Session: Why you should give your cell phone number to 1,300 people
Christal Bemont became a first-time CEO of Talend, a global company, in January 2020, right before COVID-19 turned into a pandemic. Coming into this role, she knew mental health was something she wanted to prioritize as a leader. Still, the pandemic, social unrest, and economic uncertainty forced her to put her words into action – and fast. Working with employees across the globe and different cultures meant Christal needed to be flexible, so she gave all 1,300 employees her personal cell phone number to call her day or night with any problem. Christal brought in Healthy Minds Innovation for intentional mental health seminars, resulting in 90% of employees feeling well supported and connected to the business. Christal let her employees run with passion projects, like monitoring the integrity of COVID-19 datasets, to help them avoid burnout. In this session, Christal will address how she navigated this experience, recognizing and tackling employee burnout. Her top takeaways as an authentic leader and personal anecdotes from working with employees on an individual level.
Bio
Christal Bemont is the Chief Executive Officer of Talend, Inc. She joins Talend as a seasoned executive with a demonstrated track record in defining and leading sales and go-to-market strategies to significantly scale cloud businesses. Previously, she spent 15 years at SAP Concur, most recently leading its $2B business organization as Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to her CRO appointment, Christal was Senior Vice President and General Manager of SAP Concur’s Small, Midsized and Nationals (SMN) business unit. Early in her career, Christal served in multiple capacities focused on operational and technical roles at Motorola, Extensity, and Clarify.