DYPER is Lightening the Load

Posted on by Real Leaders

DYPER is revolutionizing the disposable diaper industry with environmental ingenuity.

By Real Leaders

Diapers are the third-leading contributor to U.S. landfills by mass, taking up to 500 years to break down. The average child uses around 3,700 disposable diapers, and more than 27 billion of them end up in U.S. landfills each year.

A Sustainable Solution for Happy Bottoms and a Healthy Planet

That’s where DYPER founder and CEO Sergio Radovcic saw an opportunity to help reduce the negative impact of these baby basics on the planet. The Certified B Corp has been working since 2018 toward its goal of making a fully plant-based diaper that reduces fossil-fuel use and avoids landfills. Along the way, the company has grown its employee base over sixfold from 2019–22. 

Radovcic, a father of three, started DYPER as an alternative to mainstream options made with chemicals and plastic. The vast majority of disposable diapers are constructed with two water bottles worth of plastic and sold in single packs with new plastic packaging. 

“While there are no silver bullets to solving the plastic diaper dilemma, we feel it is our obligation to continuously look for solutions,” Radovcic says. 

DYPER makes diapers and wipes with plant-based materials and avoids harmful chemicals and irritants such as chlorine, latex, alcohol, perfumes, PVC, lotions, TBT, and phthalates. Wood pulp from responsibly managed bamboo and eucalyptus forests is converted using closed-loop systems in accordance with OEKO-TEX STeP standards, and DYPER’s supply chain is independently audited. 

Plants are renewable and more sustainable than using conventional plastic, which is made from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels. The company’s diapers were rated a Certified USDA BioPreferred 55% Product and degraded more than 70% in 180 days when tested. Plus, they come in eco-friendly packaging. The products have already made their way to major distributors, including Walmart, Target, and Amazon.

“Parents shouldn’t have to choose between their baby’s well-being and the environment,” Radovcic says. “By using materials such as paper, natural wax, and clay in our packaging and plant-based materials in our diapers, we hope to set an industrywide example that we can all reduce our reliance on plastics as a society.”

Breaking Free from Plastic: Embracing Plant-Based Power

A challenge remains, as 100% plant-based superabsorbent polymers, elastics, glues, and fastening systems are currently not available at scale or at the performance needed for daily use. Thus, the evolution of DYPER continues. 

In addition to its main diaper packs, DYPER also makes charcoal-enhanced diapers, cloth diapers, and training pants. It introduced its first Impact Box in 2023, benefitting Hope for the Warriors, a nonprofit that supports service members, veterans, and families. 

Thinking even bigger than diapers and wipes, DYPER has created additional programs centered around holistic care for babies and the planet:

  • REDYPER: An opt-in program offers curbside pickup of soiled products in 22+ cities and growing, or they can ship them back for responsible disposal. To date, over 11.5 million pounds of dirty diapers have been diverted from landfills and converted into topsoil. Introduced in 2023 to select markets, Byochar technology also helps reduce landfill waste by converting soiled diapers and wipes into usable biochar at scale, ultimately transforming an environmental hazard into a carbon-neutral footprint without the use of offsets. Biochar is a carbon-rich product created through a heating process called pyrolysis, which allows for waste to be transformed into a reusable commodity that can improve soil, assist in air and water purification, and be an additive to paints and inks for improved pigment.  
  • DYPER Health: At-home testing provides science-based insights, including a Baby Gut Health Kit, Children’s Advanced DNA Kit, Breast Milk Test Kit, and Adult Vaginal Microbiome Test Kit, with other tests in the works.
  • DYPER Card: A credit card offers qualified customers the ability to earn free diapers or a cash back investment into an EarlyBird savings account. When children are no longer in diapers, EarlyBird will allow a percentage of spending to be transferred into a minor custodial account for tax-optimized growth.

“We strive to be at the forefront of innovation and cater to the needs of modern parents,” Radovcic says.

DYPER is Lightening the Load

Posted on by Real Leaders

DYPER is revolutionizing the disposable diaper industry with environmental ingenuity.

By Real Leaders

Diapers are the third-leading contributor to U.S. landfills by mass, taking up to 500 years to break down. The average child uses around 3,700 disposable diapers, and more than 27 billion of them end up in U.S. landfills each year.

A Sustainable Solution for Happy Bottoms and a Healthy Planet

That’s where DYPER founder and CEO Sergio Radovcic saw an opportunity to help reduce the negative impact of these baby basics on the planet. The Certified B Corp has been working since 2018 toward its goal of making a fully plant-based diaper that reduces fossil-fuel use and avoids landfills. Along the way, the company has grown its employee base over sixfold from 2019–22. 

Radovcic, a father of three, started DYPER as an alternative to mainstream options made with chemicals and plastic. The vast majority of disposable diapers are constructed with two water bottles worth of plastic and sold in single packs with new plastic packaging. 

“While there are no silver bullets to solving the plastic diaper dilemma, we feel it is our obligation to continuously look for solutions,” Radovcic says. 

DYPER makes diapers and wipes with plant-based materials and avoids harmful chemicals and irritants such as chlorine, latex, alcohol, perfumes, PVC, lotions, TBT, and phthalates. Wood pulp from responsibly managed bamboo and eucalyptus forests is converted using closed-loop systems in accordance with OEKO-TEX STeP standards, and DYPER’s supply chain is independently audited. 

Plants are renewable and more sustainable than using conventional plastic, which is made from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels. The company’s diapers were rated a Certified USDA BioPreferred 55% Product and degraded more than 70% in 180 days when tested. Plus, they come in eco-friendly packaging. The products have already made their way to major distributors, including Walmart, Target, and Amazon.

“Parents shouldn’t have to choose between their baby’s well-being and the environment,” Radovcic says. “By using materials such as paper, natural wax, and clay in our packaging and plant-based materials in our diapers, we hope to set an industrywide example that we can all reduce our reliance on plastics as a society.”

Breaking Free from Plastic: Embracing Plant-Based Power

A challenge remains, as 100% plant-based superabsorbent polymers, elastics, glues, and fastening systems are currently not available at scale or at the performance needed for daily use. Thus, the evolution of DYPER continues. 

In addition to its main diaper packs, DYPER also makes charcoal-enhanced diapers, cloth diapers, and training pants. It introduced its first Impact Box in 2023, benefitting Hope for the Warriors, a nonprofit that supports service members, veterans, and families. 

Thinking even bigger than diapers and wipes, DYPER has created additional programs centered around holistic care for babies and the planet:

  • REDYPER: An opt-in program offers curbside pickup of soiled products in 22+ cities and growing, or they can ship them back for responsible disposal. To date, over 11.5 million pounds of dirty diapers have been diverted from landfills and converted into topsoil. Introduced in 2023 to select markets, Byochar technology also helps reduce landfill waste by converting soiled diapers and wipes into usable biochar at scale, ultimately transforming an environmental hazard into a carbon-neutral footprint without the use of offsets. Biochar is a carbon-rich product created through a heating process called pyrolysis, which allows for waste to be transformed into a reusable commodity that can improve soil, assist in air and water purification, and be an additive to paints and inks for improved pigment.  
  • DYPER Health: At-home testing provides science-based insights, including a Baby Gut Health Kit, Children’s Advanced DNA Kit, Breast Milk Test Kit, and Adult Vaginal Microbiome Test Kit, with other tests in the works.
  • DYPER Card: A credit card offers qualified customers the ability to earn free diapers or a cash back investment into an EarlyBird savings account. When children are no longer in diapers, EarlyBird will allow a percentage of spending to be transferred into a minor custodial account for tax-optimized growth.

“We strive to be at the forefront of innovation and cater to the needs of modern parents,” Radovcic says.

Clothed in Conviction

Posted on by Real Leaders

This CEO is calling for a radical waste reduction in the apparel industry.

By Kathryn Deen

Clothes are not trash. That’s the message Dan Green is working to spread because quite frankly, the United States is doing a bad job of recycling clothes, he says. Green is on a mission to keep clothes out of landfills by radically changing how unwanted clothing is collected and reused.

Green co-founded Helpsy, the only clothing collection company in the U.S. that has earned both Certified B Corp and Public Benefit Corporation distinctions.

Helpsy collects clothing, shoes, and accessories for reuse, recycling, and upcycling to help local communities, nonprofits, and the planet. The company keeps more than 30 million pounds of clothes out of the trash each year, diverting over 250 million pounds of carbon emissions annually.

More Than Recycling: Helpsy’s Impact on Jobs, Communities, and Carbon Emissions

“Together with our 1,200 East Coast partners, we convert discarded clothing into thousands of American jobs and millions in payments to businesses and community organizations,” Green says. “We prevent the emission of hundreds of millions of pounds of carbon dioxide and the use of billions of gallons of water while saving municipalities more than $1 million in waste disposal fees each year.”

A former portfolio manager on Wall Street, Green co-founded Helpsy with friends Alex Husted and Dave Milliner. Together they bought 11 companies primarily in clothing collection since 2017. They also invested in technology to modernize systems and utilize data to predict when and which collection points should be serviced to maximize the community’s satisfaction and minimize the economic and environmental costs of running trucks around.

“We exist to extend the life of clothing,” Green says. “We need to get out and let more people know that there are alternatives to the trash. It’s still unfortunately very normal for people to throw clothes in the trash — and we’re hoping to make that less and less socially acceptable.”

Beyond Goodwill: The Future of Clothing Reuse Starts with Helpsy

Helpsy collects unsold goods from a couple hundred thrift stores, does a few hundred drives each year with municipalities and charities, and in a newer initiative, it sells sorted, branded clothing to about 600 thrift stores.

“Clothing is the only major stream of waste that is growing on a per capita basis in a real way,” Green says. “We have to get over the mental hurdle that reuse does not destroy your brand and in fact enhances your brand.”

Green says the company has had big ups and downs. One stumbling block was when Helpsy tried to do direct-to-consumer e-commerce but did not get enough response to continue it. As for a bright spot, Helpsy realized its goal of providing benefits and stock options for all 145 of its employees. In another highlight, Helpsy expanded its reach with facilities in New York, Boston, and New Jersey, as well as trailers in Maryland and South Carolina.

“My family is very deeply rooted in social justice and making sure you leave the world a better place — that’s the point of your life,” he says. “We look forward to a future where used clothing is the first place people shop.”

Clothed in Conviction

Posted on by Real Leaders

This CEO is calling for a radical waste reduction in the apparel industry.

By Kathryn Deen

Clothes are not trash. That’s the message Dan Green is working to spread because quite frankly, the United States is doing a bad job of recycling clothes, he says. Green is on a mission to keep clothes out of landfills by radically changing how unwanted clothing is collected and reused.

Green co-founded Helpsy, the only clothing collection company in the U.S. that has earned both Certified B Corp and Public Benefit Corporation distinctions.

Helpsy collects clothing, shoes, and accessories for reuse, recycling, and upcycling to help local communities, nonprofits, and the planet. The company keeps more than 30 million pounds of clothes out of the trash each year, diverting over 250 million pounds of carbon emissions annually.

More Than Recycling: Helpsy’s Impact on Jobs, Communities, and Carbon Emissions

“Together with our 1,200 East Coast partners, we convert discarded clothing into thousands of American jobs and millions in payments to businesses and community organizations,” Green says. “We prevent the emission of hundreds of millions of pounds of carbon dioxide and the use of billions of gallons of water while saving municipalities more than $1 million in waste disposal fees each year.”

A former portfolio manager on Wall Street, Green co-founded Helpsy with friends Alex Husted and Dave Milliner. Together they bought 11 companies primarily in clothing collection since 2017. They also invested in technology to modernize systems and utilize data to predict when and which collection points should be serviced to maximize the community’s satisfaction and minimize the economic and environmental costs of running trucks around.

“We exist to extend the life of clothing,” Green says. “We need to get out and let more people know that there are alternatives to the trash. It’s still unfortunately very normal for people to throw clothes in the trash — and we’re hoping to make that less and less socially acceptable.”

Beyond Goodwill: The Future of Clothing Reuse Starts with Helpsy

Helpsy collects unsold goods from a couple hundred thrift stores, does a few hundred drives each year with municipalities and charities, and in a newer initiative, it sells sorted, branded clothing to about 600 thrift stores.

“Clothing is the only major stream of waste that is growing on a per capita basis in a real way,” Green says. “We have to get over the mental hurdle that reuse does not destroy your brand and in fact enhances your brand.”

Green says the company has had big ups and downs. One stumbling block was when Helpsy tried to do direct-to-consumer e-commerce but did not get enough response to continue it. As for a bright spot, Helpsy realized its goal of providing benefits and stock options for all 145 of its employees. In another highlight, Helpsy expanded its reach with facilities in New York, Boston, and New Jersey, as well as trailers in Maryland and South Carolina.

“My family is very deeply rooted in social justice and making sure you leave the world a better place — that’s the point of your life,” he says. “We look forward to a future where used clothing is the first place people shop.”

Cleancult: Refill, not Landfill

Posted on by Real Leaders

Cleancult keeping your home and the planet free of waste

Ryan Lupberger is helping lead the movement to clean up the cleaning industry. The Colorado native grew up valuing natural products, and upon reading the ingredients in his laundry detergent, he was concerned to see so many unrecognizable ones.

Lupberger started researching and became even more disheartened when he learned that many of the chemicals allowed in the U.S. are banned overseas, and there is no regulatory body overseeing cleaning products in the U.S. So, he was inspired to start Cleancult, a natural cleaning product company, in 2019. Cleancult sells hand soap, dish soap, all-purpose cleaners, and laundry detergent.

“As we further our mission, the goal to bring accessible sustainable solutions to more and more people is not only a fundamental business model, but also an innate responsibility to our community and the cleaning industry,” Lupberger says.

Not only does Lupberger care about what is in the products, but he also has achieved zero-waste packaging, as opposed to the industry-standard single-use plastic bottles. After all, Americans dispose of 40 million tons of plastic every year, only 5% gets recycled, and it takes over 500 years to decompose.

Lupberger spent a year traveling the U.S. to find the best solution and ended up having his own machinery built to create a patented, recyclable cardboard refill packaging similar to milk cartons that consumers are encouraged to transfer into glass dispensers (which they can purchase from Cleancult) for at-home use. The company uses Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper. Recently, it also introduced refillable aluminum bottles. Cleancult has diverted over 7 million pounds of plastic from landfills and oceans.

While other eco-focused cleaning product companies sell concentrated liquids or powder alternatives, Lupberger sees Cleancult as preferred for consumers who don’t want to add a step or change to powder.

“We want to go after the 99%,” Lupberger says. “We have to meet them where they are with ready-to-use formulas and ready-to-use bottles.”

Cleancult’s Support for Innovative Waste Management Projects

Cleancult is an activator in the U.S. Plastics Pact, a global network working toward a goal of having all plastic packaging be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. The company is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to take action toward packaging sustainability. Plus, it joined rePurpose Global, and its Plastic Neutral Certification helps fund and support sustainable waste management projects that recover and remove as much plastic waste from the environment as it uses in its packaging.

Among these initiatives lies Sueño Azul, supporting a cooperative of waste workers who have revolutionized waste management practices in Bogotá, Colombia.

When Lupberger started Cleancult, he launched a direct-to-consumer (D2C) website. “I really hoped D2C would work long-term,” Lupberger says. However, he found the digital marketing and shipping costs to be challenging, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

So, in 2021, Lupberger shifted the company’s focus to retail sales, debuting in a handful of regional grocers. In 2022, Cleancult entered Walgreens, CVS, and Bed Bath & Beyond. This year, in its largest retail expansion yet, it hit shelves at 3,000 Walmart stores across the U.S., as well as on its online marketplace. Plus, Cleancult is available on Amazon.com’s marketplace. Lupberger has been pleased with the results, with sales growing 50% year over year for the business overall (while sales are flat on Cleancult’s website).

“Through key retail partners, including Walmart, we have grown the brand’s retail presence by 7,500% since 2019 and are excited to continue on this positive growth trajectory,” Lupberger says.

Cleancult: Refill, not Landfill

Posted on by Real Leaders

Cleancult keeping your home and the planet free of waste

Ryan Lupberger is helping lead the movement to clean up the cleaning industry. The Colorado native grew up valuing natural products, and upon reading the ingredients in his laundry detergent, he was concerned to see so many unrecognizable ones.

Lupberger started researching and became even more disheartened when he learned that many of the chemicals allowed in the U.S. are banned overseas, and there is no regulatory body overseeing cleaning products in the U.S. So, he was inspired to start Cleancult, a natural cleaning product company, in 2019. Cleancult sells hand soap, dish soap, all-purpose cleaners, and laundry detergent.

“As we further our mission, the goal to bring accessible sustainable solutions to more and more people is not only a fundamental business model, but also an innate responsibility to our community and the cleaning industry,” Lupberger says.

Not only does Lupberger care about what is in the products, but he also has achieved zero-waste packaging, as opposed to the industry-standard single-use plastic bottles. After all, Americans dispose of 40 million tons of plastic every year, only 5% gets recycled, and it takes over 500 years to decompose.

Lupberger spent a year traveling the U.S. to find the best solution and ended up having his own machinery built to create a patented, recyclable cardboard refill packaging similar to milk cartons that consumers are encouraged to transfer into glass dispensers (which they can purchase from Cleancult) for at-home use. The company uses Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper. Recently, it also introduced refillable aluminum bottles. Cleancult has diverted over 7 million pounds of plastic from landfills and oceans.

While other eco-focused cleaning product companies sell concentrated liquids or powder alternatives, Lupberger sees Cleancult as preferred for consumers who don’t want to add a step or change to powder.

“We want to go after the 99%,” Lupberger says. “We have to meet them where they are with ready-to-use formulas and ready-to-use bottles.”

Cleancult’s Support for Innovative Waste Management Projects

Cleancult is an activator in the U.S. Plastics Pact, a global network working toward a goal of having all plastic packaging be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. The company is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to take action toward packaging sustainability. Plus, it joined rePurpose Global, and its Plastic Neutral Certification helps fund and support sustainable waste management projects that recover and remove as much plastic waste from the environment as it uses in its packaging.

Among these initiatives lies Sueño Azul, supporting a cooperative of waste workers who have revolutionized waste management practices in Bogotá, Colombia.

When Lupberger started Cleancult, he launched a direct-to-consumer (D2C) website. “I really hoped D2C would work long-term,” Lupberger says. However, he found the digital marketing and shipping costs to be challenging, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

So, in 2021, Lupberger shifted the company’s focus to retail sales, debuting in a handful of regional grocers. In 2022, Cleancult entered Walgreens, CVS, and Bed Bath & Beyond. This year, in its largest retail expansion yet, it hit shelves at 3,000 Walmart stores across the U.S., as well as on its online marketplace. Plus, Cleancult is available on Amazon.com’s marketplace. Lupberger has been pleased with the results, with sales growing 50% year over year for the business overall (while sales are flat on Cleancult’s website).

“Through key retail partners, including Walmart, we have grown the brand’s retail presence by 7,500% since 2019 and are excited to continue on this positive growth trajectory,” Lupberger says.

If Negotiations Are So Important, Why Are They So Hard?

Posted on by Real Leaders

High-stakes negotiations can be nerve-racking. There’s a lot riding on the outcome, and because of it, you place enormous pressure on yourself. Will you secure that sought-after client? Will you seal that big deal? Land that investor? And what happens if you don’t?

Preparing for and engaging in these kinds of negotiations generates beta brain waves, which keep you alert and focused. That’s a good thing. Negotiations can be complex; so much information is exchanged in the back-and-forth of all the bargaining. You need to keep track of what you committed to, what the other party committed to, and any contradictions that may arise.

But as you do, you may produce more beta waves than you need, which isn’t a good thing. Spikes in beta waves ultimately lead to poor concentration, brain fog, and fatigue. In addition, your body ramps up cortisol, a stress hormone, and stress can be debilitating, especially when it comes to your creativity.

What exactly is happening during negotiations that causes so much stress? One possibility is that when preparing for a negotiation, you’re solely focused on the outcomes you want. This is a natural tendency.

Perhaps you map out the path you intend to take to get to those desired outcomes. You might even identify mini-milestones along the way that will let you know you’re on track. However, as we all learn at one point or another in life, things don’t always go according to plan. Sure, you planned how you wanted the negotiation to flow, but this wasn’t a dialogue with your negotiating partner. The person you’re negotiating with doesn’t have your road map!

So, when the unexpected happens, you start to stress because the situation has deviated from your carefully drawn map. The beta-cortisol cycle in your brain and body picks back up, keeping you in a frenzied state and limiting your ability to be flexible and creative. As a result, you end up in a rigid cycle and don’t advance the negotiation to where you want it to be.

How do you get back on track?

Here are three ways to transform some of those beta waves into alpha waves, which will help you relax and flex your negotiation muscles:

01. Map out different scenarios during your negotiation preparation.

It’s always a good idea to map out multiple scenarios of how the negotiation might flow. What detours should you anticipate? What resistance points and constraints might you run across? At these junctures, you can either try to get back on your pre-planned path or follow the new path the detour presents.

You can do this by asking questions that uncover why there are roadblocks and resistance. Start with easy-to-answer questions that get the other side talking and more comfortable sharing information. For example, you might ask, “Can you tell me more about why you think this won’t work?”

If the other party answers, “This isn’t a good time,” you can respond with, “So, it’s not a good time now?” By doing this, you’re integrating the person’s response into your clarification without sounding defensive. Your new mini-goals is to figure out when a good time might be.

02. Center yourself in the moment.

Habits and practices that allow you to remain physically and emotionally present in your negotiations are essential.

Reciting mantras, visualizing tranquil images, or remembering soft melodies will generate alpha waves in your brain and keep you centered and calm. If you can’t actually perform these practices, recall a time when you did and the benefits you gained as a result.

Slowing down your breathing is also a good stress reducer. Breathe in to the count of four, hold for four, breathe out for four, and repeat. When you’re tense, your breaths are short and rapid. Slowing your breathing will relax you and send more oxygen to your brain so that you can be more agile and creative in the moment.

3. Listen throughout the process to hear what’s most important.

During a negotiation, you may think you need to have all the answers, but that’s an unrealistic expectation to place on yourself. Your negotiation partner is a treasure chest of information; your role is to unlock it to find out what you need to know.

Spend more time listening than speaking. This will give you insights into how to move the negotiation forward. As part of your alternative scenario preparation, identify what you should be listening for.

Listening is a complex activity, and too often, we lack focus and miss collecting the information we seek. This includes listening for the other party’s underlying needs, their constraints, and what might sweeten the deal. Identifying these tidbits in advance will make it easier for you to recognize them when you hear them. This listening practice will hone your skills so that you’ll be able to surface critical information that may have previously been overlooked.

Combining these three tips will lead you to easier, calmer, and more creative negotiations.

If Negotiations Are So Important, Why Are They So Hard?

Posted on by Real Leaders

High-stakes negotiations can be nerve-racking. There’s a lot riding on the outcome, and because of it, you place enormous pressure on yourself. Will you secure that sought-after client? Will you seal that big deal? Land that investor? And what happens if you don’t?

Preparing for and engaging in these kinds of negotiations generates beta brain waves, which keep you alert and focused. That’s a good thing. Negotiations can be complex; so much information is exchanged in the back-and-forth of all the bargaining. You need to keep track of what you committed to, what the other party committed to, and any contradictions that may arise.

But as you do, you may produce more beta waves than you need, which isn’t a good thing. Spikes in beta waves ultimately lead to poor concentration, brain fog, and fatigue. In addition, your body ramps up cortisol, a stress hormone, and stress can be debilitating, especially when it comes to your creativity.

What exactly is happening during negotiations that causes so much stress? One possibility is that when preparing for a negotiation, you’re solely focused on the outcomes you want. This is a natural tendency.

Perhaps you map out the path you intend to take to get to those desired outcomes. You might even identify mini-milestones along the way that will let you know you’re on track. However, as we all learn at one point or another in life, things don’t always go according to plan. Sure, you planned how you wanted the negotiation to flow, but this wasn’t a dialogue with your negotiating partner. The person you’re negotiating with doesn’t have your road map!

So, when the unexpected happens, you start to stress because the situation has deviated from your carefully drawn map. The beta-cortisol cycle in your brain and body picks back up, keeping you in a frenzied state and limiting your ability to be flexible and creative. As a result, you end up in a rigid cycle and don’t advance the negotiation to where you want it to be.

How do you get back on track?

Here are three ways to transform some of those beta waves into alpha waves, which will help you relax and flex your negotiation muscles:

01. Map out different scenarios during your negotiation preparation.

It’s always a good idea to map out multiple scenarios of how the negotiation might flow. What detours should you anticipate? What resistance points and constraints might you run across? At these junctures, you can either try to get back on your pre-planned path or follow the new path the detour presents.

You can do this by asking questions that uncover why there are roadblocks and resistance. Start with easy-to-answer questions that get the other side talking and more comfortable sharing information. For example, you might ask, “Can you tell me more about why you think this won’t work?”

If the other party answers, “This isn’t a good time,” you can respond with, “So, it’s not a good time now?” By doing this, you’re integrating the person’s response into your clarification without sounding defensive. Your new mini-goals is to figure out when a good time might be.

02. Center yourself in the moment.

Habits and practices that allow you to remain physically and emotionally present in your negotiations are essential.

Reciting mantras, visualizing tranquil images, or remembering soft melodies will generate alpha waves in your brain and keep you centered and calm. If you can’t actually perform these practices, recall a time when you did and the benefits you gained as a result.

Slowing down your breathing is also a good stress reducer. Breathe in to the count of four, hold for four, breathe out for four, and repeat. When you’re tense, your breaths are short and rapid. Slowing your breathing will relax you and send more oxygen to your brain so that you can be more agile and creative in the moment.

3. Listen throughout the process to hear what’s most important.

During a negotiation, you may think you need to have all the answers, but that’s an unrealistic expectation to place on yourself. Your negotiation partner is a treasure chest of information; your role is to unlock it to find out what you need to know.

Spend more time listening than speaking. This will give you insights into how to move the negotiation forward. As part of your alternative scenario preparation, identify what you should be listening for.

Listening is a complex activity, and too often, we lack focus and miss collecting the information we seek. This includes listening for the other party’s underlying needs, their constraints, and what might sweeten the deal. Identifying these tidbits in advance will make it easier for you to recognize them when you hear them. This listening practice will hone your skills so that you’ll be able to surface critical information that may have previously been overlooked.

Combining these three tips will lead you to easier, calmer, and more creative negotiations.

How to Innovate in Hybrid and Remote Work

Posted on by Lethia Owens

Some major companies have implemented return-to-work policies, but at what cost? Disney CEO Bob Iger demanded in January that all employees come to the office at least four days a week because, “In a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe, and create with peers that comes from being physically together.” Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed similar sentiments when he mandated that employees show up at least three days per week since, “Innovation isn’t always a planned activity. It’s bumping into each other over the course of the day and advancing an idea that you just had. And you really need to be together to do that.”

Yet is this true? On the one hand, research at MIT found that remote work weakens the cross-functional, inter-team “weak ties” that form the basis for the exchange of new ideas that tend to foster innovation. Along the same vein, a study by Microsoft concluded that remote work weakens innovation since workers communicate less with those outside their own teams.

On the other hand, McKinsey & Company research pointed to a different verdict. It determined that during the two-plus years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of new patents was filed across 150 global patent filing authorities. Moreover, in 2021 global venture capital more than doubled from 2020, rising 111 percent. McKinsey suggests that this is because more innovative companies developed new ways of connecting remote workers together to build and sustain the cross-functional, inter-team ties necessary for innovation, thus widening the pools of minds that could generate new ideas. Deloitte similarly highlighted how adapting the process of innovation to remote settings offers the key to boost innovation for hybrid and remote teams.

My experience helping 21 organizations transition to hybrid and remote work demonstrates that innovation is eminently achievable. But it requires adopting best practices that address the weakening of cross-functional connections and the lack of natural, spontaneous interactions that breed innovation.

An excellent technique to replace those hallway chats involves collaboration software like Slack or Microsoft Teams. I suggest that you set up a specific channel in that software to facilitate the creativity and collaboration behind serendipitous innovation, and incentivize employees to use that channel.

For example, at a late-stage SaaS start-up that used Microsoft Teams, each small team of six to eight people set up a team-specific channel for members to share innovative ideas relevant to the team’s work. Likewise, larger business units established channels for ideas applicable to the whole unit. Then, when anyone had an idea, they were encouraged to share that idea in the pertinent channel.

We encouraged everyone to pay attention to notifications in that channel. Seeing a new post, if they found the idea relevant, they would respond with additional thoughts building on the initial idea. Responses would snowball, and strong ideas would then lead to next steps, often a brainstorming session.

This approach combines a native virtual format with people’s natural motivations to contribute, collaborate, and claim credit. The initial idea poster and the subsequent contributors aren’t motivated simply by the goal of advancing the team or business unit, even though that’s, of course, part of their goal set. The initial poster is motivated by the possibility of sharing an idea that might be recognized as innovative, practical, and useful to implement, with some revisions. The contributors, in turn, are motivated by the natural desire to give advice, especially since it is visible to and useful for others in their team, business unit, or even the whole organization.

This dynamic also fits well with the different personalities of optimists and pessimists. You’ll find that the former will generally be the ones to post initial ideas. Their strength is innovative and entrepreneurial thinking, but their flaw is being risk-blind to the potential problems in the idea. In turn, pessimists will overwhelmingly serve to build on and improve the idea, pointing out its potential pitfalls and helping address them. 

Remember to avoid undervaluing the contributions of pessimists. It’s too common to pay excessive attention to the initial ideas and overly reward optimists – and I say this as an inveterate optimist myself who has 20 ideas before breakfast and thinks they’re all brilliant. Through the combination of personal bitter experiences and research on optimism and pessimism, I have learned the necessity of letting pessimistic colleagues vet and improve my ideas. My clients have found a significant deal of benefit in highly valuing such devil’s advocate perspectives as well. 

That’s why you should praise and reward not only the generators of innovative ideas but also the two or three people who most contributed to improving and finalizing the idea. And that’s what the late-stage start-up company did. The team or business unit leaders made sure that they publicly recognized the contributions of the initial idea creators and the improvers of the idea, and also gave them a bonus proportionate to the value of their contributions. Indeed, several of these ideas ended up prompting patent applications.

While this technique helps address the problem of missing spontaneous interactions, what about the weakening of cross-functional ties? To help tackle that challenge, while also improving the integration of recently hired staff, we had the SaaS company set up a hybrid and remote mentoring program. 

The program involved several mentors. One came from the recently hired staff’s own team. That mentor assisted the mentee with understanding group dynamics, on-the-job learning, and professional growth.

However, we also included two mentors from other teams. One was in the same business unit as the junior staff, while another came from a separate unit. The role of these mentors involved getting the new employee integrated into the broader company culture, facilitating inter-team collaboration, and strengthening the “weak ties” among company staff to help foster collaboration.

Six months after these interventions, the SaaS company reported a notable boost in innovation across the board. The channels devoted to innovation helped breed a number of novel projects. The mentor-mentee relationships resulted in mentees providing a fresh, creative perspective on the company’s existing work, while the mentors from outside the team helped spur productive conversations within teams that bred further innovation and collaboration. 

If a late-stage start-up with 400 employees could adopt these techniques, so too can major companies like Disney and Apple. Certainly, some tasks may best be done in person, such as sensitive personnel conversations, intense collaborative discussions, key decision-making and strategic conversations, and fun team-building events. But otherwise, the more tasks you can do remotely, the better. 
Unfortunately, Disney and Apple have adopted a traditionalist perspective on how to innovate, which ironically hinders innovation, as they are already losing talented people due to such return-to-work mandates. The future belongs to companies that best make use of the most creative people around the globe – those who have options about where to work – while minimizing their time wasted in rush hour commutes. Doing so requires adopting best practices for hybrid and remote work instead of being stuck in the past.

How to Innovate in Hybrid and Remote Work

Posted on by Lethia Owens

Some major companies have implemented return-to-work policies, but at what cost? Disney CEO Bob Iger demanded in January that all employees come to the office at least four days a week because, “In a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe, and create with peers that comes from being physically together.” Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed similar sentiments when he mandated that employees show up at least three days per week since, “Innovation isn’t always a planned activity. It’s bumping into each other over the course of the day and advancing an idea that you just had. And you really need to be together to do that.”

Yet is this true? On the one hand, research at MIT found that remote work weakens the cross-functional, inter-team “weak ties” that form the basis for the exchange of new ideas that tend to foster innovation. Along the same vein, a study by Microsoft concluded that remote work weakens innovation since workers communicate less with those outside their own teams.

On the other hand, McKinsey & Company research pointed to a different verdict. It determined that during the two-plus years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of new patents was filed across 150 global patent filing authorities. Moreover, in 2021 global venture capital more than doubled from 2020, rising 111 percent. McKinsey suggests that this is because more innovative companies developed new ways of connecting remote workers together to build and sustain the cross-functional, inter-team ties necessary for innovation, thus widening the pools of minds that could generate new ideas. Deloitte similarly highlighted how adapting the process of innovation to remote settings offers the key to boost innovation for hybrid and remote teams.

My experience helping 21 organizations transition to hybrid and remote work demonstrates that innovation is eminently achievable. But it requires adopting best practices that address the weakening of cross-functional connections and the lack of natural, spontaneous interactions that breed innovation.

An excellent technique to replace those hallway chats involves collaboration software like Slack or Microsoft Teams. I suggest that you set up a specific channel in that software to facilitate the creativity and collaboration behind serendipitous innovation, and incentivize employees to use that channel.

For example, at a late-stage SaaS start-up that used Microsoft Teams, each small team of six to eight people set up a team-specific channel for members to share innovative ideas relevant to the team’s work. Likewise, larger business units established channels for ideas applicable to the whole unit. Then, when anyone had an idea, they were encouraged to share that idea in the pertinent channel.

We encouraged everyone to pay attention to notifications in that channel. Seeing a new post, if they found the idea relevant, they would respond with additional thoughts building on the initial idea. Responses would snowball, and strong ideas would then lead to next steps, often a brainstorming session.

This approach combines a native virtual format with people’s natural motivations to contribute, collaborate, and claim credit. The initial idea poster and the subsequent contributors aren’t motivated simply by the goal of advancing the team or business unit, even though that’s, of course, part of their goal set. The initial poster is motivated by the possibility of sharing an idea that might be recognized as innovative, practical, and useful to implement, with some revisions. The contributors, in turn, are motivated by the natural desire to give advice, especially since it is visible to and useful for others in their team, business unit, or even the whole organization.

This dynamic also fits well with the different personalities of optimists and pessimists. You’ll find that the former will generally be the ones to post initial ideas. Their strength is innovative and entrepreneurial thinking, but their flaw is being risk-blind to the potential problems in the idea. In turn, pessimists will overwhelmingly serve to build on and improve the idea, pointing out its potential pitfalls and helping address them. 

Remember to avoid undervaluing the contributions of pessimists. It’s too common to pay excessive attention to the initial ideas and overly reward optimists – and I say this as an inveterate optimist myself who has 20 ideas before breakfast and thinks they’re all brilliant. Through the combination of personal bitter experiences and research on optimism and pessimism, I have learned the necessity of letting pessimistic colleagues vet and improve my ideas. My clients have found a significant deal of benefit in highly valuing such devil’s advocate perspectives as well. 

That’s why you should praise and reward not only the generators of innovative ideas but also the two or three people who most contributed to improving and finalizing the idea. And that’s what the late-stage start-up company did. The team or business unit leaders made sure that they publicly recognized the contributions of the initial idea creators and the improvers of the idea, and also gave them a bonus proportionate to the value of their contributions. Indeed, several of these ideas ended up prompting patent applications.

While this technique helps address the problem of missing spontaneous interactions, what about the weakening of cross-functional ties? To help tackle that challenge, while also improving the integration of recently hired staff, we had the SaaS company set up a hybrid and remote mentoring program. 

The program involved several mentors. One came from the recently hired staff’s own team. That mentor assisted the mentee with understanding group dynamics, on-the-job learning, and professional growth.

However, we also included two mentors from other teams. One was in the same business unit as the junior staff, while another came from a separate unit. The role of these mentors involved getting the new employee integrated into the broader company culture, facilitating inter-team collaboration, and strengthening the “weak ties” among company staff to help foster collaboration.

Six months after these interventions, the SaaS company reported a notable boost in innovation across the board. The channels devoted to innovation helped breed a number of novel projects. The mentor-mentee relationships resulted in mentees providing a fresh, creative perspective on the company’s existing work, while the mentors from outside the team helped spur productive conversations within teams that bred further innovation and collaboration. 

If a late-stage start-up with 400 employees could adopt these techniques, so too can major companies like Disney and Apple. Certainly, some tasks may best be done in person, such as sensitive personnel conversations, intense collaborative discussions, key decision-making and strategic conversations, and fun team-building events. But otherwise, the more tasks you can do remotely, the better. 
Unfortunately, Disney and Apple have adopted a traditionalist perspective on how to innovate, which ironically hinders innovation, as they are already losing talented people due to such return-to-work mandates. The future belongs to companies that best make use of the most creative people around the globe – those who have options about where to work – while minimizing their time wasted in rush hour commutes. Doing so requires adopting best practices for hybrid and remote work instead of being stuck in the past.

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