WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.089 --> 00:00:02.699 Mickey McManus: What was a crucible moment for you as a leader? 00:00:03.129 --> 00:00:05.919 It's something that forced you to change or forced you to look at 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:07.419 things differently as a leader. 00:00:09.889 --> 00:00:14.959 Bradley Strock: When we, when we separated from eBay, that announcement 00:00:14.965 --> 00:00:19.640 caused a lot of change with people leaving, and it gave me an opportunity 00:00:20.209 --> 00:00:25.854 to be asked, to be CIO, which, sounded great and it was best job I ever had. 00:00:26.364 --> 00:00:31.519 But after I said yes, my boss, who is the CFO said, well, that's great! 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:33.889 You've got nine months to split the company. 00:00:34.744 --> 00:00:38.164 And, I said, well, did anybody, sit down and figure 00:00:38.164 --> 00:00:39.274 out how long it should take? 00:00:39.274 --> 00:00:40.504 And, no, no. 00:00:40.624 --> 00:00:42.364 Uh, that's just how long we have. 00:00:42.639 --> 00:00:42.904 Mickey McManus: Wow. 00:00:42.954 --> 00:00:46.174 Bradley Strock: It was pretty obvious it should take at least twice that long. 00:00:46.684 --> 00:00:51.024 And, while I had done a lot of, mergers, I hadn't done a large split. 00:00:51.024 --> 00:00:55.769 And what I quickly realized is that we were on the critical path to the IPO which 00:00:55.769 --> 00:01:00.869 is not a comfortable place to be, can't do a tax-free spin unless you've demonstrated 00:01:00.874 --> 00:01:02.339 that you've actually split the company. 00:01:02.339 --> 00:01:06.419 No one can tell you at what point is enough, is enough to demonstrate that. 00:01:06.419 --> 00:01:11.059 So you're very much in the crucible of events, and so 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:15.379 figuring out how to accomplish some sort of the impossible task. 00:01:16.084 --> 00:01:20.094 And, how to do that while mitigating risks was, an incredible learning 00:01:20.094 --> 00:01:22.524 opportunity that I don't want to do again. 00:01:22.524 --> 00:01:24.754 But I learned a lot about that. 00:01:25.004 --> 00:01:26.294 Mickey McManus: How did it change you as a leader? 00:01:26.444 --> 00:01:30.299 Bradley Strock: Well, in a lot of ways, the importance of thinking about outcomes, 00:01:30.299 --> 00:01:35.504 which we just talked about, which even if they're very seemingly mundane. 00:01:35.504 --> 00:01:39.194 You've got 25,000 mailboxes to move. 00:01:39.254 --> 00:01:42.914 How many do you have to do per day to get there and be done? 00:01:43.274 --> 00:01:47.064 And also the importance of, providing air cover for your team. 00:01:47.064 --> 00:01:49.734 So I went around to all the senior leaders and said, this 00:01:49.734 --> 00:01:50.844 is what we're up against. 00:01:50.844 --> 00:01:53.994 We gotta build new corporate network, we gotta move these data centers. 00:01:54.004 --> 00:01:56.854 Once they recognized the reality of that and a little bit scared, 00:01:57.124 --> 00:01:59.104 everyone asked, well, how can we help? 00:01:59.554 --> 00:02:04.644 And my answer was, there will thing be things that go wrong 00:02:04.644 --> 00:02:05.514 that go bump in the night. 00:02:05.514 --> 00:02:07.014 We'll fix them quickly. 00:02:07.384 --> 00:02:11.889 But I need you to show grace and not beat up the team because we're 00:02:11.889 --> 00:02:13.510 up against this impossible task. 00:02:13.510 --> 00:02:16.559 And so at the time I didn't realize how important that was. 00:02:16.559 --> 00:02:19.930 It had turned out in hindsight to be very important in terms of 00:02:19.934 --> 00:02:21.790 the level of support that we got. 00:02:22.119 --> 00:02:25.680 And then I'd say the third one is just, giving people opportunities that they 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:30.060 wouldn't normally have sort of those battlefield promotions how you give 00:02:30.060 --> 00:02:34.980 someone that responsibility that maybe is in normal times you would say they're 00:02:34.980 --> 00:02:39.450 not ready for and how you then support them so that they're successful with that, 00:02:39.450 --> 00:02:41.310 so that they don't, they don't fail. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:44.980 So those were, those were some of that's important. 00:02:45.370 --> 00:02:45.640 Yeah. 00:02:45.700 --> 00:02:47.500 And always, always have a retreat path. 00:02:47.500 --> 00:02:51.715 That was one of our principles too, that, you're doing a conversion a big thing. 00:02:52.044 --> 00:02:55.834 You always want to have a way to come to walk back if something goes wrong. 00:02:56.214 --> 00:02:56.485 Mickey McManus: Yeah. 00:02:56.795 --> 00:03:00.065 I think these sometimes impossible challenges when you suddenly have to 00:03:00.065 --> 00:03:01.865 rise up to do this impossible challenge. 00:03:02.315 --> 00:03:07.190 I think there's this, the leader creates the amazing team that pulls that off. 00:03:07.190 --> 00:03:09.260 The amazing team creates the leader too. 00:03:09.330 --> 00:03:11.159 It's a feedback loop in both directions. 00:03:11.209 --> 00:03:11.989 Sigal, how about you? 00:03:11.989 --> 00:03:13.729 A crucible moment or something that 00:03:13.890 --> 00:03:14.379 Sigal Zarmi: Yeah. 00:03:14.384 --> 00:03:18.019 Mickey McManus: That really, forced you to grow or change as a leader? 00:03:18.504 --> 00:03:21.774 Sigal Zarmi: I think the, the big thing for me that I can think of is 00:03:21.774 --> 00:03:29.934 that, I moved my family to London with two small kids two months before 9/11 00:03:29.954 --> 00:03:35.614 and the project that I was running in Europe, got canceled a month after 9/11. 00:03:36.989 --> 00:03:44.199 So three months in, I was in a foreign country with no job, and had to look 00:03:44.529 --> 00:03:48.994 for a new opportunity, while I was working, for, for GE that happened 00:03:49.234 --> 00:03:55.279 and I did find, a new opportunity with GE in New York, was commuting 00:03:55.279 --> 00:04:01.609 for a while and eight months into that role we decided to sell that division. 00:04:02.824 --> 00:04:03.334 Mickey McManus: Oh wow. 00:04:03.334 --> 00:04:07.529 Sigal Zarmi: So, with within a year, I, I, I switched two jobs 00:04:07.529 --> 00:04:12.899 and I think the biggest thing that I learned, which really, stayed 00:04:12.899 --> 00:04:15.549 with me is, two big things. 00:04:15.549 --> 00:04:19.569 One is the confidence that things will work out. 00:04:19.989 --> 00:04:24.489 That if you have the right skillset and if you have your integrity and 00:04:24.489 --> 00:04:28.939 you do the right thing and you have a good reputation things will work 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:33.109 out because even with the sale of the second division, I was able to stay 00:04:33.109 --> 00:04:39.919 with GE and had three more progressively more important roles after that. 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:42.979 Mickey McManus: Um, 00:04:43.249 --> 00:04:45.839 Sigal Zarmi: and even during the financial crisis, same thing. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:47.114 I got promoted through that. 00:04:47.114 --> 00:04:49.629 So, you know, things do work out at the end. 00:04:49.929 --> 00:04:56.259 But the more important thing as a leader that I've learned is that people, 00:04:57.169 --> 00:05:04.289 when things happen and there are those moments of uncertainty, people are 00:05:04.289 --> 00:05:12.439 looking at you, at how you react, how you behave, what you say, how you show up. 00:05:13.249 --> 00:05:13.309 Mickey McManus: Mm. 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:21.469 Sigal Zarmi: If you are walking into the office with long face and kind of an 00:05:21.469 --> 00:05:24.379 expression of, oh my God, things are bad. 00:05:24.709 --> 00:05:29.719 It reflects on everybody you are dealing with because people at 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:33.629 all levels of the organization, people are looking at the leader. 00:05:34.204 --> 00:05:38.484 To see, to get cues and to see how should I be 00:05:38.484 --> 00:05:38.964 Mickey McManus: mm-hmm. 00:05:39.534 --> 00:05:40.024 . Yeah. 00:05:40.144 --> 00:05:42.514 Are we gonna make it through this and what's gonna happen? 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:42.984 Yeah. 00:05:43.144 --> 00:05:43.234 And 00:05:43.239 --> 00:05:44.044 Sigal Zarmi: what's gonna happen. 00:05:44.044 --> 00:05:47.224 And everybody's worried for different reasons, right. 00:05:47.224 --> 00:05:47.494 Either. 00:05:47.664 --> 00:05:47.944 Mm-hmm. 00:05:48.029 --> 00:05:51.874 personal, professional people are always looking at the leader. 00:05:52.174 --> 00:05:54.154 And people looked at me as a leader. 00:05:54.154 --> 00:05:56.134 I looked at my own leaders, right? 00:05:56.614 --> 00:06:02.674 And I learned that you have to be very thoughtful and very deliberate. 00:06:03.229 --> 00:06:09.769 In how you show up every day, if it's either on zoom or on video, 00:06:09.769 --> 00:06:12.349 on a conference call or in person. 00:06:13.159 --> 00:06:13.309 Mickey McManus: Hmm. 00:06:13.549 --> 00:06:16.669 Sigal Zarmi: And, and there was a lesson that was even more important 00:06:16.669 --> 00:06:17.719 during the financial crisis. 00:06:19.019 --> 00:06:19.889 Mickey McManus: Ah, yeah. 00:06:20.419 --> 00:06:24.609 Sigal Zarmi: Um, so I'm glad I learned it a few years before 00:06:25.969 --> 00:06:27.199 . Mickey McManus: You got, you got a little practice. 00:06:27.689 --> 00:06:32.934 Although what a harsh, awakening right after 9/11 and, moving your family 00:06:32.934 --> 00:06:37.574 and everything, with small children, I mean, that's, that's gotta be that 00:06:37.904 --> 00:06:39.584 you needed a lot of grit for that one. 00:06:40.844 --> 00:06:41.084 . Sigal Zarmi: Yeah. 00:06:41.089 --> 00:06:43.244 But then you realize how resilient you are. 00:06:43.274 --> 00:06:43.714 Right. 00:06:44.014 --> 00:06:44.994 And mm-hmm. 00:06:45.924 --> 00:06:50.654 , uh, when, when I look back, I mean, it, it was for the best. 00:06:50.834 --> 00:06:51.794 It was for the best.