Ever questioned the quirky origins of phrases like "cut your teeth"? Prepare to have your mind tickled with linguistic trivia, as we explore the unexpected roots of corporate speak and how it reflects our personal and professional growth. Our Corporate Strategy family welcomes Chief Podcast Topic Submitter Officer Squid Boy, celebrating his contribution to the whirlwind of discussions we share. Plus, we've got a life hack for Discord users that will change the way you manage those overwhelming notifications.
From examining the bold choice of livestreaming layoffs to candidly sharing the trials of parenting, we traverse a broad spectrum of real-life experiences. We break down the viral impact of corporate transparency and the ongoing pursuit of gender equality in the office. Our guests share personal tales, from Bruce's airport antics to navigating awkward social scenarios, and we collectively query the evolving landscape of workplace interactions and the power of the words we choose.
Join us as we dissect the culture of inefficient meetings and the art of concise communication—because no one enjoys a meeting that should've been an email. Armed with anecdotes and a dash of humor, we're here to guide you through improving your professional practices for a more respectful, honest, and efficient work environment. And remember, always keep your belongings close, your humor closer, and your Discord notifications under control.
Everything Corporate Strategy:
All the links!
Elevator Music by Julian Avila
Promoted by MrSnooze
Don't forget ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ it helps!
Ever questioned the quirky origins of phrases like "cut your teeth"? Prepare to have your mind tickled with linguistic trivia, as we explore the unexpected roots of corporate speak and how it reflects our personal and professional growth. Our Corporate Strategy family welcomes Chief Podcast Topic Submitter Officer Squid Boy, celebrating his contribution to the whirlwind of discussions we share. Plus, we've got a life hack for Discord users that will change the way you manage those overwhelming notifications.
From examining the bold choice of livestreaming layoffs to candidly sharing the trials of parenting, we traverse a broad spectrum of real-life experiences. We break down the viral impact of corporate transparency and the ongoing pursuit of gender equality in the office. Our guests share personal tales, from Bruce's airport antics to navigating awkward social scenarios, and we collectively query the evolving landscape of workplace interactions and the power of the words we choose.
Join us as we dissect the culture of inefficient meetings and the art of concise communication—because no one enjoys a meeting that should've been an email. Armed with anecdotes and a dash of humor, we're here to guide you through improving your professional practices for a more respectful, honest, and efficient work environment. And remember, always keep your belongings close, your humor closer, and your Discord notifications under control.
Everything Corporate Strategy:
All the links!
Elevator Music by Julian Avila
Promoted by MrSnooze
Don't forget ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ it helps!
I feel like if I type like a hacker and really slam enter, then it actually makes it work every time.
Speaker 2:You certainly sound more legit if you do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, the harder you hit return, the more hacker you are. 100% Welcome back to Corporate Strategy. The podcast that could have been an email. I'm Bruce, I'm Clark, no, you're not.
Speaker 2:I think I am Today. I feel like I'm good to my name change. No, I'm still certified fresh Clark, You're certified.
Speaker 1:Certified fresh.
Speaker 2:We get a lot of certifications happening.
Speaker 1:We do, we did an entire episode of certifications, we did.
Speaker 2:And we have actual people. I think we have to do. We dub the new CPO CPTO. Excuse me, do we dub the new CPTO of Corporate Strategy, chief Product Technical Officer Chief? No, no, you're not. That's not it.
Speaker 1:We're certified person technology officer.
Speaker 2:No, squid Boy dubbed himself Chief Podcast Topic Submitter.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, and I think that's what we got to give him. Is that CPTSO? This is a wartime promotion Chief Podcast Topic. Submitter CPTSO Officer.
Speaker 2:The officer at the end CPTSO. Congratulations, squid Boy, well deserved. The only thing I hate to say is that, yeah, you're not going to make any money off of this podcast, but maybe one day you never know.
Speaker 1:You are essentially an unpaid intern with a super cool title. Congratulations, but well deserved.
Speaker 2:I got to give him a little flair or something to discord. He's certified now.
Speaker 1:I also want to shout out to Squid Boy because I believe, based on conversations had and the only submitter to our Buy Me a Coffee that Squid Boy made a charitable donation to the Corporate Strategy Foundation, which we super duper appreciate. So thank you for helping keep the podcast afloat by taking a little bit of the responsibility off of us. So you rock. Chief Product Topic Submitter officer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, really appreciate you, squid Boy. That's awesome. We had some good discourse and a direct message too, so always appreciate your contributions and, yeah, looking forward to all the other topics to come up with now that you've been dubbed the official CPTSO of Corporate Strategy, piz.
Speaker 1:Congratulations and welcome to the executive suite. I also want to shout out, since we're on discord and people related things we have a new member, sterling, has joined into the server. I actually know Sterling personally Super good dude, super cool, glad to have him here and he told me this week a big passion of his is helping with corporate growth for people. It's like a hobby. So if you want, if you want advice, I'm just going to, you know, volunteer. He volunteered him. Live on air. Sterling, reach out Good dude it's awesome.
Speaker 2:Welcome, sterling. I'm excited Already contributing all over the place. Yes, we're like four different messages today. It was great.
Speaker 1:I love. I love seeing the activity of the discord. I love when I open up discord and I see the little thing that says there are notifications because something's happening there. Just bring smile on my face every time I just got to make it like part of my routine.
Speaker 2:I got to turn notifications on. I think that's the biggest thing. I've got notifications off. I need to turn them on. Clark, do you have notifications off? I mean, I turned them off because I'm in some other discords and, holy cow, those things are always popping. I can't keep up, so I got to like, turn on. I got to keep this one on. I got to make sure I understand how to do that.
Speaker 1:Are you using the same account across all discords? Oh yeah, okay, so all you got to do is right click on the little like.
Speaker 2:This is little discord help for those who don't know Legit happening live on the podcast Let me see Good podcast material.
Speaker 1:How to discord. I'm going to right click on your channel and change it to mute server until I turn it back on, and then you can set your notification settings. That only mentions on the ones that are a little chaotic. But then for corporate strategy or the corporate fam, discord, nice, don't all All All now we're talking. Now you are going to be hooked into the plan. I love it. That is how you stay. I did it I literally did it.
Speaker 2:I have to be held accountable now because I've got notifications on. Hopefully that goes to the app as well. We'll see. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:It does Great.
Speaker 2:Well sweet.
Speaker 1:Thank you, clark. I heard that you in keeping in line with our newest segment of the show, which I totally forgot existed, but thanks for bringing it back. You got some corporate etymology for us.
Speaker 2:We do. Is that the right word? By the way? Corporate etymology, corporate saying, etymology, the etymology of corporate sayings. Lay it on.
Speaker 1:It feels right. Yeah, it absolutely does.
Speaker 2:Well, it starts with a quiz, so hopefully you prepared Dang it. I am going to ask, I'm going to say the corporate saying that I'm sure everyone has said at one point in life or heard at one point. I want to hear what you think the etymology of that word is meaning the history.
Speaker 1:This is not the best canceled right.
Speaker 2:No, not yet, at least not this one. In the future ones maybe. But I'm going to say this one and then I'm going to have you kind of give your rendition what you think it is. I'm going to tell you what it actually is.
Speaker 1:Okay, how does that sound?
Speaker 2:It's a new type of section of our podcast. I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1:It'll be fun the corporate etymology quiz. I'm here, let's do it, all right.
Speaker 2:I'm going to hit you with this first, the very first one. So have you ever heard the saying you're in the office and you're talking about a project or a person or something like that and you're saying, yeah, they really had to cut their teeth to get to where they are. Cut their teeth, yep, yeah. Or you got to cut your teeth for a little while before you get that new position.
Speaker 1:Right, right, I have, I had a corporate as well. Oh really, okay, yeah, I think it was definitely used in like Radiohead songs. Yeah, oh, yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 2:So I think that, at least to me, I'll tell you what. I don't not going to tell you etymology, but just what that means is like, okay, you got to do the work. You could basically have to make sure you you've done the experience before before you're ready to step into that new position or responsibility or whatever it is. So I'm what?
Speaker 1:you think so yeah, I always assumed cut your teeth meant like you got to take your bite yourself, right, in order for you to become good at the thing. It's like your first try, just cut your teeth doing it yourself, take that first bite of the apple on your own.
Speaker 2:I like it. It makes sense. Do you think that's like the actual meaning of it? Absolutely not. No, do you have any more?
Speaker 1:guesses. Oh, you, okay. Guess number two Cut your teeth. It is in reference to back in the olden days when people used to lose their teeth because we didn't have toothbrush, toothpaste and you know, the cowboys only had tooth powder. You had to cut your teeth out of wood to replace your nasty, nasty bone chompers that fell out of your mouth because of all the different gingivitis and gangrene going on up in there, the halitosis going on them, toofs and teeths. So you had cut your teeth out of wood and put them in your mouth holes.
Speaker 2:Wow, I can't believe it. That's definitely not it. No, dang it. We did have an ad in our last podcast. Funny enough about dentistry.
Speaker 1:I didn't think it'd come back that quick, but we're here.
Speaker 2:That's why they targeted us, who knows? All right, I'm going to give you the actual origin of this. Apparently, it comes from when a baby's first teeth start growing in. The teeth are actually cutting through their own gums. So they also chew on things to help their new teeth break through the gums. So this is cutting your teeth so that you can grow that new skill and have the experience. Whatever it is, it actually makes a lot of sense, it does.
Speaker 1:I mean no, I feel like a fool. I just want to delete this entire podcast and start over, because what a fool I've been.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think anyone would be able to come up with that, because I try to come up with a few guesses for this, and I looked it up and I was not anywhere close either. Apparently, it dates back to the late 1600s.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. Just a weird question for you, clark. I know neither of us are fathers or parents of any kind. Do you forget babies exist? No, like I'll just be out in the open and I'll see a baby. Oh yeah, babies are real. That's a thing that exists.
Speaker 2:I think across my family there's enough babies or there were babies. Now they're getting a little older, but still across my family there were enough. Where I'm pretty used to it, I forget how much work they are and every single time I hear a baby cry or I see family dealing with a child, I'm like man. Thank God I'm not a father. I don't think I can handle that responsibility because you don't know what they want, they can't verbalize it and it's just pain. It could be a tea thing, it could be whatever it's like, you don't know. And that's got to be so hard, it's got to be so frustrating no-transcript.
Speaker 1:That's so true, like they don't need to teach abstinence or sex education or whatever in high school. Literally just make teenagers be around. People with infants age one to three. Oh my gosh, the birth rate will just plummet into nothing. Especially, they spend a week taking care of the baby.
Speaker 2:Oh, 100%, I would say a week, or even just like 24 hours. Just put them with the family, with the baby, and just force them to take care of them, obviously with supervision for 24 hours, and that'll do it If you want to.
Speaker 1:There's actually there's a really good show on HBO, Max. Well, actually I don't know what it's called anymore, I think it's just Max. Now, if you're not familiar with the individual by the name of Nathan Fielder, it's a blessing or a curse, depending on what you're into, but I love the man. It's a show called the Rehearsal and the whole plot of the show is kind of a reality show where he stages these fake social situations for people to rehearse for their real life, upcoming social engagement. Like he creates a one-to-one bar that is representative of this dude's actual trivia bar where he can practice talking to someone that he had a feud with a long time ago, and like it's just, it's wild. But the second episode is literally rehearsing having a baby and the dude literally walks off set. He's like I can't, I can't do this.
Speaker 2:Holy cow, I'm going to check this out.
Speaker 1:It's great show I highly recommend. I think it's only like six or seven episodes. It's very funny. It's also just it warps your mind because the rehearsals are so real that it kind of blends and fakes you out Like is this real or is this fake? But cool show, funny that-. Right now I would probably be that dude, like I'm sorry, I can't, I can't with this baby right now.
Speaker 2:I just can't. This is my living hell. No, just never, never. Well all you parents out there that listen to this podcast. We salute you, cause that is a tough job All those parents that are cutting their teeth on child rearing.
Speaker 1:Yes, huh.
Speaker 2:Huh, wow, wow. Using it already, I mean, we're probably going to use it at the closing too, but how is that.
Speaker 1:I just took this, I just full circle this whole thing. We don't need to do an episode. Is that it Should we just end it later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice Good work Good work, bruce.
Speaker 1:It's like going downhill from here.
Speaker 2:So I love it. Well, I actually. I'm excited. Well, not excited, but I'm ready to jump into the news. Yeah, because, oh my goodness, like Big news. Oh, do you want to kick it off? Cause I just watched it prior to the starting of this podcast and holy cow.
Speaker 1:So I think one of our longest termist members, individual contributor, who's given us so many topics it's just been so active in the Discord we love individual contributor Posted this week which now has become just a internet phenomenon since it like my wife knows about this and she's not tied to corporate at all this video, which comes from the Daily Hive Well, daily Hive did the big post about it, but I think she posted it on TikTok Brittany I'm going to butcher her last name Brittany Peisch Peisch. Yeah, I can say it either. Man, that's a tough one to say. I'm going to say Peisch Peisch, I don't know. Okay, so her name is Brittany, very, very smart, intelligent person.
Speaker 1:No, she's going to get laid off, streams the whole thing to TikTok and basically just holds HR accountable for 11 straight minutes and it is, for me, riveting. I'm living through Brittany, like, if you have not watched this yet, we have links in the Discord or just go look it up. It's all over the internet. But this woman just tears into these people, like when she says you're not laying me off because of my performance, because then she goes through everything she's done and how she's tracked her metrics. She's like you laid me off because you hired too many people and now you're trying to recoup that budget because you didn't do your due diligence in your research. And they just go silent for a few seconds and then try to double down on like no, no, no, no, but we but, but it's like yeah, uh-uh, uh-uh.
Speaker 2:Man, it felt good. Oh yeah, yeah, everyone's got to watch it. We'll post it in the Discord. I mean it's so like brave and she handled it so well, like knowing you're going to get so kind of. The context is she knows the company is calling people and basically just doing mass layoffs. So she has a couple of people on her team who already had it.
Speaker 2:Hr popped that very sinister 10 minute, 15 minute meeting with two people you've never seen before pops up on your calendar with late notice, you know morning of, and she basically, like you said, she streamed the whole thing and she basically asked them the question of what was happening. It was just beautiful the way she handled it. She's like I've never met either of you, like I don't know who you are, and they kind of hopped on and they were just saying like, hey, you know, due to your performance, that was like their key reason, due to your performance metrics and what we're looking at, you're, you're one of the individuals that's not making any expectations and so you're going to be laid off and I love everything you just said. She tries to hold them accountable, to say, okay, I need to know what those performance metrics are, because I've been here for less than four months, and three months of that were my ramp up period where I was expected to learn and grow, whatever it was. And then the middle month was actually December. It was the holiday month, so there really wasn't a lot of activity then. So I don't know how my measurement or how my performance was measured, and just maybe a month's worth of working, if that even counts.
Speaker 2:And she basically was asking them all those questions and they had zero insight into what the performance metrics were. They basically just said, yeah, it's the performance metrics that were provided by our leadership and the team. And every time she's asking she's like, is it close raid? Is it the amount of activity? They wouldn't give her any answers and she basically was saying like, from her understanding of the role, her expectations of the role, she's the most active on her team. She's had like a lot of connections. I think she was like an account executive or something, but she's had a lot of connections with her clients and, from her understanding, she's doing everything that's expected and exceeding her team. So she needed like concrete metrics and they just wouldn't give it to her. So she handled it so well in like a super calm fashion and they just had no answers. It was brutal.
Speaker 1:So combine views, because I just looked it up on her TikTok she's already garnered over 3 million views. Wow, for this 11 minute video. Like good for her there's been. I feel like. Just go watch the video for the full context. There's been a lot of secondary conversation that I've seen around the video itself and I'm curious, clark, would you think about this? A lot of people are saying her posting that is almost like corporate suicide for the rest of her days, because now that she's posted this people aren't going to want to hire her because they oh well, you know that was confidential or she made the company look bad, and me personally. You know we all have to work to eat and survive and stay alive and it sucks and I hate it. But I don't disagree with her doing this and I wish I had the opportunity and the ability and bravery to do what she did, because one it highlights the problem.
Speaker 1:Writ large right now, I mean even the platform we're recording this software on just had like a huge amount of layoffs like our layoffs, epic games layoffs, like these places just keep laying off people despite profitability. And this Brittany she held the company accountable and now she's put them on blast and I don't think she's actually corporate toxic, you know, unhireable If anything. I think good, this is actually going to be the litmus test for her next job. Like only good companies will hire her Because one she's like what a catch from a. Hey, we know she works hard, we know she knows how to carry her business and her metrics and all that. Like we don't have to worry about Brittany doing her job here, like that's a great get and any company that's skeezy is going to stay away from her because she's going to expose, you know, our awful behavior. So I don't think it's actually bad that she did this. I think she just created the best LinkedIn filter she could ever want for recruitment pipeline 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I believe you read my mind because I believe she completely presented herself in such a good manner, showing how she can stay composed in a tough situation, how she can clearly state facts, like she articulated everything beautifully and there was nothing wrong with the way it came across. Bad companies will stay away from her and that's probably what she wants. To your point, it's a great filter. Like you don't want those companies that think it's a bad thing. I mean she may have violated some sort of employee contract or something by posting, you know, a streamed call, you know recorded call.
Speaker 2:Then technically I don't think you're supposed to do that so she could get herself in some legal issues with that company. But that just proves like if Cloudflare just doesn't react to this or if they react negatively to her like holy cow, that's going to make the situation so much worse. So I think she's going to be fine from a legal perspective with the current company and I think she showed off what she's capable of in a good way that holds the company accountable and makes her look really, really good Like. For me, I'd love to hire her if I had any roles of what she does because of the way she handled that situation and if I was worried that my company would do the same thing to her, then it's a bad company and I should be too.
Speaker 1:Yep, agree. So they did respond. Oh, did they? Yes, I don't know if you knew that Clark the CEO did. And before I read you his response, I have to read you his Twitter bio, because I missed this the first time. And now, oh boy, matthew Prince at East Dakota on Twitter, he's got like a couple of emojis in his name too Rainy, cloud, blue checkmark and Cloudflare icon. Twitter profile a little bit geek wonk and nerd. Repeat. Entrepreneur, recovering lawyer and former ski instructor, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah we already know what kind of person this is. Just from that little bit of bio. We fired around 40 salespeople out of 1500 and our go-to market and our go-to market org. That's a normal quarter. When we're doing performance management right, we can often tell within three months or less of a sales hire, even during the holidays, whether they're going to be successful or not. But we don't hire perfectly. We try to fire perfectly. In this case, clearly we were far from perfect.
Speaker 1:The video is painful for me to watch. Managers should always be involved, hr should be involved, but it shouldn't be outsourced to them. No employee should ever actually be surprised they weren't performing. We don't always get it right and sometimes underperforming employees don't actually listen to feedback they've gotten before we let them go. Importantly, just because we fire someone doesn't mean they're a bad employee. It doesn't mean we won't be really really great somewhere else.
Speaker 1:Chris Paul was a bad fit for the Suns, but he's undoubtedly a great basketball player and in fact we think the right thing to do is get people we know are unlikely to succeed off the team as quickly as possible so they can find the right place for them. We definitely weren't anywhere close to perfect in this case, but any healthy org needs to get the people who aren't performing off. That wasn't the mistake here. The mistake was not being more kind and human as we did, and that's something at Zatlin I'm guessing that's their co-founder and I are focused on improving going forward. I like how 75% of this is yeah, but firing people that don't perform is our goal and we really try to get it right. This time we didn't, but we really do try to get it right most times. And here's a really bad sports analogy to help you digest some of this.
Speaker 2:Everything about that was so bad it is. And half of it was like, yeah, we're sorry, but we're not sorry, and these are the reasons why we're not sorry, but we're sorry and we're going to do better. But also we're not sorry, like he basically tried to. Just he worked himself in a circle there of like okay, is he saying he's sorry, we're going to do better, or is he saying this is normal business? Like I don't know the intent of the tweet, which one was it? You can't do both. Like I think it would have been so much better to put a one line. We messed up, we were dealing with it, and we're going to involve the manager to make sure we understand exactly the performance criteria and we're going to reach back out to her to make sure she understands. That's it, yep.
Speaker 2:I hate the way that went. That whole tweet was. That whole tweet was so bad Right, there's all.
Speaker 1:there's 178 reposts, 1200 quotes, 2873 likes, so there's a lot of sickos out there and 1800 bookmarks. So just give you an idea of that, the marketing metrics on that tweet.
Speaker 2:It's just like the thing. Maybe that we can glean from this in a positive way is that, from an HR perspective, like they shouldn't have been delivering that message, no, if they didn't have the concrete facts like that's just not human to say, oh well, we're just going through the motion, we're firing people, you know, we're just going to tell them the details and we're going to tell them no details, but then we're going to tell them the details of the situation, of what they're getting when they're laid off, and the specifics. Not even have their manager involved to talk through the performance there. And to her point too, there was no just pre-warning about any of this. No performance improvement plan, positive discussions with her manager that is absolutely not the way to do it and if you're an HR, you cannot go into conversations if you don't understand why the decision's being made.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a bad one, it's a really bad one. And his tweet makes it all the worse because it just showcases you know what the problem is and you're still trying to double down and like, yeah, but we usually get it right, right, like nah, fam, nah, own your mistake. This is bad. I'm curious of the 40 other people fired, how many are also in Brittany's same situation? Like, it does really seem like exactly what she said they overhired and now they are trying to recoup costs to hit that profitability mark that everyone needs to get in their life. And cutting sales is where it always starts. Actually, cutting marketing is generally where it starts, so you don't even know what happened, but yeah, sales is over.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I understand this high turnover in marketing and sales Like that's. I get it. That's pretty normal, you know, as people have numbers to hit and some people do and don't hit it. But you just got to give the right feedback and be human about it. I actually think it's a good thing Like from an employee right perspective maybe this goes all the way back to unions that you have to have the proper justification for the employee, because if stuff like this keeps on happening like it, just it's totally unfair and it is traumatizing. It's going to be hard for her to get over that. In other companies moving forward Like you can take it as a learning point, but if you do that to too many people, they're going to be really discouraged.
Speaker 1:People in it, it's. So I guess it is ironic that on the other side of this there is this CEO fetishization of return to office and company loyalty and you know, make sure you give two weeks when you quit and we can't have quiet quitting. Quiet quitting is bad Like. But at the same time, when you need to recoup profits for your bad mistakes, you just fire this woman with no logic, rhyme or reason. Like it is, it's not ironic, it's hypocritical, it's all it is. It's corporate hypocrisy at its perfect definition and it's just infuriating.
Speaker 2:But it really is Britney's a hero. We need to celebrate this. I also can't believe that was 11 minutes. I was so into the story In the situation like it just flew by. It felt like a minute.
Speaker 1:It probably felt like 30 seconds for her. I've been on the tirade before and let me tell you it just feels so good to let it out, Freight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the way she handled it too like I felt myself getting like emotional about it, just kind of getting in her shoes and the fact that she was able to communicate so well, you know, being so in such a hard situation like that was so well done on her part. So, yeah, yeah, I hope she finds something great after this and, yeah, I hope cloudflare really turns this around and properly apologizes not back in, apologizes and they make this right because that was rough.
Speaker 1:I mean it's gonna hurt their business? I genuinely think it will, because people will say, oh cloud for you the company that hired or that fired that woman for no reason.
Speaker 2:Yep, just a lot of people are gonna stay away because, uh-huh, yeah, it's a beauty, I think, of social media too is like it. If you are able to post these things, that Protects the individual rather than just the company.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of crap on social media and I give it a lot of crap for that reason, but things like this are the shining beacons on why it exists. Yeah, 100%. I. I that's good news segment. I wouldn't say it's good news, but like thanks for thanks for bringing that up everybody, because that was definitely worth the investigation and time spent with 100%.
Speaker 2:Clark, you have a topic for us today I do and I actually I don't know how to feel about this topic Like kind of going off this note of the news and kind of the negative connotation with it and the emotions being high. This doesn't play well into that kind of let's turn things around and end on a happy note. Uh-huh, because it's a weird one. It's not even know what to what to call it. But maybe, maybe, bruce, I can kind of kick something off and I'll try to talk my way around it and you let me know if you want to add more context and we can give some specific situation. So the background To this topic is I obviously, you know, I had a busy week, as I always talk about, but I had a couple like social interactions and I was trying to be like hyper observant, since they were all in person and there were with some big crowds, which I haven't done in a while, with a large number of people, and I had some weird situation happen and I was trying to understand, like I'm like why, why did it happen like this?
Speaker 2:And I didn't really understand, like why did I deal with this situation like this or why did the situation just go down like this? So it was like awkward, but also in like some way felt kind of like deep-rooted Sexist learn, and I don't think it's intentional, yes, it's just weird behaviors in the office. So I texted Bruce and I was like, hey, something super weird just happened. Do you have any other examples of like awkward behaviors or things happening in the office that it's like why does that happen and does it happen to other people? Do you feel comfortable walking through your example? I do. I do because it was Strange, but I know it wasn't like me making it strange, it just was a situation.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I'll give you the I have thought, but I want you to talk through it first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and maybe this is also you know, uniquely, due to the location we're in, like being in the United States.
Speaker 2:So anyways, yeah we'll talk to it. See. So yeah, I was at this, this big Company meeting. A lot of people were there I haven't seen in a little while because the company is fairly large and I had a group of people walk up with me, up to me, both men and women, and the men all like extended their hands and we shook hands and like the women, it was literally like man, woman, man, woman it literally was like divided, like that, and like I skipped over the women.
Speaker 2:It was like, yeah, I didn't shake their hands and like I didn't really even think about it, but it was like the other male co-worker extended their hand, so I kind of just skipped over because the woman didn't extend theirs. It just felt wrong and I felt like, okay, that was handled incorrectly by me, but also by everyone around me, and I was trying to like just go through my head because after that situation I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I was like, why did that happen? I was so weird and awkward and I wanted to bring it here just to be like transparent about because I'm sure a lot of People have experienced that, but also just talk about how do we make things like that not happen again.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I love that you brought this to me. And then we said let's talk about it, because what you're budding into, firstly, it's not your fault. Just don't want you to. I want you to understand this is not your fault, clark. You've been trained, you've been conditioned from the day you were born and I think, societally I'm gonna do my best to not make this political at all. This is. This is like psychology and philosophy and business just Centuries, probably thousands of years in the making, but what you experienced is something that I think will actually die out in our lifetime. Good news, good news the.
Speaker 1:There is just always been a perceived difference when it comes to working environments between genders, mmm. And if you look at like in the last ten years, the fact that the pay gap, the idea that women are paid less than men, has become a big topic of discussion. The fact that women and stem has become a big push. In fact, according to recent data, there's more women graduating with stem degrees than men. Now it's like 80 to 20, which is it's a wild shift. Swing to pendulum.
Speaker 1:But, clark, you started business pre wage gap conversation. You started business pre Women in stem, women in tech. Like you got your start when, literally, the majority of people who maintain and manage business were old white men and that's just that, were that. They were the majority, so they set the terms of behavior. You watched them, you understood them and then you knew if I wanted to be like them, I have to imitate them. That's not like in the back of your mind, clark, thinking like, oh, I want to be just like Jeff Bezos. It's your, your scanning situation. You're using your little reptile brain. How do I weasel in? How do I become part of this group? How do I fit? So what? What happened that? Your meeting is literally just that Reptile brain kicking in. Hand is extended from the men, hand wasn't extended from the women. So you just did what reptile brain told you to do. But I, I want to give you so much credit, clark, because you had the awareness to think back on it and be like that was weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I know what's happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's a hundred percent. I've been in those situations before and it didn't really cross my mind. I was just more cognizant of it because it was like all right there, man, woman, man, woman, man, woman. I'm like it was like very specific. They probably looked really weird when you, when you filmed it, of like what the heck is Clark doing, but, yeah, just felt it just felt wrong and I'm happy I noticed it. But I think it's everything you just said, because and I know it's not just me who deals with this, like you said, because the medics ended their hands and I did it back.
Speaker 2:It's like it's part of that training that we have as men in the workplace, that we've been, yeah, predisposed to. You know how to act and women never did that. It was like wrong to do that. You know back in at least the history of the US. So, yeah, looking at you know that weird situation, I was like, well, how do you make this better? And I think you know it comes down to yeah, just treat everyone as equals and if someone extends their hands, shake it. But then reach out to the other person, extend yours to the, to the woman of the group, right, and just make them feel like they're just part of the group.
Speaker 1:I'm the big believer in fist bumps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just give everybody this bumps.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know you could say, oh, it's a bro dude thing to do, but One, it's less contact with the bottom of your hand, which you know is just more hygienic. You get me on the knuckles. I'm much less likely to put the knuckles in my mouth, you know, it's like a little cleaner. But also I Think I think we've established this between you and me I'm a lot more quirky and IRL, so random and how I behave and act in social environments than you are. So part of my whole thing is I try to approach everyone the same, meet them with my energy level, meet them with my quirky oddness and do things like everyone gets a fist bump Right one because I don't like shaking hands because, like I said before, it's gross and I'd rather do the knuckles.
Speaker 1:But if I do everyone the same and they choose or not choose to engage, that's totally fine. I respect the choice and I think that's the way to do it for now, until New social settings are in place. So if you like shaking hands, clark, shake everyone's hand. You like giving hugs? If everyone hug, right, like that's the way to do it is, I think. Find what you like, find what you're comfortable with and then go out of your way to approach all people, regardless of gender. You know social situations, whatever, with your greeting of choice.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. I, yeah, well said. Yeah, it's. It's just about having the awareness and I hope, yeah, my experience, you know, makes other people aware, because I'm sure the women felt left out and kind of felt awkward in the situation too. And so, you know, make sure you know, even if only a few people do be like, hey, do you want a handshake? Like, make sure everyone feels like it's okay if you decide not to, to your point, bruce, you want to do Nucks instead? You know, give them some nucks, yeah, but yeah, do what they're comfortable with, but just make sure everyone's acknowledged.
Speaker 2:I think that was like the biggest learning I had. I think, a lot of ways I'm really fortunate because I'm working someplace now that has a lot of diversity. Yeah, you know, a lot of my leaders are women and they're incredible, some of the smartest people I've ever worked with, and I'd work for a lot of companies that were very male driven, where Few, if almost any, or women. It's so unfortunate because, you know, then the women are kind of even in a more awkward situation where they're afraid to go and be Confident in how they approach people. And so I think, you know, I'm really fortunate to work in a place like that and I'm happy you know we can have this conversation so we can hopefully share it with someone else who might be in a more male dominated industry or company and can help everybody feel more Comfortable. So we can all just be humans in the workplace, yeah.
Speaker 1:I completely agree and I think, just as human beings, that we've seen so much growth. We've also seen a lot of backs lighting, but I would say we've all seen a lot of growth. And just how we treat people, how we come to terms with whatever you, your, your Identification is, I respect you. I don't think any less of you, I don't think anything of it at all. Is it's like an acknowledgement of people? Or people at the end of the day, like my big thing, me and my wife were both big believers and Getting rid of lines on maps? Right? Because when you, when you have lines on maps, suddenly everyone's an other because they're not part of your, your borderline, right? It's like what is actually the difference between an American and a Mexican other than the fact that there is a, you know, imaginary line on a map that we respect and treat a sacred Right, people as people, and suddenly you realize like we are the exact same we get hungry.
Speaker 1:We get sleepy occasionally. We need headache medication because Existing on this planet is often pain, it's. There are so many things that we share In common way more. We have way more in common than we don't and Biologically right.
Speaker 2:You know all of us have the same things exactly. It's like when you really boil it down, as we're just humans and we all have the same, just Biologically the same needs, and so you have to fulfill those needs and, to your point, everything else from there is really predisposed based on how we raised or how the, how the current way of doing life is we all start out in the womb as genderless and Kind of you know, unshaped, and it's the chromosomes that will determine what we come out as, and even that is subject to change based on what you believe you are and how you want to live your life and Practice your life.
Speaker 1:There is nothing that needs to be said about Treating people differently because they are, because actually they're not, and I think that's the interesting thing is like we are so much more the same than people realize and when you break down the fact that you know as children, boys are associated with blue and girls are pink, and it's like you've been conditioned so long to think this way and great, I'm think you know personally. You brought a personal story, so I'll bring one. Yeah, so personally for me.
Speaker 2:I'm lucky.
Speaker 1:I grew up in Florida so y'all was always a very standard way of talking to people, so I already had a gender neutral way of addressing the group. I don't fall into guys all that often and I don't like using it, occasionally slip out for random reasons, but y'all is, y'all is safe. My problem is crazy.
Speaker 1:I say crazy a lot and you know, if you think about the word crazy, what it actually means is, you know, mentally unwell, right, and we've, we've given this word of multiple meanings and, to be fair, like I don't mean any harm when I say it, like God, that's crazy, bro, I don't mean harm by it, but I'll think back on it. I'd be like you know, I Know people who are mentally unwell and you know they have mental disability or they have a mental health issue and Even they might not care. But being thoughtful and respectful of the language we use and trying to use the language, trying to use different words instead of crazies and then like buck wild, you know it's it, it's a fun fix and it's something that I think everyone can do better about, right, nothing, it doesn't hurt me at all, it probably doesn't hurt anyone at all, but I can be better by doing this.
Speaker 2:So terminology is important. It is people underscore how much that could affect somebody, and I think it's important you choose things that you know, you know can't have. You don't have to like walk on eggshells, you know, but you need to pick words that are not going to be Contextually inappropriate for the situation or the time we're in. So if you know something's a hot topic, don't say it. Yes, a different term, right? Yes, you know someone who might be uncomfortable with it, like another situation, and I don't have a personal recollection, but At least you know from awkward things happening in the office, like Telling jokes that go too far, that could be pointed at one gender, like just don't do it right Because it's not contextually sensitive, or if it's against, you know transgender or bicep, whatever it is right. You don't make the jokes like that because it could make someone else feel uncomfortable because either they fall into that category or Someone they know or love does right, and so you just shouldn't bring up things like that.
Speaker 1:They're gonna put people in those situations, especially in the workplace and something I Completely agree, clark, and something I try to live by, is what is this gonna get me right, like, what are you actually trying to get out of situation when you become critical of another person? Usually, for me, if I'm critical of another person, it's cuz they suck at their job and you know that's, that's my whole parametric meter for people is how bad are you at your job and how much do I hate you for it, and that's it.
Speaker 1:That's it. I don't judge on anything else and I think that's fair. Maybe maybe it's not fair. Maybe some people are better and worse at working and that's on your lever.
Speaker 2:Yes, what is that lever of your good or bad at your job? Right, as long as you understand that job and you really know what's expected of them and that you feel like they've been treated fairly, then I don't think it's a bad thing. If it's like, yeah, we're supposed to be doing the same thing and you're supposed to be pulling your weight and I'm doing all the work, then yeah, they're bad at their job and I have noticed a tight correlation between people that use the phrase open the kimono and me not liking them.
Speaker 1:So you know it's just an interesting one, just an interesting Correlation there of being bad at your job and using language like that, which you should not do, by the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was gonna say we could do that one for that homologic word, but probably shouldn't. I think that was pretty pretty good to stay away from.
Speaker 1:It's pretty obvious and yeah, it's just one you shouldn't use.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100% agree. Did you have any other examples of like awkward Situations? Maybe? I know those were heavy examples. One that I thought of oh, and I hate this so much. It's like when you get in an elevator with someone that you don't normally interact with either, like it's a high-up executive, and you're just like okay, I don't ever interact with this person, what do I talk about? And so you just bring up something really stupid like man, it's hot out there. Man, you know, it's so nice that we have this cool weather coming in. Whatever it is, and I just hate those situations. They're so awkward. It's just like can we just not talk? Like why do I have to talk?
Speaker 1:I, I've been. I've been because I hate talking about the weather. It works, it works. So I hate that it works so well. So I'll be like oh, did you see the latest Marvel movie? And they'd be like what's that? Oh, my gosh, where are you, where am I? What's going on here? How do you not know what a Marvel movie is?
Speaker 1:I think, even if you don't like them, you know what they are. You give like now, that's not for me. I'm like oh, I totally get it, don't worry about it. What? What have you seen that you like? I love movies. I love talking people about movies. Like I've literally talked to people that haven't seen a movie in like 10 years and it, yeah, wigs me out. But again, I shouldn't put my judgments on them. They have their own hobbies, interests and likes, what not? But it does lead to some super awkward conversations. When I hit those people because I don't want to talk about the weather, I'm talking about movies. I'd be like what have you seen recently? And they're like well, I've been to movies and saving private Ryan like, oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I.
Speaker 2:Always try to go with like how are you, how's the family? But some people don't want to talk about that either. Like do I want people to know how my family is doing? A lot of them probably not. No sure, I kind of appreciate they asked, but not really like can we just not talk?
Speaker 1:I'm trying to think oh, I, I've had some. I've had some really awkward conversations in my life that did have been Managed, I think, to the best of my ability. I do remember one time someone came and asked me for money and Let me tell you that was awkward because, I had the money and I could give it to them, and I didn't want to, so like you're not prepared for that Right.
Speaker 2:Like I haven't thought about what if someone in the workplace comes and asked me for money.
Speaker 1:Like I never thought about.
Speaker 2:How do I react to that?
Speaker 1:It was not a small sum either, and I think they knew that I had it, because you know my situation and it was really weird for me to just be like no, I'm sorry, this is not something I do. And they're like well, can't, can you please make an exception? Like no, this is not something I do.
Speaker 1:Um that's awful. I, I will say, saying no is it's hard, it's make the worst analogy. You know, in movies the hitman's always like the first kills always the hardest. I think the same for no. The first no is always the hardest, and then after that it does become easier and you start to realize, like you know, someone's like a big one. For me is, I'm not a, I'm not a big fancy drinker. I do like an occasional drink, but I don't like going out for drinks just for the. You know, it's just not for me. I don't like sitting around, I just don't like sitting around and just talking endlessly. So people will say, hey, you want to go out for drinks and I'm like no, no, that's it yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and at first it really wigs them out and Restrepo can validate this because he's been on the receiving end of this multiple times capitalist correspondent, restrepo. But then they get used to it and like, in all honesty, for me I don't need to give you a reason, I just don't want to do it. So no, it's like I'm not interested. I'll say thanks, but no, not interested, and many times that's enough. Sometimes there's more conversation around it. It's like no, I just really don't want to. I'd rather go be by myself or do my own thing, because I am a little bit introverted when it comes to spending all day with people and then not wanting to spend more time with people. So it's you know, be honest, be open, but don't ever be offensive.
Speaker 2:Right, we got to make that more normalized, you know, just communicating directly and not really beating around the bush, yeah.
Speaker 1:It is funny yeah.
Speaker 2:It's awkward because then if you're on the receiving end too, it'll be like oh, okay, I guess I'm not going to ask that again. It's also awkward how you respond, but I think if we get more more okay with responding like that, then we'll be more okay with being on the receiving end too, and I think it's totally okay Like respect what people want and let them just handle situations that they want to.
Speaker 1:There is the American issue of the compliment sandwich, which I am guilty of giving and I'm trying to be so much better about not doing, but I still do a little bit. It's like it's a half of a compliment Oreo. I start with the cookie but I end with the cream, so at least there's not a cookie on the other end. We're getting there.
Speaker 1:But you know, the compliment sandwich was those I don't know is a very American corporate platitude where when giving negative feedback, you wrap it up with niceness oh, gerald, you did such a good job putting those slides together for your presentation. But, gerald, your presentation was just lacking in the speech department. I feel like you could have practiced that a lot more. But I just want to make sure you know, gerald, that, like, the way you organize those slides strong, strong organization slides and what that does the compliment sandwich is it puts them in a why are they gonna be good? It's too good and one not so great. You know, like and that was just in the middle we started strong, we ended strong. Like, don't do that Be better.
Speaker 2:I think I've actually I may have given that tip on here. It's like too good one better.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And if you have someone who's legit, good, and you're just trying to find points to like, keep them encouraged. Like I don't think it always has to be a bad thing, but if someone just sucks, like, just be open with them and help them improve.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And don't be wrong.
Speaker 1:Not personality or people or anything like that. Right, exactly.
Speaker 2:I think that's the key, you know. Also, treat everyone the same. You know the way you, the way you talk to Gerald, it should be the way you talk to Bruce and Clark Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a very good point. The other awkward one I hate is like when someone's just purely bad or just out of the conversation and we just let it be Like you know, when you're in a meeting and someone should ask this question and be like where the heck were you five minutes ago when we were talking about this through this whole meeting, like you just wasted five minutes of our time, oh, and then you just recap the whole situation and everyone just kind of like I don't know how to deal with this one, but it drives me up the wall, or something that we talked about 20 minutes ago, and they're like well, what about this situation? It's like well, karen, we just talked about that for 20 minutes. Poor, where were you?
Speaker 2:It just drives me absolutely crazy when people do that Cause they're just not obviously paying attention and I don't know how to deal with it, but it's like I want to hold them accountable.
Speaker 1:That's the symptom of a much larger illness, which was the meeting was not useful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fair enough.
Speaker 1:They weren't paying attention, they were doing something else, because something else is more important and this meeting was not Exactly.
Speaker 2:I think it's either a symptom of a bigger issue or their problem with prioritizing. What is it? Right, right and it's hard, because I think you should call them out, like if you guys literally spent 20 minutes talking about that, I think you should be like hey, we actually talked about that for 20 minutes. We recorded the conversation, so you're welcome to go back and listen to it after the meeting.
Speaker 1:I mean, could you imagine if the conversation actually went like this, like Karen, we actually talked about that 20 minutes ago. And Karen says, oh sorry, I missed that you talked about it, but this meeting has run for 40 minutes and we've come up with no action items and we could have done all of this in an email? Like, could you imagine if we were so direct with each other that we actually were able to kind of get to the bone of the problem and then like, oh yeah, karen, you're right, this has been a tremendous waste of time. We should have just written this out and communicated in Slack. Like that would have made this whole thing easier and we could have answered your question and not wasted everyone's time. Yep, I 100% agree with you. Like there's gotta be a better way to do this. You should talk to that corporate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you don't. And I think it's looked bad. Unless you have nothing to lose, it's looked bad upon you for going out the corporate ladder if you deal with situations like that. But it does help send a message and people are way more clear, like in smaller groups where I know everybody. We work together a lot. I'm pretty direct when things like that happen. I'm like, guys, let's do this over email or let's end this meeting. It's been five minutes, we've got everything we need. We don't need to stay here. And I'm pretty direct about that because I'm like let's just be efficient. Everyone wants time back, so please, let's just give each other the time back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no it's, and I also. I've gotten pretty ruthless with my team. I don't attend meetings. If I don't understand the point or I think it could be an email, I just decline them. Like, hey, just email me what you need. Thanks.
Speaker 1:Interesting. What did they call you?
Speaker 2:It's a little aggressive what did they call you? But some of them do. I mean, if someone, I've kind of had to set some hard rules because I'm pretty busy of like you can't schedule a meeting an hour before I expect me to show up, oh no, they'll call me directly or tag it as important or urgent, and whatever chat client you use, I totally disregard those. I decline the meeting or I decline the chat or whatever it is. I'm like, I'm not tying into this. You should have planned better if you needed me.
Speaker 1:Interesting. I like that. And I do agree to a point that like, yeah, you've got to plan this stuff out and I mean, I deal with this on a day-to-day basis, where people literally double book me, knowing that I'm busy, but they're like this is more important. I said, oh, and you're the judge of what's important on my calendar because you know my priorities. Well, it's tied to a deal, okay, and the content I'm creating will create a hundred more deals, so that's actually more important. But I get it. I get it. It's a. That's a tough one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a tough situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, if someone's repeatedly doing it, then I think it's worth talking to their manager about it.
Speaker 2:After you address them, just be like hey, the reason I responded this way is because of X, y and Z Either. We've already had a meeting on it. I feel like it's a simple question you could ask over a chat client or email, like I think you should always bring it to them first so they're not like they don't feel that you're always so terse to use a word we brought in and gave the definition of last time To not be terse. I think it's worth shooting them a note and saying like hey, just for future notes of why I responded this way. It's because of X, y or Z and I think to make us all more efficient, we could try communicating better overwritten rather than having a meeting about everything. I totally agree, yeah, it's a tough situation. It's hard to do and you have to have some little level of confidence in your ability and stature to be able to pull those cards. But I think it makes everyone's lives better if you do protect their time.
Speaker 1:Some people will take it personally and you have to make sure that you can read that situation. So when they do, you say, look, this is not an attack on you, this is an attack on the practice, like let's see if we can be better. But yeah, that's tough Again. It's like back to the original topic is we've been coached so much to be so nice and to avoid confrontation and conflict. So I think the interesting thing about this whole episode is, from Brittany's speech to the topic to where we're at right now. This is all about breaking down bad behavior. Yeah, 100% agree. That has been just accepted for so long. This is just the way we do things and we can be better.
Speaker 2:I agree. That's the takeaway for all this Be better Be better, be better, be better. Be human, be better.
Speaker 1:That's the title for the episode. Episode 107, Be Better. I like it Done Great week.
Speaker 2:Shut it down. I think that's all I got Me too. Good job, blark. It was a weird one, it was an awkward one, it was a heavy one, but I felt like it was valuable, so hopefully we'll be able to play it I appreciate you bringing it up.
Speaker 1:In all honesty, it is hard to be self-critical, and it's really hard with some of the. It's a touchier topic. Gender has become a political motivator for a lot of people, and even acknowledging it and talking about it openly is often something that will create division, and I don't think it should be. This is who we are.
Speaker 2:as people, we can be what we want to be Right Just immense. All are born, brought into this world the same way, go out the same way. Let's just make our lives a little bit easier by not having to worry about stupid stuff.
Speaker 1:I agree, and no one owns a color. I love pink. Pink should not be just owned by 50% of the population. Anyone should be able to use pink if they want to. Agreed, heck, yeah, all right, let's chat. Go to it. Let's all be better together. That's takeaway, hey.
Speaker 2:And if you want to be better, oh Well, I was going to say, do we have the game show today? Oh, we do, I've got one.
Speaker 1:We do. Well, what do you mean? Yeah, we do. It's time for the game show where we read memes out loud submitted mostly by Restrepo and the what Do you Mean? Channel to Discord. I love them. Clark, it's your turn to play. What do you mean? So why don't you tell us what the latest one in there is? Describe it to us please.
Speaker 2:This is gonna hit home for anyone who listen. Last episode, poor Bruce, poor Bruce. This is going to hit so close to home. Maybe too soon, maybe that's the hashtag for this one. Okay, so I want you to close your eyes. Plus, when you imagine little Bruce With his luggage about to go on a little corporate work trip guys, headphones in, playing some games, having a good old time by himself, just minding his own business. And then there's this big Fluffy cat that comes and sits by him, titled airport boomers, breathing heavily, the staring with the biggest eyes you've ever seen in your life. Poor Bruce doesn't even see it coming. The boomer reaches his arm across the luggage, starts twiddling the fingers a little bit on the handle, proceeds to cough in the hand, touches luggage and Bruce almost dies on the spot. His poor, poor luggage was totally manipulated and it was not warranted.
Speaker 1:You know I did get sick. Did I tell you that? No, did you really I did get sick?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Yeah, it's great yeah nice, fun little Head.
Speaker 1:Your infection, which I don't know if it came from the boomer, not maybe coughed in my ear for all I know, yeah maybe you did, it's been fun.
Speaker 2:I mean I told you to take your luggage home and literally burn the handle. We sanitized it, it's funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're strepo, didn't? I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but it was green. It was a backpack like it's a really it's a luggage backpack which is perfect for bypassing spirit and frontiers, weird regulations, but it is the color that he chose for the one, so congrats.
Speaker 2:It's even just so good. It's like boomer was just waiting, just staring like, oh yeah, perfect, I'm a little bundle.
Speaker 1:I can't wait. I wish the boomer looked like the little kitty in the what do you mean picture.
Speaker 2:That would have been so much better.
Speaker 1:I mean like, that's fine 100% that thing, would sit next to me.
Speaker 2:I couldn't help but pet it.
Speaker 1:Hmm, yeah, it'd be the opposite of you like I'm petting you, little airport boomer. Good job, clark. I feel like that was an easy one. You actually Finally got one that was not a brain breaker for you, so, so I hope you enjoyed your vacation.
Speaker 2:Well, my brain has been kind of fried this whole episode. So, hopefully, hopefully, some things are coming out coherent. We'll see.
Speaker 1:You know people might not know this, but if you want to get in on the action We've mentioned the discord multiple times this episode to our topics came, which are our news came from.
Speaker 1:For the meme came from. Actually super easy to get there, in fact, it's super easy to get to everything we do. You could go to corporate strategy biz if you're feeling frisky, if you want to do some work, but we're lazy here. Open up your podcast app the one you're listening to right now and look at them show notes in there. You will find links to the discord, the website and Buy me a coffee, because right now Clark and I pay for this podcast out of our pocket and by Clark and I I mean just me, so you can help fund the podcast, if you'd like, by buying us a coffee. And, like we mentioned before, good boy, first contributor, big thanks to you for helping offset some of our costs. We would love to have this podcast at least reach the point where the funds that cost have run. It Don't come out of her pockets and it's completely self-sustaining so we can continue to create all this content for you. So thank you and if you're interested, that's where to go to find out how to do all these things.
Speaker 2:I love it. Yeah, we have a couple different ways that you stay in contact with us. Obviously, everything you just said you literally right in front of your face. If you can't figure out again the discord, what are you doing? Are you gonna go fondle some, some handles in the airport because it feels like that's what you should do? That's what you're gonna do.
Speaker 1:But, we also have a newsletter.
Speaker 2:Go to our website. You can enter your email if you want to be notified. The second there's a new episode. Not to wait to check your podcast provider. You can actually be notified that way the next time you do, whatever you do when you listen to podcasts, you'll know it's sitting there waiting for me and I can just tap on this link in that in the email, I'll be there top, top of the box. Yeah, yeah, top of the box. Yeah, just tap that link, enter your email and you'll be notified immediately.
Speaker 1:Couldn't, couldn't, agree what? I don't know why I'm agreeing, it's just. It's just yeah, newsletter I agree with the newsletter concept. I do. I find it Okay. It's not morally objectionable.
Speaker 1:Hey, if you like what we do and you like the newsletter, the podcast, the discord, then maybe you don't want to contribute monetarily because Things are tough. We get it. What you could also do is share this with a friend. Helping grow our listener base and grow the members of the discord is actually the end goal of this entire thing. We're not looking to make it rich, we're not looking to make it big. We're actually looking to help and, like we mentioned before, a lot of good conversations happens in that discord. So share the discord with your friends, share the podcast with your friends, even if they don't like podcasts. Get them in the discord If they're like us, if they're like you and they, they feel the core of the discord and they feel the corporate issues we do. The fam is here to help, whether it's looking for jobs, talking about how to handle things, getting advice. We're here for you. So share the discord, share the pod, and we appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Nonetheless, we do this score keeps growing to like more and more people joining. It's super cool. So, yeah, join the community. It's growing like a wildfire and it's gonna be really, really beneficial. If you got questions about compensation, about jobs, about Difficult situations like we talked about predisposed different nature and activities happening, you can just open up and talk about anything. So if you need help in your corporate life, it's a great community to be a part of, hey.
Speaker 1:I've also got a call for action. If you know someone we're just topics submitted recently about introverts and introverts that are successful in the workplace If you are an introvert and you are comfortable talking on the pod which I do realize is a little bit of a oxymoron personally, I'm also I Scum and am avert, but I prefer being alone, even though I come off as a very extroverted person. So I get it. If you are a successful introvert and maybe you skew more towards just full, lawful, neutral and introvert, you want to be on the pod. We'd love to have you and have you talk about your experience at finding success in the workplace. So reach out to us, either through the discord or DM us directly, please do and.
Speaker 2:I think that's just subscribe really helps. Helps in the algorithm. Got a like share, subscribe, do it all wait a second.
Speaker 1:We on YouTube. Yeah, we're in YouTube, we are, we are. We have one video which waked people out so much we never did it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we might have to do it again because I actually think it's really funny when I watch it back. So we might just have to do it for kicks and cables we need to do the live streams where I make you play management games.
Speaker 1:We do that's coming soon I'm real soon to a to a YouTube and stream near you. Okay, I think we've done enough. I think we've moved the goalpost 18 times in this, so let's not move the needle anymore or reinvent the wheel and Call it right here. What do you say? I?
Speaker 2:100% agree. I feel like we really caught our teeth in behavioral activities within the workplace couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1:Clark, I'm Bruce and I'm Clark. 10 year on mute. We'll see you next week.