Unlock Search
New placement! Mike Gibbens was named Head of Sales at Sivil, an early-stage SAAS startup revolutionizing how law enforcement and communities connect. The platform has been adopted by major metropolitan clients and law enforcement groups across the US.
We also completed a Board Member search for Birthright AFRICA, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting youth and young adults of African descent to their cultural roots, legacy of innovation, and the successes & struggles of their ancestors by way of a life-changing trip to Africa. New board members include: Yaneris Rosa, VP of Business Affairs at WWE, Alexis Feaster, CEO at Kinship Advisors, Danei Cesario, Adjunct Professor at Yale, and Dana Reed, Founder & CEO at Nyansapo Impact Capital.
Unlock Executive Network
Unlock Access is Live! On May 1st we welcomed our initial Beta Group to the Unlock Access platform. Our membership service has been available to Unlock Executive Members for months but with the launch of Access, we can now provide the community aspect of Unlock we’ve always envisioned. In addition to connecting with peer executives, Access members have participated in:
- Ask Me Anything
- Micro-Coaching Virtual Sessions
- Core 4 Informational Series
- Fireside Chats and Expert Insight webinars.
The Beta period will run through the end of August with new enhancements and member experiences added throughout. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to those Beta members who have contributed their feedback and interaction thus far!! Membership information is available here.
Unlock Growth
Jared and Le Anne will host a workshop with Plug and Play, a startup accelerator and venture firm based in Silicon Valley. Attendees will include current founders growing and scaling their businesses. Going from zero to one is hard. Letting go of control is hard. To grow and scale, startups need to find great talent, give them a compelling hiring experience, and then empower them to win. Key topics include:
- Recruiting: where to look, knowing your employer brand, selling the vision
- Onboarding: stakeholders, culture, defining success, remote strategies
- Letting Go: earning and giving trust, what and how to delegate the founder’s job
Unlock partnered with Pebble Post to deliver a workshop on “Understanding Yourself: DISC and Emotional Intelligence” in Dallas (where we also caught the total eclipse!). Next up in this year-long People Managers Training series is Communication and Conflict Management. Companies that invest in developing their People Managers are shoring up the foundations necessary for growth and scaling, so we applaud PebblePost for their proactive approach.
We’re deeply entrenched in a 6-month Talent Acquisition transformation for Southwest Gas. The collaboration kicked off earlier this month and includes everything from hiring process optimization and company-wide change management to hiring manager training and building a centralized recruiting resource hub. The new approach to talent acquisition leverages Korn Ferry’s Leadership Architect competencies which have a through line into professional development and performance reviews.
Unlock Events
Happy Hours
Over the past 3 months, we have hosted Happy Hours in Dallas, Washington DC, and NYC. These were excellent events to connect with Unlock founding members and great environments for feedback to continue growing and improving our experience for members.
New York was notably a highlight, bringing together multiple communities. Members included CMO’s, Chief People Officers, Heads of Talent, Investors, and a few Founders. There will be much much more to come for Unlock in-person events.
Harvard Business Publishing DEI Symposium
To kick off June, the Unlock founding team was fortunate to receive an invitation to attend the inaugural HBP DEI Symposium hosted at HBS. The two-day event brought together an energized group of executives and we heard from professors and practitioners at the forefront of DEI-focused research and policy change on a national and global scale. Here are three takeaways from the Unlock team.
- DEI is not dead: The symposium featured one of the first Chief Diversity Officers and their peers who’ve been leading this work for decades. They’ve been fighting for equality in the workplace long before the more recent surge of awareness. DEI may not earn the headlines or financial commitments we saw following George Floyd, but progress is still being made. It’s time to be more vocal about that progress and the wins, not just the frustration about the work that still needs to be done.
- Focusing on business results isn’t producing DEI results: There was a serious debate on winning over business leaders and securing budgets to drive DEI by tying the ROI to revenue generation. While most agree this approach has merit, it isn’t driving the results we need. The conversation has to be bigger and 1:1 connections are more important than ever.
- Where are all the allies?: White males still disproportionately hold the keys to decision-making that can impact the efficacy of DEI work. We need more of them to step up and be advocates for change. “Vulnerability” was a word that stuck out to us. Like it or not we need to create room for mistakes and acceptance of potential allies if we want them to take a step forward. Bring them into the fold and find common ground wherever it presents itself.
New York Tech Week
Jared and Le Anne were energized and motivated by fellow founders, investors, and operators at New York Tech Week in early June. Highlights included:
- Zeal Capital Partners Founder Breakfast (attended by Jared): and the Female Founders Breakfast (attended by Le Anne).
- AI: A hot topic all week, from its impact on journalism and news to product leaders from Asana, Zoom, and Okta discussing enhancing the human experience using AI.
TroopHR’s Annual Retreat
Held at the gorgeous Ritz-Carlton Naples, HR leaders from across the country gathered for connection and restoration. Keynotes by Drum Café North America and authors Mita Malick and Lan Phan were energizing and thought-provoking. The daily breakout sessions varied, targeting different HR sub-specialties. The beachfront space and world-class food were soul-satisfying.
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