Surfing Corporate

What happens when instead of planning a career path, you’re open to saying yes to opportunities that could sound slightly insane to others? This mind-set is what led our guest, Cristina Espejo, to leave the comfort of her hometown in Madrid, Spain, and accept work offers in Taiwan and Angola at a very young age.These uncommon choices (for a young recent college graduate) plus Cristina’s fearless attitude led her from being a sales and marketing professional, to her discover her true passion: Human Resources. Today Cristina is a Chief People Officer, but more importantly, she’s one of those HR executives who deeply cares about employees’ well-being and growth (something that is not always the case).In this episode, she talks about fascinating cultural challenges she faced in during her career, she shares insights about how to grow your career, and explains why HR gets a worse rep than it probably deserves. Resources: The foundation Cristina worked for and highly recommends is AISEC. The book Cristina recommends is Adam Grant’s "Give and Take." You can find the Give and Take assessment here. Highlights: 3:03 Cristina talks about joining AISEC and how that changed her path. 4:50 Cristina talks about her work in a start up in Taiwan. 6:20 How she jumped to a career in HR 9:45 from Angola to the US. 10:42. The importance of employer branding to attract the right talent. How companies handle Glassdoor reviews. 13:44 Where does HR’s has bad rep come from. US compared to other countries. 16:04 The Edelman trust barometer: employees don’t trust their companies’ leadership and less than a quarter believe their CEO is ethical. 25:40 Advice for those seeking career growth: Find your advocates / Do self-branding / Find mentors 35:44 Fun stories about cultural differences. 40:08 Corporate confessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite the standard acceptable corporate behaviors (being proper, polite, serious), recent studies conclude that using humor at work leads to more engagement, productivity, and trust. Glenda and Aileen dive into the research and provide examples of why using humor and embracing levity at work can help you in your career. Our guest is a senior director of operations who started her career as an intern at MTV, and despite climbing up the corporate ladder, has maintained her dark sense of humor and used it to bond with her team and her bosses. Resources used for this Episode:- "Humor Seriously: Why Humor is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life," By Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas.- 10 Reasons Why Humor Is A Key To Success At Work, Forbes.- 32 Benefits of Humor in the Workplace, Indeed.- How to be Funny at Work, HBR.HIGHLIGHTS: 4:20 The Hidden Brain podcast episode we’re talking about is called** “Humor Us” 4:50 Humor as a powerful tool for accomplishing serious work** 7:26 Stats about how laughter tends to diminish once we get to the workforce** 74:55 Guest Intro** Why making great binders during am internship open Marcela's door into corporate** 13:10 Why we don’t need more professionalism, but more human connection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Board-certified executive coach Kira Copperman discusses the rise of impostor syndrome, highlighting its negative consequences and hidden benefits. She explains why people experience it, the role of social media, and shares fascinating statistics. The podcast explores navigating and leveraging impostor syndrome effectively, with insights on adaptive vs. maladaptive responses. It also delves into how impostor syndrome influences behavior and relationships at work, especially in high-level positions. Additionally, it discusses impostor-like traits in different contexts.

We talk with Dr. Stav Fainshmidt (professor of Strategy and Business at the College of Business of FIU­) about the hot topic of psychological safety at work and how we can take action to make our work environments a space where we can give our honest opinions without fear of retaliation.- Resources discussed in this episode: The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, by Amy C. Edmonson Adam Grant’s WorkLife podcast episode “Is it Safe To Speak Up at Work? Episode Highlights 4:10 Dr. Fainshmidt’s areas of expertise and courses.  5:06 How his strategic management class helps students think like CEOs. 10:15 Psychological Safety definition 12:08 Research shows that most workplaces are not psychologically safe. Only three in 10 employees strongly agree with the statement that their opinions count at work. 13:37 common misconceptions around psychological safety 17:07 small things that can help increase psychological safety at your workplace. 19:04 this is not an overnight switch. Is it possible to make a change in an organization that is not known for having a psychologically safe environment? 24:51 The case of the employee that received worst manager award. You can listen to this on Adam Grant’s WorkLife 26:21 How does this work in the time of cancel culture?27:18 The problem with being too authentic at work31:35 How to instill psychological safety while working remote. 36:20 Aileen and Glenda propose topics Stav should cover in his business courses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're back! Surfing Corporate returns for its second season June 8th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aileen and Glenda talk about the upcoming Season 2 of Surfing Corporate, and they share an episode from the podcast "She Knows The Way,"with Lara Dalch about the hot topic of burnout. (You can find more episodes of She Knows the Way here or wherever you listen to podcasts.)_“I called my boss Nick in tears…I had been a top performer most of my life and here I felt like I was completely drowning. But I felt shame. I felt like somehow this burnout I was experiencing was because I was mentally weak, and that somehow I was flawed.” -Suzi McAlpineEveryone is talking about burnout these days. But what if those “tips and tricks to prevent burnout” articles are just plain wrong? Suzi McAlpine, a New Zealand-based leadership coach and author of Beyond Burnout, shares her personal experience of burnout and debunks the most common myths about its causes (spoiler: it’s not your fault!).More About Suzi: Suzi McAlpine is a Leadership Development Specialist and author of award-winning leadership blog, The Leader’s Digest. She writes and teaches about accomplished leadership, what magic emerges when it’s present, and how to ignite better leadership in individuals, teams and organisations. She is also the author of Beyond Burnout: How to Spot It, Stop It, and Stamp It Out.Suzi graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Business Studies (First Class Hons) in Management. She spent 10 years as an Associate Director and shareholder at OCG Consulting where she was part of the management team who led the business through double digit growth before selling the business to a multinational. She then spent four years as a Managing Consultant at Futurestep, a division of Korn Ferry, partner to over 93% of Fortune 100 companies, before starting her own business, McAlpine Coaching, in 2011.Suzi lives with her husband and three children in Nelson, New Zealand, which means she is on a plane most weeks, but she doesn’t mind because Nelson is the sunniest city in New Zealand!HIGHLIGHTS Suzi and Lara share their personal experiences with burnout The pivotal moment in Suzi’s burnout story that left her sobbing in her car on the side of the road What even burnout “experts” get wrong about burnout Why most advice about preventing or recovering from burnout is wrong – and what to do instead if you’re headed towards burnout The common strategy for addressing burnout that actually makes it worse (managers do this all the time!) Why burnout is bigger than the individual or their manager – and what organizations need to do to prevent it How Suzi knows when she’s headed towards burnout again – and what she does to stop it How Suzi’s experience of burnout led her to a career that light’s her up Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeWintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times (Bookshop.org Affiliate Link)Connect with Suzi: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christine, an HR Vice President with 15 years of experience, shares actionable advice on performance reviews. Topics include the future of performance reviews, handling unhelpful reviews, dos and don'ts, training for managers, companies' slow changes, and listener comments.

Learn about the history and evolution of performance reviews, including their origin in the US military and the shift towards a more frequent and interactive approach. Explore the negative effects of forced ranking systems and the impact of GE's performance management system. Discover the problems with traditional models and the trend towards frequent informal feedback and smartphone apps for more meaningful conversations.

Office politics are the unwritten rules that determine who gets what, when, and how--and who the hell doesn’t. Deciphering these unwritten rules of corporate politics isn’t easy, but the fact is, there’s no way around them. To better your chances at long-term corporate survival, you have to learn how to play the game. In this episode of Surfing Corporate, we talk with Frank Sutera, a veteran corporate surfer who began as a producer in Hollywood and then landed a corporate job as Executive Director for Sony Pictures Television International Networks. We tackle the topic of corporate politics, including the ever important politics of meetings, and we dissect the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Willis is the Editor in Chief of "The Dad", one of the biggest digital parenting brands in the US, with over 15M followers across its social media platforms. But Joel actually started his career with a corporate job as an IT leader at one of the most high-profile, top tier Fortune 500 companies in the world. Despite a true passion for Excel and spreadsheets (yes, that’s a thing for some people), he decided that the corporate life he had carefully created for himself was no longer what he wanted, so he crafted a 5-year escape plan into a world of creativity and comedy. We talk with Joel about his corporate career and how it helped push him to where he is today, and he shares some insightful and hilarious advice based on his own professional journey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices