parts of you that you feel like are prominent, or that you lead with, or maybe don't lead with? I'm curious just to hear more about it. ASHLEIGH: I'm pretty heavily tattooed and I also dress kind of funky in most instances. You can't tell right now, but half my hair is orange and half my hair is red. I'm loud, I'm vocal, and I'm very little, but I'm big in spaces. [laughs] I think that makes me different because most of the spaces that I operate in, I've been in this. Oh, the elevator world, it is 98% white men and I'm joking kind of about the industry, but I'm not going to shrink myself anymore. You will be uncomfortable by me. Don't let the crop top fool you. I am a CEO [chuckles] and I'm not going to change my crop top. Like, sorry. CHANTÉ: Yes. See, this is why I'm asking. I mean, I love it. You just naturally went to like, “Okay.” So those are the things that that's how you're showing up. ASHLEIGH: Mm hm. CHANTÉ: Right, and what's true for the industry and what you're in and you kind of already went there, I think it's dope and I think the context matters because you're like, “Yeah. Am I in a room with other queer people who are leading tech companies, or am I in a predominantly male, cis, able-bodied, privileged, born and educated in United States industry where I'm blending elevator technology,” whatever? So thank you for that. ASHLEIGH: Yeah, absolutely. [chuckles] A lot of times I walk into the room and it's like, either I'm uncomfortable, or they're uncomfortable. So I'm like, “You're going to be uncomfortable today. I'm sorry. I'm going to make you feel things and I'm going to make you recognize your privilege because guess what, we all must be painfully aware of our privilege and if I am in a room all full of white people, all of able-bodied people, all of privileged people in some sense, let's talk about this. Why are we not? Why are we not talking about the humans that are impacted by the work that we're doing? Hello.” AARON: It sounds like that was a big influence for your people-centric company, too. ASHLEIGH: Mm hm. AARON: I don't want to put that experience on you, [chuckles] but – [overtalk] ASHLEIGH: Totally. AARON: I don't want to ask it from a place of naivety and say like, “Oh, did this affect it?” It sounds very obviously your identity and being counterculture to the elevator and escalator world has influenced your company and where you want to go with that and how you want to show up. ASHLEIGH: Absolutely, a 100% being in that space and being different and just being like, “You know what, if I don't own this, I'm going to feel terrible forever and I don't want to because that's great.” It's great and I can walk into the sun in San Francisco and feel fantastic and so, why do I not feel that same confidence level in this boardroom? AARON: Right. ASHLEIGH: You're not going to make me feel small. I'm sorry, you're not. AARON: I think that's a big – I don't know if I'm seeing so much of a shift. It's a big portion of… I don't know I want to go with that, but I really like that. You're not going to make me feel small. I like the idea of showing up and you know what, this is me and just because you are uncomfortable, I'm not going to diminish myself. ASHLEIGH: Absolutely and the reason that I do that is me doing that shows other people that it's safe. At least if I'm in the room, you're safe to be who you are if I'm here. AARON: Mm. ASHLEIGH: And so that's why I put queer on my LinkedIn, that's why I lead with that because I know I'm safe and so, if I have – I feel responsible to it. AARON: I know you mentioned you can show up and be safe and create that safety in that environment. Has that been something you had, or had modeled for you, or is that something you had to go out and create this space where you could be that beacon of safety? ASHLEIGH: I think it's been modeled in my queer community. I don't think it had been modeled in corporate culture. I'm also not lost on how privileged I am to be safe and I'm not the bearer of safety and realize that there's many more intersections that go into that and that I'm here to listen and to learn and I don't know everything. [chuckles] Absolutely not. So it's important to just be really vulnerable about what we don't know and to say, “Hey, I'm going to fuck it up and there's going to be ways that I am not aware of my unconscious bias yet. So please teach me and if you don't have emotional capacity to teach me, I'm not saying that it's your responsibility, but if you can call me out, please do.” CHANTÉ: Yeah. That's a really important thing. I feel like being in solidarity with others who are othered. For me, it's like oh shit, we have Black history month coming up around the corner and I have some friends who are Black and queer, or Black, queer, and disabled and they're just like, “Oh, which one should I lead with first?” And I'm like, “All of them.” You shouldn't have to choose any of them over the other parts of yourself, because they're all valid and they all inform your lived experience in this particular body that you're in. I want people to see the complexity and the wholeness of others and just be like, “That is dope.” I love how you said when people have the capacity to teach you, you invite it, but you're not demanding it because so many times we've – I think we all can speak to this on this call. We're all in community. But it is, some of us have more resource and more ability to show up for each other at other points in time because we're going through something [chuckles] that the whole world doesn't know. It is likely because of our identity, our social location, our privilege, and the unique things we're kind of going through as we navigate life. It's really important to just constantly communicate that as well, that you're inviting this kind of calling out, or calling in and that people don't have to educate you. But I hear the willingness to want to show up and learn, which I think is literally a key. [laughs] The willingness. Yeah, awesome. AARON: It's at least half of the battle, right? CHANTÉ: Yes. ASHLEIGH: Totally. My friends and I were having a discussion about community here and it was like, you cannot have a community space that never once is going to screw up, or have an issue, or be called out, or called in. How you move through that, or what, I don't know. If you continue to be a safe space, it's not in not getting called out. It's how you deal with it. It's how you take that feedback from someone, or the community group and say, “One, thank you for telling me, let's be grateful that someone had the bravery to even speak up and two, then you get to say, is this mine, or not?” Don't lead with the buts, or the whys I did it, or the here's my intent. Don't lead with that. Lead with gratitude that someone felt safe enough to come forward. Someone felt that you were worth getting their feedback, because guess what, if they didn't believe that you would change, they probably wouldn't even tell you. They would just leave. They would just deem the space as unsafe and go. So that in itself, how you take feedback will determine how your community and your company thrives, both. MANDY: And then apologize and move on. ASHLEIGH: Bingo. Yes. AARON: And make material changes to show that you've learned. [laughter] ASHLEIGH: Oh, yeah. [laughter] ASHLEIGH: Good pointer. And then act also important. But [laughs] yes. AARON: That lesson of taking feedback, I think and understanding the value of that is so huge and it's a hard lesson. This is probably the hardest lesson I'm dealing with my kids for instance, is like, “Hey, that first call out, I wasn't really upset with you, but then when you acted super defensive and flipped out, that's the problem that I have. That's not okay.” ASHLEIGH: Totally. AARON: The initial action was just like, “Hey, we need to change this. Let's alter our behavior. Move on. But all the other stuff, that was not good that. That, we need to work on.” ASHLEIGH: Absolutely. AARON: Yeah. It's a tough lesson. I think it requires an ego check. Like decentering and recognizing oh, this call, it's not about me. [laughs] ASHLEIGH: Absolutely. Yes, and it's not easy work. You've got to eat it. It's not fun. AARON: Right. MANDY: Yeah. I've had to learn not everything's about me. [laughter] MID-ROLL: And now a quick word from our sponsor. I hear people say the VPNs have a reputation for slowing down your internet speed, but not with NordVPN, because it's the fastest VPN in the world. I don't have to sacrifice internet speed for better security. With NordVPN, my internet traffic is routed through a secure encrypted tunnel, which protects my data and privacy. I can also have it on up to six devices like my laptop, phone, TV, iPad—all my devices are protected. Grab your exclusive NordVPN deal by going to nordvpn.com/gtc, or use the code GTC to get a huge discount on your NordVPN plan plus one additional month for free. Plus, a bonus gift! It's completely risk-free with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee. AARON: A thing I wanted to get back to a little bit. I loved when Chanté was talking about folks who said that were Black, queer, and disabled and this multiple identities and leading with all of them. I think especially industry wise, or big corp wise anyway, we create these interest groups of this is the Black community interest group. This is the pride interest group. This is the disabled workers' interest group. I feel like it misses so much of the you of intersectionality. I'm wondering if you've seen that both, in your space and your identity and being able to create that space of vulnerability yourself, if you've noticed a benefit of that. ASHLEIGH: No, I think that's interesting and I like the note here that employee resources groups can be really great and really crappy. I totally agree. AARON: Yeah. ASHLEIGH: Often, it feels to me that the goal is visibility and understanding at the end of the day. We get great visibility in employee resource groups. We feel seen with people that are like us in some way, or another. But really, we want to have this intersectionality so how do we get both? My gosh. How do we have the representation, which is so important? How do we have the understanding, which is so important? And then how do we move past the feelings of not feeling seen so that we can see others? Because if we don't think it's possible to be seen, we're probably not able to see others and we need an on-staff therapist, really. Let's just be honest. [laughter] CHANTÉ: Yes. ASHLEIGH: Put them on payroll. [laughter] CHANTÉ: I've got to get that idea. Now you're talking my language. I'm telling you, I'm telling you if I had it my way, all organizations would offer that as their employee health and wellness benefit is to have somebody who's like on-site and depending on the ratio of people, if you have too many, you got to get several organizational psychologists and folks who are well-versed in trauma. ASHLEIGH: Totally. Yeah. CHANTÉ: But it makes me think of the conversation I often talk about, which is the difference between sacred space and safe space. AARON: Ooh. CHANTÉ: The sacred space is like those ERGs. It's like, yeah, we're going to have our unique identities where we can show up, talk to each other, see each other, and be like, “Oh my God, that really sucked,” or “That was really good. Good job in there.” The places where we're like – the safe spaces are harder because we have to make sure that everyone, when we say psychological safety, they're like, “Yes, I know what that means,” and that people are committed to doing some kind of work, which is why I'm like, “Organizations need to focus more on culture.” ASHLEIGH: Yeah. CHANTÉ: And this is where the like magic can happen, or where it can all fall apart. The sacred versus space is so huge. So, so huge because we can't have enough of people like you, Ashleigh. The world needs so many CEOs like you, then the world would be better and different and I wouldn't mind going to corporate work. [chuckles] But the reality is that you are few and far between. It's based on your identities, based on your lived experience, which is why it is so important to talk about it and to spend time with this episode getting into it. ASHLEIGH: Yeah. No, I completely agree. I also really like the idea of what's the difference between a safe space and a brave space, which plays into that a bit, too. I think in order to be safe, we have to be brave and it's kind of like what comes first vulnerability, or the courage? All the nuance in that, that ends up being this mushy gushy and I completely agree, we need it all and it's possible and I'm a firm believer in it's possible. The people that keep telling me that people first companies can't be profitable. I think it's bullshit. I think it's absolute bullshit. When we focus on people, the profits will come. If we're all safe, if we all believe in the mission, if we're all there because we want to be there, guess what? It will happen in and it will continue to happen and the foundation will be more sturdy and we'll be able to pivot easier because guess what? We move as a pack and I don't know, I guess, I'm just here to prove them all wrong. CHANTÉ: I feel like I love that and I'm also really sad that we have to work really hard to prove that people matter over productivity, [chuckles] that people matter over profits. ASHLEIGH: Yeah. CHANTÉ: My favorite, well, one of my favorite people to follow is Dan Price. He's the CEO of Gravity Payments and he's the guy who went viral when he basically gave up parts of his salary and paid everyone a livable wage. He tweets every day and of brings attention to this. It's just like you're right, Ashleigh that people first companies are rare and I can't believe that that's still happening in 2022, but the ones who are, stick out. There are definitely folks who people fall in line to submit their resume and want to work for you and you have no issue with hiring great talent and probably keeping it. It's the organizations and corporations that are literally extracting people's best parts of themselves in hope of getting a profit for their shareholders. ASHLEIGH: That just sounds so icky, doesn't it? [chuckles] CHANTÉ: Yeah. Yeah. It does. I haven't looked to see who your community is in terms of being venture backed, but when you went out, fundraised, started your company, and you said you were going to be people first, what were the reactions? Did it take you many tries to find folks to fill your cap table who believed in that, too? ASHLEIGH: So our first funding round, it was mostly retired elevator people that want to see the industry turn around, that believe in the industry and feel really crummy about where it's at now and how lost it is. Our entire first round was completely private and then after that, the next round was mostly those people coming in again. I wanted to go non-VC for as long as possible because I know I'm niche, I know I'm different, and if you don't get the vision, I don't want to waste my time trying to explain to you what we're doing, because we're too different. So if you're not with me, I don't have the time to sit here and convince you. The industry is a $100 plus billion a year industry and if you don't see that and don't get it, then bye. But then we ended up taking on some VC funding this round because I got tagged in a LinkedIn post that someone was like, “Where are all the PropTech women?” 98% of the people pitching this VC were all men. We ended up getting a meeting because I've always turned down any VC meeting. We just hit it off and then we went out to lunch and we were very similar. He was a founder himself and so, he understood what I was doing. I was like, “Hey, I'm not building this company to report to venture capitalists and so, if you're someone that expects me to work for you and not to work for my employees, we're not the right fit.” He was like, “No, that's what I expect you to do. Call me if you need me. Otherwise, I'm out of your hair.” I was like, “Great, okay! We can do this.” And then we ended up getting a couple more folks. I think it was really because I got on the phone with them and I was like, “I'm not taking your money,” and they were like, “Excuse me?” I was like, “I'm not taking your money. My round is full. I'll talk to you only because Zane wants me to talk to you. Otherwise, I don't have a conversation with you,” and they were like, “Please extend your round,” and I was like, “Okay, I guess.” So how could this happen? CHANTÉ: Wow, that's – [overtalk] ASHLEIGH: Is it because I'm being a jerk? [laughs] CHANTÉ: No, it sounds like it happened because you were more aware of who you were and you were sticking to your values and principles, actually. That's what it sounds like from my seat. So speaking of that, are your values of the company reflections of your personal values, or are they collective –? [overtalk] ASHLEIGH: Oh, a 100%. CHANTÉ: To the folks who work with you? ASHLEIGH: Yeah, I think both and we found each other. But building out the values and the mission and the vision was something that I spent a lot of money doing with The House of Who, who is a great organization and the East Bay. They're a branding company and they really helped me articulate the vision, the values, and the mission in a really eloquent way right in the beginning. I think everyone probably looked at me like I was bonkers for spending money on branding before I had any sort of software, or [chuckles] any sort of anything. But for me, it was so important that we had a way to articulate this to the team in an eloquent way that got people on board and really said, “This is who we are and this is who we're going to be.” How do we know what we do before we know who we are? It's not possible. So at that point, the people that align and that gravitate to what our values and vision are, I think we just kind of find each other. MANDY: That's awesome. I loved hearing a little bit about your journey, especially when it comes to venture capital, because I think lot of us just get a weird icky feeling from even hearing about venture capital. So it's always good to hear the good stories. ASHLEIGH: Yeah. MANDY: But since we are coming up on the hour, I was hoping that we could go into reflections and this is where we talk about something that stood out to us, maybe a call-to-action for ourselves, or the listeners. I can start. There was something at the beginning of the show that you said, that I had to write down, was just eating a shame sandwich once in a while. I'm not going to try to say that ten times fast. [laughter] You invited people to call you out and I love that. That's something I always try to do and model. It's the best way to learn, when invited, saying, “If we're talking, I'm going to ask you this. If I'm wrong, can you please let me know? Because I want to learn. I want to grow.” I think that's something that's super important and something that I try to do, especially with children that I'm around. My child, other children that are friends with her, just be like, “I was wrong. I was wrong. I'm sorry and it's just such a good thing to do, just to be humble in that ability to say I was wrong and I learned.” Thank you for that. CHANTÉ: The thing I really love that you said, and I haven't really heard this often, is you said your north star is being excellent to each other and I feel like most people have a north star of growing, or making an X number of profit, or whatever. I just love that. It is because it really does, I think eliminate your value of being people first and demonstrates that that's where you're going to put your time and money. Not only if I had the money, I'd be like, “Okay, Ashleigh, when you're having your next route, I want to invest in you.” But I feel like leading with that and saying that often tells people who might be interested in a job what you're about, tells your clients what you're about, and obviously, the communities in what you're serving. I just love that. So thank you for sharing it. ASHLEIGH: Yeah, absolutely. Chanté, my favorite part of today was you talking about the intersections and celebrating the intersections of identity and I've had so many conversations with friends about the different lanes into the intersection, but I really like that you focused on the intersection. So that intersection as a whole was very cool to me. AARON: I think one of the things I'm going to take with me was your this doesn't make sense log. I love this concept. This speaks to me on so many different levels. One is the way to raise all these little things that get missed without having to work up all of the energy to try and give someone feedback in a one-on-one meeting, or whatever else. But also, as someone who deals with ADHD and from an engineering mindset, just this place to be like, “Hey, I ran across this and it makes no sense. Can we revisit this?” Because the answer might be, “Oh, here's this explanation for why we do it that way,” and you're like, “Oh, now it makes sense to me,” or it might be like, “You're right. Let's figure out a different way to do that.” I just love that there's just this running place that anyone can just dump these thoughts as they run across them is really cool. MANDY: Awesome. Well, Chanté, Aaron, Ashleigh, it's been such a great conversation and thank you all so much for showing up and being vulnerable and having this discussion. It's been great. So with that, I just want to thank you again, thank the audience, and we'll see next week. Special Guest: Ashleigh Wilson.

This podcast has something for everyone! In this episode Mick & Hanna exchange their thoughts on Valentine's Day and scorned lovers' revenge, anti-work threads on Reddit, a true work & life balance, and Dan Price's livable wage success at Gravity Payments.   Do you have a great story, question for our hosts, or best practice to share? If so, we would love to hear from you. Contact Us: Email: hrafterhoursmail@gmail.com Twitter: @hr_hours Instagram: hrafterhours Facebook: @HRafterhours Tumblr: hrafterhours.tumblr.com  

This week on our Sunday show, the Big Story will be about Facebook censorship using dubious fact-checking companies like AFP or Agency France-Presse. Now, normally, I actually respect AFP, but recently I was 'fact-checked' on Facebook for something I REPOSTED. It wasn't my actual posting. It originated with Dan Price. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Dan Price is the head of a company called Gravity Payments, who established a minimum wage for his workers --of $70,000. Price tweeted how the current rise in consumer prices wasn't due to inflation--it was nothing but price-gouging.  I agree with Price, so I reposted his message. I received a message from Facebook that the repost was 'missing context.' For God's sake--it was reposted from a tweet! How much 'context' can a tweet have?! Facebook added the following to my reposting: "Missing Context. The same information was checked in another post by independent fact-checkers." So, I checked the link Facebook sent. It was from AFP. I read the article the fact-checker used to base this 'correction.' AFP screwed up. I will show you why--and why fact-checking should be left to groups that do NOT accept payment from corporate clients as AFP now does.  Check it out. Jeanine  

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." - Ephesians 3:20 Today, we're sitting down with Russell “Love Muscle” Kimura! Russell talks with us about his journey from working for Gravity Payments, to discovering his "why" and building a Marriage Coaching business! We also talk about the power of morning routines and how Russell uses affirmations to make things happen! Learn more about Russell's Marriage Coaching business: https://russandsarahk.com/ Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/311496040366540 Fill out our Questionnaire: https://forms.gle/fJu94WnTnQtbxNqBA — Do us a favor and leave us a review! Google: https://g.page/r/CaoZLT62mz8eEAo/review Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/filling-the-storehouse/id1505081414 Know someone who would make a great guest on our podcast? Let us know! stuart@storehouse310turnkey.com This podcast is sponsored by DoDReads.com which promotes lifelong learning, personal development and leadership that comes from the books you read. If you are interested in updating your military reading list, email: storehouse@dodreads.com Enroll in Podcast Systems University today and use with coupon code STU20 to get the course for only $297 and regularly $497! https://podcast-university1.teachable.com/?coupon_code=STU20&affcode=852973_kd3nu1_9 Get the 10 Levels of Passivity FREE Report by emailing: podcast@storehouse310turnkey.com Make planning a priority this year! Go to https://boldlyandco.com/ ** Use the Code: STOREHOUSE at checkout for a 20% discount on ALL products. ** Use the Code: STOREHOUSE495 gives a $200 off discount on the next workshop. If you are interested in joining the War Room Mastermind Group, email: wrmastermind@gmail.com

The business world is changing. No longer can businesses continue to operate in using the old paradigm. Put your head down, shut up, and work harder no longer work as a motivators for your team.This shift to culture-based business promises a different experience for all stakeholders. And when you and your entire team can live the values you have created that define your culture, job satisfaction and productivity soar. Need evidence? Follow Dan Price on social to see what he's up to at Gravity Payments.But here's what's really cool… when you run a nonprofit, you get to not only establish your values as a business, but can then apply those same values to your mission. That's what Seth Ehrlich is up to over at SOS Outreach.Seth applies the core values of SOS Outreach as part of their programming. See, SOS Outreach creates opportunities for underprivileged and inner-city kids to experience the magic found only in the mountains by getting them into the outdoors and connecting them with mentors who are steeped in the SOS Outreach culture. Courage, discipline, integrity, wisdom, compassion, and humility guide the team's actions and these same values are core to the SOS Outreach engagement.So what does this episode bring to the table? A great discussion of ways to engage your stakeholders from the framework of core values.Seth and his team are amazing. Hope you enjoy the show. Action Ask:Follow SOS Outreach on social media. Take the next step to get involved and engage through your passions.

Dan Price, the CEO of Seattle's Gravity Payments, gained worldwide attention in 2015 for giving all of his employees a $70,000 minimum salary. Now, Price is leading the charge to redefine what it means to be a CEO in the 21st century. Price joins Gee Scott's Leaving a Legacy podcast to explain what's next and why he's fighting for a living wage for the next generation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

#danprice #gravitypayments #casoempresa Dan Price, CEO de la empresa Gravity Payments, decidió un buen día de 2015 pagar el mismo salario a todos los empleados de su empresa, incluido él mismo: Pagaría 70.000$ a todos, independientemente de su cargo, responsabilidad o productividad, y mantendría indefinidamente la medida. Hasta llegar a este punto, la historia de Price es una historia de éxito en una empresa tecnológica, pero también de controversias con su socio y hermano, Lucas Price, y con su ex mujer, con denuncias de maltrato por medio e incluso una fallida conferencia TED contando sus penalidades al lado del ejecutivo de moda. En este podcast os cuento lo que ha sucedido después de tan llamativa medida, cuál ha sido el resultado del experimento, y también las polémicas alrededor del personaje que puede considerarse, según como se mire, un inteligente seductor que buscaba solamente la fama, o un genio capaz de sacudir los cimientos de las relaciones laborales. Mis Aparatos y equipos imprescindibles para trabajar y vivir: https://www.amazon.es/shop/juanfranciscocalero-clubonmotor Apóyame para hacer más y mejores vídeos en PATREON. Sé mi mentor: https://www.patreon.com/jfcalero Sígueme en INSTAGRAM, TWITTER o AMBAS, súperfácil: @jfcalero No te vayas a la cama sin saber algo más, o al menos sin saber algo nuevo. Si lo hiciste, misión cumplida, gracias por acompañarme. Puedes ver el video correspondiente a este podcast en el siguiente enlace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ivYm0UeoU&t=3s&ab_channel=JFCALERO

A few years ago Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, made media headlines when he announced that he would be raising the minimum wage at his credit card processing startup to $70,000 per year. Today, a few years later, we're curious as to what happened to the company and whether the minimum wage tactic had the kind of business effect they wanted.To learn more about Daggerfinn's employer branding and growth strategies practice, visit us at https://daggerfinn.com.

In the holiday spirit of generosity and gratitude, we wanted to bring you one of our favorite interviews from this past year. In March, Talib chatted with Gravity Payments Founder and CEO Dan Price about his decision to give all of his employees a $70,000 minimum wage. To learn more about Dan Price and Gravity Payments, check out: https://www.fastcompany.com/90477926/gravity-payments-is-expanding-its-70000-minimum-wage-from-seattle-to-idaho

Perry Timms, Chief Energy Officer of PTHR shares his thoughts and insights on the evolution of teams and the workplace. The way the workplace functions and how teams best perform is changing, rapidly.  Your host, Andy Goram and Perry, discuss how the emergence of transient and self-managed teams is changing the way that some forward-thinking businesses function, for the better, and the central role that purpose plays in that. Which is something that the CBI recently threw their backing behind. In a packed 40 minutes the pair cover employee engagement, culture, purpose, motivation, systems, processes, authenticity and seek to prove that purpose and profit can work together in harmony.  The lively conversation covers such great examples as Dan Price at Gravity Payments, Jos de Blok and the Buurtzorg model, Peter Aceto at Tangerine Bank, John Stepper at Deutsche Bank, and the Bob Chapman, Barry Wehmiller story, whilst also highlighting where it can go wrong as we saw recently with the Basecamp controversy. Check out the extensive show notes below to find out more details on the topics and examples covered in the show. ----more---- Join The Conversation   Find me on LinkedIn here Follow the Podcast on Instagram here Follow the Podcast on Twitter here Check out the Bizjuicer website here Download the podcast here ----more---- Useful Links Follow Perry Timms on LinkedIn here Follow PTHR on LinkedIn here Follow Perry Timms on Twitter here Check out the PTHR website here Find out about BCorp accreditation here Find out about the "Be The Ripple" movement here Find out about Peter Aceto and Tangerine Bank here Follow John Stepper on LinkedIn here Find out about Deutsche Bank's "Working Out Loud" here Find out about Don Tapscott here Watch Dan Pink's motivational theory "Drive" video here Find out about Jos de Blok and the Buurtzorg model here Find out more about Dan Price and Gravity Payments here Read the CBI report on Purpose in Business here Read about the Basecamp culture debacle here Find out more about Dr Megan Reitz here Find out more about the Barry Wehmiller story here Watch the video of Bob Chapman and "Courage To Care" here ----more---- Full Episode Transcript Get the full transcript of the episode here  

This week, we welcome Richard Reinders, Head of Security at Gravity Payments, to discuss Better Sales, Worse Relationships? In the next segment, we welcome Ryan Kalember, Executive Vice President, Cybersecurity Strategy at Proofpoint, to discuss Shifty Adversaries, Shifting Tactics! In the Enterprise News, Orca Security raises all the money, Privacy engineering firms hit their funding stride, McAfee and FireEye merge, but where's RSA's dance partner? Akamai acquires Guardicore, NetApp picks up CloudCheckr, SPDX becomes the ISO standard for SBOMs, & Facebook shares details on how they accidentally Thanos snapped themselves!   Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/esw245 Visit https://securityweekly.com/proofpoint to learn more about them!   Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/esw for all the latest episodes! Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/securityweekly Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/secweekly

This week, we welcome Richard Reinders, Head of Security at Gravity Payments, to discuss Better Sales, Worse Relationships? In the next segment, we welcome Ryan Kalember, Executive Vice President, Cybersecurity Strategy at Proofpoint, to discuss Shifty Adversaries, Shifting Tactics! In the Enterprise News, Orca Security raises all the money, Privacy engineering firms hit their funding stride, McAfee and FireEye merge, but where's RSA's dance partner? Akamai acquires Guardicore, NetApp picks up CloudCheckr, SPDX becomes the ISO standard for SBOMs, & Facebook shares details on how they accidentally Thanos snapped themselves!   Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/esw245 Visit https://securityweekly.com/proofpoint to learn more about them!   Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/esw for all the latest episodes! Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/securityweekly Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/secweekly

They're baffled! Absolutely baffled! You remember how a few weeks ago, on Labor Day I said that business owners were celebrating the predicted end of this supposed "labor shortage" because that marks the day unemployment benefits came to an end? Well, guess what? Those job applications didn't come pouring in, as they would have hoped. In fact, people are still sitting on their asses, refusing to work. Hmm, it's almost like it's not the unemployment benefits to blame but their low ass wages that their offering at these jobs. Michael Lastoria, the owner of &pizza offered a $16 minimum wage and saw hundreds of applicants come in, in every single position the company offered. Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments saw his profits TRIPLE in the past half decade after making the bold move to raise the minimum salary to $70k a year. It's guys like these that represent the fact that people are not only willing to work, but be extremely productive in that work (and help skyrocket company profits) if they are given a decent goddamn wage. Like I said, we're done working for shitty wages. It ain't cuttin it, man. We'll sit at home on the couch all damn day, unemployment checks or not. At least until we're compensated fairly, and we'll procrastinate. We'll wait until that opportunity arrives. We know our labor, our efforts to get up off our asses, are worth a helluva lot more than what the typical corporate company is offering us. Yet most CEOs wanna follow the corporate protocol of exploiting workers for the benefit of the owner and shareholders. Our laziness is speaking loud and clear "If you want us back at work, pay us more". Point blank. Simple. I love it. We're seeing a national protest of procrastin8rs uniting together and it's great to be a part of it. I mean you figure, why work so hard just to be poor? It doesn't make sense. Best to be lazy. I mean, you'll be poor either way, right? Might as well sit at home then and refuse to work. Read the Transcript/Blog of this Episode: http://www.procrastin8r.com/blog/fairpay Subscribe to the Newsletter: http://www.procrastin8r.com/subscribe

Dive back in and hear from the purpose-driven CEOs we highlighted in Season 1 of the Beyond Capital Podcast. Your host Eva Yazhari was inspired by Dan's story, and wrote about his work at Gravity Payments in her new book, The Good Your Money Can Do. Click here to learn more and get your copy.Hear from Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments. Many people know him for his decision to give up most of his own salary so that everyone at his company would make a minimum wage of $70,000. Gravity Payments is a credit card and payment processing company catering to small businesses. Dan is publishing a book, "Worth It," about his experiences.Despite productivity in the United States rising by 70% over the last 40 years, the hourly pay of most workers has stagnated, increasing only 11.6% over that same time period. The median household annual income today is approximately $55,000 (pre-Covid-19). "Small businesses unquestionably make our lives better, make our communities better," says Dan. "When I announced I was taking a $1 million pay cut to pay everyone $70,000 a year, the situation was that I was now in a community where everybody could meet their needs. And Gravity Payments became more about the people and the principles behind the company."

Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/fPM56shOBF4

In This Episode:Dr. Stacee and Dr. Caitlin chat with Bobby Bohren from Gravity Payments about what to think about when it comes to your credit card processor. Listen in to learn what you need to know and what questions you should be asking!Signup for #IVETSOHARD Resources Email List (below) to get the 5 takeaways from this episode in PDF form.More About Bobby Bohren:Bobby is a 13-year veteran of the payment processing industry. For the majority of those years, he's specialized in creating partnership opportunities and building relationships within the veterinary community. He's the reason leading vet associations and veterinary software companies trust Gravity to help their clients and members accept credit card payments. Episode TranscriptsEpisode WebsiteSubscribe & Review On Apple Podcasts:Thanks for being an IVSH listener! We hope this podcast has been inspiring and has helped you learn a few new tricks when it comes to technology and workflows that really work.To help get this podcast in front of more veterinary professionals and teams, please consider subscribing to the podcast on Apple and leaving a review.Click Here to subscribe and review #IVETSOHARD on Apple Podcasts!

Host Sammy Ross and guest Marc Santos discuss the topic of Livable Wage.  ​​Minimum wage hasn't gone up nationally in over a decade, while cost of living continues to climb.  On this episode we discuss the difference between minimum wage and livable wage, why tipped workers are most at risk for wage theft, and how inflation can work with or against our wages.   For Bonus content where host Sammy Ross and guest Marc Santos discuss their experience with wages while maintaining freelance artistic careers, please visit: https://www.patreon.com/ThisisNotaHandout For more information about the show, please visit: https://www.thisisnotahandout.com   Resources: For more on Minimum Wage: https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/08/a-brief-history-of-the-minimum-wage/ For more on an in-depth look at the Tipped Minimum Wage: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/reports/2021/03/30/497673/ending-tipped-minimum-wage-will-reduce-poverty-inequality/  For more on the Minimum Wage Debate: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/minimum-wage-debate/  For more on Dan Price and Gravity Payments: https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-51332811  For more on the Pandemic, and large retailer's profits: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/27/large-retailers-are-making-record-profits-but-not-paying-workers-more.html  For more on sign-on bonuses and other restaurant chain employee incentives: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/11/these-restaurant-chains-have-raised-wages-or-offered-bonuses-.html  For more on Costco and other Big Box Retailers: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/02/26/costco-increases-its-minimum-wage-to-16-an-hour-there-is-an-alarming-downside-that-needs-to-be-discussed/?sh=2377f0723ca6  For more on Amazon's wage increase for workers: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/technology/amazon-pay-increase.html  For more on Sweden's unions and Toys "R" Us: https://apnews.com/article/6d245065b3faaadc70e6eb77e3e5c20f For more on the Raise the Wage Act of 2021: https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/15-federal-minimum-wage-amendment-fails-in-senate-heres-what-you-should-know/ For more on Labor Unions: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/business/labor-unions-income-inequality.html  For MIT's Livable Wage Calculator: https://livingwage.mit.edu/ 

In 2015, Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, raised Gravity's minimum yearly salary to $70k — and lowered his own salary to $70k from over a million dollars. In this week's episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends, we talk to Dan about this choice, from its catalyst to its effects.

This episode is going to show what employees do to return the favor when their boss takes C.A.R.E. of them.

Dan Price is the CEO of Gravity Payments. We talk about his groundbreaking decision to take a million dollar pay cut in order to allow all his employees to make a $70,000 minimum wage, the types of conversations that go on in many boardrooms that lead to toxic decision making, the sorts of fundamental changes he sees as necessary for a brighter American future, and so much more...

Most of us ignore that the greatest uniter of all is not the human constructs of race, ethnicity, religion, and culture, but the desire to be financially independent. We shout freedom, equality, and equal rights for all. But money is what we want!

シアトルの決済代行会社「グラビティ・ペイメント社」のダン・プライス氏CEOは、自分自身の年収を93万ドル（約1億円）減額し、会社の最低年収を7万ドル（約830万円）に引き上げると発表した。 社員120人のグラビティ・ペイメント社のこれまでの平均年収は4万8000ドル（約580万円）。今回の決定によって70人の社員が昇給、そのうち30人は年収が倍増することになる。 この発表から６年後どうなったかというと、、、続きは配信で！ ★Gravity Payments https://gravitypayments.com/ ★Youtube紹介動画 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgF9ohgylWY ★Yahooの記事 https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/4b288a2f2c2731e2537c2fbc825581db49e05484 ★ HUFFPOSTの記事 https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/2015/04/16/give-1-million-salary-to-lowest-paid-workers-_n_7083900.html ★だいじろうのTwitter（ご意見お待ちしてます！） https://twitter.com/daijirostartup #海外　#スタートアップ　#決済 #クレジットカード #CEO #給与 #年収 #副業 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/daijirostartup/message

Jill Schlesinger on closing the childcare gap/ the Senate COVID bill // Paging Dr. Cohen -- lifting mask mandates // Hanna Scott on capital gains taxes/ police reform/ renter rights // Dose of Kindness -- laptop giveaway for students // Gee Scott on the Oprah-Harry-Meghan interview // Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, on billionaire philanthropy/ raising the minimum wage // Hanna Scott on surveying WA students on their pandemic struggles See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WholeWhale.com Hosts Kariesha and Nick discuss the week in nonprofits to kick off March.    CEO Calls Billionaire Philanthropy A ‘PR Scam.' Dan Price, founder and CEO of credit-card payment company Gravity Payments, says that billionaire philanthropists who donate lots of money in return for glowing reviews and good press is “one of capitalism's biggest PR scams.” In Washington state, billionaires pay 3% of their income on taxes while the poor pay 18%, says Price. In response to a proposed wealth tax, Price adds that “the amount [billionaires] donate is a fraction of what they would pay if their tax rates were in line with the working class.” Read more ➝  Newsrooms Around The Country Are Turning To A Nonprofit Model News organizations across the country are embracing a nonprofit model at an increasing rate, according to the Institute for Nonprofit News, a consortium of nonprofit journalism organizations. The organization had a record 28% in membership growth last year. While the IRS is reportedly hesitant to categorize news organizations as commercial entities, “we have to subsidize reporting if we want democracy to survive," according to Elizabeth Green, the CEO and co-founder of the non-profit local news company Chalkbeat.Read more ➝  ✅ The Summary... A Burgeoning Food Justice Movement Rises in Black America Stimulus Bill Would Make Some Large Nonprofits Eligible for Forgivable Loans Report: Pandemic's impact on nonprofits not as bad as projected Prince Harry & Meghan Markle‘s nonprofit website gets a MAJOR makeover after duo ditches royal roles forever Nonprofit newsroom dissolves over allegations directed at founder   

WholeWhale.com Hosts Kariesha and Nick discuss the week in nonprofits to kick off March.    CEO Calls Billionaire Philanthropy A ‘PR Scam.’ Dan Price, founder and CEO of credit-card payment company Gravity Payments, says that billionaire philanthropists who donate lots of money in return for glowing reviews and good press is “one of capitalism’s biggest PR scams.” In Washington state, billionaires pay 3% of their income on taxes while the poor pay 18%, says Price. In response to a proposed wealth tax, Price adds that “the amount [billionaires] donate is a fraction of what they would pay if their tax rates were in line with the working class.” Read more ➝  Newsrooms Around The Country Are Turning To A Nonprofit Model News organizations across the country are embracing a nonprofit model at an increasing rate, according to the Institute for Nonprofit News, a consortium of nonprofit journalism organizations. The organization had a record 28% in membership growth last year. While the IRS is reportedly hesitant to categorize news organizations as commercial entities, “we have to subsidize reporting if we want democracy to survive," according to Elizabeth Green, the CEO and co-founder of the non-profit local news company Chalkbeat.Read more ➝  ✅ The Summary... A Burgeoning Food Justice Movement Rises in Black America Stimulus Bill Would Make Some Large Nonprofits Eligible for Forgivable Loans Report: Pandemic's impact on nonprofits not as bad as projected Prince Harry & Meghan Markle‘s nonprofit website gets a MAJOR makeover after duo ditches royal roles forever Nonprofit newsroom dissolves over allegations directed at founder   

Dan Price and his company Gravity Payments, a credit card processing agency for small businesses, gained widespread attention in 2015 when Price announced to his 120 employees that the Seattle based company was instituting a minimum pay rate over three years of $70,000. Five years into the policy, Price spoke with CBS News correspondent Mola Lenghi about the effects the idea has had and some unintended consequences as well. Plus, Price discusses the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on his business and other small businesses Gravity Payments serve.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dan Price and his company Gravity Payments, a credit card processing agency for small businesses, gained widespread attention in 2015 when Price announced to his 120 employees that the Seattle based company was instituting a minimum pay rate over three years of $70,000. Five years into the policy, Price spoke with CBS News correspondent Mola Lenghi about the effects the idea has had and some unintended consequences as well. Plus, Price discusses the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on his business and other small businesses Gravity Payments serve.

It's important for your employees to know your vision for your business. It helps them to understand why you work the way you do and why you expect what you do from them. If you're like most business owners, you proudly talk about your plans, hopes, dreams for the future. And, if you're like most business owners, you have no idea about the plans, hopes, dreams of your employees. In this replay of one of our most liked podcasts, Tony and Brian invite you to ask your employees what brings them to work every day, and to invest in helping to make their work more fulfilling. Echoing and building on the voices of luminaries such as Simon Sinek, Bob Chapman (CEO, Barry Wehmiller), and Dan Price (CEO, Gravity Payments), we explain why doing so is a bottom line investment.

I almost never slide into anyone’s DMs, but if I do…it’s to beg them to be on my podcast. So when I saw some news articles online talk about Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, and the effects of the $70,000 minimum wage increase he implemented 5 years ago (a story that went viral globally!), I thought this was my chance to just ask and see what happens. And it worked! Not only that, Dan has since written a book called Worth It all about his journey of becoming an entrepreneur, going from no money to millionaire status, and then making the radical decision to cut his million-dollar salary to $70,000/year so he could increase the wages of all his staff. In this episode, we talk about his relationship with money, his experiences mingling with the 1%, income inequality, universal basic income, and what he hopes to achieve with his $70,000 minimum wage into the future. All I can say is I hope more CEOs take a page out of his book (pun intended) because people not only deserve a living wage but a wage the can make a huge difference in their overall quality of life.

Two regular guys talking finances over some of their favorite beers.  This week David and Nick discuss Dan Price and Gravity Payments.  Dan Price is the CEO who reduced his salary to $70,000 a year so that his employees could all make a minimum of $70,000 a year.  We discuss this model and give our thoughts.   David enjoyed Redd's Strawberry Ale while Nick splurged for Bud Lite Platinium!

Dan Price is founder and CEO of Gravity Payments, a credit card processing and technology. In 2015, Price announced that employees would begin receiving a $70,000 minimum annual salary and that he would take a massive cut to his million dollar salary to make that happen. During this podcast, Price reveals why he did it, how it worked out, and how he believes other companies can do more to provide workers with a living wage. He also discusses his new book: Worth It--How a Million-Dollar Pay Cut and a $70,000 Minimum Wage Revealed a Better Way of Doing Business.

This is the story of the employees of Gravity Payments, and how their boss's radical decision led to changed lives and reciprocated generosity.

There were some connection issues that affected the quality of the recording but in typical Corporate Thought fashion, the episode is presented here with all the flaws so please bear with it as you learn about the impressive Jessica Katz Jessica coaches businesses in Agile. She also talks about the subset Scrum. Here is an overview. Jessica spoke about Gravity Payments and their CEO Dan Price and his decision to make a minimum salary of $70,000. Here is the full story. I asked Jessica about the book Team of Teams which she knew well. It caused her to mention a company called Buurtzorgout of the Netherlands which is disrupting the nursing care industry by creating a teaming approach. I told Jessica about Atomic Habits by James Clear which we featured on our social media posts recently. For learning more about Agile and Scrum Jessica recommended Scrum Essentials by Ken Rubin. I think she meant Essential Scrum by the same author. Jessica is currently reading (actually listening) to Paths of Alir by Melissa McPhail and next she is reading So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson Jessica recommends that people really start with understanding their why and to state the culture of their company right at the beginning. Jessica can be found at liberatedelephant.com

On this episode, Tori is joined by Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments. Dan Price took a million dollar pay cut in order to pay all of his employees $70,000. His attempt at creative imagination paid off. Antiracism requires new ways of imagining success in every aspect of life. You can find Dan's new book, Worth It: How a Million-Dollar Pay Cut and a $70,000 Minimum Wage Revealed a Better Way of Doing Business here. Executive Producers Jeffrey Martin Nate Frazier Producer Jillian Cohan Martin Audio Producer and Editor Nash Propst Artwork by Slade Sundar www.sladesundar.com Music by K.Solis --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toriglass/message

Your employees make the difference in whether or not your business succeeds. As a business owner it is up to you to shape the difference your employees make. In this episode, Tony and Brian share their own insights, as well as those of Simon Sinek, Bob Chapman (CEO, Barry Wehmiller), Dan Price (CEO, Gravity Payments), and others, on how to help your employees help your business.

As CEO of Gravity Payments, Dan Price cut his own salary to establish a $70K minimum wage for all workers. Dan joins Andrew to talk about the market logic that controls America and why it's failing more and more people; why paying employees more ended up being good for the bottom line; and how a $70K wage floor led to a slew of positive effects that he never saw coming. Watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mT8-snSX8SI Dan Price - https://twitter.com/DanPriceSeattle | https://www.instagram.com/danpriceseattle Andrew Yang - https://instagram.com/andrewyang | https://movehumanityforward.com Zach Graumann - https://instagram.com/zachgraumann | https://twitter.com/Zach_Graumann Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our recent podcast on how lawyers talk to clients about money inspired Gravity Legal’s own Emery Wager to think about how lawyers had talked to him about money. A client of many lawyers at Gravity Payments (our parent company), Emery came up with a list of five things he wishes lawyers would do when they talk to clients about money. We dig in on this mini-episode of Financially Legal.

Bobby Powers is the head of HR and Learning & Development for Gravity Payments in Seattle. Gravity became famous several years ago when founder Dan Price decided to take a 90% pay cut and raise the minimum wage at his company to $70,000 per year. That, along with several other "radical" business principles, has led to tremendous growth. It was this unique culture that led Bobby into HR in the first place. He is now responsible for perpetuating that culture as the company continues to expand. In addition to his day job, Bobby is a prolific reader (reading over 70 books each year) and writer (he is a top writer on Medium and has a personal blog at www.BobbyPowers.net). Books Referenced:Crucial Conversations - Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, SwitzlerMake to Stick - Chip Heath & Dan HeathWooden on Leadership - John Wooden & Steve JamisonEquip: The Gravity Leadership Playbook - Bobby PowersStart with Why - Simon SinekBlink - Malcolm GladwellHow to Read a Book - Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Von DorenDrive - Daniel Pink

In 2015, Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments, announced that he would take over a $1 million pay cut and raise the minimum wage for everyone at his company to $70,000. Now five years later, he joins us to discuss cutting his salary again, this time to $0, to keep his company and employees afloat during the COVID-19 crisis. He shares details from their brainstorming session during this difficult time, and the way the Gravity Payments team has come together will truly wow you. Dan also reflects on the publicity he received after his big announcement, the lawsuit that followed, writing his book “Worth It,” growing up in a religious household, and much more.

What happens when 'People First' is put to the test? During a global pandemic, organizations are facing challenges unlike anything they've seen before, and keeping their employees a priority may be the secret to getting to the other side. In this episode, we’ll explore this trend in action at Teampay and Gravity Payments, two companies who have put their people first despite the challenges - as well as hear insights from professor and consultant Dave Ulrich, who recently published a book about reinventing organizations in the midst of rapid change. 

This week, hear from Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments. Many people know him for his decision to give up most of his own salary so that everyone at his company would make a minimum wage of $70,000. Gravity Payments is a credit card and payment processing company catering to small businesses. Dan is publishing a book, "Worth It," about his experiences. Despite productivity in the United States rising by 70% over the last 40 years, the hourly pay of most workers has stagnated, increasing only 11.6% over that same time period. The median household annual income today is approximately $55,000 (pre-Covid-19).  "Small businesses unquestionably make our lives better, make our communities better," says Dan. "When I announced I was taking a $1 million pay cut to pay everyone $70,000 a year, the situation was that I was now in a community where everybody could meet their needs. And Gravity Payments became more about the people and the principles behind the company."For more on the podcast, see the Beyond Capital Podcast website.

In this special episode of The Complete Leader podcast, Leadership Advisor and Author Ron Price interviews his son, Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments about leading during crisis, specifically what he and his company have done during COVID-19. Dan discussed the ways Gravity Payments is helping small businesses use technology to keep their doors open, even through stay-at-home orders and social distancing. He explains why he listened to ideas from over 200 employees to make a plan to keep Gravity Payments moving forward. He also shares details on his Small Business Champion Program, designed to offer those who are unemployed a chance to partner with Gravity and make commissions. Ron also lists seven actions leaders should take during a crisis, and gives Dan a quiz.

magine being the CEO of a company that is processing over a billion dollars. Now imagine doing that while in your 20's. Dan Price started Gravity Payments, a credit card processing and financial services company, from his university dorm room when he was just 19 years old. By the time he was 31 years old, he was a millionaire.

In this episode David and Cindy discuss how to contribute to your 401(k) and a Roth IRA to save money to buy a house. In the Conoravirus montage, they cover why the rat population has turned to cannibalism, why money laundering in LA has come to halt and why spousal cheating is on the rise due to online affairs. Lastly, they cover a story about Gravity Payments; a pioneering company that pays their employees a minimum wage of $70,000. Don't forget to subscribe to the show! https://www.instagram.com/somm.podcast/ https://www.somethingonmymind.net/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChec5qcZBcGkIhUU3belNDw https://www.tiktok.com/@somm.podcast?lang=en https://www.facebook.com/somm.podcast https://twitter.com/Somm_podcast  

As CEO of his company, Dan Price went from earning $1 million a year to $70,000 to now $0…as his business Gravity Payments struggles to stay afloat amidst the current economic crisis You may remember Dan who joined us on the show back in 2015 to share news of how he'd raised the minimum salary at his company to $70,000 and he, himself taking a massive pay cut to $70,000. Now, facing a 55% drop in revenue in a matter of weeks, Gravity Payments, like so many businesses, had to make quick financial decisions to avoid bankruptcy…rather than layoff his employees, as many businesses do and have done…Dan has managed to keep everyone on staff…with a unique strategy, he’s here to talk about…and something I think can be a lesson for many employers.

Ever-timely, this week we discuss financial solutions for individuals and small businesses in crisis, challenging billionaires, investing in employees, financial philosophy, and revolutionary efforts in standardizing livable wages with Dan Price, Founder and CEO of Gravity Payments, who took a massive pay cut in order to raise all his employees’ salaries to a $70k minimum, a decision that ultimately transformed his company, his staff, and their happiness. Dan believes business leaders have a social responsibility to take care of both their employees and their customers and that companies can be still financially successful at the same time. Let’s face it: They say money doesn’t buy happiness, but if you’re scraping by, juggling multiple jobs, or unable to get out from being trapped under the pay ceiling despite ever-increasing costs of living, evidence and common sense show deeper pockets can improve your life and chances for well-being. Hear how Dan is making that a reality, even amidst the pandemic.  Support Dan Price: https://twitter.com/DanPriceSeattle https://instagram.com/danpriceseattle/ https://facebook.com/DanPriceSeattle/ Support Gravity Payments: https://gravitypayments.com/ https://facebook.com/gravitypayments https://twitter.com/gravitypymts https://instagram.com/gravitypymts/ https://www.youtube.com/gravitypayments Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Price is a big deal. Full stop. And we got him on the podcast. The inspirational CEO of Gravity Payments. In 2015 Dan announced that he would raise the salaries of each of his employees to $70,000 annually. In doing so Dan became an overnight business celebrity. He’s been on the Today show, been interviewed by Trevor Noah, and keynoted hundreds of business conferences around the world. He breaks down how he thinks about company culture, why Gravity Payments is investing in Gravity Legal, and how he thinks lawyers can change the world. Show Highlights: Living his values, and integrating them into his business is very important for Dan.  Dan discusses how much he has shifted towards being inclusive, making space for many different voices, and agreeing with the values of the community, in his business. Dan talks about creating sustainable growth within his business, and the evolution of his business values. Anyone that Dan is collaborating with has an impact on what his values are, afterward. It can be difficult to incorporate all the different voices. Sticking up for the underdogs is very important for Dan. Where Dan started, bringing his mission into the world. The problem that Dan's company is facing, and solving right now. Dan shares his take on the philosophy of Peter Thiel, who wrote the book, Zero To One, founded Paypal, and was instrumental in the founding of Facebook. Everyone is trying to become a billionaire in today's world. Billionaires have become like gods and they can act with impunity and treat people however they want to. Talking about the temptation to attain and hold onto billionaire and monopoly status. At Gravity, there is a collection of people who believe in sticking up for the underdog. And for almost 17 years, they have been building a company that's organized around that principle. This has not been the rule in human history. Right now, we're going towards feudalism. We need to recognize that before it's too late. And we need lawyers to fight this fight more than anyone! Dan discusses the book Dark Money, by Jane Mayer. Whatever the lawyers think is true ends up being true for everybody.  Dan explains why he believes that the law in most places is not at all what people think it is. Setting things up to effect change and the benefits of putting the people in your business first. Things are not fair when it comes to the law, so lawyers need to learn to express their opinions publicly and explain to the general population how the law works. Dan shares his ideas for creating a better system for everyone, and for restructuring the way that law firms work so that the mission becomes more important than the money. Gravity pays its sales reps in a way that allows them to be service-oriented Giving sales reps the right kind of incentive, even if it means making fewer sales. Dan talks about the kinds of things that would make his dream come true. Links and resources: Dan on Twitter - Dan Price Seattle Book mentioned: Zero To One by Peter Thiel Dark Money by Jane Mayer

If you’re in the world of Payments or Fintech, you may find yourself working with merchants.... Business owners and individuals who are potentially interested in your services (such as payment processing, billing, payroll, and so on). How do you break through all the noise? How do you present your offerings in a compelling way with competition that’s only increasing? On this episode, Jared Spears, a sales rep for Gravity Payments joins Scott to discuss how to reach merchants with your services. Find show notes and more at: https://www.soarpay.com/podcast/

In this episode we're talking with Dan Price, who founded Gravity Payments when he was just 19 years old and has worked hard to maintain his mission of helping hard-working small business owners stay competitive against larger corporations by making credit card processing transparent, fair, and easy. Today, nearly 20,000 independent businesses across all 50 states trust Gravity as their processor. Dan captured national attention in 2015 when he decided to raise the company's minimum salary to $70,000 a year. Although he's been criticized for what some consider his radical policies on pay and equality, Dan believes businesses have enormous power to promote social good, regardless of what industry they're in, by serving communities instead of shareholders and putting people over profits. We get into great conversation about being a leader within your team, mindfulness in the workplace and the importance of story-telling when it comes to growing our businesses.

In this episode we’re talking with Dan Price, who founded Gravity Payments when he was just 19 years old and has worked hard to maintain his mission of helping hard-working small business owners stay competitive against larger corporations by making credit card processing transparent, fair, and easy. Today, nearly 20,000 independent businesses across all 50 […] The post 143: Leadership and mindfulness with Dan Price, nationally recognized entrepreneur appeared first on Float Conference 2020.

Dan Price, the founder of Gravity Payments, became a media darling in 2015 after announcing that every employee would be paid a minimum of $70k. (Those salaries have consistently risen since then.) For most of his staff, the increase was dramatic (the median income in the U.S. is about $60k.) Now, four years later, Dan tells Manoush how an ex-girlfriend woke him up to Seattle’s high cost of living, what equal pay has done to his company’s bottom line, and what he thinks could rehabilitate other corporations and *their *overpaid CEOs. Plus, Manoush and Jen debate whether Dan’s pay strategy is replicable for their company. ZigZag is the business show about being human. Join a community of listeners riding the twists and turns of late-capitalism, searching for a kinder, more sustainable way. Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant investigate how work and business impact our wellbeing and the planet we live on. On Seasons 4 and 5, hear from rebels and visionaries with radical ideas on how we can build stable lives, careers, and companies.  If you’re also interested in Jen and Manoush’s personal story and their adventures in starting their own business with a little help from blockchain technology, listen to the first three seasons, starting with Season 1, Chapter 1. **Who You’ll Hear: **@manoushz (Manoush Zomorodi, host of ZigZag and cofounder of Stable Genius Productions), @jpoyant (Jen Poyant, cohost of ZigZag and cofounder of Stable Genius Productions), @DanPriceSeattle (Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments) Thank you for supporting us by using special offer codes from our sponsors, signing up for our free newsletter, and subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, or Breaker. CREDITS: Matt Boynton, Audio Engineer and Sound Designer Ania Grzesik, Audio Engineer David Herman, Composer Marcy Thompson, Producer Maria Wurttele, Production Coordinator

Dan Price, the founder of Gravity Payments, became a media darling in 2015 after announcing that every employee would be paid a minimum of $70k. (Those salaries have consistently risen since then.) For most of his staff, the increase was dramatic (the median income in the U.S. is about $60k.) Now, four years later, Dan tells Manoush how an ex-girlfriend woke him up to Seattle’s high cost of living, what equal pay has done to his company’s bottom line, and what he thinks could rehabilitate other corporations and *their *overpaid CEOs. Plus, Manoush and Jen debate whether Dan’s pay strategy is replicable for their company. ZigZag is the business show about being human. Join a community of listeners riding the twists and turns of late-capitalism, searching for a kinder, more sustainable way. Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant investigate how work and business impact our wellbeing and the planet we live on. On Seasons 4 and 5, hear from rebels and visionaries with radical ideas on how we can build stable lives, careers, and companies.  If you’re also interested in Jen and Manoush’s personal story and their adventures in starting their own business with a little help from blockchain technology, listen to the first three seasons, starting with Season 1, Chapter 1. **Who You’ll Hear: **@manoushz (Manoush Zomorodi, host of ZigZag and cofounder of Stable Genius Productions), @jpoyant (Jen Poyant, cohost of ZigZag and cofounder of Stable Genius Productions), @DanPriceSeattle (Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments) Thank you for supporting us by using special offer codes from our sponsors, signing up for our free newsletter, and subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, or Breaker. CREDITS: Matt Boynton, Audio Engineer and Sound Designer Ania Grzesik, Audio Engineer David Herman, Composer Marcy Thompson, Producer Maria Wurttele, Production Coordinator

On this special edition of the Golf Channel Podcast presented by Grant Thornton, host Will Gray is joined by former Masters champion Trevor Immelman and the CEO of Gravity Payments, Dan Price.

We're discussing alternative names, pseudoscience and more in this episode! Links: Ask a mortician- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi5iiEyLwSLvlqnMi02u5gQ Signal Boost- https://geekandsundry.com/shows/signal-boost/ Inc. magazines article on Gravity Payments- https://www.inc.com/magazine/201511/paul-keegan/does-more-pay-mean-more-growth.html . . . . #aka #alias # name #nickname #add #adhd #medication #life #prescription #doctor #compliance #genevaconvention #art #literature #assume #blackbox #neuroscientist #mania #bipolar #trueself #risk #cure #rabies #fear #mentalillness #abstract #obsurity #love #treatment #social #bed #rot #depression #sexy #hyperbole #80s #hollywood #split #beat #crazy #media #inhibition #impulse #zombie #broadway #existential #creativity #adrenaline #evolution #rage #identity #gift #poor #society #pyramid #youtube #deathpositive #funeral #cotton #grave #secrets #grief #taboo #garyvee #manifestation #theology #ritual #science #ghosts #superman #nobel #advice HookSounds.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/magnificent-whiskers/support

In this episode, YPO member Dan Price, Founder and CEO of Gravity Payments, shares how he is changing the game of business by following his conviction and doing what he believes is right. The post Episode 64: Dan Price (Gravity Payments), Seattle, Washington, USA appeared first on YPO.

Brad Sullivan Proper 20, Year A September 24, 2017 Emmanuel, Houston Jonah 3:10-4:11 Matthew 20:1-16 But Jesus, That’s Not Fair! “But Jesus, that’s not fair!” That pretty well sums up the response of the laborers at the end of Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard. They had agreed to work for the day for the usual daily wage. They negotiated those terms with the landowner. Then, when they found out that those who worked for only an hour also made the usual daily wage, they felt cheated. “That’s not fair!” Well, as a friend of mine was thinking of titling her sermon for today, “Suck it up, Buttercup.” Clarence Jordan of Koinonia Farms once said, “Whenever Jesus told a parable, he lit a stick of dynamite and covered it with a story.” At first glance many of us, myself included, look at this parable and think, “Well that’s not fair, Jesus.” Then we look a little deeper into the story, and “boom”. The dynamite goes off. Our notions of fairness and deservedness, our shoulds and aught tos get blown up. True enough, it isn’t exactly fair to pay those who worked only an hour the same as those who worked all day, but look at the alternative. If the landowner was being fair it, would seem that the laborers who worked all day would have had the landowner pay for only an hours’ worth of work to those who worked an hour for only. That would be fair, but that was 1/8th of what they needed each day to get by. So, ultimately the attitude of the laborers who worked all day was, “in order to be fair, you should let those other people starve. Ultimately, the laborers who worked all day were saying that those who were only able to work for an hour should die. “Boom.” The dynamite goes off. “Well wait, no, Jesus didn’t mean it like that.” “I thought it was unfair, but I didn’t want the other laborers to die.” We hear Jesus’ parables, the dynamite goes off, and then while the dust is still settling, we often try to rebuild our world just like it was before Jesus’ pesky meddling. “No, he didn’t mean it like that.” “Sure Jesus is the messiah, but he didn’t really mean what he said in this parable.” “Something in this story got lost in translation.” It’s easy to try to rebuild too quickly, wanting the security of our previous notions of what is right, without first looking at what Jesus has revealed in his pesky parable dynamite demolition thing. We often want this parable not to be about money, and it isn’t only about money. This parable may not be Jesus’ instruction manual for economists, may not be, but the response is often to see the economic flaws in Jesus’ notion of generosity over deservedness. “This wouldn’t work as an economic system. You know what people are like. No one would work more than an hour a day.” Probably true, and that’s a fair point, but before we rebuild what Jesus demolished over that one security keeping argument, what lessons might there be for us as we consider this parable? Looking at how people tend to get compensated for their work, we tend to look at averages. What do others make on average for this same type of work? That seems fair enough, but in the light of Jesus’ parable, a more appropriate question would be “Is this compensation enough? While others might make “X” for this job, I know that “X” isn’t really enough in today’s world. It may be fair in comparison with what others make, but it isn’t really enough.” For a modern example of choosing to pay what is enough, rather than seems fair by comparison, Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments cut his own salary by 90% back in 2015 so that all of his employees could earn $70,000. I don’t know that Mr. Price was inspired by Jesus; I’ve read nothing to indicate that he was, but his example shows the possibility of living into the kingdom way that Jesus taught, even in our modern economy. The company is still going strong, or was as of January of this year when the article I read about it was written. There were some negative consequences. Some clients pulled out of the company, fearing their fees would increase. They didn’t. Other clients liked what the CEO had done and began giving him their business. Some of the employees didn’t like the new arrangement and quit because they didn’t think it was fair for those who had been earning less than they to receive the same as they. These employees felt diminished by their boss’ generosity. I tend to go with the title of my friend’s sermon on that one. “Suck it up, buttercup.” Like the laborers in the vineyard who worked all day, they felt it wasn’t fair to earn the same as those whom they felt didn’t deserve as much. Jesus again takes dynamite to our notions of fairness and to the comparisons we so often draw. “Am I making as much as compared to others?” “Should those people earn as much as I do when I compare the amount or kind of work I do with the work they do?” “Do they really deserve to have enough for the work they do?” “Don’t I deserve more than enough for the work I do?” Boom. Such comparison is something else Jesus dynamites in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, along with our notions of fairness and deservedness. When the dust settles, we might just learn from Jesus that comparison may seem like wisdom, but it doesn’t tend to lead to a good place. Comparison leads to jealousy and envy. Comparison leads to being bitter about what someone else has rather than being happy about what I have. Comparison leads to always wanting more. Comparison leads to feelings of inadequacy and never being good enough. Comparison leads to us being deaf to Jesus’ teaching not to worry; his teaching that we are enough as we have been made to be; his teaching not to put our faith in stuff, but to put our faith in him, to trust in our beloved-ness, and to love others as we are loved. Theodore Roosevelt, Brené Brown, and others have said variations of the following concerning the supposed wisdom of comparison. “Comparison is the thief of happiness, and jealousy is usually it’s partner in crime.” The laborers in the vineyard and the employees of Gravity Payments were happy with what they had, until they started comparing what they had to others. Then comparison and jealousy stole their happiness away and did absolutely nothing to help them or anyone else. To the cry that this story isn’t fair, I’d simply say, God isn’t fair, and thank God for that. God’s Kingdom doesn’t deal all that much in fairness and deservedness. God’s kingdom doesn’t deal in our jealous comparisons. God isn’t interested in our hierarchies. He’s not interested in us raising ourselves up above others because we feel that our greater efforts make us deserving of greater benefits. In God’s Kingdom, Jesus dynamites or concepts of deservedness, fairness, and comparison. Then in the crater and debris that is left, Jesus teaches us, and God builds up in us his love, his selflessness, and his generosity toward others.

Brad Sullivan Proper 20, Year A September 24, 2017 Emmanuel, Houston Jonah 3:10-4:11 Matthew 20:1-16 But Jesus, That’s Not Fair! “But Jesus, that’s not fair!” That pretty well sums up the response of the laborers at the end of Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard. They had agreed to work for the day for the usual daily wage. They negotiated those terms with the landowner. Then, when they found out that those who worked for only an hour also made the usual daily wage, they felt cheated. “That’s not fair!” Well, as a friend of mine was thinking of titling her sermon for today, “Suck it up, Buttercup.” Clarence Jordan of Koinonia Farms once said, “Whenever Jesus told a parable, he lit a stick of dynamite and covered it with a story.” At first glance many of us, myself included, look at this parable and think, “Well that’s not fair, Jesus.” Then we look a little deeper into the story, and “boom”. The dynamite goes off. Our notions of fairness and deservedness, our shoulds and aught tos get blown up. True enough, it isn’t exactly fair to pay those who worked only an hour the same as those who worked all day, but look at the alternative. If the landowner was being fair it, would seem that the laborers who worked all day would have had the landowner pay for only an hours’ worth of work to those who worked an hour for only. That would be fair, but that was 1/8th of what they needed each day to get by. So, ultimately the attitude of the laborers who worked all day was, “in order to be fair, you should let those other people starve. Ultimately, the laborers who worked all day were saying that those who were only able to work for an hour should die. “Boom.” The dynamite goes off. “Well wait, no, Jesus didn’t mean it like that.” “I thought it was unfair, but I didn’t want the other laborers to die.” We hear Jesus’ parables, the dynamite goes off, and then while the dust is still settling, we often try to rebuild our world just like it was before Jesus’ pesky meddling. “No, he didn’t mean it like that.” “Sure Jesus is the messiah, but he didn’t really mean what he said in this parable.” “Something in this story got lost in translation.” It’s easy to try to rebuild too quickly, wanting the security of our previous notions of what is right, without first looking at what Jesus has revealed in his pesky parable dynamite demolition thing. We often want this parable not to be about money, and it isn’t only about money. This parable may not be Jesus’ instruction manual for economists, may not be, but the response is often to see the economic flaws in Jesus’ notion of generosity over deservedness. “This wouldn’t work as an economic system. You know what people are like. No one would work more than an hour a day.” Probably true, and that’s a fair point, but before we rebuild what Jesus demolished over that one security keeping argument, what lessons might there be for us as we consider this parable? Looking at how people tend to get compensated for their work, we tend to look at averages. What do others make on average for this same type of work? That seems fair enough, but in the light of Jesus’ parable, a more appropriate question would be “Is this compensation enough? While others might make “X” for this job, I know that “X” isn’t really enough in today’s world. It may be fair in comparison with what others make, but it isn’t really enough.” For a modern example of choosing to pay what is enough, rather than seems fair by comparison, Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments cut his own salary by 90% back in 2015 so that all of his employees could earn $70,000. I don’t know that Mr. Price was inspired by Jesus; I’ve read nothing to indicate that he was, but his example shows the possibility of living into the kingdom way that Jesus taught, even in our modern economy. The company is still going strong, or was as of January of this year when the article I read about it was written. There were some negative consequences. Some clients pulled out of the company, fearing their fees would increase. They didn’t. Other clients liked what the CEO had done and began giving him their business. Some of the employees didn’t like the new arrangement and quit because they didn’t think it was fair for those who had been earning less than they to receive the same as they. These employees felt diminished by their boss’ generosity. I tend to go with the title of my friend’s sermon on that one. “Suck it up, buttercup.” Like the laborers in the vineyard who worked all day, they felt it wasn’t fair to earn the same as those whom they felt didn’t deserve as much. Jesus again takes dynamite to our notions of fairness and to the comparisons we so often draw. “Am I making as much as compared to others?” “Should those people earn as much as I do when I compare the amount or kind of work I do with the work they do?” “Do they really deserve to have enough for the work they do?” “Don’t I deserve more than enough for the work I do?” Boom. Such comparison is something else Jesus dynamites in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, along with our notions of fairness and deservedness. When the dust settles, we might just learn from Jesus that comparison may seem like wisdom, but it doesn’t tend to lead to a good place. Comparison leads to jealousy and envy. Comparison leads to being bitter about what someone else has rather than being happy about what I have. Comparison leads to always wanting more. Comparison leads to feelings of inadequacy and never being good enough. Comparison leads to us being deaf to Jesus’ teaching not to worry; his teaching that we are enough as we have been made to be; his teaching not to put our faith in stuff, but to put our faith in him, to trust in our beloved-ness, and to love others as we are loved. Theodore Roosevelt, Brené Brown, and others have said variations of the following concerning the supposed wisdom of comparison. “Comparison is the thief of happiness, and jealousy is usually it’s partner in crime.” The laborers in the vineyard and the employees of Gravity Payments were happy with what they had, until they started comparing what they had to others. Then comparison and jealousy stole their happiness away and did absolutely nothing to help them or anyone else. To the cry that this story isn’t fair, I’d simply say, God isn’t fair, and thank God for that. God’s Kingdom doesn’t deal all that much in fairness and deservedness. God’s kingdom doesn’t deal in our jealous comparisons. God isn’t interested in our hierarchies. He’s not interested in us raising ourselves up above others because we feel that our greater efforts make us deserving of greater benefits. In God’s Kingdom, Jesus dynamites or concepts of deservedness, fairness, and comparison. Then in the crater and debris that is left, Jesus teaches us, and God builds up in us his love, his selflessness, and his generosity toward others.

I provide an update on my 401k situation with Fidelity, how Soap Shaving as been working out for me and what the effects of the 70k min wage at Gravity Payments has been.

A CEO who took a million dollar pay-cut and gave his workers more, tells us why he did it and we ask what's the best wage level for success in a company, a country or in a pocket? With Dan Price of Gravity Payments, former George W Bush adviser Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Fight for $15 campaigner Kendall Fells. (Photo: Fast food workers stage protests for higher wages in the US. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Cecil the Lion, Gravity Payments, D.A.R.E, Roddy Piper, Michael Moore, Chris Christie. Music: Smash the State by Post Freedom

The Keynesian myth of mandating prosperity actually hurts the lower middle class and the working poor Something for nothing is appealing to voters, so politicians make empty promises that are good politics but bad economics A Seattle-based company called Gravity Payments has instituted a minimum salary of $70,000/yr This has given him great publicity, but how will this work in his company? Lower paying jobs will have to be eliminated, because they don't represent enough productivity to justify a raise that doubles the employee's cost Higher salaried workers are not hurt because they keep their job and perhaps get a raise for picking up the extra duties formerly handled by lower-salaried workers The most recent political gimmick in the State of Connecticut is a tax masquerading as a minimum wage law The Democratic State Legislature have proposed a law that will fine companies of 500 or more employees $1/hr for any worker who is paid under $15/hr How will this work in the State of Connecticut? Right away, business just over 500 employees will pare down to fall under the new regulation, so jobs will be lost In reality, this is just a tax increase on the people who can least afford it For employees who are currently working at the minimum wage, a $1 fine is cheaper than a raise from the current $9.15 rate to $15/hr, if they do not eliminate that person's job This is essentially another employment tax that will result in higher prices across the board Neither the employee nor the employer benefits For employees who are working above the current minimum of $9.15/hr a raise would cost the employer more than the $1 fine According to minimum wage law, it is illegal to cut the worker's pay - the only option is to cut the worker The penalty does not apply to higher paid workers; it only applies to jobs between the current minimum wage and the new minimum wage It will be cheaper to pay the tax than to raise wages, but there will be less money to to toward employees because a large percentage of the workers' wages are going toward a tax The reality of this new law, championed for the "little guy" is that the working poor will pay a higher marginal state income tax than the richest hedge fund managers in the state Will the voters be able to figure it out elected officials are going after the working poor? This tax will also raise the cost of living, wich also affects the poor more directly Packaging a tax to pass off as minimm wage is fraud

Matt Bergman, Jared Schneiderman, and special guest Alex Schlegel discuss topics including the Baltimore protests/riots, Liberland, and how we came to libertarianism.

I talk about Dan Price's (CEO of Gravity Payments) decision to institute a 70k minimum salary at his company.

I'm very honored and elated to welcome today's guest, Dan Price. He is the man of the moment. I'm sure you've read about him and his incredible decision. As the founder and CEO of Gravity Payments, a credit card processing firm, he recently announced raising his company minimum wage to $70,000 per year and himself taking a $930,000 pay cut · from 1 MM to $70K.   Dan is not your typical CEO. His leadership has earned him multiple awards, including the 2014 Seattle Business CEO Excellence Award, 2013 Entrepreneur Magazine·s Entrepreneur Of 2014 and 2010 SBA National Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award! He was also featured in countless media, including Forbes, Business Week, and CNBC, among others. Dan started his company almost a decade ago when he was 19 years old out of his dorm room at the Seattle Pacific University with the seed money from his brother.   Three takeaways from our interview: ·What he says to some skeptics that his pay raise is short-sighted and won·t necessarily lead to more productivity.  ·How this salary shift will impact Dan·s life·remember his salary is going from 1MM to $70k.