Claude Silver: "Hustle x Heart: The Silver Lining of Work Culture" | Talks at Google

Hi. Everyone welcome to talks at Google. I'm, Chalmers, Brown for those of you who don't know me I'm a business systems analyst, and our corporate engineering area. I now, work on our Corp des cloud project but for most of my five plus years here, at Google I've, been working alongside our people operations team, building. Out systems, like G higher perf. And grow, today's. Event is called hustle, times heart the silver lining of work culture and. We are honored to be joined by claude silver. Vaynermedia's. Inaugural. Vaynermedia. Is an all year old chief heart officer, a first-of-its-kind position. Created to scale the company's people first ethos. Claude. Champions, empathy, driven leadership as she oversees talent. Management employee, experience, and recruitment, for over 750. Employees at vaynermedia, which. Is a Gary, Vaynerchuk company. For. Those of you who might not be familiar Gary. Vaynerchuk is a serial, entrepreneur and, the CEO and co-founder of vaynermedia, which. Is a full service digital agency. Serving, fortune, 500. Clients across the company's four locations, and. Gary is also the host, of a widely successful askgaryvee. Show. On. Youtube. Claude's. Current role is the capstone of a career that spans nearly 20. Years at, numerous. Fortune 50 companies. Including. Senior leadership posts, at J Walter Thompson and publicist. In London, her. Success in guiding employee. Experienced, client, relationships, global, brand strategies, operations. And management is. Driven by an abiding passion for, creating spaces in which people can thrive please. Join me in welcoming Claude, silver, thank you. Really. Thank you thank you for being here quick, housekeeping please. Silence. All devices. And we, will have some, time. For Q&A at the end. Since we're recording it's very important that if you have a question please, ask it at one of the two mics in the aisles okay. So. For, people in the audience who might not be familiar with vaynermedia. What. Would you say is the company's, mission and how is that different from, other. Companies in your industry or other companies in general yeah. So we're a full theater media is a full service digital agency. So we're really a creative shop that marries. Both paid media creative. And strategy, in the middle not. Unlike a lot of other agencies that, that you probably work with for sure and, Gary. Would say our mission is to build, the. Biggest human Empire of all kind of all time I'd. Like to be a part of that for sure, but. I think the, the differentiator. For us is that we really do put people at the center that we because, we're an independent. Independently. Owned, agency. Of. Course we're we, we. Want to make, sure that we're paying attention to our top and bottom line and and the growth there but it is really the people that fuel all of that and I really I personally. Think that the. Emphasis that we put on people the emphasis that we put on culture, the emphasis that we, even have a job like mine which is very different, than a chief. HR, officer. Which we'll get to I'm sure yeah. That, in itself sets, us apart I don't, think it makes us better or holier than now I think it just makes us very different, and it is something that is hard to grok sometimes, that yeah, okay well are, you just like Drogo five are you like anomaly. We're. Different we really beat to a different drum and I think a lot of that is, because, of who Gary Vaynerchuk is, and and you, know incredibly, fast moving and path, that. Is known for hustle, but quite frankly he's got a heck of a lot of heart mm-hmm, so. The. Term honey Empire comes up frequently in, reference, to Vayner in your role can you explain what that means yeah I can there's there's a lot of different breakdowns but I've definitely, honed, my my.

My. Verbatim, I think at this point there's two different ways I look at it so being people first that's obviously the honey that, is taking care of the people that is making sure that if someone is having a bad day we're taking care of them if someone got engaged or, married we're, celebrating, that it. Is really the idea of. Creating. Champions, from. One another the collaboration. The the. Emphasis, on working. Together to, create, the. Biggest honey, Empire of all time the. Empire of course is the is much more of a success it's much more of the the. Client success the personal, success the the. Agency shop success, so that is one way to look at it, the. Other way I like to look at is something actually I am gonna use this little easel do you mind yeah go ahead please lay I'm writing big enough for that for the camera but. Fundamentally. If, I think about how I how. I look at, building. Strong teams and and, building teams that are sustainable and they last, I look, at starting. With connection. Again. Hopefully that can be reread, so. Connection, as human beings we are we. Are absolutely wired to belong we are wired to connect with one another, connection. Plus. Trust. So. Once I connect, with you and I'm kind of like in it with you we start to we start to trust, one another I might let my guard down a little bit more I might be a little bit easier with you might share, something about myself with you. Plus. Empathy. So. I trust. Now but, now I'm sharing something, maybe I'm sharing about an, issue I'm having on another team or maybe I'm sharing something about something. A family, a family, issue or celebration, or something like that connection. Plus, trust plus empathy. Honey. Equals. Accountability. Which. Also is another way to say loyalty. Longevity. So. We want our people to be there with us for, the long haul we want Vayner people to be with us forever quite frankly gary will say that i want you to work with, me forever. Accountability. Longevity. Resilience. Who. Doesn't need resilience, in these times i mean things are changing i'm sure, you already launched, you know three different products well i've been sitting here with you today and but. Digital the world of digital is changing every single second so you need to be able to roll with those punches and also you, know Gary's a disruptor, he's and he's an entrepreneur I mean it is he, could say today by the time we get back we're, not going to do that we're gonna do this and we all have to pivot very quickly so resilience, is really important in our teams and our people, accountability. Longevity. Resilience. Equals. Speed. This. Is the Empire right here speed is our number one KPI, people. First here, are the feelings they're all the things that I care about all day long right and here's. The Empire the fact, of how do we get it across the finish line so, I hope that answered the question in a very esoteric, way, yeah that's great. So. You mentioned I think you probably get this question, all the time, how is your role as chief heart officer, different. From, a traditional chief. HR officer, yeah. I mean, I'm not HR, at all I've I've. Never been HR in fact I I started, in 98, before. Google before Facebook, as a project manager in in San Francisco and then morphed. My way into, the, agency, side on the. Client client, facing side and and. Then found my home in strategy. And way. Way way back when I was training to be a psychotherapist.

So Human, development human behavior, is always something that's really really fascinated. Me and still does this, day, that's. Kind, of like everything. For me how, we work why we work, how. We can work better and. So. I've been a strategist, for a very long time almost 20 years and I, am. NOT HR I'm not I'm, not I'm certainly, now HR. And I'm equipped and more educated in the science of HR and the benefits, and and, international. Visas, and, laws and whatnot but. That's. Not my job we have some incredible HR people in the. Crowd right now they're on my team which, is amazing and they, really take care of the. The, HR. Factor, the the science, of it the benefits. Payroll. 401ks. And and, really really, the reviews, the review cycle all, of those things as well so my job isn't, I mean you you would say that send, that to Claude because she's you, know head of HR but, but. I'm not I get to oversee, mm-hm. That which is and I get to co-create, with people, that know more than I know in terms, of HR and Gary. Really sees himself as HR, because he's a people first person, and so, the. Synergy that he and I have in terms of how we feel. About people our belief in people. Our. Gut about people, is really what created. This role and why we call it heart because we actually think of HR. Which I have no idea what that really means as heart. In fact we we changed the name of the department when I when, I started to people. And experience, because after all that's what we're doing here you, have a, department. You know people ops it's very similar or similar but, the idea of Human, Resources, to me is very foreign, I really. I don't I. Don't get it but but. If anyone wants to explain those, two terms to me I'm open so, people, in experience, and and, really I'm not I'm not chief of HR but. But. Again we've got a great team that that, takes care of that excellent. So, one. Of the things you've called yourself is an emphatic. Truth. Teller when. You were describing. What. It was that Gary needed, to sort of scale. What he did for the organization. As. The organization expanded. What's. The hardest truth you've had to tell or or at least the hardest one you can share sure, it's. It's, empathic. Empathic. I think someone once called me an empathic truth, okay, maybe I misheard. That may be its emphatic, and, hopefully. It's enthusiastic. But um, you. Know it's. It's. Hard. It. Is a challenge, I think sometimes, to. Confront. Someone with, something they might may not see about themselves, it's. Hard as another human being to take. That step that bold step forward as a just, another learner in the world and to think that I see something that they don't see, by. No means am i you know not a psychotherapist, I'm not, a physician. So it's really difficult, to, get. Up the gumption and, want. To, shine. A mirror in front of someone and I think that is that's a difficult thing that we all have however, when. We give feedback and, when we share, something, with another person it's really an act of caring mm-hmm, so when. I don't do that I'm really withholding, quite frankly I'm I'm manipulating, someone's growth and development and. The. Way I go about it is is is hopefully with this much gray stack and. And. Good generosity, of spirit as I possibly can, but. That is something that I think is is. Is. I you just have to step, wisely. Into that into those shoes, cautiously. Of course because you never know how someone's going to react. But if, you if, you go into that truth. Again. With empathy, and. With. Humility my god then, I think, the. Door can open to so much possibility, and that's what it's all about, possibility. Is there an example that. You can think of where. Yeah. Telling, that truth there's, an example I mean when did I get hurt so I think an. Hour ago I was in a room with a, very senior. Senior. Account holder, account client, service person and. This, this. Person was telling me that, he. Has been exploring. His team for the last three months and these are the three buckets that he thinks are wrong. With his team. So. Probably, my age he's in his 40s and and. Maybe. He knows more about life than I do I have no idea but. He. And I have had many conversations over. The past I would say eight or nine months about these these, issues. In his team and only today he's bringing them to me so. What I did say to him is you know with all due respect I really believe, that you've, been protecting your team this entire time. There's no need to protect your team and these. Three buckets that you just shared with us should have been shared with me nine months ago because we could have fixed it we, didn't need to go through all the rigmarole, and all the people issues and all the the hardship, and all the you.

Know Missed deadlines and all of those things if we if we just could, get truth. So. That's. Probably the most recent, conversation, and and, he took it as well as can be I'll we'll see what happens when I get back to work. But. Again. You go into it with with. As much grace and. And. Just generosity, you know I want. To help him. So. Your, role was created, to help preserve veiners. Culture, while. It grows rapidly we. Know a little bit about that here at Google. What. Are. What. Are the elements of veiners culture, that, you most, fear, losing. As you, continue, to expand, and scale yeah so. Yeah the role was the this role was created to scale Gary and he says to scale the unscalable which i think is a phenomenal, way to say it I mean how do we scale culture, that's. The big question it's a question I get all the time and a question I'm sure you guys get it almost 80,000, people and and, wanting to maintain, Google. Across the world. So. Our culture is really built on a, few. Different values that I can say over the last 8 and 1/2 years are pretty tried and true. Empathy. Which I will call Hart mm-hmm. Speed. Which, I would call hustle, hustle. And Hart yep. Possibility. We, work for an entrepreneur, and everything, really is possible there is a yes all the time until there isn't but it takes a very long time to get to the no if ever. Positivity. Mmm, I mean Gary, over indexes, as an optimist, I'm probably very close. Find him and. And. Winning. Competitiveness. And those, are things I believe are still in our DNA. Absolutely. Over eight and a half years but those are things that we need to continue. To stoke the fire on so. For example let's take the conversation that I just had mmm. That conversation, was out of line and out of touch with our culture, because. The the the winning was misguided the. Money to win was missing the, wanting to win was was chased in fear that's. Not one of our values it's not how we how, we use. And foster. Our culture, and so. You, know and that's just talking to one individual, where is that is that spread anywhere I mean so. The. Most important thing that I'm doing every single day is I'm talking to a lot of people quite frankly I'm listening, to a lot of people and I'm just collecting, data. Collecting, information I'm, holding space, to. See what happens to see what comes out and as. I'm speaking, to people and collecting, data I'm looking, for patterns and I'm, looking to hear if I hear a similarity, on one certain team or. If I hear a similarity, on a department, even though the department might be in a different country I might, have legs in a different culture a different company. Sorry. Different country, and. So as I hear these patterns, that's where we start to deploy, more. People, that. Or what I like to call culture, carriers by, no means is a title, culture carrier although they should put it in their signature right these. Are people that really get. But. Get a sense of the water that we're drinking every, single day it's not kool-aid its water it's pure, it's real you know and, so, in, every office and, certainly in our offices, here in New York which we have - I've. I can depend on, and rely on. Using. And and. Asking, that person or that person or that person to, go take that person, for.

A Walk or for a cup of coffee or go have a little mini town hall with those eight people who are just kind of crusty. So, that, is something that is it's, like 24/7. Job it's an absolute, 24/7, job which, you. Know meeting with people one-on-one having. Hangouts with people going. To I'll start a big, round of office visits next week in different countries and different cities, and so. Making sure that we have that high touch at every single moment obviously, Gary is doing the same exact thing he. Might be doing five minute meetings he might be doing a lot of texting, but. We, try to cover. And, cover. As much ground as we possibly can and, ensuring. That the culture is still being fed and. Fed. And watered and so that we can we can have like new sprouts every single day I talk. In metaphors a lot but that's. What it looks like to me quite frankly it's 800 people now but. I think 805. People I think and, that's. A lot it's just a lot of heartbeats it's a lot of mouths to feed and, certainly. Don't need to explain. That to to, Google, but, so. We've got we've got a lot of learning to do but I do think that we've implemented some some, really good tried. And tested. Abilities. Now yeah are there in the run up to 800, are there things that you feel, like you. Sort of lost irretrievably. Or. Things, that just couldn't couldn't. Survive. From. The, smaller scale to the larger scale I don't, think we lost them I think we lost sight of them and they got them back that's, what I think so in, terms of growing. Growing growing and that's just for example like the talent. Team that's here I mean they they there, was a period of time and there's only about five of them in all different countries and in New, York we've got three three. Or four but. There was a time that they were hiring hand over fist I mean we couldn't bring enough bodies into, the. Offices, and into our world and what. We lost, sight of was, training, in what we lost sight of was the orientation. And, what we ended up doing is throwing them into a fire. Without. Giving, them a sense of what's in our DNA what's, in our what's. In our bloodstream. In our water and. There. Were moments I would say in the last 18 months two years that, you, could feel, the. Ground start. To not tremble, but just start to shake a little bit or, the wheels on the bus just start to rattle a little a little, harder than I like I like a lot of speed but it was a little much and, in, those moments it's you know that's something that I talked to Gary about and I talked to my team about and we, have to kind of do a full-court press in that moment there's some things that we're not going to be able to retrofit and and change but. Going forward we know how important, it is to orient you, know we have a week-long orientation and. How. It important, it is for that employee. To really really connect. Get a sense of belonging tried. And true they we want them here you, know we've gone through three rounds of interviewing maybe four and so when they come in we already have this incredible, sense. Of belief in them, and it takes an employee obviously a longer time to believe in the org but. In those cases where we were we we got lost a little bit and so um anyway we've retrofitted, and, are there things that you, find that you can do at scale that you couldn't do when. You were smaller that, I actually, believe in terms of going back in time a little bit mm-hmm. Back. In time is not the right way to say it because we can't go back in time but we can certainly go. Back and, have that conversation with, that swath of people that we may have missed. We. Moved to we, opened up our first international office about, 15, months ago in London, and in doing so we sent out X paths to, open up the office. One. Of the things we learned very quickly is, and. I worked in London for for, a significant. Amount of time so it's something I knew, but as an expat it's, different with different glasses, on it's. So important, to get locals, in your office and get locals in your office fast mm-hmm, otherwise. It really is like the American invasion, in, many ways and that's not gonna work that's not gonna work in another country but it's certainly not gonna work when you when you are a local and you walk in and there's eight expats, and they're, telling you what to do so.

Those Are things that we've had to look. At and and reverse-engineer. As we, go forward. So. We're. Just finishing up our performance, management and compensation, cycle every, company. Has them in some form or another but, those processes, performance, management, compensation, planning. They're. Often, seen as sort. Of being directly, at odds with. The. Effort to create psychological. Safety a culture, of trust how, do you handle, performance. Evaluation, and rewards. Without undermining. The. Honey, Empire it's so tough I mean this crew in front of me that that. That's. On my team and they're the ones that take a little bit of the bruising, because, it there is such a juxtaposition, between, we. Love you we believe in you we want you you have a home we want you here forever here's, six percent. Or. You. Just got come you know all fives on a review on a review form because we just got out of our cycle as well and. But. You're not getting you're, not getting promoted. But, here's ten percent these. Are really hard conversations, I don't have the answer, other than so, much high-touch, and. That means you. Know spending time with that employee going back to that employee letting, them know we work for them working, with their manager, seeing how we can, you, know if we're, not able to give them the. The. Salary. Increase that they were so hoping, for and it is 6% or it is 8% making sure that what's, in their review in terms of their training and development, or their growth plans we are hitting immediately, or, as soon as we possibly can that's that's, one way I think that we can surround that person, or. That cohort, with as much, heart, as much, honey as we possibly can, spending. Time with Gary is always going to be a benefit, and it's weird to kind of dangle that in front sometimes but it is so. Incredibly. Helpful when. You get that time. With Gary and he's, able to in. His, own words, really. Really hone you into the vision because. The vision is you know the vision is amazing, like, the vision, of what we're doing we're building an agency, so that at, some point in time we can buy brands, and and, own them and create. The marketing and awareness for them like that's, awesome. There's not a lot of agencies that are doing that. But, it is. It's. Something we need to spend a lot of time a lot of time with and a lot of not. Coddling, and not pampering, but just again. High-touch I say that I say that phrase a lot but it is really what we do, from. A resident. On up, to an, SVP, and. And. Sort of in line with that as as chief, heart officer. How, do you how, do you go about helping someone when they're not succeeding, in their role, so. When they're not succeeding, in their role we do as much of a 360, as we can first and foremost to find out is that, really true or, is it just that one person or that one manager, from the top down that's like rabbi rabbi bad because, that's not fair right, so we really try to look. At it in a holistic manner and get as much 360, as we possibly can we. Put people on performance, plans mmm. 30-day, 60-day sometimes. 90-day in. In, London, we will extend, that no despair we will extend that 90-day, trial, period if, we need to for another three months we.

Want People to be successful again we've invested, so much time as you do to in recruiting, finding. That right talent, bringing. Them in orient, and I mean it costs a lot of money also talk. About the Empire you know it's and, so when you lose an employee costs, almost double triple to get that next employee in so. Making, sure that we're giving them, very. Specific. Clear. Ways. In which to improve, is that's, our job actionable. Measurable. Ways to improve otherwise, like that's, not fair you know so we spend a lot of time doing that we don't have a lot of people on performance, plans I don't. Know if that's a good or a bad thing mm-hmm. Maybe we're not looking at looking. Deep enough but for the most part I think coming out of this review cycle. Right now I can say that it's a very low percentage and, we're doing our best to to. Get people to get the sees up to a B and to. Get the B's up to an A one. Of the things that we do have that I'm super proud of is we have this alumni, program so it's. Someone, if we have a C that, we know will be an a some. Or, if we have some of those just not working out we're just not the right culture, for, example or we just move too fast we, will do our very best as we let them go to, find their next, interview. To find their next role and so, you can do that based on Gary's Network of course and based, on the. Enormous, amount of. Job. Requests, he's getting in every single day like hey do you have a hey, do you have a and, so we'll do our best to do the networking and then set them set them up with that first interview. So. One. Of the things that I think were. We've. Noted in our culture and that and that we're struggling with is. How. Do you how do you make a manager, right. How do you take somebody who's a tremendous. Performer, as an. Individual, contributor, and. Either. Determine. That they should or shouldn't be a manager and then. Make. Sure they have this the manager skill sets which are actually, generally, very different from the. Skill sets that made them successful as, an individual, contributor. What's. Your approach to. Making. Managers. So. We. Are, in the process of figuring out that training I'll tell you, unlike. I, should say not. Not unsimilar, too many agencies. You. Get promoted and you just rise through a ladder and you just get maybe like a higher. Salary and more responsibility. But. There isn't a lot of manager. Training and agencies probably, due to the nature of our work that it's, incredibly fast we're in the service of clients we have an output thank you very much so. Forth and so on and you keep on going on and on and on management. Management, training is something we kicked off in January. In difference, in different forms and that that, that included, presentation. Training that included. Radical. Candor feedback training, that is now including. Facilitation. Training but. We are still, figuring. Out what, is the right, what. What. Is a vaynermedia, manager. Recognizing. That we want everyone to have uniqueness, and how. Do we go about. Having that training how do we go about is it one-on-one I mean obviously, experiential. Is the way to do from I. Believe, that we learn faster. When. We experience it, we, either teach it or we experience it so we're, developing those things right now and I. Absolutely. Wish, I had a magic wand and we could make that happen faster. But. But. Spending time with people and really figuring out, what. Makes them, beat what makes them tick kind of figure helping them figure out kind of their own human behavior, so. That they can be, that much more tuned in to others, I think, is the key there. All. Right I. Have. A couple more questions but, I want to take a minute and just see, if there are questions in, the audience. Hi. Really. Well is, one. Found your passion and, then, secondly, found, a, way. To get, there, I, would, just love and I know you mentor, a lot of people in that way too I'd love to hear, your. Perspective on, that tips and tricks of. How you kind, of, found. Found. This and. Thanks. Kari yeah Kari, and I've worked worked. With each other about 13, or 15 years ago so, thanks. For being the first question. So. I, love. Doing coaching and I love mentoring and and, throughout my years whether, or not I was at this company or that agency or, running my own surfing, company I've, picked, up a lot of positive, psychology tips, and tricks along the way and and, life coaching, and executive. Coaching tools and I, I.

Do A lot of coaching, I call them whiteboard, sessions, some people might call them Northstar, sessions, but. What. I find is most important, with with all people, and all human beings is making sure that. At some point in, our existence. We're. Able to define. And touch our purpose our passion. And our purpose could be very different my one of my passions is snowboarding, but my purpose has nothing to do with snowboarding. So. There's a difference there but so. I take people through value, values. Exercises. I really. Like people to be big in the room that's something I say a lot so when they're with me and they're in one of these 45-minute. Hour long sessions. What I say to them is like it's just us in the room so be big like tell me really, what is the value you bring to teams like, no one's listening just, you and me then. I'll look at their values sometimes I even asked them what they wanted to be, when they when they were kids what do they want to be when they grew up because I think when. We go back to the origin of time when we were just innocent and, we wanted to be an astronaut, or a film director, or what not there's a lot of truth in that and. Sometimes they're still threads there's, still like a red thread that runs through from, when. You were kid to when you're an adult I, really. Ask people to it's. A funny little corny, question but to think about. In. Their most innocent, of times brushing, their teeth in the morning just, who are they like what is what is what are they where's, their resonance you know are they, are. They mad are they like when you wake up in the morning who are you what what type of person are you and, then, I saw all of that together and we hopefully we land on a guiding, principle or, a mission statement something. That they. Are really proud of an a can own they put is a you know put that in your wallet or you, know put that on your laptop. Because. It's unique to each and every individual, and I really think that once you know if I if it were successful, and this might take three sessions with them they'd. Go back to their desk and they can use some of that with, other people I mean that's how I see it I thought I'm scaling myself. Quite. Frankly aside from the team if. I'm, having this incredible interaction, with another human being that they're going back to their.

Desk Their team, their. Cohort, and they're able to you, know sprinkle their own magic dust you, know and that way. That. Way just the I mean the good vibes just keep keep keep on going but that's, what I do I just spend a lot of time doing a lot of coaching. And and, just like creating space for people to just be whomever, they want you, know at. Vaynermedia and, I'm I wouldn't. Doubt at Google as well we're teaching a lot more than just fundamental. Skills of, how. To use ad manager, or how did you know how to be an incredible, client service person. I mean it's life skills so no. Yes you can teach empathy someone, has to be interested, and open to learning. You can teach self-awareness, and those types of things so I think, that's what juices, me every single day that I don't have to just I'm, not just talking, about. How. To get this bottle into more hands you know, talking. About why why would you even be interested in getting this bottle into Morton's. Another. Question. For. The. Conference. And, I probably. Work for him he has the, energy. And, ability to kind of drop on the whole room and make people like. Kind of silence, after that I want to be a part of what he's doing early it's so. Just. Engaging so. My, question is kind of on the recruiting, process do you guys find that a lot of your applicants, come from like Gary, Vee, lovers. Like you just are, a huge fan of him and want to work for him or like maybe, even some of the recruiters, in the room who work at Vayner like, what. Is your guys's process, do you reach out do you have, a bunch of people like that who apply, I can only imagine after, hearing him speak so I, just, wanted to know kind of what the recruiting process. Looks, like yeah cool, Allah, keep me keep me honest. Team. But um he's. Absolutely in fact he's, contagious I mean that energy, and the. Mic drop and and the realism, of him is like something you just want to be around because there's not many people out there like him at. Least that are. That. You see their content every single day in every single way so. We I would say it's it's split we, obviously -. Set. Fit and a culture Edition if. You, went into Gary's inbox right now you. Would see I'm sure probably, 300, people who are like we'll work for you for free and that might have just happened in the last eight hours by. The time we get to eight o'clock tonight there might be another hundred and fifty that just want. To work for us for free which, is that, is amazing, I'm just like incredible. And an honor. Are. Those people the right skill set I don't. Know you know and that's where we have to start calling through some of those CDs if, we get now, we have. Specific, recruiters. That are, looking at just media. Video. Production. Account, project. Management, and whatnot every now and then we'll get sent one of these people two. Of these people or hey you know the owner of the knee of the New York Jets has a son here you go. We. Have so. We have to look through those incredibly, carefully, of course we'll give someone an at-bat, at, a at an interview that's, for sure if, they are a student.

Will Hopefully, get them into our internship, program which is in the summer if they, are just coming out of university, maybe we can get them in as a resident, again the, skills are super super important because we move so fast it's it's. Not charity as Gary would say, he. Says it allows just like I mean what are we doing here like, we're working we're here to work we're here to we are here to hustle and to, be the you know the biggest human human. Agency in the in the face of the earth but. We. Really need to take our time and go through those CVS and that's that, takes a lot of time and then, we have to make sure that we're interviewing, really really carefully, otherwise. We can just get you, know a lot of Gary fanatics, and maybe not a lot of the specific. Work that we need to get done but. It's always fun to see those emails come, in a lot, of fun. Building. A honey Empire or it more of a work environment that, has more. Heart involved. In getting more comfortable. And connected with your employees to make them more productive and, as, you know Google completely. Sets itself in that way as well and where our culture is huge and diversity, is very important for us for. The benefit. Of our team, and employees can you talk about a time where you, using your you. Know approach, towards. Connecting. With your employees that have, made them more productive and so you can say yes, this is something more scalable. And, and do you employ other, companies, or other, agencies, for that matter to, kind of employ and employ, that approach, as well, yes. So let's see if I'm if, I'm tracking correctly what I would I when, I think you're asking is a. Little. Bit of the training that we do with our employees, that are basically, kind. Of geared a little bit towards the performance, and their success, so. You, know the honey and the Empire portion, may be like looking at this early and when I was me talking about in the beginning which was putting. People first and, if you really really hone in and deploy, as much empathy and care and TLC and generosity and, giving. To employees, that the output. Is I mean you you just get tenfold. More of the output. So. We do a lot of we. Spend. Time doing a lot of small, town halls size, of this room, town. Halls were I will because I will just take I will feel questions, that, come at me about our culture, or about changes, or more transparency, I'll. Do that because I fundamentally, believe, we, need more communication throughout. The agency, and I should say I started, at the agency, as the SVP on the client side and so. I can, fully, remember, for those 18 months I was there I was. I was thinking gosh, we need more communication from leadership we need more communication from leadership and now that I'm in leadership it's something that I think about all the time how can we increase our transparency. How. Can we make sure that we're delivering on the promise of the, honey Empire how can we how can we make sure that we're delivering that. Growth and development that that, we that we also promised, so. Spending, time with people is super, super important I've already said that but. Making. Sure that I'm coming in you know it's it's funny. So. Much of what I do it, comes so naturally, to maybe and, and that's the great thing because I'm I'm, living my purpose to carries to Carrie's question I'm - my. Purpose is to facilitate growth. And change and people, and companies, and teams. And. Be a team builder and be of service and I'm able to do that every single day but. I realize not everyone is able, to do that so, me. Showing, that I think it's really important that that everyone, knows that I work for them no. One there's absolutely, no one that works for me. And I will give, whatever I possibly can to help someone over that finish line or help someone from the 10-yard line to the 30-yard line yard, line and. That takes a lot of time and energy and effort but I think, that's the wonderful thing about being. In a company especially run, by Gary where you know he wants to buy the New York Jets and so we function as a team in many many ways and, making. Sure that we're deploying to, your point deploying. As much of that honey. And the Empire, internally. And and, hopefully there's a effect in, other companies. Yeah. The. Scaling, question is such a great, question for us I think at this size at. The 800, mark. Because. As, I look out on the on the landscape, it's it's not any it's not anything I'm gonna be able to do alone and it's, and it's something that my team can certainly do but they're.

Gonna Need. Extra. Reinforcements. Very very soon because. We can't be in every place at every single time and in. Order to track back and see how that employee or that cohort of people is you know if there are, move. If there, if there needle, has moved since, we last trained, with them or we last spent time with them takes, a lot of time and energy and it takes away, from something. Else that we're doing that might be extremely, pressing. So. It's, it's really you, know leaning, on the, culture carriers that we've built right now to, kind, of be the finger on the pulse for me when I can't be there or for Gary, and. Making. Sure that we can track back and there is something to measure but. Growth is something that we can we can feel I mean you can see it and though you can see it in the water you can feel it you can certainly feel it when you're with someone especially, because we have people that stay. With us the longevity for a long time so. You can see how they've obtained, flown throughout, their their tenure ship at vaynermedia and, we. Really, use them quite frankly to help other people grow. And to make sure that we are. Going. Back and and and. Tying. Up any loose ends that we may have missed so, it's really. It's. Really a human it's really human, effort I mean, thank, God for Google and Google, Docs and Google Forms, because that's what we write. It's. It's it's human effort and at, some point you know we're starting to systematize. Much, more now that we're we passed the 700, people mark. Thanks. For the question. So. I want to add a little bit on a point. Somebody the previous questioner asked around diversity. And inclusion and cheese mentions so, one is. Especially. The creative side of the agency business diversity. Has been. This. Part, of the industry within. LGBT. People, of color are, dramatically. Under represents, underrepresented. In. Every. Creative agency in every creative department inside companies, I'm wondering if you could talk about your. Your. Point of view on sort of like how you. Acquire. That talent. You to have a specific ones for that or not and. Then, something. That I, think it's very personal to a lot of Googlers it's also how once, those people come in they. Do feel, that sense of connection trust, and empathy, so that they feel included. Yeah thank you for the question it's actually one that I love. Digging. Into because, as you said we're all trying to figure it out. Mapping. The macro, to the micro mapping. A macrocosm, to the microcosm, is much. More difficult than I would have ever known, as. I'm now looking at it from the top down and also just like being on the floor. Diversity. And inclusivity, is, and they are different things of course. It's, one thing to have a diverse, employee. Nest. If you will but then to deploy. Inclusive, 'ti and the belonging is, I think that's. The almost more challenging. So. One. Of the things that is extremely. Important to us is creating, a safe space where people feel, that they can bring their whole selves to work and that means physical. Safety and, psychological. Safety absolutely. Bar None we were talking about this earlier it's it's like literally on my head every.

Single Day when. People when new hope when can't let's start with the candidate, experience when. You are a candidate, and you walk in and if. You are a person of color and you aren't seeing any other people of color that is that, cannot, feel good but. There's just no way if you are a female and you are being interviewed by males. There's, no way that feels good either so I mean that's that's. Just even talking about like a white female of privilege, you know so. Making, sure that we have, as. Much diversity in. Our, office is in our offices is really, really fundamentally. The. Most important thing that we can do every single day and that means, hiring. For like hiring the best person, of course we're going to hire the best person, that comes our way skill. Set culture. Edition I like, this idea of making sure they're. Trying to make sure that our values, with, that candidate, and that Ken are in the same zip code it's something I was just sharing with the team the other day I don't, expect your value in my value to be completely. Apples, to apples but I would like them to be similar. That. I think, the value, piece, of it I think does open up the. Is. A gives. Us a little bit more of an ability to widen our net or cast a wider net when we are looking, for those candidates. Back. To creating a safe space where people feel like they can bring their whole selves to work if you're a person of color you want to see more people of color if, you are LGBTQ. You, want to know that we have a pride group if you have a learning disability or, you're dyslexic like myself you, want to know that we have tools that you can use all. You know if you have a physical handicap like, you we want to be recognized, for that not, as an other and. An outlier but that we can embrace you and and take. Care of that so. You. Know the three-percent conference is going on right now up the street and one. Of the things I love about what they've done there is they've called. Attention to the fact that, diversity. Is, so. Few and far between and, creative agencies, the. Idea of finding. That. Other especially. On senior level creative, positions, is really. Challenging it's, really challenging for us I'm happy to say I don't have this we don't and we actually don't have stats on, multicultural. Diversity, because, people can opt out of that question. So. What makes me happy is when I walk around well when I walk across, the floor and I can see just, difference, and I don't mean difference but the next I mean difference, with a capital D because that's what this room is different. It's, something that is just so incredibly, important, I I can't even stress it enough it is it's like I don't want to even say it's my favorite question to answer because. I don't have the answer, but is my favorite thing to kind of chew, on all together. And. You. Know does that mean where we need to learn lean in on the four D is more do you mean there's there's there's pockets in the city and pockets in Chattanooga, and pockets, and schools that we can lean on to get different talent it's.

Something We certainly do with our residents, and our internship, to really like make sure we're casting that wide net and able. To mirror, the macrocosm, of this you, know this world. When. It's something we haven't we, haven't solved for yet it is a work in progress and. But. Something that is so near and dear to like. What. I'm doing it back to Gary like what are we doing here like we. Have to make sure that we are finding. Talent. That represents. This world you. Know and one. Of the things I'm proud, of it back, at work is that we have squads, we used to call them tribes, in fact and we took away that word tribes. Because. Of the cultural sensitivity, but, we have squads, and I like to use the word cohorts, quite a bit, and. There was a squad that is called the amigos squad, and they, founded, each other they found each other they founded, this group first, and foremost to be able to market to Latinas. And Latinos, and. The Hispanic, culture and now. They've really, they're it's an inclusive it's an open door group and it's an inclusive group but it's one that keeps. Me very very honest about what we're doing about. Diversity. And inclusivity, and. So. I'm happy I'm happy we have that in a in a and. Still a start-up quite frankly so thank, you for the question and I'm open to any ideas. To. Chomp on for you know how we solve this yeah. Thank you. Look. At Ellen passionate about that yeah come. On. So. If. You're successful in. Making your. Workplace a, place, where people feel included feel at home. What's, your approach to work-life balance how, do you make sure that you. Know is there a danger of tipping that too far where some, people might fail to, build. Or maintain their life outside of work so. The. Sarcastic. Me says to you is there such a thing as work-life balance, I mean. Sarcastic. And slightly true, what. What, I do is is by, no means is it 24/7. But I'm I'm. Working, quite a bit. And. I'm okay with that because I've chosen this job. What. I actually. Turned. Over, this idea of work-life balance for, the moment and I look at energy management and that's kind of the term that I look at and I try to share. A lot more of with. With. Our employees we have 80% Millennials, so that right there and itself is a more. An agency so that is as cutthroat as it gets I mean you are like you. Are beholden to a client. And that means you got to get that out when you said you were gonna get that out you know unless you're gonna answer the phone tomorrow. With like you know client, breathing down your neck which. Happens also but this idea of energy management. Is. Something that makes more sense to me today, rather, than work, life balance unfortunately. Or fortunately. Energy. Management, is really being aware. Of how, you're feeling where. Your anxiety, level is where your where, your anxiety, level is are you at CodeRed because if you're a CodeRed we need to like figure. Out how to get to pink or how to get to it like an orange. Setting. Up little, milestones, across. Your day to, then celebrate. Take a break so you're. Gonna work for 10 minutes are you're gonna work for 2 hours on this one project, that you're working on this one spreadsheet or there's one deliverable. You're. Gonna you're, going to get to a stopping point where you know you can get up take a breath and you can go check Instagram for 10 minutes you can go out walk the High Line you can go for a cup of coffee you can go out to lunch those.

Are Things I think going back to my project management, roots I think they're really really important, I think of you know if I'm looking at a Gantt chart of my, day, and. Where my energy tips, and falls and after lunch and whatnot just being super super aware of. How. How. I'm feeling, inside. And how an employee's. Feeling inside and, how that's manifesting. Whether or not that's manifesting. Physically and I'm you know maybe someone's grinding their teeth or, getting, really upset or, or. How that's just manifesting. Inside with you know not, feeling good, enough about yourself and feeling, extremely. Competitive with that other person or gosh you heard that person is getting 10k more and you do the same job like so. Managing. Managing. One's energy is super, important, right now yes. Having, work-life balance is, like, a dream I, think. That if any of us can go back in time and clock in and clock out as some of our parents did or work. That eight-hour, day with a half an hour lunch break, as. Some people do in Europe quite frankly. That. Is kind. Of utopic, and there. Are places to do that I can't. Tell you that agency, life is that place right, now and May maybe, maybe as we see more remote. Working you, do that really well does. That extremely well. But. Agencies, are funny because for the most part you're in roles that you need to be you need to be present on a floor for you, need to be able to you, know look across that desk and say hey well you look at my deck for a second there's. Such a collaborative, yin. And yang they're so energy. Man so. Work-life, balance is, is, something that I'm. Aware of wish. I had that answer too but, time management is where I'm really trying to get, more people to focus on and be aware of just how they're. Feeling in any given moment and when they can just take a timeout timeouts. Really really. Really help and we all I mean we all deserve timeouts like. What. Are we doing here yep. Great. Well thank you so much performing, we're at time have, a hand, for club. You.

2017-11-25 12:00

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