DePaul colleague Matt Ragas has found a way to combine a master’s degree commencement with fun learning opportunity for both students and guests – and all within an action-packed hour.
During breakout groups, the DePaul MA in Professional Communication (PROCMN) graduates discussed their final assignments from the unique one-year cohort experience with faculty, alumni and professionals who joined the Zoom “ceremony.”
But first, they heard a powerful “commencement address” from Stacey Tank, a former CCO who is now CEO of Bespoke Beauty Brands, parent to high-growth color cosmetics brands KimChiChic Beauty and Jason Wu Beauty. The former CCO at The Home Depot and Chief Transformation Officer at Heineken shared insights and tips for anyone pursuing a leadership role in communications. You’ll want to read Stacey’s insights below on how you and effective communications can make a huge impact on your organization:
As you leave this program and dive back into work armed with your newly upgraded skill sets, how can you drive the most meaningful systemic impact in your organizations in this next chapter of your careers? Both…
- As individuals
- And as curators of culture
The last decade has felt like a “what are you going to do for me?!” wave of employee expectations. The social contract shifted from expectations on the employee in the decades beforehand to expectations on the employer. This was fueled in many ways by the tech boom complete with …
- Free unlimited meals
- Nap pods
- Vending machines with free tech paraphernalia
- Unlimited vacation policies … and beyond
Memes on social media encouraged us all to “demand our worth!”
While knowing your worth and being part of an organization that supports you are key ingredients to a fulfilled working experience, I want to offer two counterpoints for reflection.
Instead of digging in our heels and demanding a long list of personal needs, what would it feel like if employees and organizations emphasized flexibility as a key capability? Flexibility that goes both ways. When there is an unexpected issue at work, instead of lamenting about extra effort, what if your employees locked arms and dove in to help without resentment. And at the same time, when the 2nd grade play extended a 10am invitation on a Tuesday for parents, employees didn’t hesitate to step away from work for a few hours to attend. This type of flexibility, give and take, is one of the highest expressions of trust. It helps both employees and employers to thrive. And it’s much more meaningful than free lunches.
It also feels like our mental models have shifted to thinking of many things as “zero sum.” Instead of a dialogue that leads to co-creation and compromise that we leave feeling good about, we ready ourselves for war. In a meeting, someone makes a point with the goal of “winning” that point. If someone is right, then someone must be wrong. If we don’t like a decision or policy, we paint it as evil and corrupt.
What would it look like to approach conversations in the spirit of listening and an intent to create something together? Can we role model this type of mental openness and flexibility, resisting the urge to decamp and cling immutably to our views on a topic?
As curators of culture in your organizations, how can you hone flexibility as a key organizational capability?
Instead of a “what are you going to do for me?!” culture, can an employee social contract that leans into mutual flexibility pave the way to a “what are we going to create and do together” culture?
Instead of ME ME ME – we think about WE WE WE.
So that’s flexibility. I think about this as the “micro-concept” amongst the two – flexibility and adaptability.
But what about a broader expression of flexibility?
The world will never be as slow and simple as it is today.
Theodore Roosevelt said: “There can be no life without change, and to be afraid of what is different or unfamiliar is to be afraid of life.”
Stephen Hawking said: “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”
Dolly Parton said: “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
It’s the most adaptable that survive and thrive. Adaptability … to me, this is the “macro-concept.” The big picture. The difference-maker over time.
This is true for individuals and equally true for organizations.
How are we as individuals role modeling adaptability over the mid and long term? And how are we cultivating adaptability as a key organizational capability in our employees?
What are you doing on a daily and weekly basis to adapt to changes around you. Graduating from this prestigious program is certainly a testament to your commitment to lifelong learning and adaptability. I couldn’t commend you more for embracing that approach.
We also know that change is hard. Everyone goes along the change curve at a different pace. It doesn’t happen automatically. The single most helpful thing you can do to help your organization continue to thrive is to intentionally cultivate change as a learned and celebrated capability in your organization.
Beyond a reflection on flexibility and adaptability, for fun, I also want to leave you with five of my favorite expressions and within them, little lessons about life that I’ve found to be true and helpful. (And please excuse that several originate from the Netherlands, where we lived until recently.)
- As the Dutch say, you will likely spend a lot of time at work, “Putting all the frogs back in the wheelbarrow”
- Don’t allow perfection to the enemy of good enough – or as the Dutch also say, “Putting salt on every snail”
- As my dear friend Darcy who founded Nike’s sustainability program always told me, when you’re doing the game-changing work, just “Proceed until apprehended”
- As the former vice chair at GE, Beth Comstock, taught me, “The sand in the oyster creates the pearl”
- And one more from the Dutch, as they say, “The right time to work on your roof is when the sun is shining”