Believe it or not, The Honest Company's Christopher Gavigan doesn’t run a CPG brand.

That’s because the energetic co-founder and chief product officer considers Honest - the makers of beautifully designed, environmentally friendly, and unquestionably safe household products for parents and kids - to be a “portfolio of trust” rather than a typical consumer goods label.

Nomenclature aside, there's no denying that the company has experienced an astounding trajectory. 

Christopher and partners Jessica Alba and Brian Lee launched the company in in  2011 with just 17 products that were all geared toward the young mother. Today, the company sells more than 140 products covering all aspects of the home - all of which are free from toxic ingredients and harsh chemicals.

Meanwhile, the company has grown from three employees to more than 500 in less than four years. Christopher talked to us about what this rocket ship ride has been like, and how they’ve managed to scale so quickly without compromising their culture or core values. 

Key Takeaways

• Christopher tells us how his Master's in psychology helped him build the Honest brand.
• Christopher explains why he believes it’s better to change behavior through knowledge and good news rather than through fear.
• Christopher reveals why he considers The Honest Company to be a “portfolio of trust” rather than a CPG brand.
• Christopher shares the two things that keep him up at night.
• Christopher describes what was like to scale Honest from three to 500 employees in under 4 years, and sheds light on the biggest challenges in that process.
• Christopher explains why he still chooses to take 30-50 customer service calls per week.
• Finally, Christopher tells us why he gets all his work done between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

If you had to choose one example of a truly awesome office, Clif Bar and Co.’s state-of-the art, 115,000-square-foot headquarters in Emeryville, CA  might very well be it. 

Made from wood reclaimed from local barns and railway ties, and featuring a gym and rock climbing wall, the space mirrors the company’s commitment to health, wellness, and sustainability. 

At the center of it all is today’s guest, Jen Freitas, the company’s Director of Learning and Engagement. Guided by the company’s “Five Aspirations,” she helped launch Clif Bar’s Sustainability Benefits Program, an initiative that helped the company earn numerous workplace awards, including ‘best place to work’ nods by Fortune and Outside magazines.

As you’ll hear in the interview, Jen actually began her journey at Clif Bar in 2001 as a cardio kickboxing instructor. Today, she leads the company’s people development, engagement, and wellness programs, and helps employees develop personal goals and a professional path that’s aligned with their values.

In our conversation, Jen tells us why it’s essential that individuals bring their personal values to work with them, why Clif employees are paid to work out, and how the company has been able to sustain its 97% retention rate.

A quick note - you might notice that the audio is a bit different on this one. That’s because we met Jen in Clif’s HQ and recorded it on-the-fly.

Key Takeaways

• Jen describes her journey from cardio kickboxing instructor to director of people, learning, and engagement at Clif.
• Jen explains why Clif founder Gary Erickson decided to pull the plug on the sale of his company at the last minute.
• Jen takes us through Clif Bar and Co’s “Five Aspirations” (or “Five Bottom Lines”).
• Jen tells us the determining difference between engaged companies and non-engaged companies.
• Jen tells us how Clif created its Awesome Office, and tells us the perks that matter most to her and her colleagues.
• Jen gives introduces the idea of the “work-life cocktail.”
• Jen tells a great story about the best company gift she ever received.
• Finally, Jen tells us how Clif works with employees to develop their own personal values.

Links

• Jen Freitas on LinkedIn
• Clif Bar and Co.
• @ClifBar on Twitter
• Clif Bar’s Five Aspirations

Liked this episode? Then let us know! Subscribe, rate, and review the show for a chance to win a SnackNation gift box for your office. Details at AwesomeOffice.org/podcast.

You’d be hard pressed to find someone more qualified to talk about real-time marketing and communication than our next guest, Mr. David Meerman Scott.

David is a renowned speaker and author, and has published ten books on marketing, PR, and sales in the networked age. His book The New Rules of Marketing & PR is considered a must-read for modern PR and marketing pros, and is used as a text in hundreds of universities and business schools worldwide.

Additionally, He’s spoken in more than 40 countries and on all seven continents, and is the marketer in residence at Hubspot, where he helped the company grow to more than 11,000 customers in 70 countries.

David was fresh off a plane from Boston (and before that Madrid and Stockholm), but was generous enough to spend some time with us the evening before his keynote at the Employer Healthcare Benefits Conference in Orlando, Florida. During our conversation, he shared with us the secrets of “Newsjacking,” a term he coined for injecting your ideas into a breaking news story. He also spoke to us about the three legacy communications strategies that companies need to de-emphasize if they want to thrive in the networked age, as well as how he was able to find the time to write ten books in ten years.

Key Takeaways

• David describes the biggest mistakes conference attendees make, and what they can do to maximize their next conference experience.
• David walks us through what he means by real-time communication, and tells us why he thinks companies are doomed to failure if they refuse to adapt in the next decade. 
• David explains why companies should adopt an abundance mindset when it comes to creating content for the Web.
• David weighs in on the Volkswagen scandal, and tells us why a “no comment” doesn’t make sense in a real-time world.
• David talks about the real-time communications opportunities that every company should be leveraging.
• David tells us how busy business leaders can keep up with social media by investing less than 15 minutes per day.
• David walks us through the concept of News jacking, and gives us one of his favorite and most successful examples of the practice.
• Finally David explains why speed and agility are the two necessary traits when in comes to marketing and PR.

Links

• David Meerman Scott’s Official Website
• David Meerman Scott on LinkedIn
• @dmscott on Twitter
• @dmscott on Instagram
• HubSpot
• Grain Surfboards
• David Meerman Scott’s Amazon author profile

Recommended Reading

• The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott
• Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History by David Meerman Scott
• Newsjacking by David Meerman Scott
• How Music Works By David Byrne

Hiring and retention is top of mind for so many business leaders today - and rightfully so. But one of the most important steps in the process is often an afterthought: interviewing.

As an entrepreneur, career expert, and television personality, this week’s guest Jane Buckingham is no stranger to the art of the interview.

In fact, as the host of ABC Family’s Job or No Job, Jane advises young candidates on how to interview for their dream job. Each week she helps a recent college grad try and land a job in a highly competitive field like fashion, journalism, and tech. She knows a thing or two about the process, and was gracious enough to let us visit her in the Beverly Hills offices of Trendera, the consumer insights firm she founded to help brands create strategy and action around cultural shifts. In this two-part interview, Jane shared her best interview tips with The Awesome Office audience.

If that weren’t enough, Jane is also a mother, author, and an authority on the generational differences on the modern workplace, and she provided massive insight into these topics and more.

Key Takeaways

• Jane describes the challenges of parenting in the networked age, and explains why young people today are often held to an unfair standard.
• Jane weighs in on the importance of attending an elite university, and names the traits that she looks for in a candidate before she considers university pedigree.
• Jane dives into a fascinating breakdown of the generational factors affecting the modern workplace.
• Jane explains that it's often the interviewers and not the interviewees making the biggest mistakes in the interview process.
• Finally, Jane explains why Gen Xers and Baby Boomers fear Millennials, and why they should consider partnering with them instead.

Links

• Trendera.com
• Job Or No Job
• @JaneBuckingham on Twitter
• Jane on LinkedIn

Recommended Reading

• The Modern Girl’s Guide to Life by Jane Buckingham
• Mindset by Carol Dweck
• First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham
• Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069, by Neil Howe and William Strauss

Liked this episode? Then let us know! Subscribe, rate, and review the show for a chance to win a SnackNation gift box for your office. Details at AwesomeOffice.org/podcast.