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Awesome Office: Lead. Create. Inspire.

The Awesome Office Show is all about helping you lead people, create culture, and inspire Awesome at your company. Each week we talk to a business leader, entrepreneur, HR pro, or engagement specialist at the most successful and buzzed about companies in the country, and learn their most actionable tips, tactics, and best practices - and share them with you. This is a behind the curtain look that you’re not going to find anywhere else. If you care about developing stellar cultures that provide lasting value for employees, customers, and shareholders, then this is the podcast for you. The Awesome Office Show is hosted by Sean Spear. Similar to Entreleadership and HBR Ideacast.
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Now displaying: March, 2016
Mar 31, 2016

One of the coolest offices you'll ever see in your life... is a contact center in the Philippines.

If you're skeptical, so were we. But then we talked to today's Awesome Office guest Jaspar Weir, and it started to make sense.

Jaspar is the President and Co-Founder of TaskUs, a company that provides outsourced customer care and back office support for some of the most innovative companies in the world, including Expensify, Groupon, and Tinder.

We knew going in to the interview that TaskUs had a great culture, but we had no idea that culture is actually central to their business. In fact, Jaspar actually cites their commitment to culture as their number one competitive advantage. As such, he and the team have managed to create a Silicon Valley-style atmosphere, not just at their HQ located in the heart of LA's Silicon Beach, but also at their five facilities in the Philippines.

The results speak for themselves. What began as a 5 person outfit in a tiny office in Manila has morphed into a company with more than 5,000 employees worldwide. Even more telling, more than 70% of their new hires come from internal referrals - compared to the industry standard of 30%. Simply put, TaskUs is a company where people are proud to work, and even more are dying to work for.

And if you needed proof, here are a few photos from "Chateau Ridiculous," their jaw-dropping, steam punk-themed office in Manila:

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As you'll learn in this interview, TaskUs' stellar culture goes so much further than whimsical office spaces. At the heart of it is a commitment to open, honest communication, personal growth, and constant learning.

Jaspar really brought the magic - so much that this episode runs a little longer than most. And if you notice a slight lilt in Sean and Jaspar's voices, it might be because this conversation took place on St. Patrick's Day, and the two celebrated the occasion with a glass (or two) of Jameson.

jaspar weir jameson small

 

Key Takeaways

  • Jaspar describes his first entrepreneurial venture with his business partner Bryce Maddock, an 18+ LA club night called "Club Access."
  • Jaspar takes us through the beginnings of TaskUs, the very first iteration of which was a frozen yogurt concept in Argentina.
  • Jaspar explains how his desire to create a global company, coupled with the popularity of Tim Ferriss' the 4 Hour Work Week, led to the creation of TaskUs as we know it today.
  • Jaspar relays the story of the first office they opened in the Philippines, which involved wiring their entire life savings to a complete stranger.
  • Jaspar explains the difficulties of scaling the 1:1 task outsourcing, and why the company eventually pivoted toward a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) model.
  • Jaspar lays out why he thinks culture is TaskUs' number one competitive advantage.
  • Jaspar talks about "Chateau Ridiculous," the company's amazing, steam-punk themed facility in the Philippines, and how it was designed.
  • Jaspar explains why TaskUs embraces a "work hard/have fun" ethos, and how that's different than "work hard/play hard."
  • Jaspar describes how to motivate employees to experience breakthroughs while still cultivating a culture of fun at the office.
  • Jaspar breaks down the company's biggest challenge scaling from 5 employees to more than 5,000, as well as his strategy for overcoming it.
  • Jaspar makes the case for "forced facetime facilitation."
  • Jaspar spells out why potential business partners should travel together before committing to a partnership.
  • Jaspar talks about the power of expectations, and why he thinks the idea that "no one will ever care about the business as much the founders" is a myth.
  • Finally, Jaspar shares his number one cultural tip for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Recommended Reading

Links

This is episode is brought to you by the fine folks at SnackNation.

SnackNation is a healthy office snack delivery service that makes healthy snacking fun, life more productive, and workplaces awesome.

To try a free SnackNation discovery box (featuring 15 delicious snacks your team will love), visit get.snacknation.com/ao. You'll also receive a complimentary copy of the 2016 Ultimate Guide to Creating An Awesome Office.

Mar 25, 2016

Stop me if this sounds familiar:

You’re a brand new employee at a company that values teamwork and collaboration. Eager to prove yourself, you come out of the gate swinging. You do good work early on, and garner a reputation as a high contributor and team player.

This reputation results in more people from across the org asking for your assistance on all sorts of projects. You, of course, say yes (you are a team player, after all).

Before long, you feel yourself spread thin. You make a millimeter of progress on a thousand different fronts, but no significant progress on any. Your “priority” list is thirty items long. In an ironic twist, your early success has now undermined your ability to contribute at a high level.

The quality of your work goes down, while your stress level skyrockets.

It’s a surefire recipe for burnout.

Luckily for us, today’s Awesome Office guest has developed a solution - Essentialism.

Greg McKeown is a renowned speaker, author, and the CEO of THIS Inc, a company whose mission is to assist people and companies to spend 80 percent of their time on the vital few rather than the trivial many. His New York Times best selling book, Essentialism, is all about helping readers discover the disciplined pursuit of less - that is, helping them find their unique abilities and highest leverage activities, and realigning their lives to focus on making the highest contribution possible.

The concept of essentialism was inspired in part by McKeown’s experience working in Silicon Valley. What McKeown found was that the early success of these startups was actually a double-edged swored. It presented them with an overwhelming amount of opportunity - in the form of partnerships, new markets, acquisitions, and the like - which ultimately detracted from their ability to focus on the essential activities that made them successful in the first place. 

In this way, success can actually become a catalyst for failure.

The experience lit a bulb in McKeown’s head, and the framework of essentialism - the disciplined pursuit of less but better - began to take shape.

This was an incredible interview, packed with tons of practical tips and engaging stories that will start you down the path of Essentialism.

Key Takeaways

  • Greg breaks down the meaning of “Essentialism,” and shares how he arrived at the concept.  
  • Greg explains how the experience of working with Silicon Valley companies played a role in developing the Essentialist framework, and how success can often become a catalyst for failure.
  • Greg relays the story of an employee who, after being pushed to the brink with nonessential activities, decided to “retire in role” in order to return to his essential activities and highest level of contribution.
  • Greg explains why essentialism sometimes requires us to say no, and relays the story of Paul Rand, the “man who said no to Steve Jobs.”
  • Greg shares a tactical tip for shortening your to-do list.
  • Greg talks about the phenomenon of decision fatigue, and how to combat it.
  • Greg points out why it’s so important to create space in your life to determine your truly essential activities.
  • Greg shares how to create a one-page “life design” that will keep you on track.
  • Greg explains why people are too focused on one half of innovation, and that true innovation involves simplifying and reducing.

Recommended Reading

Links

This is episode is brought to you by the fine folks at SnackNation.

SnackNation is a healthy office snack delivery service that makes healthy snacking fun, life more productive, and workplaces awesome.

To try a free SnackNation discovery box (featuring 15 delicious snacks your team will love), visit get.snacknation.com/ao. You'll also receive a complimentary copy of the 2016 Ultimate Guide to Creating An Awesome Office.

Mar 18, 2016

Our biggest embarrassments. Our darkest fears. Our greatest failures.

They are the things that lurk in the back of our minds, loom heavy in our consciousness, and haunt our dreams. They cause us pain, anguish, and shame.

It’s tempting to think: If only I had a time machine, a chance to go back and do things right.

But as today’s Awesome Office guest Rob Bell illuminates, to do so would be to deny one of our greatest assets.

With a little time and perspective, these moments have the potential to be our greatest sources of personal strength. In fact, these trying, troubling, or just plain cringe-worthy times are actually the force that shapes us into who we are today.

Named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2011, Rob Bell is a former pastor and New York Times bestselling author of the books Love Wins, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, and The Zimzum of Love. His newest book, How To Be Here is all about learning how to pursue and realize our dreams, live in the moment, and joyfully do the things that make us come alive.

Rob is also an award-winning podcast host, speaker, and a sought-after business consultant, and was featured on Oprah’s 2014 Life You Want Tour. We spoke to Rob about the value of our failures, how to build and lead great teams, and a whole lot more.

Key Takeaways

  • Rob tell us his most recent new belief, and explains why it’s the stuff you’re most embarrassed about today that matters most in the long run.
  • Rob clarifies what he means by “working your craft,” and why reclaiming the idea of craft is the key to living a meaningful life.
  • Rob shares why a direct connection with the people you serve is imperative to any organization, and why stories are the key to forging that connection.
  • Rob explains how the way we treat others is based on our image of ourselves.
  • Rob describes how his experience as a pastor has given him an unflappable quality, and why this is a good trait to have in business.
  • Rob breaks down what he means by “soul vs. scale,” and why tension is actually a sign of health and self-awareness when trying to balance work, life, and ambition.
  • Rob explains how leaders are always leading (even when they think they aren’t), and describes the greatest gift a leader can give to his or her employees.
  • Finally, Rob explains why assuming joy will follow success will inevitably lead to an “existential thud.”

Recommended Reading

 

Links

This is episode is brought to you by the fine folks at SnackNation.
SnackNation is a healthy office snack delivery service that makes healthy snacking fun, life more productive, and workplaces awesome.

To try a free SnackNation discovery box (featuring 15 delicious snacks your team will love), visit get.snacknation.com/ao. You'll also receive a complimentary copy of the 2016 Ultimate Guide to Creating An Awesome Office.

Mar 11, 2016

Discovering your purpose almost always involves making some hard choices.

First and foremost, there’s the opportunity cost – saying yes to your purpose necessarily involves saying no to something else.

So what happens when the opportunity cost is a college education, and what if following your gut instinct means that your parents might disown you?

This is exactly the choice that our Awesome Office guest Mike Zhang had to make early in his entrepreneurial career.

Today, Mike is the CEO of The Drip Club, a booming e-liquid retailer whose mission is to be the Coca-Cola of the vape space. At just 25, he has multiple companies and a solid exit under his belt.

But before his success with Drip Club, Mike was a student trying to juggle his coursework with the obligations of a growing airsoft e-commerce business.

Less than a semester into his freshman year at UC Berkeley, Mike realized that he couldn’t give his all to both school and his company. Deep down he knew he had to choose one or the other. Against the advice of friends and family, he chose to drop out of college and run the business full time.

A successful exit a few years later eventually put his parents’ anxieties to rest, and Mike learned the power of trusting his gut instincts.

Mike shared what he learned during these formative experiences, as well as the role of gut instinct in business strategy and the benefits and challenges of partnering with friends.

Key Takeaways

  • Mike walks us through his very first business venture, which he began at the ripe age of eleven.
  • Mike tells us how he was able to run a million dollar airsoft business in high school and college, and about the pressure he felt from friends and family when he decided to drop out of UC Berkeley to run it full time.
  • Mike talks about the beginnings of The Drip Club, and why he chose to take the helm as CEO.
  • Mike describes why the company pivoted away from a subscription service and opted to become a consumer goods company focused on brand and IP development.
  • Mike tells us why doing unscalable things early on in a business can be a tremendous asset, but why it’s ultimately unsustainable.
  • Mike shares the lessons he’s learned working with different types of business partners, including personal friends.
  • Mike shares his number one recognition tactic at Drip Club, and why the company believes in supporting the whole person, not just the "employee."
  • Mike explains why he subscribes to a servant-leader style of leadership.
  • Finally, Mike shares what he means by gut instinct, and why it’s so important for business leaders to develop the confidence to act upon it.

Recommended Reading

Links

This is episode is brought to you by the fine folks at SnackNation.
SnackNation is a healthy office snack delivery service that makes healthy snacking fun, life more productive, and workplaces awesome.

To try a free SnackNation discovery box (featuring 15 delicious snacks your team will love), visit get.snacknation.com/ao. You'll also receive a complimentary copy of the 2016 Ultimate Guide to Creating An Awesome Office.

Mar 5, 2016

There’s a reason why films like Office Space and cartoons like “Dilbert” strike a chord with so many people:

The modern employee is plagued by a dystopian vision of what work (and therefore life) has to be.

This vision depicts a world that is soulless and monotonous, that deprives of us of our energy, creativity, and joy, and in which our job feels more like a transaction than a calling.

But as today’s guest Shawn Murphy uncovers for us, this dystopian vision is a choice, one made everyday by both leaders and employees alike.

The upside? Shawn reminds us that there’s another choice – the choice to say, “I want something more for my team, and more for my own life.”

Shawn Murphy is the author of the Optimistic Workplace and the CEO and founder of Switch and Shift, an organization that focuses helping organizations bring more humanity to their workplaces. Through his consulting work and his writing, Shawn teaches people how to make that choice and unlock the transformative power of optimism in the workplace each and every day. We are grateful that he shared this wisdom with our Awesome Office community.

 

Key Takeaways

  • Shawn tells us how he helps leaders and companies bring a sense of humanity back into the workplace through his work with Switch and Shift.
  • Shawn talks about the dystopian vision against which he is fighting through his writing and consulting work, and how this vision came to be a reality for so many working professionals.
  • Shawn explains why he thinks the words “manager” and “employee” should be eradicated from the lexicon of business, and proposes more fitting alternatives.
  • Shawn discusses the concept of stewardship and how it relates to the organization, customers, and employees.
  • Shawn talks about the number one misconception about the idea of the “optimistic workplace.”
  • Shawn explains the concept of a value circle, and relays a story about a company in Virginia who found some inspiring results from the practice.
  • Shawn discusses the importance of reflection, watching, and noticing in the context of great leadership.
  • Finally, Shawn throws his hat in the ring and accepts the challenge of the minute of magic.

 

Recommended reading

Links

As always, if you haven't yet, please subscribe to, rate, and review the show in iTunes. This show grows by word of mouth, and the more we grow, the more Awesome we can all create together.

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