Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - YAPClassic: Claude Silver on Leading with Love

Episode Date: June 3, 2022

The average American spends one third of their life at work. Beyond finances and benefits, jobs have an incredible impact on our lives, and the way we feel about our jobs has a huge impact on our work performance. So, Claude Silver, the world's first Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia, sees the need for humanity, emotional intelligence, equity, and diversity in the workplace. That means that company culture, communication, and connection must be priorities in the office. If employees feel like they belong and have support, the entire company, along with the individual, benefits. In this #YAPClassic, Hala and Claude chat about Claude’s career at VaynerMedia and her role as Chief Heart Officer, what Claude means by 'building a honey empire,' her perspective on diversity and inclusion, and Claude shares advice for millenials looking to succeed at work.     Topics Include: - What does a Chief Heart Officer do? - How is Chief Heart Officer different than a traditional CHRO? - Is the concept of Chief Heart officer taking off?  - Claude’s career at VaynerMedia, why she quit and why she went back   - Advice on foster meaningful relationships with senior leaders - How Claude connects with all 800 people at VaynerMedia - How does keeping employees happy affect productivity?   - Time management and energy management  - What does building the honey empire mean?  - Girls Adventure Out and how that helps in her current role - Her 90 day journey in the wilderness  - Sexual orientation and the importance of authenticity  - Her experience with Dyslexia and why she credits it for her success - How they onboard employees at VanyerMedia   - Community resource groups  - How to manage an employee who are underperforming - Claude’s perspective on diversity and inclusion  - Millennials and Gen Z thinking differently about DNI - Why cognitive bias training is important  - Advice for millennials looking to succeed at work  - And other topics…   Claude Silver is the first ever Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia. Prior to joining VaynerMedia, she held senior leadership posts at both J. Walter Thompson and Publicis in each firm’s London office.  Claude is also a motivational speaker, thought leader and industry trend setter. She focuses on teaching people and organizations how to disrupt the traditional HR model with emotional optimism and heart-centered leadership.  Beyond her work in marketing and media, Claude co-founded and served as Managing Director at GirlsAdventureOUT, a women-focused outdoor adventure enterprise. She is also a certified Outward Bound instructor. Sponsored By: Jordan Harbinger - Check out jordanharbinger.com/start for some episode recommendations Constant Contact - To start your free digital marketing trial today, visit constantcontact.com  Wise - Join 13 million people and businesses who are already saving, and try Wise for free at Wise.com/yap Indeed - Sign up for Indeed now and get a $75 credit toward your first sponsored job. Plus earn up to $500 extra in sponsored job credits with Indeed’s Virtual Interviews. Visit Indeed.com/PROFITING to learn more Resources Mentioned: YAP Episode #35: Leading with Love with Claude Silver: https://www.youngandprofiting.com/35-leading-with-love-with-claude-silver/  Claude’s Website: https://www.claudesilver.com/  Claude’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casilver/  Claude’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudesilver/  Claude’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/claudesilver?lang=en  Connect with Young and Profiting: Hala’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/     Hala’s Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/yapwithhala/     Hala’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/yapwithhala  Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/@halataha   Website: https://www.youngandprofiting.com/  Text Hala: https://youngandprofiting.co/TextHala or text “YAP” to 28046 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and Participating Source. Taxes and other fee still apply. You're listening to YAP, Young and Profiting Podcast, a place where you can listen, learn, and profit. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Halla Taha, and on Young and Profiting Podcast, we investigate a new topic each week and interview some of the brightest minds in the world.

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That's YAP to 28046. This week on YAP, we're chatting with Claude Silver, the world's first chief heart officer and C-suite executive at VaynerMedia, which is Gary Vaynerchuk's digital media agency. As the chief heart officer at VaynerMedia, Claude manages the onboarding recruitment employee experience, retention, learning and development

for more than 1,000 employees at the company. She is over 20 years of Fortune 500 corporate experience and is known for leading with our heart as well as her emotional optimism. Claude has appeared in media like Forbes and Inc. and she's spoken at conferences around the world, including social media, Week London, the HR Tech Summit, and Talks at Google

amongst others. The average American spends one third of their life at work. Our jobs make a huge impact on our lives, so it's super important that both as employers and employees we're working to make our workplace culture a priority. And clouds approach to workplace culture is best in class. She is truly a thought leader in this space. This episode is a replay of number 35, which was

recorded back in August of 2019. But regardless of when this was originally recorded, workplace culture and supporting employees is more critical now than ever. So we've went back into the archives and we've distilled the original interview down to the most interesting and actionable parts so you can listen, learn and profit even faster. In this episode, we take a close look into Claude's role as chief heart officer and why she believes cultivating culture and bringing emotional intelligence into the workplace leads to success across all aspects of business. We'll also learn how to lead with love, and we get a behind-the-scenes look at how Claude deals

with onboarding new employees, as well as how she lets go of employees who don't quite make the cut. And lastly, we hear Claude's advice for millennials looking to thrive in a corporate environment. If you're an employer or an employee looking to be the best version of yourself and inspire others to do the same, you're going to love this episode. Now without further ado, enjoy my conversation with Claude Silver. We've been looking forward to this interview for quite some time, so welcome.

You are an incredibly powerful woman for my listeners who might not be aware you're the second in line at Vayner Media, which is GaryVee's Uber Successful Media Agency. Could you start by telling us as the first ever Chief Heart Officer, which is your title, what do you do and what do you consider as your area of expertise? Terrific, yes. So as Chief heart officer here, my job is to take care of every single employee. And I consider heart as the central operating system of a human being and human beings, the central operating system of a company or a culture. So I oversee everything that is normally called HR. We call it people in experience after all, that is what we're doing here,

people and experience. And I also oversee learning and development, DNI initiatives, culture initiatives, everything like that. So my job is all encompassing people operations, I would call it, I'm in the business of people, which I love. So that is the job, and I spend my day in a lot of one-on-one meetings,

getting to know people, rereading people, whether or not they're reaching out to me proactively, or I reach out to them. I'm in leadership meetings, we're trying to move the needle here there and everywhere, whether or not that's in process, or that's in training, or that's in refining what it is we do. That's what I'm doing. That's very cool. So how would you say that your chief heart officer role is really different than a traditional CHRO? For one, I was never in HR.

And so it would be really odd for me to say that I was actually a CHRO, having been a strategist my entire life. I wanna honor all the CHROs out there because I didn't grow up in that way. I didn't grow up with rules and regulations and being compliance experts and whatnot. I grew up in creative agencies working on awesome strategies

on a global level. And so that's really kind of like base, right? The other way is that my job here, unlike a lot of CHROs, is the people. It is the people. In fact, the only job description I have and that I ever received from Gary is the following, to touch every single employee and infuse the agency with heart. So that's the job description. And I figure out how to do that every single day because every day is different because I'm dealing with people in life and what I'm looking at are patterns. I'm collecting a lot of information

from people looking at patterns and then making changes or helping people connect the dots, remove roadblocks for themselves. So I would actually call myself or consider myself like an Uber coach or a Sherpa, if you will. And all I want to do is turn people into champions and turn people into heroes and ignite other leaders to do the same. So let's talk about your career at VaynerMedia. From my understanding, you started off as a senior VP for Gary, you ran account and strategy, and then you actually quit, and you came back to the company later on. Could you just share that story with our listeners? You know, why did you initially leave the company and what means you go back?

It's a great story, so I had been doing strategy, as I've mentioned, for a very long time on a global level, and a year into my career here at VaynerMedia, it just dawned on me that I literally lost the passion to do the selling. I just lost it. It wasn't interesting anymore to me to discuss the copy on an ad or how we were going to reach a certain target. And I only, only wanted to work and grow teams. So I went to Gary on my one-year Vaynerversaries, what we call it, and I said, thank you so much. This has been fantastic. And I really think I'm done here. I really think I'm done and I'm not interested in this work and you're terrific and this place is great and you know God speed.

And he said in his wonderful way, what is it that you want to do? What do you want to do? Because that's who he is. He's such a giver, you know. And I said, I only care about the heartbeat of this place. I only care about the people. And he said, cool, I need you to do this for 18 more months. And I said, I don't have 18 more months. And we went our own ways. And over the next six months, I found a backfill, who was wonderful. She's here and still here, and she's amazing.

And I went in and I resigned. And it really gut punched him because he didn't see it happening, didn't see it coming. And you know, we had such a great relationship. And I think in hindsight, you know, I didn't, I didn't give him enough of a heads up, which of course I would want to. And I would tell him he went to going forward. But I left. And we had a wonderful, incredible conversation and that conversation, even though it was very painful. He said, I don't want us to be like those friends and college that disappear from each other's lives, and you just remember 20, 30 years later, like I really, really love hanging out that person.

I'll never forget he said that to me. Anyway, I went about my business and my life and four months later we had breakfast together and we sat down and he said, that's it, you're coming back as chief heart officer. And I was like, great, I'm in, count me in. Like, how do we know if I'm successful? And that's when he gave me the remit of touching every employee and impusing the agency

with empathy. That's incredible. What an A story and it just goes to show how giving heart from the company really starts at the top at your company. Gary seems to be like such a giver, such a genuine person, and then he's giving you this great mission that is probably very motivating to everybody who works at VaynerMedia.

That's exceptional. How can others replicate what you've done in terms of creating such a meaningful relationship with the top person at the company that you work for? What is it that you do that helps you connect with somebody on level of Gary Vee who has everybody wants his attention all hours of the day? So how did you foster such a meaningful relationship? Well, first and foremost, when we met, which was in August of 2013, and I was living in London at the time, when we met, we had just a dynamic chemistry. It was almost as though we were

meeting each other's brother or sister. And so we just happened to have that energy together. However, to really answer the question, my job has always been to make my bosses job easier. And how do I do that? How do I provide value is either by asking, anticipating, doing it, doing what I think is the right move, and then being told, yes, that was the right move more, or no, don't do that next time. And more importantly, giving that senior leader that CEO information. And that is literally what helps our relationship continue to thrive. Because my role was set up to scale him, period, to scale him. Because he is the CHO, let's be honest. He's the CCO, he's the CEO, he's the chief operating officer.

He's all of those things, it's his company. Well, you can't be in all those places at once, and we're at such a magnitude of people now, and when he gave me this role, we were already at a magnitude that what does he need? He needs information. He wants to know how are we doing? How is this culture doing?

What is going on on the floor? What are people saying? How are people thriving? Are people being too subjective these days when it comes to creative reviews? You know, name it. So giving your CEO or your C-suite, your leader's information,

I think is the best thing you can do aside from taking things off of their plate. That's a very good advice. Previously, you were just saying that Gary gave you the mission to be in touch with the heartbeat of every single person at the company. Based on a research last we checked, you had about 800 employees. Is that about right? That's correct. So how are you able to connect with every person? That's a lot of people. It's a lot of people.

I had had to learn how to scale myself. And in scaling myself, I have to trust people to be their own culture champion, if you will. The thing about Gary and the thing about me is that we are not micro managers. We trust first. We give trust first. And in doing that, I believe that allows people to spread their wings and take it upon

themselves to inspire and take care of others. I truly, truly believe that. We've been around 10 years now. There are people employ one, two, and three are still with us. There's a bunch of us that have been here four, five, six years. So those of us that have been around for so long, we get it. We understand, we don't drink the Kool-Aid, we drink the water. And in doing that, I can trust people to spread positivity,

to spread the optimism, to spread collaboration and patience and gratitude and generosity just as I would. And I have an incredible team that does that and that each person of my team oversees anywhere from 50 to 120 people. And what I mean oversees serves them, takes care of them. Yeah, you call those culture carriers, is that what you're referring to? Well, no, the people on my team, who are actually on the people and experience team, are each our business partners.

That's what they would be called anywhere else. So I have them, but then the culture champions or the culture carriers are these other people that have spent enormous amounts of time already with Gary or with me and get it. And I can trust them. And in fact today, perfect example,

someone came in my office, he's been here 45 days, he's loving it, it's in the honeymoon period. And I asked him, has he met anyone else outside of his team? And he hadn't. So I wrote an email to 10 people I know I can trust. And I said, hey, I want to introduce you to my new friend. This is what he does. So forth and so on, please take I want to introduce you to my new friend. This is what he does. So forth and so on.

Please take 15 minutes to go on a walk, get a coffee with him. And already the emails come in, hey man, I'll set up some time. Hey, I'll set up some time with you. That's amazing. Yeah. Right there is how I scale. So imagine me doing that and knowing I can do that in any office. I travel to the other offices.

I'm on Skype. I'm on Google Hangouts. I do culture jam sessions when I'm in in any office. I travel to the other offices. I'm on Skype, I'm on Google Hangouts. I do culture jam sessions when I'm in any other office, you know, getting people together. So there are tons of different ways I do that organically. And the role is very high touch and we at Vayner are still very high touch. We don't use a lot of tech, yet to reach out and touch people in terms of quantifying. So yeah, that's how I scale. I mean, I'm always reaching out and saying, hey, to someone.

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No fillers, no nonsense, just nom nom. Go right now for 50% off your no risk two week trial at trinom.com slash app. That's trinom.nom.com slash app for 50% off trinom.com slash app. Yeah, and you know, I've listened to other interviews you've had and other things that you've said, and from my understanding, you really try to understand everyone's motivations and problems and dreams. And in summary, I think that you try to just keep everybody happy and research proves that happy employees are more productive. You've also mentioned in past interviews that speed is the main KPI at your company.

So how does keeping employees happy, all the connections that you make, how does that actually move the needle in terms of productivity and driving business benefits for VaynerMedia. That's a great question. I think not only am I trying to keep everyone happy, I think the way I would say it is creating a culture belonging and bravery is really what I'm doing every day. And within that culture, you can find fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness, because I'm not able to keep everyone happy. That would be incredible if I could, but I can't. But I think I can make sure that people feel like they belong and they are recognized. And that goes a heck of a long way, I believe.

And so when people first company, paying attention to what people are going through inside and outside of work, giving them growth and development opportunities, giving them at bats, all of those things, inspire them to be the best that they can possibly be. They're learning hard skills and they're learning life skills. And because we're an empathetic lot over here, what is our main priority as an agency is to reach consumers in an empathetic way. There's a real synergy that goes on there. But bottom line, if you are good to people, they will want to work hard for you. And in working hard, that helps our bottom and top line.

Totally. Something related to this is you've talked about the difference between time management and energy management. Could you explain that to our listeners? I sure can. So time management is keeping yourself on schedule knowing that you need to do five different big tasks throughout the day and you have an eight to nine hour day and you're going to have to fiddle all that in and it stresses you out because yes, some more tasks take more time and we multitask and we get all out of sync. We all do it. Energy management is different. It is being aware of what's going on inside of you, how you feel when you do what. When is your best time during the day to be most motivated? When should you have

client cause? Because you feel alert and on top of the ball, when is it better to write emails? And that's you checking in with yourself. No one else can do that for yourself. I can help someone manage their time. That I can do. I can help someone with a task, but energy management is a wonderful way to become more self-aware. And that really is like, okay, I'm going to give myself two hours to do this next task. And then I know I'm going to be really drained. So I'm going to get up, I'm going to take a walk on the high line, I'm going to get a coffee, I'm going to go to lunch, you're going to reward yourself. And one of those rewards, they ultimately give you more energy.

Oh, that's very interesting. I like the concept that you say, like there's certain tasks that you're better at. For example, I've read in the past that at 4 PM, 5 PM, that's one of your most creative. So whenever I have something really creative to do, I always like block out my four to five PM slot. And email is something that a lot of people like to do,

like first thing when they get in and just knock it out. So they're not distracted all day by it. So it's very good advice. Cool, cool, cool. So there's a phrase that comes up a lot in relationship work and it's building the honey empire. What does that mean? Tell us about that. Yeah, the honey empire is really the ethos that we have behind putting people first. So people not profit. Another way I say it is kindness before KPI. So honey is what is normally called soft skills. It's the emotional intelligence. It's the what I call life skills.

It's the collaboration, communication, understanding that you work for a logo, understanding that this isn't about making yourself the hero, it's about making everyone the hero or the champion. That's the honey part. And that pays dividends to the empire. And the empire is the success as the profitability is the happy clients is the fact that we've surprised, delighted, and touched our consumers. That's the empire. So honey comes first, though. And that is literally like the kindness, the sincerity,

the radical candor, even the tough love. That all is honey because chief heart officer, it sounds awfully sticky and sweet, doesn't it? It's not. My job is to be real with people. That's why I said, it's not really to spread happiness. It's really to help people is to be real with people. That's why I said, it's not really to spread happiness. It's really to help people through their roadblocks

identifying things about themselves that they wanna get clear on, teaching self-awareness, and in turn, that then creates a stronger human being. And a stronger human being is going to help this company be more successful. So apart from your work across the marketing and media ecosystem, you also co-founded and served as managing director at Girls Adventure Out, which is a woman's focused outdoor adventure enterprise. That's very different than, you know, your day job. So how did you get involved with that? How does it help you and any capacity in your current role?

Well, the funny thing is I was coaching surfing 275 days a week. Oh wow. Days a year, I'm sorry. And so I was in the Pacific Ocean pushing people in cold cold water all day long. And I'm coaching people here. That's who I am. Internally, is a coach, a mature leader, a roller-sleeves-up type of person.

And being in the outdoors is something that really makes me come alive, whether or not it's rock climbing, or snowboarding, or wakeboarding, or surfing. And those things inspire me. And so to take that energy of inspiration and come into a place like this, where there's 800 people, that it is my job to make sure I'm reaching out to, well, I need that juice.

I also need inspiration. And that's how I get it by pushing myself in certain ways, by coaching other people outside of a four walls type of place. So it's a real nice relationship. Yeah. And it probably a real nice relationship. Yeah, and it probably gives you such a full life to have both your career and then something that's more like passion-related

because you love the wilderness, right? Yeah, yeah, I love being outside. Let's talk about that a bit. So when you were young, you decided in your words, not mine, that you needed your butt kicked and you went on a 90 day journey in the wilderness So tell us about that story what made you want to do that? What were you like as a young kid that you felt like you needed to have this journey to find yourself?

Yeah, I was 19 and I had gone to University for two years. I wasn't doing well. I was going nowhere fast I didn't have options for myself, I didn't have enough self-love quite frankly and self-confidence in my own abilities. And I left after my sophomore year and I told my parents I need to find the longest outward bound and I need to get my butt kicked. And I did, I found a 93 day course and it kicked my butt it did, but it did so much more. I mean, it gave me confidence, it gave me physical strength, emotional strength. It taught me skills that I didn't know I even had inside of me, and ultimately it created a servant leader out of me. And that is who I am today. So I'm so grateful that I knew enough.

I really did. I knew enough to say to my parents, I should not be going to school right now. This is not gonna work out well for me. And that was a pivotal, pivotal turning point in my life. Yeah, it's interesting. I also dropped out of college for a short period of time and went back.

I did it to like work at a radio station do all these like fun things. But I think it's important for my listeners to know, it's okay to take a pause from school. Like you do not need to do college in four years. Like you can still be successful and not do college in four years. And you might be more successful

because you'll probably be more mature when you return, get better grades, whatever it is, and actually be ready for schooling. So definitely keep that in mind, if you're in college, you don't need to graduate in four years. Everybody has an own path. Switching gears a bit, something that's pretty well known about you is your sexual orientation.

So you came out as a lesbian when you were 22. At first you weren't open about it and your professional life at work, but now you're very open about it. your professional life at work, but now you're very open about it. You speak about it all the time. So how is that shift like and how has being more open and transparent helped you as an effective leader? Yeah. So living authentically is super important to me. And in my early 20s, when I was at work, or even into my early 30s, that was a part of me that I kept back even though I was in San Francisco. So I mean like hello, one of the most liberal

cities in the world filled with all different types of people. I didn't get the signals at work that it was okay to share that part of me. And so I didn't, but I would after I left work. And I just recognized at some point, as I became older and I became more experienced in life and more experienced in the working world, like no one really cares. No one really cares. And if someone cares,

and that's not the person I wanna hang out with. So I found that the more and more I started to share my whole self, people really found inspiration and appreciation with that. And then of course, when I came to VaynerMedia, I was one of the oldest people here. That's the first thing. And I was already at a place where I was like,

well, I'm just me. So hello. And being chief hard officer, I mean, my whole mantra is creating a culture belonging and bravery and making sure that people feel like they can bring their whole self to work. So, well, I sure have to show up like that. And it's just so wonderful to not have that monkey on your back. Whatever the monkey is, you know, like I oversee diversity and inclusivity and by overseeing meaning like it's my job is my responsibility at the end of the day and the beginning of the day to make sure that people feel physically and psychologically

safe here and that there is a place for them. And that means whether or not it's rate, ethnicity, religious, sexuality, seen in unseen handicaps, diversity of thinking, like that is what I'm doing and what I'm looking at every day. And I have to walk that walk. And I do it about it. It's not a second thought.

I don't think twice about it. And I have it for years and years. So my recommendation is remember no one really cares. People are very consumed with themselves. And so just do you. And in being you, you're going to lighten your load by 10 fold and just be a happier person. We'll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors. Hear that sound, young and profitors? You should know that sound by now, but in case you don't, that's the sound of another

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Hey, ya fam! As you may know, I've been a full-time entrepreneur for three years now. Yet media blew up so fast, it was really hard to keep everything under control, but things have settled a bit, and I'm really focused on revamping and improving our company culture. I have 16 employees, so it's a lot of people to try to rally and motivate. And I recently had best selling author Kim Scott on the show. And after previewing her

content in our conversation, I just knew I had to take her class on master class, tackle the hard conversations with radical candor to really absorb all she has to offer. And now I'm using her radical candor method every day with my team to give in solicit feedback, to cultivate a more inclusive culture, and to empower them with my honesty. And I can see my team feeling more motivated and energized already. They are really receptive to this framework and I'm so happy because I really needed this class. With Masterclass, you can learn from the best to become your best, anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace. And we all know that profiting in life doesn't just mean thriving in business.

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That way I can multitask while I learn get unlimited access to every class. And right now as a app listener, you can get 15% off when you go to masterclass.com-profiting. That's masterclass.com-profiting for 15% off an annual membership. Masterclass.com-profiting. Previously, you lightly mentioned these unseen disabilities and I know that you struggled with dyslexia when you were growing up.

You had to take the SATs three times, for example. And there's lots of famous people who have dyslexia too, like Tom Cruise, Richard Branson, who's the founder of Virgin Atlantic. But they credit dyslexia for their success. How is having dyslexia helped you in areas like grit or empathy and understanding people and their problems? Yeah I credit dyslexia for everything. I do because it forced me to learn the world in a different way. Absolutely. I couldn't rely on the same skills that my brother could. I couldn't rely on the same way to

learn as my friends could in school. I couldn't rely on the same way to learn as my friends could in school. I didn't retain information the way they did and I certainly didn't take tests the way they did. So I had to learn how to find success in different ways. I had to learn confidence in different ways. And I found that, for example, being in the outdoors, I'm an experiential learner, so I have to get my hands dirty in order to learn something. I wouldn't be half as successful at this job. A, had I not have dyslexia, but B, had I not really done everything I have done in my life to understand people and human behavior. Whether or not that was my own human behavior, whether or not that was working in a psych ward, whether or not that was volunteering at the hospital,

whether or not that was teaching ropes courses for C-suite in Silicon Valley, you know, you name it. And my passion is people. I'm very curious about our behavior and the stories that we tell ourselves and our limiting beliefs. So all of that stuff goes into my toolkit every single day. And again, had I not had to learn a different way of seeing the world, I wouldn't be here. And my secret sauce is that I'm able to identify patterns very quickly. And that helps my intuition that much more. That's very interesting. The thing that really stands out for me in this conversation is that your weaknesses can very often become your greatest strengths. And I see that time and time

and time again when I have conversations with very successful people, it's often what you think might be a weakness. It turns out to be something that really helps you along the way. So very cool. So I just want to pause and mention that I think it's really noble of you to talk about these invisible qualities. Nobody would know unless you made it public, both your sexual orientation and dyslexia. It's not something you could just tell about a person from the outside. So the fact that you're so open about it, I'm sure it has motivated and helped so many people overcome similar challenges. So you are a true role model and you should be very proud. Thank you very much. So let's switch topics a bit and

and talk about like company culture, onboarding, employing, engagement, and things like that. How do you guys typically onboard your employees at VaynerMedia? I'm really proud of what we do. We take every single employee, whether or not you are the CFO or you are a copyrighter or community manager through a four-day orientation. And you sit with everyone. So we have new starters, we have new joiners, every single week.

And in New York, for example, we might have anything from six to 25 new people join. And you are all the sudden put into community. And in these four days, you are getting our secret sauce, subject matter experts from every different discipline come in and talk to you for half an hour to an hour, and tell you what we're about. And so you start to hear how we think about things. How, you know, why are we an entrepreneurial company?

Where did we start? Why do we see media differently today? Why do we see media differently today? Why do we see marketing differently? Why do we have our own production studio? What do we do in that production studio? And so you're starting to learn a good smattering of things that we do here. You get to meet not only your new cohort, but you get to meet these people that are coming in and talking to you. So you all of a sudden you're like, oh, when I pass that person the hall, great, I remember that person taught me about Facebook ads. And you have an association. And you go to lunch with new buddies every single day and then the late afternoon you sit with your new team.

Whatever that is, if you're on the client service team, you go ahead and you sit with whatever account you're on, so forth and so on. And so it's really awesome. I believe what we do here, it's four days, and I've been at many companies. Now mind you, those companies were publicly owned, but I've been at many companies where you just watch your video from the CEO, that's it. Goodbye. Yep. And you're like, I am okay. Here's your computer. Good luck. Yeah. I don't even know where the bathroom is. And this is just so different. I mean, they get an office tour, they go to other offices. And so this happens in every office, whether or not you're in the Chattanooga office, the London office, it's soon gonna happen in our Singapore office, so very, very stoked on

that. And it, my team oversees that because it is about people and experience. And then we bring in these subject matter experts and, you know, I'll spend a half an hour with them on culture and what is a CHO and what do we do and why is it different and how you're going to work with me and how you're going to work with the team and what do you do if you have a need and so forth and so on. Yeah, and then I'm assuming the people who are, you know, presenting about their departments, their volunteers. Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely. They're volunteers and it's funny that you ask, I just sent a note out to the creative team today looking for new volunteers. Yeah, it just goes to show the culture

because that money company is, you know, people would not, like, I don't have time for that. I don't have time to speak to these new people. Yeah. And, you know, by the way, it's not utopia here. They definitely go through those groans when I sense something out like that. But I just remind them, like, well, you started once upon a time. What would it have been like if no one showed up in that room for you? Yeah. You wouldn't have liked it. It's just that's more and more empathy again. Like, remember what it's like. Yeah. So what other activities do you organize for employees? Do you have special activities

for employing engagement that you coordinate? Yeah, so we have these community resource groups or sometimes are called affinity groups or ERGs. And those have been started organically. And whether or not that is the Dungeons and Dragons group, whether or not that is the Dungeons & Dragons group, whether or not that is the Amigos group that was set up by people that identify as Latinx and do Hispanic marketing. There's a group for people that identify as black, for Asian, there's the Pride group, of

course, there's the Running Club, there's the Sneakerheads Club. So there are probably 80 different clubs, we call them squads, that you can join, they're open to anyone and everyone. You don't have to just like Dungeons and Dragons, you can go check it out. You know what I mean? We do Wine Wednesday, so of course, Gary started in the Wine Business.

So every office does its own version of Wine Wednesday, obviously in LA or Chattanova, you're driving, so we've modified that a bit. Different offices have mindfulness, meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, depending on again what the ask has been. You know, globally, we have a partnership with ClassPass, we use different meditation apps. So there's a lot, there's a lot of trainings,

we have lunch and learns from all of the platforms, we have people come in and help people understand their student loans and all that stuff. So we look at the holistic human being quite frankly and find ways in which we can aid and really reach out and touch those different parts of a human because it's not just when you come in here at nine and when you leave here at six. I mean, life is more than the working day. Totally. I would definitely encourage all of our listeners. If you work at a company that has ERGs, which are employee resource groups or, you know, whatever your company calls them, to get involved. I actually was the president of the Young Employee Network when I worked at HP. I started my chapter and it was just so much fun and it gives you such great leadership

skills. And it's definitely something that like if you want to be a leader, you're on the younger side, it's a great way to like get exposure with leaders at your company and also lead a group of people with similar interests. So I would definitely recommend getting involved. So how do you deal with an employee that is underperforming? How do you have those tough conversations? Yeah, so the way we do it here is a couple of different ways. So what we are really encouraging are managers and leaders to have very candid feedback meetings in their one-on-ones. And we use the radical candor steps We've got a few of our candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time.

We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time.

We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time. We've got a few candidates for the first time. our managers and leaders to do is really find ways to give people professional, kind, very specific feedback frequently, not waiting three months, not waiting until their annual review, certainly as immediate as you possibly can, because people are looking to develop. Now if you've ever been in a scenario where you are going and terminating someone, and they all of a sudden look at you and say, I've never received this feedback, well, you'll know that that's pretty much the worst thing ever.

And I've been in those meetings. And so we never want to get to that place. So we're going to put people on performance plans when it's needed. 30-day performance plans with action steps and you check in on those people. And there might come a day where it's time to say goodbye. Because that happens, it's a business. And so that could be for poor performance, that could be for other reasons.

And what we do on the back end, which I'm so proud of, is that because Gary's network is so vast and so far reaching, is in those meetings, we know if we're letting go of someone named Sam and Sam happens to really, really love video or long form video, we may already say to Sam in that meeting, and you know what, we can get you, at least your first interview at Netflix, or we can get you into ABC

for your first networking opportunity. So the point of the story is we want people to stay here forever, right? That's just not going to happen. And so we do our best to give people feedback, we do our best to grow and develop them, and to really get them to the level at which we need them to be playing at. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Got it. Another topic that you're very passionate about is diversity and inclusion.

I think that everybody has a slightly different take on that. So what is your perspective on diversity and inclusion? And what are you doing at VaynerMedia to be more inclusive? Right, so my perspective is if you're not thinking about this, then I would shut your doors immediately. I want to get to a place where we're not even using the word diversity. It's just the way it is, which is we live in a macrocosm where there are all different types of people. We need to recreate that in the

microcosm, which are organizations. And as I mentioned before, diversity for me in creating a culture belonging is the obvious diversity that we're talking about in terms of race, creed, ethnicity, so forth and so on. But that does bring in the scene and unseen handicaps. That means that we're looking for people that have values that are not exactly like ours. We want diverse thinking.

So ERGs are very helpful. The way we recruit is essential. Where we recruit is essential. So not always going to the same school. Not always hiring interns that are coming from recommendations because a lot of times that might be skewed. And so doing job fairs, we had an incredible job fair here,

where Gary kicked it off. What we did was he spoke for 15 minutes and we had the one club come in and we made three hires out of that immediately and we had every single conference where we set up as a speed dating place and then that actual hiring manager ended up spending a half an hour more with each and every Canada.

So it was awesome and we have to be doing that. We just must be doing it. If you are nebulous about what your diversity strategy is, then people will become agitated and think that it's just you're just not paying attention to it. So the ERGs as I was mentioning are really a big part of this right now. And we're just about to kick off some focus groups here in terms of looking at what we want to stand for from a global level now that we are in London four years, we're in Singapore now.

How do we speak to diversity when you're talking about it on a global level, not just New York City or not just Ch and move them. And it just goes way beyond the color of a person's skin, just way, way beyond. It's about the way people think, and that's essential. Yeah, do you think that millennials or Gen Z think differently about DNI? I do, from the amount of time I spend with millennials and certainly my two nieces that are Gen Z. It's absolutely expected. I mean in today's day and age I think that

millennials are people that probably don't see color as for someone who's see color or don't see difference as we see difference. Things are more fluid and that's incredible. I mean, these generations that we're talking about are changing the world. You look at a tragedy like Parkland and you look at how those kids stood up to our government. That is incredible. And of course, yes, in the 60s,

you had that generation speaking out. So every generation stands for something and I believe that the generations that are here today are looking for purposeful work. They're looking for feedback and growth. They're looking for, make me proud that I work here and all of these things encompass making sure that we're bringing as I said earlier, the macrocosm and to the microcosm. as I said earlier, the microcosm into the microcosm. You know, there is such a work life meld now. It's not separate.

And so how do you look at that whole person? You have to acknowledge the fact that there is life before and after that eight, nine hour day and that people are getting engaged. Someone's mom is in the hospital. Someone's cat died. Someone got married. Someone, you know mom is in the hospital, someone's cat died, someone got married, someone just ran the marathon.

All of those things come into every single person's day when they open the door here. So a hot topic in HR is cognitive bias and everybody's having cognitive bias training and things like that. Do you have any thoughts around that topic and is there anything you wanna share about how we should be aware of cognitive bias and what we should watch out for? The only thing I need to share is really the training is so essential. We all need to be educated

and to think that none of us are immune to bias or that I'm immune or you're immune is just really not true. So I think we need to bring more training in I think it's something we need to do in our interview process as we look at candidates and Do our best to see each and every person as equal because really there's no difference between me and you quite frankly I'm just older, you know Mm-hmm There's no difference between you and that person. I mean he grew grew up in Connecticut, and he grew up in Charlottesville. So that's that part of being empathetic

and understanding that we really are the same. We all have the same aches, and we all have the same pains, and we all experience very similar joys. So being real about that, and then being real with the fact that we need more training. So what is one piece of advice that you would give to a millennial looking to succeed at work?

Well, I have a few different pieces of advice. The first thing. Give them all. The first thing is to what I usually say is take up space, which means I don't be a wallflower. Do not just sit there and be the note taker unless that is your job or someone has asked you to take the notes and do something with them Don't be a wallflower. That's the first thing. I think the second thing is Ask as many questions and speak up because

Leaders today need to be listening a whole lot more and they'll listen if you speak up The other thing is don't be afraid and certainly don't think that you are dumb Everyone is figuring things out. There is no one that is smarter than anyone else. I mean, there's this riddle which is who's the smartest person in the room? Everyone looks around. What is it me? Is he going to say me or her?

The fact is, the room is the smartest person in the room. So it's all about learning from one another. And be open to that, ask questions, make sure that you're being heard, add value, obviously. And if you don't know how to add value, ask. That's very good advice. I love that, like, be big, take up space, don't be a fly on the wall.

A lot of the times, like especially if you're in a company where there's older workers, you might close off in, like especially if you're in a company where there's older workers, you might close off in certain situations or if you're in a certain meeting that has like higher up executives, well you're there for a reason. So make sure that you bring your value to the table. So great advice. So, Claude, this was a great conversation. Where can our listeners go to find out more about you and everything that you do? Yeah, thank you so much. I post a lot on LinkedIn. I post a lot on Twitter and Instagram and I get back to everyone that writes me. It might take me a little bit of time, but I appreciate people reaching out. So find me there. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Thank you.

So don't tell Gary Vee, but I'm thinking about stealing Claude away from him to hire her as my chief heart officer at YAP Media. Just kidding, all jokes aside, Claude is super authentic and set such a great example for leading with love. I truly believe the vision that she has for the workplace is something that all offices should strive to replicate. What they've built at VaynerMedia is a beautiful thing. That means having a diverse and supportive culture

where employees are trusted, respected, connected, and communicative. Happy and satisfied employees are productive and hardworking employees, which in turn means higher attention, better output, and happier clients. It's a win-win for everyone. How can we create workplace cultures that supports all

these goals? Before I get into my favorite hiring hack from Claude, I quickly want to touch on some advice for what you can do if you're an employee at a company that is lacking in company culture. I actually was in this position when I was working at Hula Packard in New Jersey. I remember that we had zero company culture. There was no events at the office. There was no summer picnic, no winter party or Christmas party. There was no way to kind of connect with people outside of your department.

There was lots of silos. And so I had the bright idea of starting a young employee network, because there was lots of young employees that I didn't know. And I am very social. So I thought, well, hey, I'll create a group. I got a petition together and I created the Young Employee Network and I recruited about 50 different young employees to join the group with me.

I led that group for two years. Honestly, I learned so much in that experience. I gained project management skills, I gained leadership skills. Take heed from my experience. If you're in a company where you feel like there's lacking company culture, do something. The world is impacted by your action, not your opinion. So go ahead and start something and improve

your company's culture. And you will see a lot of benefit from the skills that you gain as well as the visibility that you gain within the company. Starting in ERG can be a great way to help you and your co-workers feel supported. And even signal to upper management that the company culture is important to your work ways and is important to workers who work at your office. All right, so one of my favorite pieces of actionable advice from this episode is what

Claude says about how VaynerMedia finds and hires employees. I feel like this is such an obvious point, but it's really important to highlight. Cloud says that they look for people in different places. If you're hiring everyone from the same school or the same part of the country, you're gonna get a lot of the same. You're gonna get a lot of employees

with similar views and similar knowledge bases. As a business owner, you wanna find talent with all different backgrounds and experiences who will bring unique ideas to the table. Innovation is hard when you have a team that all thinks the same. So you want to bring people from all different parts of the world who have different perspectives,

different experiences so that you can come up with creative solutions to your problems. And this is what makes YAP Media so special. I've got people from all over the US, Cali, New Jersey, Atlanta, Florida, you name it, we're all over the US, Cali, New Jersey, Atlanta, Florida, you name it, we're all over the US, and then we're also overseas. I've got people in London, in India,

in the Philippines, and I love the fact that we're such a diverse team. I feel like it makes us that much more powerful, especially in the remote working world that we live in today. And with the boom of remote work, it's easier than ever to hire a diverse team. You can recruit talent from anywhere. So let's put Claude's vision into action in our workplaces and let's stay connected. You guys can now text me directly by texting YAP

to 28046. Maybe you have a question about remote team building, maybe you have a question about ERGs. I'd love to chop it up with you. I've got a lot of experience with these things. Just text YAP to 28046 so you can text me your question and join our text community. You guys can also find me on Instagram at YAP with Hala and I'm also on LinkedIn, just search my name. It's Hala Taha. And as always, if you learned a thing or two from this episode

and you want to thank us, the number one way to do that is by dropping us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. Apple podcasts mean the most. If you can drop us a review there, I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much for tuning in as always and thanks to my Yap team for another incredible episode. Until next time, this is your host, Haleta Ha, signing off. Are you looking for ways to be happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative? I'm Gretchen Ruben, the number one best-selling author of the Happiness Project. And every week, we share ideas and practical solutions

on the Happier with Gretchen Ruben podcast. My co-host and Happiness Guinea Pig is my sister Elizabeth Kraft. That's me, Elizabeth Kraft, a TV writer and producer in Hollywood. Join us as we explore fresh insights from cutting-edge science, ancient wisdom, pop culture, and our own experiences about cultivating happiness

and good habits. Every week we offer a try this at home tip you can use to boost your happiness without spending a lot of time energy or money. Suggestions such as follow the one-minute rule. Choose a one-word theme for the year or design your summer. We also feature segments like Know Yourself better where we discuss questions like, are you an over buyer or an under buyer? Morning person or night person, abundance lever or simplicity

lever. And every episode includes a happiness hack, a quick easy shortcut to more happiness. Listen and follow the podcast happier with Gretchen Rubin. Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it.

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