Celebrating 1 Year of TruthWorks!

0:00Hey there, a year later, can you believe it? Gosh, we've met so many interesting. Oh, we should probably intro, huh? Let's should we go back and intro? Oh, yeah. OK.

0:16What would happen if we just told the truth? Welcome to TruthWorks, where we dig into the nitty gritty of leadership and work. And what needs to change? I'm Jessica Neal. And I'm Patti McCord. Our journey together started in HR. But trust us, it's evolved into something wild, honest, and, well, a bit rebellious. So throw out the handbook. We're here to redefine rules to work for us, not against us. Let's dive into another episode.

0:51Hey, we're on another episode of TruthWorks. And we're feeling a bit nostalgic today because this is our one year anniversary. Happy birthday to us. Yeah. But what we want to do today is kind of reminisce and think about some of our favorite podcasts that we've done over the last year. And it's hard. I know. It's really hard. And I just got goosebumps. I know I always say that on the show. But I just want to say that doing this podcast gives me so much joy. Like it just does. And you were just talking about this. Like we talk to these people. We do. And every single time I get off of one, I'm like, oh, my God.

1:37Like I learned so much. That person was amazing. And I also, I think we are achieving what we set out to do, which was to tell the truth about a lot of things, which I'm happy about. Yeah, me too. And I was going to say, I hope so, but I know so because I go back and listen to the episodes and I feel the same way as you. And one of the things I really miss about working, you know, in a company is all the great people I get to interview. And the great news about this one is like there's no duds. Right. I know. All these people are really interesting. And I do sometimes I read the bios and I think, I don't know if I'm going to learn anything from this one.

2:19And those are kind of the ones where I step back. They're the ones that we learn the most from. For example, I was looking at some of our favorites and one of our favorites is Donna Morris, who is the CHRO of Walmart. During the pandemic in a one period of time, there were a lot of companies early on furloughing talent, like the airlines, hotels, service restaurants, because everybody was closing. We, on the other hand, were having to feed America and other countries and markets where we operated. We hired 500 ,000 people in six weeks. How did we do that? All of a sudden, we turned 24-hour hiring on.

2:59And we did online assessments. We decided, you know what? We don't need to background check everyone. We can background for anomalies. We don't have to background for everyone. And we basically said as a comfort level, if they go through the filter of our assessments that are customer oriented and they come out on the other side as positive, let's bring them on board. Let's get them on our team and let's see what happens. We hired phenomenal people. Oh my God. I mean, having the responsibility for so many employees. Yeah, like over 2 million people. That's like a small country. They were so thoughtful about literally everybody in the company.

3:44I loved that the associates, I forget what they call them, team members or whatever. Associates, yeah. Associates were, like there was a real recognition that the people that you see when you walk into a Walmart store are recognized by the company as the face to the customer. And that was absolutely one of my faves was just to talk to somebody. You know, you and I talk a lot about working with companies and our added values when they scale. Oh, my God. I know. And like the whole thing that she was talking about and I see because I follow her on LinkedIn. Yeah. Hey, Donna, I'm a fan. Yeah. It's like that people led, tech powered.

4:26They really live that. And that's really hard to do at their scale. I don't know. She's just fascinating. You probably get the same questions I do. Like, you know, who do you admire? That's a company that's doing good stuff. And they want me to say another tech company. And what I found through our interviews with people was some of the most thoughtful, innovative work out there is not from other CHROs and other tech companies. companies. You know, it's from all over the spectrum. I just thought of another episode that we didn't even put on our list. Sachin! Oh, yeah. Wasn't he great? For those of us who care about this issue, if we're out there selling it in terms of a workforce necessity, we're going to kind of run out of steam.

5:15Like, it really has to be something that parents and people who care about their communities are thinking about the child's experience and what we need for our kids in our community. And then you kind of actually feel that desire, you know, to do. Right. Because it's more, there's more mission and purpose behind it. So for example, there was Sachin, CEO of a manufacturing company who was really reaching down to figure out how to make the employees at his very old family run manufacturing organization in the Midwest. And the way he was thinking about the people that he worked with and child care and what they actually dealt with every day was a great example of innovation that we don't see very often.

6:04No, we don't. He was amazing. Want to talk about Ted? I love Ted. You love Ted. So one thing that was really helpful for me in my current position as co-CEO is there's a lot of things that I oversee, one or two layers removed, that I don't know how to do. I don't know the answer. But I really focus on knowing the question and trying to get to the place that, you know, as you know, Patty, from the beginning of the company, very much an engineering culture, very much data driven. And I did, I think if I'd look back at it, the thing I brought in was a little bit more intuition. Another one we had on our list was nostalgic and really fun.

6:47And that's when we interviewed Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, and one of our buddies from Forever and Forever. And what was fun about that was we dived deeply into Ted's origin story. I mean, I knew this about him, and you knew this about him, but I don't know that the world knew about things when I remember interviewing him. Community school dropout. Community school dropout. And just what a movie, what a crazy movie fan he's always been. And I think that one of the things that Ted's background brought to our, at the time I was there, very techie company, was his just deep love for the creative process and for content and for movies and the thrill of being part of all that.

7:39And so that was also one that I really enjoyed doing. Yeah. And I mean, I think one of the things people probably didn't understand, too, is that us making that shift into making content and producing content was a big bet that he took. Oh, my God. And that was the house of cards. It was so scary. So scary. It was a bet the farm move. Yeah. And, well, good bet. Yep. But farm's doing well. Well, I loved having my friend Kara Swisher on. I know. That was our very first episode. So one of the things that fueled a lot of that for me was I hate to bellyache about where I am. Like, oh, I don't like my boss.

8:21You know, it's always someone else's fault. But I'm not like that. I'm like, I always think it's not someone else's fault. They might be a jerk, but it's my fault for staying, right? Like, I can pick my ass up and go somewhere. We love you! Yeah. I mean, this is our mission from God. So like, you know, if you hate it, leave. Right. Speaking of people that you follow that really speak truth to power, you know, Cara always has, too. And that interview was also about Cara's origin story. Yeah. And I think one of the things that you and I bring to the podcast is our love of interviewing. Could be.

9:05You know, it's true. Very curious. But it was like, how did you end up to be Kara Swisher? Like, how did you get there? And it was so fascinating. And she continues to be somebody who deeply understands the tech bro world. For those of you that are not familiar with the tech bro world, but now you are. But you know what I love about her is like, she is who she is. Yeah. You know, she's not kissing anybody's ass. She's not. She really is just out to tell the truth. And every time you see her, you read about her, something she wrote, like she's that's her mission. And I just I don't know. It's unwavering.

9:53And it's just cool that she, one, has set out to tell the truth, but two, just doesn't really care what anybody thinks about it. Yeah, I think she's an inspiration for both of us, too, to try and keep that in our podcast, to be constantly seeking, like, not advice for people, but like, okay, here's how it works. Right. Right. It's not so much about solutions always. It's about ideas and inspirations and rethinking things instead of doing them the way they've always done them. Yeah. One of my favorites, Patty, was when we had Nirav Toya on, who is the CEO and founder of Nextdoor, who got fired and then rehired.

10:38In May of 2018, I got on the phone with Patty. And Patty said, I've talked with your board. You're in a tough spot. This is not going to be easy. Let's see if we can get you some help. I don't know what's going to happen. Right? And so even hearing that, remember, this is not a company that I came into. It's a company that I created. This is not a board that I inherited. It's a board that I chose, right? And so it feels a little bit more like a family at that point. And, you know, this gets to all the Netflix stuff about we're not a family, right? Like we're a team. And you realize that it's a business.

11:18It's a business. And if you don't perform, and the other thing you realize, and I would love for people listening to take this away. sometimes even if you're getting all the right advice even if you have all the resources at your disposal even if you have the best ceo coach until you fall down until you fail your ears aren't really open your eyes aren't really seeing what's going on and so when i reflect a little bit i remember going through this and realizing really in many ways for the first time all the areas where I needed to grow. You and I have known him for a very long time. A very long time.

12:00We knew him when, we knew him now, and the journey that he has made as a leader and the change and the reflection. Nirav and I have not always had a smooth path together. Yeah. Right. We've had some very bumpy roads. And I got to tell you, I was kind of eclamped. like how far he's come and how willing he is to be a better man and be a better leader. And what was really interesting about his journey that I think I've seen in my career is sometimes man hitting rock bottom is the best thing that can ever happen to you because you realize how much was propped up by your ego and the other people around you telling you, oh, you're amazing, you're amazing, you're amazing.

12:55And then suddenly not being so. Right, and he talks about that in the podcast, how he hit rock bottom. And just think, he wouldn't have learned all those things had he not. The self-awareness that he has now and the approach that he has to leadership now has just evolved in such an elegant way, right? And I'm just, I don't know, I'm just really proud of him. Yeah, me too. I mean, too. That was a great one. The other thing that I find is really fascinating is people that we haven't worked with and we don't really know that much about. And we kind of go into it cold. And one of them was Matt Bean.

13:33Different people can follow their nose, but you need to not just get good at A-skill, but it's get good at building a portfolio of skills. And that way you're better able to digest the complexity of your environment so that you can handle surprises. You can predict them. Skill is not just a way to get better results under pressure. It has to do with our life purpose and meaning. Like, why are you building skill in the first place? Oh, to make money. How come? Well, because reasons. Those reasons get a little closer to why we get up out of bed in the morning, why we want to get good at something.

14:08Is it status? Is it leaving a legacy? Is it producing something in the world? It has to do with redeeming what our life is about. I love Matt Bean. Do we love Matt Bean? It was fascinating. I mean, the learning that he learned about learning in the operating room and how it just impacted all these residents and they're not getting the experience and these These rogue people are going up on YouTube watching how to do surgery, and that's how they're learning how to do it. I was like, good Lord. It also opened my eyes to the medical community in a way that I don't know. I think that that was a great example of how much we learned.

14:51Yeah. Right. I mean, we just sort of went in like, so tell us your story. And it was such an interesting story. And the other thing was it gave me a really great insight into, you know, there's so much talk about AI. and the AI is going to take all our jobs. But he was so, it was very specific, you know, the way he's thinking about AI. But it was an example of, wow, this could change a lot of people's lives and make them a lot better. And so if you want to hear a story of something that is like not bad news about this evil new technology, this is a really good episode to learn from. I know. The other one just, you know, and I'm going off script here, too, because I just thought about somebody else.

15:40But it was the neurologist, Richard Satoik. I think it's hugely distracting in the workplace. And, you know, my advice is minimize distractions. The open workspace is the worst possible environment whatsoever because you're distracted all the time. And once you are distracted, it takes about 11 to 23 minutes to get back to what you were doing. So is that true? Yes. The research is very, very firm on this. And so the question is, you know, how does anybody ever get anything done if you're constantly distracted? I mean, the ability to have an office where you shut the door, it's heaven's blessing.

16:22He was so fun. Yeah. So fun. Yeah. Oh, my God. I love that conversation. And just the way that he was talking about how our brains work. And I really never thought that, like, the brain that we have currently is the same brain that you had in the caveman years. Like, it's the same brain. Yeah. But we're, you know, we're doing drastically different things with our brain than we were doing then. Yeah. And that's another one where, you know, we're looking at the bio going neurologist. Okay. Sounds great. You know, just why don't you lead this one? He was so great. And then his story, too. Yeah. Like growing up gay in his generation and in his town and how that was like looked downly on.

17:10And he was like, I'm going to go tell the truth for these people. Can we quote you on looked downly?

17:21Yes. And Jessica Neal is referring to a neurologist as a guy who is looked downly upon. Showing her caveman brain. Yeah, my caveman brain. I was trying to be politically correct and think about the right word and it didn't come out right. Because, you know, you get in trouble for what you say. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. Okay. But he was fascinating. You know, one, I was just looking through our list that a lot of people have referenced and you, I think, were sick or something, but it was Joanne Lublin. When I'm at work, I feel guilty that I'm not with the child. And when I'm with him, I feel guilty that I'm not doing all I need to do for work.

18:02Like it's like an endless, an endless thing. Like the guilt is overwhelming at times. It is overwhelming and it is hugely unproductive. It is a waste of valuable energy. I agree. But how do you not waste energy? You look at the 10 hacks that are in that chapter, one of which is the notion that self-care is not selfish care. She wrote this book, Power Moms, and she was just talking about like, it's not about work-life balance, it's sway. Explain sway to me. Sway is you got to sway both ways, right? So you sway over here, you sway over there. It's not about having the perfect balance. It's about swaying.

18:48Yeah. I don't know. Her story was just fascinating. And she did this whole, she had her husband sign a marriage contract and they did it together. And it was like before they got married and they had a lawyer drawn up. And it wasn't like a prenup. It was like a marriage contract. And it was like, you know, the duties that you'll do, the duties that I'll do. And for your career, we'll do this. And for my career, we'll do this. And if you have to move for your career, we'll move for a year. And then if I have to move for my career, we'll move for another. But they like worked it all out. And I was like, God, God, I should have done that.

19:21I mean, it was like, you know, who's going to take out the laundry, you know, or the trash? I was like, you know, they 50-50 household duties. I was like, that's genius. That sounds pretty fun. Yeah, she was cute. I mean, Patty, it was so hard to pick favorites. I know. I mean, and just like going through and reminiscing about all the cool people we've had the privilege to talk to. I don't know. It's just I just feel so grateful that people would spend time with us. But also, like, I've just learned so much. Me too. I keep thinking about like after a while we got where we would end every conversation with, will you come back?

20:00Will you come back? And I hope our listeners got as caught up in the learning as we did, because this has been a really fun year in that we've met so many terrific people and we've reconnected with people that we love and we get to just keep on doing it, huh? I know. But the one thing I'll say is I have loved just being with you. Oh, me too, Bunky. Because it means that like every week I get to see you and be with you, even though I'm not touching you. Yeah, but, you know, I would say that I love every week we keep doing something that we both love intellectually, right? And that is meeting and learning from new people.

20:49And I think that if there's any thread of you and I and our working together, it's that. It's that. I mean, you know, sometimes I think about I get off the podcast and I think about a one on one with you. Right. And I've got an agenda and you've got an agenda. But instead, you know, one of us will start out and go, you wouldn't believe this guy I interviewed this morning. Or this woman was unbelievable. I can't wait until she makes a contribution to the company. Right. And that curiosity and that sort of excitement about what people are going to do with their lives is great. From a similar cloth, you and I.

21:27From the same cloth. It's an old calico bonnet. You know what I am excited for our listeners to hear is the episode that recorded earlier this week. I know. Oh, God. I know. That was so good. Just another one. It didn't give you goosies? It did. It gave me goosies. But that one's good, you guys. You better tune in. Yep. Yep. So thanks for listening, everybody. For those of you who have listened to any of our podcasts from the last year. We are honored. Keep tuning in. Yay. Love you, Patty. Love you. Thanks for listening to TruthWorks. This episode was produced by Megan Hayward. Thank you to Kathleen Speckard and the whole Edit Audio team.