Breakthrough Builders

Back in the Trailer for this season, we promised that you’d meet the Founder and CEO of one of the most innovative ice cream brands in the world. Well, we’re dropping this mini-episode today to let you know that, on December 9, our Guest on the show is Kim Malek, the CEO and Co-Founder of Portland-based Salt and Straw. For those of you that know Salt & Straw, the brand needs no introduction. For those that haven’t yet been to one of their scoop shops or ordered the product by mail, let’s just say that once you experience it, you won’t forget it! Kim and her team build connections and communities, and cultivate relationships with local farmers, artisans, and chefs to fearlessly explore and create some of the most distinctive flavors of ice cream you’ll ever come across. And it tastes absolutely incredible.Join us next week to hear what inspired Kim to build Salt & Straw, how she did it, who she looks to for guidance and support, and how she and her team navigated the pandemic to set up the business to grow and open five new stores in 2021.Looking forward to  having you!

Kristine Chin, VP of Customer Experience at Twilio, talks about how understanding “Enthusiast” customers empowered her to build great experiences. She discusses her education in political economy, with stories of how systems thinking helped her develop her problem-solving approach. She shares what she learned from losing her home in the Oakland Firestorm and how a semester in Slovenia helped her better understand herself and her career interests. She talks about her leadership roles at eBay, Ten-X, and Twilio.Kristine shares her perspective on what it means to be customer obsessed and about collaborating with customers to build a strong marketplace. She shares her philosophy of being “delightfully persistent” and creating a customer-first culture. She shares key things she learned about setting up a successful customer experience program. How do you attract customers to a new platform or marketplace? How do you set up a new customer experience program? How do you influence change in a company? How do you create back-office changes to support a strong customer experience?Guest Bio:Kristine joined Twilio in 2018 as Vice President, Global Customer Experience. She is responsible for optimizing the end-to-end customer experience. This includes spearheading a company-wide effort to gain a deeper understanding of their customers and raise awareness of their needs.Kristine previously spent 3 years at Ten-X (formerly Auction.com) as SVP, Customer Experience and 12 years at eBay, where she ultimately served as general manager of the $4B eBay Motors category and ultimately lead eBay’s North American Partner Strategy & Operations. She holds a patent for features to display inventory to the right buyer – and has four additional patents pending related to matching sellers and products with interested buyers.Kristine’s experience also includes work with enterprise, SMB and consumer customers. She began her career in strategy consulting to the telecommunications industry. She holds a BA from University of California, Berkeley and a Harvard MBA.linkedin.com/in/kchin/Building Blocks:A CX leader's most important role is to help other teams discover the customer. Who are they? What are their behaviors, needs, attitudes? Where are they satisfied, and where are they stuck? The only way you can deliver that consistent end-to-end experience, the one you draw up on that journey map as an ideal state - the only way you can execute it is to have teams across the company locked in on the customer, and then collaborating, to take action -  to either design NEW experiences or address parts of the experience that need to be fixed.Think about what opportunities you have in your role to collaborate better across teams to give your customers a better experience. Maybe you're a marketer looking at customer feedback on the product all day long, but you don't know that much about your company's next feature release or product roadmap, and spending more time with the product team could help out. Or maybe you're on the engineering team and you've got a backlog that seems exciting, but you think you could build even better if you knew the emotions and associations that customers have with your current product. Whatever it is, write down ONE OTHER TEAM, and the names of TWO SPECIFIC PEOPLE, whom you can reach out to in the next week to start to start to do some silo spanning, and get to better outcomes for your customer.Helpful Links:“ROI of Customer Experience 2020” by Qualtrics https://www.qualtrics.com/xm-institute/roi-of-customer-experience-2020/“Creating and Sustaining a Customer-Centric Culture” by Qualtrics https://www.qualtrics.com/xm-institute/creating-and-sustaining-a-customer-centric-culture/“Where Net Promoter Score Goes Wrong” by Christina Stahlkopf; Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2019/10/where-net-promoter-score-goes-wrong

Farhan Thawar, VP Engineering at Shopify, believes learning is an infinite game. His narrative illustrates this philosophy in diverse, compelling ways as he shares early influences that helped him discover a love for math and computers, his academic and professional evolution, and his desire to surround himself with people who will help him learn. He tells stories about how this desire to learn created opportunities to build companies and communities. Farhan shares how he thinks about career moves in terms of learning compensation instead of monetary compensation. He comments on the power of “looking stupid” and a willingness to be wrong. He shares his perspectives on community building, personal decision frameworks, and how to maximize “kilojoules per minute” to maximize professional and personal utility.How do you maximize learning and personal growth in your career? How do you choose between good career paths? What is your connection between personal growth and community building? How does your community contribute to your success as a builder? How can asking stupid questions make you a more valuable member of your team?Guest Bio:Farhan is an engineer by training, everything else by experience. The desire to always be learning has driven Farhan’s career from technology giants like Microsoft through to small startups, running a tech incubator, and ultimately to his current role at Shopify. Farhan is a prolific writer and speaker, and loves to share what he is learning with other people. Farhan is currently the VP of Engineering at Shopify, an advisor to 3 startups, and an angel investor for over 20 companies. He has been published in Wired and TechCrunch magazines, was honored in 2010 as one of Toronto’s 25 most powerful people, and has spoken at a number of conferences including TEDxToronto. Farhan lives with his family in Toronto.Twitter: @fnthawarMedium: @fnthawarBuilding Blocks:In this episode, Farhan framed Learning as an Infinite Game. He contrasted it with other pursuits that he labeled Finite, like getting that next job or a promotion. I think we can all agree that we're never done learning. But sometimes it can seem like we don't have time - to pick up that new book, to take that class, to have that conversation - and we lose the chance to learn as a result. What Farhan has done that's both elegant and efficient is to use learning, rather than something like advancement or money, as the organizing principle for his decisions. And I think that's something I could do better at, and I'm guessing many people want to do better at.In the spirit of Farhan's message, write down two things: First, what is something that you would really like to learn? It can be a new language, a way of sleeping better, a even just some things you could do to keep your life more organized! And it can be a long- or a short-term thing.Second, what are 3 things - 1 tomorrow, 1 by next week, and 1 by next month - that you can do to move yourself along on this learning journey? Get specific. What exactly will you do? Who can help you? What will your goals be? Maybe you have a bunch of ideas. Jot them down, and run them by somebody. And get some input. Be ambitious, but be practical and honest with yourself too. And remember that Farhan, like Robert Chatwani in episode one, talked about the importance of a framework for knowing who you are and your purpose, and building around that. So if you need some inspiration on that front, go back and check out that episode too.Helpful Links: Farhan’s TED Talk: “Refining Mobile Application Technology”Farhan on making decisions: “Do it. Most things are reversible anyway.”Farhan on asking questions: “Why looking stupid is my superpower”Farhan’s Wired Magazine article on pair programmingHow to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale CarnegieRange: Why Generalists Succeed in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Charlie Sutton, Head of Design at Facebook App, talks with Jesse about key influences, product design experiences, design philosophy, and rewarding collaborations. Charlie shares how his parents--both creative people working in technical jobs--influenced how he thought of the intersection of technical expertise, art, and experience. After studying Arts and Law, Charlie quit the path to law to pursue a career with Apple. He shares stories of how his experience at Apple helped him grow into the fledgling field of product and service design. Charlie talks about moving to Nokia and the Advanced Design studio, where he used provocative design methodologies to push the Nokia product strategy, as well as his eventual move to lead design for the Facebook App.Charlie shares his insights into building strong product teams, pushing the boundaries of effective design, and navigating a satisfying career. He shares insights into using design fiction, drawing product inspiration from other arts, and engaging in design as a means to create a shared responsibility of agency with consumers.How do you build effective product teams? How does team diversity improve product quality? What design strategies can you use for improving products? How do you design for augmented reality or virtual reality? How do I resolve conflicts between design and engineering? How do you make products customers will love? Charlie shares his experiences at the intersection of art, technology, engineering, and human experience. Guest Bio:Charlie Sutton is Head of Design for the Facebook App, looking after the 400+ person design organization. As a leader, he has grown and managed teams for almost twenty years at companies including Apple, Nokia and Samsung. He specializes in interaction design for mobile, and has extensive experience in developing for both physical products and AR/VR. Charlie is passionate about teaching and building skills in the new generation of designers, and is currently a Senior Lecturer at California College of the Arts.charlie-sutton.comTwitter: @CactusWoolBuilding Blocks:In this episode, Charlie talked to us about the two-way exchange of design. He feels it's his responsibility to do great product design, but he also believes people using technology have the responsibility to learn. And he talked about learning as the source of our agency as people, and about how it's this agency that leads us to get the most out of the things in our lives.With that reflection in mind, please consider and write down two things: #1, What you build in your job, or your hobby, or in your role in one of your communities. It can be a product, service, message, feeling, or anything you build. #2, what people need to learn to do to really get the most out of it. If you style hair, maybe it’s that you ask your clientele to go experiment with a new style you gave them, and try on different looks. If you write books, maybe it’s about the provocations and the reflections you ignite in people. If it’s in tech, well, if it’s in tech, reflect on whether you’re building for sufficient agency or if you’re maybe wrestling too much control from people who are using what you make. Think about it!If you’d like to share, get it out there on social with the Hashtag #BreakthroughBuilders. Or, if you’d prefer to not share it publicly, go ahead and email it to me at producer@breakthrough-builders.com. I’d love hearing from you and learning from what you built.Helpful Links:Charlie speaking about “Designing for Virtual Reality”Charlie at Facebook Developer Conference: “3 Questions that can Change How Products Get Made”Charlie at Rethink: “The People Problems Framework”Learn more about design that expands human agency: “Understanding agency in interaction design materials” by Thorlander, Normark, and Rossitto (2012)Learn more about Design Fiction

Geetha Murali, CEO of Room to Read, talks with Jesse about her work in ending illiteracy and gender inequality, the importance of consistent skill building in one’s career, reflections on a career shift, and her vision for the future of education. Geetha shares how her mom refused a marriage at 13, leaving home to become a nurse and move to the United States. Geetha shares how her mother’s determination and father’s affable serenity helped shape her growth and values in ways that helped her become an effective builder. She shares insights into how education changes and benefits children, and their communities, including success stories she has helped build at Room to Read. Geetha shares practical insights on how she collaborates with local leaders, governments, and schools to create sustainable change, and about how Room to Read has scaled with the goal of impacting 40 million children by 2025. She shares her transition from statistician to non-profit leader to CEO and her thoughts on how to have a positive impact no matter where you work. She shares her secrets to success, including how she views the importance of education and relationships. How does education influence your success and the success of the people you care about? How do relationships and cooperation factor into your success? How do you plan your career to include meaningful impact? How do you rethink your strategy to scale into the future?Guest Bio:Dr. Geetha Murali is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Room to Read, an organization that believes World Change Starts with Educated Children.® Room to Read is creating a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality by helping children in low-income communities develop literacy skills and a habit of reading, and by supporting girls to build skills to succeed in school and negotiate key life decisions. The organization collaborates with governments and other partner organizations to deliver positive outcomes for children at scale. Room to Read has benefitted more than 18 million children across 16 countries and 37,000 communities and aims to reach 40 million children by 2025.As Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Geetha oversees Room to Read’s global operations, which include programmatic work in 16 countries, a global network of investors and volunteer chapters, and a worldwide staff of approximately 1,600 employees.Geetha on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gkmuraliRoom to Read Website: https://www.roomtoread.org/Building Blocks:Think about a two-step of skills that combine to form a secret sauce for you. Step #1, the hard skills, the tools of the trade. Step #2, the soft skills, the things you can apply in any context or situation. For Geetha, her hard skills are mathematical fluency and her soft skills are around relationship building. What's your 1-2 step that gives you your secret sauce? Maybe you're the kind of person whose hard skill is that you can write incredibly well and your soft skill is you're great at reading people. So your secret sauce combines those things and ... you're an incredible writer! Or maybe it's a two-step of being an unbelievable co-writer and being incredibly patient. And those combine to make you an unbelievable technical teammate. Whatever your two step and your secret sauce are, write them down and think about what kinds of things you could go do with that combo that's unique to you. I bet you're already doing some unbelievable things as a result, but maybe there's some untapped magic that this exercise can help you unlock in your quest to become an ever better builder. Helpful Links:So Good They Can’t Ignore You, a book recommended by Geetha that was seminal to her early in her role as Room to Read’s CEO“How to Citizen” podcast by Baratunde Thurston Room to Read success story of KamlaBBC World Radio interview on COVID-19 impact on girls’ educationGeetha op-ed on the power of books on our mind“Six Terrific Book Ideas for Getting Girls into Tech” interview with Geetha Murali and Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki in Wired MagazineGeetha’s background and story, shared by the Shakti CollaborativeMichelle Obama & Julia Roberts meet with Room to Read kids in VietnamAward from the Library of Congress for Room to Read’s special response to COVID-19

Robert reflects on building with purpose, technology as a force for positive change, and the future of marketing. Robert shares how his parents and early childhood experiences influenced his entrepreneurial drive and his desire to be a builder. He recounts the influence of mentors early in his career who helped him explore his skills and values, the decision to move to Silicon Valley to start a venture early in his career, a deeply authentic commitment to philanthropic efforts spurred by tragic circumstances, an intensely personal personal decision to leave eBay, and his perspectives on the future of marketing and brand as the CMO of Atlassian.How can you discover and articulate your purpose? How can you make difficult career decisions? How can you incorporate your values into the professional decisions you make? How can you be a better marketer, mentor, and leader?  Robert shares his perspective and insights on finding a sense of purpose and making purpose the driving influence in career decisions. Guest Bio:Robert is a marketing executive with a passion for building early-stage and large-scale consumer platforms. Deep experience in driving revenue growth through performance marketing and consumer branding.“I believe that technology serves as a force for positive change in society. My passion is building businesses that foster human connections, create hope, and expand opportunity. I lead with empathy, and focus on attracting, retaining, and growing great talent and world-class teams.”LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chatwaniTwitter: @chatwaniBuilding Blocks:Reflect on, and write down, what you love and your “why.” Robert suggested that it’s a worthy exercise to take out a piece of paper and write down your reflections on two things: what you love most, and your reason for being. It won’t be easy, and it might take some time. But, speaking from experience, it’s worth it! It helps provide a ton of clarity on how to think about prioritizing your time, effort, and energy. Plus, it will help simplify your life and will help make you more memorable, distinctive, and compelling to others. Check out the Simon Sinek TED talk on this topic, and Brian Solis’ book Lifescale, to get started.If you’d like to share, get it out there on social with the Hashtag #BreakthroughBuilders. Or, if you’d prefer to not share it publicly, go ahead and email it to me at jesse@breakthrough-builders.com. I’d love hearing from you and learning from what you built.Helpful Links:The seminal Simon Sinek TED talk on Starting with WhyReflections from Robert on his story at the Atlassian Work Life BlogRobert’s Author Page on the Atlassian Work Life Blog2-minute interview with Robert speaking about Atlassian at TieCON 2019Robert quoted on marketing’s role in driving brand-led growth at CMO.comDaniel Pink on Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose here (article) and here (video) Creating a CMO Transformation Agenda: Thought Leadership from Prophet hereFour Priorities for CMOs to Reimagine and Rignite Marketing: Thought Leadership from Prophet here

Visit Breakthrough Builders show website to learn more and to subscribe to the show. You can also subscribe right here in the app you're using now! If you enjoy the show, I'd be grateful if you'd leave a rating and a review. And please tell your friends! Breakthrough Builders is a production of the Industries Team at Qualtrics. The show is written and hosted by Jesse Purewal. Mastering by Nate Crenshaw. Post-production and music by Clean Cuts Audio, part of the Three Seas Collective. Design by Baron Santiago and Vansuka Chindavijak, website by Gregory Hedon, and photography by Christie Hemm Klock. Special thanks to the entire Breakthrough Builders crew at Qualtrics including Ali Rohani, Jeremy Smith, John Johnson, and Kylan Lundeen.