Mastering Workpace Collaboration with Alexis Gonzales-Black, President of August Public
In this 30 minute master class, Emily Best (Founder & CEO of Seed & Spark and Film Forward) interviews Alexis Gonzales-Black (President at August Public, formerly Zappos and IDEO) in an insightful conversation about transforming leadership through intentional collaboration.
🎯 Key Topics Covered:
The Evolution of Leadership
Why traditional leadership approaches don't work in today's multi-generational, diverse, and hybrid work environment
The "jungle gym" vs. "ladder" approach to career development
Lessons from Zappos' radical holacracy experiment
Collaboration Fundamentals
The difference between collaboration spaces and critique sessions
How to set clear intentions and boundaries for productive meetings
The critical distinction between clarifying questions and leading questions
Creating psychologically safe environments for true collaboration
Practical Leadership Tools
Using "starting proposals" to share ideas without creating gospel
The art of "holding things lightly" - what it means and why it matters
Setting explicit trade-offs with "even overs" framework
Making the implicit explicit in all team interactions
Common Pitfalls & Solutions
Why distributed work environments create pressure for immediate results
How senior leaders can unknowingly shut down collaboration
The importance of understanding your power and influence in any room
Strategies for being decisive while remaining inclusive
💡 Key Takeaways:
✅ Always set explicit intentions for collaborative spaces
✅ Distinguish between clarifying questions and reactions disguised as questions
✅ Use "starting proposals" to share ideas without creating false urgency
✅ Make trade-offs explicit using "even overs" (e.g., "Joy even over being taken seriously")
✅ Create psychological safety as a prerequisite for holding ideas lightly
✅ Understand that inclusion isn't for everybody - be clear about who spaces are designed for
This conversation is part of Film Forward's Inclusive Leadership series, exploring how to lead effectively in today's complex workplace environment.
#Leadership #Collaboration #InclusiveLeadership #OrganizationalDesign #RemoteWork #HybridWork #TeamManagement #WorkplaceCulture
