We're not recording

Carrie Berg from Teladoc Health discusses leadership, growth mindset, and gender dynamics in the workplace. She emphasizes the need for empathy in leadership and how men's and women's approaches to influence differ. The discussion highlights the challenges women face in leadership roles, the importance of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and effective communication. Roxanne, Melanie, and Ca...

Roxanne, Anna, and Melanie discuss HR, leadership, and AI's role in the workplace, who could it potentially replace and how can employees prepare themselves to get hired. They talk about the increasing importance of AI for career advancement, aligning with business objectives, and what role AI curiosity plays in getting hired or promoted.

In this conversation, Roxanne and Melanie discuss various themes related to leadership and company culture, as well as the impact of AI on job security. Their discussion begins with an analysis of a hypothetical case study involving a VP of Marketing who accidentally shares a post about AI taking over jobs during a screen-sharing session while addressing employees at his university.

Roxanne and Rob Chesnut discuss the complexities of business ethics, emphasizing integrity, the challenges of ethical decision-making, and the importance of leadership in setting ethical standards. They share real-world examples, including an incident at eBay, and explore the impact of external events on company culture. The conversation highlights the need for clear expectations, the role of arti...

Melanie and Roxanne discuss the evolving role of Human Resources, particularly the Chief People Officer. They emphasize the need for alignment between people and business strategies, clear roles, collaboration, productive feedback, and the importance of trust and proactive problem-solving in leadership.

Melanie and Roxanne discuss the concept of work-life balance. They explore how much emphasis should be placed on work compared to personal life. Is it necessary to establish clear boundaries, or should the balance be more fluid and flexible? Different individuals and generations define work-life balance in various ways. Therefore, the question is: how can we clearly define and communicate our expe...

Ali Partovi is a long-time investor in Ethena and an early backer of companies such as Uber, Airbnb, Facebook, Zappos, and Dropbox. He talks about how he identifies and invests in talent, emphasizing the importance of gender and racial diversity in tech. He believes that early-age computer science education can help address the gender diversity pipeline issue. Ali also shares a personal experience...

Melanie and Roxanne discuss employee engagement in corporate culture and 'forced fun.' Instead, aligning employee satisfaction with performance metrics, emphasizing that genuine employee engagement reflects in high performance, not just happiness.

Roxanne and Amy discuss effective team communication and leadership, sharing strategies like visual cues. And utilizing the six thinking hats method for balanced leadership.

Roxanne and Melanie discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming workplace dynamics by raising expectations for new employees and changing managers' roles from trainers to coaches.

Roxanne and Amy discuss the importance of different personality types within a team, the value of naming emotions to facilitate better communication, and practical tools for improving interpersonal interactions, being mindful with emotional intelligence in navigating communication challenges you may not even know exist in your work interactions.

Roxanne joins husband-and-wife team John and Robin Horton to discuss AI technology use cases, what's useful, and what's a waste of time. Expected Parrot, an AI research company created by John and Robin, has a unique approach to utilizing AI as a research tool for testing experiments.

Melanie and Roxanne discuss employee support - what it means to "have your back", workplace dynamics, and generational expectations. They highlight challenges for women founders, the needs of Gen Z employees, and the importance of clear communication and alignment between company culture and values.

Turning away a rockstar candidate over $5,000 isn’t easy—but those are the stakes with a no-negotiation salary approach. What started as a test quickly became the standard at Ethena, but sticking to it takes conviction. In this episode, Melanie shares how she convinced Roxanne to hold the line, why most companies would cave, and how to maintain the integrity of the program while still attracting t...

What should your management do when an employee is underperforming? What is the process of employee termination? Are there ways to get an underperforming employee on track without demoralizing everyone involved? In this episode, Roxanne & Melanie discuss how to solve how to handle this very delicate and complicated situation.

It’s an interesting time to be a woman in tech. Whether as a leader or investor, women still face systemic challenges—whether it's being unfairly treated, denied opportunities, or significantly outnumbered. Leyla Seka’s perspective? Fight, work hard, and adapt to the realities of the world—because that’s how real change happens. During her time at Salesforce, she helped lead the charge for equal p...

Who knew a post about resume typos could stir up so much drama on LinkedIn? In this episode, Melanie and Roxanne dive into the debate, exploring how typos, presentation, and first impressions shape hiring decisions.

In today’s episode, Melanie and Roxanne unpack the viral headlines around DEI (did Jamie Dimon really call DEI initiatives ‘stupid’?), the real data behind DEI spending, and why talking about its effectiveness shouldn’t be taboo. They also dive into a bigger shift happening in the workplace — and what it means for measuring impact. With automation taking over admin-heavy tasks, are mediocre manage...

Sadness, loneliness, and culture—each deeply shaped by relationships and connections, or lack thereof. Today’s guest, Andy Dunn , co-founder of Bonobos (acquired by Walmart) and author of Burn Rate , shares his journey of entrepreneurship while navigating mental health challenges. The conversation explores loneliness through the lens of modern social dynamics and workplace culture—and how Andy’s l...

Is backchanneling a dirty word? In this candid conversation about a common yet controversial pre-hiring practice — backchanneling — Roxanne and Melanie dive into a viral LinkedIn post that sparked debate in the HR community. Does backchanneling signal a lack of trust in a candidate? Speaking from a Qigong retreat, where they’re exploring their own self-awareness, they discuss the best and worst as...

In this candid conversation about what makes a successful founder, Roxanne sits down with prolific early-stage investor, Hunter Walk of Homebrew. Hunter shares that unlike many other VCs, he looks for more “steak” than “sizzle” when being pitched by founders. They discuss how both are important – and it’s crucial that a founder learns how to sell themselves and their company – but humility and sub...

In this first of many candid conversations, Roxanne and Melanie tackle the topic of DEI training in the workplace...starting with the question, "has DEI training actually worked? "They examine the original goals of DEI and how perception has shifted over time, leading to the backlash we're seeing today. They explore how the overarching aim of DEI and meritocracy is actually one and the same, but o...