Podcasts about Transcom

Jonas Berggren writes the popular Transform Customer Service newsletter on LinkedIn. He is the Chief Business Development Officer EMEA and member of the executive leadership team at Transcom. Jonas is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Mark Hillary and Jonas have published a new book together called The CX (R)evolution - so Mark called Jonas to talk about how the book project started out. In this conversation they talk about how Mark's comments on the newsletter formed the initial idea for a book and how they developed the idea together. https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/transform-customer-service-6992863124731113474/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasberggren2/ https://transcom.com/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4XWH1L6

Having trouble keeping up with all the developments in the national security realm over the last two months?Well, let not your heart be troubled, Sal & Mark are here for you this week with the ever-popular Midrats Melee format!No guest this week for the podcast, just your two humble hosts, solving the world's problems in 60-minutes.Show LinksRear Admiral William Daly, USN OPNAV N96 at Surface Navy Association's annual symposium: quotes can be found at link 1 and link 2.TRANSCOM's purchase of used cargo ships.Substack on medium USV.Trump's Gunboats, The National Interest, December 2016, by Claude Berube, and Mark Tempest.Substack on The Ship's Act, December 2024.SummaryIn this episode of MidRats, Sal and Mark discuss the current state of naval infrastructure and the bipartisan Ships Act aimed at revitalizing shipbuilding in the U.S. They explore leadership changes within the Navy, the importance of unmanned vessels, and the potential for optimism in naval operations. The conversation also touches on geopolitical concerns, particularly regarding the Ukraine conflict and North Korea's military developments, emphasizing the need for a robust maritime strategy.TakeawaysThe Ships Act has bipartisan support and aims to enhance naval infrastructure.Leadership changes in the executive and legislative branchs could positively impact shipbuilding efforts.There is optimism regarding the revitalization of the U.S. maritime industry.Unmanned vessels are seen as a crucial component of future naval strategy.Admiral Daly advocates for affordable and practical designs.The maritime industry can provide significant economic benefits across the U.S.The U.S. must adapt to lessons learned from the Ukraine conflict.The importance of recapturing intellectual capital from former military personnel.Sound Bites"It's an exciting thing to see.""We need hulls in the water.""We need to keep the money flowing."Chapters00:00: Introduction01:44: The Ships Act: A Bipartisan Initiative09:11: Challenges in Shipbuilding and Maintenance12:45: Historical Context: Lessons from WWII16:38: The Need for New Vessels and Innovation20:28: Admiral Daly's Vision for Unmanned Vessels23:56: Utilizing Naval Reserves for Unmanned Operations28:03: Conclusion and Future Directions30:01: Navigating Military Transitions32:57: Optimism in Maritime Strategy36:49: Challenges in Global Security39:05: The Syrian Crisis and Its Implications45:30: North Korea's Military Developments52:59: Lessons from the Ukraine Conflict

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In this episode, LTC Hans Zeller, Chair of the Administrative and Civil Law De-partment (ADA) at The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS) interviews COL Danyele Jordan, SJA, TRANSCOM, and former Legal Advisor to the Inspector General (IG) at the time of recording this episode, and Dr. Herman Walker Chief, Whistleblower Branch. COL Jordan and Dr. Walker discuss the roles and responsibilities of the Office of the Inspector General in investigating allegations of whistleblower and reprisal made by members of the Army. In addition, the experts share insights into investigations stemming from allegations of restricted communications to members of Congress or IG. Learn more about The Quill & Sword series of podcasts by visiting our podcast page at https://tjaglcs.army.mil/thequillandsword. The Quill & Sword show includes featured episodes from across the JAGC, plus all episodes from our four separate shows: “Criminal Law Department Presents” (Criminal Law Department), “NSL Un-scripted” (National Security Law Department), “The FAR and Beyond” (Contract & Fiscal Law Department) and “Hold My Reg” (Administrative & Civil Law Depart-ment). Connect with The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School by visiting our website at https://tjaglcs.army.mil/ or on Facebook (tjaglcs), Instagram (tjaglcs), or LinkedIn (school/tjaglcs).

"Without sustainment, you're just camping with guns."Did you know it takes quite a lot to sustain an organization like the Special Warfare Center & School? Join us as we discuss sustainment for the organization, sustainment for Special Operations, and how logistics wins wars. About the guest:Lt. Col. Pete Van Howe served as the G4 for SWCS and previously served as executive officer of the 407th BSB, 82nd Airborne Division. He holds a bachelor's degree from Purdue University and a master's degree from Troy University. He is a graduate of the Theater Sustainment Planner's Course, Joint Operation Planning and Execution System Action Officer and Support Personnel Courses, Air Assault School, and Jumpmaster School. He is the current Brigade Support Battalion Commander within the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. About the hosts:Maj. Ashley "Ash" Holzmann is an experienced Psychological Operations Officer who served within the re-established PSYWAR School at the United States Army JFK Special Warfare Center and School. He is now transitioning to attend grad school at Arizona State University with a follow-on assignment at West Point's Army Cyber Institute where he will research mis/disinformation.Sgt. Maj. Derek Riley is one of the most experienced Civil Affairs Non-commissioned Officers in the Army Special Operations Regiment. He has incredible deployment experience and serves within the Civil Affairs Proponent at the United States Army JFK Special Warfare Center and School. Bull Halsey quote (on page 16):https://www.moore.army.mil/infantry/magazine/issues/2005/SEP-OCT/pdfs/SEP-OCT2005.pdfBaltimore Bridge Collapse:https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/us/key-bridge-collapse-baltimore-what-to-know.htmlShip stuck in the Panama Canal:https://www.businessinsider.com/traffic-jam-outside-panama-canal-hundreds-ships-2023-8The cost of the Suez Canal obstruction in 2021:https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56559073Setting a Theater: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/May-June-2018/Setting-the-Theater-Effective-Resourcing-at-the-Theater-Army-Level/Talent management for Special Operations logistics:https://www.army.mil/article/179943/joint_special_operations_forces_logistics_talent_management Additional Reading:Lt. Col. Van Howe has been previously published (page 51):https://alu.army.mil/alog/ARCHIVE/PB700201902FULL.pdf Army Special Operations Recruiting:SOF Recruiting Page (soc.mil)https://www.soc.mil/USASOCHQ/recruiting.html GoArmySOF Site:https://www.goarmysof.army.mil/ The Official Podcast of the United States Army Special Warfare Center and School!USAJFKSWCS selects and trains all Army Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations soldiers. Please visit our website at: https://www.swcs.milBe sure to check us out and follow us at:https://www.facebook.com/jfkcenterandschoolhttps://www.instagram.com/u.s.armyswcs/https://www.youtube.com/c/USAJFKSWCS/videosPlease like, subscribe, and leave a review! If you enjoyed this, join the underground by sharing it with someone else. Word-of-mouth is how movements like this spread.

Jonas Berggren is the Head of Global Accounts EMEA at Transcom. He is also a member of the Transcom EMEA management team. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Jonas has a long history designing customer experience processes, but he is also well known as an innovative thought leader. He publishes a popular LinkedIn newsletter titled "Transform Customer Service" that explores the future transformation of CX.  Often the newsletter looks to the future of CX, but recently it has been exploring how AI is immediately changing the CX landscape. In this episode of CX Files Mark Hillary talks to Jonas about some of his newsletter themes and how he sees the future of CX in both the short and long term... https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasberggren2/ Transform Customer Service Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/transform-customer-service-6992863124731113474/ https://transcom.com/  

Description:Sometimes not getting what you want paves the way to a better story. Niki Leondakis is the CEO of the largest yoga studio brand in the US, and her journey has been characterized by learning from challenges time and time again. She joins us to share how she has found opportunity in adversity, honed her listening skills as a leader, and leveraged the incredible power of yoga to overcome grief before finding a new purpose in sharing its power with the world. Tune in to hear more. Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee ChatsIn This Episode You'll Hear About:[02:19] Niki's ethnocentric childhood as the artistic child of one of five children of Greek immigrants. [05:04] What Niki learned by not getting what she wanted in jobs and leadership roles in high school and hospitality.[15:43] Working in leadership at Kempton during an innovative time in their hospitality.[19:20] Overseeing hotels and the listening tour that facilitated her goal to put people first.[28:01] Being recruited for a San Francisco boutique hotel company and continuing Bill's legacy.[32:47] How her passion for fitness and wellness led to being recruited by Equinox.[37:56] Landing her dream job as CEO of CorePower Yoga and leading with purpose.[42:20] Starting a role in yoga at the start of the pandemic and where she found the courage to power through.[48:36] Future projections for Core Power Yoga, including geographic growth and beyond.To Find Out More:Niki Leondakis on LinkedInNiki Leondakis on XCorePower YogaCorporate AthleteEquinoxJust Keep Livin FoundationAwesome CXLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“No matter how good you are, you have to prepare.” [0:06:12]“I learned to see opportunities and how I could impact them and make a difference, and I got rewarded for that.” [0:07:49]“If you don't get what you want, keep trying.” [0:13:05]“I learned [so much] along the way about the importance of how you treat people, how you care for people, how you inspire, motivate, and lead them. And that was my way of getting the business results that I was tasked with.” [0:17:19]“If you're going to alienate people along the way you're going to look behind you and you won't have any followers.” s [0:25:56]“To be our best self, we have to be healthy.” [0:33:25]“When I found myself without my career, my husband, or my home, what got me through that transition was getting on my yoga mat every day.” [0:39:36]“You can't shortstep or expedite your way through grief. You have to feel it. You have to go through it. You can't move around it.” [0:40:10]“Part of the way that I have always remained highly motivated and energized and passionate about my work is finding the purpose in the work.”  [0:41:08]“For me, listening has been one of the incredible keys to my success.” [0:49:48]“We were ahead of the curve. It simply came from being there to listen.” [0:51:28]“Our higher purpose is to power love from the inside out, putting more love in the world and helping people access that love.” [0:52:47]“When you face adversity, don't let it get you down and don't wallow in it. Within that adversity lies opportunity” [0:54:51]

Description:In this episode of Stairway to CEO, you'll learn all about Puneet Mehta's captivating entrepreneurial journey, from his upbringing in India and fulfilling his childhood dream of living in Silicon Valley to spearheading AI advancements at Netomi. He tells us how his parents inspired him to embrace daunting challenges, what he learned from his years developing trading engines on Wall Street, the transformative encounter he had with Mike Bloomberg, and how these experiences have fueled his entrepreneurial drive. Join us as we uncover Puneet's perspective on the AI landscape, his pivotal role in founding Netomi, and the profound benefits of integrating AI to elevate customer experiences.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee ChatsIn This Episode You'll Hear About:[01:51] What it was like for Puneet growing up in Chandigarh, India, and how his mother and father inspired him to pursue difficult goals.[06:17] Why he feels so lucky to have studied engineering and computer science at one of the top schools in India, and how he realized his childhood dream of moving to Silicon Valley.[07:15] The value of his experiences on Wall Street developing trading engines and how his fortuitous meeting with Mike Bloomberg empowered him to build his own company.[11:38] How he built his first company leveraging prediction algorithms, their strategic partnership with BMW, and key takeaways that helped him build Netomi.[15:47] What inspired him to found Netomi, how he got the company off the ground, and what it was like building a chatbot for Sony Pictures.[23:37] Recognizing the high demand for improved customer experience, how they are solving key pain points for customers using AI, and the many uses of Netomi's co-pilot.[33:43] Partnerships in the AI space and what it means for a company to be powered by another company or tool.[35:52] How Netomi addresses fears around outsourcing customer service needs, and why AI won't replace humans working in customer service.[41:25] Netomi's partnership with Awesome CX, where Puneet sees it going in the coming years, and how he expects other aspects of his business to be impacted by AI.[47:49] His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on how empathy is misunderstood and why you shouldn't do it for the money; what is next for Netomi, and what Puneet is most excited about!To Find Out More:NetomiPuneet Mehta on LinkedinGongLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“Being aligned on the core mindset is so incredibly important. It's more important than your business strategy. It's more important than any other part of the business.” [0:13:09]“As you start bringing new technology to life, and as you introduce it to the world, you have to make the adoption completely frictionless. You have to do it in a way that engages or [accompanies] a habit that somebody's already used to.” [0:13:42]“[When you] think about business outcomes, to stay excited about what you're doing, you have to focus on the journey. You cannot just focus on the end goal.” [0:14:39]“That's what the AI co-pilot from Netomi does. It gives them a superpower where AI can now gather information from these different systems, it can prepare a response for you, it can also help an agent get trained quicker.” [0:30:28]“[The Netomi co-pilot] also gives you insights based on what your customers are telling you. Because it's humanly impossible to go back and listen to every single phone call.” [0:31:43]“The founders that are growing these companies are looking for insight [from Netomi's co-pilot] because conversations with their customers are the biggest asset.”  [0:37:17]“The demand is there to feel like we are treated well as customers [and] to have that customer love. We want those questions answered. There just isn't enough resources available with these brands to answer all of these questions promptly.”  [0:40:47]“The top use case for AI for large companies is customer experience.” [0:44:22]“That's how fast this change is coming. We should see every company in the world in the next 12 to 18 months adopt AI in some shape or form for customer experience.” [0:46:01]“There are much easier ways of making money [than starting a company]. This is a really hard way to do it – but if you're connected to what you do, [then] the journey itself would be quite enriching.” [0:49:23]“[Starting a company] will give you experiences and it'll help you come across people that you want to have shared experiences with.” [0:49:35]

Description:What does it look like to bring innovation to a static industry? A lifelong love for entrepreneurship and the food and beverage industry led Ben Lewis to take a massive risk to disrupt the baby food industry, and with $90 million raised to date, it certainly paid off! In this episode of Stairway to CEO, Ben shares the story of continuing his dad's legacy in business, finding out-of-the-box solutions to the complex problem of manufacturing his product, and much more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee ChatsIn This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [01:05] Ben Lewis's first taste of entrepreneurship as a child and how he continued his father's legacy, starting with a bottled water start-up.•   [12:00] His exposure to the food and beverage industry by developing a Greek yogurt brand.•   [15:50] Learning essential lessons through bootstrapping a food distribution company.•   [20:45] Ben's involvement in angel investment in the food and beverage space.•   [21:48] Founding Little Spoon with the motivation to disrupt a static industry, naming the product, and developing the product and packaging.•   [28:46] Product expansion and the philosophy of growing with the customer that underpins Little Spoon's growth.•   [34:30] Surprises on the road to building a D2C business, including an unlikely partnership with a tamale company.•   [40:25] How Ben's role has evolved with the company and Little Spoon's approach to talent.•   [42:29] Fundraising in the baby food industry, finding a new approach to return on investment, and what's next for Little Spoon.To Find Out More:Little SpoonBen Lewis on XBen Lewis on LinkedInThe Equity StudioKairos HQLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesome CXQuotes:“You could have the best product in the world, the best brand in the world, and even the right team and the right capital – but ultimately so much of it, especially in the traditional retail space, depends on the distribution and what happens at the point of sale.” [0:15:14]“For the right brand and the right product, having a direct relationship with your customer is so critically important.” [0:19:17]“Being detached from your ultimate customer is a real hindrance to building a brand.” [0:20:01]“There's a big opportunity for us, not just within that baby stage with the baby blends, but for Little Spoon as a brand to be the go-to as that kid is growing up and as the family is growing.” [0:31:32]“[We've grown our business] largely through growing with our customers.” [0:31:48]“That was how we started. We turned this manufacturing roadblock into a very unlikely partnership.” [0:39:29]“One of the things I'm most proud of at Little Spoon is that we've had extremely low attrition, so our retention is literally best in class.” [0:40:58]“Optics matter, but at the end of the day, you need to do what's right.” [0:44:35]“For us, it's about listening to our customers and finding where those pockets of opportunity are.” [0:46:59]“We're building a brand for a new generation of parents.” [0:47:42]“As an entrepreneur, you're often having to choose between speed, quality, and cost.” [0:47:54]“Don't aim for perfection.” [0:48:46]

Description:Today, Hudson Davis-Ross joins the show to share about Co-Founding a mission-driven company that truly helps people with their health needs. From being diagnosed with ADHD in middle school to undergoing spinal surgery, Hudson has faced his fair share of health challenges. Tune in to learn all about his captivating entrepreneurial journey, from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, to founding his first company, RISE, to ultimately becoming the co-founder of Plant People – whose plant-based products offer natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals. Along the way, we explore how he navigated major setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and gain insights into his refreshing perspective on building purpose-driven businesses!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee ChatsIn This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:54] What it was like growing up in New York, at the epicenter of so many industries, within a household dominated by women.• [06:43] Hudson's ADHD diagnosis in middle school, the many different interests he pursued, and the benefits and drawbacks of having ADHD when you're an entrepreneur.• [10:23] His experience working at Gilt Groupe from its early stages as a small startup to having over two thousand employees.• [14:13] Why he decided to leave Gilt Groupe and take on a role at Aloha as part of the founding team, and his top takeaways from the experience.• [18:25] What made Hudson shift to co-founding his first company, RISE Brewing Company, key lessons he learned, and how he met his partners.• [25:32] Fundraising for RISE, and how it led to him starting his branding and business strategy firm, CROSBY.• [27:29] The drastic spinal surgery that Hudson had to get, how it led to the founding of Plant People, and what it was like entering into the CBD and cannabis space.• [30:22] How they stepped up their business, educated consumers, and the innovations they were doing with regards to ingredients and formulations.• [32:42] Their decision to scale up, why they decided not to take on more funding, the dramatic impact that COVID-19 had on their revenue, and how they recovered.• [35:27] Hudson's insights on partnering with retailers and distributors, advice for aspiring and up-and-coming entrepreneurs, and what's next for Plant People.To Find Out More:Hudson Davis-Ross on LinkedinPlant PeopleRISE Brewing CompanyCROSBYGiltExpo WestLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I always hope to, at some point in my life, write a book on having ADHD and being an entrepreneur, because I think there's a lot of pluses and minuses – mostly pluses.” [0:07:19]“If you have [a] really big vision, and momentum with other investors, people will invest. It really is a hype game. And so I learned a lot around fundraising [at Aloha].” [0:17:12]“[To be] the Apple of anything – takes decades. You can't just do that [in a] matter of a year or two. But that's what we pitched [to] a lot of the investors. And so I think there was a bit of a disconnect there.” [0:18:43]“The main reason I started this business, [Plant People] is I had spinal surgery, [I had to] learn how to walk again.” [0:27:31]“My now co-founder also had a spinal surgery and was exploring plant-based modalities himself. And so we started together.” [0:28:01]“I had more passion for making an impact in people's lives.” [0:28:12]“We had so much pushback in the beginning because people didn't understand CBD. They thought it was weed. They thought it was THC, they were like, ‘Will I get high from this?' That was the biggest education point.” [0:30:59]“Tap into what customers want [and] are already [buying], [but do] it better.” [0:36:09]“In general, you just got to hustle. You have to go with momentum, you have to have a lot of boutiques [and] a lot of independents. And when you have that momentum, then you can get the attention of distributors.” [0:36:27]“The secret sauce is to be an entrepreneur – is to use the resources you don't have, to achieve what you believe in.” [0:37:56]“You can hire sales managers who have been in sales, and they have rolodexes. And that does help. But I think no one sells better than the founder or the CEO.” [0:39:39]“One of the things that is key to success is showing your team, or showing your initial hires, that you're all in.” [0:41:06]“If you're doing it, the team can do it. And if you're passionate about it, the team gets passionate about it, they see the value.” [0:43:09]

Description:Joining the show today is Allegra Moet Brantley, the Founder and CEO of Factora. This women-led personal finances company is on a mission to lead one million women to $1 million in wealth. Today she shares her journey from building her first company to becoming a salary negotiation coach to leading partnerships and marketing at Financial Gym, where she ultimately came up with the idea to build Factora. Tuning in, you'll gain insight into the importance of financial transparency, the challenges that can come with fundraising, building a sustainable business while growing a family, and much more. Allegra also has some valuable, go-getting advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, so if you have a business idea that has been nagging at you, you won't want to miss this episode!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:•   AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee ChatsIn This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [02:53] Why transparency is the key to rid conversations about personal wealth of taboo.•   [05:43] Insight into Allegra's upbringing across the country, her education, and her first jobs.•   [16:35] The importance of always negotiating for more and reading contracts thoroughly!•   [19:45] Lessons from Allegra's time in the marketing department at Estee Lauder.•   [21:35] What her first steps into entrepreneurship in 2011 taught her about financial freedom.•   [30:13] Allegra's valuable experiences at Financial Gym and the origin story of Factora.•   [38:29] How Factora has evolved and how The Wealth Circle community has grown.•   [40:45] Some of the challenges of fundraising, bootstrapping the business from the ground up, combating burnout while raising a family, and how Allegra overcame them.•   [49:37] Price ranges for Factora's courses, what they entail, and how you can benefit for life!•   [53:50] What the future holds for Factora, how they take women from overwhelm to sustainable wealth-building, why this industry is ripe for disruption, and more.To Find Out More:FactoraThe Wealth Circle6 Figure SavingsCoffee & Coin PodcastAllegra Moet Brantley on LinkedInAllegra Moet Brantley on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“It is so nerve-wracking and cathartic to share these numbers we never [talk about]. In the very first call, [Wealth Circle members] are sharing their salary.” [0:04:26]“When we share resources and investment strategies, it's such a wealth of knowledge.” [0:05:33]“[Becoming] a salary negotiation coach – only reemphasized what I was experiencing personally. Now that I'm good at asking for more money [and] getting more money, it doesn't mean I have more money. Making and keeping [money] are two very different things!” [0:29:02]“I was more passionate about helping women build wealth than anything else I had touched on in my career. It's one thing to understand where your income goes. It's a whole other thing to make a strategy for investing it [and] feel confident enough to do so.” [0:34:25]“It felt like a sentence would not stop tapping at the base of my neck – ‘Help women build wealth, help women build wealth, help women build wealth,' all day long.” [0:35:51]“When you raise funding, and now you have investors involved, and they have a vision too, oftentimes you have to acquiesce and collaborate with that vision. I felt so strongly [about] my own [vision]. I didn't want to bring in anything to muddy that.” [0:43:57]“90% of women come to Factora for the stick market portion. They say for the community and the access to additional creative investment ideas.” [0:52:32]“I don't want people to hand over their entire financial autonomy because they don't think they're smart enough to do it themselves. That is why I think this industry is ripe for disruption.” [0:57:55]“For aspiring entrepreneurs; if you have an idea that's banging at the base of your neck, it's going to create value in this world both for potential customers but also for you and what you are going to learn [through your failures, strifes, and success]. Make like Nike and do it!” [0:58:20]“Investing is not hard. Investing is not complicated. You are meant to think – that it is. You're already doing it if you've ever utilized a 401k or an IRA. You can do more of it, and I suggest that you do.” [0:59:49]

Gościem 893 odcinka podcastu BSS bez tajemnic jest Ewa Dąbrowska z firmy Transcom. Pod lupę wzięliśmy temat tłumaczeń w czasie rzeczywistym, które to na stałe wchodzą do procesów telefonicznej obsługi klienta.To nie jedyna technologia, która zdobywa zainteresowanie firm CX i która rewolucjonizuje tę branżę.Czy nadal umiejętności językowe będą istotne dla branży CX?Czy czeka nas przenoszenie procesów zdalnej obsługi klienta z Europy do Indii?To tylko część z pytań, na które poszukaliśmy wspólnie odpowiedzi.Od technologii w CX już nie uciekniemy. Od AI w CX już nie uciekniemy. A oto do czego można te technologiczne rozwiązania zastosować.Zapraszam!  Kluczowe punkty z podcastu:·         Transcom rozszerza swoją globalną obecność i wpływa na rynek poprzez przejęcie indyjskiej firmy technologicznej VCosmos, co umożliwia rozwój w zakresie Customer Experience i obsługi klienta z wykorzystaniem zaawansowanych technologii.·         Nowatorskie technologie wykorzystywane przez Transcom pozwalają na neutralizację akcentu i automatyczne tłumaczenia głosowe w czasie rzeczywistym, co otwiera możliwości obsługi klienta w ponad 90 językach, w tym tych rzadziej występujących, z potencjałem znacznego obniżenia kosztów i poprawy jakości obsługi.·         Ewolucja w sposobie zarządzania zespołami w branży BSS, w tym praca zdalna i hybrydowa, wymaga elastyczności i adaptacji, ale osobiste interakcje i zarządzanie kulturowe pozostają kluczowe dla efektywności i relacji między pracownikami.  Linki:Ewa Dąbrowska na Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewadabrowska/Strona Transcom - https://transcom.com/pl/Transcom przejmuje VCosmos - https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/wiadomosci/transcom-przejmuje-vcosmos/32038Porozmawiaj o tym odcinku ze sztuczną inteligencją - https://bbs-bez-tajemnic.onpodcastai.com/episodes/QiP0nBHn5lv/chat****************************Nazywam się Wiktor Doktór i na co dzień prowadzę Klub Pro Progressio https://klub.proprogressio.pl/pl – to społeczność wielu firm prywatnych i organizacji sektora publicznego, którym zależy na rozwoju relacji biznesowych w modelu B2B. W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic poza odcinkami solowymi, zamieszczam rozmowy z ekspertami i specjalistami z różnych dziedzin przedsiębiorczości.Jeśli chcesz się o mnie więcej dowiedzieć, to zapraszam do odwiedzin moich kanałów na:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@wiktordoktorFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/wiktor.doktorLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/Możesz też do mnie napisać. Mój adres email to - wiktor.doktor(@)proprogressio.pl  ****************************Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są:Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-a9644a23/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/Wspaniali ludzie, dzięki którym pojawiają się kolejne odcinki tego podcastu. Ty też możesz wesprzeć rozwój podcastu na:Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktorPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktorBuy me a coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktorZrzutka.pl - https://zrzutka.pl/j8kvar

Description:  Mary van Praag joins us today to talk about how she became Global CEO of Milani Cosmetics, a 20-year-old company built on the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to own and enjoy luxury beauty. From her entrepreneurial pursuits in high school to her first CEO role at Perricone MD, Mary tells us about her remarkable career journey and how she became the Global CEO of Milani cosmetics. Tune in today to learn about Mary's passion for transforming companies, the lessons she's learned about being vulnerable as a leader, and much more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee ChatsIn This Episode You'll Hear About:[02:31] Mary's upbringing in Ohio; how her parents' divorce (and being the eldest) informed her early leadership development, her first entrepreneurial pursuits, and her college years.[10:12] What it was like moving 17 times in her professional life, how this has proven her ability to manage change, and why she loves making things better.[14:46] How Mary found her internal drive as a leader and her advice to others struggling to find their voice.[21:18] Her early career in sales and how her experiences as general manager at Coty and OPI Products set her on the path towards CEO.[27:07] Mary's first role as CEO at Perricone MD, the destabilizing impact of the COVID pandemic, and how she adapted and ultimately became CEO of Milani Cosmetics.[30:54] Key lessons on building your team as a CEO.[34:44] What Mary has learned about turnarounds since she first started out, and her insights on how being CEO resembles running your own business.[37:53] Why being vulnerable as a leader is one of the most important lessons Mary has had to learn, and her thoughts on what sets the role of CEO apart from other positions.[46:02] Milani Cosmetics' approach to remote work and an overview of the exciting things the brand has coming up![52:18] Mary's practical advice for aspiring CEOs.To Find Out More:Mary van Praag on LinkedInMilani CosmeticsCotyPerricone MDLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“Moving, I think, indicates my ability to manage change and transformation. But at the same time, create a great network of deep-seated roots and connections that I will forever have in my life.” [0:12:13]“I'm at my best, as a leader – when you look at the context of a situation – when something requires change and transformation. I love to make things better.”  [0:12:40]“Some people are great at constructive conflict, others are analytical geniuses, others are great teachers. I always say ‘find that thing that makes you unique, [and] whatever your superpower is, really feed into it.'” [0:16:14]“Leaders don't have all the answers. What I want to hear is the people [who] are closest to the business [and] have a unique point of view. And we need to hear that.” [0:16:56]“I can be interesting, but I have to be interested first.”   [0:19:54]“You always have to respect the past, but you have to get people aligned to create the new future. And you quickly find out who wants to do that, and who doesn't. And that's a lot of work.” [0:25:02]“Thinking about how you build teams is an important part of what a CEO does. I have amassed a fabulous team with very high engagement scores and a really strong culture. And we built it brick by brick, but it started with my leadership team.” [0:33:04]“We're all motivated towards the same future that we want to build. And that's very, very rewarding.” [0:33:51]“Depending on the circumstances, [a turnaround] this is like running our own business.” [0:35:26]“The biggest thing I had to learn was to be vulnerable.” [0:37:55]“If you don't give people an inspiring vision, they have nothing to hope for. Especially when you're in a turnaround.” [0:38:53]“I don't necessarily think everybody needs to be in the office every day to get productivity or work. I think we have happier employees, because we're hybrid, and that's part of our culture now. We work hybrid.” [0:47:14]“Have a bias [towards] action. The strategic agility part is really important in today's day and age with the millions of things that we have flying at us.” [0:53:08]

Description:Today's guest fell into entrepreneurship when she started to create experiences with her own needs in mind. Julie Rice is the Co-Founder and CEO of Peoplehood, where she facilitates deep conversation and connection to develop ‘relationship fitness'. During this episode, she shares her childhood passion for theatre, talks about the start of her career in talent management in New York, and tells the story of how she built and exited her first startup, SoulCycle. Tune in to hear all this and more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:16] How growing up as a theatre lover in small town New York started her off on a creative and collaborative path.• [06:24] Early leadership tendencies, working in the entertainment industry, and translating those skills to working in brand.• [12:44] The story of SoulCycle's inception in New York in 200; starting with a business plan on the back of a napkin.• [17:11] Starting and growing SoulCycle and the premise that motivated Julie and her business partner to start Peoplehood.• [26:41] What Peoplehood is and how it is unfolding as a business.• [34:02] Tips for truly getting to know the people in your sphere.• [43:28] Communication insights from Peoplehood and advice for entrepreneurs.To Find Out More:Julie Rice on LinkedInPeoplehoodSoulCycleAwesome CXLee Greene EmailLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“For me, the great fun in any business that I create is really about collaboration and the gifts that different people can bring to a project.” [0:06:34]“Community and team activity is something that I've always loved participating in.” [0:07:04]“A lot of the things that I learned in the entertainment business absolutely affected the way that I thought about brand building.” [0:09:55]“Brand is really about who you want to be in the world; what does it feel like, sound like,, what does it smell like, what does it look like?” [0:10:13]“The funny thing is, I never set out to be an entrepreneur. I never actually thought of myself that way until people started to use the word retroactively.” [0:15:14]“We created something that we wanted to use.” [0:15:31]“As an entrepreneur, having a business partner, if you can find the right partner, is great.” [0:18:14]“We began to think about what it would look like to create something that was relational fitness; a place where we could teach people how to listen to each other, how to talk to each other and build a different kind of muscle.” [0:23:13]“When you look at all the information out there, what we know for sure is that we cannot lead physically or mentally healthy lives without being in productive relationships.” — Julie Rice [0:24:17]“We spend so much of our lives and our time in relationships and we really don't spend the intentional time figuring out how to be in these relationships.” — Julie Rice [0:24:49]“What people really want from people they are in relationships with is to feel heard by them, to feel seen by them, and to feel like their opinions matter to somebody.” — Julie Rice [0:27:29]“What we're doing at Peoplehood is really giving somebody space to peel the layers of their own onion.” — Julie Rice [0:31:46]“An underpracticed and underappreciated skill is listening.” — Julie Rice [0:33:28]“There's something about stepping back and letting someone finish that is very powerful.” — Julie Rice [0:42:00]

Description:Nathan Kondamuri didn't know that he wanted to start a business until the pieces fell together, and he co-founded the highly customizable Pair Eyewear, where he now acts as CEO. He joins us today to share the story of how his little brother inspired him to start Pair, how he scaled his customer experience team to over 100 members, and the challenges he faced in building on-demand production. Tune in to hear all this and more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:22] Signs of an inherent love for iteration and business development from Nathan's childhood in small-town Indiana.• [10:58] His growing interest in mechanical engineering and his introduction to the start-up world beyond college.• [17:00] How Nathan and his best friend had the idea for Pair in a Stanford dorm room.• [20:58] Researching customers of all ages, early angel capital fundraising, and annual growth since launching to market in 2019.• [26:59] Pivotal moments in Pair Eyewear's distribution and growth, including building a design platform for customers to bring their favorite brands to life and blowing up on TikTok.• [30:27] Scaling challenges like developing the on-demand production process.• [35:57] The secret to structuring a team with the support of Awesome CX.• [40:08] Pair Eyewear's five-year focus to deliver a joyful customizable eyewear experience.• [46:59] Why, given a do-over, Nathan would hire people in key areas earlier, how his role as co-CEO has changed, and advice for new entrepreneurs.To Find Out More:Nathan Kondamuri on LinkedInPair EyewearPair Eyewear on TikTokLee Greene on LinkedInAwesome CXStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I didn't know I wanted to start a company – until Pair came about and one thing led to another.” [0:12:53]“[My experience at Bain] gave me a very different way of looking at a business – I got to learn a lot about how a business runs, and how experienced people view and understand a business model.” [0:16:02]“I had worn glasses since I was seven or eight years old, and it had always been an unexciting experience compared to any other consumer product in my life.” [0:17:31]“We got to thinking, why had nobody ever tried to [recreate, redefine, and redesign] the glasses experience for consumers to be more personalized, to be more joyful, and dynamic, just as people are?” [0:18:14]“We just knew we liked each other, we were really good friends and had been friends for four years, we had this idea, and we were excited to put our everything into that idea.” [0:20:04]“Surround yourself with people that are absolute experts at their craft, at their area of expertise.” [0:24:26]“We quickly, not pivoted, but expanded our mission and vision for the business to be able to personalize the eyewear experience not just for children, but for all people.” [0:26:23]“We were trying to build a solution for kids like my brother to not be afraid of their glasses and not be daunted by the experience, but have it be something they were excited about.”  [0:26:40]“We were a real pioneer on the platform of TikTok where we grew heavily on the platform through an influencer-led strategy.” [0:27:34]“Our mission and vision over the next five-plus years is to become one of the largest global eyecare companies in the world that's focused on bringing personalization into the eyecare and broader eyewear end-to-end experience.” [0:40:08]“We thought a lot about, when is the right time to vertically integrate? You really want to do it at a time when volume and demand is growing.” [0:45:33]“The job of co-CEO now is not the same as it was when we first started the business.” [0:48:59]“Just get out and start! That is one of the biggest roadblocks that people have.”  [0:50:50]“The only way to learn what it's like to be a founder is to just dive right in and do it.” [0:51:20]“Starting a company is a marathon, not a sprint.” [0:52:31]

Description:Joining us today to share her entrepreneurial story is Courtney Toll, co-founder and CEO of Nori, an innovative company in the ironing and steaming market. Tuning in, you'll hear about her remarkable journey, from coming up with the idea for Nori (which is iron spelled backward!) in her cramped New York apartment to raising money in the depths of COVID to bringing a successful product to market. Courtney also shares details about how learning to do cold outreach at her job bolstered her entrepreneurial journey, the challenges of innovating with hardware, how they put together their distribution and branding strategy, and much more. You won't want to miss this fascinating deep dive into the many intricacies of hardware innovation and what goes into making your vision happen!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.     In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [05:11] Courtney's idyllic childhood in Connecticut, her lifelong perfectionism, the legacy of entrepreneurship in her family, her early jobs, and how her career goals evolved.• [11:48] Key skills she learned from cold outreach; how this supported her entrepreneurship.• [15:59] How she got the idea for Nori while living in a cramped New York apartment.• [18:37] Courtney's research; what she learned from interviewing over 500 consumers.• [21:17] How she and her co-founder overcame the challenges of innovating with hardware.• [26:19] Insight into their unexpectedly long product development process and how they implemented their distribution and branding strategy.• [30:15] Raising money in the depths of COVID, the far-reaching usefulness of a demo video, and how having difficulty fundraising worked to their advantage.• [38:27] Reflections on organic marketing and how to partner with the right influencers.• [43:44] Their company's approach to marketing and the primary lesson Courtney has learned about building a successful marketing stack.• [46:22] What's next for Nori, including launching some exciting new products, and parting words of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs!To Find Out More:Courtney Toll on LinkedInNoriLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesome CXQuotes:“I'm so grateful that I have gone on this path. And when I reflect on the things that are decisions that my family members made, I think it makes a lot of sense why I also went down this road.” [0:11:07]“There's always more to be done, there's always growth to be seen, and therefore, I push myself quite hard to succeed.” [0:11:33]“My co-founder and I ended up interviewing over 500 plus consumers to talk about what they liked about their existing ironing and steaming solutions, [and] what they didn't like.” [0:19:17]“It wasn't easy by any means. But we also weren't pitching this random idea and asking for a very subjective 300,000 [dollars]. At that point in time, we had outlines [of] exactly where all of this money was going to.” [0:23:20]“By the time that it was fully deployed, we had a working prototype and a lot of consumer feedback to validate the fact that we had stumbled onto something that we should take to market.” [0:24:25]“We decided on one product development firm, a satellite office in China.” [0:26:30]“With something like hardware, you do need to take your time really trying to get something right and [make] sure that it's giving you the desired output that you're looking for.”  [0:27:24]“The ironing steaming market is one that lives almost exclusively in big box retailers.” [0:29:06]“We wanted to be a direct consumer business, we wanted this to be a one-to-one conversation with the customer. And we wanted to make this a really cool branded sexy purchase which feels totally in conflict with a product like an iron.” [0:29:16]“Everything from our branding to the design of the product to the actual performance of the product was designed to sort of change the way you think about this type of chore.” [0:29:33]“[With a demo video] you're not just hearing a testimonial about why you like [a] product, but you're actually watching it.” [0:33:22]“I think the key takeaway here is building a marketing stack to support your direct consumer channel but making sure that all of the aspects of that marketing stack are feeding one another.”  [0:44:58]

Description:Joining the show today is Fiona Chan, the Founder and CEO of Youthforia, a beauty brand creating innovative makeup that acts as a part of your skincare routine. Join us as she shares her story of starting a business during the pandemic, self-funding before finding Shark Tank support, and much more! Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode You'll Hear About:[01:56] Fiona paints the picture of her early life, education and early jobs.[10:44] Working in tech and a startup accelerator before becoming a founder. [14:41] How travel inspired the Youthforia brand and the hands-on process behind perfecting the product. [21:06] Building the brand on social media through storytelling and education. [24:49] Solving the funding problem through prioritizing inventory.[25:48] The Shark Tank experience and the story of getting funded.[29:21] Navigating new ways to get necessary data in a B2B context. [31:32] Product development and what's next for Youthforia. To Find Out More:Fiona Chan on LinkedInFiona Chan on InstagramYouthforia Youthforia on TikTokLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesome CXQuotes:“You learn so much through osmosis.”  [0:12:13]“There was something about the pandemic that really made me think about what I actually wanted to do.” [0:14:13]“The sharks, the way I perceived it, really love and support entrepreneurship and enjoy what they're doing. They're really happy to see deals go through” [0:27:24]“When I had the idea to create makeup that you could sleep in, my first idea was to make a really nice foundation.”  [0:28:42]“When you switch from a purely B2C business to having a few sales channels, you don't get data the same way as you would directly from Shopify.”  [0:29:22]“Once you have a retail partner, there are more complexities, especially on the operations side.” [0:30:06]“I did not start this business to be in legal docs and spreadsheets all day, but it is a big part of fundraising.” [0:30:58]“I am always in a state of product development. I would say that product development is my number one passion in what I get to do.” [0:31:39]“I always like to tell people exactly what to expect from me.” [0:32:18]“Finding people whose working style aligns with mine has been really helpful.” [0:34:24]“I really love sitting down and just defining what I expect in a role and what the best outcomes are. Doing that really makes the hiring process a lot easier” [0:34:52]“When I onboard people, I tell them, this is what you can expect from my personality and my working style.” [0:35:07]“My biggest advice would be just to start. It's never going to be the right time.” [0:36:28]

Description:As an entrepreneur, it can be tempting to try to master every aspect of the business, but today's guest is proof that playing to your strengths and finding a partner with complementary skills is a winning formula. Jake Karls is the Co-Founder and Chief Rainmaker of Mid-Day Squares, a chocolate company geared to revolutionizing the snack industry. Join us as we discuss Jake's unique path to entrepreneurship success, the decision to manufacture Mid-Day Squares in an independent factory, and the effect of digital transparency on relationship-building. Don't miss today's high-energy episode! Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:[02:21] Lessons of hard work and resilience he learned from his entrepreneurial father.[10:12] Jake's first foray into entrepreneurship; running an outdoor boot camp.[12:10] Co-founding Mid-Day Squares with his sister and brother-in-law in 2018.[20:51] Defining the roles and navigating the relationships behind the business.[24:09] A year-by-year look at the growth behind Mid-Day Bars since its inception.[28:13] How transparency has supported the fundraising process.[33:10] What happens when envy and insecurity affect our attitudes toward others.[36:39] Jake's two experiences with burnout and his recovery process.[40:06] The story behind Mid-Day Bars.[42:21] Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and a glimpse into the future of Mid-Day Bars.To Find Out More:Jake Karls on LinkedInJake Karls on InstagramMid-Day SquaresLee Greene on LinkedInAwesome CXStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I know [that] anything is possible as long as you work hard and you have that resilience, that grit and love and passion for what you do.” [0:03:36]“If you work hard and put your effort and love into something, you have a chance of winning in that field.” [0:05:45]“Through my [first] five years of entrepreneurship, I learned not to do what I'm really bad at, and to do what I'm really good at [instead].” [0:12:51]“When you are yourself, truthfully, you are your best version and you are unstoppable because nobody can actually be you.” [0:16:30]“Our strategy was simply not to talk about the product on social media, but to share the journey of how we built this business.” [0:24:32]“We build out loud.” [0:28:57]“I feel like I'm playing the game better than I ever have before because I lost that ability to be – envious or judgemental.” [0:35:35]“My advice is block out the noise and be yourself.” [0:42:23]“Being yourself is a superpower.” [0:42:43]“We're doing it by being ourselves which means that you can do anything by being yourself as well.” [0:43:20]

Description:From completing an undergrad at Harvard to becoming a K-Pop sensation in Korea to founding and formulating his very own skincare line, Paul Baek's journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. In this episode, we delve into the unexpected twists of Paul's life, discussing his courageous decision to break away from the norm and forge a path that led him to the creation of his skincare company, Matter of Fact. Join us as Paul shares how his upbringing shaped him, the gratitude he feels for his immigrant parents, the exhilarating experience of K-Pop stardom, and the pivotal moments and mentors that shaped his journey as an entrepreneur and skincare innovator.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:41] Paul's upbringing in Florida, the touching sacrifices his parents made for their family, why he is so grateful to them, and the realities of being part of an immigrant family.• [05:51] His early desire to become an artist and why this was a terrifying prospect for his parents.• [12:30] The gratitude Paul feels for the teachers who believed in him, how they encouraged his aptitude for mathematics, and why his sister felt so protective of him.• [14:44] Being accepted into Harvard, the culture shock he experienced, and the inspiration he felt being around so many talented students.• [18:46] Paul's love of music and K-pop; the incredible story of how he signed a deal with an agency in Korea and what it was like being a K-pop star.• [33:43] Leaving behind a music career, going back to school to earn an MBA, and how Paul first entered the world of startups at Atom Factory.• [37:24] Paul's dermatological journey; from meeting one of his future mentors in South Korea to formulating his own skincare products and founding a company.• [45:24] How Paul has evolved as an entrepreneur; the biggest challenges he's faced and the most rewarding successes.• [56:36] Partnering with Sephora, key lessons around fundraising, and the gratitude Paul feels for the investors who joined before they launched.• [1:02:16] What's next for Paul's company, Matter of Fact, and his advice for other entrepreneurs.To Find Out More:Matter of FactMatter of Fact on InstagramMatter of Fact on XMatter of Fact on FacebookPaul Baek on LinkedInAtom FactoryLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I'm very proud of the hard work and sacrifices that my parents made in order to provide for their family. And of course, that's not something unique to me. That's true of so many parents, and especially immigrant parents. But it's something that I'm very grateful for.” [0:03:26]“I wanted to be an artist, actually. But, of course, that scared the living daylights out of my parents who were living this hard immigrant life.” [0:06:48]“For a very long time, I didn't think that it was possible to have a sustainable career and to spend time making things every day professionally. And so I do feel very, very lucky now that I am able to do that every day.”  [0:09:21]“The joy of making things with my hands is something that has helped me. And, as a child [was] probably also [a] self-soothing mechanism – [a] way to deal with sometimes stressful environments.” [0:12:19]“I was lucky enough in that environment to have really great teachers who believed in my ability to learn. And so I joined the math club and the trivia club – places where my teachers encouraged me, and I seemed to have at least somewhat of a natural aptitude for it.” [0:13:31]“At the time, I thought, ‘hmm, the only thing that I've ever thought about starting was something in skincare.'” [0:37:37]“One thing that I was really inspired by was founders who are willing to roll up their sleeves and do as much work on their own before they asked others to join them.” [0:38:29]“I said, ‘I don't know if I'm allowed to do that, because it's not been my formal training, it's just been a hobby.' And she said, ‘You can do whatever the heck you want. And by the way, I'm happy to mentor you.' And that was incredibly generous and kind and encouraging.”  [0:40:05]“We're the first and only vitamin C technology to do this: demonstrate clinical efficacy both at the beginning of the shelf life of the product and at the end of the shelf life of the product.” — [0:44:19]“Every lesson has its counter lesson.” [0:48:21]“When I left K-pop, there was a sense of new opportunities and freedom, there was also a sense of mourning because I didn't know whether I would ever get the opportunity to make a living doing anything creative ever again.” [0:50:35]“How can we show that as such a small, young, early brand, that we may be small, but we're mighty.” — Paul Baek [0:58:00]“My number one piece of advice would be to stay focused. Life is full of distractions, so many enticing attractive distractions. So it's important to stay focused on your goal – especially if that goal is starting a business because it's very difficult.” [01:03:26]

Description:Samantha Coxe is the Founder and CEO of Flaus, a dental hygiene product revolutionizing floss as we know it. She joins us to share her story, from growing up as an Irish Twin in Orange County to creating such an innovative product, and the challenges she faced along the way, with manufacturing, investment, product development, and more. Join us for a candid look at Samantha's entrepreneurial journey.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:20] Samantha Coxe's journey, from growing up as an Irish Twin in Southern California to starting her electric floss brand, Flaus.• [07:02] Her entrepreneurial tendencies, creative side, and golfing experiences as a child.• [10:47] What prompted Samantha to study law and her experience working in Mergers and Acquisitions.• [18:00] Coming up with the idea for ‘Flaus' after a dentist's appointment and running with it.• [21:41] How an Indiegogo Campaign forced her to leave the law firm where she worked.• [25:33] Choosing to run a crowdfunding campaign despite her doubts.• [32:16] The role of angel investors in fuelling the manufacturing process.• [37:35] Manufacturing glitches during the first product run.• [43:23] Pivoting to a hard launch of the product.• [44:30] Pros and cons of breaking up the manufacturing process.• [46:30] Words of wisdom for other entrepreneurs.• [48:36] What's next for Flaus; including rolling out the second edition.To Find Out More:FlausSamantha Coxe on LinkedInSamantha Coxe on InstagramRainfactoryIndiegogoFOUNDERMADEFinding PeaceSurveyMonkeyDoris DevLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesome CXQuotes:“I discovered [that] flossing is a massive pain point for most people. It dropped right into my lap. I never thought I was going to work in oral care!” [0:19:25]“Before I wanted to invest a single dollar into Flaus, I [wanted] to get some external validation into this idea other than my friends and family. So I actually sent out a SurveyMonkey.” [0:20:02]“Customers on Indiegogo understand that they're buying the first generation of a product. They understand that they are backing something innovative that's being created.”  [0:26:32]“Hardware is very much an iterative process so I knew that the first product was not going to be perfect.” [0:26:55]“Working with a crowdfunding agency is really critical to having a successful campaign.” [0:28:43]“Crowdfunding is all about the FOMO, you want to start off really strong.” [0:30:48]“A lot of people get really focused on all [the] features you can add to things, but when you're coming out with your Beta product, for us, we were so focused on the MVP.” [0:35:57]“Luckily, because we were so small we could be so nimble. It was such a blessing in disguise.” [0:36:59]“There's no better investment than an investment in yourself.” [0:46:30]“It's so much more valuable to [build] with customer feedback than to build in secrecy.” [0:47:16]“Finding mentors is so important.” [0:47:35]“You can learn from other people's successes and failures. You don't need to reinvent the wheel.” [0:47:53]

Description:Today, Lee sits down with Kate Flynn, Co-Founder and CEO of Sun & Swell Foods. In this episode, Kate shares her inspiring story of making her sustainable snack brand plastic-free and creating a company that is a force for good (as well as good food). Tuning in, you'll also find out what Kate wanted to be when she grew up, the tough lessons on failure that came with changing careers (and being a consultant), why she doesn't consider herself a “typical entrepreneur,” her take on when is the right time to go full time on your side hustle, and her advice for leaning into your authentic leadership style versus being the leader you think you should be. Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [02:51] Kate's “standard” upbringing in Ohio and her early love for consumer-end products.•   [08:07] Why she changed her name and how moving to North Carolina helped her realize the value of surrounding yourself with down-to-earth people.•   [14:08] Kate's first job as a CPA and how her vision to be a businesswoman became a reality.•   [19:03] From Deloitte to Harvard (for an MBA) to Kurt Salmon (now Accenture Strategy): Kate's trial-by-fire introduction to the retail and consumer products industry.•   [24:25] Tough lessons on embracing failure, being wrong, and getting over perfectionism that she learned a little later than most entrepreneurs.•   [25:55] The origin story of Sun & Swell and when Kate knew to go all-in on her “side project.”•   [32:31] How COVID strengthened her commitment to building a truly plastic-free brand.•   [41:43] Unpacking what Sun & Swell means when they say their packaging is compostable.•   [49:39] Insight into the battle between ego and authenticity in Kate's fundraising journey.•   [54:41] Kate's evolution as a leader, her advice for entrepreneurs in the trenches, and more!To Find Out More:Sun & SwellKate Flynn on LinkedInKate Flynn on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInLee Greene EmailStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“There has been a connection to consumer-end products since I was really young. [There was] something that really resonated with me there.” [0:05:42]“Surrounding yourself with people who bring you joy and make you a better person tends to serve you well in life.” [0:13:38]“That vision of – being a businesswoman, I don't even know what it meant. It was way too broad for me to understand, but that's what I wanted to be. It wasn't a teacher, it wasn't a doctor – I wanted to be in the business world.” [0:15:51]“I've learned as an entrepreneur to embrace failure, but it didn't come until later in my entrepreneurial journey. I was not okay with failure for many, many years of my life.” [0:22:32]“My whole journey as a consultant – was learning to get over perfectionism. It was learning to be okay with not being right all the time and be okay with failure. That was the first time I had to go through all those lessons, which ended up serving me well.” [0:25:05]“[Transitioning to compostable packaging] is way harder than it sounds because of all the supply-chain differences between compostable and plastic.” [0:33:54]“This is about a movement away from plastic, not just building a [snack] brand.” [0:36:10]“We have two types of customers; one who is committed to zero-waste, they discover us because they're trying to go plastic-free, and the other – who is just trying to make small steps in the right direction.” [0:47:00]“The ideal state is no packaging – Ideally, you're buying everything from your farmer's market or [you have] a reusable bag and you're going to your bulk store – The compostable solution is an interim solution to make it easier for people to make a step in the right direction if they can't do the ideal state.” [0:48:58]“It's not about the end. It's about the journey. Sometimes, the journey is way longer than you think. It's usually very different than you think it's going to be – If all you can focus on is the end goal – it's not going to be a very fun journey.” [0:58:06]

Description:Joining us today is Jesslyn Rollins, the dynamic CEO of BIOLYTE®, the world's first IV in a bottle. In groundbreaking fashion, BIOLYTE® boasts 6.5 times the electrolytes of traditional sports drinks while containing only a third of the sugar you'd normally ingest. With humor and candor, Jesslyn discusses her journey from an imaginative childhood in Atlanta to becoming CEO of their family business. She shares the inspiring story of how her father and sister developed BIOLYTE® over four years (in secret!) after her mother's battle with cancer and how their product was designed to help individuals with serious hydration needs. Jesslyn also breaks down her experience as CEO and what she's learned during her tenure, from the challenges of being part of a family business — where no one has a background in business — to stepping into her own as a leader. Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:59] Jesslyn's upbringing in Atlanta, Georgia, the love and support she received, her rich imagination as a child, and how her sisters influenced her leadership qualities.• [17:28] Attending a prestigious private school, the pressure she faced to attend an Ivy League university, and how she struggled with balancing work and fun at college.• [25:45] The founding of their family business, the inspiration behind it, and how her father and her sister worked on developing BIOLYTE® in secret for four years.• [32:05] The key differentiators between BIOLYTE® and other hydration drinks: why it's the only true medical grade hydration supplement.• [34:10] Why her father is uniquely suited to have created the first IV in a bottle and the many considerations that went into developing it.• [36:55] The challenge of navigating family dynamics and hierarchies in business, how she became CEO, and how each year as CEO has demanded something different from her.• [46:13] Jesslyn's approach to managing hierarchies and how seeking out training has helped her as a leader.• [48:48] Untangling leadership, aligning your vision for the company, and getting to the heart of BIOLYTE®'s core message.• [57:46] Personality tools, recruiting, and the importance of hiring people who have a robust character and are a good fit for the company.• [01:02:11] Some of the biggest challenges Jesslyn has faced as a CEO, the key lesson she learned from their first lawsuit, and what's next for BIOLYTE®.To Find Out More:Jesslyn Rollins on LinkedInBIOLYTEVistageCulture IndexLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I definitely think that having two older sisters that were very strong women helped me become a leader.” [0:10:12]“My mom and my dad — instilled a lot of confidence in me and my sisters.” [0:11:37]“There's a way to lead that is true leadership. And there is a way to lead that is pure dictatorship.” [0:16:41]“The pressure was to go to an Ivy League, and be very smart, and be a leader of whatever you were doing.” [0:18:26]“My mom was my idol for social. My dad was my idol for work.” [0:20:01]“[My dad and my sister] had been working on it for four years in secret and told nobody about it.” [0:27:50]“The thought of working with my family, the thought of working in this company, and having this product that never existed, was so freaking cool to me.” [0:28:26]“BIOLYTE® is the only true medical grade hydration supplement.” [0:32:06]“The ingredients in BIOLYTE® help your liver detoxify itself.” [0:33:56]“My dad is uniquely suited to have created the very first IV in a bottle, because that's all he did for 43 years.” [0:34:11]“I'm a huge believer of ‘to whom much is given, much is expected'.” [0:44:09]“BIOLYTE® was started for a medical reason, and we're here to help hydrate people with serious hydration issues.” [0:49:18]“There was no alignment. And now I have two VPs. I've got a new Vice President of Sales, and a new Vice President of Finance and Operations that are so aligned with my vision.” [0:52:03]“Lean into your strengths and then hire for your weaknesses.” [01:04:38]

Description: Today on Stairway to CEO, Miki Agrawal, Founder of TUSHY, speaks passionately about her adventures in life and entrepreneurship, from her multicultural upbringing as an identical twin in Montreal, Canada, to playing soccer for the New York Magic to inventing products in taboo categories and creatively launching, marketing, and scaling them to $50 million and beyond. You'll also hear about the setbacks, controversy, and revelations she had along the way, plus Miki lets us in on her top three ingredients for creating a successful brand.  Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high-touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [02:40] Miki's multicultural childhood in Canada, which she credits for her drive and ambition.•   [06:26] Memories of creative problem-solving and what Miki wanted to be growing up.•   [10:51] Her time as the “worst investment banker” in New York, why sleeping through her alarm saved her life, and how 9/11 prompted her to follow her dreams.•   [23:44] How multiple ACL injuries indirectly led to Miki starting her first business: Wild.•   [27:08] Taking NYC's first alternative pizza concept from idea to marketable product.•   [28:53] What running Wild by herself taught Miki about the value of partnerships.•   [32:10] How the idea for Thinx was born during a three-legged race at a family BBQ and the important lessons she learned from marketing a taboo product.•   [39:08] Addressing the controversy that Miki attracted while she was CEO at Thinx.•   [42:36] Tiny and mighty: the benefits of hiring fewer, more senior people in the startup stage.•   [43:37] Miki's three-part formula for changing culture, what's next for TUSHY, and her community-focused advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.To Find Out More:Miki AgrawalTUSHYThinxWildDO COOL SH*TDisrupt-Her: A Manifesto for the Modern WomanMiki Agrawal on LinkedInMiki Agrawal on InstagramMiki Agrawal on XLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“[My parents] said, ‘If you see something that you don't like, you're somebody. You can go do it.'” [0:05:36]“There's no limit to your creative potential. You don't have to have money, you don't have to have resources, but you have creativity. That's available to you at all times.” [0:07:15]“The mystery of life is that you never know when it's going to end. The time is right now to make every moment count.” [0:19:58]“Pizza is a $32 billion industry. Americans eat 100 acres of pizza every single day. There was a huge opportunity – to take this beloved comfort food and turn it on its head and use gluten-free flours, hormone-free cheese, local seasonal toppings, etc.” [0:26:44]“I learned about AB testing – by standing outside my restaurant and handing out pizzas for hours and hours, for years and years, and doing that day in and day out..”  [0:30:15]“Bringing in someone who's really good at the thing they're good at and giving me space to focus on the thing that I'm really good at was such an epiphany for me.” [0:31:19]“Meet people where they are, make it artful, and make sure the product is excellent: that has been a thesis that has [been] a throughline [in] all of my businesses.” [0:35:24]“I prefer [a tiny and mighty team] over many people that can do one job each. Let's bring in a senior person, pay them more, incentivize them, and get them to do this task at the startup stage. Then, as we grow, let's bring in more people.” [0:42:57]“How do you change culture? Best-in-class product; considered, artful design; and accessible, relatable language. That works.” [0:47:51]“I've always known the importance of community and how cultivating your friendships means a lot.” [0:50:38]

Description:Today, Lee is joined by the inspirational Ashley Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO of MUSH; an innovative overnight oats brand that tastes more like dessert than a healthy breakfast! Ashley shares her journey from the world of finance to entrepreneurship, how her father inspires her, her take on fundraising, and the challenges she's faced. Tuning in, you'll hear all about how Ashley has found success by staying in control of her mindset, managing her energy and emotions, and so much more! Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:03] Introducing today's guest, CEO of MUSH, Ashley Thompson.• [02:34] Ashley tells us about how her entrepreneurial father inspired her, the early leadership skills she had, and the challenges she faced in childhood. • [15:52] Studying at Columbia University, her drive to work hard, realizing that she didn't enjoy the world of finance, and finding her true passion.• [20:51] How Ashley came up with the idea for MUSH and how people responded to her change in career.• [28:32] How Ashley found her co-founder, the steps they took to develop their product, and their first ‘big break'.• [34:31] Working with Shark Tank, Ashley's take on fundraising, and the dangers of raising too much capital.• [41:20] Ashley shares her toughest entrepreneurship moments; including her co-founder leaving, how she overcame them, and the important lessons she learned.• [45:23] How Ashley manages her energy and emotions through reading, writing, talking, and staying healthy.• [47:34] Why Ashley's favorite MUSH flavors are chocolate and peanut butter chocolate and what's next for the brand.• [50:15] Ashley shares some advice about the power of mindset for aspiring entrepreneurs. To Find Out More:MUSHAshley Thompson on LinkedInAshley Thompson on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I always wanted to be the best, and I always wanted to leave a mark in some way shape, or form.” [0:09:40]“I especially [gravitate] towards things that could help people or could make the world a better place.” [0:09:46]“I really wanted to race out of college and start a job because I wanted to make money [and be] independent.” [0:16:44]“Oatmeal is so ubiquitous, and no one knows what overnight oats are!” [0:22:16]“Businesses need all of your time and attention!” [0:26:21]“You want to get the basics right before you scale.” [0:30:22]“There's so many different [business] strategies, and execution plays a huge part in a winning strategy.” [0:32:53]“It takes money to make money – and at the same time, raising too much capital [can cause you to] build the wrong company for the product by having too much capital at your disposal.” [0:37:49]“You have to manage your energy and emotions appropriately to get through the really hard things.”  [0:44:25]“The power of mindset is everything!”  [0:50:35]

Description:Sarah Jahnke is the Founder and CEO of Homecourt, a home fragrance brand co-founded by Courtney Cox and made with non-toxic skincare-grade ingredients. During this episode, she joins Lee to share her story. Tune in to hear what it was like to meet Courtney Cox for the first time over Zoom, her journey to fundraising for the first time, how she has grown into her leadership role, and much more.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:20] Sarah Jahnke's story of growing up in Michigan and New York, starting her first business at 12 years old, and performing all her life.• [10:14] Her career journey, including an internship at Sears e-commerce, a role at PwC, returning to Business School, and working for legacy fragrance brands.• [15:49] Meeting Courtney Cox via Zoom in brightly colored linen.• [18:46] How Sarah developed the concept for the brand from a candle brand to a luxury home fragrance brand; which includes skincare-grade ingredients.• [20:17] Product and brand development through the lens of luxury beauty.• [23:01] What ‘scentscaping' means at Homecourt, and which fragrances Courtney prefers.• [24:50] Starting at Homecourt on January 1st 2021, and fundraising for the first time.• [28:55] How the brand has been received by customers and the press.• [31:21] In-person points of discovery for the brand at gyms and hotels in LA.• [32:37] The product and price range including everyday cleaning products and sustainable packaging.• [33:50] How Sarah has experienced her first role as CEO.• [40:41] Naming the business and what they had to keep in mind.To Find Out More:Jobe CapitalSarah Jahnke on LinkedInSarah Jahnke on InstagramHomecourtLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“Having been in the fragrance market, I knew that there was a lot of opportunity to bring more prestige fragrances into new formats.” [0:19:43]“I said, why don't we disrupt the household products category with fine fragrance and this luxury beauty philosophy?” [0:20:00]“If you get to experience our products, you'll see a very high-end niche-style perfumery with very high-quality ingredients that would typically be reserved for Eau de Parfum.” [0:20:42]“We use 100% post-consumer recycled material in all of our packaging; from the bottles to even the unit cartons.” [0:21:14]“We're really bringing fine fragrance into these new formats.” [0:22:44]“I had so many great people in my corner through networking and meeting other entrepreneurs in LA who were able to help me and guide me.” [0:27:08]“The press loves us and thinks that we are innovators in the space. We're not pigeonholed as just another celebrity brand. It's truly seen as authentic to Courtney.” [0:29:15]“I feel very proud that the quality of our product is what's being recognized and is what's bringing people to the brand and also keeping them there.” [0:29:46]“Even with Courtney being the co-founder, and having millions and millions of followers, and really being the number one way people discover the brand, as a fragrance brand, it's really important to also be able to try the products in person.” [0:31:37]“Being an entrepreneur is my ultimate life lesson of letting go.”  [0:36:06]“The why doesn't matter. It's happening. So how are you going to react to it?” [0:38:50]“Trust the timing and how all the dots can connect.” [0:44:09]

Description:Today Lee is joined by an incredibly innovative entrepreneur, the Co-founder, and CEO of Burrow, Stephen Kuhl. Burrow is a company that makes buying furniture simple with swift delivery, easy assembly, and a multitude of options. In this episode, Stephen shares his love for customer research and outlines how he was inspired to go to business school before delving into how he and his business partner came up with the idea to start Burrow. We discuss their incredible journey from rejection to massive success, their experience throughout COVID, what's in store for them in the future, Stephen's interesting leadership style, and so much more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [00:03:26] How Stephen's passion for skiing made him accident-prone and pushed him into a traditional career path.• [00:10:11] How the overwhelming desire to fall asleep at his bank job made Stephen realize it wasn't for him.• [00:13:17] Stephen's first business venture, the ‘true start' of his career, and his journey into investing.• [00:18:21] How being part of investment inspired Stephen to apply to business school and his experience of it.• [00:20:49] Meeting his Burrow co-founder, the start of their innovative furniture company, and Burrow's unprecedented fundraising success.• [00:27:35] Their gross margin challenges and ‘faking it' to get factories to work with them.• [00:37:55] Burrow's milestones, how COVID-19 affected them both positively and negatively, and their ‘secret sauce' to success.• [00:37:55] What's next for Burrow and why Stephen loves doing customer research the most.• [00:47:46] The importance of having a coach as an entrepreneur and Stephen's straightforward leadership style.To Find Out More:BurrowStephen Kuhl on LinkedInStephen Kuhl on XStephen Kuhl on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“If I didn't care about the product that the company sold, it didn't really matter what work I was doing.” [0:15:55]“I – wanted to make more money so I went into investing.” [0:17:19]“You know what's better than investing in consumer companies? Working at [those] companies!”  [0:18:57]“By second year [of college] I think half of my class [thought] I dropped out because I was living in New York [working on Burrow].” [0:26:52]“You sort of just have to pretend that something is really good even though you're not there yet.” [0:31:56]“The fake it till you make it thing is real!” [0:32:19]“Luck is huge, right? I think most people don't give enough credit into how much luck plays into [success].” [0:33:11]“If you bought furniture in 2020/2021, most companies were quoting you like six months to a year to deliver it – and for most [things] we pretty quickly got [delivery] back down to one to two weeks.” [0:43:04]“We're just scratching the surface with new products!”  [0:44:34]“Give clear feedback, set clear direction, check in with people frequently, and then – you definitely need to empower people and accept that they won't do things like you would do [them] but as long as the outcome is similar, you should not care.”   [0:50:07]

Description:Sharing his story today is Dillon Ceglio, the Co-Founder and CEO of Chubby Snacks, a brand modernizing the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Catching up with Dillon, we hear all about his upbringing in a small city in New Jersey and how it sparked a competitive mindset in him and cultivated his taste for entrepreneurship that would flourish later on in life. He also shares the story behind why he tattooed his SAT score on his body, highlighting the idea of stepping stones on life's trajectory, and shares the story behind how Chubby Snacks came to be! To hear more about navigating retail challenges, exploring manufacturing options, and dealing with a cease-and-desist letter from Smuckers, be sure not to miss out on this episode!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode, You'll Hear About:• [00:02:48] Where Dillon calls home now, about his hometown, some childhood memories, siblings, and what he was into as a kid.• [00:04:15] What sparked his competitive mindset, his first exposure to entrepreneurship, early jobs, and what he aspired to be when he grew up.• [00:06:00] Dillon's childhood challenges, being cut from his first sport, his struggle through tough formative high school years, and why he tattooed his SAT score on his body.• [00:08:40] His college story, dropping out of state school, switching his mindset, viewing community college as a business opportunity, and a life-changing moment he experienced.• [00:10:35] Gaining confidence in who he was, the track he was on for his career, and looking at college and his degree as a stepping stone in his life's trajectory.• [00:12:40] The journey behind what inspired him to get into entrepreneurship, how he created his first app and started his first company.• [00:17:30] His evolving journey from a digital marketer and landing on performance marketing for e-commerce brands.• [00:18:45] How he came up with the idea for Chubby Snacks and shifted gears from e-commerce to food and beverage.• [00:21:28] What it was like being hit with a cease-and-desist from Smuckers, how they navigated the entire situation, and why they decided on a cloud-shaped sandwich.• [00:25:21] How they came up with the name Chubby Snacks and how their operations have been the differentiator for their product.• [00:32:30] He talks about fundraising and finding investors by showcasing their story, work ethic, and vision. • [00:34:10] The challenges they've overcome, dealing with B.S., and maintaining perseverance.• [00:36:08] What it was like getting into retail, focusing on moving products already on the shelf, and why they're all moving to San Diego.• [00:40:52] Dillon's advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and what's next for Chubby Snacks!To Find Out More:Dillion Ceglio on LinkedInDillon Ceglio on InstagramDillon Ceglio on XDillon Ceglio on TikTok‘Threatened By Smucker And Facility Closure, Chubby Snacks Amasses $3.25 Million To Launch Superfood Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich Nationwide'Chubby SnacksChubby Snacks on InstagramChubby Snacks on TikTokChubby Snacks on FacebookLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“My mom was a personal trainer and spin instructor as a kid, so I got to see firsthand what it meant to be in the best shape of your life at a very early age, and I thank my mom a lot for instilling very healthy habits for me.” [0:03:20]“[Being an athlete growing up] ultimately created this competitive mindset for me, which I think I carry very closely to me at this point in my life.” [0:04:17]“I actually have my SAT score tattooed on me because I did terribly on my SATs — as a constant reminder that it didn't mean anything.”[0:07:13]“What sticks with me the most is that it doesn't matter where you start; it matters where you finish.” [0:08:16]“I looked at junior college [or] community college, as a business opportunity.” [0:08:50]“I saw [college] as more of a stepping stone, I didn't necessarily go to college with the expectation that whatever my degree was, I was going to end up in that field after — it was another one of the building blocks that ultimately led to gaining more confidence.” [0:11:55]“I have the ability to think differently and think logically, so why can't I come up with an idea that can ultimately be turned from an idea into a reality?” [0:13:41]“With a name like Chubby Snacks, the cloud-shaped sandwich, we think we've done a really good job at ultimately putting our sandwich at the forefront of grocery stores.” [0:24:47]“You hear a name like Chubby Snacks and you're going to remember that. It doesn't matter in what capacity, but when you think of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich you're either going to think about the Uncrustable or you're going to think about Chubby Snacks!”  [0:25:27]“I can't possibly take myself too seriously, I sell peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a living, right? Why not have fun with this!” [0:26:18]“We laugh and joke and say that we are the Albert Einsteins of peanut butter and jelly manufacturing. There's not joke, we are. We've tried 100 different ways to make these things and we cracked the code time and time again!” [0:29:46]“We constantly showcased our abilities to be good problem solvers, and I think that carries a lot of weight in order to be able to get people to really buy into what it is that we are doing.” [0:33:26]

Description:Today, Lee is joined by Kate Foster, Co-Founder and CEO of The Outset, a skincare line, co-founded and represented by none other than Scarlett Johansson! In catching up with Kate we hear all about her journey; from growing up playing soccer and varsity softball to her internship in the PR department of Sex in the City at HBO to her marketing roles at esteemed brands like Victoria's Secret, Anne Taylor, and Juicy Couture, leading up to her role as the CMO of 'Not Your Daughter's Jeans.'  She shares the pivotal moment when she realized she wanted to become CEO one day, how she launched her first company at the age of 40, the acquisition of her company by Meredith Corporation, and what it's been like collaborating with Scarlett Johansson. To learn all about her fascinating journey, plus the exciting things coming up for her and The Outset, be sure to tune in!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.  In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:07] Kate's upbringing in California, her competitive nature as a kid, how she learned to get comfortable with failure, and how she gravitated towards leadership positions.• [10:34] How she first got a job in the beauty industry, fell in love with the work, and got a master's in beauty, marketing, and management.• [15:54] The moment Kate first realized that she wanted to become CEO and what it was like going to Columbia Business School.• [18:54] Balancing starting a family with her career, and how building marketing for 'Not Your Daughter's Jeans' gave her the idea for her first startup ‘Swear By'.• [25:39] The story of how Kate met Scarlett Johansson and co-founded The Outset.• [32:04] Scarlett's struggles with her skin and the authentic drive this gave her to create products that would help others.• [37:15] Kate's favorite products from The Outset, an overview of their best sellers, and why they wanted to make the price point accessible.• [40:40] How Kate came up with the name ‘The Outset', Scarlett's decision not to have social media, and why they don't consider themselves to be a celebrity brand.• [45:08] The benefits of not relying on Scarlett's social media presence, the art of collaboration, and what Kate has learned from working with her.• [51:32] What's next for The Outset and Kate's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.To Find Out More:Kate Foster on LinkedInKate Foster on InstagramThe OutsetThe Outset on InstagramAwesome CXLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I think that's the challenge that a lot of people face. Sometimes when you're doing a good job – they want to keep you there. And so it's difficult, often, to make parallel moves – if you've gotten too far ahead.” [0:16:38]“I had to get serious about the other parts of my executive toolkit.” [0:17:31]“It was a concept that I rejected. If I'm close to the customer, and I understand who the customer is, it doesn't matter if I'm the customer. It's about whether or not I can articulate ways to make their life better through our product offerings and understand their problems.”  [0:21:09]“There's something really impactful about word of mouth, friend-to-friend, recommendations. And there just isn't a way to amplify these at scale. That's when I came up with this idea for my own startup.” [0:22:37]“It was a totally crazy thing to leave a very stable job to [try] my hand at entrepreneurship on my own at 40 years old when most people are really doubling down on the growth of their career.” [0:22:58]“When I met [Scarlett] it was just very natural and very easy. And I think it's because there's a foundation of shared values.” [0:30:56]“Being curious about the world is something that me and Scarlett share and creates a very good foundation for partnership.” [0:31:13]“[Scarlett's] vision for what she articulated to me in that very first meeting is actually what we wound up building. I'm just so shocked because it never really works out that way [where] you can have this clarity of vision and be able to connect it to the execution.”  [0:31:43]“It's not about ‘how to look like her', it's about how to reveal your skin's true potential. And really, the customer is at the center of everything that we do.” [0:43:38]“Trusting your gut is something that I'm constantly a work-in-progress on.” [0:47:11]“Collaboration also comes from a place of trust and security. And people do their best collaborating when they feel that they're in a safe space.” [0:47:42]

Description:Our guest, Kristy Morris, has had a close relationship with entrepreneurship from a young age and saw first-hand what it was like to be a business owner when her parents ran one of the earliest McDonald's in Australia after the brand was introduced into the country. Today she is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kailo, Australia's leading luxury wellness brand. Tuning in you'll hear about her upbringing in Australia, the influence her entrepreneurial parents had on her, her struggles at school, and how she came to own a coffee shop when she was just 24 years old! We then go on to learn how her eldest son inspired her to start Kailo, the pivots she and her business partner had to make during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with her reflections on how the business has grown and changed in ways she could never have predicted. Tune in to learn the full scope of Kristy's story and the many lessons she continues to learn as a leader. Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.  In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:13] Kristy's upbringing, the influence of her entrepreneurial parents, the early days of McDonald's in Australia, and how her parents were approved for a franchise.• [04:33] The struggles she experienced in school, her cultural exchange trip to America, the positive impact it had on her, and why she eventually decided to drop out of high school.• [10:48] Her experience working at McDonald's, how she worked her way up the ranks, and what this taught her about business operations.• [14:34] Why Virgin Airlines was considered such an innovative company at the time and the extraordinary lengths Kristy went to to make an impression on them.• [16:59] Her decision to open up a coffee shop as a 24-year-old and how this led to her joining HR at Virgin Airlines.• [22:48] Kristy's marriage, starting a family, and her entrepreneurial partnership with her husband before they got divorced.• [25:39] How Kristy's eldest son inspired her to start Kailo and how she met and teamed up with her wonderful business partner Kath Merlo.• [29:33] The strategic steps they took to survive as a business during the COVID pandemic, how they expanded into nutrition products, and the huge impact it's had on their company.• [36:01] An overview of their recent business growth, their expansion plans, and how Kristy is developing herself as a leader.• [41:21] Details about what's next for Kailo and Kristy's advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.To Find Out More:Kristy Morris on LinkedInKailoKailo on FacebookKailo on InstagramKailo on YouTubeKailo on LinkedInAwesome CXLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on Instagram Quotes:“My dad was trying to instill a really strong work ethic that ‘you are no different to anybody else'. I genuinely can say I think that is a gift.” [0:13:14]“I was lucky enough to get a job with Virgin [Airlines] and they there were such a new company at the time. You felt like you were part of something really exciting.” [0:16:59]“The more vulnerable [you are], the more successful you will be because you're just opening up for people to come in and help you.” [0:22:24]“[Kath and I] often talked about all the gaps that we were seeing. From what we were seeing in LA [versus] Australia, around wellness. — And all the clinics and things that you have on offer in the US. And we [wondered] ‘what if we can bring a concept back to Australia.'” [0:27:13]“We've grown the services based on the guests' needs, learning from our guests what they want.” [0:29:02]“It was a much bigger beast that we took on than we realized. You go into something that you've never done before and go ‘yeah, this is going to be – easy.'” [0:29:16]“Fourteen months into opening, we hit COVID. [It is] by far the hardest moment that we've ever been through. Closing the doors to our business and realizing we only had $20,000 in the bank. We were still in such a startup mode.” [0:29:35]“The hardest part has been not having such a close relationship to every single person in the team.” [0:38:39]“I feel lucky to be in a business partnership, I think that always gives you that comfort.” — [0:40:05]“Always surround yourself with really positive, successful, humble people. Because you don't want to lose sight.” [0:42:39]

Description:Today,  Lee sits down with Tom Hale, CEO of ŌURA, which delivers personalized health data and guidance to make wellness and recovery part of your daily practice. Tuning in, you'll find out how Tom went from growing up with dreams of becoming a train engineer to discovering the OŪRA Ring and writing a letter to the board about why they should hire him as CEO. You'll gain some insight into Tom's journey as a leader, which started with executive positions at Macromedia and Adobe, to becoming President of Momentive, where he set enterprise strategy and led product growth. Join us as we discuss Tom's leadership style, why he says it's lonely at the top, how he got a crash course in fundraising from raising $40 million in less than a month, and so much more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.  In This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [02:29] Tom's upbringing in a “dusty town” and his love for trains (and Dungeons & Dragons).•   [08:21] What sparked his interest in the impact that business and tech can have on society.•   [10:42] Some of Tom's early jobs, including computer consulting and summarizing scripts.•   [18:54] The importance of learning on the job and how he went from Adobe to Second Life.•   [24:23] What Tom learned about the gig economy from his time at HomeAway.•   [26:27] How losing sleep led him to discover the Oura Ring and how it improved his health.•   [36:49] The story of how Tom went from a customer of Oura to the company's CEO!•   [44:05] Challenges facing newbie CEOs and the value of having a leadership mandate.•   [46:07] Little-known realities of being CEO, including the loneliness that comes with it.•   [51:44] Oura's company values, which encompass a spirit of collaboration and aiming higher.•   [53:35] Viewing the fundraising journey as a lesson in what investors find compelling.•   [55:42] Insight into Oura's vision for the future: from sick care to human care.To Find Out More:ŌURATom Hale on LinkedInTom Hale on XLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“Pulling on the threads of technology, its impact on society, how people change because of technology, and [my experience] with personal computers – it came together and led me on the path that I'm on today.” [0:10:24]“They put me in [a product management job at Macromedia], and it was probably my [biggest] learning-on-the-job moment, figuring stuff out. I remember some moments of high anxiety because I was like, ‘I have no idea what I'm doing!'” [0:17:45]2“Early in your career, if you're at a company where there's more work than there are people to do it – you can move up really quickly in your career.” [0:19:17]“[When] I went to HomeAway, I was captured by the idea that you could rent a property to someone over the internet and they would come and stay in it. It was an interesting confluence of what we today call the gig economy.” [0:25:22]“For me, during that period of losing sleep, [the Oura Ring] really changed my life.”  [0:27:57]“That kind of power, giving your body a voice, is central to what Oura does.” [0:36:40]“It was all very rational and logical, but there was a strong intent behind [my letter to Oura]. Sometimes, you get that intent coming through and people say, ‘Here's somebody who's motivated.' And motivation counts.” [0:38:53]“I get most excited about working on products that I can understand, touch, and feel and [that are] relevant and relatable – on a really human level.” [0:39:43]“The role of a CEO sometimes is to go against the grain.” [0:47:14]“Our big vision is: how do we become part of the behavioral change that improves health outcomes, that transforms the healthcare industry from one where it's about sick care to something we call human care?” [0:56:14]

Branża Customer Experience, to jedna z tych, w których automatyzacja, robotyzacja, jak również sztuczna inteligencja znalazły dla siebie miejsce już dawno temu. Choć jeśli spojrzymy w przeszłość, to wcale się to tak nie zapowiadało.W ciągu kilkunastu lat do obsługi klienta wprowadzono voiceboty, zautomatyzowane kolejkowanie rozmów, a w raportowaniu przeszło się od metod karteczkowych, do pełnej automatyzacji. Automatyzacja i AI były punktem wyjścia do dzisiejszej rozmowy, do której zaprosiłem Ewę Dąbrowską z Transcom.Posłuchajcie 843 odcinka podcastu BSS bez tajemnic, w którym dotknęliśmy nieco technologii w branży Customer Experience.Ewę znajdziecie na Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewadabrowska/ ****************************Nazywam się Wiktor Doktór i na co dzień prowadzę Klub Pro Progressio https://klub.proprogressio.pl/pl – to społeczność wielu firm prywatnych i organizacji sektora publicznego, którym zależy na rozwoju relacji biznesowych w modelu B2B. W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic poza odcinkami solowymi, zamieszczam rozmowy z ekspertami i specjalistami z różnych dziedzin przedsiębiorczości.Jeśli chcesz się o mnie więcej dowiedzieć, to zapraszam do odwiedzin moich kanałów w mediach społecznościowych:YouTube - https://bit.ly/BSSbeztajemnicYTFacebook - https://bit.ly/BSSbtFBLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/Możesz też do mnie napisać. Mój adres email to - wiktor.doktor(@)proprogressio.pl ****************************Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są:Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-a9644a23/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/Damian Ruciński https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-ruci%C5%84ski/Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/Wspaniali ludzie, dzięki którym pojawiają się kolejne odcinki tego podcastu.Ty też możesz wesprzeć rozwój podcastu na:Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktorPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktorBuy me a coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktorZrzutka.pl - https://zrzutka.pl/j8kvar

Description:Coming to share their story today is Jeanine Lobell, the Founder of Neen. Her story is truly remarkable and underlines the unexpected turns we can all encounter and how far a commitment to one's ideals and ideas can take things. Jeanine talks about the acquisition of her previous company, Stila, and what it took for her to take a dive into something new and exciting. The lessons around healing, community, and authenticity that Jeanine has learned and generously touches on here, are truly inspiring. Tune in to hear it all!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.  In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [03:12] Jeanine's childhood years in Sweden, the activities she enjoyed, and how she taught herself to read.• [08:01] Living in San Francisco, London, and Paris, and the difficulties of her teen years.• [13:20] A humble entry into the make-up industry before getting work as an artist.• [19:55] Jeanine reflects on her independent spirit and distrust of authority.• [23:46] Building Stila and discovering her new personality and capabilities.• [29:54] Jeanine's thoughts on the challenges of having a company acquired, following Estée Lauder's acquisition of Stila.• [36:13] The decision to start Neen; the ideas and motivations that drove Jeanine to begin a new adventure.• [43:55] Sustainability at Neen and the way that Jeanine has approached packaging.• [51:43] The funding process at Neen so far and the meaning behind the brand's name.• [56:19] Jeanine's suggestions for the questions entrepreneurs should ask themselves.To Find Out More:Awesome CXNeenJeanine Lobell on InstagramStilaLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“[As kids], we just made stuff all the time!”  [0:07:18]“I kind of woke up to find a whole other person living inside me that I didn't know.” [0:24:13]“I just need to be smarter than the problem in front of me.” [0:25:22]“That's a big driver for me, like how do I make things different?” [0:25:32]“Acquisition is tough. I don't think I know anyone who is super happy after an acquisition, unfortunately.” [0:34:17]“When you make a business – [and] it comes from your personal values, people feel that.” [0:40:28]“I wanted to make a sustainable, refillable package.” [0:45:54]“I'm not on the soapbox about it, I just don't want to make more trash, period.” [0:47:01]“I always say, makeup is a mood-altering chemical. 100%. It can totally change the way that you feel and that's what I like about it.” [0:53:47]“You don't have to change yourself to feel that way about yourself. You have to learn to feel that way about yourself, period. And then makeup is just the icing.” [0:55:25]“Don't ever let anyone tell you that you shouldn't be an entrepreneur.” [0:57:31]

Description:Greg Starkman, the Founder and CEO of Innersense Organic Beauty generously shares some of his defining moments with us, touching on the intentional way they have selected, produced, and released products, surviving the tougher times before things started to tip toward success, and how an approach of steady and continued growth has served the company so well. Our guest also talks about leadership and his continual journey of learning and support for his team, so make sure to tune in to catch it all in this inspiring conversation with Greg.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.  In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:12] Greg talks about the recent changes in San Francisco, growing up in Los Angeles, and the family values present in his home.• [09:52] Entering the beauty industry and finding purpose in professional life.• [18:07] Challenges that Greg and the company faced around sourcing ingredients after launching.• [21:40] The key products that Innersense brought to market initially and more recently.• [26:47] Greg reflects on the biggest challenges and surprises on his journey with Innersense; demand, marketing, and the 2008 recession.• [32:20] Moments of learning and self-doubt, and the fundamental place these have in the life of an entrepreneur.• [35:40] People, planet, and purpose; Greg shares why standards for the cosmetic industry are so important to him.• [39:35] Thoughts on growing as a leader and allowing increased autonomy for the team.• [45:15] Advice from Greg about pivoting, learning, and a steadfast attitude.To Find Out More:Awesome CXInnersense Organic BeautyGreg Starkman on LinkedInLee Greene on LinkedInLee Greene EmailStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“As a kid, I did a lot of different things. I would work and earn extra money in salons sweeping hair, and I would actually fill product vats for my mom.” [0:07:32]“In my early teens I definitely became that wayward kid that was always out and about, and always in some level of trouble.”  [0:08:00]“Even though we were very affluent growing up, there were never any handouts.”  [0:08:42]“I was kind of a late bloomer, I never really figured out what I wanted to do until I was probably in my early 20s. And I think at that point I felt like I found some level of purpose when I got into the beauty industry.” [0:09:38]“We took that cosmetic ingredient standard and brought that into hair care.” [0:15:25]“It literally took a good ten years for us to even spark at the level of scalability.” [0:16:24]“We made a commitment from day one to work with ingredients that were very pure, and highly efficacious.” [0:19:18]“It doesn't matter how clean or how organic a product is, if it doesn't perform, the consumer is not going to come back and buy it.” [0:19:34]“It's just about continuing to educate and inform the safe cosmetic consumer who is looking to make healthier and cleaner choices, and do it in a very authentic way.” [0:21:28]“We have been very intentional over the last 18 years with the types of products we introduce. Believe it or not, we only have 22 products.” [0:23:37]“It was just perseverance, and an unwillingness to fail.” [0:30:11]

Description:Endangered Species Chocolate was a mission-driven company long before it was cool. CEO Curt Vander Meer joins us today to share the story of his career and impact, the five key duties of a CEO, and how he came to own the Endangered Species Chocolate brand. Join us for an insider's look at Curt's unexpected journey to protecting wildlife and continuing the legacy of his founder, mentor, and friend.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:03] Curt Vander Meer's journey through the world of finance to becoming the CEO of Endangered Species Chocolate.• [16:40] His unexpected initial experiences of the business and how his vision differed in comparison to his focus today.• [22:07] Goals to donate a million dollars a year and create moments of joy through abundant giving at Endangered Species Chocolate.• [23:59] The behind-the-scenes process of pairing animal facts with chocolate flavors.• [28:59] What it was like to transition from financial lead to CEO at Endangered Species Chocolate.• [31:43] Expectations versus the reality of occupying the CEO seat.• [33:29] The five duties of a CEO: setting direction, speed, risk, resources, and culture.• [34:30] Becoming the sole owner and CEO of Endangered Species Chocolate.• [36:00] How Curt's leadership style has changed and how his role has promoted personal growth through hard lessons.• [44:30] What surprised Curt most along the way despite his classical training in business.• [49:55] How he intends to continue the legacy of Endangered Species Chocolate, Randy Deer.To Find Out More:Curt Vander Meer on LinkedInEndangered Species ChocolateLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“There are a lot of things I haven't scripted that have turned out way beyond and far exceeded the expectations of the plan I created.” [0:18:25]“When you put an accountant in charge, what's the first three things they do? They cut people, they cut places, and they cut things, and that's a little bit of what I did.” [0:20:19]“I had a different idea than our previous CEO of what we wanted to do. I wanted to really explore the roots of the business.” r [0:20:32]“Being in the chocolate industry is very fun and there are so many different avenues that you can go.” [0:20:57]“I wanted to, and still want to, magnify the impact of our brand promise.” [0:21:52]“I've heard it said that being CEO can be a lonely position. There's some truth to that so I would encourage people to find those that they can lean on. ” [0:31:44]“I really have five duties as a CEO that I need to do. I need to set direction, speed, risk, resources, and culture.”  [0:33:30]“Being CEO is one thing. Being owner is another whole mindset that you need to have.” [0:34:39]“I really want people's input before a final decision needs to be made.” [0:35:19]“Really [make] sure you get the right talent in the right positions, and that is easier said than done.” [0:36:07]“You weigh in so that you can buy in.” [0:37:21]“We're all called to use our talents to the best of our ability, so don't assume that I can think about everything that's necessary. That's why you have trusted advisers on your leadership team.” [0:40:26]“It's so important to stay quiet and let people talk. That's the best strategy that's worked for me.”  [0:40:40]“Grandma Vansingel always said that mistakes only happen to those people who do things, and I try to use that mantra here as well.” — Curt Vander Meer [0:43:04]

Description:Today, Lee sits down with Vanessa Pham, a first-generation Vietnamese-American and the Co-Founder and CEO of Omsom, a loud and proud Asian pantry staple brand. In this episode, Vanessa shares her journey from growing up with her sister (and business partner) Kim, and their Vietnamese refugee parents outside of Boston, to attending Harvard, working in consulting, and starting Omsom after being inspired by the 2016 elections to build something that would shift culture. Tuning in, you'll find out how her father tried to escape Vietnam seven times before he was successful, the pressure Vanessa felt to honor her parents' sacrifices and make them proud, and how she bootstrapped the business for the first year by offering SAT tutoring services just to make rent, plus so much more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [03:16] Ways that Omsom's proud and loud ethos is a response to growing up “othered.”•   [07:52] What Vanessa wanted to do and how she was motivated by her parent's sacrifices.•   [10:20] Insight into her career trajectory and the pivotal conversation with her dad that helped her let go of external pressure and expectations.•   [14:09] A look at her journey toward taking more risks and her desire to influence culture.•   [16:48] How food (and particularly ready-to-use sauces) aligned with Vanessa and Kim's mission to celebrate Asian stories.•   [27:20] How they navigated launching Omsom during the early days of the pandemic.•   [30:27] Vanessa's advice for community building, marketing, and fundraising.•   [34:18] Her relentless commitment to personal growth and how it benefits her as a CEO.•   [41:26] Reflecting on some of the biggest surprises that came with building a business!•   [46:42] Why Vanessa encourages fledgling founders to be authentically themselves.To Find Out More:OmsomVanessa PhamVanessa Pham on LinkedInVanessa Pham on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“Omsom in Vietnamese means rowdy, rambunctious, riotous. Our ethos is all about being proud and loud. In some ways – reclaiming our narratives and telling our stories loudly and proudly is our way of pushing back on that initial experience we had in that small town outside of Boston.” [0:04:22]“Building a proud and loud brand was when I learned to be more true to myself, be [comfortable] in my skin, and be more authentic about who I actually am.” [0:06:07]“My dream for most of my life has been to honor my parents and their sacrifices. Nothing has been more motivating to me than that.” [0:07:56]“There's not enough Vietnamese-American women that are seen as thought leaders. I felt really called by that.” [0:15:29]“After the 2016 election, Kim and I wanted to build something that could influence culture, narratives, and dialogue at a national level.” [0:15:40]“Food – has been such an incredibly meaningful part of our lives and a way for us to connect to our culture and our identities.” [0:17:59]“What we're building is in service of giving people a sense of home and a sense of joy. In [hard times], they're actually going to want to engage with a brand like ours. What we stand for is relevant and timely.” [0:28:40]“There was this flywheel that we created by building and fostering a community that understood our values, saw what we [stood for], and that really resonated with them.” [0:29:53]“[Ask yourself]: Is my story and my brand story authentic? Because consumers' bullshit meters are higher than ever. Same with the press. Beyond that, does it parlay into broader dialogues that are happening at a national level?” [0:31:12]“I dedicate so much of my time and mindshare, and emotional energy to evolving my worldviews and my relationship with myself – so that I can navigate this journey with grace, trust, belief, and conviction. Those are so important for getting the job done.” [0:35:21]“My advice would be to continue to show more of who you really are in the [CEO] journey.” [0:46:53]

Description:In this episode, Lee sits down with Michael Broukhim, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of FabFitFun, a women's lifestyle membership and shopping experience bringing joy and well-being to its members. Michael shares his experience growing up with his older brother in Los Angeles, his incredible story of starting an online media consulting company, some ups and downs of developing websites for politicians, pivoting to launching a wellness blog, and how this all unfolded into his trailblazing CEO journey. Tune in to hear how he has evolved as a leader, the challenges of growing the company, the secret sauce to launching a brand, the top tips he recommends to stay grounded. Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:•    AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [03:13] Growing up in Los Angeles, his roots in media entrepreneurship and the profound influence his parents had on his passion for the written word.• [07:25] Navigating his brother's cancer diagnosis, early job experiences, and a transformative college journey that paved the way for FabFitFun.• [13:42] Starting his first business, working with politicians, and mixing wellness with the red carpet treatment.• [19:54] Value lessons from earlier ventures, from monetizing emails to business expansion, and how this led to FabFitFun.• [26:31] Pivoting the business model of FabFitFun and what makes the company and its products unique.• [31:47] What qualities they look for in other brands and the success stories of the companies they have worked with.• [34:06] The joint venture approach to business and how Michael has evolved as a leader.• [37:20] The difficult challenge of raising capital and how this inspired Michael and his brother to form Green Meadow Ventures.• [41:24] The biggest obstacles to founding FabFitFun; a wedding, COVID, and his brother's cancer diagnosis.• [44:22] Invaluable advice for budding entrepreneurs and what's next for FabFitFun!To Find Out More:Michael Broukhim on LinkedInMichael Broukhim on TwitterFabFitFunCharlie on LinkedInGreen Meadow VenturesAwesome CXCasalénaUnhideSpongelleLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“Maybe it was the combination of having access to the internet and having a printer, but I started just putting things into a word processor and laying them out.” [0:05:33]“I was a pretty resilient kid, and in a lot of ways, I didn't have anything too tough, and only later in my life did I come to understand that.” [0:07:29]“We didn't seek out to build a political new media consulting firm, it was just the first opportunity that fell into our laps.” [0:15:26]“We learned really well how to get people onto our newsletter, how to monetize an email list, and how to produce incredible content.” [0:20:16]“I think email is interesting. It is kind of like the cockroach of the internet. It will never go away. It is a truly open platform.” [0:20:31]“In some ways what we came up with, through FabFitFun, was an alternative way to tell your story as a brand, and that was to get the product into consumers' hands.” [0:28:33]“Consumers have a much higher tolerance for trying new things if they know they are getting a deal.” [0:28:52]“What is going to make any brand or product successful in the long run is you have to own the consumer for something unique and something differentiated that you have tapped into.” [0:31:54]“Getting into that mode of constantly working on yourself, being a self-learner, and in some ways your own harshest critic, I think are really essential to leading a company.” [0:35:26]“I think surrounding [ourselves] peer groups that [we] can talk to and learn from has been really critical.” [0:37:06]“I think right now, trying to really stretch your dollar is important because the capital is more expensive.” [0:38:47]“Keep powering through. I think if you are really committed to [starting a business], it is an incredible privilege to be able to run a business.” [0:44:24]“I think finding a way to stay level is really critical as an entrepreneur.” [0:44:51]

Description:Sharing his extraordinary story today is Olympic-level rowing coach turned entrepreneur, Bruce Smith. Bruce has been self-sufficient since his teens and in this episode, we discover his journey to becoming the Founder and CEO of Hydrow; the rowing machine company connecting the indoor rowing experience to the magic of rowing on water. From breaking into hotels and churches in order to practice piano, he transferred his passion wholly into rowing. Tune in to discover what he finds so engaging about the sport and hear all about his inspiring personal journey and entrepreneurial story.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:•     AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:02] Introducing Bruce Smith, the Founder and CEO of Hydrow.• [03:37] Bruce's early days: Growing up in Canada with a schizophrenic mother, leaving home early, and supporting himself financially while pursuing music.• [11:16] How he supported himself in college; how he became a hustler by necessity!• [14:24] His journey from academia to entrepreneurship, real estate, and coaching.• [20:08] Bruce's passion for rowing and his transition from rower to rowing coach.• [22:49] The mind-body connection associated with rowing and the addictiveness of synchronization.• [25:18] Bruce shares success stories from his career as a rowing coach.• [27:42] The genesis story of Hydrow; the rowing machine company connecting the indoor rowing experience to the magic of rowing on water.• [33:49] Hydrow's impressive fundraising journey in the face of countless rejections.• [47:09] The company's team structure, Bruce's leadership approach, and Hydrow's future goals!To Find Out More:Bruce Smith on LinkedInHydrowCommunity Rowing, Inc.Lee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“[Entrepreneurship] is really hard but it's really satisfying. Honestly, I think it's the most fun thing you can do. It's like creating art that's worth the trouble.” [0:03:21]“I got my driver's license the day that I turned 16 and I got in the car and I drove away and I basically never went back.” [0:07:40]“I really do believe poverty is an amazing motivator.” [0:13:12]“The power of the man is real and you've got to adapt and bend a little bit if you're going to be successful.” [0:17:28]“In the United States, especially in Chicago, it is a meritocracy. If you have good ideas, people embrace you with open arms.” [0:19:46]“That moment of synchronicity – is wildly addictive.” [0:23:59]“We wanted to take that smoothness and that analog feeling [of rowing on water] and translate it to a machine. So we had to reimagine how people think of our machines from the ground up.” [0:32:28]“You want to be sure that the people who invest in your company will be able to continue to invest in your company.” [0:38:54]“I like bankers. They're the most socially capable people I've ever met.” [0:40:35]“Overall, I've become an even stronger believer in investing in culture and – who you are.” [0:47:52]

Description:In today's episode, we hear Francisco Pergola the Co-Founder of Cheddies Crackers, a high protein, low sugar snack brand made with real cheese sourced from regenerative farms. During this episode, Francisco shares his story of making something out of nothing, time and time again, from growing up in San Antonio, Texas (with dreams of working on Wall Street) to starting the first Ping Pong club in high school, and beyond. Francisco created Cheddies after realizing that hospital patients had limited healthy snack options. Working with nutritionists and testing his concept within clinics, Francesco and his family have taken the snack world by storm. Tune in to hear more today!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:•  AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:05] Francisco Pergola's childhood, studies, and career before co-founding Cheddies Crackers.• [09:23] The inception and development of the Cheddies Crackers concept.• [13:48] Researching what patients needed with nutritionists and testing the concept in hospitals.• [20:14] Taking the product to market, finding a big break, and getting stocked at H-E-B.• [31:09] Navigating fearlessness as an entrepreneur and asking for forgiveness rather than permission.• [40:10] The ratio of challenge to celebration on the journey and weighing up the benefits along the way.• [48:55] Francisco reflects on the early days of the business and what he would recommend others do differently.• [53:07] Background on the cracker industry in the USA and Nabisco.To Find Out More:Francesco Pergola on LinkedInCheddies CrackersOutlaw VenturesH-E-BAwesome CXLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I'd go in and talk to their patients and just listen to what they needed which is something that, in the medical industry, not many people do.” [0:14:07]“When we go into the clinics, the easiest selling point for us was familiarity and approachability.” [0:18:14]“[It] was near and dear to our hearts when we started Cheddies — it's a snack; it's meant to be fun; it just so happens to be better for you.” [0:19:38]“I tell people all the time, just ask for forgiveness later.” [0:21:12]“I don't like having limits on what I can and cannot do, because you only live once, so why not try to do as many things as you can?” [0:38:38]“95% of what we have done and dealt with have been challenges and like 5% have been celebratory moments.” [0:40:10]“The good is always at the end, somewhere, somehow.” [0:40:36]“There are going to be moments where you seek answers, you seek help from others, and the truth is, it's your journey, and they are your answers to figure out.” [0:47:37]“I think taking on debt at an early stage is an effective tool.” [0:48:57]

Description:Today, Lee is joined by Alison Cayne, New York native, mother of five, and Founder and CEO of the revolutionary cooking school turned fresh, squeezable sauce brand, Haven's Kitchen. In this episode, we discover how Alison combined her love for cooking, teaching, and entrepreneurship to create Haven's Kitchen and what inspired her versatile range of sauces for home cooks. She sheds light on the product incubation process and the lack of fundraising opportunities for underrepresented founders. Tune in as Alison shares her inspiring story of becoming a leader, and the philosophies she stands by as she guides her team (and her brand) to new heights.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:•    AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [03:02] Alison's background: growing up in NYC, working in urban development, having five kids, and getting a master's in food sciences.• [14:33] How Alison combined her love for cooking, teaching, and entrepreneurship to create Haven's Kitchen!• [17:49] What inspired Haven's fresh, squeezable sauces for home cooks (and what inspired Alison to pursue the business).• [21:27] The versatility, accessibility, and sustainability of the sauces.• [28:13] The product incubation and launch process (with help from Chobani and Whole Foods).• [36:24] Alison's greatest challenges (COVID aside!) and the importance of redefining growth expectations for a new category.• [39:46] Fundraising challenges, particularly for underrepresented founders, and the importance of building a support network.• [49:56] Alison candidly shares her strengths and weaknesses as a leader and her vision for the company.• [58:31] What's next for Haven's Kitchen! Spoiler alert: a new product line.• [59:14] Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs to solve a clear problem and ensure sustainable margins.To Find Out More:Alison Cayne on LinkedInHaven's KitchenHaven's Kitchen on InstagramChobani IncubatorWhole FoodsBlue ApronLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“When my youngest son started nursery school, I went back to get a master's in food systems and food studies.” [0:13:48]“There's just so much correlation with cooking and personal, community, and environmental health.” [0:16:57]“We had an all-day cafe and an event space and we were profitable within a year, which was cool.”  [0:17:32]“Why are we teaching our students how to make things like, romesco sauce, Thai peanut sauce, chimichurri, and salsa verde, but these things don't exist where they're shopping in the grocery store?” [0:19:46]“I got into the business because I wanted to help people feel great about cooking.” [0:20:14]“You learn as you go, but can save you thousands of dollars and hours and really prevent failure if you get those lessons early.” [0:33:32]“The companies that you're seeing that are raising gazillions of dollars and they look like they're doing it relatively easily — are not doing it relatively easily. Secondly, they are likely already in a group of people where they have access to capital and it is really unfair.” [0:39:55]“Minority-owned brands [and] female-founded brands — are chronically underfunded.” [0:40:10]“It is very important to have a network of people early on who can write checks. Banks don't do it. You will not find a VC to do it. You need to have angels.” [0:40:33]“We have an ecosystem where money begets money.” [0:46:17]“Your strengths and your weaknesses are basically two different sides of the same exact tree.” [0:56:07]

Description:In this episode, Danielle Gronich joins Lee to share her journey to becoming the Co-Founder and CEO of CLEARSTEM. She shares her story from growing up as a tomboy in Southern California with dreams of traveling the world, to working at ADP where she met with all types of business owners and built the confidence to start her first company, the San Diego Acne Clinic. She talks about her experience at beauty school, the root causes and foods that can cause breakouts, how she met her Co-Founder, Kayleigh Christina, and how they bootstrapped the business and grew it to over $8 million in revenue in 2022. Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:•  AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:55] Danielle's tomboy childhood, entrepreneurial traits, and dreams to travel the world.• [09:35] What led her to study at UC Santa Barbara, plus some key lessons from her first jobs.• [14:30] Insight into the not-so-cute side of being a CEO and how working at ADP gave Danielle a real-world business education.• [17:30] How she created the clinical career she always wanted but didn't know existed!• [21:54] Supplements, hormonal imbalances, and other things that can trigger acne.• [23:12] Where the idea for CLEARSTEM originated after Danielle met her cofounder.• [26:25] How they built the business from the ground up and how it was impacted by COVID.• [30:15] The focus on product and messaging that have propelled CLEARSTEM's growth.• [31:43] Challenges that came with scaling the business and the role of nurturing the cofounder relationship and facilitating communication.• [35:42] The CLEARSTEM vision and how community and education set the company apart.• [40:34] Danielle's decision to keep the company self-funded and what's next for the business.• [48:26] Why Danielle believes that trusting your instincts is key to business success.To Find Out More:CLEARSTEM SkincareDanielle Gronich on LinkedInDanielle Gronich on InstagramEntrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)Lee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I was definitely entrepreneurial; always creative, thinking outside the box, thought that what I was being told to do was [boring]. I wanted to focus on something I thought was more important and I hated being told what to do by authority figures. I think that's a key trait!” [0:06:13]“I remember getting exposed to other cultures in depth at a really young age and I always found it fascinating, so I wanted to see the world and satisfy that adventurous spirit.” [0:09:25]“Being a CEO seems one way to so many people. Once you're in it, it is that way, but it's also a lot of stuff you don't want to do.” [0:14:42]“How can I learn [business] on the street in a real-world way? [ADP] was the perfect job to do it. I met so many business owners at all different types of businesses – That became my MBA.” [0:16:06]“While I was [at beauty school], I realized that treating acne was the medical profession I had always wanted but didn't know existed.” [0:18:26]“We love making [educational videos and] hosting free masterclasses. We do IG lives. We collaborate with other healthcare professionals, so we're constantly spreading the [CLEARSTEM] message and ethos.” [0:30:28]“One of our core values is that we have to be one with the customer at all times. Almost everyone on our team has dealt with acne or some other skin concern.” [0:30:44]“I knew how to crush it in a [clinical and one-on-one setting], but that doesn't automatically translate to mass market [success].”  [0:38:24]“Our founder story is so unique and we're always sharing that with people and constantly educating – The way we give to our community and educate freely is what really sets us apart.” [0:38:39]“Being able to stick to the control of the ingredients and the ethos – was always something that was important to us. We swore we never wanted to have an investor because we never wanted someone to tell us, ‘Make this cheaper.'”  [0:41:02]“So many brands claim to be everything to everyone, but if there ever was a brand that was, it's us!” [0:47:06]“The one thing I wish I could have told myself back then is to trust your instincts.” [0:48:44]

Description:Katie Diasti is changing the world of period care as the Founder and CEO of the non-toxic and sustainable period brand Viv! She joins Lee to share her story of growing up as a first-generation Egyptian-American in Tampa, Florida, before a college project sparked her idea for the brand, with staggering data to fuel her passion. We touch on the early stages of growth at Viv, leveraging affiliate marketing to reach a wider audience, and fundraising as a young woman building a period care brand, before Katie shares what surprised her on her business journey, challenges her three-person team has faced with 2000 retail doors, and what's next for Viv! In closing, she shares a word of advice with listeners.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:•    AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [01:04] Introducing Katie Diasti, Founder and CEO of Viv, a non-toxic, sustainable period brand.• [03:37] What it was like to grow up as a first-generation Egyptian-American in Tampa, Florida.• [10:08] The college project that ignited Katie's idea for the brand.• [15:56] Usage data that fuelled Katie's passion for sustainability in the industry.• [19:10] Products and materials included in the Viv range, including the user-friendly Viv Cup.• [26:11] Early growth drivers, affiliate marketing, and fundraising as a young woman building a period care brand.• [29:28] Why focusing on retail has come as a surprise to Katie.• [34:28] Where the name Viv originally came from and why Katie loves including ‘for your v'.• [36:17] Challenges her three-person team has experienced with 2000 retail doors.• [37:50] What's next for Viv and some valuable advice from Katie's journey for new entrepreneurs.To Find Out More:VivViv on TikTokViv on InstagramViv on TwitterKatie Diasti on LinkedInLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I've loved how Viv has shifted as a persona. I very much wanted to personify a brand when building Viv, thinking of it as an older sister or this badass person you look up to.” [0:14:08]“In my own life I was looking to make more sustainable swaps, and I knew that there was a whole generation with me that was looking to be more of an eco-conscious buyer as well as more socially conscious, but there was no brand on the shelf that was really targeting those issues and resonating with the Gen Z and millennial audience.”  [0:16:37]“Bamboo is not only better for the earth, [but] it also uses way less land and way less water to grow.” [0:18:43]“Knowing that we could have [period products that are] both better for you and better performance was great.” [0:18:31]“Viv pads actually break down in 150 days compared to 800 years.” [0:18:44]“So many people are new to a menstrual cup, so making it as approachable as possible has been key.” [0:20:03]“Building a startup also takes a village. It's like raising a family in that sense.” [0:23:38]“You just have to know that [affiliate marketing] might not work sometimes. Being okay with that in the early days is crucial.” [0:24:56]“It's about finding investors that believe in you. You never want to be begging someone to believe in you because that's just not a great fit, either. It needs to be a two-way street in terms of interviewing the right fit for you.” [0:27:01]“Wild how some of the things that you think are just for fun or might not have that big of an impact can really change the course of your distribution and growth. Because we're giving so much of ourselves, being very authentic, and really embracing and embodying the Viv brand always. We're always in Viv colors at every networking event.” [0:33:26]“Nothing is ever going to be 100% perfect when you launch and you're never going to feel 100% ready.” [0:28:35]“If you're not looking back and you're not a little bit embarrassed by the first thing you ever ship out or launch, then you're taking too long to launch. Launch and grow.” [0:38:58]“Just start. That's the hardest part. That mental hurdle.” [0:39:14]

Description:Today, Lee is joined by the CEO and Co-Founder of Methodology, Julie Nguyen, who shares her journey of building a sustainable gourmet meal prep service. Tune in as Julie breaks down her career journey and explains how her personal health struggles inspired the genesis of Methodology. You'll also find out why she decided against the venture capital route, focusing instead on product quality over scale, and gain some insight into her greatest challenges thus far. Finally, Julie emphasizes the benefits of planning, and making your business your mule (not the other way around)!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors: • AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [01:02] Introducing Julie and Methodology: the sustainable gourmet meal prep service.•   [02:55] Julie's background and career journey, from dropping out of law school to working at JP Morgan to becoming passionate about health while working at Lumosity.•   [18:03] The genesis and product development of Methodology, inspired by her own journey.•   [26:16] Methodology's focus on product quality over scale; why they decided against the venture capital route.•   [28:34] Julie's dream for Methodology to be the first cloud kitchen to earn a Michelin star.•   [32:22] The challenges of running the business profitably and navigating the pandemic.•   [37:24] Why planning and being prepared for potential downturns is crucial and some of the lessons Julie learned along the way.•   [41:55] Her goals for the business and why she's currently based in Paris.•   [46:37] Julie's final words of advice: make your business your mule, not the other way around!To Find Out More:Julie Nguyen on LinkedInJulie Nguyen on InstagramMethodology (Promo Code: Stairway to CEO)Methodology on InstagramLumosityFind Your Dream JobLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesome CXQuotes:“It happened very organically. I think that if I had done market research and seen actual food delivery PNLs, I would've probably never started this business because I would've realized there's very little room for error.” [0:20:14]“For us, it's always flavor first [because] we hate diet food. None of us want to eat it.” [0:21:44]“I don't want people to feel like they're making compromises when they eat our food.” [0:24:09]“In the early years, we thought we were going to go the venture path, but then we realized that the venture business model is out of alignment with how we want to build the business, meaning quality first, even if that means it has to grow more slowly.” [0:26:29]“When I look at our customer base, they're literally NBA players, owners of NBA teams, founders [who you've] heard of. They can afford to use anything in the world and they use Methodology.” [0:28:18]“I want Methodology to be the first cloud kitchen to get a Michelin star.” [0:28:45]“Our business is laser-focused on quality at the highest level in the world. Our goal is to create an at-home eating experience that is the most luxurious but also the most healthy of anything else in the world.” [0:29:35]“I stared death in the face many times during the pandemic. But also, of course, in the early days of the business, it was the same. But it was just scarier during the pandemic because on top of the business being hard, overall life was hard.” [0:36:23]“My dream is to settle down in Europe and marry a European. That's the priority and that's what's going to happen!” [0:44:35]“The business is a mule to us and not the other way around. Once we started running the business like that, everything transformed. The business was more successful. I was healthier and happier.” [0:47:40]

Description:In this episode, Lee sits down with Cedar Carter, CEO of The Good Patch, a pioneering “wearable wellness” company offering plant-infused patches that deliver sustained relief for a variety of everyday ailments. Cedar shares her 20 years of collective experience across the apparel and wellness industries, from her first internship with Donna Karen in The Big Apple to her time at BCBG Max Azria, Roxy, and O'Neil. She also talks about her passion for wellness, her leadership style, her first fundraising experience, the importance of hard work, and why “big picture thinking” has been key to her success as well as why highly creative people don't always make the best CEOs and more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:• AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [02:26] Cedar's rustic upbringing and the leadership qualities she displayed early on.•   [05:23] An overview of Cedar's career journey, from gymnastics coach to CEO.•   [16:03] The importance of thinking about the big picture and taking a long-term approach.•   [19:13] What prompted Cedar to make the move from apparel to CPG at The Good Patch.•   [22:09] The story of how she became CEO of The Good Patch in under a year.•   [27:58] How her expectations of what it means to be CEO have been challenged.•   [29:47] Things that have influenced Cedar's empowering leadership style along the way.•   [33:47] What growth looks like at The Good Patch (and some insight into the product).•   [38:23] Inspiring lessons from Cedar's first fundraising experience.•   [44:44] What's next for The Good Patch and Cedar's advice for aspiring leaders.To Find Out More:The Good PatchCedar Carter on LinkedInThe Artemis FundLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesome CXQuotes:“We were very close to nature [as children] and it grounded me from the start.” [0:03:00]“Coaching gymnastics was a very simple job, but it led to many other career opportunities along the way for me. The value of networking!”  [0:06:03]“It's important to work hard in any job that you have, regardless of how important or unimportant it seems at the time because you learn something from every experience, but also, you never know who you'll meet along the way.” [0:07:01]“When you're young, it's hard to know what you want to do until you try it.” [0:12:07]“As a marketer, I'd always had an eye on the big picture, as you should.” [0:16:04]“Because I knew how the wholesale, retail, apparel worlds worked so intimately and also knew how to build and scale a D2C business, The Good Patch approached me thinking that my background made sense for them.” [0:19:58]“A lot of founders are very creative. They have this amazing out-of-the-box idea, then it comes to actually operating a business, and that's not always that fun!” [0:25:23]“The CEO role is a lot of pressure. That's the biggest thing [that I didn't expect or realize]. I'd always been working for somebody else. While I still work for somebody else, it is ultimately my responsibility to make sure that this business is successful.” [0:28:34]“I've seen incredibly intelligent people become so disheartened because they feel like they cannot make a single decision on their own without running it by somebody.” [0:31:15]“Once I met one person in [the female venture capital world in LA], they introduced me to two more, and then they introduced me to two more. It was such a supportive, wonderful group of women that I'm still very much in touch with.” [0:39:46]“If you believe in your idea and you believe you're going to be successful (which you should; that's why you're an entrepreneur, that's why you started this brand), you're giving investors the opportunity to be a part of it.” [0:42:48]“It's really about working hard to differentiate yourself as far as work ethic. It's hard work. You can't just sit back and work your 9-to-5 and have it fall in your lap. You've got to put some effort into your network.” [0:45:46]“How does my piece of the puzzle fit into the entire puzzle? – How can I think bigger picture? How can I affect change for the whole organization?” [0:46:35]

Description:In today's episode, gifting expert Bridget Johns shares her story, from selling piglets for pocket money in Western Pennsylvania to following her passion for retail and working for upscale brands like Lancôme, Links of London, and Tiffany & Co. Join us as Bridget shares why she decided to build a “holistic gifting” platform and offers some insight into gifting occasions and trends, as well as the assumptions she made about fundraising, the lessons she learned from launching her first company, and so much more! Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:• AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:50] Bridget's humble upbringing and her early foundational experience in retail.• [05:52] How her career aspirations evolved and her love for retail grew.• [09:28] Major takeaways from her time at Ralph Lauren, L'Oréal, and Tiffany & Co.• [11:40] Why Bridget refers to herself as a “weaver” on the path to success.• [15:24] What gifting means to her and how To&From approaches it holistically.• [25:08] Entrepreneurship from Bridget's perspective and why nurturing relationships is key.• [28:52] Investor bias against gifting and other lessons from Bridget's fundraising journey.• [30:51] Metrics to measure success by, the data points of gifting, and trends to watch.• [37:32] Why Bridget encourages founders to take more time to reflect and think.• [41:10] Advice for entrepreneurs: keep talking to people!To Find Out More:To&FromBridget Johns on LinkedInBridget Johns on TwitterLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesome CXQuotes:“When I think about entrepreneurship, the thing that does not scare me at all is how much hard work it is, because that's what I've done my entire life.” [0:07:50]“Retail is an amazing career. There are so many things you can do with it and so many ways you can grow and stretch yourself and earn a fantastic living.” [0:08:22]“There are people who have a straight line to success and there are people who weave. I'm definitely a weaver.” [0:12:30]“I may not have artistic talent (I would never say that I do), but I am in fact a really creative person. It took me most of my life to figure that out.” [0:14:17]“In order to solve gifting and make gifting a better experience for people, you have to think about it holistically.” [0:15:33]“I have incredible connections. I have nurtured my connections over time. Part of being a good gifter is keeping your relationships up to date.” [0:26:36]“With gifting, you can be too cutesy or too clever, and we really wanted a name that would support us as we grew and solve a lot of different problems over time.” [0:30:35]“I didn't take any time [between] RetailNext and To&From and I felt this pressure to start building and to know what I was going to build right away – I wish I had taken more time to reflect and think and talk to people.” [0:38:23]“The number one thing for any entrepreneur is to just keep talking to people.” [0:41:23]“[Be open to having conversations] with people who are competitive in the space, because you always learn things. You learn the macro picture that helps to shape the industry more than it's actually going to help shape your company.” [0:44:37]

Description:In this episode, Lee is joined by Alicia Liu, Founder and CEO of Lavender and Truffles. Raised in the midst of art, food, and fashion, despite being encouraged to pursue business, it's no surprise that she managed to incorporate all three in her career journey. Alicia joins us to discuss her varied career journey from her first job as a graphic designer to interning at fashion magazines, working at Prada, then Amazon, and ultimately founding Lavender and Truffles. Tune in hear Alicia's advice and learn how her story weaves together her upbringing, experience, and passion to culminate in an inspiring, authentic business endeavor. Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. Listeners get 20% off with Lavender and Truffles by using the code: LTFRIENDS20In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:38] Alicia Liu's family background and how her exposure to art, food, and fashion growing up informed her career decisions.• [07:37] Why entrepreneurship never occurred to her as a child and what her parents encouraged her to do.• [09:59] Alicia's career journey from her first job as a graphic designer to interning at fashion magazines, working at Prada, then Amazon, and ultimately founding Lavender and Truffles.• [17:50] The two most pivotal figures in her career journey and how they inspired her to start her own business.• [23:37] Alicia's experience at Amazon, what she learned about e-commerce and digital marketing, and how it prepared her for her current role as Founder and CEO.• [27:07] What inspired her to start her plant-based ice cream company, Lavender and Truffles, and how she incorporated her prior experience into the business.• [31:27] How she developed her unique flavors and launched the product in record time.• [36:35] Why she decided on the four-ounce portion size and how she landed on the name, Lavender and Truffles.• [40:10] The greatest challenges Alicia has faced on her CP journey thus far and her advice for others looking to pivot to a more fulfilling career path.• [47:55] Her greatest learning as an entrepreneur and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.To Find Out More:Alicia LiuLavender and TrufflesLavender and Truffles on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesome CX by TranscomQuotes:“[My parents] told me I had to go to business school, so I told them I was majoring in business and minoring in art, but I actually majored in art and minored in business.”  [0:06:50]“Instead of going to class for a semester, I actually went to work and I went to work in an ad agency in the art department.”  [0:12:45]“[Patrizio di Marco] took me under his wing, and I'll never forget it. There are two people in my whole career that have made a big pivotal impact and he was one of them.”  [0:18:40]“It came to a certain point where I was getting tired of the industry that I was in, and I wanted to switch to something else. I had to really think about what I wanted to do, and I always go back to cooking.”  [0:27:46]“Dairy's not really in an Asian diet. My daughter was eating a lot of ice cream and I realized it's not healthy for her to eat it all the time, 'cause we get a tub every week. And I decided, ‘I'm going to make you a healthier version.'” [0:30:42]“When you have to set up the business and come up with names and apply for permits and everything, and the tax ID number; I had that already set up for Lavender Truffles and I didn't want to go through the whole process.” [0:37:54]“My flavors are unique to the point where, ‘Oh, that's interesting' is sometimes not enough to grab off the shelf. So I started these tasting packs — so that people can have an opportunity to taste all eight.” [0:39:10]“In this CP journey, the big shocker is that it's a pennies business. It really is. Every penny counts.”  [0:40:18]“You get to a certain point in time — where you've got to take some calculated risks and you have to put the faith in the universe.”  [0:42:30]“Follow your path, guys. Change is good. You can always make changes.”  [0:47:47]“If you start your own business, you are open 24/7 for work, and it is very challenging to put the ‘closed' sign on the door.”   [0:48:10]“To be an entrepreneur or leader of any kind, I think you have to embrace change. And it doesn't mean that you have to be a complete 180 flip, but just be nimble and be flexible.” [0:49:56]

Description:Joining the show today is Johnathan Bonnell, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Wholly Veggies, a company making it fun and easy to love your veggies with delicious veggie-forward meals and snacks inspired by restaurants around the world! Nothing can truly prepare you for the stress, hard work, and curveballs that come with being an entrepreneur, but as today's guest has learned, sometimes the challenges that life throws at you can give you the training you need to trust you can make it through anything. Lee talk's with Johnathan about his upbringing in Canada, some of the financial challenges his family faced growing up, and how his mother losing her job while he was in college shaped his outlook and influenced his path to entrepreneurship. Johnathan also shares how his varied work experience — from working as a garbage man during college to taking on various roles in advertising — influenced his entrepreneurial journey, so be sure to tune in to hear it all!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.  In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:56] Johnathan's upbringing in Canada, the financial difficulties his family experienced, and his early immersion in nature and the concept of sustainability.• [04:30] The devastating news of his mother losing her job while he was in college, its impact on him, and the turning point it represented in Johnathan's life.• [12:31] Johnathan's experience working as a garbage man through college and what he learned about the industry.• [17:17] What motivated Johnathan to work in the UK after college and how the recession forced him to move back to Canada.• [23:50] The companies that Johnathan worked for while pursuing his advertising career and the events that gave him a much broader understanding of running a business.• [29:09] How Johnathan and his partner first got the idea for Wholly Veggies and his desire to build a business that would positively impact the world.• [35:24] The research behind Wholly Veggies' recipes, how their products have evolved over the years, and the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on their business.• [40:42] Johnathan's advice on when to start talking to an investment bank about helping you fundraise for your business and why it's so important to find balance as an entrepreneur.• [51:53] The story behind the name ‘Wholly Veggies', an overview of the rebranding they did in 2021, and what their plans are for 2024.To Find Out More:Johnathan Bonnell on LinkedInWholly VeggieCritical MassSid LeeTruth, Lies, and Advertising: The Art of Account PlanningParty LandLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I never wanted to be in a position where someone else can pull out the rug from underneath me. If anyone's going to do it, it's going to be me. I'd rather go out that way. So that was my first feeling of needing control with my destiny.” [0:05:32]“There's always someone smarter than you in the room, but I knew I could outwork people.” [0:10:22]“I knew what work ethic came down to a mental challenge, and how far you're willing to take the pain.” [0:10:27]“My job was, I'd have to walk up and down a section of downtown with a bag and a broom and just sweep trash.” [0:13:29]“It was terrible as a college kid, on a Friday night finishing your shift at 10pm smelling like garbage.” [0:13:52]“We work for a company that is personally responsible for destroying our planet. What if we could find a way to do something more positive? What if we could take all this hard work, all this learning, and apply it to something that can make the world a better place?” [0:30:32]“Being a vegetarian product, we were always getting this hate from people about not being fully vegan.” [0:34:40]“I really wish it was possible for founders to almost go through a mock investment banking process earlier in your journey, because it really pokes holes [in] all aspects of your business.” [0:41:47]“You can burn a lot of time, a lot of energy on the wrong product, [and] discover that too late in your journey.” [0:46:19]“Once you start scaling, it's really hard to come back from that, because you're already hitting critical mass with your retailers or distributors.” [0:46:37]“Find a way to reassess the business from an outsider's perspective, I would say, every six months.” [0:46:55]

Description:In this episode, Lee is joined by Megan Klein, Founder and CEO of Little Saints, a sugar-free, functional, nonalcoholic beverage company that has ditched the spirits in favor of the spiritual. Megan's career journey began in the field of environmental law but her curious, independent, rebellious nature (and her aversion to fighting) led her down the entrepreneurial path. Today, she shares what she learned from the successes and failures she experienced while working in the vertical farming space, how the inspiration for Little Saints came to her during the pandemic, and why she has made spirituality and her belief in the power of feminine energy (i.e. trusting your intuition) foundational elements of her business.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsor:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode, You'll Hear About:• [02:58] The entrepreneurial qualities that were evident in Megan from a young age.• [06:47] Some of the many jobs she had throughout her life: from frying mozzarella sticks to corporate law to environmental research.• [12:54] Why she took her passion for the environment into the realm of business.• [14:34] Where Megan's obsession with vertical farming originated, how she found her way into this sector, and how she worked her way up to being president of FarmedHere.• [19:06] How Megan and her team turned the failure of FarmedHere into a success story.• [21:55] The gap in the non-alcoholic drinks market that inspired Megan to found Little Saints.• [28:34] What plant spirit medicine is and how she has incorporated it into Little Saints.• [34:26] The three functional ingredients found in each of the Little Saints Plant Magic Mocktails and how these drinks differ from others in the functional non-alcohol category.• [41:20] How Megan has used money astrology to guide her decision-making.• [45:25] The role that intuition plays in her approach to funding and running Little Saints. To Find Out More:Little SaintsMegan Klein on LinkedInMegan Klein on TwitterMegan Klein on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAwesomeCXQuotes:“I'm just really curious. I think it's the quality that makes you a good entrepreneur.” [0:03:24]“I wouldn't say that I found my passion until well after 30.”  [0:08:04]“I started to see that business was a great way to be an environmentalist because you could create products or be part of a team helping people think differently about the environment, helping people love plants in a certain way. That is the direction I wanted to go in.” [0:14:11]“The failure of a business ended up being the birthplace of a business that is really sustainable and continues to grow.” [0:19:06]“I was a wellness entrepreneur during the day and then an alcohol drinker at night. I started to see how that was [counterintuitive].”  [0:22:10]“Sugar-free, functional, and scent; that's what I went to my formulation team with.” [0:27:51]“The premise of plant spirit medicine is that plants are all living beings and if we interact with them with intention, then they can have a reciprocal relationship with us and give us what we need.” [0:28:48]“We're the first functional non-alcoholic drink to call out a single adaptogen ingredient with how many milligrams of something it has in it.” [0:35:13]“My goal is to share Little Saints with as many people as possible and spread joy through that.” [0:41:24]“We talk a lot about feminine energy on team Little Saints and that just means being able to trust your intuition.” [0:46:08]

Description:Today, Lee sits down with Alec Jaffe, Founder and CEO of Alec's Ice Cream, the world's first and only regenerative agriculture-verified and USDA-certified organic ice cream made using 100% gut-friendly A2 dairy. Alec gives us a glimpse into his background, from surfing in Laguna Beach as a child to playing football at USC with a dream of going pro before a shoulder injury shifted his career ambitions and led him to a job in corporate sponsorship for AEG Worldwide. You'll gain some insight into his experience of working at a tech startup, what motivated his decision to start a delicious and sustainable ice cream brand, and the challenges he faced in finding an organic dairy supplier. We also dive into retail strategy, fundraising, and the importance of staying focused, plus so much more! To learn more about driving change in your industry, the value of patience, and what it takes to get your product on shelves, be sure to tune in today.Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:•  AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode You'll Hear About:• [02:39] Alec's childhood in California and his first taste of entrepreneurship.• [10:57] How his almost-pro athletic journey demonstrates Alec's perseverance and drive.• [14:04] The shoulder injury that led him to the corporate world (and what he learned there).• [21:15] What working in a tech startup taught him about failure, focus, and being a founder.• [24:34] Why Alec decided to build a sustainable ice cream brand that tastes good too.• [30:23]Regenerative agriculture, A2 dairy, sourcing an organic dairy supplier, and more.• [42:37] The complexities of running a retail business while driving change in the industry.• [49:07] Advice for getting your product on shelves: think about the retail buyer!To Find Out More:Alec's Ice CreamAlec Jaffe on LinkedInAlec Jaffe on TwitterLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAWESOME CX by TranscomQuotes:“I maybe had one or two lemonade stands, but I wasn't the kid with the lemonade stand on the corner every single weekend!” — @alecjaffe [0:07:35]“Seeing how my athletic journey transitions to what I'm doing now demonstrates so much perseverance and hustle and willingness to overcome all the obstacles put in my way.” — @alecjaffe [0:10:29]“At AEG, I got to deal with [how to] grow businesses and also work with clients and people who were way older than me and expected me to be on top of my game.” — @alecjaffe [0:19:56]“Focus is in everything that we're doing as far as who is our customer target? — What retailers do we want to sell our product in? We don't want to be everywhere all at once to start with. What is the product? Does this match the vision for what we want the product to be? Being really clear about that is the biggest thing that I've learned and then, on top of that, create a really amazing product.” — @alecjaffe [0:22:36]“There is a cool opportunity to create an amazing-tasting ice cream that also talks about sustainability and uses really great ingredients because nobody is doing that.” — @alecjaffe [0:29:25]“I wanted to create an ice cream that didn't have to sacrifice flavor for sustainability. It would be an additive experience where, because of the sustainable ingredients, you're actually creating a better product.” — @alecjaffe [0:30:09]“Finding an organic dairy supplier]allowed us to further our mission in a way that I didn't even know was possible through regenerative agriculture and also added a cool component with the digestion benefit through A2 dairy.” — @alecjaffe [0:34:11]“One of the bigger challenges in the regenerative space is creating a market for regenerative products.” — @alecjaffe [0:45:23]“How is this product going to be better for the shopper, for the consumer? Of course, your product needs to answer that question, but a lot of people don't think about how their product helps the retail buyer.” — @alecjaffe [0:49:47]“Take the time to get the details right, understand what you're doing, and don't just immediately rush into everything.” — @alecjaffe [0:56:01]

Description:Sharing their Stairway to CEO story today is Allie Egan, a passionate brand-builder and the Founder and CEO of Veracity. Offering personalized solutions based on its at-home hormone testing kit, Veracity's uniquely data-driven approach and clean skincare products help you take your health into your own hands. In this insightful episode, Allie sheds some light on her journey from her first job as a waitress in a retirement home outside of Philadelphia to earning her MBA from Harvard Business School and becoming a two-time CEO. In her first stint as CEO at Cynthia Rowley, Allie began experiencing issues with her skin, which led her to learn more about hormonal health imbalances and sparked the idea for Veracity. Join us as we discuss micro-journaling, her partnership with Meridian Street Capital, and why she believes you should talk about your ideas early and often!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats. In This Episode, You'll Hear About:[03:21] Allie's upbringing in suburban Philadelphia and her early pursuits of independence.[08:58] What a childhood health scare taught her about the fear that clouds optimal health.[12:33] Insight into her formative roles in investment banking. [17:37] How Allie came to realize that she wanted to “build something” as a founder.[29:41] Personal struggles with her health that gave her the idea for Veracity.[32:13] Some of the holistic wellness products and services that Veracity offers.[39:10] The highs and lows of launching a business and raising capital![45:09] Exciting innovations that you can expect from Veracity in the future.To Find Out More:VeracityAllie Egan on LinkedInAllie Egan on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramAWESOME CX by TranscomQuotes:“I wanted to work. I wanted to make my own money. I wanted to have that independence [from very early on].” — Allie Egan [0:07:03]“That [childhood health scare] experience has taught me how so many people think about their health. Instead of being proactive and [thinking] ‘What could be going on in my body? How can I make it better?', how they think about optimal health is clouded in fear.” — Allie Egan [0:11:20]“I feel fortunate that I ended up getting interviews at [L Catterton], which is 100% exclusively focused on consumer retail. I didn't know if I'd love [investment banking], but what I ended up loving was the consumer retail world.” — Allie Egan [0:15:09]“Like a lot of folks, I had been on this path of ‘This is the paved path. Keep going that way.' [I liked what I was doing], but I really started to soul search and think about: what could I be uniquely good at? What could I bring to the table?” — Allie Egan [0:17:53]“Part of what you're doing in building a company is being the conductor of all these things, whether it's ideas, expertise, products, or people.” — Allie Egan [0:18:30]“If you knew everything you were going to learn [as an entrepreneur], you'd probably make different decisions!” — Allie Egan [0:21:59]“Here I was, someone that worked in skincare, was seeking a doctor, and not only did I not have the tools to solve my aesthetic issue, but I also didn't have this important information about my underlying health.” — Allie Egan [0:31:07]“One piece of advice I always like to give to [entrepreneurs] is to try to talk about your ideas early and often, even when they're not perfectly formed.” — Allie Egan [0:39:36]“Raising capital is always hard. It is such a slog. I listened to the founder of Coinbase, [who said]: a successful fundraise is 9 out of 10 people telling you no. And that's in really good times!” — Allie Egan [0:42:03]“Being an entrepreneur is like, every day, either getting an acceptance or a rejection letter from your favorite college, but getting both accepted and rejected multiple times a day, every single day. Dealing with that elation down to the dumps is something that has become the norm.” — Allie Egan [0:43:03]

Stéphane Daussaint, responsable CSC-Transcom secteur Poste sera l'invité de RTLINFO ce mardi à 7h50, sur Bel-RTL. Il répondra en direct aux questions d'Antonio Solimando. (Tous les dirigeants de BPost sur le grill des questions des députés ce mardi en commission à 14h: Que se passe-t-il chez BPost? Scandales d'Etat? Que pensent les travailleurs de tous ces accusations à répétition autour de leur employeur, et de l'image que ça véhicule ?)

Description:On today's show, Lee is joined by Sandro Roco, the Founder and CEO of the first Asian-inspired sparkling water brand, Sanzo. Sandro's career journey has been as flavorful as his products. Before founding Sanzo, he worked as a nuclear power plant engineer, on the trading floor at JPMorgan, and created his own fashion app! Tune in today to hear how Sandro's pride in his Asian American heritage combined with his desire for financial freedom, led him to found Sanzo, the lessons that he has learned through the process of building the company from the ground up, and the myths about entrepreneurship that he is trying to bust! Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:[03:54] How Sandro's upbringing in diverse central New Jersey as a child of immigrant parents helped foster his entrepreneurial spirit (and what his first entrepreneurial venture was).[12:48] What he loved about his first job as a delivery boy for his then girlfriend's family's deli. [15:51] The valuable lessons that he learned during his years at Villanova University, particularly as editor-in-chief of the college newspaper.[19:49] Sandro explains the motivation behind his decision to get a corporate engineering job when he graduated from college and when he realized that wasn't the path for him. [23:26] The app that he developed while working on the trading floor at JPMorgan and how it altered the trajectory of his career. [30:00] Myths that have left many people feeling intimidated about founding businesses.[34:15] The culmination of factors that inspired Sandro to found Sanzo (and what the business was like in the early days).[40:35] The worst and best Sanzo flavors that have been created to date. [42:36] Why Sandro believes a beverage company requires a different funding strategy to many other types of businesses, and his advice for fundraising successfully. [51:33] Some important things that you should know if you are thinking about taking the leap into the entrepreneurial world. To Find Out More:SanzoSanzo on InstagramSanzo on FacebookSanzo on LinkedInSandro Roco on LinkedInSandro Roco on InstagramLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“Before I even really appreciated what a job was, I just enjoyed the idea of ”Hey, I sell something and I then get additional money and it gives me a sense of freedom.” — [0:12:06]“I really appreciated the humanity in a small mom-and-pop business.” —[0:14:08]“What really set the foundation for me was I had the opportunity to be the editor-in-chief of our college newspaper…[and] we had the ability to run it like a business.” —[0:16:33]“I knew pretty early on that being a traditional engineer was really not it for me. I wanted something a little bit more exciting.” —[0:21:01]“We've done a disservice over the last however long in empowering people to take control of their careers and their lives.” —[0:30:47]“It's important when you're doing R&D to measure your taste and aroma because a lot of times those can differ.” — [0:41:47]“The world of beverage in particular tends to be quite capital intensive.” —[0:42:21]“If you can operate a business profitability and never have to take a dime in investor capital, I would be the first one to say, ‘Go and do that.' There's a lot less stress to it in many ways and you are really much more in control of your own destiny.” —[0:43:25]“I don't think you can self-finance a beverage company unless you have generational wealth. Maybe you can get off the ground in five, six figures, but to really get it moving, in my experience, it takes seven figures worth of capital.” —[0:43:46]“The biggest thing that I've learned about fundraising [is that] it all comes down to storytelling.” — [0:44:12]“Entrepreneurship isn't for everyone. It is a taxing journey. It is a taxing life. There are a lot of sacrifices that you end up having to make, especially in the earliest days. And I think it is important to demystify that part.” —[0:51:45]“You really have to have a bias towards action. Do something each day, something to push the ball forward. It's not just reading something on the internet or reading a blog about how to start a business. It's going out there and actually starting a business. It's going out there and talking to prospective customers. It's going out there and trying to build something and if and when it fails, finding an entrepreneur who is willing to give you some feedback.” — [0:52:48]

Description:Today, Lee is joined by the Founder and CEO of AKUA, Courtney Boyd Myers. Courtney's career path has seen three separate tracks which collided in the form of the sustainable food brand, AKUA. Having grown up at the seaside in Connecticut, she has a deep love and appreciation for the ocean which, years later, manifested in her delicious, nutritious kelp burgers with numerous health and environmental benefits. In this episode, Courtney shares her entrepreneurship journey and recounts the pivotal moment when her passion and varied experience met. Tune in to learn about AKUA's genesis and development, from the research process and abandoned products to fundraising and exciting collaborations!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsor:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.In This Episode You'll Hear About:[01:27] An introduction to Courtney Boyd Myers, Founder and CEO of AKUA.[02:47] Courtney's idyllic childhood growing up at the ocean in Connecticut, her unfulfilling education experience, and her varied career history.[12:25] The three phases of her career prior to launching AKUA, and what she learned from each venture.[16:34] Courtney's journey to becoming a founder: the pivotal moment her passion and experience collided to create AKUA.[19:19] What makes kelp such an interesting future food in the context of climate change, and why Courtney landed on burgers as a format.[26:25] The genesis and development of AKUA, from the research process and abandoned products to fundraising and collaborations.[35:48] Courtney shares crowdfunding and community-building resources and tips.[39:19] The most unexpected challenges of her entrepreneurship journey and what she would have done differently with the experience she has today.[43:47] How she's grown personally and professionally, as a leader.[46:12] Courtney shares a final piece of advice for entrepreneurs and fills us in on what's next for AKUA!To Find Out More:AKUACourtney Boyd MyersCourtney Boyd Myers on LinkedInCourtney Boyd Myers on TwitterForbesGeneral Assembly‘How to Rock a Republic Campaign'RepublicWefunderLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“I've gone from journalism to tech startups to food, which I don't necessarily think was as easy to do in our parents' generation and I think, for many reasons, it's a lot easier to do now.” —[0:09:30]“I had three separate career tracks prior to starting AKUA.” — [0:12:42]“I was a journalist for a long time and I had so much fun interviewing entrepreneurs and hearing their stories. That is where I got the exposure to entrepreneurship.” — [0:12:51]“Eventually I got the itch. I needed to know what it was like working for a startup, even if it meant leaving my career in journalism.” — [0:13:57]“A lot of times, as founders, we end up telling all the best parts about being a founder, and it's only recently that being vulnerable as a founder has been seen as okay. So I heard a lot of the highlights reels, especially as a journalist.” — [0:16:55]“Because the kelp goes through photosynthesis, it's sucking Co2 out of the water as it grows its body mass. So it's really helpful in the context of climate change in combatting acidification.” — [0:19:19] “If you think about growing food, most of the things you and I have on a daily basis require a lot of fresh water and dry land, and kelp requires neither. So it's a really interesting future food in the context of climate change.” — [0:19:33]“I wanted to figure out a way to get more people eating more kelp for so many reasons: health, environment, and supporting our farmers.” — [0:20:22]“I don't think in-person tastings are helpful … If the founder's in the room, throw out the results.” — [0:31:48]“We're turning to equity crowdfunding because I think it's going to be not only helpful for bringing in money, but also really helpful from a marketing perspective.” — [0:35:34]“I think that age-old ‘The dinner table's the greatest piece of connective technology' type of idea is something that really can't be overdone, especially post-COVID.” — [0:37:58]

This edition features stories on the Air Force Association's Air and Space conference, the Air Force's 2010 Information Technology conference in Montgomery, Ala., the Defense Department's procurement offices and defense contractors becoming more efficient, the Air Force ban on all intoxicating substances other than the lawful use of alcohol and tobacco products. This includes a recent ban on the recreational drugs Salvia and Spice.

Didn't make it to TRANSCOM's PPF last week?  Listen in as Dan Bradley from IAM discusses the PPF with Angela Beusse from National Van Lines, JP Pennington from TMM, and Caleb McCartney from Cornerstone Moving & Storage. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/iamovers/message

The CBE decided to keep overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation unchanged at 16.25%, 17.25%, and 16.75%, respectively. Egypt's current account deficit narrowed by 20.2% to USD3.2 billion in 1Q22/23. The improved performance was attributed primarily toNet FDI inflows doubled to reach USD3.3 billion.Tourism revenues surged more than 43% y-o-y to USD4.1 billion, driven by a more than 50% increase in arrivals.The trade deficit narrowed to USD9.1 billion, down 18% from the same period last year.Suez Canal receipts rose 19% to USD2 billion.On the other hand,Foreign investors pulled almost USD2.2 billion as the war in Ukraine and interest rate hikes by global central banks drew funds away from emerging markets.Remittances fell more than 20% to USD6.4 billion. The balance of payments recorded an overall surplus of USD523.5 million during the July-September period. Suez Canal revenues grew 47% y-o-y in January to an all-time monthly high of USD802 million. The cost of insuring against default on Egypt's one-year t-bills (CDS) is currently around 500 bps, down significantly from the peak of almost 1,800 last July but still up significantly from lows in 2021. The energy sector represents 50% of the state-owned companies that the government plans to offer stakes in this year. Egyptian Electric Utility & Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency approved a new tariff for using the electricity transmission grid during FY22/23. The tariff for extra high voltage is 4.96 piasters/kwh, 14.53 piasters/kwh for the high voltage, and 15.52 piasters/kwh for medium voltage. The CBE has instructed local banks to use FX obtained from the interbank market to fund imports rather than to cover overdrawn FX accounts. According to local news, HRHO has decided to postpone listing its consumer finance arm ValU until next year.Several local banks have re-applied the mortgage financing initiatives with returns of 3% and 8%, after transferring the initiative to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Communities instead of the CBE. The 13 draft oil agreements for oil exploration in the Western Desert, Gulf of Suez, and the Mediterranean will bring minimum investments of USD650 million. Ethydco is currently negotiating to reschedule USD1.25 billion in debts. The Education Ministry will launch an in-school tutoring scheme across all governorates at the start of the second semester of the academic year next week. NTRA is currently discussing with MNOs allowing Wi-Fi-supported calls service, which is expected to be implemented during the current year. Sweden-headquartered outsourcing company Transcom has opened an outsourcing center in Sixth of October's Smart Village.  

Scott Air Force Base in the Metro East plays a critical role internationally, housing U.S. Transportation Command, which is one of 11 unified combatant commands. TRANSCOM is responsible for the logistical movement of troops and supplies for the country's military. The command's role has been on display recently, coordinating and delivering supplies for the war in Ukraine. STLPR reporter Eric Schmid talks with Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost about the TRANSCOM's work and future challenges.

General Darren McDew, former Commander US TRANSCOM and Dr. Alan Misenheimer, former Political Advisor to TRANSCOM, explain how the command projects and sustains US military operations around the globe, drawing on its formidable assets and those of private industry.  They describe how the Dept of Defense and the Dept of State negotiate transit access for US military equipment and personnel as well as the threats posed by Chinese global infrastructure investments and by constant cyberattacks on the networks TRANSCOM depends on.

Don't miss this episode of In the Nic of Time with Special Guest, Greg Touhill, Director, CERT as they discuss what changed since his time as the CIO of TRANSCOM, his take on the Chief Software Officer role, and the history behind the creation of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Jonas Berggren is the head of business development for Transcom - focused on leading the northern European division (baltics and nordics). He recently published a long article on LinkedIn (link below) exploring the values of GigCX, but Jonas went beyond just arguing for GigCX, he was exploring flexible work and what it means for the future of CX and BPO. Mark Hillary called him at his base in Sweden to talk about the article and some of his ideas how how flexible CX is becoming essential in the post-pandemic business environment. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasberggren2/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-gig-economy-reshaping-future-customer-experience-jonas-berggren/ https://www.transcom.com/global/  

Shownotes: Racism/casteism comes in various forms across the world, sometimes it is overt and sometimes it is coded. In either form it negatively impacts the life and life chances of millions of people who move to a different country to seek a better or more stable future. Sometimes it can break people and other times it makes them more resilient and more determined. Did you know that Sweden is a country where every fourth resident(24.9) has a foreign background and every third (32.3) has at least one parent born abroad. But, does this diversity translate into a more inclusive country or workforce? Sweden's recent election results are telling. For Sushma, the experience of looking for employment at the start of her stay in Sweden was deeply disheartening. In her own words, “Recruitment bias (unconscious) has worked against me in 99 out of 100 job applications. That gives me 1 interview opportunity in 100+ submitted applications; where I check 100% (more or less) of the job requirements on the ad.” Unfortunately, this is not unique to Sweden, or any one country. My own experiences in the UK, a couple of years back were similar if not worse. I survived but I am still smarting from the experience. In addition to being the Head of Talent Acquisition, Northern Europe at Transcom, Sushma has also been involved in the local parliament in Lund since five years. She is determined to move the needle and contribute to building a fairer society. In this episode we spoke about

Today's Story: Delivering Lethality Through Logistics

An interview with outspoken Roy Craigen of Transcom Fleet Services. Transcom develops unique programs aimed at improving trucking operations across North America by shifting culture, attitude, and ultimately performance. Roy has advice for recruiters, fleets and truck driving schools. Where would you prefer to spend your money? Making payments on a parked truck or on recruiting and training a qualified driver to drive it?

Rules and regulations around military moves are set by two sources: laws passed by Congress, and policies created and directed by the Pentagon. How those are implemented is up to U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) and the military and civilian officials there who oversee the military move system. In this episode of PCS with Military.com, Brig. Gen. Joel Safranek, who oversees the personal property system, and Kristen Johnson Barnat, a TRANSCOM spokesperson, give us the inside view on rule and regulation changes that impact the 2022 PCS season. Connect with this episode: Get military PCS advice in your inbox Learn more about military PCSing Learn about military moves on Military OneSource Log into the Defense Personal Property System (DPS)

Zapraszam na ekspresowe podsumowanie dziewiątego tygodnia roku 2022. Jak zwykle znajdziecie w nim informacje o podcastach, newsach i zapowiedzi nadchodzących wydarzeń. Nie mogłem też pominąć komentarza w odniesieniu do rosyjskiej inwazji na Ukrainę. Mam tam kolegów i przyjaciół i nie mogę się pogodzić z tym co ich teraz spotyka. Oto linki do wszystkich omawianych tematów:Podcast BSS bez tajemnic:Odcinek 618 Apel o pomoc dla ukraińskiego biznesu – https://bit.ly/3pmjUYu Odcinek 619 Człowiek podstawą biznesu - https://bit.ly/3hwFtBa Odcinek 620 Poland Business Harbour - https://bit.ly/35EmnXhOdcinek 621 „Kim ONI są? - Transcom” - https://bit.ly/3IK7fGr Newsy:Praca dla Ukrainek - https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/wiadomosci/gdzie-znajda-prace-ukrainki-ktore-przekroczyly-granice-z-polska/24067Depresja - https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/wiadomosci/polacy-zmeczeni-i-bez-energii-nawet-miliard-zlotych-rocznie-traci-gospodarka-przez-depresje/24054Grant Thornton opublikował marcowe kalendarze kadrowego i księgowego - https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/raporty/kalendarz-kadrowego-i-ksiegowego-na-marzec-2022-roku/24063Raport o cyberbezpieczeństwie w polskich firmach - https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/raporty/cyberbezpieczenstwo-w-polskich-firmach-2022-niemal-70-proc-polskich-przedsiebiorstw-potwierdza-naruszenie-bezpieczenstwa-danych/24052Rekomendacja jednego z odcinków podcastu Radka Drzewieckiego - https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/edukacja/sceo-41-tips-tricks-jak-sprawdzic-jaki-mamy-poziom-przywodztwa-w-organizacji/24064Zapowiedzi:8 marca 2022 HR na szpilkach Moniki Smulewicz zaprasza na wirtualne szkolenie „Rozliczanie wynagrodzeń kierowców po zmianach w 2022 r.”. Szkolenie poprowadzi Przemysław Jeżek - https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/wydarzenia/rozliczanie-wynagrodzen-kierowcow-po-zmianach-w-2022-r/2022-03-08/13119 marca Miasto Poznań zaprasza na spotkanie online pod tytułem „Polski Ład: Ulgi i zachęty podatkowe, wsparcie działalności B+R+I oraz przedsięwzięć inwestycyjnych”. Spotkanie będzie prowadzone wraz z ekspertami z firmy KPMG Poland. - https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/wydarzenia/polski-lad-ulgi-i-zachety-podatkowe-wsparcie-dzialalnosci-b-r-i-oraz-przedsiewziec-inwestycyjnych/2022-03-09/132319 marca odbędą się Biznesowe Mistrzostwa Polski w padlu 2022 – https://focusonbusiness.eu/pl/wydarzenia/biznesowe-mistrzostwa-polski-w-padlu-2022/2022-03-19/13055-6 kwietnia 2022 – Targi Pracy Moja Praca, Mój Rozwój Mój Wybór - https://praca2022.pl/pl 7 kwietnia 2022 – The BSS Forum i Gala Outsourcing Stars - https://bssforum.com/pl/ ****************************Nazywam się Wiktor Doktór i na co dzień prowadzę Klub Pro Progressio https://klub.proprogressio.pl/pl – to społeczność wielu firm prywatnych i organizacji sektora publicznego, którym zależy na rozwoju relacji biznesowych w modelu B2B. W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic poza odcinkami solowymi, zamieszczam rozmowy z ekspertami i specjalistami z różnych dziedzin przedsiębiorczości.Jeśli chcesz się o mnie więcej dowiedzieć, to zapraszam do odwiedzin moich kanałów w mediach społecznościowych:YouTube - https://bit.ly/BSSbeztajemnicYT Instagram - https://bit.ly/BSSbtInsta Facebook - https://bit.ly/BSSbtFB LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/ Możesz też do mnie napisać. Mój adres email to - wiktor.doktor(@)proprogressio.pl****************************Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są: Marzena Sawicka (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-a9644a23/), Przemysław Sławiński (https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/), Damian Ruciński (https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-ruci%C5%84ski/) i Szymon Kryczka (https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/). Wspaniali ludzie, dzięki którym pojawiają się kolejne odcinki tego podcastu. Jeśli i Ty chcesz dołączyć do grona Patronów, to możesz to zrobić przez serwis Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor Możesz także wspierać rozwój tego podcastu przez Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Jeśli podoba Ci się to co robię, możesz, przez ten link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor, kupić mi kawę i tym samym wesprzeć rozwój tego podcastu.

Zapraszam na kolejny odcinek z serii „Kim ONI są?”. Jeśli kiedykolwiek natknęliście się na firmę Transcom, to dziś możecie pogłębić swoją wiedzę na temat tej organizacji. Firma, która zatrudnia w Polsce ponad 1200 osób i nie ma lokalizacji w miastach Tier1. Firma, która zaczynała swoją biznesową przygodę w naszym kraju od Olsztyna. Dlaczego? Kim jest Transcom? Jakie świadczy usługi?Zapraszam na wywiad, którego udzielił mi Grzegorz Baran – Członek Zarządu i Manager Regionalny w Polsce firmy Transcom. Więcej o Transcom dowiecie się ze strony - https://www.transcom.com/Ale także z LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcom/Grzegorza również spotkacie na LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/grzegorz-baran-135bb578/****************************Nazywam się Wiktor Doktór i na co dzień prowadzę Klub Pro Progressio https://klub.proprogressio.pl/pl – to społeczność wielu firm prywatnych i organizacji sektora publicznego, którym zależy na rozwoju relacji biznesowych w modelu B2B. W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic poza odcinkami solowymi, zamieszczam rozmowy z ekspertami i specjalistami z różnych dziedzin przedsiębiorczości.Jeśli chcesz się o mnie więcej dowiedzieć, to zapraszam do odwiedzin moich kanałów w mediach społecznościowych:YouTube - https://bit.ly/BSSbeztajemnicYT Instagram - https://bit.ly/BSSbtInsta Facebook - https://bit.ly/BSSbtFB LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/ Możesz też do mnie napisać. Mój adres email to - wiktor.doktor(@)proprogressio.pl****************************Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są: Marzena Sawicka (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-a9644a23/), Przemysław Sławiński (https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/), Damian Ruciński (https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-ruci%C5%84ski/) i Szymon Kryczka (https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/). Wspaniali ludzie, dzięki którym pojawiają się kolejne odcinki tego podcastu. Jeśli i Ty chcesz dołączyć do grona Patronów, to możesz to zrobić przez serwis Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor Możesz także wspierać rozwój tego podcastu przez Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Jeśli podoba Ci się to co robię, możesz, przez ten link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor, kupić mi kawę i tym samym wesprzeć rozwój tego podcastu.

Har ni problem med högre sjukfrånvaro än ni önskar? Leverantören Aino Health har utvecklat en plattform för att hjälpa företag och organisationer med att minska sjukfrånvaron och öka välmåendet hos medarbetarna genom ett digitalt stöd för chefer och HR. Tillsammans med Aino träffar vi också en av deras kunder - Transcom - som  har använt lösningen sedan 2018 och berättar om vad det har givit. Från Transcom hör vi Malin Söder HRBP och från Aino Health Jyrki Eklund och Malin Eriksson

Lisa Stoner is the global head of support operations at Uber, based in San Francisco, California. Lisa is also on the General Member Board of Transcom. In this episode Lisa explore some of the challenges of hyper-growth, multiple customer channels, and how to innovate without breaking your day-to-day service to the customer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-stoner-21529b6/ https://uber.com/ https://transcom.com/ 

Today's Story: AMC's New Commander

Outsourcing&More to jedyny regularnie wydawany dwumiesięcznik sektora nowoczesnych usług dla biznesu w Europie. Pod koniec lipca 2021 na rynku pojawiło się 59 wydanie tego czasopisma. Posłuchajcie podcastu, w którym opowiadam o tym jakie artykuły i wywiady znajdziecie w lipcowo-sierpniowym wydaniu Outsourcing&More.Link do Outsourcing&More - https://outsourcingandmore.proprogressio.pl/pl#OutsourcingAndMore #outsourcing #mediaZapraszam do odwiedzin na moich kanałach mediów społecznościowych:YouTube - https://bit.ly/BSSbeztajemnicYT LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/ Instagram - https://bit.ly/BSSbtInsta Facebook - https://bit.ly/BSSbtFB A jak chcesz do mnie napisać, to tu jest mój adres email - wiktor.doktor(@)proprogressio.pl Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są Marzena Sawicka i Przemysław Sławiński. Jeśli i Ty chcesz dołączyć do grona Patronów, to możesz to zrobić przez serwis Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor Możesz także wspierać rozwój tego podcastu przez Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Jeśli podoba Ci się to co robię, możesz, przez ten link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor, kupić mi kawę i tym samym wesprzeć rozwój tego podcastu.UWAGA: Chcesz założyć własny podcast na SPREAKER? Użyj tego linku i zobacz ile zniżki możesz teraz otrzymać - http://spreaker.pxf.io/wiktor

MAX: Thanks for joining us. I'll be inviting on the stage, Jun Abo from Transcom, Alethea from Manulife, and Fleurette from iQor. Each of them had the talent acquisition function for their respective companies, which all hire north of 5000 people a year in the Philippines alone. And so we'll be talking to them about onboarding and hiring without an office. After that, I'll be holding the mic for a little bit longer to talk about what we've experienced at Talkpush in the last year, overcoming the fear that was initiated by the crisis and building on the change that was forced in the market. And then afterwards we have a networking session, So we have 150 plus people currently online. You'll have a chance to interact with each other, and you'll have a chance to interact with a panelist at random very soon at the end of the session, but also the reason why you should stay online till the very end, is because if you stay, you will be entered to win a raffle. And if you win the raffle Talkpush will pay for a slice of pizza for everybody in your recruitment team. Terms and Conditions apply, we don't want a 100 people team, but maybe we'll go up to 10 to 20, we'll see. And so you get a chance to feed pizza to your whole team, whether they're working at home or they're working in an office if you win the raffle. So we thought that would be a good team building outcome if we could win this. So, yeah, as I was saying, these are the panelists who will be joining me on stage right now, Jun, Alethea and Fleurette from Transcom, Manulife and iQor respectively. And so, ladies and gentlemen, if you'd be kind enough to join me on stage. Hi Jun.JUN: Hey Max. MAX: Hello Fleurette.FLEURETTE: Hey Max. Hi, everyone.MAX: And Alethea. Hello.Fantastic. Thank you all for joining. Welcome to the stage. PANELISTS: Thanks Max.MAX: So, you all had the HR function or talent acquisition function for some of the largest employers in the Philippines, and about a year or plus ago, you'all had to adapt to a really rapid change. And I think we're all past the trauma of how to adapt a little bit and we've kind of shaken it off. But, take us back to that time perhaps of a year ago, when the biggest challenges of hiring remotely, and particularly on the onboarding side hit you in the face. Can you remind us what you went through at that time, and I don't have a particular order in mind so maybe we'll do alphabetically, starting with you, Alethea. Yes?ALETHEA: Okay. I think I've had a very interesting experience in this pandemic simply because I was actually in a different organization when I first joined, or when they first experienced a pandemic and I was the Global Head for onboarding for that bank. So I was managing all the regions across the world, and was basically the one responsible for ensuring that the digital onboarding was happening. And then I decided for some crazy reason to change organizations so I actually experience digital onboarding as a candidate, right. So, I think, from both of those perspective, the main concern was really how do you maintain the candidate experience, and it was very interesting because I didn't have the best experience on boarding on with Manulife, and that was actually the reason I decided that their job offer really focus because I said I can do this better than they're doing it now. And because I was a candidate right at that point in time, and you know it was really seeing that in both perspectives really just highlighted and how this pandemic is going to turn everything into a digitalization concern, as well as coordinating with a government so it was such a shock to actually be going through that last year.MAX: Yeah, that's a really good hot tip for everybody who's in talent acquisition which I know is most of the audience, if you're applying for a company that has a horrible onboarding process, that's it. That's where you should be working because you have a lot of things you can fix. Great. Thank you. Fleurette, tell us about those challenges from a year plus ago, and particularly on the onboarding side.FLEURETTE: So Max I told my husband that once we have grandkids. I'm going to be spending days and days talking about the horrible experience of pandemic because we get to live through it right, but as we all know there's so many learnings that came through but let me discuss to you a few things that really shocked us to our core because there's no playbook, there is no training that will prepare you for this. So one is, it was really difficult to connect with employees, right. You can't just call them and expect them to pick up the phone and on the onboarding side it was so difficult for us to get all the documents completed on time. So every company will have a list of mandatory contractual requirements for them to be able to join us. And that has been really difficult and then in addition to that, when the government started reducing the capacities of your government agencies, like NBI. The schools aren't open, their online portal is not very helpful, you have issues with your pre employment medical clinics, all of those put together is clearly a nightmare and I'm sure everyone in attending this event is nodding their head trying to relive that experience. So when you put really big issues in front of people, that's when you're gonna see teams actually working together, because for us, this is the time that we have to prove our worth. This is the time that you have to do the noble job of giving Filipinos the jobs that they need. So, yeah, I can, I can go on and on but trust me, you want Jun to also weigh in.MAX: I do. But yeah, there's a double message here, it's like, on one hand, it's overwhelming, on the other hand, it's hero mode. This is when we do our most important work. So that was, I think a lot of people went through those two emotions at that time. Jun?JUN: Yeah I echo everyone's sentiment. So there is a Chinese curse that goes, may he live in interesting times. And like it or not we are living in interesting times just like everyone else. When we transition to the lockdown in the pandemic its impact on work, initially a lot within the talent acquisition team it's okay, we're not going to be hiring. So there's not enough work for us. But lo and behold after a month of slowdown, we started hiring and hiring, and hiring. One of the few questions that we started asking ourselves is with our onboarding process, how do we make our candidates feel that they've made the right decision in terms of joining Transcom. Second one, and the most important one for me I think it's, How do we make them excited about being part of the Transcom culture. How do we help them prepare for their role that they signed up for and how will employees fit in based on the new team, which they could not be meeting for weeks or even months. What we've learned early on, it's the pandemic, and the shifting to working at home. It's much easier for new employees to resign when there's no feeling of loyalty to develop and again organizational culture appears remote. Again most of our organization was centered towards building that rapport, that engagement and culture when they're on site. When you can see them, when you can touch them, when you can talk to them. But how do you translate that into this new normal. So, yeah those are the challenges that we face early on.MAX: I'm gonna go back to what Fleurette was talking about, and the paperwork and working with the administrative side of onboarding, but before going there, you touched upon a key point Jun, which is the fact that you don't have the same opportunity now when you onboard someone to make them feel part of a community, and so it's easier for them to just stop showing up. And I'm sure we're all looking for ways to create that social fabric while not meeting people in person. I'd love to get some of the tips from this very experienced panel. What are some of the initiatives that you can recommend as part of the onboarding specifically, that will make somebody who is not going to shake your hands, not give you a hug, not have a meal with you still feel part of the group, and the community? What are some of the actionable tips you can offer our listeners or our viewers?ALETHEA: I think one of the things that really are very low hanging fruit that we did was to change our templates right. You always have gathered a template that you send out via email and automated responses. And we really made it into a point that they were a little bit more engaging, warmer, and I mean just adding, I hope you're safe as you receive this, those types of little nuggets that you input just to help them understand that you do understand that there's something happening in the world that may not let them respond as quickly as usual I think one of the other things also on those templates is that we really spoke with cross functions, and had them understand that from a family that experiences standpoint, we're seeing that there's a better opportunity to engage, so especially with IT managers, tapping them and having them communicate better with their near hires not even the ones who have accepted offers yet but really tapping the hiring managers to ensure that they are part of that community and making sure that they understand that if somebody wasn't able to appear on an interview and there was no notice, we can't just blacklist them because that was in some functions that was what they did, but our next reaction is always, are they okay? And we would send out a message saying that we notice you weren't able to do your interview, so are you okay? And those little nuggets really help us ensure that they see us as a caring organization. And we really meant it, so it was really just putting more of our heart into the communication instead of just thinking it off as another template that we send out.MAX: Right, so don't listen to your instincts, and send him a hate mail, no, just hold back. Okay, I just been ghosted again, something could have happened. Compassion first. Yeah, that's good.JUN: Yeah, just to add I think this remote working environment, it provides a sense of not fitting in, it can develop really quickly, especially with the lack of interaction, I really agree that he can't over communicate enough, we need to make sure that the candidates would feel that sense of belongingness right from the get go. One tip I could share with you guys it's for the ones watching this, we've started investing in our onboarding concerts. So it's both people driven and automated. So for people driven we have our onboarding ambassador. So these are folks who would manage the relationship in the communication from the moment a candidate signs their job offer, all the way up till they show up. They attend their training, they do their orientation, the relationship is there so if there are any questions, concerns that the new employees are too shy to ask their hiring manager or supervisor, then the onboarding ambassador is going to be their buddy. So they can ask questions, or even escalate concerns. I mentioned, automating it and you know Max I've been working closely with your team on how we can automate our onboarding process especially for our frontline advisors, and the key for us when automating that is how do we focus on cultural immersion, so that, again, focusing on that sense of belongingness, leveraging on our well being platform and programs because, again, like what the earlier speakers in the earlier panel mentioned employee wellness and well being. Mental health is important. How do you create that sense of belonging, and we also tried to add that virtual meet and greets, virtual coffee chats with our new hires.MAX: Great. Fleurette, do you want to add to the topic was everything covered I can move to the next question. FLEURETTE: Yeah, go ahead, Max. MAX: Okay, I will. Well, it's an ever ending topic anyway. How do we make people feel at home but I do like the ambassador's suggestion. It goes a little bit against what calpak was saying, where he was talking about the generalist where everything is handled by technology and recruitment is done by a generalist, there's still room for specialization perhaps like a specialist onboarding, specialist sourcing. I don't think that debate is settled, of course. We talked a little bit about, you were mentioning, people who quit their jobs a little bit more easily when they don't come to the office. How's the experience of the journey from somebody, applying being shortlisted being hired and then actually showing up on day one on the job. Has that funnel yielded some surprises and some shockers compared to a year ago? In other words, what are some of the drop off points that people should be on the lookout for where there's a risk of somebody disappearing, doing a Houdini on you? What can you share with us on this Fleurette or others, yes.FLEURETTE: The unfortunate reality is that you have to master dropouts on every step of the way. So, because I have this ability for all recruitment and all of HR and we track this and it is making us sad. I do have recruiters and by the way, plugging hi to my loving HR and recruitment team, they come to me and say that they got ghosted in real life on their personal life and even at work, they get ghosted and so it has becoming to be something that they're very concerned about, and what you can do is first, work with the data that is available for you, right. And based on that data, we have consumed days, not only hours but days, looking at the data, trying to analyze why people are ghosting us and some of the data points that I can share to the team is that one, are they not showing up after the offer? So, for sure, it has something to do with the offer, 80 90% of the time, are they not showing up when you give them a long list of onboarding documents? I can tell you that they're afraid and they don't have the time and they don't want to go to those physical offices to get those documents. So, what we have done is really an investment, all around, an investment on technology. Let me talk about technology first, we made sure because the 201 folders that are used, it's something that we used to call many decades ago and I'm probably giving away my age. That is something of the past, you cannot do 201 folders anymore, physical ones right. So, we have invested in a platform where candidates can submit it can be uploaded, indexed in that particular platform so that when someone needs to audit you, it is available at your fingertips, right. The second part is we have made an investment on a vendor. If your candidates cannot go or do not want to go to government agencies, schools, right, you have someone to do that for them. I know this is not something that everyone is accustomed to. Not all companies are not willing to make that investment, I get it, but for us we have computed the financial benefits of doing that versus not doing that. So every person that we don't hire is obviously, a loss in revenue, so you just have to put forth a good financial comparison on the investment versus the loss of revenue. And above all that Max, I'm a mother and Happy Mother's Day to everyone that is here, technology and platforms can only work if you have parents and support systems that can nurture them, right. So you have to train them properly, you have to invest in them the same way that we invest in our kids' education, you need to make sure that you are patient, because technology will not work 100% of how you desire that technology to work. So again, spending time with your frontline nurses is critical, spending time understanding what the candidates are talking about you is really critical at this point in time.JUN: So to add to that one. For one of the aha moments that we've seen, and then I'm talking about our CSRs and PSRs frontline advisors, we've seen an increase in terms of fallouts across the various stages of our recruitment funnel, it's really critical that you have a very rigid and strict funnel management in place, just so that you know what's going on at every stages of the funnel, but just focusing on the fallouts at the end of the funnel so we see fallout for those folks who signed their job offers, but did not proceed with their pre employment background checks. We've seen folks who have signed their employment contracts but did not show up on day one. And when we try to look at the different drivers, what we notice is that we categorize our candidates or new employees into three profiles, the starters, the shifters and the adapters. Starters are fresh out of school, shifters are those with BPO experience and then you have the adapters who are coming from different industries for the first time to work in a BPO. Shifters what we found, they have a tendency to get attracted to the next shiny object so even though they've signed a job offer if another company comes along and offers them 500 pesos or 1000 more than what they got on their job offer, they jump to that offer and ghost you. For adapters and starters, it's more important that we are able to reaffirm that they made the right decision. So identifying what are the different drivers that will trigger their motivations. So for example, is there a specific benefit that we have that we can then share with them so as they're more inclined to push through with joining us. And I think a lot of it it's really how to properly communicate, and ensure that you have the right platform that you're able to send this communication templates, messages, as well as a live person that can still reach out and address their concerns at any given time. MAX: A real human being flesh and bone, so old school.JUN: Fine. MAX: We're not over yet. The robots haven't won yet. Okay, well I think you raised an important, old school weapon or a tactic of the recruiter which is, adapt to your audience, recruitment and sales adapt to your audience. The audience of course is shifting the psychology of the candidate says different than it was a year ago, their demands are different, so a lot of things have changed and so I'd like to ask our panelists about the demands of the new hires, what are some of the questions that they ask now that you never thought they would asked a year or maybe two, three years ago, Or let's just say that the frequency of these questions has risen up, what are some of the new trends in terms of demands, and that that we need to anticipate in talent acquisition?ALETHEA: Thanks, Max, I think, it's maybe less of a trend but more of like a huge impact. Now, of course, everybody is basically having nightmares about a question, do I need to work on site if you're hiring for contact centers. The current quarantine conditions that change every week that determine our public safety, public transportation and all of those things really affect decisions on a daily basis, that's one of the things. The other thing also is that, so Manulife hires an actuarial analyst to salespeople to the contact center role and what we can really see is that there is an ask in terms of what mental wellness support we have. We have questions about how we support the family. So there's really this need to not just speak about monetary compensation but non monetary as well. And how often do they need to go to the office. Manulife currently for most of us 90% we still work from home, and we don't see that changing over the next year or so, given where our vaccination is, so even when we share to people, to the earlier panels point, do you want to work from home or stay on site, and that leads to a different type of conversation every single time. I think one of the other things is that links to the initial question, or the former question that you had was the major fallout for most of our higher strike now and maybe because I'm volume hiring IT roles is intermittent interruptions. So, the current assessment that we have a lots of people after 60 seconds so it automatically fails them, and we have to adapt to that because a lot where people may be on prepaid, or a short borrowed boost aid, so I think that's really it that really supporting them, not on the process itself of hiring but what's in it for me, as you support me through the pandemic.JUN: So that's very good, just a word that I think the employee value proposition for work at home needs to evolve, then going back to what I shared earlier, a lot of the traditional BPOS our employee value proposition is centered around working on site. Case in point for Transcom we have childcare facilities on site, you have coffee shops on site, you have gyms on site. But what uses are all of these on site facilities if your employees are working at home, how do we then evolve the employee value proposition. So when you're targeting folks whose preference is working at home, you're still able to attract them and what's attractive for them. I agree with employee mental wellness, that's one of the key programs that we heard our employees asking for us to do more. We also seen an interesting development that's actually what we're seeing as a trend especially in our Bisaya sites, it's for those without any call center experience, they're actually interested in working on site, just because they know that they don't have any previous call center experience, they would like to be trained and mentored closely by supervisors and by trainers, so we're now looking at bringing in training so as they can then be handled, and get the proper training and the mentoring by their trainers and supervisors.FLEURETTE: Hey Max, I'm going to add something that is slightly off topic but very much related. Okay, so talking about internet issues that's a given. In fact, all the companies have lobbied for IV BAP to really talk to the telecom companies to make sure that this is on top of their radar. You can only push so much work at home as long as the technology can support it, so the topic that I wanted to share with the group is, I think it was mentioned briefly earlier, that new hires always want to work from home because of the fear of the pandemic. However, once they started doing that they realized that, first, it is not sustainable, very noisy, you have siblings, you have parents or vice versa, that are very noisy in the background with roosters and dogs that are making noise.MAX: And the Aircon.FLEURETTE: Yeah and fan, not always Aircons Max, fans, right. So, you do have this real problems and then they realize that it's not only that I miss my colleagues, my friends, but it is not logically possible for me to sustain this, and then they do the reverse they asked to be placed back in the office but then, companies will have to weigh that end versus what the government is asking us to do, right, you can only have so much capacity at work. And then the other issue that we're also seeing is that, the engagement, regardless if you coach or train at some point in time you need to think of something new, whether it's gamification, whether it's giving them you know five minutes of doing something radical. I think those are the things that will keep them engaged, right, they're there, people are so done being at home, whether it's for work or personal reasons, it's just something that we need to be aware of and cognizant of.MAX: I believe everybody is reading the same articles as we all are, people coming back to the office, and in some parts of the world but actually I just looked at the stats just this week that office occupancy in the US, which is supposed to be way ahead of most of the countries in terms of vaccination, still only adds 25 or 30% of what it was 14 months ago. So, it will definitely take a while, and so this investment in wellness and well being is absolutely a smart investment today because if it's bad today and people are fed up today, you can imagine it's just going to be worse six months from now. So, anticipate. Now talking about something not really related but we talked about our new hires being fed up. What about our recruiters being fed up, having to do all that, chasing documents and all that repetitive, mundane work around onboarding, repeating to them: go through the checklist, send me the documents, etc etc etc. It can be a very repetitive task. Now tell me, what do you think can be automated. I mean it's definitely something that my company is working on, we don't have to do any product placement here but I'm just kind of curious what your thoughts are on what can be automated and what will remain human.FLEURETTE: So, Max by alluded earlier to a long list of requirements right. It begins with a serious review of the HR team with the support of their operations leadership team to really review it. Is it mandatory, yes or no? Is it a contractual obligation with the client, yes or no? or maybe it's a nice to have, because we have been collecting it for many years until now we carry that practice. So, we've done that, it's a painful exercise, but the result coming out of that exercise was huge, right. So, from a list of a couple dozen to now very critical. And by the way again because of the pandemic, you have to categorize them, which documents do you need pre offer, pre onboarding and post onboarding, I'm addressing the elephant in the room I don't think that all companies are going to share all their issues all their problems. I am doing that a little bit so that folks can actually learn. What I can share to address that problem I will repeat, a bit of what I shared earlier is that every time you invest on a technology and Max should be happy if I say this, every time you invest on technology don't think of it as an additional expense for the company. You have to really weigh in and compare how much revenue loss you are experiencing for not being able to hire them on time, not only hire them, but hire them on time. So, every week, that you're missing filling in your classes, that equates to 1000s of dollars for every company, right. So, technology platform, you need to be able to submit indexes, and report on those documents real time. There couldn't be any delay in those particular processes. Latency is something that we hate, right. We cannot afford issues of the system being down, latency. So those have to be considered when choosing the right technology platform and even the vendors that you're going to be working with.JUN: For me, just going back to your question about what can be automated. Pre day one communication, how to keep your candidates warm from the moment they sign job offers, reach a certain process all the way up to day one, the communication there can be automated, document collection can be automated and tracking. And then, document the creation so employment offers and contracts, including signatures that can also be digitized and automated.MAX: So that's quite a lot Jun. In fact, with your permission in my next presentation I'll give a sneak peek of a robot you have running on Facebook. Permission granted, yes. All right, great. Well Athleta, did you want to add to the topic on automation or was everything covered, we move on to the next question?ALETHEA: We can move on.MAX: Okay. All right, I'm gonna look at audience questions then. We have one audience about wearing multiple hats. Are you considering partnering with recruitment firms, what are the things you expect from them. Okay, I think that's an interesting question, staffing firms used to account for maybe 20% of hires in the BPO sector and in this space I think that number has come down, but the RPO sector, our Recruitment Process Outsourcing always does well on the backend of a recession over crisis because it gives companies an opportunity to grow without having to grow their headcount internally too fast for TA. Do you think that staffing firms and recruitment partners have a nice few quarters ahead of them or do you see that their share of higher will continue to fall in trends with the last five years, anyone?ALETHEA: So my own personal experience has been that what Jun said earlier, we thought we were not gonna hire a lot. And we actually ended up hiring a lot, and one of the two sides of a coin, were countries, especially first world countries, can't cope quickly enough with the effect of the economy then they move the work to third world countries or developing organizations where labor is a lot less and that really means that countries like the Philippines, and locations like Chengdu to start getting this huge amount of work migration that you did not plan or forecast for, and that's really where the RPO and a third party comes in right. I think that definitely an RPO and the third party vendors for direct placements are one of the three legs of my stool right now that's keeping me sitting quite well. On the other hand, though, I think there is definitely a change in the way that we interact with RPO or the third party vendors. We find that they can't cast a wide net right now. We have to be very specific in terms of sourcing strategies and be very strategic in what requisitions we give to them and for how long. So, I think from an internal recruiting team standpoint, the team is a little bit more hands on even over junior recruiters who work directly with a vendors recruiters that we actually have to be very aligned in terms of KPIs and deliverables, and be aware that the best people or you need right now is really just for open communication and consistency and let them know that we basically have to ensure that they're we're aligned in terms of the process and targets that we have but currently we depend on them.MAX: Yeah, it's like the RPO model more than their traditional staffing firm role. ALETHEA: Yes.MAX: Great.FLEURETTE: Max, if I may. I like recruiting firms that are results based right, so obviously depending on how many you hire that's the contract that you have with them. We have our fair share of successes with some of our recruiting partners, but also something that I'm not sure if my peers have encountered. Because our leads management database is so big and robust. When a recruiting firm gives us a list of 190 plus percent of those people are actually on our leads database, right. Specifically, our offices are in the provinces where we are either, the biggest or the top three biggest so it's really difficult. I'm being upfront and honest that recruiting partners will remain important to BPOs, but also they need to think of a way of elevating their game as well because again, we have those names in our own databases.JUN: Yeah, for us, I think we've been fortunate to have weaned ourselves from headhunters and this is for volume hiring, for non volume hiring so these are for support folks management executives, they will always have a niche. Specialized hiring like multilinguals, yes will have RPOs and headhunters, but for volume hiring we're fortunate enough to have followed the global trend, it's gone down year over year, I think our highest was around 24% higher share 2-3 years ago, now it's 5%  higher share. And I think part of it that's because we keep asking ourselves, these guys are sourcing based on the same board that we're sourcing, so we just need to do a better job in terms of added attraction. And one of the things that we wanted to get away from it's we don't want to just keep on getting leads and endorsements from headhunters, we want them to if a vendor would like to partner with us. They need to own part of the recruitment funnel management, chase after their candidates, overlay the job interview stages. So, yeah, I think the future for headhunters for volume hiring for Transcom it's going to continue to go get a smaller piece of the hiring share pie. MAX: Okay alright. Well same message, up your game, specialize or otherwise your market share will shrink. You've heard it from the panel. I'm sure the recruiters have that competitive fibre that will find a way to reinvent themselves as we all do. In Fact that would be the topic of my next presentation and I'm going to jump into that and thank my esteemed panelists, Jun, Alethea and Fleurette for joining us. They had some of the most cutting edge talent acquisition operations in one of the most tech aggressive markets in the world, the Philippines, which I had the pleasure of working for years and well thanks for sharing and of course where to reach, they are all on LinkedIn and if you want to continue chatting with them I hope they are going to be attending networking session later. Jun, Alethea and Fleurette, thank you for your time.JUN: Thank you, bye.FLEURETTE: Thanks so much Max.ALETHEA: Thanks so much guys, bye guys. 

While much of navigating your military Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move is up to you, some things are just a matter of rules and regulations. But navigating that information can be confusing and riddled with rumor and misinformation based on one individual's experience. On this episode of the PCS with Military.com podcast, Matt Butler, a Defense Department civilian employee at Transcom whose 22-year Air Force career focused on helping service members move their personal belongings, gives us insight and information on those rules and regulations. His special focus on details just for the 2021 moving season will help you make your military move the best it can be. See full show notes on Military.com. Get military PCS advice in your inbox Learn more about military PCSing This episode is brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union.

In this Podcast today, I will discuss the company Transcom! Listen to the podcast for details! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thressa-sweat/support

Jonas Dahlberg is the CEO and President of Transcom. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Transcom has a team of over 26,000 people working across 22 countries using 33 languages. Jonas likes to say that they are big enough to really matter, but small enough to still listen to their clients. In this episode Jonas talks about BPO and CX in the post-covid environment - will contact centers change in 2021? https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-dahlberg-033b3925/ https://www.transcom.com/en

Gunilla von Platen föddes i Turkiet men familjen tvingades fly och hon växte istället upp i en trång lägenhet i Grevegården i Göteborg tillsammans med åtta syskon och mormor och farmor. Som 21-åring fick Gunilla redan sitt första chefsjobb på Skandia i Göteborg och var senare Försäljningschef för Skandia Försäkringar mellan 1991–2000. 2000 grundade hon istället företaget GSS Fastigheter och Xzakt Kundrelation. Det senare sålde hon 2017 till kapitalbolaget Altor, som även äger Transcom och hon är sedan dess delägare och partner även i Transcom.   Gunilla har fått utmärkelser som Årets stjärnskott 2006, Kungliga Patriotiska sällskapets näringslivsmedalj 2015, listats som nummer 16 på listan Mäktigaste entreprenörerna, nominerad till Årets affärskvinna 2019, och listats som nummer 81 på listan över Näringslivets mäktigaste kvinnor 2020. Hon har dessutom grundat stiftelsen 100 procent tillsammans med Douglas Roos och Mats Qviberg 2006, medverkat som drake i TV-programmet Draknästet och skrivit boken Draken i rummet. .   .   . Häng med i snacket på poddens sociala kanaler: Chefssnack på Linkedin Chefssnack på Instagram

Gunilla von Platen föddes i Turkiet men familjen tvingades fly och hon växte istället upp i en trång lägenhet i Grevegården i Göteborg tillsammans med åtta syskon och mormor och farmor. Som 21-åring fick Gunilla redan sitt första chefsjobb på Skandia i Göteborg och var senare Försäljningschef för Skandia Försäkringar mellan 1991–2000. 2000 grundade hon istället företaget GSS Fastigheter och Xzakt Kundrelation. Det senare sålde hon 2017 till kapitalbolaget Altor, som även äger Transcom och hon är sedan dess delägare och partner även i Transcom.   Gunilla har fått utmärkelser som Årets stjärnskott 2006, Kungliga Patriotiska sällskapets näringslivsmedalj 2015, listats som nummer 16 på listan Mäktigaste entreprenörerna, nominerad till Årets affärskvinna 2019, och listats som nummer 81 på listan över Näringslivets mäktigaste kvinnor 2020. Hon har dessutom grundat stiftelsen 100 procent tillsammans med Douglas Roos och Mats Qviberg 2006, medverkat som drake i TV-programmet Draknästet och skrivit boken Draken i rummet. .   .   . Häng med i snacket på poddens sociala kanaler: Chefssnack på Linkedin Chefssnack på Instagram

In this episode we will hear from two BPO leaders focused on how the Philippines is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. Don Berryman is the Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Transcom North America. Mike Lytle, is the COO of Teleperformance in the Philippines  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-lytle/ https://teleperformance.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/don-berryman/ http://transcom.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-india-philippines-still-lead-global-bpo-when-wfh-hillary-em-/ https://www.intelligentsourcing.net/how-has-the-pandemic-affected-contact-centres-in-the-philippines/

Welcome to the Recruitment Hackers Podcast. A show about innovations, technology and leaders in the recruitment industry brought to you by Talkpush the leading recruitment automation platform. Max: Hello everybody. And welcome back to the recruitment hackers podcast with Max as your host, and today on the program, I'm delighted to be welcoming Jun Abo, who is vice president for talent acquisition at Transcom, based in the Philippines. Jun is someone I've worked with for a few years and I'm delighted to have you on the show. Welcome Jun. Jun: Oh, thank you, Max. Thank you for having me. And I'm excited to be finally getting this podcast started with you. Max: Yes. Yes. Well, it's a busy time of year for your industry, right? So September to November. It's a luxury to be able to get half an hour of your time, during this, what they call the ramp up period.Yeah. 2020 is supposed to be the end of the world for a lot of people in recruitment, but it seems that for your industry, at least, things are holding up pretty well. Jun: Yeah. More than pretty well, because like what you've said, usually September to December is our busy season. That's where we see a bulk of our hiring.Coming into 2020 with all of the things that are going on. We thought that it's time for us to relax and slow down, and lo and behold, the demand has been greater than what we've seen in the past.  So it's a busy time for us even busier than last year. Max: 2020 is bigger than  2019. Jun: Yeah. Max:  Your whole year?Jun: Oh yeah. Max: That's amazing. There are few, I mean, I've heard this from other players as well in the space. So first, to do customer care it's harder to hire in the US, and so some of the workers are going abroad, but you were giving me another perspective and we were speaking earlier saying that from your end, the supply is bigger. There's a bigger supply of talent than before, which got unlocked because of this year's events. Tell us a little bit about that. Jun: Yeah. So traditionally, we would normally tap from three types of profiles. The starters, the shifters and the adapters. Starters are the ones that are fresh out of school. The adapters are those coming from different types of industries. And then of course you have the shifters who are coming from other BPO's, moving or shifting from one BPO to another. What we've seen this year is that because of the virus, it impacted a lot of the industries. We are tapping more and more adapters and more and more starters.We've actually partnered with local governments, in order to provide career fairs and employment to returning overseas Filipino workers. So you're probably aware that the Filipinos are one of the most robust when it comes to working outside of the Philippines. You find Filipinos almost anywhere in other parts of the globe. With the virus going on, a lot of those overseas Filipino workers are going back to the Philippines, and we're the ones now partnering with the government venture so that the work is offered to them. So it's a sort of a reverse brain drain. The ones who left before are now coming back.Max: Yeah. I guess that for you. You know, back in 2019, you were investing a lot in the employee experience and you built that beautiful Transcom cafe, and a nice welcoming experience for employees,  and this has,  well I mean, the expertise of building a good experience remains true and applicable, whether you're doing it from a virtual work or an actual physical work office. And giving you an edge, you know, an employer that gives a career option for people who want to stay at home, an edge compared to traditional businesses that may be a little bit more, stuck in the old ways.Jun: Oh, yeah. The candidate experience for us is always going to be key, especially in this market. When we were first designing our virtual recruitment process, we thought that technology can be the silver bullet that fixes everything. So we bought, we partnered with a company that provided us a chatbot, but it was vanilla flavored in terms of responses. It was very robotic. It didn't provide the customization that we need, that would make us unique. So when we looked at the candidate experience, we had a lot of detractors coming out of that recruitment funnel. So we ask ourselves, the first question that we often ask ourselves when we're looking at the recruitment technology is, what would it feel if we're the ones ourselves going through this, and thinking, and using this technology? If we were candidates, what's the candidate experience going to be like? If we're not happy with that own experience, leveraging that technology, then we're not going to be using it.Max: Yeah. Yeah. It is one of the most painful exercises that anybody has to go through, which is applying for a job at your own company. And it's so painful. Nobody wants to do it. And so we keep postponing, and postponing, and I think that's universally true. I started using it as a sales technique by asking our sales team to apply for a job at every company. And then record the experience and send it to the TA director for them to check out, you know, see how long it takes to apply it to your company. But I guess in an organization, your size, you have to do those internal audits on a regular basis?Jun: Yeah. I think one of the good things that we put in place as well, it's we have a candidate NPS, a tracking mechanism, embedded in our recruitment process. This is a way for us to measure how many promoters and detractors and passive candidates we have, based on their experience going through one of the recruitment processes.Max: All right. I've always found the ultimate metric of course, is whether they're going to stick around, or whether they're going to take the job and stick around. It's hard to get a clean read on candidates because they all want the job. So they usually say nice things, even if the experience is subpar. So we always get like super positive data, but I take it with a grain of salt.Jun: I it's true because if you look at BPO's, especially in the past couple of years, the biggest driver of attrition, you can see it during the first 30, 60, and 90 days. Where on average, you'll see around 40 - 45% of hires attrition during the first 90 days. That's why usually in recruitment, particularly for us, early life attrition is part of our KPI.Max: How is that evolving in 2020? I would imagine the attrition is dropping because of the recession. But I would also imagine that perhaps, because you're dealing with a much broader talent pool and a lot of, as you call them starters, people who are new to the industry, they may not have the same preparation. They're not battle-tested so maybe more likely to drop out and realize “this isn't for me”. Jun: Yeah. And that's exactly that, it's a mixed bag. So far it's still trending towards a good direction. Since we've started our digital journey. We've seen year over year 30, 60, and 90 days retention, improving. This year we saw an artificial improvement just because when we went on lockdown March, all the way up, you didn't see a lot of folks moving from one organization to the other. They'd rather stay put because of course job security. But when we started hiring, that's when we're seeing up to your point, the one fresh out of school without any call center experience, that's when they try it out. And then they need to find out for themselves, “well this is not for me”. Again, call center work, BPO work is not easy, especially during times like this when you deal with customers who are frustrated or angry or stressed. And at the same time, your normal support group is all virtual. You don't have your team leader deciding to support. You don't have your teammates to support you. They're all virtual. So it takes a different kind of employee to succeed in this type of environment nowadays. Max: I'm wondering, I was going to ask you about automation and all that kind of jazz, but, now that you brought up frustrated customers, and since we're just a few weeks away from the first debate between Trump and Biden and a couple of months away from the election. I'm wondering whether your team has had to adapt to this unique political dynamic coming from the U.S, and notably whether from the customers to consumers... to talk to American operations only, because it's always a theme in this industry but, is that theme kind of dying down where people have accepted the fact that, you know, we're dealing with international businesses, or is it still something that you spent a lot of time training people on?Jun: We haven't seen a lot of a backlash from outsourcing, like we did a couple of years ago. But we're still mindful in terms of — part of the training is culture training. We want to make sure that our employees are aware and can speak the weather, so to speak, and talk shop with the customers. But we haven't seen similar negative comments said about work being done from outside of the US, yeah. If we did it was like a couple of years ago, I think. Max: Yeah. Back to the question about the work at home trend. Yeah. You were saying you've got an expanded talent pool to choose from. So does that mean you can be a little bit more selective on the type of people that you bring in and how is the prescreening and the selection process been affected by this broadening of the talent pool? Jun: Originally, we thought that it's going to open up a larger talent pool for us, but it is also pretty restricted. So there's a couple of things. We have what you call, two challenges. The first one would be availability of bandwidth at home, and then of course a PC. There's a massive shortage of PCs all over the world where it's taking 90 days to supply those PC's as a workaround for us where we're trying to experiment on bringing your own device. So if you want to work at home, you have your own PC that meets the minimum requirements. And you have the minimum bandwidth, then you can apply for a work at room set up. But again the challenge is the PC. The minimum bandwidth requirement originally was 4 core wifi. Now we've downgraded it because not everyone has the ability to buy that kind of a spec of a PC. Then of course, the bandwidth. If you've been to the Philippines, the challenge with the bandwidth, especially the ones in the province. Bandwidth access is not as common as say the big cities like Metro Manila Max: And in your industry, there's always a continuity plan. So if the internet goes down somewhere, you have to be able to pick up the business elsewhere.Jun: Right. Max: So I guess at some point, I know  you're on the talent acquisition, so maybe you don't know about this stuff, but I imagine that. You have to kind of, does the internet go down for the whole country at a time? or region by region?, city by city? and how do you manage the workload? Jun: So it really depends on which particular provider goes down. So there's multiple ISP providers. And if one ISP goes down, we would normally have backup with another ISP provider. The challenge is if it's a cable cut. So that means. the common cable where in all of the ISP would pasture or would get cut somewhere in the middle of the ocean, then you're screwed.Max: Okay. So that's when you need to have an international operation because you're going to the other place. Okay. Yeah. Great. Well, maybe I'm taking a little bit of a step back from the day to day and reflecting on the evolution of the sector and for our listeners who are recruiters. Now taking a moment to think about, what are the skills required today that were not required 10 years ago. How has the profession specifically around high volume recruitment evolved for you in the last 10 years? What are the skills that you've had to hire for internally for your own team?Jun: For my own team, actually, one of the things that we're looking for in recruiters, it's their ability to manage digitally candidates. Their ability to also work independently, because recruiters nowadays we've gone away from big and massive recruitment hubs. All of our recruiters are working from home. In fact, our recruitment hubs in all of our sites have been converted to different functional areas used by the site. It's actually used for teleconsults. So all of our employees coming in, they go through what used to be our recruitment hub, where they get teleconsultation with nurses and doctors, just to get checked. That's when they get screened before they're allowed up into the production floor. Now our recruiters are working from home. What we're looking for is their ability to work independently, the ability to manage candidates virtually, and again, manage their own time. Max: That sounds fine, except that you're not going to be able to get, you know, I'm sort of a young university grads to have that autonomy, that independence, that experience that's required to work without close supervision. We might run into some problems a few years down the line. If we don't have these recruitment centers, which is an opportunity for the young recruiters to pick up the skills and learn from the elders. I've seen some initiatives from the sales side where they use software in order to record every call in order to facilitate that, and then do more calibration between people. I guess in 2020, you know, we have the luxury of hiring more experienced recruiters, but in the future. That'll be a problem potentially. Jun: Yeah, no, I agree. Yeah. And I think it's an area of opportunity. One of the things that we're working with our own learning and development team. We recently rolled out Transcom university. So it's a learning management platform. We tried creating micro learning courses, targeted for recruiters. So they can upskill themselves, given what are the things that they need to learn, and what are the things that they need to do better. And it's all available through their  mobile phones. Max: Transcom university. Everybody's got one of those one these days, we're launching Talkpush Academy. We hope some of your recruiters will take our new training course, which is being released this month actually. Jun: Oh, looking forward to it!Max: I mean, autonomy is always good to have. What do you think, who are the recruiters that are going to be able to perform well 5 or 10 years from now? What are the skill sets? How is the profession going to evolve further? Jun: I think the way I see it, it's a combination of AI, which is augmented intelligence for recruiters. The more we incorporate social media. The public persona of candidates, and the ability of AI to filter that available information. That's what will allow the recruiters to have basically tons of information available to them. Even before they start the interview. And then from there, the competencies that you're looking for, you interview or you touch base on those competencies that you're looking for. It's amazing how much we often forget that there's a lot of information we put out there on our social media. Right now there's not a lot of companies that are using social media information for recruiting as a basis for selection. But I think that's going to be a trend a couple of years from now.Max: Oh,  we know about Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn. Are you looking for people's profiles elsewhere? Are you going to their TikTok pages? Jun:  As long as TikTok is no longer banned in the US.Max:  Oh, I thought they had a local TikTok, a Chinese TikTok. Yeah. Okay. So it sounds like you need more recruiters who are comfortable with data, and well, are you hiring at the moment? Should we be making a service announcement for Transcom?Jun:  No, not yet. We're good. But just adding to that, it's recruiters who are comfortable working with data, recruiters who are also marketers, because what we realize is that recruitment as a role, as a career has shifted. Before it was mostly an administrative task in nature, but now it's really more of selling marketing and branding from a recruitment standpoint. So that skillset in marketing, whether virtually, digitally or the traditional way of marketing, that's also going to be a key competency that we're going to be looking for in recruiters.Max: Yeah, on one hand, it's costing less money to gather leads than before. Yeah. But it does require more expertise in a way, cause it used to be, you just bought a few ads on a job board  and that was the extent of the advertising and marketing expertise that was required. Now, are you training your team on the aspects, like how to buy ads on Facebook and things like that? Is that part of the onboarding? Jun: Yeah. So one of the things that we put in place within recruitment, is we have our own digital marketing team. So we have a team that manages all the ad buying on Facebook, social media and on Google. We have our own branding team that creates all of those contents and videos that's really meant for talent acquisition, and they partner with our own communications and employee branding team. Max:  Yeah. That's like a digital agency  within Transcom.Jun: That is exactly it.Max: That sounds expensive, that sounds incredibly expensive. How did you get them to agree to that investment? Jun:  Well, look at it. When I first joined Transcom 2015, we were doing the traditional way of recruiting. I had around 119 recruiters. In Manila, in Bacolod , and Iloilo. I was recruiting on average, probably around 500 - 600 per month. Fast forwarding to now, my total head count is around 52. So I've reduced my headcount significantly. Focus on specialized skill sets. And then expanded our sourcing capability because it's all about sourcing, right? The more candidates, the more quality candidates that you can bring in at the top of the funnel, the more candidates that you're able to then onboard. So  I initially presented them my business case. And it's a good thing that our regional CEO, Michael Ansell is a big believer of digital transformation. He saw the need for us to pivot from the traditional way of recruiting, to the more digital and advanced way of recruiting. So he fully supported it. And in a span of three years, we started moving in hiring based on the desired skill set. So when the virus hit and the lockdown affected the Philippines in March, we were one of the few companies that was really already a hundred percent digitally ready to be recruiting.Max: You said you were a few years back at 500 hires a month. Is that number roughly the same? So you're able to do the same volume with half the team? Jun: No it increased. Now I'm doing around 650 to 700 on average. Max:  Okay. So we're talking about like a 30% increase in output with more than 50% reduction in headcount. So yeah. Sounds like your CEO should be happy with that. And that does justify some investments into the digital factory we talked about. Congratulations! Thank you for sharing those numbers with our audience, and sharing your story. Where can people get a hold of you? I believe you've got a very cool nickname.Jun:  No, so you can reach me at LinkedIn. Look for Jun Abo. I am Transcom's Fairy Job Father. So LinkedIn with me and I'd be more than happy to interact with you there. Max: Awesome. Thank you Jun. And thank you for your time. I wish you a strong end of 2020, and talk to you soon. Jun:  Thank you, Max. Thank you for the partnership. Max: That was Jun from Transcom sharing some trade secrets on how he has turned his talent acquisition team into experts in social media and sourcing. Hope you enjoyed it. If you'd like to see more content like this, and you'd like interviews from the high volume recruitment space, please subscribe now and share with your friends. Until next time.

Simon Knudsen is the CEO at Xzakt Kundrelation - a Transcom company. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden. Simon heads the FLEX model Transcom has recently launched. FLEX aims to offer GigCX-style flexibility inside the traditional contact center. Which is better? Listen to the podcast to hear Simon's view. https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-knudsen-03229428/ https://www.xzakt.com/ https://www.transcom.com/en

Bernie Wagenblast is a Cranford, NJ native and the owner of Transportation Radio.   His career has combined two of his primary professional interests; transportation and communications. He started as an on-air New York City traffic reporter for Shadow Traffic when they opened their NYC operations. This included doing reports on stations such as WABC, WINS and WBAB. He then spent over a decade in the public sector, including being operations manager for TRANSCOM, a coalition of transportation agencies in the NY, NJ, CT area. In these positions, he's had extensive media relations experience which includes interviews with Good Morning America, The New York Times, The Washington Post, AP, and Bloomberg. He is currently the editor of the Transportation Communications Newsletter, the AASHTO Daily Transportation Update, TransCentral and the ITS Michigan Newsletter. He's also the host of the ITE Talks Transportation podcast. In addition, Bernie serves as the voice of the NYC subway's "Next Train" announcements, AirTrain Newark and PATCO. You'll also catch his voice on a variety of videos, commercials and phone systems. You can hear samples by clicking this link: https://www.pinterest.com/brwagenblast/voiceover/ Bernie joins Mitch to talk about how he got started in radio and his views about where the whole radio, internet radio and podcast industry is headed.   Follow his transportation Twitter updates @TransportComm.   For more information about the podcast in general, send us an email: info@beinhakerlaw.com   To follow Mitch and the podcast, go to https://linktr.ee/beinhakerlaw.  Please review us on Apple Podcasts and Podchaser and thanks for your continued support!  Sponsorships and paid guest appearances are available.  Connect with us by email or on social media.   With this episode, we are excited to introduce our new affiliate sponsors.  Use this fantastic services and support us at the podcast at the same time!   Nowsite.marketing.  Bring your digital marketing to a new level with their propriety 3-click system driven by AI.  Listen to their commercial spot during the episode and contact us to arrange an introductory Zoom chat to learn all about this fantastic service.  Yes, we use it to promote the podcast!   Digital Accelerant - the digital business card that generates leads.  Get a custom branded digital card with information and links to all your social media, email and other information.  Text LAW to 21000 to connect with us and request more details.   Fetch Internet.  Fetch is an app that creates a secure and high-speed mobile internet connection for laptops and desktop computers.  For a one-time fee, eliminate the cost of monthly hotspots, avoid unsecure public wifi at airports, hotels, restaurants, etc...  Visit our landing page for more information and to support the podcast.

Cześć! Dzień dobry!W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic zapraszam na ekspresowe podsumowanie kolejnego tygodnia w sektorze BSS, czyli odcinek #157--- tydzień w podcaście ---#152 Marcin Piatkowski - https://www.spreaker.com/episode/27065483 #153 Grant Thornton - https://www.spreaker.com/episode/27125691 #154 W duecie z Krzysztofem Pimpickim - https://www.spreaker.com/episode/27209176 #155 Biurowa Alternatywa - https://www.spreaker.com/episode/27301071 #156 Day Office - https://www.spreaker.com/episode/27388173 --- Raporty ---Wpływ COVID-19 na rynek biurowy - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/pandemia-covid-19-ksztaltuje-rynek-biurowy Badanie CISCO - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/maly-i-sredni-biznes-przygotowany-na-cyberataki Raport Gi Group i Grafton - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/trudna-sytuacja-w-branzy-produkcyjnej-pracownikow-zwalnia-juz-22-przedsiebiorstw Raport Savills - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/savills-niezachwiany-rozwoj-rynku-nieruchomosci-magazynowych --- Newsy ---Nowy numer Outsourcing&More - https://www.proprogressio.pl/pl/media/prasa.html Podcast 3Słowa o ... - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/jak-zachowac-ciaglosc-dzialania-firmy-w-czasach-pandemii-piotr-pawlowski-gosciem-podcastu-3slowa-o Przewodnik Colliers International - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/bezpieczny-powrot-do-biura-krok-po-kroku-przewodnik-dla-firm Nowa siedziba Transcom - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/transcom-przenosi-swoja-lokalna-siedzibe-do-biurowca-officyna-w-gdansku Konektor - https://konektor.proprogressio.pl/ --- Zapowiedzi ---Webinar Grant Thornton - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/kalendarium/webinar-zmiany-w-podejsciu-do-przetwarzania-danych-osobowych-w-dobie-pandemii-koronawirusa Webinar j-labs - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/kalendarium/devsecops-the-final-frontier-building-secure-software-in-an-agile-organization Webinary Iron Mountain - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/kalendarium/webinar-iron-mountain-platforma-ktora-zarzadzi-twoimi-procesami-procesy-wewnetrzne-i-zarzadzanie-projektami oraz http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/kalendarium/webinar-iron-mountain-platforma-ktora-zarzadzi-twoimi-procesami-procesy-kadrowe Webinar Digital Teammates - http://www.outsourcingportal.eu/pl/kalendarium/webinar-automatyzacja-procesow-wsparcie-czy-zagrozenie-dla-zespolow-it --- BSS bez tajemnic i Pro Progressio ---Klub Pro Progressio - http://bit.ly/ProProgressioKlub Instagram - https://bit.ly/BSSbtInsta Facebook - https://bit.ly/BSSbtFB YouTube - https://bit.ly/BSSbeztajemnicYT Napisz do mnie wiktor.doktor(@)proprogressio.pl

Cześć! Dzień dobry!W 132 odcinku podcastu BSS bez tajemnic usłyszycie o kolejnej ciekawej firmie, którą jest Transcom Worldwide.Transcom jest spółką międzynarodową z centralą w Sztokholmie. W Polsce spółka została zarejestrowana w roku 2003 i od tamtej pory rozwija swoją działalność w czterech centrach operacyjnych w Olsztynie, Gdańsku, Białymstoku oraz w Elblągu. Zapraszam do wysłuchania odcinka, w którym odkryję Wam znacznie więcej informacji o firmie jaką jest Transcom Worldwide. Do usłyszenia!--- linki ---Strona Transcom w Polsce - https://pl.transcom.com/plProfil Transcom na Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TranscomPoland/Profil Transcom na LinkedIn (międzynarodowy) - https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcom/Profil Transcom na Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/transcom.polandKlub Pro Progressio, którego członkiem jest Transcom - https://www.proprogressio.pl/pl/klub-pro-progressio.html--- podcast BSS bez tajemnic ---Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bss.bez.tajemnicFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/bssbeztajemnicPamiętaj o subskrypcji podcastu BSS bez tajemnic. Znajdziesz go na Spreaker, YouTube, Spotify i wielu innych platformach podcastowych.

Cześć! Dzień dobry!Dziś poniedziałek i odcinek poświęcony kolejnej ciekawej osobie ze świata BSS. Menedżerem, o którym dziś mówię jest Marek Szul – szef Lionbridge Polska. Od inżyniera ds. aplikacji, przez szefa Transcom, do Senior Dyrektora w Lionbridge oraz współwłaściciela BeeHappy. Posłuchajcie!---ciekawe linki---Profil Marka na LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marek-szul-72205bb/Strona Lionbridge - https://www.lionbridge.com/Strona Transcom - https://pl.transcom.com/plStrona BeeHappy - http://beehappy24.com/Klub Pro Progressio - https://www.proprogressio.pl/pl/klub-pro-progressio.htmlPodoba Ci się mój podcast? Zasubskrybuj go, poleć znajomym, dołącz do ulubionych i oceń na https://www.podchaser.com/

Officials at U.S. Transportation Command say they're getting close to awarding a multibillion dollar contract. It'll overhaul the system for moving servicemembers household goods across the country and around the world. TRANSCOM says it's received several credible bids from industry, but still needs to resolve concerns on Capitol Hill before it moves ahead. Federal News Network's Jared Serbu has the latest.

Feeling overwhelmed and dont like your job at Walmart. Get started by getting 5 weeks of paid while Sitel or Transcom teach you how to become an IT Customer Support technician. https://garymcneelyit.com/ https://getajobinit.teachable.com/ twitter.com/garymcneelyit --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/getajobintech/message

On this episode, we welcome Charles White, president of the International Association of Movers.  IAM has been at the front lines of the GHC (Govenment Household goods Contract), lobbying in favor of moving and relocation companies all over the world. The have also been instrumental in educating it's members on GHC and how we can be prepared moving forward. Listen in as Chuck breaks down where the GHC is now, how we got to this point, and what it might look like down the road. You're not going to want to miss this! You can connect with IAM and Chuck by visiting their website www.iamovers.org or email Mr. White personally at charles.white@iamovers.org. If have any questions or comments about this episode, or you have suggestions for future episodes or guest, you can connect with Wes and Chris by email at podcast@stewartms.com

  Katherine Thompson is the Principal of Human Firewall Solutions Inc, an organization focused on helping businesses find, secure, and retain cybersecurity professionals. Katherine is the Chair of the Canadian Cyber Security Innovation Institute and a speaker on the state of cybersecurity in Canada. She is an expert on the security of critical infrastructure, breach management, the risks for small to medium-sized enterprises, and the growing labor and skills shortages. Previously, Katherine was the national spokesperson and chair of CATA and held senior positions at MNP, GTACC, and Transcom.   Katherine joins me today to share how a cyber breach can impact businesses of all sizes. She reveals the severity of the consequences a hack could have for SMEs and stresses why it is vital to acquire cyber insurance now before costs start to spiral upwards. Katherine also shares how there is a shortfall of cybersecurity professionals in the market and why we must get young Canadians interested in cybersecurity as a career path.       “Don’t just look at cyber as a security risk. Look at it as a risk to revenue.” - Katherine Thompson       Today on I’m A Millionaire...So, Now What:   Why small and medium-sized enterprises need to be aware of cybersecurity risks. How the impact of cybersecurity hacks is more severe for SMEs. The supplier agreement and the need for cyber remedies to be in place. Why you should get cyber insurance now and get in early. Why it is vital to educate your workforce and build a human firewall. The labor shortfall of cybersecurity professionals in Canada. Why we need to get young Canadians interested in cybersecurity.     Katherine Thompson’s Fun Frank Advice for Self-Made Millionaires & Wealthy Families:   The onus of responsibility for the protection of our personal information is not someone else's; it's not the banks or the governments. So as a consumer in the digital economy, we all should understand the companies we are sharing our information with. Do not be afraid to ask a company how do you protect my data, how do you use it, and who do you share it with?   Resources Mentions:   Cybersecurity with a twist of Entrepreneurism & Employee Engagement with Mathew Lafrance, President & CEO of GRADE-A Securing your Business in the Cloud with Gene Villeneuve, Chief Revenue Officer, Tehama Cybersecurity Theft, Threat, or Breach: Isn’t not IF, it’s WHEN. with Patricia McLeod, Corporate Director Cybersecurity: Is your business at risk? with Catherine Evans, Senior Vice President, National Cyber Practice Leader at Marsh Cybersecurity: Who is keeping Canada's internet safe? with Byron Holland, CEO of CIRA (Canadian Internet Registry Authority) PIPEDA   Connect with Katherine Thompson:   Human Firewall Solutions Inc. Katherine Thompson on LinkedIn         Join me for Elevated Conversations: Cybersecurity: Securing your Business in the Cloud   Join me on October 16, 2019 at 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Eastern for the exclusive, invitation-only event: Elevated Conversations: Cybersecurity: Securing your Business in the Cloud with special guest, Gene Villeneuve, Chief Financial Officer of Tehama.io, to learn more about the cybersecurity landscape and how you can secure your business in the cloud.   Email Colleen.Campbell@RBC.com to request your exclusive invitation today!   Book Your Prosperity Discovery Session Today!   Are you ready to double your net worth? Ready to create your roadmap to riches or get your financial life back on track? Join me for a Prosperity Discovery Session today! Let’s unlock your roadmap to riches so you can begin to live your life to the fullest. To book your Prosperity Discovery Session, email me at colleen.campbell@rbc.com to request a free questionnaire and let’s begin your roadmap to riches now!   Spots are limited, so book your Prosperity Discovery Session today!   Subscribe to the I’m A Millionaire, So Now What Podcast! Thanks for joining us for this episode of I'm A Millionaire, So Now What Podcast - the show bringing you inspirational stories, practical strategies, and fun, frank advice for self-made millionaires and wealthy families. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts and leave a positive review. Don’t forget to share your favorite episodes with other wealthy families and self-made millionaires on social media!  

Congestion is stalling Canada’s biggest cities and costs us between $6 billion to $10 billion a year. On Episode 20 of Down to Business, host Emily Jackson talks to Peter Harrison, vice president, Canada, of CPCS Transcom Ltd., a global transportation and infrastructure consulting firm, about this problem and possible solutions.

Congestion is stalling Canada’s biggest cities and costs us between $6 billion to $10 billion a year. On Episode 20 of Down to Business, host Emily Jackson talks to Peter Harrison, vice president, Canada, of CPCS Transcom Ltd., a global transportation and infrastructure consulting firm, about this problem and possible solutions.

I det här avsnittet får ni träffa Cecilia Forzelius, Chief People Officer, på globala kundserviceföretaget Transcom som anställer över 16 000 nya medarbetare per år. Cecilia berättar om hur de genom att digitalisera stora delar av rekryteringsprocessen halverat tiden HR lägger ner på rekryteringar, höjt kvaliteten och stärkt kandidatupplevelsen. Dessutom får du höra hur HR:s arbete har påverkats av det nya sättet att rekrytera och vilka nya kompetenser som krävs.

The Defense Department is always thinking about cybersecurity these days, but what happens when it needs to interact with private sector networks? U.S. Transportation Command has been struggling with that issue for some time. But the new nominee to head the command and a prominent senator think it's time to crack down harder on business cybersecurity practices. Federal News Radio's Scott Maucione joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk more.

U.S. Transportation Command is in charge of moving physical objects like people and materiel. Command leadership sees one of their biggest threat in cyberspace. TRANSCOM is one of the biggest bridges between the military and civilian businesses, and it is feeling vulnerable because of it. Now TRANSCOM Commander General Darren McDew wants Congress to do something about it. Federal News Radio's Scott Maucione joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss further.

The military can't go far or do much without reliable delivery of cargo. That's where the U.S. Transportation Command comes in. Transcom excellence is all about logistics. Now it's completed what it calls a "proof of principle" test of an off-the-shelf, commercial transportation management system. It promises to improve logistics and lower costs for this crucial function. Kelly Mueller McNulty and Gary Hermann, logistics management specialists for U.S. Transcom, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk more about the project.

Avaya announced that Transcom, a global business process outsourcer (BPO), has upgraded its large, multinational contact center operation, building on Avaya Customer Engagement Solutions to drive rapid innovation and help the company advance to digital, omnichannel services. All of Transcom’s 52 contact centers around the world are equipped with Avaya solutions. Its largest operation is in Europe, where the company’s data center in the Netherlands serves 40 locations and clients in 16 countries, handling calls in all European languages.

Persistent, Intellectually Curious, Courageous, Entrepreneurial, Innovative—these are all familiar entrepreneurial terms that are used by our guests to describe folks that are engineers. Mr. Ronald Moore and Dr. Terrence Freeman represent the St. Louis Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers or NSBE. NSBE’s mission is the same today as it was over 40+ years ago—to help improve the recruitment and retention of black engineering students who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community. NSBE is a highly respected, premiere African-American organization that is community focused with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programming. They create opportunities for children as young as elementary school all the way through post-graduate studies. In this conversation, hear about the positive impact they have had on entrepreneurs they’ve worked with as well as the the millionaires and billionaires that are NSBE members. What’s even more exciting is their 43rd Annual NSBE Conference that will be held March 29-April 2nd in Kansas City MO. At events like these, they have had great speakers and notables such as Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Cruise Line; General Darren McDew, Transcom, Commander US Airforce; Richard Mark, CEO of AmerenUE Illinois; Lieutenant General Joseph Ballard; former Corps of Engineers Commander and many other community figures that attend and participate. Dr. Freeman shares his personal journey where instead of basketballs or bicycles he received chemistry sets and telescopes from parents who were determined to expose him to science at an early age. He became exceptional in his field with full scholarships and opportunities to some of the nation's most exceptional institutions for engineering. Mr. Moore not only served this country with the National Guard but his strong engineering background is presently a significant contribution to the region's infrastructure that's right below our feet. Entrepreneur's Inspiration is in their true engineer's stories but also in the key take aways they share in this conversation. In this episode: - Encouragement if you've ever felt like you might not be right for the job or particular opportunity. - Inspiration to overcome deeply engrained fears or apprehensions that you may have picked up in childhood. - Entrepreneurship is about problem solving, but what's a step beyond that? The importance of problem recognition. - How engineering employs the same tactics as entrepreneurship. - Two things entrepreneurs and engineers can't leave home without-persistence and resilience. - Engineering touches on so many industries, disciplines and perspectives that you could throw a rock in any direction at the huge annual NSBE national convention and would certainly hit someone along the engineering spectrum. - The awe-inspiring details and highlights of the previous and 2017 NSBE national convention. - How to connect with NSBE and NSBE STL. From K-Post Grad. - Inspiration to become "entrepreneurially courageous" just as NSBE students are prompted to become "academically courageous". NSBE Annual Convention #NSBE43 Kansas City Convention Center MARCH 29 - APRIL 02, 2017 Kansas City, MO "ENGINEERING YOUR FOUNDATION" You MUST see this For more visit:

Persistent, Intellectually Curious, Courageous, Entrepreneurial, Innovative—these are all familiar entrepreneurial terms that are used by our guests to describe folks that are engineers. Mr. Ronald Moore and Dr. Terrence Freeman represent the St. Louis Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers or NSBE. NSBE’s mission is the same today as it was over 40+ years ago—to help improve the recruitment and retention of black engineering students who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community. NSBE is a highly respected, premiere African-American organization that is community focused with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programming. They create opportunities for children as young as elementary school all the way through post-graduate studies. In this conversation, hear about the positive impact they have had on entrepreneurs they’ve worked with as well as the the millionaires and billionaires that are NSBE members. What’s even more exciting is their 43rd Annual NSBE Conference that will be held March 29-April 2nd in Kansas City MO. At events like these, they have had great speakers and notables such as Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Cruise Line; General Darren McDew, Transcom, Commander US Airforce; Richard Mark, CEO of AmerenUE Illinois; Lieutenant General Joseph Ballard; former Corps of Engineers Commander and many other community figures that attend and participate. Dr. Freeman shares his personal journey where instead of basketballs or bicycles he received chemistry sets and telescopes from parents who were determined to expose him to science at an early age. He became exceptional in his field with full scholarships and opportunities to some of the nation's most exceptional institutions for engineering. Mr. Moore not only served this country with the National Guard but his strong engineering background is presently a significant contribution to the region's infrastructure that's right below our feet. Entrepreneur's Inspiration is in their true engineer's stories but also in the key take aways they share in this conversation. In this episode: - Encouragement if you've ever felt like you might not be right for the job or particular opportunity. - Inspiration to overcome deeply engrained fears or apprehensions that you may have picked up in childhood. - Entrepreneurship is about problem solving, but what's a step beyond that? The importance of problem recognition. - How engineering employs the same tactics as entrepreneurship. - Two things entrepreneurs and engineers can't leave home without-persistence and resilience. - Engineering touches on so many industries, disciplines and perspectives that you could throw a rock in any direction at the huge annual NSBE national convention and would certainly hit someone along the engineering spectrum. - The awe-inspiring details and highlights of the previous and 2017 NSBE national convention. - How to connect with NSBE and NSBE STL. From K-Post Grad. - Inspiration to become "entrepreneurially courageous" just as NSBE students are prompted to become "academically courageous". NSBE Annual Convention #NSBE43 Kansas City Convention Center MARCH 29 - APRIL 02, 2017 Kansas City, MO "ENGINEERING YOUR FOUNDATION" You MUST see this http://convention.nsbe.org For more visit: www.nsbe.org www.nsbestl.org