Explorez tous les épisodes de PX Espresso Hour☕with Luke O'Mahoney
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Date
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25 May 2022
Episode 1 - Ruth Penfold-Brown - Thriving in life and work
Today's podcast is with the AWESOME human being that is, Ruth Penfold-Brown.
Ruth has spent the past two decades building and rebuilding teams within organisations including Shazam, Onfido and bp Launchpad.
Along the way, Ruth also built and rebuilt herself from the inside out in the process.
Whilst working in some incredible roles within amazing organisations, Ruth saw the same culture struggles, relationship issues and growing pains play out over and over again.
Ruth believes that the way we do work right now simply isn’t working and that we can build something better.
She’s currently advising a number of startups, and is building out her thesis around how we can reimagine the idea of work and create the space for all of us to thrive.
The first half of the conversation is a wonderful exploration of personal values and how to move from a toxic relationship with yourself and others into a place where you are honouring your values and making choices which elevate your being and allow you to thrive.
The second half looks into how organisations can create cultures and environments where people can thrive.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
In this episode I speak with Sean Ruane, Founder of Mind Data; a mental health tech start-up that aims to improve therapy and counselling for both client and professional/clinician.
Sean has a background in Customer Success, after recently being a Director of Customer Success for an HR tech start-up that went on to be acquired by Advanced software.
In this conversation, Sean, is inspiringly vulnerable and open about his own struggles with mental health and how his experiences have shaped his new life's mission, to improve the mental health of 1 million people worldwide.
We also explore the importance of having "better conversations" more broadly in life and work, and how organisations could adopt a "coaching" style of leadership to create a safer space for open conversations, build connection, and improve mental wellbeing.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Another awesome and inspiring conversation, this time with ERIC Co-Founder, Mae Yip.
Mae, believe it or not, used to be a chartered accountant. Prior to starting ERIC, Mae worked at PwC (one of the largest accountancy firms in the world) but quickly knew she was on the wrong career path.
Growing up with Asian parents, she battled against following a career that would please her family as opposed to exploring her real passions and interests.
Mae wants to empower the next generation by giving them the tools and agency to make their own career decisions.
We had a really connected conversation and I thank Mae immensely for her honesty and vulnerability as we explored her childhood and early formative experiences that shaped the person Mae has gone on to become.
What a pleasure and a privilege to have this conversation. I am delighted to share it with you!
🎙️Mae also has her own podcast ‘Phenomenal & Asian’ sharing inspirational stories from those doing phenomenal things. Reflecting on the good, the bad and the ugly of what it’s like being Asian and how embracing ethnicity has shaped who they are today 🎙️
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This week I had the absolute privilege to be joined by, Perry Timms, who has recently been named HR's Most Influential Thinker for 2022 by HR Magazine (full list).
This was a wonderful conversation with a truly inspirational human being.
Amongst other things, we discussed the 4-day work week, decentralised and self managed organisations, and of course how to create environments and cultures where people thrive.
I have known Perry personally for close to 8 years but in this conversation I got to know Perry in a much more meaningful and connected way as we explored his formative experiences that have gone on to shape the person he has gone on to become and plant seeds for the transformational work Perry does today.
I know so many people will take something from this conversation as I did, it is a pleasure to share it with you.
Perry Timms is the founder and Chief Energy Officer of PTHR - a growing consultancy, with the mission to create better business for a better world.
PTHR is in its 10th year of operating, is a Certified BCorporation, a Gold-Standard 4-day Working Week organisation, an accredited Living Wage employer and a Climate-Positive enterprise.
Perry is a proud Chartered member of the CIPD and is a 5x member of HR Magazine’s HR Most Influential list making the top 10 in 2018, 2019 & 2021 and ranked Number 1 Most Influential Thinker in HR for 2022.
He is an international and 2x TEDx speaker and award-winning writer on the future of work, HR & learning. He is a recently certified Semco Style Institute Expert in Self-Managed systems of work.
His 2017 book Transformational HR was named one of the Top 100 Business Strategy books of all time and published as a second edition in July 2021.
His second book - The Energized Workplace - was published in August 2020 and was shortlisted for the UK Business Book of the Year 2021
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Stefaan van Hooydonk is founder of the Global Curiosity Institute and author of the bestselling book: The Workplace Curiosity Manifesto.
After working initially in investment consulting and setting up executive education at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in China, Van Hooydonk held executive roles as Chief Learning Officer in fortune 200 companies (Nokia, Royal Philips, Cognizant, Saudi Aramco, Agfa, Flipkart).
He has lived and worked in Belgium, France, Hong Kong, China, Finland, The Netherlands, India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom. His last role was that of Chief Learning Officer for Cognizant, where he oversaw learning and development for over 300k associates across the globe.
Stefaan van Hooydonk researches the topic of workplace curiosity in companies.
He believes that curious individuals need curious environments to thrive and that especially in times of turmoil individuals and companies need to embrace intentional curiosity. With the help of a number of diagnostics he designed, he creates insights on what drives and what enables (or prevents) individuals and organisations to show up curiously.
He consults global corporations and leadership teams towards building a stronger curiosity muscle.
He is a regular speaker around the world on the power of curiosity to benefit professionals, leaders, teams, and organizations.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Today I am joined by Gary Cookson - an expert in workplace performance and a prominent thought leader in HR and organisational design.
Once again we had a great conversation, exploring Gary's most significant life and work experiences which have shaped the person he is today, and of course, informed the work he aligns himself too in building thriving organisations.
We also dove into Gary's book, HR for Hybrid Working, which is excellent! I learned many things in this conversation that I will carry forward into my own work and I also had some of my understanding of what hybrid working is and should be challenged, in a really positive way.
As ever, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do to.
Enjoy!
✌🏻&❤️
Guest Bio:
Gary is a father of four and a husband of one, and runs a successful business in his spare time. He’s an expert in workplace performance, with extensive experience leading and directing HR, OD and L&D functions across all sectors.
His clients like working with him as he is authentic, honest, knowledgeable, communicative and people focused, with a broad and deep range of skills and experience – and a glance at his prolific social media output will verify this.
Gary is a leading expert in the design and delivery of online / virtual training programmes, as well as an inspiring and entertaining keynote speaker and trainer on a range of leadership and HR issues. He was recognised in HR Most Influential: Movers and Shakers 2019, and is an HRD Connect Thought Leader.
His book, HR for Hybrid Working, was in June 2022 by Kogan Page.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Gustavo is the founder of Fearless Culture and four time author, his latest book is the brilliant, Remote Not Distant - a roadmap to build a strong culture for remote and hybrid teams
Having spent 25 years helping organizations build purpose-driven brands and teams, Gustavo realized that most companies don’t lack ideas, resources, or talent but a conducive culture
He founded Fearless Culture to solve that problem, and to help organizations become purpose-driven, agile, and innovative.
As ever, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do to.
Enjoy!
✌🏻&❤️
Guest Bio:
Gustavo is passionate about helping teams do the best work of their lives. He is a sought-after speaker, culture consultant, and author of four books.
After 25 years of helping organizations build purpose-driven brands and teams, Gustavo realized that most companies don’t lack ideas, resources, or talent but a conducive culture.
He created Fearless Culture to help organizations become purpose-driven, agile, and innovative. Razzetti is also the creator of the Culture Design Canvas, a culture mapping tool used by consultants, coaches, and organizations worldwide.
Gustavo’s work has been featured in Psychology Today, The New York Times, Forbes, BBC, and many other publications. Throughout his career, he has advised companies in multiple business sectors, including GM, Continental, Coca-Cola, Mars, and Comcast.
He is the author of four books, including Remote, Not Distant – a roadmap to build a strong culture for remote and hybrid teams.
Razzetti has built a career at the intersection of marketing, innovation, and leadership. He participated in the by-invitation-only Change Leadership Program at Stanford University.
An avid road cyclist, Gustavo lives in Chicago with his wife Moira and sons Tristan and Fausto.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
I am joined for the first time by two guests simultaneously and what a fabulous conversation it was.
Sehaam spent several years leading product teams before moving into a variety of leadership and coaching roles. Sehaam foundered "Better Conversations" a little under 5 years ago where she and her team deliver training, workshops, live events and content which serve to transform the confidence and capability of leaders in having better more connected conversations.
Mag is a former web developer turned coach who delivers personal, leadership, and executive coaching independently as well as being Head of Delivery and Tutor at Better Conversations.
I was blessed enough to go through the 12 week Leaders Who Coach programme and was blown away by the transformative effect it had on my ability to connect with myself and others, which has really opened the door to richer conversations and relationships in all aspects of my life.
I knew straight away that I wanted to have a deeper conversation with both Mag and Sehaam to understand what led them to coaching and what is driving their shared mission to improve the quality of conversations that leaders are able to hold, and build a coaching culture which ultimately facilitates growth in others.
As ever, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do to
✌🏻&❤️
Guest Bio:
Sehaam Cyrene
Sehaam Cyrene PCC (She/Her) is Founder of Better Conversations, a certified Executive Coach, and creator of 5 Star Rated CPD Certified online course, Leaders Who Coach™ described by leaders as “transformational” “game-changing” and “rich”. She partners with senior leaders as a strategic thinking partner, designs and leads people and culture programmes for scale-ups, and broadcasts weekly and live on key leadership challenges.
Mag Leahy ACC is a Personal, Leadership & Executive Coach and Head Of Delivery at Better Conversations partnering with wonderful leaders to create a leadership revolution. Previous to the pandemic was a technologist for 20 years even though her complexion is vibrantly youthful. Mag loves dogs and will not say no to a chin lick even though she knows the risks. She hails from the green isle. Values: Connection, Equity and Humility.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Rohan is someone who I have grown to know over the past few years, and in particular over the last 12 months I am proud to say, has become a friend, not just a connection.
In this conversation we deep dive into life, work, childhood, adoption, and parenthood.
Professionally Rohan has a background in HR, L&D and Talent, and is currently heading up partnerships at Adway, an automated social recruitment marketing company.
We used this time to get to know each other more deeply and of course explored ideas around culture and building environments where people thrive.
From our experience as parents, to our shared purpose to building a better future of work, this conversation speaks 100% to living a life of gratitude and fulfilment.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Enjoy!
✌🏻&❤️
p.s we are joined by a 4-legged friend and some background chatter in parts of the conversation, apologies for any disturbance to your audio pleasure, but we welcome all guests here 🐶😊
Guest Bio:
A HR practitioner turned sales professional.
Rohan has worked both within HR functions as a HR, L&D, and Talent Management professional, and with sales in the HR and HR Tech space.
Rohan's career to-date has involved working for industry leaders in both scaleups and corporate environments.
The common goal being to level up the HR and talent field for all.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Dimitrios has a real passion for people first culture and particularly how to blend people first culture with high performance.
Having spent some time playing at a Semi-Professional level of football in Europe, before moving into a professional career in sales and operations, Dimitrios knows all about the pressures of high-performance.
We explored that idea and compared the linear definition of high-performance often synonymous with professional sport, with the more holistic view of high-performance taking into about all aspects of life and work.
We also had a bit of fun unpacking a handful of culture myths, present in mainstream thinking within regards to organisational culture.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Enjoy!
✌🏻&❤️
Guest Bio:
Founder of performance consulting platform, EYP (www.embraceyourprocess.com), Dimitrios is a multilingual operations professional who has worked with senior leaders and C-suite executives in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong, while spending 15 years in Africa, 10 years in Europe and the last 3.5 years in Asia. Fun fact: Dimitrios has played football at a semi-professional level and loves CrossFit.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Kim has spent more than 2 decades in senior leadership positions within people and HR.
Currently HR Director @ Service Express, Kim has held senior positions in some of the largest organisation globally including Nokia, First Data, and Fleetcoor.
In our exploration of human potential, we spoke a lot about the importance of physical and mental fitness as the foundation for thriving in life and work.
Naturally we spoke a lot about culture and performance too, including the changing landscape for HR and a transition from policy and compliance, to a more experience-based people function
We also explored Kim's past and how his experience of travel taught him curiosity and empathy and how surviving cancer in his 20's reinforced his sense of gratitude for life and built a mindset of resilience and calm in the face of challenge and adversity.
Kim is a truly inspiration human being and someone I am privileged to know.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Enjoy!
✌🏻&❤️
Guest Bio:
Kim is a progressive HR Director and Head of HR with over 20 years’ experience leading and driving organisational HR transformation across Fintech, Technology and IT services.
He is passionate about disrupting traditional HR practices and creating a world class employee experience.
Outside of work, Kim is newly converted Cross-Fitter who trains 6-7 times a week! 7am is his workout time of choice ⏰💪🏻
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Today I am joined by, Ed Kirwan CEO and Founder of Empathy Week
Empathy is an absolutely critical skill to develop, at all ages, but the sooner we build empathy into our way of being the richer our relationships and experience of the world and those within it will become.
This is why Ed's work with Empathy week is so critical, teaching empathy in schools through film and storytelling from ages 5 through to 18.
Such an important and powerful mission.
My own son is nearing school age and I am delighted that he will benefit from initiatives like empathy which will help him grow into a more rounded and compassion human being.
Ed's work is incredible, and I am so happy to be able to share his story with you and I hope that you will engage with Empathy Week and promote it in any education environment you have access to.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Enjoy!
✌🏻&❤️
Guest Bio:
Ed Kirwan is the CEO, founder and filmmaker at Empathy Week - a global educational event and programme using the power of film to develop the skill of empathy.
In just three years Empathy Week has engaged 140,000 students across 40 countries with a mission to build the #EmpathyGeneration.
Previously a teacher and Head of Chemistry in a North London School for 3 years, Ed also completed a Masters in Education and Leadership at UCL IOE. He then moved into a career of filmmaking and human-led storytelling.
Ed believes that in order to change the world we first have to understand the people in it. Empathy is the number one skill to develop and underpins other vitally important skills such as leadership, creativity, innovation and teamwork. Whilst also being a catalyst for wellbeing and mental health, it is crucial to leading a better personal and professional life.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
I have been so looking forward to this conversation!
I first encountered Marie through my Linkedin network and was quickly turned on to the People Stories slack community (which is AWESOME).
Since joining and contributing to that community, I have become increasingly aware of Marie's work at Learnerbly and the truly incredible people experience she and team have been creating and open sourcing 🤘🏻for the benefit of the wider people and ops community.
I have had chance to get to know Marie a little over the last couple of months and I was delighted to sit down in the virtual studio for a long form conversation to find out more about Marie and her inspiring work.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Marie Krebs is the PX Design Lead at Learnerbly, a curated learning marketplace that’s on a mission to build the best place anyone will ever work at. She’s like a Product Manager, except the product is the employee experience. And the users? Learnerbly employees! Together with her team, they create and drive a people-centric and high-performance culture for Learnerbly and the Learnerbees to grow & thrive.
Marie also co-founded People Stories, a remote London-centric community of progressive People people who are eager to make the world of work a better place.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
We are kicking 2023 off with a banger of a conversation 🔥
I have known Glenn for close to 7 years and in that time he has become a good friend and frequent mentor. We bonded in our early careers over a shared "anti-establishment" attitude with regards to the recruitment world we found ourselves in.
As our lives and careers have evolved since, I think that desire for change and to bring the human back to the centre of all things people and talent remains as firey as ever.
We covered all sorts of ground in this conversation, including the importance of focusing on value led outcomes, the personalisation of the employee experience, building employee advocacy through experience, and the emotional debt of leaving a business (and people who make it up)… and so much more.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Enjoy!
✌🏻& ❤️
Guest Bio:
Glenn Martin is the Founder & CEO of Never Mind The Job Spec, he is a live show and podcast host, occasional event speaker, and he’s always dressed in denim. As a passionate values-led individual, it's no surprise that Never Mind The Job Spec creates bespoke and scalable human-centred hiring experiences to ensure that every applicant, candidate, interviewee, and successful hire feels valued and respected.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
The first of our new monthly feature series: What the f*ck is culture?
I will be joined by my new regular co-hosts, Helen Osborne + Dimitrios Michail Perdikoulis to discuss all things people, culture, + performance.
We will be having some fun and looking to dispel some of the myths around culture and will be looking give practical advice, tips, and experiences to help you move the dial on building high-performance, people-focused, + thriving cultures.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
It was a real pleasure being joined by David for this conversation.
David and I first connected around 18 months ago when I was inspired by a very open and vulnerable post David shared on LinkedIn about his experience of losing his job and experiencing burnout.
We explore this in our conversation today and I thank David for being so generous in sharing his personal experiences which I think so many of us can resonate with.
David is now an accredited coach working with businesses and leaders prevent burnout, regain confidence, and find freedom and fulfilment in their life and career.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Enjoy!
✌🏻& ❤️
Guest Bio:
David Burgess-Bellay has a 20-year career in sales and partnerships working as an individual contributor and leader across global multi nationals, SMBs and tech start-ups in London, Paris and Sydney. But after experiencing burnout in 2020, David left the corporate world behind and has since retrained as an accredited personal and professional coach. He now works with individuals and businesses, helping people (particularly those in sales) prevent burnout, regain confidence, and find freedom and fulfilment in their life and career.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Today I am joined by the awesome Dr Hayley Lewis an award-winning psychologist with 25 years’ experience in the field of organisational and business psychology.
Some of you may know of Hayley from the awesome sketch notes she shares on LinkedIn on Twitter which distil down psychological research papers and concepts into easy to understand visual depictions - they really are great!
In fact, you can access some 3 of Hayley's sketch notes relating to concepts covered in this episode, here - so check those out!
Hayley is a regular in the HR Magazine's most influential thinkers in HR, Registered Occupational Psychologist, Certified Principal Business Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Fellow of the RSA…
I mean, if you can't find value in this conversation I am not sure podcasts are for you - I took soooo much from this time with Hayley!
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Enjoy!
✌🏻& ❤️
Guest Bio:
Hayley is an award-winning psychologist with 25 years’ experience in the field of organisational and business psychology. Her specific areas of expertise are leadership and management behaviour, wellbeing and resilience, and culture change.
Hayley works with organisations and leaders across all sectors with these issues. In addition to this, Hayley’s academic research is focused on female entrepreneurs in the start-up phase of business, in particular the psychological factors that help them succeed. She coaches and mentors female founders of one-person and micro-businesses.
Prior to starting her own coaching and consultancy business, Hayley’s experience included 11 years leading various local government services. Before this, Hayley spent eight years at the BBC where she was an organisational psychologist, supporting leadership development and executive assessment activity; and where she worked on what was then described by Harvard Business School as the world’s biggest culture change programme, in 2001.
As well as running her own consultancy, Hayley is a lecturer at several UK universities. Her specialist topics are organisational culture, change management, leadership behaviour and development, and building high-performance teams. Hayley is also joint programme director for the two-year MRes in Professional Practice in Occupational Psychology, which is the first part of the four-year doctoral programme in occupational psychology, at Birkbeck, University of London.
Hayley regularly shares practical evidence-based tools, tips and her very popular one-page sketchnotes via social media. And she is often sought as an expert commentator by the media. She is a Chartered Psychologist, Registered Occupational Psychologist, Certified Principal Business Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Fellow of the RSA. In 2022, for the second year running, Hayley was identified as one of the most influential thinkers in HR, by HR Magazine.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Monthly(ish) feature series: What the f*ck is culture?
Once again I was joined by my new regular co-hosts, Helen Osborne & Dimitrios Michail Perdikoulis to discuss all things People, Culture + Performance 🤘🏻
We have some fun and look to dispel some of the myths around culture.
We also give some practical advice, tips, and share our experiences to help you move the dial on building thriving, high-performance and people-centric cultures.
In todays chat we explore:
💪🏻High Performance & Flow 💭Self-Reflection & Self-Compassion 💜Building Empathy through shared experiences 🧘🏻♀️Mindfulness & Meditation 😰Productivity Trap (the danger of ”business”) 🤔What is Culture in the context of organisations? 🚀The role of Values & Purpose 😅Spice Girls and Risotto
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This is will be the final episode in the current title and format (Human Potential Multiplied) - Moving forward the podcast will be titled "The PX Espresso Hour☕"
The new concept will bring your insights, experiences, and actionable advise from some of the brightest minds in People Experience & Culture Design 🤘🏻The idea is that you will learn how product principles and design thinkingcan transform your people function all in the time it takes to drink your morning coffee☕… or alternative beverage of your choice 😆
You can also sign up to the weekly PX Espresso Newsletter to get more actionable PX design and culture insights and resource flags straight into your inbox 📧
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Ok, so for the final time for the current format, I have been joined by an AWESOME guest, Jakob Knutzen, to talk all things start-up life, culture and team dynamics in fully remote multi country business and of course, thriving in life and work
Jakob (and Co-Founder Christopher) have built something really cool!
Not just their remote facilitation platform , Butter, which really is next level 🙌🏻 but also the fully remote team they have put together and continue to grow in all senses of the word.
We had a really great conversation diving into Jakob's personal journey in life and work, start-up failures and successes, right through the practical insights on how to set teams up for success in a fully remote organisation 🚀
Some of the themes we cover:
🎢Start-up life (successes and failures) 🌞Orienting around Happiness in life and work 💪Positive action leads to positive change 🧠Informed Intuition 🤔Effective decisions making for fully remote teams 🚀Early stage start-up Culture 🖐️Personal Accountability
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.
Enjoy!
✌🏻& ❤️
p.s if you want to check Butter out, you can sign up for free, here! DO IT.
Guest Bio:
Jakob is Co-Founder & CEO of Butter, which is a full workflow tool for facilitating online collaborative sessions. Butter has a fully remote team of 17 people spread across 9 countries.
Before that, Jakob founded StreamCrux, a game streaming startup that was also built as a remote company. Previously built and scaled one of South East Asia’s largest digital agencies as Managing Director for the Indonesian office and subsequently regional Group Director. Part of an exit in late 2016. Prior to this spent several years at Bain & Co.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
**If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter brining you actionable tips and valuable resource flags on building thriving culture through intentional PX design - 📧 Newsletter sign up**
Boom! The first episode of the revised podcast format has landed - and it is a cracker to kick us off 💥
This new format will bring your insights, experiences, and actionable advise from some of the brightest minds in People Experience & Culture Design 🤘🏻The idea is that you will learn how product principles and design thinkingcan transform your people function all in the time it takes to drink your morning coffee☕… or alternative beverage of your choice 😆
Today that bright mind is, Alan Wilson - Head of People Operations @ Tarabut Gateway.
Not only is Alan a really cool person to hang out and chat with, but he has been doing awesome work with his People Ops team to move the dial on People Experience and Culture.
Specifically in this conversation, Alan walks me through how he and his team created a People Ops Improvement Framework learning from Change Management to revolutionise not only the way his team works, but also the impact they can deliver to the business as a strategic enabler 🚀
In Alan's words:
“There’s never been a better – or more important – time to embrace a new way of making decisions. People Ops is such an important part of the organization – we improve the employee experience, provide policy guidance, identify training needs, and are responsible for the employee lifecycle…to name a few.
In a time where start-ups want to do more with less, you need a Process Improvement Framework in place to help make thoughtful, informed decisions for the betterment of your people and organization and to deliver greater value in lean times.”
I mean... YESSS! How can you not be excited by that sentiment?!
Really grateful to Alan for spending this time with me and for being so generous in sharing his wisdom and framework with the hole People Ops community to benefit from.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 💥🤘🏻🎙️
Guest Bio:
Alan is Head of People Operations at Tarabut Gateway.
Over the last decade, Alan has worked across diverse sectors such as banking, defense, recruitment, technology and retail developing his skills and helping organisations grow using his expertise in people operations, systems and process.
Alan really values stewardship. More specifically, leaving things better than when he found them. Throughout his career to date, in every place he's worked, every team he has led and every individual he has managed, he's always strived to make that his lasting impression.
Outside of work, you can find Alan tending to his 2 sons and running after the ladies in his life; his beautiful daughter and wife.
Contact Alan: Email:
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
**If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter brining you actionable tips and valuable resource flags on building thriving culture through intentional PX design - 📧 Newsletter sign up**
Boom! 💥
Another awesome conversation to share with the HR, People Ops & Culture community today
This week I was joined by the fabulous, Natasha Delisle-Barrow - Head of People @ GooseChase
The main focus of our conversation was Natasha's use of User Experience (UX) principles for employee journey mapping. Natasha shared her process in the GooseChase blog - A great read to supplement this conversation, so definitely bookmark the blog for your further reading.
As well as diving into UX design for Employee Experience (EX) we covered a whole range of sub threads including:
Being data led and understanding the story behind the data
Talent Enablement
Leadership Development
Culture: what is it and what role does it play
To extract one line from the conversation to give you a feel of what you can expect:
"Smashing up the traditional HR models and starting again with culture at the heart of them"
YES!
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 🤘🏻🎙️
Guest Bio:
Natasha is currently Head of People at Goosechase, a company redefining the world of Interactive Experiences. As the Head of People, she leads a diverse, globally distributed team who have embraced a progressive 4-day workweek.
With an extensive background in Talent, People & Culture, Natasha brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table. Her true passion lies in Organisation Design, where she blends the essence of culture into every aspect of the workplace.
Natasha's dedication to sharing her wisdom is truly inspiring. She can often be found hosting engaging roundtables, delivering thought-provoking webinars, and captivating audiences at respected conferences like the CIPD ODD conference.
Natasha is on a journey to empower individuals and organizations, offering valuable insights into creating thriving work environments.
Follow Natasha on LinkedIn for a fresh perspective on People, Culture, and the art of building extraordinary teams.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
**If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter brining you actionable tips and valuable resource flags on building thriving culture through intentional PX design - 📧 Newsletter sign up**
Boom! 💥
Another awesome conversation to share with the HR, People Ops & Culture community today! In this episode I am joined by Heeral Gudka, Founder of EDI consultancy, Convergent 🤘🏻
I have to say, I loved this conversation because it was everything an EDI conversation should be; Challenging, thought provoking, at times brave and for some, maybe even triggering.
These are exactly the sort of open and honest conversations we should be having on the subject of equality, diversity and inclusion.
A lot people switch off or even actively run in the other direction when EDI discussions emerge. Which to be honest, is totally understandable with all of noise, confusion, fear, and often vilification that happens around the subject... but it doesn't need to be that way.
This was a SUPER refreshing conversation with a pragmatic and solution oriented practitioner who is coming at EDI with the intention of enabling meaningful conversation for lasting change.
As a practical takeaway, Heeral also shares the 5 most common challenges organisations face when looking to implement an EDI strategy effectively so you can spot them and start taking action on them too.
This is such an important area of discussion if we are going to genuinely create inclusive workplaces and thriving culture, but it remains a very difficult subject to broach.
Hopefully this conversation gives you some new perspectives and some practical tools and frameworks to experiment with in your own work.
Also, to get you started, there are a ton of Free Playbooks available to download from the Convergent site, go check those out!
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 🤘🏻🎙️
Guest Bio:
Heeral Gudka is the Principal Consultant and Founder at Convergent, an EDI consultancy. She's passionate about inclusion and is ready to help you navigate difficult conversations.
Since 2014 her work has spanned private, public and third-sector organisations, delivering stand-alone workshops, curating 6 to 12 month learning journeys and providing pragmatic consultancy and support to senior leadership teams, People teams and HR directors.
The support she provides to senior leadership teams is an essential part of the success they have created internally in building inclusive cultures – everyone needs a safe space to talk about difficult subjects.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter which brings you actionable tips and valuable resource flags on building thriving culture through intentional PX design - 📧 Newsletter sign up
Boom! 💥
Another awesome conversation to share with the HR, People Ops & Culture community today! In this episode I am joined by Erin McCann, Head of People @ restaurant tech start-up, 86 Repairs 🤘🏻
This is one the most practical and immediately actionable conversations I have had on the podcast to date.
Erin has been the first people hire in 3x startups and has accumulated all of the experience you would expect (and more) from those fast-paced and dynamic roles.
We covered a lot of ground including:
What it is like to be the first people hire in a startup
Moving into People from a non-traditional HR career path
Managing an acquisition from both sides as the Head of People
Onboarding and scaling people experience
Data led PX design
The role of People Ops in supporting managers
But the biggest single takeaway comes when Erin maps out in detail how she has approached levelling, creating transparent pay frameworks and overhauling performance management.
If you are currently considering how best to approach levelling and performance management, this conversation is going to be absolute gold dust! ⚡
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 🤘🏻🎙️
Guest Bio:
Erin McCann is the Head of People Operations at restaurant tech startup 86 Repairs. This is Erin’s third time as the founding People/HR hire; her first two companies scaled from sub 50 headcount to over 100 before both being acquired. Erin lives outside of Chicago with her husband Matt and her best furfriend, Winston.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter which brings you actionable tips and valuable resource flags on building thriving culture through intentional PX design - 📧 Newsletter sign up
Boom! 💥
Another awesome conversation with an equally awesome people and culture nerd...
But first, I must address the elephant🐘 ... this conversation was just over an hour! Sorry about that, I was absorbed and missed my time keeping flag...
I hope you will forgive me creeping over the promised PX Espresso Hour today once you have listened back to the conversation and taken so many incredible and practical insights on creating a transparency philosophy that works for your business 🤘🏻
Adam shares a 4 step process for creating a Transparency Philosophy (in last 10 mins of the episode if you are in a rush 😆) which I think will help so many People Ops Leaders take action on what can feel a complicated and scary topic to tackle.
We cover a lot of ground as always, all transparency related including:
Barriers to getting started with transparency
The power of Notion and Open Source Employee Handbooks
Using transparency to attract (and repel!) talent
The importance of clearly defining terms, policies, and expectations
Utilising transparency for retention, not just attraction
This conversation was so valuable that if you are currently considering how to approach transparency in your organisation and this conversation doesn't give you a practical framework on how to begin... let me know and I will give up coffee for a whole month... did I really say that? can I take it back?
Nah, I stand by it!
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 🤘🏻🎙️
P.S Adam recently shared an open-source employee handbook Notion template bringing together the best elements of 20 of the best employee handbooks around. It is unreal! Check it out!
Guest Bio:
Adam is Founder of Openorg.fyi, a company on a mission to rebuild trust, bringing transparency to the world of work. Prior to that his career spans 12 years in hands-on talent, people, and Founder roles. He scaled his last business as Co-Founder & Chief People Officer from 0 to 72 in just 18 months.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter which brings you actionable tips and valuable resource flags on building thriving culture through intentional PX design - 📧 Newsletter sign up
Boom! 💥
Another awesome conversation to bring you today with one of the brightest minds in People & Culture today... The one and only, Olya Yakzhina 🤘🏻 Head of People @ remote-first tech startup, Switchee. Olya is also Co-Founder of the People Stories slack community 🙌🏻
The main practical takeaway in this episode, Olya walks me through the headlines of Switchee's employee engagement framework. In the process we touched on so many interesting and insightful areas:
⚡Remote-first "dos and don'ts" ⚡The isolation that often comes with being the People Lead ⚡The People Ops balance: People Needs & Business Needs ⚡Bringing the SLT and wider business with you ⚡The difference between satisfaction and pure joy in people experience ⚡How to interpret engagement data and what you should take action on
I can't wait to have Olya back in the virtual PX Espresso studio, so much more knowledge and experience to tap from one of the best in our profession.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 🤘🏻🎙️
Guest Bio:
Olya is a progressively-minded Head of People in a tech scaleup Switchee. She is a co-Founder of the People Stories slack community, which hosts over 1100 highly engaged People-people who are on the same mission - making every employee's experience awesome! To spread the word of positive people practices, she runs The Modern Employer podcast.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter which brings you actionable tips and valuable resource flags on building thriving culture through intentional PX design - 📧 Newsletter sign up
Boom! 💥
Another week, another really great conversation to share with you all🤘🏻This week I am joined by Matt McFarlane, Snr People Experience Director @ Oyster.
Oyster are one of the most unique (and cool) People team set ups I have come across. Matt talks through the structure a little in our chat, but the umbrella term for the People part of the business is "Workplace Team", under which there are functions you might expect, like:
✅ Workplace Design ✅ Talent Acquisition ✅ People Experience
It's a really great set up which makes a ton of sense to me. I hope Matt will join me again to talk this through in detail as it wasn't the main focus of our chat.
We covered topics like:
Psychology as a base for a career in People / HR
The transition from HR to People Experience
Moving away from the semantic connotations of “Human Resources”
PX as an enabler of people and performance
Remote and Hybrid workplace design
Continuous Performance Management / open feedback loops
But the main practical takeaway, Matt walked me through the Oyster Band Index (OBI) - Their approach to compensation levelling and creating a equitable, transparent, and consistent compensation philosophy for remote-first global hiring.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 🤘🏻🎙️
Guest Bio:
Matt McFarlane is the Senior Director of People Experience at Oyster, a global employment platform that makes it possible for companies everywhere to quickly and compliantly hire talent anywhere. Matt is experienced working across complex, globally distributed environments and is passionate about building commercially focused and people-centric workplaces.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter which brings you actionable tips and valuable resource flags on building thriving culture through intentional PX design - 📧 Newsletter sign up
Boom! 💥
A slightly different format today, Vol. 1 of a new "solocast" series where I will share insights into the life of a People Ops Solopreneur...
I will use this short solo episodes to share my latest thinking around People Experience (PX) as a Product, the future of the People profession and the evolution of HR.
I will also share my learnings as I scale a business of one with value led content at it's core.
These episodes will be pretty rough around the edges, so don't expect a polished production and well scripted dialogue... these will be 20-40 minute "brain dumps" but I hope contained within them will be some useful practical takeaways.
Whether you are an operational People Ops professional or a budding solopreneur, there should be some value in these solocast episodes for you 🤘🏻
If ever you have any thoughts, questions, reflections whilst listening please do send them through on email or LinkedIn 👇🏻 would love to hear what works and doesn't work about this format so I can tweak it for maximum value.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Another incredible conversation with a passionate, inspiring, and hugely knowledgeable People pioneer 🚀 This week I am joined by Jill Felska, former Director of People and Culture, and Founder @ Want To Work There
We have a great conversation reflecting on our experience as People Managers, the good, the bad, and the ugly! Managing people is HARD and often managers are under supported and under trained for the enormity of the task.
If you are a Head of People / HR / People Ops Lead currently tasked with enabling People Managers and deveolping manager capability, this conversation is great place to start!
Jill walks us through her 4 stage framework to get the foundations in place for new and existing managers to be successful 🚀
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 🤘🏻🎙️
Jill Felska is a pragmatic optimist who has spent the last 15 years finding meaningful ways to improve people’s experience at work. A former Director of People and Culture in the tech space, she is now the founder of Want To Work There - an online resource hub that provides practical, actionable advice and resources for building better workplaces. Most recently, she’s spent the last 18+ months building the company’s first digital product, Training for the Modern Manager - a comprehensive, interactive curriculum that organizations purchase once and then use to internally train all current and future managers.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
These conversations just keep flowing! I am so blessed!
This week I am joined by Ingeborg van Harten, Founder of 7people People & Culture consultancy. Inge is also a multiple time Head of People and Global HR Lead, having support more than 50 organizations in here career (including a few unicorns like Mollie 🦄) to grow successfully.
INSANE amount of value in this conversation, I can't believe I get to call speaking to people like Inge, work! 😱🙏🏻
The main focus of our conversation was: How to create irresistible workplaces.
We covered a whole lot of ground, but if you listen to this conversation you will come out the otherside with a much clearer, no BS, view on what it takes to create truly incredible People Experience (PX) and genuinely irresistible workplaces 🤘🏻
Some of the things that came up:
Transparency is key
Utilise design principles
Excite people! (focus on challenges not outputs)
Put traditional performance reviews in the bin
Invest in Managers and build strong teams
Build culture before brand
Leverage the employee voice
Utilise skills from across the business to improve People Ops
Sooooo much great stuff in this 60 minute coffee chat!
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too 🤘🏻🎙️
Ingeborg is the founder of 7people whose team of People & Culture experts help companies to become irresistible. This means attracting, retaining and engaging amazing talent. During her 20+ years in global HR roles, Inge has supported more than 50 organizations (including a few unicorns 🦄) to grow successfully. Ingeborg has now built a team which does only this: 'Enabling startups and scaleups to succeed, with the best people and culture'. Inge is an an optimist who loves to create and connect, positively impacting people’s lives, whilst enabling businesses to thrive.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Colleen Saringer, PhD - Fractional Chief Wellbeing Officer - is an accomplished population health expert, published author and speaker. She has 25 years of experience helping organisations nationwide (USA) solve for the transformation of workplace culture and climate through the lens of health, well-being, equity, inclusion, policy and cross-collaboration.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Another AWESOME conversation, this week with pioneer of modern L&D and an inspirational solopreneur turned entrepreneur 🤘🏻
The main focus of our conversation was exploring "learning" as a concept and unpacking how to go about designing learning experiences which actually land and lead to meaningful change.
Some of the general themes we touched on include:
Creating a culture of curiosity
Following passions and life-long learning
Embracing your inner "geek"
The role of psychological safety in creating the conditions for learning
Limitations of traditional education systems and approaches
Self-awareness and providing others with the space to explore
Focusing L&D on understanding how the brain works and how behaviour change happens
Lavinia also shares 3 brilliant tips on creating effective cohort learning experiences which are totally applicable to anyone looking to implement a learning programme.
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and hope that you do too! ✌🏻
Guest Bio:
Lavinia Mehedintu has been designing learning experiences and career development programs for the last 10 years, both in the corporate world and in the academic environment. As a co-founder and learning architect at Offbeat, she applies adult learning principles so learning and development professionals can connect, collaborate and grow together.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Jessica is the author of Amazon Best Selling, Built for People and founder of Being People consultancy. A hands-on COO who finds joy in diverse, kind, and world-changing companies of excellent people, like Whereby, where the mission is to build a world where anywhere works. Previously: VP People, Culture, an Talent for UK Tech Track #1 Wonderbly, Yieldify, Box
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This was a really great conversation and one I had been looking forward to for a while. I have been following Figures and the work Virgile have been doing with Figures for the last year or so.
Not only is their work impactful and a much needed innovation to compensation benchmarking and transparency, but their internal culture also seems to be really solid and genuinely unique
I wanted to take a "look under the hood" in this conversation with Virgile and it was a lot of fun!
Some of the conversational threads we explored:
💡The Figures founding origin story 💡Creating a culture of entrepreneurship 💡Generational challenges to traditional working models 💡The value (and perils) of high work ethic 💡Accurate and ethical salary benchmarking 💡Running compensation reviews at scale 💡Building culture in an early stage start-up 💡4 day work week Vs 9 day fortnight 💡Embedding meaningful and actionable cultural values and behaviours
...all in less than an hour 🤯😅
Guest Bio:
Virgile is the Founder & CEO of Figures, a HR Saas platform to easily compare your employees' compensation and benefits to the market. Virgile is a former VP of People and has rich background in HR and People OPs within startups and scaleups which lead him to found Figures.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Another very enjoyable conversation to share with you today! I was joined by Ella Overshott, Co-founder of Culture Change agency, Pecan Partnerships.
We got super nerdy about cultural evolution and explored what is required to create great workplaces where people love to work and customers love to do business.
Some of the conversational threads we pulled on:
The Cultural "lifecycle" / scaling and evolving culture
The impact of Leaders and Managers on Culture
"Corporate Memory" / Memetics and Cultural Evolution
Ella is co-founder and Director of Pecan Partnership whose purpose is to create cultures where people love to work and customers love to do business.
Ella has over 25 years’ experience in culture change, employee engagement and performance coaching. Her background leading sales and operations teams brings a practicality and commercial focus to the challenge of culture change and engagement. Her expertise in psychology and coaching give her insight into what it takes to create a sustainable change in behaviour that impacts all aspects of organisational life for colleagues, customers and stakeholders.
Ella’s experience spans a wide range of sectors including retail, financial services, higher education, utilities, hospitality and not-for-profit. Clients include scaleups, SMEs and large companies in the UK and internationally, including award winning success for her work in mergers and acquisitions.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
The second instalment of the Diary of a People Ops Solopreneur subseries, where I share my experience of building and scaling a business of one in the People / HR space.
In Vol. 2, I talk about:
Content strategy and updates on audience and community growth (including the top line numbers follower count, impressions and engagement etc)
Upcoming rebrand and core brand messaging update
Product Development: How I have evolved the current cohort programme over the last 12 months, digital courses soon to be released, newsletter, podcast and other products planned for release in 2024
If you are budding Solopreneur or just curious about the business model, I hope me sharing my experience openly proves to be valuable to you.
If you have any questions about the process, feel free to email me and I will get back to you directly and cover the most popular questions in future solocast episodes 👍🏻
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
How Frieda got past her biggest bottle neck... Herself!
Finding confidence as a Leader
Getting started with Product Led People Ops
Co-creating a PX vision: Company Behaving Awesomely
If you are just starting out as a first time Head of People OR first time People Manager, this was such a refreshing conversation.
It's REALLY hard to transition from an individual contributor role to managing people. Most of us struggle with it, I know I did!
I have spend a lot time with Frieda over the last few months and have always been struck by her bias for action and conviction in her work. It was interesting (and comforting) to hear that this didn't come naturally to Frieda either, it's something she has actively worked on following some tough feedback!
Frieda also shares how she is co-creating the vision and ways of working with her time to switch from traditional HR to Product Led People OPs, so if you are also curious about how to get started with that, you will love this chat!
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too!
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Fundamentals of AI and how to start engaging with it
What are GPTs and how should we use them?
Democratising access and the benefits of generative AI
Creating organisational guardrails around the use of AI
Potential impact of AI for Job Seekers
How to start using AI in People OPs / HR
As always, I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you do too!
Guest Bio:
Amanda has 15+ years of experience building, operating, consulting, and advising over 50 diverse companies, including Google, Warburg Pincus, Jane Technologies, and LifeLabs Learning. In 2021 she founded Mindful Growth Partners with a mission to transform individuals, teams, and organisations into future-ready, adaptive systems that thrive amidst constant change.She specialises in equipping people and businesses with the skills, processes, and tools to be future-ready, sustainable organisations. Her approach is anchored in fostering transparency, adaptability, and conscious decision-making, ensuring individuals and teams not only navigate but excel amidst change.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Understanding your People Product and the role you are there to play as a the People Lead
Defining and operationalising organisational health
"Fixing the roof whilst the sun shines" to survive the inevitable crises which will come!
"SLT first approach" - Recognising that SLT need to operate like a team, not a group of individuals who manage other teams
Preparing the Leadership Team to operate as the crisis response unit
Securing buy in from Founder / CEO for People initiatives... or not
Creating and operationalising values
Guest Bio:
Thomas is currently building a world-class People & Talent function at Juro, a VC backed AI start-up. Juro's AI contract collaboration platform empowers businesses to create, agree and manage contracts up to 90% faster than traditional tools. Juro works with some of the world's leading companies like Deliveroo, Remote and Trustpilot to accelerate legal workflow, automate routine contract tasks and gain better visibility into contract data.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This week is a Solocast, part of the Diary of a People Ops Solopreneur subseries, where I share my experience of building and scaling a business of one in the People / HR space.
In Vol. 3, I talk about:
Using LinkedIn to build an audience (10 month content update)
2023 Product Retro
Lessons Learned from building and launching 2 cohort based programmes
Beta launch of my first fully async digital course
Scaling a Newsletter from 0 to 2,000+ subscribers in 32 weeks
My plans to maximise the value and reach of my newsletter & podcast
If you are budding Solopreneur or just curious about the business model, I hope me sharing my experience openly proves to be valuable to you.
If you have any questions about the process, feel free to email me and I will get back to you directly and cover the most popular questions in future solocast episodes 👍🏻
Support for this episode of PX Expresso Hour comes from Sana.
Sana is the end-to-end learning platform for modern people teams. Combining the best of an LMS and LXP with collaborative authoring and a built-in virtual classroom, Sana has helped pioneering companies like kry/livi and Svea Solar simplify and scale their learning initiatives. Employees love learning and sharing knowledge on Sana because the experience is intuitive and interactive, while L&D saves countless hours of manual work thanks to flexible integrations, AI-powered analytics, and smart automations.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Effective learning programs start with analysis and discovery to understand the needs of individuals and the organization.
Design principles should focus on a holistic approach, spaced learning, and interactive experiences.
Consider individual learning styles and create programs that cater to different preferences.
Focus on behavioral change and creating a supportive learning environment to drive results.
Create sticky learning experiences to ensure knowledge retention and application.
Challenge training requests to identify the root cause of performance problems.
Conduct a thorough discovery phase to gather relevant data and understand the needs of learners.
Utilize existing data and generative AI to gain insights and inform training solutions.
Balance human interaction and technology in learning experiences.
Promote self-awareness in leadership programs to align behavior with values.
Encourage continuous learning and provide opportunities for both bite-sized and deep immersive learning.
Develop personal action plans and foster accountability for learning outcomes.
Recognize the role of ego in learning and cultivate a mindset of curiosity and openness.
Explore the psychology of learning to enhance the effectiveness of training programs.
Guest Bio(s):
Becki & Jess are the AWESOME Co-Founders of Wonderful Brilliant. They specialise in Culture, Engagement & Learning. They are on a mission to build a world where wonderful people, teams and whole organisations are energised. Shifting the dial to a more human approach to life and work, where businesses are set up for their people to thrive and drive brilliant outcomes.
Luke is the founder of Sapienˣ which is a platform of content, courses and community The Post HR Generation. Sapienˣ is for People people who think like product people.
Support for this episode of PX Expresso Hour comes from Sana.
Sana is the end-to-end learning platform for modern people teams. Combining the best of an LMS and LXP with collaborative authoring and a built-in virtual classroom, Sana has helped pioneering companies like kry/livi and Svea Solar simplify and scale their learning initiatives. Employees love learning and
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
In this conversation, Rita discusses her experience in People Operations within small businesses and startup / scale-ups. She emphasizes the importance of building a strong foundation in HR and the unique challenges and opportunities that come with being a small and lean organization.
Rita also shares insights into the recent acquisition of her company and the potential for growth and change. The conversation highlights the need for trust, clear communication, and a focus on culture as organizations scale.
In this conversation, Luke and Rita discuss various topics related to HR and people management. They explore the importance of creating ownership and agency within organizations, the role of cultural foundations and co-creation in driving success, and the significance of supporting work-life balance.
They also discuss the inclusion of people leaders in decision making, the investment in employee well-being, and the need for a proactive HR function. Additionally, they touch on the superpower of small businesses, the potential drawbacks of businesses getting too big, and the importance of enabling individuals to find joy in their work. They conclude by reflecting on the future of HR and the challenges and opportunities it presents.
Guest Bio:
Rita is hands-on People Leader with a focus on building people-centric workplaces. She loves shaping and driving the people experience forward in international start-up environments setting up the complete employee experience from scratch by building and designing processes, tools, and frameworks for the whole employee lifecycle in a way that makes employees wanna stick around!
Rita is also the Co-founder of the People Ops Community NL, a slack workspace for like-minded HR and PX professionals in the Netherlands to share resources, ideas, and information.
Currently: Director of People at Homerun. Homerun is a radically easy to use hiring tool aimed small to medium sized businesses. We help business to organise and streamline their hiring process even without internal knowledge or a recruiter at hand.
Sana is an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge. Their learning platform and knowledge assistant are truste
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Camel organizations, which are sustainable and self-sufficient, are becoming more important than unicorn organizations with high valuations but high burn rates.
Characteristics of camel organizations include intentional design, co-creation, effective communication, and a focus on business goals.
HR professionals should prioritize and focus on business goals, understand numbers and data, and tell compelling stories to showcase the impact of their work.
Building credibility is essential for HR professionals to be seen as essential rather than expendable.
Networking within the organization and building strong relationships can help HR professionals stay on the front foot and address problems before they arise. Empower managers to handle people matters instead of relying solely on HR.
Avoid HR teams becoming the police and centralizing all people-related decisions.
Enable the business by focusing on meaningful conversations and involving stakeholders.
Define performance and performance philosophy to align with the organization's goals.
Leverage technical teams for technical implementations and projects.
Understand stakeholder personas and tailor approaches to their specific needs.
Build bridges with stakeholders and actively listen to their pain points and feedback.
Take action and find joy in the work of the people function.
Guest Bio:
Founder of People consultancy, RorCas and Fractional Chief People & Culture Officer, Geraldine is an expert in organizational development, HR / People Ops, and Leadership, within startups and scale-ups. Geraldine has a background health tech, fintech, and has worked at some awesome organisations including, PayPal.
Support for this episode of PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana.
Sana is the end-to-end learning platform for modern people teams.
Miro's Ex-Head of People AJ Josephson has recently said that Sana is "driving the leading edge of AI-powered learning to enable teams to find, create, and share knowledge in new ways."
And that three elements won over the sceptic in him: "the ability to build courses from scratch faster than anywhere else, automatic summaries of live meetings, and smart integrations with other apps into their learning space."
Go check them out!👀: https://sanalabs.com/pxespresso
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Luke and Rita discuss the importance of creating exceptional learning experiences through a problem-led approach. They emphasize the need to focus on the big idea and the evidence of learning, rather than just the content. They also highlight the importance of interactivity and personalization in learning experiences.
Rita shares her journey from working in an NGO to L&D and her current role at Sana, an AI tool for learning. They also touch on the concept of finding one's zone of genius and the joy of the journey in attaining it. The conversation explores the importance of focusing on the problem rather than the solution, and how human-centered design and AI can help in this process. It emphasizes the need for HR and L&D professionals to be commercially savvy and align their initiatives with the top priorities of the organization.
The potential of AI in democratizing access to knowledge and personalizing learning experiences is discussed. The conversation ends on an optimistic note, highlighting the opportunity for AI to free up human capacity for uniquely human tasks.
Key Takeaways:
Exceptional learning experiences are created through a problem-led approach, focusing on the big idea and the evidence of learning.
Interactivity and personalization are key elements in engaging learners and making learning experiences exceptional.
Finding one's zone of genius and pursuing work that aligns with passion and purpose can lead to a fulfilling career.
The joy of the journey and the process of attaining goals is often more important than the end result.
Reflecting on one's own motivations and purpose can help guide career choices and enable personal growth. Focus on the problem rather than the solution
Be commercially savvy and align initiatives with organizational priorities
AI has the potential to democratize access to knowledge
AI can personalize learning experiences
AI frees up human capacity for uniquely human tasks
Guest Bio:
Rita has a decade of experience in designing and implementing impactful learning experiences with the latest technologies. In her previous role as Head of Learning at Klarna, she led the process of procuring and rolling out learning tools used by over 3000 employees in 18 markets.
Today, Rita advises over 30 scaleups and enterprises as Strategic Learning Partner Manager at Sana, the Swedish-born scaleup on a mission to transform workplace learning and knowledge sharing with AI. Passionate about the intersection of learning and technology, Rita believes the future of L&D depends on its professionals having a rich understanding of both.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
In this episode, Luke discusses his experience as a solopreneur in the field of people ops. He talks about the challenges and insecurities he faces as he transitions from an operational practitioner to a researcher and creator. Luke shares his business goals and his plan to scale his revenue to one million pounds annually. He also explains his growth hacking strategy and the importance of identifying growth levers. Luke reflects on the mistakes he made in branding and website design and emphasizes the importance of building to learn. He discusses the process of launching his digital course and his plans for future product development. Luke also mentions his focus on content creation, systematization, and optimization, as well as his upcoming live event.
Support for this episode of PX Expresso Hour comes from Sana.
Sana is the end-to-end learning platform for modern people teams. Combining the best of an LMS and LXP with collaborative authoring and a built-in virtual classroom, Sana has helped pioneering companies like kry/livi and Svea Solar simplify and scale their learning initiatives. Employees love learning and sharing knowledge on Sana because the experience is intuitive and interactive, while L&D saves countless hours of manual work thanks to flexible integrations, AI-powered analytics, and smart automations.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This week, Luke chats with Katja, founder of Shape Up HR, about progressive people practices, product-led PX design, Agile HR, and HR tech.
Meet Katja 🌟 Katja shares her journey from working in startups to becoming an HR tech and process design expert. She discusses the rapid learning opportunities in startups and the career growth they offer, along with the challenges and benefits.
TomTom’s Product-Led PX Design 🗺️ Katja provides insights into TomTom’s approach to people experience design. Their People Products team focuses on understanding problems deeply before finding solutions.
HR Tech Essentials ⚙️ With an abundance of HR tech options, Katja highlights the importance of focusing on core HR processes and data quality before implementing new technology.
Agile HR Practices 🌀 Katja emphasizes flexibility, continuous improvement, and psychological safety in HR. She shares tips on adopting agile practices, like progress over perfection and fostering a culture of experimentation.
Key Takeaways:
Startups offer rapid learning and career growth.
Prioritize core HR process design and data quality before new tech.
Embrace a product-led approach for better people experiences.
Agile HR is about flexibility and continuous improvement.
Amsterdam leads in progressive HR practices.
Psychological safety in teams encourages innovation.
Whether you’re an HR professional or just curious about modern People practices, this episode is packed with valuable insights.
Subscribe, Rate, and Review! ⭐ Enjoy the episode? Subscribe, rate, and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform. Stay tuned for more episodes of "The PX Espresso Hour"!
Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of The PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana- an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge 🤖🧠
About Shape Up HR 💼 Shape Up HR helps companies adopt modern HR practices through consultancy and advisory services.
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This week on the PX Espresso Hour, Luke chats with John Faulkner-Willcocks, co-founder of OpenOrg, about his "squiggly" journey into the People profession, the challenges of entrepreneurship, and balancing fatherhood and work.
Meet John 🌟 John shares his transition into the People space from a non-traditional background, how to make culture tangible and the unique challenges as an entrepreneur and a father.
Key Themes:
Squiggly People / HR careers 🐍 Many of us find our way into a People roles via non-linear “HR” career paths. John shares his own “squiqqly” journey from which led him to start-ups, product and then People!
Parenting and work 🐣 the relationship between work and working parents is off! This is something I speak about frequently. John shares his experience as a working parent, in traditional work and now as an entrepreneur.
Making Culture Tangible 🛠️ We delve into the need to define culture beyond values and behaviours, making it more tangible. John shares his experience driving culture change in traditional companies and aligning everyone's understanding of culture.
The Power of Community 🤝 John highlights the value of listening and engaging in communities to gain insights and build connections. He shares how this approach has been instrumental for him and his co-founder, Adam, in their startup journey.
OpenOrg 🌐 John talks about how OpenOrg provides resources and support for people and culture leaders, aiming to foster a better workplace environment.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a parent, or simply interested in modern workplace practices, this episode is packed with valuable insights.
Subscribe, Rate, and Review! ⭐ Enjoy the episode? Subscribe, rate, and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform. Stay tuned for more episodes of the PX Espresso Hour!
Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana- an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge 🤖🧠
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
In this episode Luke chats with Lauren Gomes, experienced VP People and pioneer of People Experience as a Product.
Meet Lauren 🌟 Lauren is a People Experience leader who honed her craft during ASOS & Booking.com’s remarkable hyper growth phases, before finding her home in scaling start ups. She’s known for growing and transforming People teams; embedding the concept of People Experience as a Product and accelerating the speed of cultural change 5x QoQ.
Life as a People person in a hypergrowth start-ups 🚀 Lauren shares fascinating insights into the realities of being part of, and leading, People functions in a start-ups and scale-ups on the serious come up! From headcount hypergrowth to scaling People ops at pace, I loved hearing Lauren’s career journey and highlights along the way.
Career transitions and Imposter Syndrome 🫣 From the outside, looking through the window at someone achieving great things, it can be easy to assume they have it all together and they are supremely confident… Well, that isn’t always the case and Lauren shares vulnerably her own experience of imposter syndrome, specifically focused on her current phase of career transition from in-house VP to Fractional VP.
Creating content and Personal Branding ✍️ With Lauren currently dipping her toe into the waters of content creation, Lauren picked my brains on how I got started with creating content on LinkedIn - I shared some tactical and practical advice which helped me out in the early days.
This is pt. 1 of r a 2 part conversation - tune in next week for the second instalment which focuses on the tactical and practical embedding of People Experience as a Product🤘
Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana- an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge 🤖🧠
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This is part 2 of my conversation with Lauren Gomes, experienced VP People and pioneer of People Experience as a Product.
Inpart 1 we explored Lauren’s career and the reality of life in the People team in hyper-growth start-ups / scale-ups. In Part 2, we get much more practical and tactical focusing on defining and getting started with PX as a Product 🤘🏻
Meet Lauren 🌟 Lauren is a People Experience leader who honed her craft during ASOS & Booking.com’s remarkable hyper growth phases, before finding her home in scaling start ups. She’s known for growing and transforming People teams; embedding the concept of People Experience as a Product and accelerating the speed of cultural change 5x QoQ.
Operationalising PX as a Product 🚀 Lauren talks about the operational aspects of Product-Led PX, sharing her experiences and strategies for integrating product principles into People Operations. She emphasises treating the employee experience as a product and utilising employee / user feedback to shape the PX product to create impactful employee experiences.
Team Structure and Role Clarity 🏢 Lauren explains her approach to structuring People teams to support a product-led strategy. She details the differences between traditional people partner roles and her concept of People Experience Design teams. This structure emphasises the importance of dedicated roles for different aspects of people operations, from talent acquisition to employee experience, and the critical role of co-creation with employees.
Practical Advice for Implementing Product-Led PX 💡 For those looking to implement a product-led PX approach, Lauren offers actionable advice:
Visualize Work and Prioritize: Clearly define and organise your projects based on impact and alignment with business goals.
Align with Business Priorities: Ensure your People strategies are in sync with the company’s strategic goals.
Co-Create with Employees: Engage employees in the development process to ensure initiatives resonate and are effective.
I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it!
Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana- an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge 🤖🧠
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This week, Luke chats with Kinfolk co-founder, Jeet Mukerji. As a former Product Manager and current co-founder building HR Tech, Jeet has a TON of valuable insights to share about how People Teams can leverage Product Management principles to be more strategic and drive value + growth.
Meet Jeet 🌟 Band Manager turned Product Manager, turned People Tech Co-founder... Jeet brings a depth of knowledge from Product to the People space which not many others can!
Product Management Lessons for People Teams🚀 From Double Diamond design, user-centric solutions focus, to prioritisation of work - There are so many great tactical and practical insights shared by Jeet which People Leads can carry straight into there work in PX product design.
The Application of Tech and AI in HR 🤖 Luke and Jeet explore the wealth of HR / People Tech in the market right now and what People Leads need to be aware of when assessing and selecting what Tech to utilise to solve specific problems... oh, and AI. Obviously there is some AI chat too 🤪
People Data integrity, accuracy and ethicacy💡The key to leverage tech effectively ultimately resides in the quality of data we feed it. Jeet shares a little about the importance of focusing in the integrity and accuracy of People data and of course, how to remain ethical with how you are using People data to make decisions.
Enjoy!
Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana- an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge 🤖🧠
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Boooooom 💥Back once again with the ill behaviour 😎
This week, Luke chats with Alice Burks, Director of People Success at one the fastest growing global People Tech scale-ups, Deel 🚀... in fact, not just in People tech; Deel is one of the the fastest-growing start-ups in history 😱
Meet Alice 🌟Prior to Deel, Alice was Global Head of Learning at DICE and Global Leadership Development Partner at Trustpilot... Safe to say, this conversation is packed with actionable PX insights for People Leaders in high-growth companies!
The challenges of scaling fully remote global teams🚀
Alice shares some of the challenges and benefits of managing a fully remote, globally distributed workforce, particularly within the context of a rapidly scaling company like Deel.
How Deel approach global and remote onboarding💡
Luke and Alice discuss the importance of structured onboarding and how Deel approaches this focusing on both operational and experiential aspect.
The role storytelling plays in People Practices🗣️
From a background in advertising, PR and TV Production, Alice knows all about the power of storytelling and the role of storytelling in HR and people practices, particularly in communicating the value of initiatives and aligning them with company culture, and end user “language fit”.
Deel’s approach to values-based hiring🤝
Hiring is hard at the best if times, but, fully remote and global makes this particularly challenging for companies like Deel. Alice speaks about how Deel place the emphasis on values-based hiring and the importance of cultural (behaviour, motivation, working preferences etc) alignment when recruiting for a rapidly growing, remote-first company.
Enjoy!
Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana- an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge 🤖🧠
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
This week, Luke chats with Dart Lindsley, strategic advisor of People Experience @ Google and Co-founder of 11fold, a company formed to help companies design, build and deliver work that makes employees feel alive. Dart has over 25 years of experience in HR, business architecture, and PX product design, and is leading the charge on transforming how organisations think about work and the employee experience 🌟
This conversation is packed with actionable insights for People Leaders looking to take PX to the next level!
Some of the Key Themes:
Reframing employees as customers and work as a product 🚀 Dart shares why the traditional HR model is broken and how seeing employees as customers who “buy” work as a product transforms the way we approach PX.
The manager’s role as designer and broker of work 💡 Luke and Dart explore how managers can be equipped to design meaningful work experiences and balance the needs of the business with those of employees.
Why the “cost” of work matters as much as its value 🗣️ Understanding the trade-offs employees make to work with your organisation is key to creating experiences that attract, engage, and retain top talent.
Scaling PX in high-growth and large organisations 🤝 Dart shares his practical, scalable framework for aligning work experiences with individual needs
A seriously good conversation which goes deep! Enjoy!
Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana- an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge 🤖🧠
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
In this episode, Sarah Power, Head of People and Operations at Vable, shares her journey of building a thriving remote-first culture in a high-growth environment.
From operationalising company values like kindness and ownership to balancing parenting with work, Sarah offers practical advice and personal stories that highlight the importance of transparency, flexibility, and psychological safety.
Discover how Vable fosters advocacy through positive employee experiences, values-based hiring, and progressive People Experience (PX) practices.
A must-listen for anyone navigating the intersection of culture, leadership, and remote work!
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from:
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
Kicking off this year with a look back on 2024, in fact a look back on the first 3 years as a Solopreneur, from revenue and cashflow to product and community, all documented in this reflective episode.
Enjoy - Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from:
If you like the podcast, you may want to sign up to the PX Espresso Newsletter ☕ the weekly newsletter for People people who think like Product people.
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