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Episode Overview:
Jennifer has worked in the advertising and marketing space for 35 years, partnering with major brands in the retail and restaurant industries. A service provider at heart, she understands the power of engaging with consumers, clients and her colleagues and building meaningful relationships. Jennifer had a non-traditional path through college and tapped the brakes on her career when her boys were young. She's a big believer in charting a path that works for the individual and understands varied experiences and backgrounds can add value to organizations. Born and raised in Kansas City, Jennifer lives in the Kansas City metro area with her husband of 32 years, and is a recent empty nester. She and her husband are avid Kansas City Royals fans and, when possible, enjoy traveling around the country to see them play.
Additional Resources:
Skot Waldron:
Hello Jennifer, what's going on?
Jennifer Loper:
Hey Scott, how are you? Delighted to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
Skot Waldron:
Yeah, I'm doing good. I'm doing good. These, these talks are fun. I enjoy, I will tell you that I started this podcast out as a way to kind of build my brand and kind of, you know, generate some non threatening conversations, sales conversations. People get to know me and then maybe they'll hire me one day. You know how much business I've got out of my podcast?
Jennifer Loper:
much.
Skot Waldron:
Probably none. I mean, from direct, right? The front line direct stuff and people that out there are podcasts, we were like, well, then you're doing it wrong, Scott. And I'm just like, you know what? That's okay. But it has built my network. Maybe it's a bit since I'm indirect con, but anyway, this isn't about me. I'm just saying these conversations,
Jennifer Loper:
I love it though.
Skot Waldron:
these conversations like are the reason I keep doing this because I'm meeting new people all the time that I never met before
Jennifer Loper:
Yes.
Skot Waldron:
and that's why I keep doing this because you know what? I love meeting new people and learning stuff from you guys.
Jennifer Loper:
I think what you do, doing it all day every day would be like my dream job. I just find it so interesting that there are so many different people and different things to do. I was actually talking about this with one of my colleagues yesterday. And I said, one of the things when I get on a flight is I look around and I'm thinking, everybody on this flight is going somewhere. They're going to meeting, you know, sometimes not business travel, maybe personal travel, but you're flying out on a Tuesday morning and flying to a city where probably there's a lot of businesses there, people going. And I look around and think, they all have a job. What do they do? And how did they get there? And what's their experience? So I think it's fascinating. I would love to interview you and ask you who are the most interesting people you've met and what's the most surprised you've been? So I can only imagine the information you've gained and the lessons that you've learned from talking to people and being open to them and listening.
Skot Waldron:
Yeah, it's fun. It's, and I'll go back and I'll listen to old episodes cause I'm relaunching them in various ways now. And I'm like, oh, I totally forgot about that interview.
Jennifer Loper:
Thanks for watching!
Skot Waldron:
It was so good. So I'm getting to do that. Let's start out with, so you spoke about stories. You were talking about stories. Everybody has a story. Everybody was like, you know, they're on this plane. They're going somewhere. They're doing something.
Jennifer Loper:
Hahaha
Skot Waldron:
What are they about? Where do they come from? What, you know, what's going on in their lives? And I want to hear about your story. And where, like how you got to where you are. You said you have this thing about this non-traditional college career path you went through. That intrigues me. So tell me about that.
Jennifer Loper:
Sure. So I think it's non-traditional. Perhaps for your audience or people that will hear this they may say, oh gosh, that's really more traditional now. But my path, well first off my siblings and I, we were the first generation to go to college. So my mom was a first generation They believed in education, but they weren't the generation that had a college education. So we always knew that we would go to college and it was a privilege and it was something that was going to be different and celebrated and we knew it would be hard work, but it was important to my parents and they saw that as a path of, hey, you can do more than we did. Not that they weren't grateful for what they did, but they wanted us to have more opportunity. So my path was non-traditional in the sense that I kind of had a little detour. So my dad died young, he was 45. He had a massive heart attack and my youngest sister was 11. I was 15. My older sister was 19 and my brother was 20. Now my brother and sister were in college. And here's my mom. She was a... secretary, she had always worked but didn't have the kind of job to support four kids and all the things and so there was a shift of hey we we still believe in education but it's not going to be a straight path like you guys are going to have to work and it was a little bit of a shift and my siblings my older siblings were already working through school and that kind of thing but so and then just the I would say trauma of that event. So, you know, one day I had one life and the next morning the life was totally different. So the level of support, emotional and all the things, support that my mom could give us as we continued on, you know, was just a little bit more limited and she was grieving and all of those things. So I started out and... was at a large university, University of Missouri in Columbia, that's where my older siblings had gone. And I had no idea what I wanted to do. And, you know, God bless my mom, rest her soul. She was like, just go and you'll figure it out. And so I didn't have probably the best first year, let's just say that. And I'd been a good student. I was not someone that didn't study and didn't work hard, but I didn't do well. And so I was like, okay, this is not tenable. And I came back to Kansas City and I went to a school here, UMKC, University of Missouri Columbia, because they're tied together in that system. And I had an individual look at my resume or my transcript, pardon me. And you got to remember, this is like in the mid 80s. So he looked at it and he goes, oh gosh, this is terrible. You'll never graduate from college.
Skot Waldron:
That's encouraging.
Jennifer Loper:
I was like, huh, okay, well, I don't like that answer. And I think I can, like I really do think I can. So I went across, I literally, I walked across the street, Scott, you know, you've got, I don't know how old you are, I'm sure I'm older than you, but you know,
Skot Waldron:
I'm
Jennifer Loper:
you
Skot Waldron:
24.
Jennifer Loper:
don't have a cell,
Skot Waldron:
Can
Jennifer Loper:
there
Skot Waldron:
you
Jennifer Loper:
we
Skot Waldron:
tell?
Jennifer Loper:
go,
Skot Waldron:
I'm 24.
Jennifer Loper:
yes. So, you know, you don't have cell phones and all of that. So I just literally walked across the street to Rockhurst College, it's Rockhurst University now. And I asked if I could meet with an advisor. And they said, well, yeah, actually he's got time now, which is strange. But normally you've got to have a little bit more time. So I spoke to him and he said, hey, this doesn't look ideal, but I will help you chart a path to get you back on track. And that, Scott, was a turning point. And a turning point from the standpoint of a lesson that I learned that I hope that I... able to give back today. Just listening to people and hearing people and trying to understand where they are, meeting them where they are, and giving them guidance. He told me, he said, you've got to do the work. I can chart the path and help you, but you've got to do the work. So he said, you've got to go to a community college, get your GPAF, you apply here. So I did all of those things and I ended up graduating with honors and I won a few awards and that kind of thing. But it was an eight year path because I was working and going to school. But I gotta tell you, I never felt like I couldn't do it. I had other people telling me I couldn't do it. I had other people say, oh my gosh, why would you do this? You're gonna be behind your peers. You're gonna start a full-time job and a real job and you're already gonna be behind. I just never felt like that was a detriment. I felt like... This is a path I'm on, I'm gonna do it, and even if it takes me a long time, I'm gonna be 27 regardless, hopefully, God willing, I'm gonna turn, you know, make it, and I'm either gonna be 27 with a degree or 27 without a degree. And so that's kind of where that non-traditional path comes into play.
Skot Waldron:
So how does that shape your, your business owner, you're a leader. How does that experience shape the way you lead shape? How you hire shape, how you build teams inside your.
Jennifer Loper:
Yes. Um, I'm not the business owner, just to be clear, but
Skot Waldron:
Oh, sorry,
Jennifer Loper:
we, no, no, no,
Skot Waldron:
minor detail.
Jennifer Loper:
no worries. No, but I am, um, but, but it, it is, I am in the position to lead the organization. And I got to tell you, I think it is. Having that experience has led me to have a very open mind related to colleagues, hiring clients. And how that's manifested here at C3 is we have a really interesting group in terms of the type of work we do. So we are a brand marketing company. We work primarily in the restaurant industry and we create custom programs for families with children and we create entertainment and our goal is to bring joy to families. It's wonderful. Like you can't not be happy doing what we do. And so we have. our creative staff. So we have industrial designers, we have illustrators, we have art directors, we have insights and research, we have account management, we have operations, we have a warehouse, we have a finance team. So all of these things. And it's so interesting because we would have people come to us and say, gosh I love to work here. I think this is so interesting. I'd also like to continue to be a part-time professor at the Kansas City Art Institute. I wonder what that could look like and I don't know, but let's talk about it. So I think just that openness, Scott, to having a conversation and hearing where people are and what they want to accomplish has allowed us to bring in these incredible resources in a way that if we had been very hard-line, for lack of a better term, about, nope, you've got to be a Monday through Friday, eight to five person, and you can't. that we can't go out of that scope would have limited us in having some of the most talented, dedicated, loyal colleagues that we have today.
Skot Waldron:
So then why don't more people do it? Why are they so strict in that clock in clock out? I want you in the office. You know, I think COVID has shifted that
Jennifer Loper:
Yes,
Skot Waldron:
a bit, some
Jennifer Loper:
yes.
Skot Waldron:
of that mentality, um, to where, you know, there's kids running around the background and it's acceptable when before it would have been like, Oh, get out of the camera,
Jennifer Loper:
Yeah.
Skot Waldron:
you know, um, and, but I, so why don't. So there's still some laggers out there that are holding firm to their traditional way of hiring. Why?
Jennifer Loper:
I love this question and I don't know if I know the answer. I think my answer is rooted in that experience I just talked to you about from the college transcript conversation. I think the difference between talking to one advisor and the other advisor was that first advisor was looking at it in terms of this is the system and the system doesn't work well when somebody comes to me with a transcript with a really bad GPA. And perhaps it's just the limitation of thinking outside the system. Perhaps it's going to be more work for me if I have to figure out a different path for this individual. Whereas I think the conversation I had across the street, that individual just may just their nature was maybe more entrepreneurial or more flexible or kind of more of a growth mindset. Like, yeah, this isn't ideal, but I know we can figure something out. And so perhaps in the hiring process, if an individual wants to go outside the system, perhaps it's just this. thinking of, oh my gosh, this creates more work for me, or what if everybody wants to do it? And I think those kind of questions, and we have to think about all those things. But I think those things may dictate the next step versus, hey, that's something we're gonna have to figure out, but let's continue the conversation and explore what could be.
Skot Waldron:
think, so this sounds to me like a principle when I'm coaching people that I call self preservation, where
Jennifer Loper:
Okay.
Skot Waldron:
what am I afraid of losing? What am I trying to hide? What am I trying to prove? And a lot of that comes down to the idea of being either for myself or against you. And
Jennifer Loper:
Interesting.
Skot Waldron:
And that whole principle could weigh into that based on what you're saying. That's what I'm gathering from what you're saying is that it seemed like the first individual was for himself, him or her. It was
Jennifer Loper:
Yes.
Skot Waldron:
how's this going to impact my workload? How is this going to impact what I'm doing? How's this going to impact the things I've built or we've built here? You're, you know, you don't fit and you don't fit nicely in the system that we've built here. And we don't. want to change it because that's going to put us out and we're going to have to do some other things. Or maybe we don't want you, maybe I'm against you because I don't really want your type of person here. So
Jennifer Loper:
Yeah, absolutely. Yes, could be.
Skot Waldron:
it's more that mindset. The other person was more for you, not for themselves,
Jennifer Loper:
Yes.
Skot Waldron:
not against you. They were for you and that they listened, they were open-minded and they considered that there's an opportunity maybe here that maybe we haven't thought about. we did this and what if we tried that? So I think that there's maybe less self preservation happening on the other side.
Jennifer Loper:
That's interesting. And I do think as a small company that is entrepreneurial, our founder and CEO, straight-up entrepreneur, I mean the things he did to start the company I would never do. I would not max out credit cards, I would not take that risk, and I'm so grateful for people that do that. But what he's created for us is what I call an We're all entrepreneurs. He's allowed us to be entrepreneurs within the entrepreneurs within the entrepreneurial framework that he's created. And he's the first person to say. So the example I gave of the individual who he's actually been here over 10 years now that is, was the professor at the Kansas City Art Institute, and then also a part-time person here at C3. He's actually now a full professor. at the Art Institute, which we could not be more delighted. And he's just an amazing human. But he's just one of several stories like that at C3. But I think Bob Cutler, our founder and CEO, he allowed us to not only be entrepreneurial with our clients and helping them as it relates to building programs to connect with families and children and creating these really awesome, entertainment pieces. He expanded that out to we can be entrepreneurial with how we run our business. And so I think to your point, he wasn't thinking about it as related to his get with my program. It's like I'm entrepreneurial and I'm open to all kinds of ideas and things that aren't traditional. Let's just see how let's just have the conversation. And I think if people would just commit to the next step versus, oh my gosh, we're gonna get this person in and they wanna work 30 hours a week and then everybody's gonna wanna work 30 hours a week and how's that gonna work? Maybe if, and I'm just thinking of this off the top of my head, this could be a terrible idea, but maybe if one is resistant to going outside of the box, so to speak, maybe if one just commits to, hey, maybe the next step is just to have a conversation and just... Learn a little bit more about what this person desires and what their skills are and the value they could bring to us, our clients, and our organization. Because that doesn't feel so much like what you're talking about and what I was talking about where it's like an all or nothing. So maybe just the next step, just the next step of having the conversation could be something that propels people forward.
Skot Waldron:
Yeah, nobody says we have to get married. You know, let's, let's just like, let's at least just maybe have the conversation and see what happens. And just agree. And this is where the communication piece is so important because
Jennifer Loper:
100%
Skot Waldron:
if I'm not clear about that expectation, then somebody's going to be disappointed. Either you're going to get disappointed because maybe you thought something else was how we were going to get married. And I'm like, Whoa, why are you thinking we're going to get married? I was just having a conversation. You know,
Jennifer Loper:
Yes.
Skot Waldron:
so. I think that there's something important there with the clarity of expectation and communication.
Jennifer Loper:
You know, the other thing too that I think about, and I haven't been in this position because I've been at C3 going on 18 years, so I haven't applied for a job online and I think everything is online. That missed opportunity of, you've got everything has to go through the online portal. And so can you even talk to a real person initially? I don't know. And if you can't, no, you can for a company like ours. because we have a contact, you can contact us through our website and a real person would have a conversation with you, but a large organization. So I'm gonna tell one quick story that illustrates this. It was, let's see, my oldest son's almost 25. So this would have been 24 years ago. I wanted to take a break from advertising. I had him, he was small. And so I said, You know, I loved what I did, but you know, the 50, 55 hours a week and we didn't have remote work. None of that was, this is the late nineties. And so I wanted to work part-time and Nordstrom had opened in Kansas City. And I'd, I'd worked in the service. I've worked in the service business my whole life, love retail. And so I went to apply. I went to talk to the manager. And I said, this is what I'd like to do part-time. And he said, gosh, we don't hire part-time people. I said, tell me more about that. And he said, well, we want professional salespeople. This is a professional environment. It's a professional job. We want to have individuals see it that way. And what we've discovered is when we hire full-time people, this is their career. And it's the level of commitment and maturity that we want. I said, I love that and I totally support it. I said, I'm 33 years old or whatever it was. You can give me all the bad shifts. You put me, have me work Friday night. Nobody wants to work Friday night. Have me work Monday night. Nobody wants to work Monday night. And just put me in the department where nobody wants to work on the nights they don't wanna be there and. just give me a shot and if I don't produce, we'll just call it quits. So Scott, I worked there for nearly seven years and I was able, now I had to produce on my end. It wasn't like, hey, we're gonna give you a chance and let you go, but my point in all of that is, what does that look like today if you can't have a conversation with an organization? It would have been a missed opportunity for Nordstrom and it would have been a missed opportunity for me. It was a very win-win situation. I was an excellent salesperson and created a clientele that really helped people. And I was able to do the things I wanted to do. And this goes back to your point about clear communication. I wanted to be able to be home with my son, have extra money, have money to do extra things. And so it was a win-win. But what would that look like today? I don't know.
Skot Waldron:
You know, what's interesting to me is the question you asked. That stood out to me a lot as something that's that's that was the catalyst for that to happen because that individual said, no, we only hire, we don't hire part-time people and you could have said, okay, thank you very much and left. But you didn't.
Jennifer Loper:
Thank
Skot Waldron:
You
Jennifer Loper:
you.
Skot Waldron:
said the key question. I hope everybody takes the takes. takes away from this interview is tell me more about that. You were curious about perspective and you opened the dialogue. You had that person by asking that question, and I heard Adam Grant say something about this too, who does organizational health, if you're not familiar with Adam Grant, but he said, by asking that question, you're asking the person to challenge their own thoughts and to rethink. think their own stance on something and you're not causing a defensive state of like, are you sure you're not accusing them of that? You're just saying, tell me more about that. Like give
Jennifer Loper:
Yeah,
Skot Waldron:
me your reasoning,
Jennifer Loper:
yes
Skot Waldron:
give me, and that opened up dialogue and conversation that then enabled you both to go, Hmm, okay. Well, let's try it and see what happens. So I love that you asked that question.
Jennifer Loper:
Well, it's funny, I've never made that connection from that experience, but it's interesting because I will tell my team and I will remind myself when we are talking to our clients or potential clients seeking to understand in a true way, seeking to understand. I think you made a great point, Scott. I want to get you in a, I want to do a gotcha on asking the question, but truly I'm seeking to understand that's where the magic happens. And that's where, so if a client calls us, and I remember this early on, and says, hey, this program isn't working for us, we're going to not go forward. Instance at that moment. Oh my gosh, you know as the as the agency get all the things Oh, this is terrible and this is not ideal. And how did I feel and this is not great? But gosh, can you help me understand? How we got here like what? What's the barrier? Why are you saying this and it could be as simple as oh my gosh how the distribution is working? isn't gonna work for us anymore. And so this other company can do that. And I would think, oh my gosh, thank you so much for telling me that. We can actually do what you just said. And I'm so glad you shared it with me. So I've done that in my career and I think it has been so fruitful, but I never really connected it to kind of that initial experience. But you make a great point in that when you are curious, It opens up this opportunity for dialogue. Now you may end up in the same spot. I mean, I could have ended up in the same, in the spot at Nordstrom where he's, Mike said to me, hey, I appreciate all that. And I think that's all great, but this is where we are. And not being afraid to have the dialogue. I think you made that point really well. And I don't know why. Is it because we don't have time or we don't want to make time or we want to just move on to what we feel like is our next task that we don't want to have that dialogue? I don't know and I think this is a good reminder for me as well. Constantly be seeking to understand the why.
Skot Waldron:
Yeah, I think that the answer to your question, I think this is the answer to a lot of questions is self-preservation. Jennifer, I think that people don't want to have the conversation because. Number one, they are afraid of losing something, losing time, losing energy and having a conversation, losing respect. Uh, I'm afraid of. losing something or I'm trying to hide something. I'm trying to hide the fact I'm intimidated by you coming in and maybe taking my job. I'm trying to hide the fact that maybe we're not doing great right now and I don't want to hire you because I'm probably just going to have to lay you off soon and then that's going to send a signal to everybody else. I'm trying to hide something or I'm trying to prove something. I'm trying to prove that we're good, that we don't need you. There's
Jennifer Loper:
Yes.
Skot Waldron:
all kinds of things. Self preservation Lee is the reason behind a lot of things of why we are not doing the thing that like, this wouldn't make sense. Why aren't we just having this conversation? There's, there's always that, that issue behind it. Um, and I'm, I'm glad that you're bringing this stuff up. I think that if we look at it from the employer standpoint, there's a lot to be lost by not having these conversations. From the potential employees standpoint, there's also a lot to be lost by not having
Jennifer Loper:
Yes.
Skot Waldron:
these conversations. What, so it's important that workers continually work on things and that we continually develop ourselves that we are wanting to have these conversations that people are, you know, then rewarded when they have these conversations. We're going to open the dialogue. We better make it worth it. So what do
Jennifer Loper:
Absolutely.
Skot Waldron:
people need to continually work on in order to, you know, No matter how long, how much experience they have, whether they're fresh out of college, whether, you know, they haven't gone to any college or whether they're, you know, 30 years in the industry. What do people need to keep working on?
Jennifer Loper:
I think, and of course we always look at ourselves at something like that, I think two things. I think working on self, knowing who you are. And I think that is just a life. I mean, we're all, I'm definitely a work in progress. I think we're all works in progress. And I think being open to growing in as an individual. And to your point earlier, challenging your own beliefs and ways of doing things. So here at C3, we do a few indices to have our colleagues understand who they are and how they're wired. So Kolby, K-O-L-B-E, Kathy Kolby, we do the Kolby. We've also done the Culture Index. And then I'm a huge Patrick Lynch-Ioni fan. And so he's got a new product the six types of working genius and all of them. I, and I've taken disc and a few of the other ones, but I think knowing who you are and how you're wired is, is a start. So the Colby is something we've done at C3 for decades. And so we were very familiar with it. And I'm a quick start fact finder. So I remember early on when I was at Bernstein Reign, my dear supervisor, who in the beginning, I didn't like him. And then it was one of those relationships where I'm like, oh my gosh, you're the best supervisor who I've ever had because he saw things in me I didn't see in myself and he was pushing me. And I remember him sitting me down one day and saying, why do you ask, why don't you trust me? And Scott, I was devastated. I was like, oh my gosh, this is a person I respect, I think is so wise, I really look up to. And I said to him, oh my goodness, why are you asking me that? And he said, because you question everything. I said, oh, I didn't have the language for it at the time, but I was seeking to understand like, okay, so why did we make this decision? And I was seeking to understand from like a strategic standpoint, from a, hey, you heard the client say X, and your response was Y. Why did you say that? And so I learned from that experience and then just living, you know, through the experiences I've had, knowing who you are and being honest about it. Like if I were to interview with somebody today and they were to say, hey, you're going to spend 80% of your time putting together Excel spreadsheets and gathering data and then creating a system for a thousand people to do that, I would say I have been delighted to speak to you. I am not your person. And I know that's a funny and extreme answer but Knowing who you are and it's a lifelong process and I know if you're a person just graduating college and you're you know, 22 23 early 20s, whatever that is, you know, you're early in the process but being open to knowing who you are and I've got to tell you one thing I love about these indices is that two things number one they make you feel Well, the most important thing is I think they make us judge less And they also make us feel less bad about ourselves So if i'm working with somebody who's not a quick start, that means they're not somebody who innovates that tends to be entrepreneurs They think on their feet You're probably a quick start. I don't know your colby, but just based on my conversation with you And individuals who aren't that? I've seen people Say, oh my gosh, you know, they're not very quick They don't know how to, they don't have any good ideas. And it's like, no, that is not their design. And so when you know that about individuals, we have that information, so we judge less. And then if I'm a terrible person putting together spreadsheets, and I know that about myself, I'm gonna feel less guilty. It's like, hey, I can do it. And I will do it well and I will double-check my work, but I don't love it and I'm not great at it But I think to your point about self-preservation, I think sometimes we try It's almost like we're when we're interviewing We try to hide those things about ourselves because of the self-preservation of like hey, I really need this job And then we get into these jobs that we hate and we're like, why did why am I here? What happened?
Skot Waldron:
And everybody loses. This is so profound and I'm so glad you brought this up. We call it knowing yourself to lead yourself well and you can only give what you possess. If I possess unawareness of myself, I'm not gonna be able to give my best to others and I think that there's a big gap that happens there. And when you're learning about yourself, and I think that as you learn about others, and you said it this way, Um, I kind of said in the sense of like, you have permission to be you. How
Jennifer Loper:
Yes.
Skot Waldron:
many of us walk around feeling permission to just be who we are instead of trying to wear some fake facade of something, trying to be somebody, something for somebody else, as opposed to just having permission. I feel permission to be me because you're giving me that that's
Jennifer Loper:
Yes.
Skot Waldron:
liberation and freedom. that I don't think a lot of people experience all the time. And I think that if we can create environments of hiring where that is understood and cultivated and cultures do that, then we'll just get so much good out of our people.
Jennifer Loper:
So it's so true. And when you asked about, when you open up this conversation as it relates to colleagues and how it impacts them, something that our founder and CEO, my boss, Bob said to me once, which it was one of those things where I'm like, Oh my gosh, I never thought of it this way. There was a colleague and this individual had done something spectacular. And I wanted to reward her in a way that demonstrated like how grateful we were for this. work that she'd done. And so I went to Bob and said, I'd like you to approve a compensation raise. And he said, you know, and I had a presentation and talked to him about the things that she'd done. And he was all in agreement and was like, yes, I like this idea. He said, so is that what she wants? And I was like, what? He said, well, did you talk to her about what she wants in order to feel valued and like what type of compensation? Mine was the financial. And he said, but is that what she wants? And I was thinking, oh my gosh. I. Maybe he said, ask her what she wants. And I got to tell you, Scott, it opened up a conversation with not only her, but what we do here at C3 is, because I was thinking, hey, if it were me, I would love more money, because that's me. And at that moment in my life, that would have been something I would have wanted. For this individual, she said, I'd actually like some more time and I'd like training in this area. And I thought, oh my gosh, this is so important. So as far as it relates to our colleagues, we really wanna have an open dialogue. Are we perfect? No, but we strive to have an open dialogue to say, help us understand what you need, what you want, what you value. We do so many interesting things here that I think when you're hired, at least when I was hired and came from a traditional agency. It's like, oh gosh, this making of things and this engineering of toys and engineering, like this is all, I've never, I didn't even know this was a thing. And so we'll get individuals that come in and they'll be in one role and they'll say, you know what, I'm really interested in learning about this as well. And it isn't like, okay, now you have a different job. It's you've expanded. And so when we can talk to our clients, not only about the marketing, part of what we do and the impact as it relates to their, as it relates to their consumer and the insights and research. But if somebody says, oh yeah, by the way, how does that thing get made? And if you also know that, they're like, oh my gosh, this is just amazing. So long answer to your question, I think as it relates to our employees, again, it goes back to having that conversation. and being interested and open to what they come back with. And giving them that security to know if they say, yeah, I'm interested in this one thing, I'm not hearing, but I'm not still dedicated to what I'm currently doing. They wanna build. We all wanna build on, we wanna be given the opportunity to build on what we already know and to be more.
Skot Waldron:
Yeah. And that's, and that's the growth mindset that I think we're looking for from each other. And I think that that opens up a world of opportunities. This has been really good. I hope people are going to pay attention, especially the people in the midst of hiring right now. Cause I think that there's a lot of key information that needs to happen here. As you know, I think in, and working with a lot of HR individuals, they get very set in their process and Hey, they're just here to. You know, get through a filter and without that conversation happening, I think people could be missing out on some opportunities for growth. So if people want to get in touch with you and talk more about this idea, where did they find you?
Jennifer Loper:
They can go to my LinkedIn. I have my email on my LinkedIn. You can message me through LinkedIn. I'm kind of a LinkedIn junkie, so I'm on LinkedIn quite a bit. So that's the best way to reach me.
Skot Waldron:
Cool. That is awesome. So thank you for being on today. This was really good. I was, I was eager to talk. Through this conversation because I don't, I don't, I don't talk about hiring that much and, um, I think this is a good relevant topic for a lot of my audience, so I hope they'll take some gold from it like I have and just keep rolling.
Jennifer Loper:
Wonderful. I've enjoyed it so much, Scott. Thank you so much for your time and being interested. And it's just been delightful. Thank you.
