I'll take it away. Thank you so very much for the introduction and for this amazing topic, I'm uh really passionate about um the the many layers of um areas under mental health and taking care of employees.And this is a little bit of a provocative title if you will maybe controversial in terms of, you know, why you should give your cell phone number to 1314 100 people as we have now in talent. Um but, you know, it has um had a fair amount of debate and I'm gonna come back to in a, in a couple of minutes. Why I do give my cell phone out? I think at the core of really what I want to discuss today is um really my personal philosophy and approach to leadership and how it translates for me, at least into building lasting, enduring and really meaningful businesses, whether it's a, a business within a company or an entire company.

Um like we have here at talent. And for me, it really starts by centering the conversation around a, a question which is what does it really mean to care for your people and to put people first, as we hear that a lot, and I think, defining what that means and thinking about how that comes to life is really important.

And so that's really at the heart of this. And uh because in my opinion, um in my experience, building and enduring and lasting business and one that's meaningful, the answers to that or some of the answers at least lies in how you define caring for your people. So maybe to give you a little bit of background as, as you mentioned, um I'm a first time CEO and um I have a few first, like everyone does when you're going into new roles, but I happen to have first at really interesting times like right before the pandemic, which is great timing for me.

Um But, you know, not uncommon because my first early days in sales actually was right after 911 and there is something to um adversity and going through trials and tribulations that um I'm gonna come back to as well because I do think that these are really um material learning points and things that you really learn about yourself.

But it certainly put me to the test here in everything that I believe. And probably like most of you when you go into something new, whether it's a new role, a new career or, you know, any new area personally or professionally. I and you probably as well come in with a plan and I had a very intentional plan here at talent. And I really wanted to um put a lot of emphasis on developing the culture and really um nurturing from the inside out of this organization. And at the heart of my plan, it wasn't just about, you know, of course, there's business goals and there's financial targets, that's an obvious, but it really is first and foremost about the people and the culture and what I wanted every employee and, but I still want every single employee to experience and to feel and to think when they're working at talent, it is very important to me to understand the emotional um kind of aspects of what an experience is like at an organization and working on things that are important to you.

So just as a, a little bit of a setup, I started um at talent, like I said, first time CEO at the beginning of uh 2020. So now I'm a year and a half in. Um there are some really important inflection points that have happened in my life that I'll share with you that I think will set the stage for why I believe what I believe. And um a little bit of background that'll um give you some um some grounding in the things that I've developed about um really about just taking care of people and what it means to have a um a really strong understanding of emotional mindset. So there's two and there's many more. But there's two important inflection points in my life. And I'm sure again, this is not uncommon. Everyone has these experiences that, um, drive, um, you know, changes in you or reinforce things that you feel strongly convicted about or can have strong convictions about. And for me, um, one happened kind of in my formative years and, um, you know, just like many um, kids, do you go through different experiences in your childhood?

Mine happened to be one, um, where I grew up on a farm, um, and kind of like the farm to table stuff you see now. Well, it was really that it was a, just, it was just a plot of land, um, in a trailer, um, with no running water and no electricity, no door plumbing. And, um, and I'm old but I'm not that old. So it's, um, it's something that, um, pretty much, um, most of, um, you know, everyone that I knew certainly had those, um, um, necessities I would, I would say. And, um, during those times, during those really difficult times it formed, um, something really deep inside of me about, uh, what it means to be resilient, which I think is really important, um, aspect and attribute for you to look for in, um, you know, building in your team and thinking about how you go through adversity and it's hard.

But is it really teaching you something and what can you take from it? And in my experiences, it was really about, um at that moment in time developing a mindset, developing something in me that said, I have a choice. I can't control every circumstance that's facing me. I can't control every single outcome. But I do have a choice about how I'm gonna think about it. And that to me was grounding and rooted me in something that I deeply believe right at this moment. And from that time that that happened back at the age of 10 years old that said, um, you know, you can either succumb to your circumstances and to what other people say that you're capable of or you can rise to the occasion and use it as really just a stepping stone. And on the other side of it, realize just how capable and how strong we are. These things that I learned, not only taught me a lot about myself, but taught me a lot about how to think about going through hard times and it taught me a lot about, um just the human aspects of how to think about when other people are going through hard times that made me, um, have very strong convictions about what kind of leader I wanted to be.

I had no idea at that time that I would be in, in this, in this seat. But it's really important to me and it's never lost on me that people go through hard times. And if you put people first you need to really understand that people have a lot of, a lot of other things going on outside of their job. And that's very important to me. So the second thing that happened happened in my career and I worked for an amazing organization called uh Concur Concur Technologies, if you're familiar with it, and it was an organization that had so many amazing learnings. But one of the things that um really taught me um empathy and how to take care of a whole employee is the leadership and really how they showed up how they treated people, not just in what they said they were gonna do, but what they actually did and what they put actions around um Steve Sing, who was one of the founders of concur changed my life and change and along with um other executives there, but Steve Sing in particular changed my life in uh many moments in time.

But one in particular when I had a ill daughter who had a brain tumor and had uh a very generous offer to take help, take care of um some of the medical bills that we had. If the insurance didn't pay for it, it there, I was an individual contributor. There was literally no reason um for him to need to do that. There was nothing for him to um really benefit from that other than he wanted to take care of his people. And there was example, after example of ways that that company really set a new rail for me about living a big life and taking care of people inside and outside the organization. It became something that I be um uh developed to me that said this is a very important thing and once you see it, you cannot unsee it. And this is something that I wanna recreate somewhere. Um If I ever get the chance and that's exactly what my plan was built on. Creating an environment of these experiences I had where not everything was perfect. It's not about perfection. It's about how you handle circumstances. Um Not everything is about, um you know, finding the smartest people, it's about finding people that have an amazing mindset where employees do their best when you can treat them, um as people as authentic human beings that come to work and some days have good days and some days have bad days and when you can create a path and a vision that really helps people have a, a reason to get up in the morning and feel like they're making a difference.

Those things became really clear to me and obvious about what really runs a company. People run a company. It doesn't matter what goods or services or manufacturing you do at the end of the day until computers take over, people run companies and we get caught up in a lot of the things around it. But we forget sometimes that really, it just comes down to the people. And so here at talent, I want to create a path. I want to create a vision. I want to bring that to life. I wanted people to experience, as I said before, the things that I have experienced because it's such an amazing feeling. So COVID hits and political unrest and any number of things and we're all wearing masks and I've never met 90% of this team. What it did is it forced me to put things into action. It created a new level of urgency and responsibility. It forced me immediately in my role to put into action, the things that I believed very deeply. And I do think that it was an, an opportunity for me to um step into this role and to learn a lot just as I had when other um trying times had happened and, you know, to do some things that ultimately, I think will make this organization and hopefully the people stronger and better in the near and long term.

So some of the things that we did and I'm gonna get back to how my cell phone number comes into this. Um Some of the things we did was just really dissolve that fourth wall, like get to know people at the core of this. People are just humans. People are, you know, have, like I said, good days and bad days they show up, I believe deeply in not just diversity but authentic authenticity. I want you for exactly who you are and I don't want you to be like anyone else because we already have one of you. And that's all that I want is one is a person individually to show up anywhere in the world feeling that they can just be themselves. We increased our communication frequency, um We in different forums, we did a lot of things that I'm sure other companies did. And some of the things that I think are really unique is I um have a very strong team that supports me in mental health, emotional intelligence and emotional health became one of our, our pillars in terms of emotional health, financial health and physical health and be able to support that with seminars and services, but just talk about it and have an open forum and really think about how do people feel right now what's going on in their life?

We're now invited into everyone's home, you know. So now it's almost like we're in this different dimension. And the reality for me is this when I think about employees, I think about them less about um an employee or a role that they have in particular. First, I think about the fact that when they walk in the door, I know that the rest of their responsibilities don't fall away. So whether you're sitting down at your computer because you're virtual or whether you physically walk in an office door, we're we've got responsibilities inside and outside the organization. And as a working mom, my whole life, working from home, by the way, I know that you're juggling a number of things. And for me, the approach that we took was embracing that and that just happened to be COVID. That was COVID in a nutshell, I believe. And we demonstrated or, you know, attempt to demonstrate every single day, we want to support our employees in a way that they can have a big life, their entire um inside and outside this company, the entire person that they are authentic, um bringing the best of themselves.

Again, not perfection. I have good and bad days and I'm extremely transparent about the fact that I'm gonna mess up. I'm gonna do some things that um maybe I wish I, I could have done better or that I maybe was off in a given day. But what I do know is by demonstrating and actioning the things that I'm asking from other people and living the things regardless of the role that you're in living the, the authentic and um connected emotional and having experiences in a company. I know that all of that is really important. And from my, my perspective, one of the things that I did from the day that I walked in, but further reinforced um during COVID in terms of something that I just feel very strongly about is I break down any barriers that I can and this will come back to the cell phone number.

I don't believe in hierarchies. I do not believe in um the, you know, there's a protocol for the way that you're how um how accessible you are. I do not believe in a corner office. I literally moved my office down to the floor where all the action was going on because I don't want to be in a corner office. That was the few months that I was in the office. And really at the end of the day, the truest form of what I could express in saying this is first and foremost about us, this is about us coming together with a common goal, understanding that we're gonna have good days and bad days knowing that no matter where you're at in the world, we have comp um employees all over the world and about 23 different locations around the globe, no matter where you're at or what your circumstances, we've got you, we've got your back and we know that you have a lot going on and there's going to be good and bad days, especially now.

But that if you ever need anything, you can call my cell phone. And that's been something that I live by. And again, it's a little bit of a controversial topic because people think, well, that makes you very accessible to the point of you must be getting overwhelmed with calls. Well, I unfortunately don't get as much as many phone calls as I'd like to get. Um, but I think it's really important to demonstrate in action, the things that you say are important to you. So, look, our progress so far a year and a half in it hasn't been perfect. As I said, we've made, I've made mistakes, we've made mistakes and, um, that's actually necessary and good. And, um, I think that that's something that, um, just goes to show that we're all human. But the pandemic definitely underscored the importance of setting a tone and setting a rail at the, at the, you know, whatever level, it doesn't matter if you're in the co role or if you're an individual contributor, no matter what, you lead a team of hundreds of thousands of people, it's important to show up in the way, um, to, to really be able to allow people to be themselves and to be authentic.

And so I'm gonna tell you this, um, one last thing that, um, may surprise you, you know, no matter, um how crazy it may seem to give out your cell phone number to, you know, 1400 people. Now we have here, um, at talent as the CEO. What's really interesting is I think I get more out of giving out my phone number than, um, people realize the n the conversations I have the way that I um am able to develop relationships, especially when you can't go see people all the things that come from building um and understanding um about the human being and the things that are important to them and the things that are excited they get excited about.

That's what all of this is for, in my opinion. And in, for me, I'm here to bring an incredible group of people together to take collective energy that is individual and authentic, put it together in a common way and let them live not only a really great life, but one that they can feel very proud of that, they can leave a legacy behind because they've had amazing experiences.

And it's not to say it's gonna be perfect and it's not to say it's not gonna be hard. But in those times where I get a chance to get that energy and I get that one on one with people. It's really an amazing experience and it, for me will remain something that I'll always do and I'll always stand by because that connection with people um whether again, in person is awesome, but in these circumstances, especially being accessible, but also being able to have access to these amazing individuals is really what it's all about.

And for me, I hope some of the things that I've just shared. Um Even if it's one thing that maybe you um can plug in to the way that you think about um interacting with the team or leading a team, I hope will be something that you could take away from this and, um, look at it as an opportunity and maybe you'll share your phone number as well.

I don't know. But, um, however, it works for you. It's been an amazing experience for me and I'll, I'll never stop doing it. So my cell phone's on and it's open and ready for business.

Thanks, Crystal. Well done. And you're such a good energy and story to end off our day here. So you're our last speaker I know is in all time zones because we've got many who joined us in the morning who are probably well already, I

mean, oh, it's been a great, it's been a great day. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you for joining us and, and rounding off our very first big full day of the. So

see you soon. See you later. Take care.