Season 2, Episode 3: Breaking Business Culture Boundaries
Guest Anessa Fike has been an entrepreneur for the last five years and has rooted her business firmly in the HR, Talent, and People Operations fields. She often works with tech companies as small as 12 people and as big as thousands to find the right people for the job. Her company, Fike + Co, has recently expanded so Anessa finally has a team behind her!
Host Jordan Lacenski is the founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Brandboss Creative, and co-founder of SheWolf Collaborative.
Host: Jordan Lacenski
Guest: Anessa Fike
Show Notes:
5:43 - “Has that ever happened to you? Where you’ve worked really hard on something and then… now I can’t.” – Jordan gives us some background on changes in the podcast and getting through some last-minute production woes.
9:02 - “I want to do this thing that’s anti-tradition.” – Anessa talks about how she broke into an industry (HR) that’s very established, but also already innovating to do new things. She’s innovating her own version of human resources, which she learned in her time with the Motley Fool and Disrupt HR, which specializes in People Operations and supporting humans in business.
12:09 - “I was like, this is what I’ve been looking for! This is what I had in my brain and I wanted to develop, but it’s already here. And so, I added to it.” – Anessa on learning about Disrupt HR and growing that network throughout the US.
14:22 - “It’s really rewarding to me because I get connections from different areas from people that are engaged in moving People Operations forward.” – Anessa talks about finding camaraderie with other industry entrepreneurs, and how companies benefit from operating from a people-centered mindset.
17:30 - “I think that companies are less scared now to take a stance.” – Jordan and Anessa discuss their perspective on how the current culture has influenced recent media events, like the Colin Kaepernick Nike and Ulta ads.
19:10 - “Did you come to me because I’m in this box, or because I have this experience?” – Jordan and Anessa talk about the challenges of being a female entrepreneur and how to be confident in your business skill.
21:47 - “What the Fike!” – Real talk about the things Jordan and Anessa wish they had known before starting their businesses. Today’s segment talks about being a woman in their industries and negotiating money and pay for their work.
29:58 - “I would say the first two years I was in business was a lot of WTF stuff.” – Anessa and Jordan remembering the “shit, I learned that the hard way” moments that stand out in their business experiences
32:54 – “The startup life is so up and down.” – Anessa talks about how she’s learned to protect herself and her business in dealing with different clients of all sizes and budgets.
37:36 - “You can do so much with the culture.” – Jordan and Anessa talk about just how important corporate culture is in keeping employees feeling valued, appreciated, and loyal to the business.
Links:
Fike + Co: https://fikeandco.com/
She Wolf Collaborative: https://shewolfco.co/
Brandboss Creative: https://www.brandbosscreative.com/
Also mentioned:
Disrupt HR: https://disrupthr.co/
The Motley Fool: https://www.fool.com/
Quotes:
“The three or four things that make a great culture and make people loyal to a company are: I’m going to come do this thing with people that I love, I’m going to showcase my strengths, I’m going to have people there I love doing it with, and I’m doing it for a purpose. I think if anybody has those things, they’re going to be so much more engaged and less likely to leave a company.” - Anessa Fike
“The perks aren’t the culture. And so, you have to figure out, as your employees grow, your company is going to grow and culture will change. Culture is a living, breathing ting that you have to keep a constant pulse on because it’s made up of humans, and no human is going to go to work in the same mindset every day.” - Anessa Fike