Leveraging Leadership

Blending Chief of Staff and People Ops at La Tourangelle: Benefits of Dual Roles

• Emily Sander • Season 1 • Episode 209

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Marcelo Elliott, Chief of Staff and head of HR at La Tourangelle, shares how his combined role helps connect HR strategy directly to company goals. He talks about using AI to handle repetitive HR tasks, setting up ad hoc committees for grassroots improvement, and building effective communication across teams. Marcelo also gives practical examples, like launching sustainability initiatives and merging HR data with business planning, and recommends pistachio oil on ice cream as a personal favorite.


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Who Am I?

If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want. 

 

Time Stamps:

00:51 Background and Career Path
01:35 About La Tourangelle
02:36 Role of Chief of Staff and HR
04:08 Benefits of a Dual Role
07:44 Impact of AI in HR
12:55 Balancing Chief of Staff and HR Responsibilities
17:43 Talent Management Strategies
19:31 Communication and Leadership
24:45 Continuous Improvement and Empowerment
32:45 Practical Advice for Setting Up People Operations
36:00 Favorite Products and Conclusion

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Marcelo Elliot Lopez, and he is the chief of staff and head of HR for, let me see if I can do this, La Tourangelle? Is that

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

That is correct.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

close? Okay. The company name. Everyone in France is, uh, turning this off, but, uh, stay tuned because Marcelo has got some amazing information to share. So Marcelo, welcome, welcome to the show.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

I'm glad to be here.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Can you just give us a quick background of, of where you've come from, how you got to be chief of staff?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Sure. Well, my background's in, uh, staffing, talent acquisition, staffing management and, um, HR consulting. And I have been HR manager, HR director at different companies. I was an HR director here. and with the size and scope of the company here, um, there was a need for change management and some of the other project management and kind of, you know, the principle, the CEO meeting, uh, somebody to help share the weight of pushing the vision forward. And so when we had the chief of staff head of HR role here at

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Okay. And just for quick context, what does your company do?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

we are an artisan producer of quality organic and specialty cooking oils. So if you've been to Whole Foods or Williams Sonoma or a bunch of other great, uh, retailers out there, then you've probably seen our oils, beautiful tin cans, uh, French crafted and all that good stuff.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Oh my gosh. Okay. I definitely have to check that out. We have a local like oil and vinegar shop here

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Sure.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

have like what seems like really good stuff. I got like this, uh, it was like leek, um, olive oil.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

used with leeks and we use it on like salads and stuff like that. So yeah.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

uh, you know, we have organic olive oil. We have, uh, you know, regenerative olive oil. We have like four different great olive oils that even the New York Times has said are the top four, uh,

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Oh wow.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

in the, in the US.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Okay. Okay. And it sounds like you've got some pretty good distributors there. So people can, can pick up your, uh, can pick up your oil. Um, okay. So chief of staff and HR professionals, CHROs often get confused sometimes and there's often some overlap and it's interesting that you have a dual role. So can you talk a little bit about the thought process of making that a dual role? Was that your idea? Was that your principal's proposal? How did that come about?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Oh, that's a good question. I think it happened organically in terms of the work that was being done. I think the The question was, you know, is head of HR or director of HR correct title, uh, and job description for what I'm doing. you know, did the horse for the wagon wagon for the horse. So, yes, I think it happens, at least in my experience. It happened kind of organically through the projects we were working together. And then we realized, there needed to be a change. And, this company is not big enough for a CHRO and my position wouldn't be. truly reflected in the CHRO. Um, but what did make sense is that chief of staff, somebody who works with the different members, uh, you know, in the departments, my principal oversees.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Right.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

so that made sense. And then on top of that, I still manage all of HR. So I still oversee that. And there's a benefit to having, at least for me. And I think for a lot of others that I've spoken to that have similar positions. Is a benefit to having this dual nature position where you can leverage Uh the potency of each position towards the company's objectives and goals

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

What are some of those benefits? So I mean, when I was chief of staff, I was essentially an HR generalist and was kind of the frontline HR. And then if it got into anything more specific or more nuanced or complex, we had an outside third party that I could go to, but I was like the first, uh, the first one people would go to. So I kind of have a notion of like being chief of staff in HR. It sounds like yours is much more official and robust, but what are some of the benefits of having that combined role?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

You know, I I want to go back to what you said you said you were a uh hr business partner, correct

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Uh, yes.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Okay, so That is my background. And I feel that, you know, as an HR business partner, used to be outsourced as HR business partners from third parties used to work for consulting companies that worked with those companies. so essentially what you're doing is you're doing performance driven HR, where you're, you're, you're linking some of the initiatives of HR towards a specific goal for the company. And, you know, I kind of got my whole, I, I. I bit my teeth into HR that way. So I never knew the difference between HR as administrative and HR as consultive performance driven because of that when I approach HR, that's kind of how I've always seen it And now you have people ops and you have HR internal HR business partners and you have um Change management professionals and of course chief of staff. I think they're you know I don't know if it's a spectrum, but I think there is a correlation to How that is driving within the industry within HR as a, as a sector. Um, and I think for me, when you think about the streamlined communication that you can have, or when you think about, uh, you know, how you can align the company's HR to strategic goals, that chief of staff, head of HR makes sense. When you think of like, more of a holistic approach where you're taking into consideration the employees. But then also not forgetting the strategic objectives of the company.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Mm hmm.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

you might have benefit in these two roles together.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Yeah.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

And I think resource, you know, for companies my size, it's a small company. We have limited resources. I think there's a benefit to, um, the roles because you can have, you can save time and maybe effort move that in the direction that makes the most sense for, you know, The company and the people.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Yeah.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

lot of, I think there's a lot of things that, that help, you know, when you look at where HR is going as a field with the advancement of AI coming into, um, taking on and helping us support the administrative functions, taking that off our plate and allowing us to, to coach, to mentor, to, you know, do those strategic things. I think that that is just a sign of at least my role. I think it's, it's special for me that chief of staff HR, but I think the field itself is turning into how does HR become a player at every level, big company, small company in the strategic planning and execution of company objectives.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

I love that approach. And I think that's where you see, um, HR functions and departments really add so much value. They're not, I hesitate to say like just kind of doing the, the performance reviews and like the resume reviews and like all of those things are important to you. Don't get me wrong, but I think you're talking about that and so much more at a higher level. Um, so thank you for, for for um, noting that and then you kind of brought it up there, but in terms of AI, where are you seeing? I mean, everything's changing so quickly, but right now, what are you seeing in terms of here's how our company leverages AI to our advantage, or here's how I'm seeing some other people in HR do it. Maybe they're a different company size or a different industry. What are some of the things that you're seeing there?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

You know, it's funny, uh, when I was at Cornell, we had the CRO of IBM come in Nicole and she came in and she spoke about. What AI is doing in HR. And if anyone could speak about it, it's her because right now, you know, with Watson and with the advancement of what they've done in their HR department, I think she just came out with an article today or yesterday on this, but AI agents and how that is helping eliminate or not eliminate, excuse me, let me change that word, take off the plate of some of the things that we do that are remedial and repetitive, you know, those questions about. what, um, policies are for time off or those questions about it means in this state, you know, specific, um, policies or, or guidelines of governance, whether it's state, federal, what have you, these things, we can all become experts at it, but if we have a system that helps us do that and manage it, what we can be is, um, more effective in the interaction, the transaction part. A lot of times those transactions lose some of the qualities of connection because we're so busy trying to figure out what is the right answer that we lose the human touch. Now, if I can have the right answer on cue in a difficult situation in a, uh, multifaceted variables that, and rely on this agent to supply that for me, I can be a much better partner, HR business partner, supporter, what have you. And your team can do the same thing. And I think that's where AI is going. It's how can we leverage, we need to stop looking at AI as, sometimes I have people that talk to me and they say, What's happening in HR? What's happening in manufacturing or food? And then, what's happening in AI? no, it's not, it's not a separate thing. AI is a tool that goes into every one of those things. So when people ask me what's, going on with AI, I think, it's developing into a tool and a service and you need to integrate it both into your data analytics for sure. We talked about performance management and doing all those, those things that HR typically does. Well, sometimes you, you don't have the resources or the time to pull that data that you already have and, and analyze it in a way that can give you back something that will move actionable items forward, whether it's HR initiatives that are tied to. Some of the important things that a department or a section of the company wants what ai can do for you. And uh, you need to there's no one ai solution I think we're all going to have some of our favorites. I already use three or four different ai services Some to help me create sops some to take notes with meetings some to understand um data But I actually I did my um senior thesis at uc davis on the impact of ai In the staffing industry

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Oh, okay.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Professor Beamish and Professor Kyle, both great professors in sociology, organizational studies. But, um, yeah, I think that it's interesting to see, you know, 10 years ago, whatever, how many years ago, the impact that it had been and what we thought was going to happen and what's happening now. And I'm excited, uh, that AI is going to, uh, help us become supporters of AI. All the team members we have.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Yes. I love, I love that. And I, it's funny, like in 10 years, we're going to look back at, at this and be like, Oh my gosh, look, I'm like, gosh, look at where we were, um, type of thing. But so much of what you said resonated with me, especially that state by state. piece because I remember having to look up employee law like state by state because it's different and you don't want to get it wrong, especially if you're talking about something important like a potential termination. And so I would spend time and I would make sure I didn't want to get it wrong. So I'd make sure I had my information accurate, but that could take, you know, hours. In total, and I, that took me away from other things, but it had to be done right. And so, um, and things like, you know, PTO policies, I would get those questions on repeat. And I would literally have like a copy paste thing that I would like send to people because the answer didn't change. Um, I might tweak it, you know, based on their message to me. But I think what you're, what I'm hearing is like those certain types of rote, Pieces of information where, hey, someone has a question, it's a valid question, but I can easily generate this answer using AI, where I, as a human, can be involved in some of these, um, higher level conversations where it just makes more sense, and AI can't do that, it has to be a human to human connection, and you're spending your time there.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Agreed.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Okay.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

I see it going.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Okay. And then practically speaking, how do you split your time between, I mean, do you even see it as kind of split time between chief of staff type, uh, activities and HR, or are you just like, this is all blended in my approach and how this company views this type of role?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

That's a good question. I think that, um, I wouldn't say they're split roles. I don't walk into a place and go, HR right now, but I do, in a situation, tell myself very, um, I say I'm taking off my chief of staff hat. I'm putting on my HR hat, you know, or vice versa Because there's situations that call for different things and sometimes the situation, um, can be uh Calling for maybe a little bit of uh Step back where I put on my HR hat first, right? And then I know that i'm gonna have to follow up as as some of the objectives of chief of staff you play that according to how well you can manage, you know, either it's kind of like code switching, right? Manage what you just said about depending on what the message they're bringing to you. What do they need? What is the person that's in front of you need to hear at the moment? Um, and then what is the follow up and what, what communication and what support needs to happen after that? And sometimes that may be the HR hat in the beginning. Chief of staff later. I think there's there's a mix there And I think every company and every person needs to find that that balance themselves

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

I'm curious where you come down on, Is there ever, um, how do I phrase this? Like a disadvantage or is there ever a, a point where you can tell people are a little bit uncomfortable, like art is the HR hat is the chief of staff hat. I had like a very select handful of these instances where I could tell someone was like, like, am I talking to her as chief of staff over here or is this like an HR conversation?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

That's a good question. I think that um There's a group of people that you work with like my peers happen to be the leadership or the executive

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Yes. Yep.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

and so that should always be a place of comfort a place of safety of communication You know, um, and I think I I supply that to the to those folks And I think at every level, HR needs to be open to hearing and giving space for folks to feel comfortable and able to communicate what they want. But yes, there are times when, um, what I afford to my peers and my executive team. No, I don't do that across the board to every of the, every level of the company. You just can't. I mean, you need to be, uh, effective with, with, uh, your time and your, um, uh, Your responsibilities. So

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Mm hmm.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

I hope that answered, I tried to

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

It did. It did. No, it's a, it's a tricky question, but I think that if people are hearing this, that might be a question that comes up in their mind. So, I mean, I just wanted to acknowledge for, for me and my experience that did come up and it was something that at certain points I definitely had to be cognizant of, but overall it was, it was completely fine. And, uh, People just knew, knew what function I was carrying out and sometimes it was blended. Sometimes it had more emphasis over here, over there, and people just got it.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

I will say this, that as I came on board, I was, I was brought on by a pet hunter and came in just as a consultant to do some talent management stuff. Um, and then I ended up saying, but when that happened, HR had a different, The culture of HR was different when I arrived. It was very HR is HR. And I think that as I'm kind of going back to your question, you have to change the dynamic of what HR is for the company, for the company to understand and everyone to understand that HR is not about, you know, HR, and it's not this separate thing. The company's objectives, the company's goals, company itself, that that is all part of it. And so I think if folks know where you're coming from and what. Your values are and my values are are are aligned with the core of the here our employees building Our our talent base building our company And I think if they see that they understand where you're coming from and there's no now I don't see that question So I you know, it's funny when you said that I thought oh that reminds me like four years ago And people are like our hr this now. Everybody has that mentality of know Everything we do, whether it's HR, receiving, what have you, accounting, we're all, uh, focused on, on the company and moving it forward.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

So in terms of talent, in terms, you know, chief of staff and HR, like in terms of talent management, how do you, how do you, what's your overall approach to that in connecting overall talent management to like the strategic goals of the company and the long term goals of the company?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yeah. No, I think that's a good point. I think that, you know, that's another benefit of being a chief of staff and coming with a talent background and being head of HR is that you have that ability now. Yeah. to leverage one thing for the benefit of the other. What one thing is understanding maybe the objectives and the strategic goals of the company more and then using that knowledge and that understanding to better position a development within the company. So telemanagement shouldn't just be new talent coming in. It should be the development of the talent you have now, understanding that not everyone's going to stay. And that's, that's okay. And that's a good thing. like being a platform for growth. Um, for individuals, if you're here, you know, four years and you, you need to move on because you've hit the ceiling with us, more power to you and, uh, you'll always be part of the company. We have a lot of folks that have done that. Um, but, uh, for those folks that we do have tracks for, maybe we have a longer runway, um, having the knowledge, uh, on the, um, the executive side or the chief of staff side that, that can inform what you do on the HR side. To help retain those folks, give them that growth. in the same vein, um, you know, attrition is important as well. And so knowing when and where you have to reorg, restructure and change and doing that, um, in the best way for, for everyone.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about your. Your interactions with the executive team, with maybe directors, managers, kind of different folks across the organization. What does that look like on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Uh, for us, it's it's been core to our growth. I think over the last, uh, yeah, I've been with the company a over four and a half years. And one of the core things that we've done is, you know, we had meetings and some weekly meetings scattered throughout the company, team and sales team and what have you. I think it took a while to build and that that's what we did. You know, we built that core leadership team, that executive team as well. Um, and that looks like, you know, a biweekly for us at least. It once was a weekly touchpoint meeting. It's a biweekly meeting now that we have with the CEO. And we're directors and myself and others. Um, and then we have our quarterlies. We have, you know, retreats as well. Leadership retreats. Um, we have town halls with everybody. Communication one of the most important. I mean, everyone knows this. I hope. Um, and it's, it's not just about communication. It's about effective communication that, that reaches the people, um, on the level that they want. And so you have to have different forms of it with different levels and it has to be with everybody it has to be sometimes, you know, and so we and it has to be ongoing and regular and um, you got to put in the work, you know, you have those moments to build a team. That's comfortable enough to be honest with each other and Know how to reach out for support and it took Several years, but I think at this point um those Weekly Bi weekly and, and even, uh, quarterly meetings have made the most impact, uh, for us.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

And I know that I've worked with chiefs of staff and executives who, they have a chief of staff and a separate CHRO, and it's often like, who does this communication? Like, who, like, who does this communication come from? This all hands or, you know, this division or this department, it could easily come from one or the other and make sense, but it's just kind of how do we get our talk tracks and messaging aligned. And so I think one of the benefits of having this in one person or one function is you send it out from, you know, from Marcello or from the office of the chief of staff or head of HR. So, um, and again, At what?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

People team.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

People team. Yes. Thank you. And then over the four years, can you just talk about some of the, Some of the types of projects and initiatives you worked on, or, or even what's coming up for you, what you're excited about in the next, you know, 12, 18 months.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Sure. Um, You know, what we're working on now is actually, um, our, we have two locations. We have one artisan mill that is, uh, an expansion of what we have here, here at the warehouse. And there we have like a molecular distillation tower. And we have, uh, about 13, 000 olive trees and we have the roasting and the, and the, um, pressing of, of oils. Um, and we have an initiative to kind of bring the two teams together, um, standardize a lot of the processes that we have in one place with the other, uh, bringing, uh, some of the compliance up to a certain level, changing the talent. We actually did a restructure and change uh, um, scheduling and kind of the shifts that we have. So we have a 24 hour shift on that side, which we don't have over here. And that calls for a lot of, uh, change in, and, um, communication and management and, uh, you know, we moved some of the food grade processes we have here, uh, that do different things into this other area. And so we're working with quality assurance and, um, engineering and, uh, production. To make sure that we supply the right training, the right, structure and support mechanisms for the team, uh, to bring forth what we want, which is, um, kind of that, uh, new step in our company's, uh, production of, of oil. And so it's an exciting time for us.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Interesting. And then you have, you have two locations or groups, U. S. and, and France.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yes, we do.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Okay. Gotcha. And then throughout all of this, everything you've talked about and kind of past initiatives, future initiatives, HR, strategic objectives, chief of staff.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

too. Sorry.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Oh, Peru. Okay. You're going global here. So, um, in all of this, all around the world, how do you, how do you talk about continuous improvement? So how do you espouse, like, we want this company to grow and learn and thrive together. Um, but that just doesn't happen by itself. There has to be a culture of it and leadership. Yep. on those types of things. And obviously grassroots, uh, people taking action at all levels of the business is helpful there, but how do you, how do you go about, um, motivating people or, or making that part of the culture,

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

I like the grassroots thing because for me, that's all about empowering, empowering folks at every level to, to take ownership and take initiative and kind of be part the change. You know, we've moved into lean manufacturing, uh, several years ago, but right now what we have are like these ad hoc committees, whether it's for safety or sustainability or for quality assurance at different places. We, teams people coming from different parts of the company that come together and work together to these initiatives and to move things forward. You know, three years ago, we didn't have, uh, you know, a social sustainability program, and now we do. And now we monitor, you know, the waste and the recycling and the, you know, what can we upcycle and all those great things. And we find external partners that we work with, you know, both locally and we like to work. You know, whether it's our staffing company, our sustainability partners, we like to work with companies that share our values. And so we have some minority owned companies and companies that are not only local, but have some of the same sustainability values that we have. If you know anything about La Tourangelle, you know, we have sustainable packaging, know, we have, um, uh, sustainable processes in some of our oil and food making. And so, um, that's important and you have to, um, allow. folks that work for you to take that and, and build that into their own identity and their own, uh, value system, which they do. And, uh, you do that by empowering them to make change within the, within the organization, giving them, uh, the possibility to, to make an impact in different ways that go beyond just their job description and recognition. Of course, I think the most important, uh, often gets overlooked.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

how do you do that? So for instance, we had a program where there was like Slack channels and different ways you could submit an idea. And it didn't matter what team you were on. You could submit, if you were in. product and you had an idea for a marketing campaign, you could submit that. If you were an accountant that had a idea for an internal process that could be better, you could submit that. And we would go through these and talk to people about, you know, their idea. And, and that was very popular and people engaged in that way. So what you said kind of reminded me of that initiative we had. So I'm wondering if you have any examples of like practically, how do you do that?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yeah, I can tell you how we did it and then it didn't work. We were there to say, Hey, everyone say a comment. Um, and you want those comments, but what you really have to do is ask folks how they want to communicate and listen to what they say and, and then give them other options as well. So whether you're in the town hall and you open it up for some folks that are extroverts

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Right.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

you come in and you one on one meetings or you take the feedback that they're giving both in a mid year review or an annual review. Or the suggestion box, which we still have, uh, we also have online and phone, methods of, of giving feedback. Uh, so you can do anonymous feedback, you can do non anonymous feedback. We have, and we have multiple streams of this, both on, you know, digital platforms, uh, physical platforms that are private, that aren't in areas like the break room. and then you. You challenge and you develop people to get into spaces where they can give their opinions. And then sometimes we do a little training on what the difference between an injured expert is and how you need to sometimes go around the table and ask everyone to share and give everyone, you know, give me three minutes of what you think. And then you find that a lot of those folks that don't typically talk, have great ideas that can help their departments or help others. Um, And once that ball starts rolling, that's when it, it really starts to, um, uh, to start, I guess what you would call it infectious. It becomes start to want to, uh, to share. And so I think now, three years ago we had a culture where people, once they shared, they were already aggravated. I think now when people share, uh, they feel comfortable to either. Say what they want to say or share ideas and things. Um, and this, you know, while I'm speaking about where I'm sitting right now, the production area, we're still working, uh, a lot of this at, uh, the other location. Um,

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

I mean, there's so much good stuff in what you said. It's so funny at our town halls, we would do the same thing. We had like a Q and a session where people could ask any question they wanted of leadership. And some of our leadership team members were like, okay. Cause

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

yeah,

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

people could throw some zingers out there and you'd have to answer in front of everyone, but that was good. And then you could tell certain people like asking questions in front of people and, or we're comfortable. And some people just would never ask a question in that forum.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

but they have a question.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Yes, exactly. So we, uh, I just like, Hey, here's an anonymous form to fill out. If you have a question that you want to ask at the town hall. And we got a lot of questions that way, which I don't think we ever would have gotten if we just said, here's the microphone stand up in front of the whole company, ask your question. So I love that you said, you know, the sentiment of meet people where they're at and understand. People will feel comfortable in different settings and forums. I think that's so, so important because if you're like, everyone communicates like me, so I'm going to set this up where I'd feel comfortable. You might be missing out on half of your company's feedback.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yeah. And that's a great point. Because when you have these ad hoc committees where you have smaller groups, sometimes people automatically feel more inclined to share. But really, what you have to do with any group that you start is be there in the beginning, not to set up the group or to set the structure of the you want to help set the tone for a place where everyone feels comfortable. So, you know, we talked about icebreakers, we talked about people, you know, having time just to. Have some camaraderie, become, uh, acquaintances and friends. By the time they're in that, you know, three months, four months of an ad hoc committee, that's when you start to get folks that feel comfortable enough to share really what they feel, what they think. Um, and so these ad hoc committees will start them, we'll invest in them for, a year and, uh, the fruits of that labor really start to pay off when you stick to the process and stick to, yeah, giving people that space.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Yes. And it's long term because you don't just automatically trust people, or at least many people don't automatically just trust the other person. And so it does take time, but the dividends that you reap from that investment.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

so high, and they're just continuous. Uh, another thing that you highlighted, which is really important, is, um, some people are very spontaneous. Like, you ask them a question, and they can think on their feet and answer. But some people like to think about it.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yes.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

So it's like, sometimes it was, let me give these questions out in advance and say, Hey, for next Thursday's meeting, here's the opening round of questions or how we're going to kick things off. Now, some questions are just meant to be spontaneous. I don't want you to think about it very hard. So I'll ask those on the fly. But a lot of people, I think, don't feel comfortable with like, I'm going to go into this thing. I know they're going to ask me questions and I don't, I don't like that. So again, that's just another version of making everyone feel, feel comfortable.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

And it's an important part of it, too. Yeah, giving people the, the opportunity to give that feedback in the way they want.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Yeah, for sure. If you were talking to someone, um, a chief of staff, a head of people, an executive, who's thinking about how to set up this kind of people operations or chief of staff role at their company. Um, what advice would you have in terms of a blended role or other ways to set that up?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Well, that's a good question. I, I, um, I think I would ask them to, to think about why they want that. You know, what is it about your current situation? Or. uh, the variables of the team you have lead you to, to kind of leap at this, you know, it shouldn't be, Hey, I hear this works for la charge L and it's great. And it is, um, so it's going to work for me. It should be, um, you know, what, what, what structure do I have? What talent really do I have? I think this, you know, um, this requires the kind of, um, Intellectual, uh, Intelligence and, um, kind of the background, uh, and it was a lot of folks have, but then it's not just that it's the structure of the company. So, you know, I, I am in this position because of the structure of the company and the needs of the organization make it so. Um, and so if that's the case for you, then move forward with it. Uh, and it's, it's more likely that, uh, you might see this in a small to midsize company. Um, because of the structure and because of that overlap. And you see that in a lot of other positions as well, the hybrid positions. Now you can have some hybrid positions in very large organizations, especially when those organizations are divided up in, in such a way that, um, you have some regions that can help. I think I'm getting a little beyond the question there, but the most important thing to say is that, uh, it's not one size fits all. And, uh, it is an option. And learn more about, uh, what talent you have and what they want. I think it's important to know what, uh, you know, your HR person wants or what your manager wants or the chief of staff wants and what the company needs

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Exactly. I think the two main points I would highlight there are, ask yourself, what are you trying to achieve? Like, don't just bolt this thing in there just because Marcelo said so.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yeah

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

but also know it's an option.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Yes

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

some people might not have ever, oh, that can be a combined blended role. That's, that's perfect for us. So just know it's an option and it can be a very effective one. Um, so. Excellent. So Marcello, anything else on, we've covered a lot of topics here on chief of staff, on people ops, on growing a company, on oil, anything, anything you want people to want people to know.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Um No, I I think that you know, there's uh, I think you said it best right there is that there's an option That chief of staff is a dynamic role and it's not what I like about. It's not a one size fits all role. It comes in many different shapes and forms and each of those shapes and forms have their own benefits and can fit. Uh, there's probably a version of it that works best for your company. Uh, but you know, somebody that drives and helps drive change for the company, uh, and that can make considerations, uh, for the principal and for, for the teams that they support, I think is, is going to be. valuable in any, in any organization.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

My last question, when someone picks up one of your products, what is, what is your favorite product? What's your most popular recommendation?

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

Oh man, so many. But our olive oil is by far the best out there. Olive oils, really. Um, but we just came out with a California olive oil, which is incredible. It's beautiful. I think I have a bottle over there.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Oh,

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

but yeah, I love the olive oils. The pistachio oil is one of my favorites. I eat it with my ice cream.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

I have never heard of that. I have to try this pistachio

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

I was at a lavender event, a lavender run. We were, you know, running through lavender fields, and it was a, you know, uh, uh, an event where we were raising funds for an organization. but they had lavender ice cream, and we had our different oils, and somebody came up and said, Can I have some of that pistachio oil? I gave it to them. They poured it on top of their ice cream, and they just, lines of people just started eating this, and so

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

Whoa,

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

some, and it was delicious. But it's even better with coffee ice cream. So, yeah, it's, it's a game changer.

emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130259:

This is a game changer. Okay. No, thank you for that. Okay. I'm going to have to pick that up. So we'll put a link for sure to your products that you recommended in the show notes. But, uh, Marcello, thank you so much for being on. I loved our conversation and I think this is, it is good for people to know this is an option and to hear straight from you about how it's worked for you and your company. So thank you.

squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025_130257:

thank you. for having