1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160 Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where we explore the journeys that lead to success. 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:14,000 I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:21,520 insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders, and experts who will share not just their expertise 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,440 but the milestone moments that have reshaped their journeys and led to significant achievements. 5 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,120 So if you're looking for motivation, you're in the right place. Subscribe now and discover the 6 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,160 milestones that mark the path to success. 7 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:46,080 Welcome to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership. I am Sheila Slick, 8 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:54,240 your host, and today my special guest is Rachel Anderson. Rachel is a keynote speaker, a leadership 9 00:00:54,240 --> 00:01:01,440 coach, and owner of Pivot Studios. She has worked with a variety of businesses globally, from 10 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:08,320 Fortune 500 companies to startups. As a fractional CMO, she helps organizations with their marketing 11 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:15,440 strategies while partnering with leaders to create human-centric teams that delivers big results. 12 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:17,440 Welcome to the show, Rachel. 13 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,640 Thank you. I'm so excited to be here, Sheila. 14 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:26,560 So tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get to be the owner of Pivot Studios? What was 15 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,200 that moment that led you to do what you do today? 16 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:38,560 So I started Pivot Studios back in 2016, and I knew at that point that after working in technology 17 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:45,360 for a while, doing a lot of communication and PR, my heart was more towards the marketing world. 18 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:50,960 And I was lucky enough that in a lot of those roles, what I was doing was pretty much marketing, 19 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:56,240 but for an internal audience, so for the employees of the businesses and kind of the audiences I 20 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:04,160 served there. And so as I started Pivot Studios, I initially started thinking about how I can serve 21 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:10,000 basic marketing functions to other organizations that might benefit from things like change 22 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:17,920 management, communication strategies, marketing strategies, and higher campaign level kind of 23 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:24,720 organizations or sprints. And as things started to develop, two interesting things occurred. 24 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:32,640 One was that I had to try and start Pivot Studios as a full-time thing three times since 2016, 25 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:37,120 because every time a client would poach me away and I'd get really excited about someone else's 26 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:42,720 vision, and I would go work for another full-time company. But the other thing is that as I started 27 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:49,760 to really develop in marketing and rise through the proverbial ranks of marketing within large 28 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:55,920 organizations, I became a manager. And as a manager, I felt like this was just the place I was 29 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:02,000 meant to be. I've always deeply cared about the individual story and making sure that the 30 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:10,240 environment with which people work is a place that they can enjoy. This idea that we all have 31 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:16,400 value to bring to the table in a working organization sometimes gets lost. And from a 32 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:21,840 young, young age, I was part of a leadership group that taught you all kinds of leadership skills. 33 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:27,120 It was specifically aimed at women, which is kind of funny now looking back, because they even taught 34 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:35,520 you things like Robert's Rules of Order, which is just really not dogmatic, but specific step-by-step 35 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:40,080 guides for first you read the minutes, and then you do new business, and then you do old business. 36 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:45,360 So just a very different way that business functions now that this was completely different 37 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:53,120 20-ish years ago. So anyway, as I'm a manager, I'm really seeing this conflict arise between 38 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:59,280 businesses and the ideas and the goals that they have, and managers and the way that they're now 39 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:08,240 managing teams. And so a few years ago, I got the opportunity to really separate these two ideas and 40 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:14,160 start thinking about them holistically as things I can offer into the world. And that's really how 41 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:21,040 I started my human-centric leadership part of Pivot Studios, where I now coach leaders and help 42 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:27,200 organizations and teams to figure out how they can approach their big audacious goals, while still 43 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:34,480 holding on to the human-centric approach. And so now I have my, I am successfully full-time at 44 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:39,360 Pivot Studios and have been for several years, but I have my marketing consultation where I get to 45 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:45,920 be a fractional executive as a CMO for organizations, letting them figure out how to do great and 46 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:51,840 successful marketing strategies, organizational processes or organizational development and 47 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:57,840 process improvements. And I also get to help them redefine their cultures and give their managers 48 00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:01,040 the tools they need to really build thriving teams. 49 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:08,240 I love that. And it's change management like Pivot Studios. You're practicing the very same 50 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,240 thing that you branded yourself originally. So I love that. 51 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:19,440 So you help organizations build human-centric teams to develop three key skills and behaviors 52 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:27,760 that can change the course of teams and keeps the talent inspired and productive. Can you tell me a 53 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:28,960 little bit more about that? 54 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:37,760 Yeah, absolutely. So the first key thing is a mindset shift for leaders. As we look back over 55 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:46,160 the course of time, as it has meant to be a leader within a business context, things have evolved 56 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:53,760 significantly. If you think back to the industrial revolution, so many of what we still do today was 57 00:05:54,480 --> 00:06:01,920 weirdly founded then in the 1700s. And the idea of how you became a leader was that you were simply 58 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:07,840 smarter than everyone else, which now we know is an absurd thing to think. But that's what they 59 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:13,840 thought back then. And so even just that mentality over time has dramatically shifted, as well as the 60 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:20,640 way that we work. Even 50 years ago, if you were physically in a building, then you were seeing to 61 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:25,280 be productive at your job because you were physically present. And in fact, you couldn't do 62 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:30,160 your job if you were remote. You had to be physically present to be able to do your job. 63 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:38,240 And so even just the structure and environment with which we work has really changed. And so as 64 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:47,680 leaders, the first thing is to sort of think about how we still use the structures of old working 65 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:54,080 behaviors and assumptions in a modern working environment, and how much AI and AI is still 66 00:06:54,080 --> 00:07:14,960 working. And so with that mindset, there's a parallel path of what it feels like as the employee 67 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:22,080 to be there in this contradictory structure. And so one of the things that I think is important is 68 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:28,400 data and statistics as you talk about these kinds of conversations, because it's one thing to have 69 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:34,640 ideas or gut feelings that these are true for you, or even you and your co-worker bestie as you talk 70 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:40,000 about what it's like to work with this particular company. But a recent study talked about how 71 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:46,960 highly engaged employees have 21% higher productivity than disengaged employees. And 72 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:54,560 that also means it's 21% higher profitability for the company. Along with that, they said that 73 00:07:54,560 --> 00:08:01,120 managers are one of the top reasons that employees leave, which has been a long statistic. So that's 74 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:08,800 not necessarily new. But the number one reason employees will stay is if they believe that a 75 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:16,000 manager cares about their well-being. And so it's an interesting mind shift to kind of look at these 76 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:23,360 things and say, the way we work has changed, the way that we think about and consume the idea of 77 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:31,120 leadership has changed, what employees want out of a working environment has changed. And how do we 78 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:36,240 get all these things on the same page kind of reconciled them together to do what's best for 79 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:43,040 the business as well as the individual. And so that's really the first piece is having this 80 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:51,360 mindset shift. And then as part of deciding we want to achieve these big goals. And the second 81 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:57,840 thing I would say is that you need to look at the numbers for what it means in profit lost for you 82 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:04,800 to not prioritize human centric leadership. So I will condense down a really long version of 83 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:09,920 statistics and data. And we can talk about this if you're interested. But when you look at an 84 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:16,720 average size company in the US, which is about 100 people, and a national average salary, which 85 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:21,040 is going to be semi-controversial because there's so many different industries, which mean a lot of 86 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:28,960 different things. But the Black Store statistics has about 63k a year as the national average. 87 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:35,280 If you look at those two statistics and start applying percentages and data and numbers to 88 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:43,120 the people that are leaving, a business of that size will lose approximately $1.2 million every 89 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:50,640 year, replacing employees who left. So that's not even growth. That's not hiring new people that 90 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:58,240 they're bringing in. That's just simply the cost of someone not feeling valued, having burnout, 91 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:04,160 changing jobs because of a manager issue or an organizational function issue that you could 92 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:09,440 prevent. Even if you prevented half of all of those people from leaving, you would add half a 93 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:14,880 million dollars to your revenue every single year, which is extraordinary when businesses and 94 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:22,000 executives think about what are ways that we can increase our profit margin. So by not thinking 95 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:29,680 that leading your teams in a human centric approach matters can really have a negative monetary 96 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:35,520 effect on your overall business. And so the third thing I would say is that from there, there are 97 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:42,640 simple practical things that you can start doing today. It doesn't even have to be a long process 98 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:48,400 that helps your managers have the tools they need to be human centric leaders. And that's things like 99 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:53,760 teaching them actually what it means to be a manager since that function has changed so much 100 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:59,840 over time. It's teaching them conflict resolution skills so that anytime there's an interpersonal 101 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:06,640 conflict, they are equipped with how to help resolve that so that employees feel cared for 102 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:13,920 and can be developed. It's giving them the ability to mentor others. It's allowing managers and leaders 103 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:21,520 the space to really be as productive as they are restful, which I love to call creative margin, 104 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:26,240 giving them creative margins so that they can replenish and come back full. So there's a lot 105 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:31,920 of things kind of jammed all into those three big points, but it would really be about changing 106 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:36,960 mindset, understanding the cost of not doing it, and then looking at the practical ways you can 107 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:43,200 implement it every day. So now this is from the organization's perspective. So let's talk about 108 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:49,120 the managerial because those are the people who you would help through a course or a workshop, 109 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:56,640 if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, that's right. What advice can you offer a young professional or a manager 110 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:02,080 so they can better understand how they can contribute to their specific organization? 111 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:07,920 So I think there'd be slightly different things for both. If you're currently a manager, 112 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:14,560 I would, well, first of all, you hit it on the head, Sheila, from my change management days. 113 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:20,160 It is very well known that middle management is actually the most powerful make or break person 114 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:25,440 in an entire organization. So I'm just going to talk to them for a second. So you have extraordinary 115 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:33,520 power and your macro culture, the culture of the society you reside in or the organization with 116 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:40,160 which you work will define certain things for you, but micro culture is yours to own and develop. 117 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:44,880 And so the micro culture that you develop, what you say is valuable, what you do, 118 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:51,280 the behaviors you bring to the table, the modeling that you do for your team, all of those things 119 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:56,240 will define what your team actually does and what they actually care about. And you have way more 120 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:02,080 power to control that than you think you do, even if the macro organization is not ideal to whatever 121 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:08,400 your preference is. And so you should look for the ways that you can really control that and what 122 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:15,440 things you can put into place in order to make it into what you want the team to feel like, function 123 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:20,960 like, perform as. And that's one thing that I do a lot with managers is help coach them through that, 124 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:26,240 help them figure out how to do that, where are the opportunities, even helping them define what do I 125 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:33,760 even want to do or be as a manager. For young professionals, I would tell them that it is 126 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:39,680 never too soon to start learning the tips and tricks of how to be a successful manager, 127 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:44,000 because it also helps you as an individual contributor, which is typically what we call 128 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:51,440 it in tech industry and kind of in private business. And so one, if you could take anything away 129 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,760 as a young person trying to figure out how to really excel in their career, if I can give them 130 00:13:55,760 --> 00:14:02,240 advice of any one skill to perfect, it would be conflict resolution. Learn how to be comfortable 131 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:09,200 with the discomfort of resolving those interpersonal relationships. And we also have a lot of information 132 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:16,720 about that. I have an entire like one hour lesson on basically what is it, how do I manage it, 133 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:23,040 how do I get tools, do I not be scared of it, because it is not a popular thing in our society 134 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:29,440 to really learn how to broker that. But it's so important. And sometimes we'll say these are the 135 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:34,480 skills that they didn't teach me at school, right? Like, right, it's either through experience. So if 136 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:41,280 you are able to find a coach or find a workshop, it's very valuable because it'll save you that much 137 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:51,840 time and frustration. So what is your next milestone? My next milestone is all about 138 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:59,040 really being able to emphasize human centric teams as a primary part of who I am as an 139 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:05,680 individual and what I want my professional path to be. And so I have officially separated my two 140 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:12,080 offerings so that it's not just executives and organizations who can benefit from human centric 141 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:18,320 leadership, ideas and training as part of pivot studios. I now also have the human centric leader 142 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:25,920 dot com so that anybody, an individual contributor, a manager, an HR professional can see and 143 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:31,760 experience and learn how to really take that human centric approach, which I'm very excited 144 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:37,920 about. So as part of that, we have coaching courses, all kinds of free stuff that you can look at. 145 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:44,880 We're also trying the whole social media thing so that we can try and reach the right kinds of 146 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,520 people that would be interested and engaged with us. But it's really exciting. It's something that 147 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:56,800 I think could really change the lives of so many people at work. Who's your target audience and how 148 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:03,920 can they find you? My ideal person to work with is going to be kind of twofold. So I still love 149 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:08,560 working with organizations. There's nothing like seeing a trickle down effect really start to 150 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:15,760 change an entire group of people. And so I really recommend that they contact me for trainings or 151 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:22,240 lunch and learns or extra information on how it really best fits them. And I'm also looking for 152 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:29,120 individuals who think that it can make a huge difference to lead a team based on a human 153 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:35,520 centric approach and that believe that there is money to be made being able to do that. Because 154 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,360 let's be honest, this is business. We want to make money, right? And that's not a bad thing. So 155 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:45,600 there is a case to be made for this and there is a way to be successful doing this. So if you're 156 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:52,000 an individual, I would look for people that are open to learn and excited about this potential. 157 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:57,760 And all of them can find me either at pivot studios dot com or excuse me, make a pivot dot com, 158 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:04,240 which is my pivot studios brand. Or they can contact me through the human centric leader dot 159 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:09,120 com. And today I actually have a giveaway for anybody that's listening and they want to kind 160 00:17:09,120 --> 00:17:13,120 of dip their toe in and just see, but they don't want to commit to anything. They can go to the 161 00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:18,560 human centric leader dot com back slash giveaway and they can get a free guide for managers. 162 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:21,680 Can you see what that is as well as the twenty dollar offer the course that we're launching 163 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:27,200 about human centric leadership. I'll make sure to put that URL in the description. Well, 164 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:33,280 you're very passionate about it. It's contagious. It is. I mean, I, I am very passionate and I hope 165 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:39,200 people get some papers for it. So I'm glad to hear it. Yes. So before we wrap this up, 166 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:47,760 what one key piece of advice can you share to any senior leader on how to manage significant change? 167 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:58,720 The thing that I would impart primarily and most ardently is that they have a responsibility to 168 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:06,480 their entire organization to provide information and embrace change. And I know a lot of senior 169 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:13,840 leaders who get nervous about not having information in the time that people demand it or maybe it's not 170 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:20,240 flattering information, even from an organization perspective, like we didn't hit our goals or 171 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:26,480 there's some other thing that that makes them not want to be fully transparent. But it's my experience 172 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:32,880 that if you do not own the narrative, somebody else will. It's not that there will be a lack of 173 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:38,160 information. It just will not be the information you want to give people. And I have seen incredible 174 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,960 things happen when senior leaders come to the table and say, you know what, I just, I don't have all 175 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:47,040 the answers, but we're going to sit here together. We're going to answer what we can. We're going to 176 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:53,280 make a plan to be uncomfortable together. But the commitment is authenticity and honesty. And from 177 00:18:53,280 --> 00:19:00,880 that incredible things can happen. Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Rachel. Well, 178 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:05,680 thank you, Sheila. It was so much fun to be here. And thank you all for joining us on another 179 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:31,920 episode of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership.