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Dan Riley: ‘Make Radical Change, Not Small Little Tweaks,’ to Employee Experience

By Michelle Gouldsberry
January 8, 2024
19 minute read

On this episode of the People Fundamentals podcast, we’re joined by Dan Riley, co-founder and CEO of RADICL, an employee experience advisory company. We discuss what it means to change employee experience and how employees are reacting to artificial intelligence (AI). Plus, we answer the question “What do starting a business, being in a band, and making a film have in common?”

Dan founded RADICL with his brother in late 2020 with the intention of helping organizations lead employees through change while changing how we approach the employee experience. “RADICL really was born out of the necessity to change — and the necessity to make radical change, not small little tweaks,” Dan says.

Before 2020, running into someone in the hallway and asking, “How are you doing?” was simply small talk. But in a world that’s embraced hybrid and remote work, those four little words have become more meaningful for business leaders. “Checking in” with employees has shifted from a casual act to a business imperative. 

“We wanted to leverage that and take advantage of what was starting to happen in organizations of leaders stepping up, employees stepping up. And I want to see that continue,” Dan says. 

Find out how Dan is radically transforming how employees experience work and how you can join the employee experience revolution.

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Reinforce a good experience over time

The first step to a great employee experience is for organizations to choose a direction and commit to it. Do so with your people in mind.

“Truly looking at people as individuals, listening to what matters to them — that’s really where employee experience came from, those moments that matter,” Dan says.

To develop a positive, lasting employee experience, leaders must emphasize and commit to moments that matter. For example, keep sharing your mission, vision, and values during onboarding, but also embed those qualities into employees’ daily routines to reinforce their sense of purpose.

Dan advocates for radical change, but he’s quick to point out that this won’t happen overnight, nor can we assign an arbitrary timeline to‌ it. Instead, we need to reframe how we think about change altogether. “As long as you’re progressing in the right direction, that’s change,” Dan says. 

He compares transforming employee experience to waiting for a flower to bloom. “If you were to stare at a flower, you’re not going to watch it bloom,” he says. But when you give the flower what it needs to grow — time and resources — and have the patience to wait for results, you’ll see it bloom. The same principle applies to your employee experience initiatives.

Prepare people to work with AI tools

You can’t address employee experience without considering the impact of generative AI. While 54% of employees are already using AI at work, many people still struggle with using the technology or the outputs it generates.

Dan warns against two types of counterproductive responses. One is taking AI-generated outputs at face value “because it feels more authoritative versus going to Google,” he says. The other common error response is to discount the entirety of AI outputs based on one or two errors.

“I think either is dangerous,” Dan says. “We have to challenge it, we have to help it grow, and we have to help update it.” 

GenAI augments human effort; it can’t and shouldn’t replace human thought. “We don’t want to get overly reliant on it,” Dan says. “I think using your own voice is really important.”

Help employees learn to apply their judgment to AI-generated outputs for example converting there video script into audio using a AI text to speech tool. Even if AI does the heavy lifting, people will need to verify AI outputs, add their own flair, and decide how it applies to strategy and action steps.

Help people work together, better

In addition to being an entrepreneur, Dan is also a musician and a filmmaker — and all three roles share the imperative of working well with other people. 

“Whether it’s your bandmates, whether it’s your team and the organization you work with, or whether it’s the team you put together in making a film, you can’t do it alone,” he says. “You have to be willing to delegate, and you have to be willing to listen to those around you.”

Just as important as the leader’s example is the workplace atmosphere. “You have to create a safe environment,” Dan says. “A safe environment means your voice matters, and you can say things that might be a little uncomfortable, and you can share how you’re feeling or how you’re doing. I think that’s the way you bring people together.”

People in This Episode

Dan Riley: LinkedIn

Full Transcript

Dan Riley:

We talk a lot about the whole-person experience and being able to bring your authentic self into work, and the way you do that is, you have to create a safe environment. A safe environment means your voice matters, and you can say things that might be a little uncomfortable, and you can share how you’re feeling or how you’re doing. I think that’s the way you bring people together is, you have to create culture where individuals can show up as who they are — so hear me, see me, this is what matters to me. I’m a big believer in connecting individual values and purpose to organizational values and purpose, and how do you find those intersections?

Alex Larralde:

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Betterworks’ podcast, People Fundamentals. I’m your host, Alex Larralde, senior director of corporate marketing. Betterworks’ core belief in people fundamentals revolves around enabling everyone in the workforce to strive for excellence, to foster creativity, and to acknowledge each individual’s contributions. Betterworks translates these beliefs into business fundamentals through strategic HR leadership. And in this show, we’re diving even deeper into these principles as we hear from the experts about how you can make them come alive in your organization.

In this episode, we’re talking to a bona fide trailblazer in the HR tech space, Dan Riley. Dan is the co-founder and CEO of RADICL, an employee experience agency that’s been turning heads since its inception in 2020. This conversation is a deep dive into the dynamic realm of employee experience. We’re peeling back the layers of RADICL’s journey and understanding why it emerged as a force post-pandemic. 

Dan provides insights into transformative change in the evolving workplace landscape that we’ve experienced in the last few years. We discuss why organizations need to make radical changes, not just minor tweaks, especially in the era of hybrid work. We uncover the shifts that he’s witnessed — from employee commitment, to people as assets, to the changing dynamics of employee experience. But we’re not just talking about the technical side; we’re getting into the creative side, as well. Dan is someone with a plethora of skills including music, film, and business, so he’s just the person to highlight that side for us.

We’ll also hear about the key ingredients to what’s made Dan’s lifelong collaboration with his brother so successful, if his comment from over 20 years ago that “Change is meant to be uncomfortable” still holds today, and why RADICL’s original spelling might not have been so safe for our French-speaking friends to use around the office. 

Stay tuned for this conversation with Dan, recorded live at HR Tech 2023 in Las Vegas, and get ready for a great conversation that blends the latest in HR tech, the essence of employee experience, and the unique harmony of creativity in business.

I am so excited to have Dan Riley here. He is the co-founder and CEO of RADICL, an employee experience agency. I would love to hear more about that.

Dan Riley:

Yes. Well, it’s so nice to be here, Alex. We founded RADICL in late 2020 — so, shortly after the pandemic. I had founded a company before that, we were an employee experience tech listening company, and strangely enough, we were ready to do it again. Ultimately, we believed organizations needed to do better for the people whom they employ, and we knew work was getting ready to be turned upside down and things were going to be moving hybrid. We were six months into the pandemic. Cross-functional teams. We knew work was going to change forever, and it continues to be changing so rapidly. 

RADICL really was born out of the necessity to change and the necessity to make radical change, not small little tweaks. That was where we started, and we’ve been growing explosively ever since.

Alex Larralde:

Yeah, a huge need. You’re right. I mean, that was an inflection point where everything changed. It makes a lot of sense that companies don’t don’t know how to navigate it because, at the same time they’re trying to figure this out, they’re also human beings experiencing it themselves, right?

Dan Riley:

Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, for the first time, we truly cared about that simple question that we’d ask in the hallways. “How are you doing?” became authentic. Really, that used to be small talk before a meeting — “How you doing, how you doing?” “I’m OK, I’m OK.” It meant nothing. After 2020, we realized — I mean the world changed, and when leaders would ask their people “How are you doing? How are you feeling?” that’s one of the most important questions that you can ask somebody when you actually care about the response and the person cares enough to give you a true and meaningful response and feels safe enough to give you an honest response. That’s culture at its best. 

We wanted to leverage that and take advantage of what was starting to happen in organizations of leaders stepping up, employees stepping up, and I want to see that continue. Unfortunately, we’re seeing that decline a little bit now, getting back to business as usual.

Alex Larralde:

It’s true.

Dan Riley:

We’ll talk about that.

Alex Larralde:

Absolutely, but I want to know how the name of your company came to be.

Dan Riley:

Yeah, so I mean like any naming, we went through a lot of different names. We liked the idea of radical change, we wanted it to be a little street graffiti-style, a little bit raw. My brother and I are the founders of the company, we’re both musicians, we’re both film producers, we both played punk rock music for all of our lives.

Alex Larralde:

Love that. 

Dan Riley:

Radical just made sense for what we wanted to do, but we couldn’t spell it as “radical.” It would be impossible to get the domain name.

Alex Larralde:

Of course.

Dan Riley:

We started playing around with different spellings, and originally it was R-A-D-I-C-U-L, was our first version of it. I tested that with some global friends, and one of my friends in France, she’s in Paris, she said, “Dan, ‘cul,’ because C-U-L, means ‘ass’ in French.” I’m like, “OK.” She’s like, “So you might not want radicul for the French speakers.” It’s like “rad ass.”

Alex Larralde:

That’s funny.

Dan Riley:

We just dropped the vowel, then we realized we didn’t actually need the vowel, and it looked cooler with just the “L.”

Alex Larralde:

Totally. Yes.

Dan Riley:

That’s how that came about.

Alex Larralde:

I love that. Thank goodness for our French friends who can intervene and let us know that we’re about to name our company “rad ass.”

Dan Riley:

Which could have been — it might’ve been fun. I said, “Would that be bad? Is it really an insult?” She’s like, “No. It’s kind of funny, a funny word. But just so you know, it could offend some.”

Alex Larralde:

I love that. I love that. You have been in the HR tech space for more than 20 years, and I’m just curious, you talked a little bit about the pandemic and the changes that brought about, but what else has changed? What’s the biggest change that you think you’ve seen in the last few decades as far as how companies are thinking about enabling their workforces and just tech in general for HR?

Dan Riley:

Yeah, I mean a couple of things. I think, number one, we’ve said for many years and organizations have said for many years, “People are our greatest asset.” But the reality is, work wasn’t really designed with the human in mind. Work was originally designed, if you go back in time, it was an entity to create profit, and people were just a part of making that happen. It wasn’t really designed with the commitment to take care of people, understanding that profitability is an outcome of doing all those other things right. 

I think that transition over the past decade, especially over the past three years, when everything started to speed up, and we started to realize the importance of taking care of our people. I think that commitment to people and truly looking at people as individuals, listening to what matters to them, that’s really where employee experience came from, those moments that matter.

I always use the analogy, it’s like love in a relationship. I could say, “I love you” once a year to my partner, and I’m done, that’s good, I’ve done my part. It isn’t that. It’s the little things that I do that are surprises, that are not expected, that’s actually acting and showing love, not just the grand statements of “I love you.” It’s like telling your employees, “Here’s our purpose statement, here’s our missions, here’s our values,” great, but now they need to feel it every day. I think organizations are more laser-focused on that, and that’s been a big change over the past 10, 20 years.

Alex Larralde:

Absolutely. I saw something recently that I thought was so interesting about culture — culture is every element of how people work. Culture is whether or not you’re on time to meetings. Culture is how many meetings you have. Culture isn’t just about the values and the mission statement, it’s every interaction. 

How do you find HR people responding to this, thinking about this? Do they feel empowered to take this on? Is this something that they alone can bring about this kind of change, or what does that look like?

Dan Riley:

I think HR is doing their best. I think this conversation we’re having, any CHRO, any HR leader would nod their head and say, “Yes, of course. We need to empower our people more, all this.” But again, it’s actually, how do you change things? Change doesn’t happen overnight. 

We set arbitrary timelines for success in organizations. And that’s why HR, I think, stops sometimes and doesn’t follow through. As long as you’re progressing in the right direction, that’s change. Again, I use the analogy, if you were to stare at a flower, you’re not going to watch it bloom, but if you come out in three days, it will be a beautiful bloom. But you have to sort of give it time. HR has to be committed to people, they have to be committed to putting people first, so inverting the pyramid and really putting people at the top of the pyramid versus just, “We have some cool new technology, this is going to make work better for you,” and just adding the 95th HR tech solution to the stack that they’re already using.

Alex Larralde:

Exactly.

Dan Riley:

Most employees are like, “I don’t need another place to log into, another place to go.” I think HR has a big job ahead of them. I think there is a commitment to change, and I’m liking some of the trends that I’m seeing, but we have a lot of work to do.

Alex Larralde:

Absolutely. Speaking of change, I have a fun question for you, because you know the internet is forever.

Dan Riley:

Ooh.

Alex Larralde:

The things we say back in 2002 may show up in a podcast interview, but you did say back in 2002 that HR professionals in their companies are facing a lot of turbulence and that change is meant to be uncomfortable. Here we are, 20-plus years later, change is a constant. Tell me about that. What remains true?

Dan Riley:

I think what remains true is, in any successful change, you never arrive. There is no sort of, “We’re here, we’ve made it.” Change is constantly reimagining, constantly looking forward. It’s funny that I said that — so when was that? 2002, so 20 years ago?

Alex Larralde:

2002.

Dan Riley:

Yeah.

Alex Larralde:

21 years ago.

Dan Riley:

21 years ago, and it’s still uncomfortable. It’s a little sad that I said that, and yet we’re still facing so much turbulence. But I guess on the other hand, that’s normal. I think we’re always going to be — I mean, you get on any airplane, in 20 years from now, it’s still going to have experience, but it will get you there, hopefully.

Alex Larralde:

Absolutely. 

Dan Riley:

In most cases, it does. Turbulence is, you have to be prepared to brace yourself. Think about, again, the pandemic. That was beyond turbulence, and complete disruption, and it was very uncomfortable, but human beings have this incredible power to rise to the occasion when needed. I guess I’m consistent, because I think I’ve been quoted three weeks ago saying a very similar quote.

Alex Larralde:

And wise, because at the end of the day, the only constant is change. With the pace of advancement in technology, everything just happens so much faster now, and what is it, Moore’s Law?

Dan Riley:

Yes.

Alex Larralde:

The reality is we will continue to see change. We don’t know what it’s going to look like. GenAI, for example, this year. I mean, I like to joke that wasn’t on my bingo card for 2023, just a completely disruptive, life-changing technology in everybody’s hands. Tell me about your thoughts on that.

Dan Riley:

Well, number one, to your point, how fast it infiltrated our lives. When anything like that happens so quickly and it already becomes a joke on Saturday Night Live. I’m serious, it happened that fast. Everybody was going to ChatGPT, was experimenting with it. All of a sudden, you had this idea you can write term papers, you can write mission statements, purpose —

Alex Larralde:

Songs.

Dan Riley:

Songs, music. Actually, if we were to talk about music and art, I have some different opinions about that. On the other hand, I see it as an incredible tool, and we have to look at it like that. Now, can we completely trust it yet? No, but can we trust all human beings completely? I mean, we do our best, and it’s imperfect. If it were perfect, I’d be freaked out, honestly, because then it’s perfect in whose eyes? Then, you get into the whole concept of, well, what’s truth? There’s facts, but someone’s truth might be different than another person’s truth based on what they believe in. 

I’m fascinated with generative AI, I think it’s going to change the landscape — if used wisely, if used carefully, responsibly, all the above. I think any company out there thinking about their product five years from now, they do need to be thinking about how it’s going to become a part of that.

Alex Larralde:

I completely agree. Being in marketing myself and having been in tech for the better part of the last 15 years, I think we’re all going to be working for generative AI companies in five years, or if not, a company that has a genAI strategy, and we have to quickly become experts to figure out what all of this means for our customers.

Dan Riley:

We do, and I think real fast on that, too, I think there’s two — and this is not a binary conversation, but there’s kind of two things that can happen with generative AI. We can choose just to blindly trust it and believe this is right, because it feels more authoritative versus going to Google and searching for something. You kind of pick and choose. You’ll actually choose something that looks like it’s more important when you’re searching for anything in Google. With ChatGPT, it just gives you this very well-crafted response back and you say, “I believe that because it’s written like a college professor would write.” Immediately, we just blindly believe it, and I think that’s dangerous.

The other side of what could happen is we just blindly say we don’t believe it because there’s a few things that are wrong. I think either is dangerous. We have to challenge it, we have to help it grow, and we have to help update it. As we know, some of the generative AI is sort of about a year and a half or two years behind in updates, and a lot’s happened in this world in the past two years, a lot’s happened in the past week. Unfortunately, you have to use it, understand what it is, do your homework, your research with it. It is an incredibly powerful tool, and it will change our lives for sure.

Alex Larralde:

We just conducted some research. We asked over 1,000 employees about their sentiments and their level of awareness, fears, insecurities, and we found some really interesting stuff. The reality is employees are using these tools, whether or not their employers sanction it and make them available. That raises some interesting questions. I think companies have to respond really quickly. Is this coming up with your clients? Are you having these conversations now?

Dan Riley:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I was speaking about it in Houston, Austin, maybe Austin —

Alex Larralde:

One of those Texas towns.

Dan Riley:

Yeah, it was in Texas, I was in Texas. It was a pretty big room, about 100 people were in the room, organizations, and my question was, “How many of you use it and will continue to use it?” Every single person in the room raised their hand. Then, we went around and kind of had a few people explain how they’re using it, and everyone had a very different way they’re using it. Yeah, I mean, whether it’s sanctioned or not, it’s just becoming a part of how we work. Again, I think it’s a tool that helps speed things up. We don’t want to get overly reliant on it. I think using your own voice is really important, and that’s where I get a little worried, just sort of — this sounds like it’s well-crafted and written, and I’m going to use this, and that’s just the generative side of AI. Anyway, I’d love to see us use it a little more as a tool and not just as a replacement for thought. Again, there’s worries where I get nervous about it, but ultimately I’m a huge fan of where it’s going to take us.

Alex Larralde:

I love that. I completely agree. I want to switch gears a little bit and ask you about your companies — RADICL now, but then you also co-founded another company, called Modern Survey, with your brother.

Dan Riley:

Yes.

Alex Larralde:

Tell me about that. Tell me about how that came to be.

Dan Riley:

Yeah. Well, and my brother is also the co-founder of RADICL, too.

Alex Larralde:

Right. Yes.

Dan Riley:

Yeah, so we’ve pretty much done — a lot of people talk about working with siblings, and he and I have always been best friends.

Alex Larralde:

I love that.

Dan Riley:

He’s two and a half years older than me, if he’s listening.

Alex Larralde:

Oh, yeah. I’m really close to my baby sister, myself.

Dan Riley:

But right after school, I was a little behind him, when we both graduated, we started bands, and we played in bands together for 10 years. We dropped out of life together, I mean jokingly, before we founded Modern Survey, and just put out records and toured. Whether it’s been art, creation, building a company, ultimately it’s about creating something and challenging each other. We’re a good balance for each other. He’s a little more organized, a little more thoughtful, I bring a little more of the just —

Alex Larralde:

You’re the ideas guy.

Dan Riley:

He’s the ideas guy, too. I bring a little more of the chaos to the equation, and I mean that in a healthy way.

Alex Larralde:

Yes. The agent of chaos.

Dan Riley:

I’m very confident and‌ bring heart into anything we do. Pat’s just, he knows how to really think through it, organize it and prioritize. Between the two of us, we’re kind of a nice fit, and it’s worked, and I can’t imagine not doing something with him.

Alex Larralde:

I love that. I think that’s so cool. You’re both musicians, so I’m going to ask you a completely not HR-related question.

Dan Riley:

Oh, I love — I mean, HR is just one piece of my life, right?

Alex Larralde:

Yeah. We’re multidimensional beings.

Dan Riley:

Yes.

Alex Larralde:

Album that changed your life?

Dan Riley:

An album that changed my life? You know what? I can’t remember how old I was, probably 12, was an album by the band Rush, “2112.”

Alex Larralde:

Yes, I know that album well.

Dan Riley:

That changed my life. When I heard that record — I was a huge Led Zeppelin band already, and The Who, and I loved it — but I heard “2112, “and I think it was because of doing the time signatures, it was challenging to listen to. I loved how heavy it was, it was moody and it was unique, and obviously the singing, you either hate it or you love it. I loved it. Rush ended up becoming one of my favorite bands ever since that record, but that changed my life musically for sure.

Alex Larralde:

I love that. I’m a big fan of Rush. My dad’s a big fan. Shout out to my dad, Jim, if you ever listen to this. Thanks for introducing me to Rush. Great band.

Dan Riley:

I think I ended up seeing them many times in concert, always fun.

Alex Larralde:

Oh, cool. I saw them once.

Dan Riley:

You saw them once?

Alex Larralde:

With REO Speedwagon of all bands.

Dan Riley:

Oh, really?

Alex Larralde:

Yeah.

Dan Riley:

Interesting. Interesting opener.

Alex Larralde:

Very random. It was great.

Dan Riley:

Yeah, well, they’re a good example, I think, of anything you do in life, you put heart into it and you’re decent and good people. That band always seemed like they just did their own thing. They played music because they loved music, they loved challenging the status quo, it wasn’t about the lifestyle of being a rock star, and now they’re, I mean, retired and done, and they look back on their career and there’s a lot of respect there. Whether you’re an HR company or whatever it is, you put everything you have into it, you live and breathe in that, and then there’s just more respect to go around.

Alex Larralde:

Kind of related to music, and I love how this is all intersecting with HR and challenging the status quo, but what did you find more challenging? Of all the things that you’ve done in your life, which you’ve had a lot of different careers: starting a company, creating music, or producing a film, what’s the most challenging?

Dan Riley:

Well, all right, first of all, they all come with their own set of challenges, and they’re all interrelated to some degree, and they all have a commitment to storytelling, and now let me explain what I mean by that. Creating a business isn’t — there’s always a story around why you’re doing what you’re doing and there’s an arc to your story. In a movie, there’s an arc to the film, right? There’s characters that come in and out, and ultimately you’re trying to leave the audience or the viewers with — or a song you’re writing — something that moves them and is meaningful for them and you want them to listen to it again. 

Same thing with starting a business, you want to build a business that someone cares enough about, a technology, to use again. As far as what’s more challenging, I mean I’m going to have to say, probably creating a business, only because the lifespan of that is very long, and it becomes a part of you, wake up and you work all day.

Music is challenging, but I find it’s more focused. You can really focus on art, and with the business, there’s so much to think about, so it’s just more moving pieces. On the other hand, my brother, he might argue that producing, typically been executive producer, he’s been producer for the films we’ve done. Executive producer can be a little higher level and coming with ideas and kind of screenings, and the producer sort of manages all the details, so he might say producing a movie is just as hard. He probably would. 

But I would say they all share certain skills. I’d say one of those skills are the people around you, whether it’s your bandmates, whether it’s your team and the organization you work with, or whether the team you put together in making a film, you can’t do it alone. You have to be willing to delegate, and you have to be willing to listen to those around you. I mean, even if you’re a director or it’s your idea, the best ideas come out of multiple people working together.

Alex Larralde:

It’s so true. At the end of the day, a company is comprised of people. Sure, you can certainly do things on your own, but to accomplish your goals, you need everybody bought in and you need everybody empowered, enabled, and supported because it does take everybody, right?

Dan Riley:

It does, and for that to happen, we talk a lot about the whole-person experience and being able to bring your authentic self into work, and the way you do that is you have to create a safe environment. A safe environment means your voice matters, and you can say things that might be a little uncomfortable, and you can share how you’re feeling or how you’re doing. I think that’s the way you bring people together is, you have to create culture where individuals can show up who they are, so kind of “hear me, see me, this is what matters to me.” I’m a big believer in connecting individual values and purpose to organizational values and purpose, and how do you find those intersections.

Alex Larralde:

That’s how you get the best work, right?

Dan Riley:

Absolutely.

Alex Larralde:

That’s how you get the results.

Dan Riley:

Absolutely. That’s how you inspire people to bring their best, and that’s how organizations ultimately succeed.

Alex Larralde:

I love that. Well, Dan, it has been such a pleasure to have you here, and I’m so glad you stopped by to talk.

Dan Riley:

It’s been my pleasure. I love what you guys are doing at Betterworks.

Alex Larralde:

Yeah. Speaking of genAI, some cool new capabilities, streamlining things, making it easier for managers to provide feedback, which if it’s easier, they’ll probably do more of it, which is good, right?

Dan Riley:

That is very, very good. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Alex Larralde:

In the wake of the pandemic, organizations were confronted with the imperative to embrace radical change, not just incremental adjustments. RADICL, born out of this necessity, thrives on the commitment to make work truly better for the people it serves. Through his work, Dan discovered that the significance of genuine care for employees becomes evident. He highlighted the need for organizations to continue fostering a culture where leaders genuinely care about their people, ensuring that the question “How are you doing?” goes beyond mere small talk and becomes a cornerstone of a thriving workplace culture.

Here’s what you can do at your organization to make this a reality. First, prioritize employee experience. Are you genuinely creating an environment where individuals feel seen, heard, and valued? Assess and identify areas for improvement. 

Second, embrace change with purpose. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that change is inevitable. We may be leveling off post-pandemic, but turbulence will happen again. Dan called it back in 2002, so embrace change purposefully, ensuring that it aligns with the well-being and growth of your workforce. Foster a mindset that sees change as an opportunity for positive transformation.

Lastly, encourage a culture of open communication. Create an environment where open communication is not just encouraged, but embedded in the organizational DNA. Leaders and employees should feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, concerns, and ideas. As you embark on these initiatives, remember that change is a journey, and fostering a positive workplace culture is an ongoing effort. This idea is universal and applicable to whatever direction your career may take. As Dan illustrated, whether you are a musician, a filmmaker, or a corporate business leader, having a great team that works together is essential. We can’t do it alone.

Be sure to stay tuned for our next episode of The People Fundamentals podcast. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google to find out what’s in store. If you like what you hear, share us with your friends and colleagues. We’ll see you again soon.

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