It’s quite an understatement to say the last couple of years have been difficult for those leading organizations. This was true from hospitals to schools to software companies. Between the pandemic, the great resignation, the massive small business pivot to new technologies, and volatility in software valuations, leaders have a lot on their plates.

So why not bring some leaders in local up on stage to talk about how they got through it, and what they learned? That’s just what we did this morning with C-suite leaders from MatchCraft, Hibu, Scorpion, and Reputation.

A major focus of the discussion was managing the pivot from an office-based culture to a hybrid or fully remote model.

Key Takeaways

Here are some highlights from the conversation.

• The pandemic has fundamentally shifted employees’ attitudes about work. Many employees have no interest in returning to the office. And more are open to working as contractors for maximum flexibility. However, as Reputation CEO Joe Fuca noted, interest in working at home vs office often had more to do with how covid-restrictive an area was. Arizona was one thing. Chicago was another.
• Managing employees in a remote setting is very challenging, especially for younger employees. For example, MatchCraft CEO Sandy Lohr said she set up a virtual mentoring/buddy system to help younger team members get plugged in and engaged in a remote setting.
• All of the companies on stage have recently been through M&A, either on the buy or the sell-side. Each panelist offered a take on this. Hibu CEO Kevin Jasper warned that it’s an “intense process” and “a lot of work” to get through a sale. Sandy Lohr said her biggest challenge was managing the emotions of those employees who were not informed of the sale until it was completed. While necessary for continuity, this leads to hard feelings among those not kept in the know. “We had to rebuild trust.” And Julia from Scorpion said the most important factors were cultural and values alignment and having a clearly defined integration process.

Leadership Roundtable

Great leaders often come into their own in the face of adversity. And the past couple of years have brought out the best in these leaders and the organizations they lead. Through mergers, acquisitions, funding, and pivots, our panelists share and bare all with up and coming leaders in local.

Kevin Jasper, CEO – Hibu
Sandy Lohr, CEO – Matchcraft
Joe Fuca, CEO – Reputation
Julia Cook, CXO – Scorpion