@SXSW2021
It's here! We’re talking with people about the fun, the purpose, and the impact of their presence at this year's SXSW.
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:46
SXSW Speaker Ann Hiatt- Leadership behind Amazon & Google
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But also, she works with all leaders of all stripes to help them navigate the world. And when I think about the opportunity we have today, I really reflect on the idea that when someone takes the time to speak with you about not just their career, but about how the world is feeling and what they're doing in the world, it's great to lean on the fact that we can reference conversations that have already been had. So in this context
So watch this spade for my talk coming out on the 18th, and I'll be doing a live Q and a chat during the talk. But what I really think I uniquely offer entrepreneurs this year is I've actually been through some major crises before I graduated from Undergrad in 2002, just after the dot com bust. My very first job
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:24
So there's a theme of crisis management, perhaps on a personal level, I think you're touching on the fact that people go through life and there are ups and downs, and sometimes they're shared on a global stage, and sometimes they're very personal experiences. And there there's a difference for sure
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:21
You have an idea of what you want to say. You have a plot, you have characters, but a really good play is when there's a surprise and there's a transformation that you didn't even expect
Thank you for that analogy to theater. I think that we could talk for a long time about how that plays into entrepreneurship and tech. But yeah, in terms of context for my current projects, I actually came into consulting semi active accidentally. So when I decided that I wanted to leave Google, it was because I was really looking for an opportunity to level up for a new challenge
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:05
I think in terms of getting out of comfort zones, one of the things that struck me about your response to strength finders, which is a Gallup test that's probably about 50 years old that somebody mentioned in one of your talks is that the idea of having strength, knowing what you don't have in terms of strength and surrounding yourself with people who have those skills. So it's about the complimentary team where everyone has certain strengths and it's the Yin Yang
My clients tend to be seeking out this kind of like real talk, this expert feedback and pushback and challenging their ideas and poking holes just to make sure that they fully flesh out their ideas. So I do have that kind of selection bias of kinds. That's why they came to me. I actually haven't Proactive. I've never advertised. I actually have a waiting list of clients. I think they come to me because that's the role I've played for my CEOs in the corporate environment
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:48
What are you seeing in terms of ageism and our need to not equate age with wisdom, but equate age with just the ability to see what's around the corner a little bit, because maybe they've been there twice so far. And is this something that you might want to talk about south by Southwest? Because diversity is such a big conversation right now, will you weave into that the issue of intergenerational conversation? It's top of mind for some people
So I think it's something to be considered, and there's really points of wisdom and opportunities to use that to your greatest advantage of making sure that underrepresented voices, whoever that might be, are being given a platform and opportunities to contribute uniquely because that's when we have well informed decision making happening around the table. So thank you for putting that in the forefront of my mind. Because the age of my clients tend to skew younger, they might be scaling up a company for the very first time
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:50
Hey, thank you for that response. I think it is interesting, and I'm fascinated by different cultures and their relationship to the elder community. I know there's a lot of work going on around that. And here on Swell, it's so nice to hear diversity of voices. I'm doing a talk also similar to you, 25 minutes, and it's about the value of voice, literally the spoken word
I have my first book coming out with Harper Collins this year or consulting clients who pay me for my stories and advice and support or this community I'm trying to create to support underrepresented entrepreneurs. And sometimes I have these thoughts of like, Well, who am I to do that? But really, I just keep coming back to seriously this little post I saw on Instagram once that said, there's someone out there who can only learn it from you. And yeah, Jeff Bezos wrote his own book
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:32
Can you talk a little bit about your wishes for how leadership in all sectors can play a role in making this world a better place? And I know you speak to this in large sort of terms, but the more specific the better just in terms of what have you been really thinking about that you could see happening with some really good leaders at the helm. And thank you again, I look forward to hearing your answer and continuing this in all its forms here on swell
And so really, my call to action would be no matter who you are listening to this, that you feel that call of a need for leadership to be applied to you. I'm a big believer that each person on this planet can contribute uniquely because of your unique DNA, but also your experiences, your nature and your nurture give you some kind of super power that isn't replicable in someone else. So we need your unique voice. I think we need authenticity
phil spade
@Phil · 2:37
You don't want the leader of an organization to become a hippo and just kind of become all that's the only opinion that matters. And you had mentioned shadows and people that shadow these people and bring new perspectives and new ideas to the table. And my question there is that especially over this past year, doesn't that lead itself to shadows and boards like that becoming more diverse? Does that speak to a need for diversity?
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:01
Hi, Anne, thank you so much for this conversation. I found it so inspiring, and I loved learning more about your story. I just have two quick questions. The first one is, when will your book be coming out? Because I would love to you preorder it whenever that can happen. And I did a little bit of searching online and couldn't find anything. So I wanted to ask
I worked for highly exceptional people, high impact people, and I applied the lessons of leadership I saw from them into my very normal career as a normal person. And so I've translated the best practices of some of the Silicon Valley elite for us normal people. So I look forward to getting that into as many hands as possible. But yes, please watch this space and anyone who wants to stay tuned
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:39
Hi Anne. I just wanted to say thank you so much for the reply and I was so thrilled to get to see your session at South By Southwest today. I loved hearing more about your story and it just got me so much more excited to read, read your book when it's published. And I got the worksheet and I'm really looking forward to checking that out and working through it and also just subscribe to your podcast
Ryan Cartier
@Cartier · 1:02
One thing that I was listening to today and is now considered one of the best education systems in the world. And there's a number of documentaries on this and what they did and the thinking behind it. So if you're thinking about postsecond dairy, I'm also curious
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Ryan Cartier
@Cartier · 4:54
During an interview, he said, pay attention to where the CEO is telling you what they think needs to be done or asking you what you see and that uncovers whether they just want to delegate it to someone or they actually want to learn how. And this is held true for a decade after he told me that I and many in this field find the executive does not understand the effort required of the transformation and actually wants you to do it for them
Ryan Cartier
@Cartier · 5:00
The CEO or executive cannot. And he'd been with an organization where he knew they would not have him back. However, the CEO needed to address certain things, however, felt it put him at risk to present, and therefore he had a consultant come in to table the issue safely, and then he could
Ryan Cartier
@Cartier · 2:24
So there's some internal and external change agent consultant perspectives that I think will give you the other side of the table, to the side where I don't like to say this, but the rare side where the people are open to learning and the change that it's required
Ryan Cartier
@Cartier · 4:50
But right away the decision is only they can solve, which takes that capability away from the staff, whereas the power is in developing the people in the organization to solve, building organizational capability and reducing consultant dependency. Now, with respect to the weaknesses that a person may have often, CEOs are not open to being approached, and you can tell by their responses
Ryan Cartier
@Cartier · 2:10
So I find it really interesting that situation is reported by so many employees around the world. And I was curious if that was something that you could unpack a little bit as to what is either the strategy or what is the disconnect between the employee situation and the operation. And I also wanted understand that perhaps that might be a difficult conversation to have, so perhaps that can't be done. But I was really curious about that
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