The BreakLine Arena

Join us at the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Linda Shaffer, Chief People and Operations Officer at Checkr.Linda brings to light the unique combination of skills that have positioned her as a leader in her various roles. She shares her expertise on how fair chance hiring works, and how prioritizing inclusivity can help companies retain employees during the Great Resignation. Listen in to hear more about what people want out of their work environments and why Checkr is so well-positioned to fulfill the higher-level needs of all their employees. Linda reveals the details of Checkr’s big future plans, which include international expansion, and more! “What people underestimate is, good communicators spend a lot of time preparing to be good communicators. Writing something that is short and clear usually takes three times as long as writing something long that has all the details in it.”Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you’ve liked what you’ve heard! We’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us at the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Matt Abrahams, an educator and coach in the strategic communications field. He is currently a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.Matt brings extensive expertise in how we can all optimize our communication practices to better collaborate, influence, and connect with others. He covers best practices in framing your experiences in a way that is relevant to your audience, tactful techniques to reduce anxiety in interviews, and how to build trust and empathy to overcome resistance and breed trust with whomever you are interacting with.“Communication is essential to everything we do in life. It’s the way in which we share our ideas, thoughts, and feelings. It’s the way we listen, appreciate, and empathize with other people. It’s critical to invest in those skills.”Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you’ve liked what you’ve heard! We’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us at the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Spencer Kimball, CEO at Cockroach Labs, Inc.Spencer shares his insights on some of the key pillars that helped him build a successful business. He discusses the importance of strong early investors, establishing credibility in yourself and in your company, building company culture to strengthen cooperative resilience, and how to effectively capitalize on product market fit.Spencer highlights how important it is to be flexible and keep an open mind to fully maximize growth potential. "My perspective on everything is that ideas are cheap. Execution is extremely hard and it's what's going to differentiate you."Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you’ve liked what you’ve heard! We’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Payton Iheme, Head of Americas, Public Policy at Bumble.Payton shares her lessons learned from an impressive career spanning from the US Army, Capitol Hill, Facebook and now Bumble. She covers how her international service has lent her a keen perspective of the value of an engaged citizenry, how to exist as an ally that builds bridges to the marginalized, and her focus on building safe and equitable spaces for everyone.“Bet on yourself. Don’t wait for an invitation because we are already waiting to welcome you.”Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you've liked what you've heard! We'd love to hear your thoughts. If you're interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Allen Narcisse, Chief Operating Officer at Workrise.He shares his background and childhood that made him adept in learning and adapting quickly, his evolution towards de-compartmentalizing home and work life, and his evolution into a leader who sets up teams so that they have the frameworks to get to an answer that harkens back always to mission and purpose. “How do you solve problems in a winning way? How do you do it with heart? How do you stay balanced to make sure your mission is coming through in how you work?”Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you've liked what you've heard! We'd love to hear your thoughts. If you're interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Whitney Curry, CMO at Pacaso.She shares tips on how to take initiative to drive opportunities for yourself, how to find and maintain mentors, and how she balances family and work-life demands. In an authentic display of humility and grit, Whitney shares her story from starting off as Zillow's very first intern to earning the Director, Brand Management title during an 11-year journey there. She also sheds light on her transition to CMO at Pacaso, a pivot she felt confident in pursuing because of her firm belief in asking for help."When I was looking at this role at Pacaso, I didn't know if I could do it. I had to sit with the opportunity and wonder if I wanted to go for it... and I'm proud of myself for saying yes. I recognized that what I needed was help. I needed to build a team so that our skills were complementary. And it has been so rewarding to see what a dynamic and diverse set of people can accomplish."Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you've liked what you've heard! We'd love to hear your thoughts. If you're interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Mike Micucci, COO of Automation Anywhere.He shares insights from a 30-year career of driving innovations in the tech industry, including how he balances his professional life with physical wellness, the value businesses derive from having conversations with their customers, and the importance of a team sharing the same values. "Be a storyteller. Work on your story: build it, make it interesting, try it out on different people, and iterate on it. Go to sleep thinking about it and wake up the next day and try it out again. There's a story behind why you started your company or built your idea. Tell the world your story."Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you've liked what you've heard! We'd love to hear your thoughts. If you're interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Alisha Thomas, the Global Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Community Manager at Medallia. Alisha shares her path to becoming a DEI leader, the journey of finding spaces where your identity is accepted, and the importance of finding joy and impact in your work."We are opening doors and creating spaces for underrepresented groups and people who too many times have been put in a box, but are magic and deserve to shine."Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you like what you've heard! We'd love to hear your thoughts. If you're interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Adam Markowitz, co-founder and CEO of next-gen security compliance automation company Drata.To him, trust is one of the most powerful tools that an entrepreneur can have in their toolkit. Drata is on a mission to help businesses earn and keep the trust of their users, customers, partners, and prospects. Adam unpacks this belief for us and shares insights into Drata’s company culture, which he views as a core competitive advantage. We dive into the values that inform his commitment to people, culture, and feedback, and examine his relationship with failure and competition. Adam shares some valuable advice for entrepreneurs as they navigate sales, hiring, and fundraising. We also touch on resilience as a key attribute for startups, speed as the ultimate currency, and what fatherhood has taught Adam about being a better leader.Please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show if you like what you’ve heard! We’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Keenan Wyrobek, Founder, CTO and Product Architect of Zipline.Keenan shares his process of discovering the need for a more accessible supply chain for healthcare supplies in Africa, Zipline's role as the physical infrastructure for transformative and preventative healthcare, and empowering the teams who enable individuals to have total ownership of their outcomes.“When you build a culture where there's trust, and people learn how to handle responsibility, they can embrace their creativities to solve problems. It's just incredibly powerful.”If you like what you’ve heard, please like, rate, subscribe, or review our show! We’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re interested in joining our community, please visit www.breakline.org.