0:00

Welcome back to Dealing Together. First caller?

0:02

I bought three sweaters to get the fourth free.

0:04

Oh, you got fleeced. Next caller. I traded

0:06

my old Samsung at AT&T for a new

0:08

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and chose my plan.

0:10

That's not a bad deal. It is not. Our best

0:12

smartphone deals. Your choice of plan. Learn how to get

0:15

the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus with

0:17

Galaxy AI on us with eligible

0:19

trade-in. AT&T, connecting changes everything. Offers

0:21

vary by device. Subject to change. S24

0:23

plus 256 gigabyte offer available for a limited time.

0:26

Terms and restrictions apply. See AT&T.com/Samsung for details. All

0:31

right. Now, before we get into this

0:33

next episode of Small Doses Podcast, I want

0:35

to remind y'all, I am on tour. I'll

0:37

be in San Diego this weekend. That's right.

0:39

Friday and Saturday. I'll be in San Diego

0:41

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0:44

and you can check out what other cities

0:46

I'm going to be in coming up. And

0:48

you can also make sure to sign up

0:50

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0:52

miss when I'm going to be in a

0:54

city near you. Also want to

0:56

remind you that you can check out new Small

0:59

Doses bonus episodes. That's

1:01

right, y'all. I gave myself more work to

1:03

do, and it's all for y'all. But you

1:06

got to be a member of Patreon and

1:08

the SEAL Squad to get in on the

1:10

goods. I record them live. You all get

1:12

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1:14

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you miss the live, you can still check

1:18

it out on Patreon after the fact. And

1:20

it has video and audio. All right. So

1:22

just know that that is here for you.

1:25

And I would love to continue to expand

1:27

the Small Doses community at the same time

1:29

that we expand the Patreon community. And

1:31

that's what we're doing. All right, so make sure

1:34

you check that out. Last but not least, if

1:36

you have not caught the Amanda Seals Radio Show,

1:38

then you're missing out as well. You can get

1:40

it right here where you get your podcast. All

1:42

you got to do is type in The Amanda

1:45

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1:47

Friday. Gives you a little mix of pop culture,

1:49

of politics, of lifestyle, all the above. All right,

1:51

so you're getting a whole bunch of stuff coming

1:53

right from yours truly. Last but not least, I've

1:56

also started doing these Common Sense Kickbacks on

1:59

YouTube Live. subscribe to YouTube, it

2:01

would be good to do so at Amanda

2:03

Seals TV because they're basically extended conversations that

2:05

are real things that we need to be

2:07

talking about politically and within social justice. So

2:09

it's conversations about everything from project 2025 to

2:11

the condo. So

2:14

what does democracy really mean with experts? And I

2:16

also do solo ones as well. So, you know,

2:18

I'm trying to give you all just an expanse

2:20

of content that speaks to not only your heart,

2:23

but also your mind and also your activism. So

2:25

make sure that you just tap all those boxes

2:27

so you can make sure that you tap in.

2:30

All right. Let's get into another episode of

2:32

Small Dozen Podcast. Welcome.

2:56

Y'all, we about to have

2:58

a fun time. I know we've had

3:00

a lot of like kind of intense and serious episodes

3:03

here at Small Dozen Podcast back to back. And

3:05

that is sometimes just the way

3:07

it is, right? That's just kind of like the rhythm

3:09

and the time we're in. I know

3:12

that I've talked about just how like I'm in

3:14

like a very depressive intensive space

3:16

these days. And so it's natural that

3:18

the conversations would kind of like be

3:21

reflective of that. Nonetheless, I am very

3:23

conscious of the fact that we all

3:25

need our pockets of joy. And today

3:27

I'm giving you a cargo pants level

3:29

of pockets of joy. Okay. We're taking

3:31

it back to the cargo pants of

3:33

the 90s when folks was

3:36

definitely walking around looking like hamsters with

3:38

nuts in their cheeks, but at their

3:40

knee level. Okay. It's full of

3:43

joy because we have corporate errand and

3:45

the brilliance of corporate errand as

3:48

an existing satirical character.

3:52

The reason why we wanted to do this

3:55

is because I know so many

3:57

people have experienced this character, corporate

3:59

errand. created by Lisa Beasley, and

4:01

said that they both love her and hate

4:04

her. And I am in the same boat,

4:06

because she really represents everything that

4:08

we know about corporate and like what

4:10

it is to be in this corporate

4:12

space. And it's like

4:14

you're watching her and simultaneously triggered

4:17

by it, but also affirmed. Because

4:20

by her doing this character in

4:22

a satirical fashion, she is letting

4:24

you know, you not

4:26

crazy. They sound like this. Baby

4:29

saying this. Baby acting like this.

4:31

Baby wanting you to do this.

4:33

And all of that comes through

4:35

in this interview. And I

4:38

need y'all to know, this is the longest she's

4:40

ever been in this character. You're

4:42

going to be hearing me and you're like,

4:44

is Amanda in character? I kind of had

4:46

to just give in because if

4:48

I don't, then it just is like

4:51

me shooting her down. And now it's

4:53

no longer an actual exchange. It just

4:55

is me interviewing Marion Williamson again. So

4:58

I didn't want to give you that and

5:01

I had to do mind

5:03

power control because I had to

5:06

think what does Amanda

5:08

want Lisa to have

5:11

corporate Aaron give to the

5:13

world in these questions. And

5:15

I hope that we did that

5:17

successfully because I hope you have just as good

5:19

a time listening to this as we had recording

5:22

this. And when I say a good time, I

5:24

want to also point out anytime you hear radio

5:27

silence, it's because we're

5:29

breaking character because

5:32

we are cracking up and we got

5:34

to get back into the conversation.

5:37

And as to black women who

5:39

have had to deal with corporate

5:41

bullshit in a myriad of spaces,

5:43

particularly in the artistic space at

5:45

present, it was really just dope

5:47

connecting with Lisa

5:51

and getting to do this. And it

5:53

felt very, for

5:55

me, fulfilling

5:58

because I've been missing. this

6:00

part of my work, like the performer

6:02

part of my work. And it's not

6:04

that I miss acting in shows because

6:07

I don't wanna go back to that corporate

6:09

space. If y'all think that it's not corporate

6:12

at HBO and at NBC,

6:14

et cetera, all these places are corporations

6:16

that have a studio. It's not a

6:18

studio with a corporation running it. Does

6:20

that make sense? Does it make

6:22

sense? AJ, does it make sense?

6:25

Yes, ma'am, it makes sense. Okay, it

6:27

makes sense. So therefore, here

6:30

we are. I give to

6:32

you this new episode

6:35

of Small Doses Podcast, side

6:38

effects of corporate featuring

6:40

corporate Aaron. Enjoy.

6:45

It is a water cooler of

6:47

deliciousness. The

6:53

reviews are in from McDonald's hotter,

6:55

juicier burgers. Let's hear what

6:57

Hamburglar has to say. Rubble, rubble.

6:59

What our old friend Hamburglar said

7:02

is, the patties are juicier,

7:04

the bun is a thing of beauty,

7:06

the cheese perfectly melted. Rubble. My

7:09

burger dreams of kumku. You

7:11

heard him, folks. These are

7:13

McDonald's best burgers ever. Rubble,

7:16

rubble, rubble. Rubble. Available

7:19

at most restaurants in this area in comparison to McDonald's classic

7:21

burgers to fry up burgers. Welcome back to

7:23

Dealing Together. First caller? I bought three sweaters

7:25

to get the fourth free. Oh, you got fleeced.

7:28

Next caller. I traded my old Samsung at

7:30

AT&T for a new Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus

7:32

and chose my plan. That's not a bad

7:34

deal. It is not. Our best smartphone deals. Your choice

7:36

of plan. Learn how to get the new Samsung Galaxy

7:38

S24 Plus with Galaxy AI

7:40

on us with eligible trade-in. AT&T,

7:42

connecting changes everything. Offers vary by device. Subject

7:45

to change. S24 plus 256 gigabyte

7:47

offer available for a limited time. Terms and

7:49

restrictions apply. See AT&T.com/Samsung for details. Welcome.

7:56

Thank you. We're

7:59

so happy to have you. you here at Small

8:01

Doses Podcast. This is a

8:03

topic that I

8:06

really have never really broached, broached

8:09

broached because I

8:13

feel like corporate for me has

8:15

always been so like

8:17

just out of reach, just like

8:20

out of reach. And when

8:22

I came across you

8:24

and your commentary and your

8:26

lived experience, I said, this

8:28

is somebody who can connect the dots

8:31

for us. Right? When I did my

8:33

comedy special, I'd be knowing I

8:35

had a joke in there that

8:37

was less of even a joke

8:39

as much as it was just

8:41

a point of relatability where I

8:43

spoke about the proliferation of white

8:46

women adding people to

8:48

emails that don't need to be

8:50

added, right? The confluence of the

8:52

CC. And when

8:54

I saw you in

8:56

your space, speaking about the existence of

8:58

corporate, I said, this is somebody who

9:00

does that. This is somebody who

9:02

does that, but is not a white woman. And

9:04

so I just became so curious and you are

9:06

somebody that I feel like is very rooted

9:09

in the corporate lifestyle. So welcome to

9:11

the show. And I guess my

9:14

first question would be, Aaron, how

9:16

did you find

9:18

corporate to be the home for you? Well,

9:21

that's a great question. Thank you so

9:24

much for having me on. I'm a

9:26

fan. I saw the special ABNON. And

9:28

I will say there was some critical

9:30

feedback that I had just for that part

9:32

right there. Okay, concerning the CC. Sometimes it's

9:34

kind of necessary. Don't you love it when

9:36

you look at an email and you can

9:38

scroll down and see all those lines going

9:41

across to tell how many people were played

9:43

and you can just keep scrolling and scrolling.

9:46

Don't you love just being in that thing

9:48

about the right. It feels a bit overwhelming

9:50

for me, but I can see

9:52

how some people would feel that

9:54

that's like a home, you know, it's like, right.

9:57

It looks like fan bags like being sat on top

10:00

of you. Yeah, because sometimes the

10:02

line turns from black to purple and I

10:04

think that's really cool. I do. I do

10:06

think that that is a spectrum that some

10:10

people do exist on. Yeah.

10:12

Now you asked how did I find corporate?

10:15

Yeah. Or how better yet how do corporate

10:17

find you, right? Because I feel like it's

10:19

a calling. Yeah, I definitely

10:21

think it's a calling. It was also kind

10:23

of instilled in me ever since I was

10:25

little. So I legally cannot talk about my

10:27

parents, but I can talk about, you know,

10:29

as much as I can, but our home

10:31

is kind of pretty much structured, similar to

10:33

a company, family dinner, similar to like

10:36

a boardroom meeting. Okay. And so the way I

10:38

talk is kind of like the normal way of

10:40

talking, which is I am teaching more people to

10:42

talk like me. Yeah. And there was

10:44

always just kind of like a path laid

10:47

out for me. And I thought this is

10:49

a great path. I'm gonna circle back and

10:51

follow up on it. So it says do

10:54

all of your school, go to college when

10:56

you're in college, network, and then your family

10:58

can help you establish a career. And then

11:00

when you establish your career, you can kind

11:03

of stay there and kind of work within

11:05

the system to kind of keep raising above

11:07

in your career. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

11:10

So when you got into the

11:13

corporate space, what is it about

11:15

it that you feel like serves

11:19

productivity? That's a very

11:22

interesting question. Well, you have, depending on how

11:24

large the company is, there's a lot of

11:26

moving parts. So if all of the parts

11:28

are moving the way that they're supposed to

11:30

be moving, then that means we're driving the

11:32

business forward. So when I think of pivotal

11:34

key players, and I think of people who

11:37

drive the business forward, you have these different

11:39

departments kind of all working with each other.

11:41

And there are so many initiatives going on

11:43

at once. That's kind of like

11:45

peak level productivity where you're not just working on

11:47

one thing, you're working on so many different things, you

11:49

almost don't even know what you're working

11:51

on. So there's emails that happened

11:53

throughout the days, there's a lighting

11:56

that has to hop on or

11:58

shifting. There's procurement teams. There's There's

12:00

procurement teams for certain departments, you

12:02

know, so if a department

12:04

needs something, well, who are they going

12:06

to communicate to? There's something in the

12:08

system for that, and there are people

12:11

that carry that out. So the whole

12:13

thing is kind of like one big,

12:15

old productive machine. Do

12:17

you feel like there's elements of

12:19

that machine that are hampering productivity?

12:22

I think it's

12:24

when individuals don't want to adhere to what

12:26

the machine needs. So if you think about

12:29

just like any other machine, take your car.

12:31

It needs oil, it needs gasoline, it needs

12:33

brake fluid, it needs brakes. So let's say

12:35

if you wake up one morning and say,

12:38

hey, you know what? I

12:40

could bring the brakes to the car today, but

12:42

I'm not feeling it. I'm going to take a

12:44

day off. I'm going to take a mental health

12:46

day and I'm going to put the brakes on

12:48

everything. Well, that kind of can solve a situation.

12:50

And before you know it, people are driving the

12:52

business maybe too forward and you are there to

12:54

say, hey, is anybody going to have eyeballs on

12:57

this? If we don't have you there, because you're

12:59

normally pumping the brakes, that's kind of kind of

13:01

clog up the machine kind of thing. So I

13:03

think people can disrupt the system,

13:06

not allowing that machine to work

13:08

properly. What about people

13:10

in management? Can they ever disrupt the

13:12

system? Well, naturally

13:14

we are disruptors.

13:17

So just

13:19

by very nature of us being in

13:21

a pivotal role, we

13:24

kind of disrupt what it means to say,

13:26

hey, who's over here doing this? Who's over

13:28

here doing this? We've kind of made overseeing

13:31

cool again, because nobody wants to be in

13:33

the possession of like, I oversee people, but

13:35

it's very necessary so we can make sure

13:37

we see everything that's going on to make

13:39

sure all of these moving parts. Because if

13:41

you're in this department, you may not have

13:44

any kind of purview until what's going on

13:46

over here. So it's

13:48

going to take somebody to say, hey, I

13:50

just pinked so and so they know

13:52

that this is going on. Are you glad I'm

13:55

here to kind of help mitigate any kind

13:57

of future issues? Well, it's interesting that

13:59

you say, oh, because one of

14:01

the key tools for the overseers during

14:03

slavery was a whip. But

14:05

you guys aren't allowed to use whips now.

14:08

So what would you say

14:11

is the new, like, proverbial... Getting

14:20

it back, getting it back. What

14:23

would you say... What would

14:25

you say is the new, proverbial whip

14:27

that is used by manager-overseers

14:30

overseeing management in

14:33

a neocolonialist era? Yeah,

14:35

and I can definitely understand kind of the

14:38

layering and mapping of historical context of, like,

14:40

how we got to this moment. But

14:42

I do want to be clear, there are no slaves

14:44

that work for me here. Okay, so I just kind

14:46

of want to make sure legal told me

14:48

to say, hi, we don't have slaves here, we do pay people.

14:52

But we did

14:54

kind of borrow from that overseer model because it kind of works for

14:56

a corporate, okay? And

14:58

it's kind of the only model we've kind of

15:00

been following in America. And

15:02

so even right down to the way that we

15:05

kind of, like, do our spreadsheets and keep tabs

15:07

on, you know, different employees and documents and

15:09

things like that, that system

15:11

was developed then. Right. And

15:14

we just kind of added some tech to

15:16

it. Yeah, there are some benefits to, you

15:18

know, what slavery has given America,

15:21

the management system that we have. So

15:23

I'm glad we got rid of the whole, like,

15:25

actual slaves being slaves. I'm glad we started to

15:28

pay people. But, you know, the

15:30

role of the manager has kind of

15:32

always been kind of very pivotal

15:34

to making sure that the mission

15:36

is being driven forward. So when

15:39

I think of, like, what could the proverbial whip

15:41

be? Well, you know, now there

15:43

are a lot of, you know, measures put

15:45

in place. So we don't physically make people

15:48

do the work. Exactly. We're

15:50

not training anybody to a desk. You

15:53

know, that's your choice if you want to, because some

15:55

people do that to kind of build in a discipline

15:57

measure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, I think

15:59

that's a good point. I think some people think,

16:01

well, okay, how am I

16:03

being punished if I'm not doing the

16:05

work? Well, you might look at

16:07

it like maybe it's a performance plan. That'll

16:09

kind of whip you into action. Or

16:13

maybe as you know, in your performance reviews,

16:15

as kind of like the proverbial, are you?

16:19

So, yeah, yeah. I could say maybe that's probably

16:21

kind of one of the layering ways. Probations,

16:25

anything like that, anything that

16:27

kind of leads up to

16:29

a termination possibly. So those

16:31

type of measures, I can say anything that kind

16:33

of puts the employee back into the mind frame

16:36

of, oh, we got to

16:38

perform. Yeah. So, yeah. You

16:41

know, I mean, it's really profound when you said

16:44

that slavery actually gave us the

16:46

management system here in America. Yeah, yeah. If

16:48

it ain't broke, don't try to emancipate it,

16:50

you know? Yeah. I

16:53

mean, you know, there's a lot of bad history out there. It's

16:55

just kind of good that we can kind of turn it around

16:57

and get it in a positive way. Well,

16:59

I feel like that's something that

17:01

corporate really tries to instill in

17:03

folks, right? Like how to

17:06

always see the silver lining, how

17:08

to make the lemons into

17:11

lemonade. What are ways in

17:13

which you work with your employees

17:15

to manage negative or difficult

17:17

situations and turn them into

17:19

positives? Well, you know, the

17:22

first thing is to always approach work with

17:24

an extrovert-maze-up. Oh, okay. Show

17:26

that you're very happy to be there. Okay. Can

17:29

you tell a lot? Right. Can you

17:31

give me an example? Yeah. Okay. So,

17:34

for example, if you're hopping onto a meeting, let's say this

17:36

is your seventh meeting of the day. Yes. And

17:39

everybody in the meeting that's already there, you've

17:41

also been in meetings with them all day.

17:44

Right. Right. So when you

17:46

pop onto that seventh call, we kind of kind of take it for a

17:48

grasp. I thought we've seen these people all day. We just kind of hop

17:50

on the call and say, okay, I think you're heck

17:52

high. So that's been a long day. No,

17:54

no. You always want to

17:56

pop on and say, hey, everybody. Good afternoon. I'm so

17:59

happy to be here. to be here, let me

18:01

introduce myself and then we can go around the

18:03

room. Every call that I'm on, we always introduce

18:05

ourselves even if we just got off of a

18:07

call all together. Oh wow. You

18:09

know what? Enthusiasm. But that enthusiasm, it's

18:11

so, it really plants the seed. It

18:13

keeps you connected. I remember when I

18:15

went on safari in Kenya on the

18:17

Masai Mara and after day... Yeah.

18:28

So I remember when I... I

18:31

remember... Wait. Lisa,

18:36

I don't even... I love you

18:38

and I don't even know you. I just want you

18:41

to be clear. I love you too, Ben.

18:44

Don't even feel like we already know each other like

18:46

well. Yes. Yes. You are bringing joy

18:48

to me that I have been lacking for weeks and

18:50

I want you to know that. I

18:53

ventured on a group trip to

18:55

Kenya, the Masai Mara, the lands

18:57

of the Masai Mara people. And

19:00

again, I was on a group trip,

19:02

right? So it's me, it's 15 other

19:04

individuals, 15 other personalities, okay? And we're

19:06

in the trucks and we're trucking along

19:08

on the path and we're seeing the

19:11

antelope. We're seeing the gazelles. We're seeing

19:13

the zebra. And then you

19:15

can see lions and bear... Well, there's

19:18

no bears in Kenya, but you're seeing

19:20

elephants, et cetera. But by day two,

19:22

the group said, oh,

19:25

more zebras, more antelope,

19:27

more gazelles. And it just made me think

19:29

about what you're saying about the zooms because

19:32

it's like, no, we're coming back into the

19:34

zoom with the animals and the gazelles and

19:36

the zebras. And they are going to be

19:39

just as happy to see us today as

19:41

they were yesterday. And we need to greet

19:44

them with the same enthusiasm. Exactly.

19:46

I'm going to take that antelope note, kind

19:48

of reframe it, kind of map it on

19:50

as my own, and begin to use that

19:52

in front of my calls. It's just wildlife

19:54

as real life. That's all it is. Yeah.

19:56

Wildlife is real life. That's a

19:58

T-shirt. what we should

20:01

actually, I will actually, when I come

20:03

and speak at the conference for the

20:06

company that you work for, what's the name of it again? The

20:08

company? Well, we're McManagement, McManagers,

20:10

Logistics. So I

20:13

was asked to come do a diversity

20:15

DEI program for... Yeah, I recommend it,

20:17

yo. Thank you

20:19

so much. Yeah. And so

20:21

I put together some notes and I can't

20:23

wait to come out there and just really

20:25

talk to them about just diversity, diversion, divertisment.

20:28

Okay. And the big DDD.

20:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just the

20:33

ways in which we can, you know,

20:35

diversity, equity, inclusion, everything, right?

20:37

Not just people. How

20:39

do we diversity, equity, inclusion dogs, right? How

20:42

do we bring dogs into the workplace? How

20:45

do we bring more dogs in

20:47

the workplace? How

20:49

do we bring cats? Cats

20:51

per at a

20:53

megahertz for healing. How does that

20:55

help us in what we are

20:58

doing in terms of the hours? Yeah, this is working on

21:00

an initiative. This is working off a

21:02

tree to use a dog

21:04

analogy. I had an initiative. There

21:06

were some people that I think they were stressed

21:08

at home and I said, well, come into the

21:11

office. But if I tell them that cats are

21:13

in there and that cats are healing, they can

21:15

get their healing at the outside. Take your mental

21:17

health day at work. Yeah.

21:21

Revolutionary. Revolutionary. Yeah.

21:25

Revolutionary. Really, truly innovating the workplace.

21:32

The reviews are in for McDonald's

21:34

hotter, juicier burgers. It's here that

21:36

Hamburglar has to say. Rubble, rubble.

21:38

What our old friend Hamburglar said

21:41

is, the patties are juicier. The

21:43

bun is a thing of beauty.

21:45

The cheese perfectly melted. Rubble. My

21:48

burger dreams have come true. You

21:51

heard him, folks. These are

21:53

McDonald's best burgers ever. Vada

21:56

mama. Rubble. Available

21:58

at most restaurants in this area. I'm in

22:00

Donald's Classic Burgers to pre-order burgers. Welcome back

22:02

to Dealing Together. First caller? I bought three

22:04

sweaters to get the fourth free. Oh, you got

22:07

fleeced. Next caller. I traded my old Samsung

22:09

at AT&T for a new Samsung Galaxy S24+, and

22:12

chose my plan. That's not a bad deal. It is

22:14

not. Our best smartphone deals. Your choice of plan. Learn how

22:16

to get the new Samsung Galaxy S24+, with Galaxy AI, on

22:20

us with eligible trade-in. AT&T. Connecting changes everything. Offers

22:22

vary by device. Subject to change. S24 plus 256

22:24

GB or available for a limited time. Terms

22:27

and restrictions apply. Visit AT&T.com slash Samsung for

22:29

details. I'm

22:34

sorry. I cut you off with my anecdote

22:36

in the motherland. So you were saying that

22:38

there are ways in which you feel like

22:40

people can bring positivity into the workplace or,

22:43

you know, change a negative to a positive.

22:45

And one of the first things you said

22:47

was about enthusiasm. Do you have any others

22:49

that you can give us? Because I know

22:51

there's people listening. They're in corporate and they

22:54

are finding themselves having to really show up.

22:56

Yeah. Yeah. You know. Yeah. You

22:59

gotta show up. You gotta show up.

23:02

If that's about getting up earlier, whatever you

23:04

need to do to show up and be

23:06

your best self. Now, here's the thing. A

23:08

lot of people, there's this

23:10

term in the industry of diversity and

23:12

inclusion when, you know, it was really

23:15

kind of popular race in 2020 and

23:17

companies made a lot of promises. One

23:20

of the phrases was bring your whole self to work. Bring

23:22

your best self to work. Now,

23:24

what you're going to have to realize

23:26

is the company has a version that

23:29

is defined as best or whole. Yeah.

23:31

Yeah. So you have to be in

23:33

line with that. So

23:35

for example, Lisa

23:38

Beasley was telling me a story of how

23:40

she said, hey, this company said I can

23:42

show up as my whole self. So she

23:44

would show up to these pivotal work meetings

23:46

with like smoking a blunt in her mouth.

23:48

Yeah. And we said, well, that's not your

23:50

best self. But she said, well, it is.

23:52

It is. So like who's

23:54

to say, well, the company, the company can tell

23:56

you who your best self is. So if you

23:58

want to know who your best or wholesale

24:01

is, think about what company you're at,

24:03

see what they want your best and

24:05

wholesale to be, and map that onto

24:07

yourself. That really

24:09

feels like it feels difficult

24:11

to do. Yeah.

24:15

But I feel like if you're really someone who

24:19

cares about the company, then you'll do it regardless. Yeah,

24:22

it's really all about the company missions, the

24:24

company mission and values, and everything should be

24:26

a lottering up to that. When

24:29

we talk about company missions and

24:31

values, what is the company mission

24:33

and value of McManagement, Management,

24:36

Logistics? Well,

24:38

we are certainly, we have our mission kind

24:40

of in the hands of a third party

24:42

black copywriter to kind of help us rewrite

24:44

our mission right now. So I can tell

24:46

you that our old mission was

24:48

just to fulfill the mission of

24:50

the company with values and goals.

24:53

OK. Yeah. OK. OK.

24:56

It's really great to have a nice, tight sentence,

24:58

maybe a one to three sentence. You

25:00

want to kind of try to stay away from anything

25:03

specific. And the more you can use the word mission

25:05

in the mission statement, the better. Staying

25:07

away from anything specific, it sounds like our

25:09

Constitution. Oh.

25:11

Wow. They were specific about

25:13

the right to bear arms. They were.

25:15

They were specific about everything, but what

25:17

black people should be given. Yeah.

25:20

I've actually been thinking about the Constitution a

25:22

lot lately. Interesting. Tell me more. Yeah.

25:24

I just thought that it was interesting that

25:27

here we have this chance to kind of build

25:29

this pivotal document and write out the gate the

25:31

first few things, or we can have guns and

25:33

say whatever we want. Yeah. I think that's very

25:36

interesting. For a company structure,

25:38

someone who loves structure, if that's kind

25:40

of like the basis of the foundation,

25:42

I just think that's very interesting. I

25:44

didn't see the word mission in there.

25:47

So I think it's

25:49

the priorities of the Constitution, I think, do need

25:51

to be looked at. Yeah. I think, well, you

25:54

said it best when you said of the company,

25:56

because this is a company. It's not really a

25:58

country. And so you. you as

26:00

somebody who is so just adept

26:02

at understanding company structures, it's fascinating

26:04

that you see something wrong with

26:06

that because you know what the

26:09

hell you're talking about. Yeah,

26:11

I do. Yeah, I do. I think maybe

26:13

I should kind of work on maybe rewriting

26:15

the Constitution to kind of fit a company

26:18

structure since that is what it is. A

26:20

lot of people don't know that America is

26:22

a business. Yeah. And

26:24

we as constituents are kind

26:26

of more so employees of

26:28

this business because if we don't

26:30

do our part, the business kind of tinks.

26:32

And when the business tinks, we go all

26:34

over the world kind of searching for some

26:37

help to kind of put us back on

26:39

track. So it's kind of similar to when

26:41

a company is going under, they go to their friends and say,

26:43

hey, do you have a billion dollars I can borrow? Do you

26:45

have a billion dollars I can borrow? And sometimes your friend

26:47

doesn't have a billion dollars you can borrow, so you

26:49

take out. Taking

26:51

it. I mean,

26:53

I'm curious as a

26:56

black woman working as

27:01

a black woman were. I

27:03

just want to side note that in

27:05

high school, Andrea Schwartz would actually do that for real at

27:08

Dr. Rose High School. She literally would do

27:10

that with black people and Brazilians and

27:13

literally one time was like, oh

27:15

my God, I went to university and there were so many

27:17

plans that I couldn't even believe it. And

27:19

I was like, did you just blank out Brazilian? Brazilian.

27:23

Wow. So as a black

27:25

woman in corporate, where

27:27

do you feel like you are an

27:29

asset in a unique way that

27:33

maybe your how we pay counterparts are not?

27:40

Well, you know, there's more spaces that I can

27:42

be in that they can't be at. So

27:45

that makes me an asset to the company. And it kind of

27:48

also allows me to be a part of the company. And

27:50

I think that's a really good thing. And

27:52

I can have also allows me to kind of

27:55

open up and speak to other groups. I think

27:57

the most fun part is I still can't hold

27:59

the missions and values. of the company down to

28:01

a T, similar to the people who

28:03

were in my position before me, regardless of color.

28:05

So, you know,

28:07

it's not that I'm perpetuating anything, but I

28:09

like to think that if I stick true

28:12

to the structure, there's no surprises, and the

28:14

company can still be moving forward. But this

28:16

time, if you have kind of like a

28:18

block pivotal partner, they are, you know, I

28:20

can, I can maybe get

28:23

some more like black eyeballs on things

28:25

in the office. Yeah, I can kind

28:27

of go to like, you know, the

28:29

other women of the office and Rob

28:31

Ross has boom over there. Okay. You

28:34

know, I can kind of use my

28:36

identity to kind of occupy certain spaces

28:38

to fuss all the missions. You

28:40

know, I wonder about certain situations had someone

28:42

like you been in the room, what would

28:44

you do? So I'd love to just run

28:46

some scenarios by you to hear kind of

28:48

like what your expertise would have added to

28:50

that that was lacking. Oh, Oh, absolutely.

28:53

So when Walmart decided

28:56

to create products for

28:58

Juneteenth, and

29:00

they said, we're going to make

29:02

an ice cream for Juneteenth that

29:05

is a Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid fried

29:08

chicken waffle flavor.

29:10

Have you been in the

29:12

room when this

29:14

was ideated? Where do

29:17

you feel like you would have added or taken

29:19

away from that type of thinking? Yeah, now

29:21

I do have a clarifying question. Was this

29:23

one flavor rolled into one or were these

29:25

three different like, okay, okay, so that's kind

29:28

of interesting. I would have been there as

29:30

a kind of pivotal voice to say, Hey,

29:32

you said Kool-Aid fried chicken

29:34

and watermelon? No,

29:37

that actually seems like it would be more logical, but

29:39

it was waffles. Oh, waffles.

29:41

Okay. Chicken and waffles and Kool-Aid.

29:43

Yeah. Okay. That's just okay. I

29:46

would have been there to kind of

29:48

speak to the flavor profile. Okay. So

29:50

in those meetings, sometimes there's pushback from

29:52

the community, the consumers that says, Hey,

29:54

who was in that room? And often

29:56

there is not someone that looks like

29:58

me in that room. Exactly. So the

30:00

expectation is that someone in like me would

30:03

come to the room if I were there

30:05

and say hey Just don't do this

30:07

at all. This is a mess. But

30:09

with this one I see an opportunity Tell

30:12

me more. Okay. Yeah, you gotta think about

30:15

the flavor profile of that So when I

30:17

eat chicken and waffles, it's

30:19

a company by syrup sometimes. Yeah Yeah And

30:21

then I often don't drink another sweet beverage

30:23

following that because we do two sweet things

30:25

in your mouth It kind of cancels it

30:28

out. So that's just not a smart flavor

30:30

profile that they were putting forward Okay, so

30:32

I would have done a more conducive constructive

30:34

meal that kind of automatically all goes together

30:37

So what it means since and most of the

30:39

Kool-Aid if it if it wasn't clarified if it was

30:42

rad or Grape, which I also

30:44

like to pinpoint out that one is a color one

30:46

of the flavor I would still acknowledge them as two

30:48

different things You know, I think

30:50

to be that pivotal voice in the room is important

30:52

still get the initiative out to the black people You

30:55

know black people die. Yeah, but

30:58

stay true To the tenets

31:00

of what that culture would actually really want regardless

31:02

if they want it or not Sometimes they

31:04

don't know that they want to late

31:06

and chicken flavored things all together Right,

31:08

right the company has to tell them

31:10

that and sometimes that imagination does come

31:12

from you know, our white counterparts Oh,

31:15

I'm not just them trying to you know, try You

31:18

know what and I guess

31:20

who are we to stop them

31:22

from trying? You know, yeah.

31:25

Yeah. Yeah. I mean I would encourage

31:27

people to say hey Where

31:29

is the money going to that

31:31

you're making all these products for

31:34

is there an initiative within the company? But

31:36

the funds are is just going all up

31:38

to the same kind of wealthy person. There

31:41

is Sam getting it all The

31:48

reviews are in from McDonald's

31:50

hotter Juicier burgers, let's hear

31:53

Has to say brother what

31:55

our old friend hamburgers said

31:57

is the patties are juicier

32:00

The bun is a thing of beauty.

32:02

The cheese, perfectly melted. Bromble. My

32:04

burger dreams have come true. You

32:07

heard him, folks! These are

32:09

McDonald's best burgers ever! Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

32:13

Bromble. Available at most restaurants in this area.

32:15

Comparison of McDonald's classic burgers to prior orders. Welcome

32:18

back to Dealing Together. First caller? I

32:20

bought three sweaters to get the fourth free. Oh,

32:22

you got fleeced. Next caller. I traded my

32:24

old Samsung at AT&T for a new Samsung

32:27

Galaxy S24 Plus and chose my plan. That's

32:29

not a bad deal. It is not. Our best smartphone

32:31

deals. Your choice of plan. Learn how to get the

32:33

new Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus with

32:35

Galaxy AI on us with eligible

32:37

trade-in. AT&T, connecting changes everything. Offers

32:40

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32:42

plus 256 gigabyte offer available for a limited

32:44

time. Terms and restrictions apply. See AT&T.com/Samsung for details.

32:50

I got another one for you. Yes. So,

32:53

Vogue magazine, which we do

32:55

know is a company, they

32:57

recently published a piece that

33:01

credited football player

33:03

Travis Kelsey with

33:05

the fade haircut. And

33:08

so, this is another situation where I said,

33:10

you know what? There wasn't

33:12

an Aaron Threlopoulos in the room. Actually, can you

33:15

just tell me, Threlopoulos is such a unique name.

33:17

Is it Greek? No. So,

33:19

actually, I'm sorry. I cannot legally talk

33:21

about my parents, and that would expose

33:23

them. But I will say that my

33:25

great, great, great grandfather, he used to

33:27

throw up a lot. And

33:30

a lot of my past,

33:32

when I was younger, I didn't like working, and

33:34

any time I wanted to work, I would throw

33:36

up. Okay. Got

33:38

it. So, for a long period of

33:40

time, work made me want to throw up. Interesting.

33:44

So, it's kind of like how

33:46

there's people whose last name is

33:48

Milner because they were Milners. You

33:51

know, your last name is Threlopoulos

33:53

because y'all were throwing up a

33:55

lot. Yes. Ah.

33:58

Yeah. Look at

34:00

I mean just the histories and

34:03

etymologies of our genealogies, right? Just

34:05

yeah. Yeah, just hurling so

34:07

much rich culture Yeah,

34:09

yeah, just hurling Pun

34:11

intended through history through history.

34:14

Yeah, so What would

34:16

you have said had you? been

34:19

lanyarded up in the

34:21

room when that editor

34:24

Said to the corporates, you know at

34:26

that conference table This is going to

34:28

be my piece that i'm going to

34:31

contribute to this month's vogue magazine Travis

34:33

kelsey as the creator of the fade.

34:35

What would have been like a corporate

34:38

Acceptable way for the black person in

34:41

the room to say you're out of

34:43

your fucking mind Okay

34:46

Well, I don't know if I would have said it that way Right,

34:49

but what I would have done is I would have

34:51

came to the room and I would have said hey

34:53

everybody I would have looked everyone in the eyes Thank

34:55

you guys so much for being a pivotal partner. My

34:58

name is corporate erin I'm the manager for the manager

35:00

religious who's for management management And if you can't want

35:02

to kind of call us all in to kind of

35:04

think about the critical ways And which we're kind of

35:06

approaching the situation Okay And then I would give everybody

35:09

time in the room to go around and say what

35:11

they did in exhaust And that's so those people can

35:13

feel their voice fill the room Yeah, so they can

35:15

know they feel like they're a part of the conversation

35:18

by just entering and saying hey, what do you do here?

35:20

Are you are important? Okay, we do value you yeah All

35:22

right, then I would have gotten down to the critical information. I

35:25

would have looked around and said I noticed that

35:28

Of all of the men here the

35:30

identities are kind of not representative of

35:32

kind of this Cultural

35:35

experience dealing with the fade here

35:37

now a lot of people Didn't

35:40

grow up and you know, some people have super

35:42

cuts As your kind

35:44

of face knowledge Fantastic exams Yeah,

35:47

and you know, I teach a lot of hair workshops at

35:50

our company Because you know, yeah,

35:52

i'd get called in a lot on my hair and I say

35:54

hey, it's nice to talk about people's hair Yeah,

35:56

this is mayoral hair. So of course it is. I often

35:58

have to I have to have to speak

36:00

up for myself and say, hey, everybody's

36:03

power is different, but we do kind

36:05

of have to honor the cultural influences

36:07

and give proper credit. So that idea,

36:09

no. So when it came to that

36:11

particular Travis issue, what

36:13

I would say is, hey, let's include

36:16

him, and maybe for other white people

36:18

who have also pioneered this aid, and

36:20

then that way we can show there's

36:22

kind of like a big group of

36:24

people all coming together to say, hey,

36:26

hair doesn't belong to any one person,

36:28

they're all coming together and say, hey,

36:30

we wear this aid. Now, what I

36:33

would say is I would encourage any members

36:35

of the company and a black ERG to

36:38

kind of use that moment to speak up

36:40

and say, hey, we are

36:42

kind of like the cultural

36:44

creators of this

36:46

movement that dates back here, here, here. And

36:49

what I find interesting is I would

36:52

ask that they bring some numbers to

36:54

the table, maybe some pivotal pictures, maybe

36:56

some snapshots throughout history to kind of

36:58

prove and play. Yep. Yeah,

37:00

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw House Party, I

37:02

was there. So kind

37:05

of like showing like, hey, there were

37:07

origins of this. It's interesting though with

37:09

this one in particular, I

37:11

think this is maybe not the

37:13

first time for sure, but

37:15

one of the first times we're seeing this happen

37:18

to black men in our culture. So

37:20

I think that's very interesting to see

37:23

them kind of saying, what? I've been

37:25

rocking the fade. And

37:27

you know, cause we've seen it before with Kim K's signature braids

37:30

or things like that. Haley

37:33

Baldwin with the clean look with the bun

37:35

and hoop earrings. Yeah, it's

37:37

a very interesting dynamic. So I would

37:39

be in there in the room to

37:41

provide some pivotal pictures, some timelines, some

37:43

snapshots. I would create a deck for

37:45

sure. Oh, gotta have a deck. You

37:48

love a deck. This was already a

37:50

thing. I think I would pull in

37:52

some images. I remember going to the barbershop

37:55

when I was let all with my dad that I can't talk

37:57

about. And they would have these pictures

37:59

and these. numbers and you would order

38:01

a number haircut. Yes. And

38:03

so there were no names. It was just

38:05

the number. Yes. So I think, one, if

38:08

we want to kind of prop up Travis

38:10

for this phenomenal hair moment, well, we might

38:12

need to consider just adding him to one

38:15

of those charts and giving him a number.

38:22

I want to get the number seven, and it's Travis Kolfi.

38:24

I think he's 44. Oh,

38:27

interesting. OK. Yeah. I

38:29

actually hate that I know that.

38:32

That's true inclusion if we make the haircut

38:34

a number. But when we single him out

38:36

and give him a name, I

38:39

mean, how many times have you seen those black men

38:41

on the S-Curl boxes? You don't know their names. No.

38:44

It could be Latraevious. It

38:46

could be Latraevious. You know? It

38:49

could be Levant. Yeah, we should

38:51

find them and give them their

38:53

flowers this month. Yeah.

39:01

I want to talk about, and I

39:04

want this to be a safe space for you. What

39:08

was your experience like when

39:10

you learned that Juneteenth would

39:12

be coming to the office? Well,

39:15

honestly, I will. OK, thank you

39:18

for this safe space. This was kind of very vulnerable

39:20

for me to talk about. Many times. A

39:23

wave of emotions came through me. Number

39:25

one being, oh, no. People

39:27

are going to want this day off. Because

39:31

before it came to the office as a hard

39:33

launch holiday, it was just kind of lingering

39:35

around. Yeah, it was a

39:37

thing for the blacks. Yeah,

39:39

yeah. I was kind of one of those

39:41

people that said, oh, OK.

39:43

I understand the origins of it. There were

39:45

some people somewhere who hadn't got the message.

39:48

And some people made sure that they got

39:50

the message. And I said, I get it.

39:52

But I was kind of in that critical

39:54

first batch. Who knew? I kind of celebrate

39:56

the regular emancipation debt. I

39:59

Understand. Interfere I haven't matched back

40:01

my or is as to the people

40:03

that didn't now look at so I

40:06

can't quite clean money you know that

40:08

I understand but hum marauder old need

40:10

for around I got I am no.

40:12

Fan of the how me can't have that

40:14

I got I'm Down so. When

40:19

I. Met. Who last?

40:22

Nice. Baby. Before.

40:25

You opened up your gap. I.

40:28

Had respect for you. Lady.

40:32

When. I take it all back. And

40:35

says. When. He

40:38

gave me a pussy. He

40:41

even licked my boss. The.

40:44

The A number on the cabinet. And

40:48

I promise. I.

40:50

Will give you a prayer. My previous email.

40:53

Com. That's. It That's only

40:55

freedom and America. Still,

40:59

Side get I say with a little nervous

41:01

I said i know it's coming or going

41:04

to want the day off and so now.

41:06

I kind of in a spot on. So

41:08

glad I can be of honor behind ten

41:10

of a spot on birth like Lol Hey

41:13

we have to albinism to everybody now and

41:15

it was on holiday Yeah okay yeah yeah

41:17

so what had an awesome initiatives that you've

41:19

done in the ass is to open it

41:21

up for everybody's lot. Number one vessels. I

41:24

don't think that maybe black people should be

41:26

the only one. Other vessels urgency get everybody

41:28

on now but as soon see it as

41:30

a country is our our whole entire countries

41:32

sl ah leaders of have everybody rapper has

41:34

had a knack for and a every. Many

41:37

rappers it in and that branding everybody's

41:39

rebates be have even if you think

41:41

about it. I owners

41:43

stuff about even a slave owners had

41:45

a pivotal role it has if slave

41:47

owners sat nav kept it from them

41:50

star when of then as and he

41:52

so we can have to same as

41:54

so family portrait. gallery i'm kind

41:56

of sarko box of our families i said we're

41:58

going to keep us on the Do

42:01

they wear the costume of the slave

42:03

owner then in the picture just to

42:05

differentiate? Just

42:08

so we're clear on roles? While

42:10

we do have some dress up time in the office,

42:12

we do kind of do some reenactments. Yes. There are

42:15

no cameras allowed for that because we don't want our

42:17

company to get canceled. But it is just kind of

42:19

a vulnerable thing for people to kind of stay true

42:21

to history. And you can

42:23

kind of come with whatever inspires y'all.

42:25

Okay. Have you ever considered an altar,

42:28

building an altar in the office to the formerly enslaved?

42:30

Just as a way, an exercise of atonement. No,

42:35

I haven't. I haven't. Tell me more.

42:37

Give me more suggestions. Maybe

42:39

we should have an agenda and a meeting about this

42:41

and kind of build this initiative out. The

42:47

reviews are in for McDonald's hotter,

42:50

Juciya Birkus. Let's hear what half

42:52

Birkler has to say. Rubble,

42:54

Rubble. What our old friend Ham

42:56

Birkler said is, the patties are

42:58

juicier. The bun is a

43:00

thing of beauty. The cheese perfectly melted.

43:02

Rubble. My burger dreams

43:04

have come cool. You heard

43:07

him, folks. These are McDonald's

43:09

best burgers ever. Rubble.

43:11

Available at most restaurants in this

43:14

area. Come here, some McDonald's. Welcome

43:17

back to Dealing Together. First caller? I bought three

43:20

sweaters to get the fourth free. Next

43:23

caller. I traded my old Samsung at AT&T

43:25

for a new Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus and chose my plan. That's

43:28

not a bad deal. It is not. Our

43:30

best smartphone deals. Your choice of plan. Learn

43:32

how to get the new Samsung Galaxy S24

43:34

Plus with Galaxy AI on us with eligible

43:36

trade-in. AT&T. I know we're role

43:38

playing, but I'm going to give you some pivotal notes, okay? If

43:41

you can use some more core

43:43

language, like drilling down core competencies,

43:46

and can it give yourself kind of like a compliment

43:48

sandwich? What are you doing for the company? And

43:51

then the meat is going to be like, but I think that.

43:53

And then have another piece of bread. That's like what you're doing,

43:55

right? Okay? Okay. Okay. Okay. So we're back in it. I've opened

43:57

the door. Come on in. Hey

44:01

corporate Aaron. So

44:05

I just wanted to first

44:07

say that I'm really

44:10

thriving in a

44:12

number of specific areas within

44:15

the structure of our company.

44:18

There are some places

44:20

that have been giving me pause

44:23

that are causing me

44:25

to consider the necessity

44:27

for a union. Oh,

44:30

okay. I did

44:33

really enjoy our company

44:35

picnics and the

44:37

sumo costumes that you all got

44:39

after watching that episode of The

44:41

Office where Pam realized that she

44:44

was in love with Jim. And

44:47

then Jim realized that he was in

44:49

love with Pam. And

44:52

also we also learned at that time

44:54

that Angela was actually having a relationship

44:56

with Dwight in a very real way.

44:58

So I know that that episode was

45:00

the inspiration for this moment. And that

45:03

made me feel good as somebody who

45:05

did love The Office. And I even

45:07

appreciated the British one as well. Yeah,

45:10

great. Great. Thank you so much.

45:12

I heard a lot of good things on there.

45:14

Nice to hear that you're thriving in specific areas.

45:16

So I heard you say that. Now,

45:19

in terms of kind of like this union

45:21

structure, have you spoken with like a

45:23

direct report? Is this the first time? Am I the

45:25

first point of contact for the big you work? Yes,

45:29

I wanted to come to you first

45:31

because I know how important you are

45:33

to the company. And I

45:35

know how clearly you understand the mission

45:37

and the upward

45:40

directives of the ladder. Yeah.

45:42

And I'm on your side, but I do have to ask a

45:44

couple of questions just in case I need to chase it up

45:46

to leadership. Okay. Are there people

45:49

that are joining you and on this initiative?

45:51

Do you kind of already have a core

45:53

group start at? I'm not sure that I

45:55

feel comfortable answering that question as much as

45:58

It seems like you're. Next question

46:00

is gonna be who. I've. High

46:02

or I like to see that are thinking

46:04

ahead. That's why we have you here as

46:06

high you always are Great for a cast

46:08

art. As I say, I'm not going to

46:10

say you know I'd only two now so

46:12

I'll buy add me as you do when

46:14

analysis and mal intent on the no I

46:16

agree that. They are saw at

46:19

our have said I don't have to necessarily houses

46:21

are in. I don't want to discourage you from

46:23

Saudi a union but as understand Cy young as

46:25

six A to take away from the company has

46:27

a public side speaking sign of a fight scene

46:30

of business and a different way that some people

46:32

done under see as as in fact the Sox

46:34

I can affect I suppose opinion of accompanies no

46:36

sign of Pacino. I. Think of it

46:38

were like a family history of i like

46:40

with your family Sometimes you know when everybody

46:42

knowing your family's business says sometimes they let

46:44

you know your uncle in the back room

46:46

and close the doors and we have companies

46:48

I saw go back there Gray a nice

46:50

but we're working on it when company least

46:53

we let our goal I was a okay

46:55

get back on her on call us last

46:57

blessed Continue working on some things right now.

46:59

Let's. See when the read as it is.

47:01

Tina want to keep as much as a

47:03

campaign of yards or was and are worth

47:05

in it together as leader sad. And

47:07

the employee base working together. If they

47:10

employees are working without leash or sobs

47:12

I don't see how me a message

47:14

has or any com or anything are

47:16

going to be like sauce because. Your.

47:19

Sauce Offense you're young and saw him

47:21

to our strategic communications plan so now

47:23

we have a very last. The way

47:25

that we communicate yards from the seas

47:27

leads to the nearest mad dusty elusive

47:29

team to the for as as as

47:31

soon as he sublime to movies unless

47:33

it's has fall artsy have a keen

47:35

to keep that in mind you. Easy

47:37

use apps and that and ministry laptops

47:39

say they had up a union here.

47:41

Will. I learn from the best. How.

47:44

High. From. you have ice now what

47:46

i will say about as you do go

47:48

far with a cnn's and you're not tell

47:50

them that i encourage still and anyway i

47:52

live in our our releases up as as

47:54

professional as a pretty subtle birch oh i'm

47:56

very happy to came and leads i meant

47:58

for you and fourteen set up work than

48:00

anything outside of that I will ask that

48:02

we just kind of keep that kind of

48:04

not outside of here. Okay. But keep me,

48:06

but we are a family and I love

48:08

you. So keep me positive. Keep me

48:11

positive. Okay. Yeah. And

48:13

scene. God. Okay. Thank you.

48:16

God. God. And I

48:18

feel like our listeners really will

48:20

resonate with that, you know, because

48:22

so much of that was just

48:25

representational of the ways

48:27

in which the corporate structure attempts

48:29

to talk without really actually talking.

48:31

And yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's

48:33

a, it's a skill set that

48:35

some of us don't have, but

48:38

that when you do have, it

48:40

really allows you to move without

48:43

really moving. You know, it's interesting.

48:45

I've heard that before. Okay. And I

48:47

guess if I do kind of consider it

48:50

and take the analysis of it, I think

48:52

there was a lot of movement in that

48:54

conversation, even though we kind of ended back,

48:56

I think I just pinged it back to

48:59

you. You have some pivotal decisions to make

49:01

now, but I can definitely understand how, you

49:04

know, some people have said something about

49:06

like defensiveness or there was

49:08

just some other words that I didn't understand devil's

49:10

advocate or just kind of like, I don't know,

49:12

turn it back up to the, I don't know.

49:15

I like it a little confused. Yeah. I think

49:17

they get a little confused by it the way

49:19

I guess people are getting confused by me. So

49:21

we're all confused. So we have that in common.

49:23

So for everybody that's confused by me, I am

49:25

also confused. It's a

49:28

confused community.

49:31

Speaking of

49:33

community, my Patreon community

49:36

definitely has questions for

49:39

you. And so we're

49:41

going to head on

49:44

over to the SEAL

49:47

squad. Well, corporate Aaron, I

49:49

really appreciate you taking time out today to talk

49:52

with us. I know that you have a lot

49:54

of initiatives that you are pushing through throughout the

49:56

day. And so I hope that we have not

49:58

derailed any of your. goals for today.

50:01

But is there anything that you

50:03

would like to leave our audience with? Any

50:05

words of wisdom? Any inspirational

50:08

posters that you hang on your desk?

50:10

Like, is there anything that you want

50:12

to give us to carry it

50:15

through? Yeah, well, maybe, maybe the lanyard that

50:17

we hang from? Yeah, thank

50:19

you so much for having me on. I think it's

50:21

very important that we have these pivotal one-on-one conversations. Yeah.

50:23

Happy to sit down and talk about everything at a

50:26

very high level. Yes. I want

50:28

people to kind of reframe what

50:30

it means to circle back, follow up, and close the

50:32

loop. I want people to understand, what does it mean

50:34

for you? What are some things that you need to

50:36

circle back to? What are some things that you need

50:38

to follow up on? And what are some things that

50:40

you need to close the loop on? So

50:43

sometimes these phrases just aren't all about us

50:45

corporate people. If you find yourself, if you're

50:47

not in a corporate world at all, there's

50:49

still the need to kind of circle back.

50:52

Some people need to circle back to some dreams. Some

50:54

people need to follow up on the next step of

50:56

accomplishing something, and some people need to close the loop

50:58

on some relationships. So I would say that that is

51:01

my lanyard that I would kind of want to leave.

51:04

There you all have it. You can check out

51:06

more Corporate Erin at Corporate Erin, and

51:08

so many other places, none of which are

51:10

the office. And

51:17

there you have it. I hope that was

51:19

just as much fun for y'all as it was for

51:21

us. Remember to circle back, follow

51:24

up, and close the loop. All

51:26

right? Per my previous

51:28

email. Go

51:32

go for mulch. Like

51:40

a direct report. Is this the first time? Am I

51:43

the first point of contact for the big you work?

51:46

Yes, I wanted to come to you

51:48

first because I know how important you

51:50

are to the company. And

51:52

I know how clearly you understand the

51:54

mission and the upward

51:57

directives of the latter. Yeah,

52:00

and I'm on your side, but I do have to ask

52:02

a couple of several questions just in case I need to

52:04

chase it up to leadership. Okay, are there people that are

52:06

joining you and on this initiative? Do you kind of already

52:08

have a core group start at? I'm

52:10

not sure that I feel comfortable

52:13

answering that question as much as

52:16

it seems like your next question is going

52:18

to be who. Okay, well,

52:20

I like to see that you're thinking ahead. That's

52:22

why we have you here. Okay, you

52:24

always are a great forecaster. Okay,

52:26

so I'm not gonna say, you know, I don't need

52:28

to know who. Okay, but I mean, if you do

52:31

kind of want to announce this email and kind of

52:33

let me know, that'll be great. But I

52:35

don't have to know who. Okay. And

52:39

I don't want to discourage you from starting a union,

52:41

but just understand that unions can

52:43

kind of take away from the company on the public

52:45

side. They can kind of affect kind of business in

52:47

a different way that some people don't understand. It

52:50

can affect the stocks. It can affect the public

52:52

opinion of a company. Oh, kind of puts, you

52:54

know, I think of it, we're

52:56

like a family here, right? Oh, yeah. Like

52:58

with your family, sometimes you don't want everybody

53:00

knowing your family's business. So sometimes you put,

53:02

you know, your uncle in the back room

53:04

and close the door and we have companies,

53:06

they don't go back there. Right. But we're

53:08

working on it. When company leaves, we let

53:10

on go out and we say, okay, get

53:13

back out here. I'll call us. Let's continue

53:15

working on some things. Right. So that's

53:17

kind of one of the reasons we just kind

53:19

of want to keep as much as we can

53:21

kind of here where we can all work in

53:23

a together leadership. And the

53:26

employee base working together. If the

53:28

employees are working without leadership, I

53:30

don't see how any initiatives or

53:32

any comms or anything are going

53:34

to be successful because you

53:36

have to affect your union into our

53:38

strategic communications plan. Oh, we have a

53:41

very lofty way that we communicate here

53:43

from the C-suite to the management, your

53:45

senior leadership team to the board. Okay.

53:47

So it's going to take some time

53:49

to move these initiatives forward. So you

53:51

have to kind of keep that in

53:53

mind. You got some good administrative chops

53:56

to kind of hat up a union

53:58

here. Well, I learned from the best. best.

54:01

Okay. From you. Okay. Now what

54:03

I will say is that if you do

54:05

go forward with this union, can you not

54:07

tell them that I encouraged you in any

54:09

way about, you know, our relationship is just

54:12

professional as it pertains to the work. Oh,

54:14

I'm very happy to kind of lead you

54:16

and mentor you in pertains to the work.

54:18

Anything outside of that I will ask that

54:20

we just kind of keep that kind of

54:22

not outside of here. Okay. But keep me,

54:24

but we are a family and I love

54:26

you. So keep me posted.

54:29

Okay. Yeah. And

54:31

scene. Um, okay. Thank you. And

54:33

I feel like

54:35

our listeners really will resonate with

54:37

that, you know, because so much

54:40

of that was just

54:42

representational of the ways

54:44

in which the corporate structure attempts

54:47

to talk without really actually talking.

54:50

And yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's a,

54:52

it's a skill set that some of

54:54

us don't have, but that when you

54:57

do have, it really allows you to

54:59

move without really moving.

55:01

You know, it's interesting. I've heard that

55:04

before. Okay. And I guess if I do

55:06

kind of consider it and take the analysis

55:08

of it, I think there was a lot

55:11

of movement in that conversation, even though we

55:13

kind of ended back, I think I just

55:15

pinged it back to you. You have some

55:17

pivotal decisions to make now, but I can

55:20

definitely understand how, you know,

55:22

people have said something about like defensiveness

55:25

or there was just some other words that I

55:27

didn't understand, devil's advocate or just kind of like,

55:29

I don't know, turn it back up to the,

55:31

I don't know. I like it a little confused.

55:33

Yeah. Sometimes I get a little confused by it

55:36

the way I guess people are getting confused by

55:38

me. So we're all confused. So we have that

55:40

in common. So for everybody that's confused by me,

55:42

I am also confused. It's

55:45

a confused community.

55:50

Speaking of community, my Patreon

55:52

community definitely has questions for

55:54

you. And so we're going

55:56

to head on over to the Seal Squad. I

56:07

really appreciate you taking time out today to talk

56:09

with us. I know that you have a lot

56:11

of initiatives.