Awesome Office: Lead. Create. Inspire

Is your company locked in departmental silos? Has communication stalled out? Is energy down, or morale dipped a little low? A Company Summit might just be what the doctor ordered. Company Summits are a great way to unleash your creativity and tap into your team's collective brain power. But let’s not beat around the bush - company summits can be expensive. On top of out-of-pocket cost for things like venue, catering, coffee, and snacks, there’s the opportunity cost of having your entire company away from the office for half a day or more. You have to be strategic in order to make your summit worth the investment.  So how do you make sure that your Summit is a hit and not a flop? AO host Sean Kelly has thrown a ton of these over his 12+ year entrepreneurial career. He's here to tell you how to design your next summit for maximum ROI. Sean's Top Tips for Throwing an ROI-Positive Company Summit Prepare. The old adage that failing to prepare is prepare to fail definitely holds true here. You need clear cut goals, a dialed itinerary, and quality presenters. Determine the top problems you want your team to tackle. Figure out the biggest challenges your company faces, and unleash your team on them. Choose a moderator or facilitator. You'll need someone MCing to keep the group focused and schedule on track.  If you don’t have someone on your team who fits the bill, consider hiring someone.  Maximize cross department collaboration. Break up those cliques! Don't allow people to pick where they sit or who they team-up with. Instead, purposefully seat people from opposite sides of the house together for lunch and for break out sessions. Solicit high quality, vetted presentations by your best speakers. Keep these in the morning, have lots of back and forth and audience participation, ad reserve afternoons for breakout sessions. Put your teams of employees to work. Allow for teams to present their findings and compete with other teams to keep them accountable for putting in real work and presenting in a fun way Slot in lots of breaks and movement. Jumping jacks and hi-fives help keep the mood and energy up. Do NOT allow for a heavy lunch or energy-zapping snacks/food/drinks. (SnackNation can help you with all your snacking needs.) Book an inspiring space that allows for breakouts. A good rule of thumb - the venue should be cooler than your office space! No hotel ballrooms or lame event spaces. Provide alcohol at the end of the day. (But not too much.) Don't make your summit too long! This should feel like intense work, but should not be massively draining Take notes. Designate someone to capture the best ideas. Remember, you want to walk away with more than just good vibes! Follow up. Make sure you connected with your leadership team afterwards and are aligned around expectations.

By now you’re probably familiar with the concept of "work-life integration," which is rapidly replacing the outdated notion of "work-life balance." Work-life integration simply acknowledges the reality that work is a major part of our lives. Most of us spend 8, 9, 10 or more hours at the office every day, so to pretend that there’s a distinction between “work” and “life” just isn’t on the level. But acknowledging this reality is just the first step. For people-focused leaders, the next question becomes, how does this change the way we manage people? How do we manage in a way that acknowledges that work and life are one? In other words, how do we manage the whole person? That’s one of several topics we explore in this week’s episode, featuring SnackNation President and COO Ryan Schneider. As the President and COO of SnackNation, Ryan's job requires him to know how every single team member impacts the business. This not only requires a holistic understanding of the state of the business at any given moment, but a deep understanding of  the complex factors that motivate employees both inside and outside the office. That's exactly what we mean by "managing the whole person," and Ryan's experience leading teams both in the startup world and at Fortune 500 companies has given him a unique perspective on this practice.   In this episode, you’ll learn: Why Ryan personally interviews 98% of the people who interview at the company - no matter what the position. The planning process Ryan uses to maintain a holistic understanding of the business at all times. The risks involved with not managing the “whole person.” How to transition from a “top-down” culture to one that’s led from the bottom up, and why that’s so important. Links Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn  Sapiens by Yuval Harari The Axe Files interview with Joe Maddon

In our last episode we focused on 2018 goal setting. Considering that health- and fitness-related goals account for nearly half of all New Year's resolutions, there's a good chance that a many of you are currently engaged in the noble struggle of eating healthier, getting active, or just dropping a few lbs. Of course,  New Year's resolutions are notoriously hard to keep. In fact, 92% of New Year's resolutions end in failure. What differentiates the successful 8% from the rest? Knowledge and a game plan, for starters. In that spirit, this week we have a presentation from Mark Sisson that’s all about helping you achieve your health, fitness, and nutrition goals.  Mark is basically THE guy when it comes to understanding Ketogenic diets. He’s a former endurance athlete turned health and fitness expert and a New York Times bestselling author of the books The Keto Reset Diet and Primal Blueprint. Mark has a unique ability to make Keto accessible, and in this talk provides ideas and strategies to up your health and wellness game in 2018. In this episode you'll learn: The concept of metabolic flexibility, and why it's the lynchpin of health, performance and longevity. The definition of ketonic, and the benefits of training your body to metabolize ketones. The evolutionary science that explains our metabolic processes - and why they're not as useful for us as they were for our ancestors. Some specific tips for living a more Keto-friendly lifestyle (without going full Keto). Links Mark’s Daily Apple  Mark’s books  Primal Blueprint 

Explore the challenges of setting goals after the new year and how unexpected changes can lead to failure. Learn how to rapidly develop goals and hold yourself accountable. Discover the impact of meditation and establishing a morning routine for clarity, productivity, and overall well-being. Join the hosts in expressing gratitude towards the audience and their plans to make the show more interactive.

SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly discusses job hacking - the art of redesigning your role for greater meaning and fulfillment. Learn how to identify activities that bring you joy, communicate with your manager about job redesign, and avoid burnout. Discover the benefits of job hacking for managers and leaders in empowering and inspiring others. The podcast also touches on recognizing the limits of job hacking and tactical tips for optimal productivity.

Josh Wand believes that entrepreneurs need to "find their magic." What does that mean? Simply that entrepreneurs need to discover the things they do that nobody else can duplicate. By all accounts Josh has found his. He's a master connector, providing massive value by connecting brands with the talent they need to really break through. Josh is the founder and Motivator in Chief at ForceBrands, the consumer product industry's leading recruiting and staffing firm. ForceBrands builds the teams that build incredible CPG brands. They're “people for a 'hire' purpose,” offering executive search services, board of director assembly, and industry-specific job boards ―BevForce, FoodForce, and BeautyForce. As such, the ForceBrands story is often told through those of the brands they serve. But in this in-depth interview, Josh gives us a rare glimpse into his upbringing, business philosophy, and the journey he took to become CPG's most connected figure. In this in-depth interview, you will learn: Why story telling is at the heart of good recruiting. A simple mindset shift that will help your team feel valued. How to make your organization a magnet for talent. How to find a good business partner. Tips for CEOs to become more connected to their teams. Links ForceBrands.com  Josh on LinkedIn Brand Builder, the CPG podcast co-produced by SnackNation & ForceBrands

“Employer Brand” is a pretty buzzy word these days. It seems like it's on the lips of every recruiter, HR pro, and CEO as they try and figure out how to differentiate their workplace from the rest.  But is it just a buzzword, or something more meaningful? Better yet, should you even care about employer brand? Well if hiring, culture, retention, or company performance are important to you, then the answer is a resounding yes. In this episode, we break down the concept of the employer brand, and discuss how it can supercharge your culture and retention while providing some old fashioned brand marketing too. You will learn: What “employer brand” really means and why it's important for CEOs and HR pros. Who in the org is most responsible for employer brand - HR, CEO, or Marketing department. How your employer brand can be your best form of brand marketing. Whether employer brands are created or discovered. How to ensure your employer brand stays consistent over time, even as your company changes. The roles that hiring and onboarding play in employer brand. The things that can threaten an employer brand, and how to safeguard against them. Recommended Reading Harvard Business Review: CEOs Need to Pay Attention to Employer Branding Wade Burgess: Research Shows Exactly How Much Having a Bad Employer Brand Will Cost You

Think about the one thing you love to do. It could be a task you perform in your job, in school, or in your everyday life. This is the thing that energizes you when you think about it, and motivates you to get up every day. When you're doing it, time seems to fly by, and you walk away with more energy than when you started. Now imagine doing that thing every day.  This is your unique ability, and designing your life (and work) to spend more time doing it is the secret to greater happiness and productivity. In this episode, we break down the concept of unique ability in the context of our working lives. You will learn: What we mean by unique ability. How to discover your own unique ability. How to align our work with our unique ability. How to bring out unique ability in the people you work with. BONUS EXERCISE: Love It / Loathe It Here's Marcus Buckingham's quick and easy strategy for discovering your unique ability: Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side write “Loved It,” and the other write “Loathed It.” As you go through your week, reflect daily on the things that you looked forward to, that made time speed up, that energize, or that may have made you a little tired, but that you want to do again. Those all go in the “Loved It” category. Now think about everything you do that you put off, that makes time drag on, or that leave you completely drained and exhausted. Those go in the “Loathed It” category. Before long, you’ll have a clear picture of your strengths. The beauty of this method is that it’s not abstract – these are actual tasks, functions, or activities that you actually perform during your week. Now summarize your findings using specific action verbs (again, nothing abstract). For Marcus, these words were “interview” and “mingle” – he found that he loved interviewing people, but absolutely loathed mingling.   Links Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach Marcus Buckingham on the Awesome Office show

You could say that FabFitFun is one of the more successful subscription box companies out there - and you wouldn’t be wrong - but I’m guessing that co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Broukhim might not totally agree. That’s because he and his team see FabFitFun as less of a “box company” and more of an “un-boxing” company. What’s the difference? Well not only is FabFitFun all about the joy of discovery that comes with unboxing their monthly (or quarterly) boxes filled with full size lifestyle products, but the FFF experience goes well beyond the box. The company provides exclusive content and products, community features, and even a proprietary augmented reality app. And they’ve clearly struck a nerve with this “unbox” experience. Last year the company grew by 300%, while their headcount grew to 168. Daniel sat with Awesome Office host Sean Kelly to discuss everything from the company’s origins as a content side project, to how Daniel’s leadership style has changed as he’s seen the company balloon from just a few employees to more than 160, and how his father’s entrepreneurial example (and tough love) have impacted the company that he co-founded with his brother. Links FabFitFun FabFitFun's Augmented Reality App UC Berkeley’s DeCal program Daniel on LinkedIn If you like this episode, subscribe to Brand Builder in the Apple podcast app, or where ever you get your podcasts.

This week we’ve got an in-depth look at one of the most inspiring and authentic company cultures that we've ever come across - Deep River Snacks. If you want to understand Deep River Snacks, look no further than their infamous tagline - “Because we give a chip.” The company makes small-batch, non GMO kettle chips, popcorn, and tortilla chips, but their mission is so much bigger than that. It's about using their amazingly successful, irresistible product as a platform for good. It’s why they feature a different charity on every single variety of Deep River snacks. And not just any cause will do. They feature causes that they have a personal connection to. Whether it's breast cancer, Crohn's disease, or liver disease, these are issues that the people behind Deep River and those closest to them face every single day. It's also why they've turned down some major distribution opportunities. If it doesn't feel right and isn't consistent with their mission and values, Jim and the Deep River crew just can't put their name on it (and vice versa). That being said, the brand is about to embark on something entirely new (and a little scary for Jim) - opening up the conversation to their consumers by letting them decide which charity will appear on Deep River's new Black Truffle flavored kettle chips. We got the scoop on what “Giving a Chip” is all about from founder and CEO Jim Goldberg. In its essence, it means caring about the people in your life, and doing something to make an impact.  Jim says it best: “That’s what give a chip means - we do what we do because it’s the right thing to do. Period.” This episode is a co-production of the Brand Builder podcast, our sister show that focuses on the people and stories behind some of the most successful brands out there. In this conversation, you'll learn the following takeaways: Be a fierce brand protector. Jim explains why authenticity is everything in CPG, and how to keep your brand identity true to you. Never Lose the Bootstrap. Highly leveraged brands that shouldn’t fail often do - and it’s because they forget what it feels like to be bootstrapped. Jim tells us how he’s kept the bootstrap mindset at Deep River, even as they’ve taken on investors.   Culture = Brand. Culture is never really internal. Who you hire and how treat your employees has a direct effect on the brand you put out in the world. Links Deep River Deep River’s Put a Cause on it Campaign Deep River’s Honchos Jim Goldberg on LinkedIn @deepriversnacks on Twitter @deepriversnacks on Instagram Deep River Snacks on Facebook If you like this epsiode, subscribe to Brand Builder in the Apple podcast app, or where ever you get your podcasts.