How to Change the World

As COVID-19 and its social, psychological, and economic impacts unfold on a daily basis, organizations are facing wide-ranging tough decisions about all aspects of your work. Answers are hard to craft against a backdrop of breaking news alerts and disparate opinions about best practices around the world. In this solo-round episode, Catherine reviews how to develop an adaptive response plan drawn from your core values. Connect with us @javelinaco on social media if you have questions about developing a values-based response plan to COVID-19.

Margaret Tyndall joins us as the third of four 2020 YWCA of Metropolitan Phoenix Tribute to Leadership honorees. Margaret served as the CEO of YWCA Pittsburgh for 23 years (1977-2000), as CEO of YWCA USA for two years (2000-2002) and has resided in Arizona for the past 13 years. She shares with Catherine the pivotal moment in her life that created a passion for YWCA's core mission of empowering women and eliminating racism, the job ad that changed the trajectory of her career, and everything she has learned about creating change along the way - including the importance of getting curious about whatever stands between you and creating the change you seek to make.

Our conversation with Mary Mitchell is the second of four with the 2020 YWCA of Metropolitan Phoenix Tribute to Leadership honorees. Mary serves as the Deputy Director, Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council. In her 21 years with the organization she has served in a variety of capacities and now serves as the senior advisor and co-lead for the organization's work related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Mary and Catherine discuss what diversity, equity and inclusion mean in today's world, and how they can be meaningfully incorporated into change making work. They talk about how to bring your best self to important conversations - and what to go when you fail to do so, as well as coping strategies for the stress of doing important change work in our community.

For the next four weeks, we are proud to partner with the YWCA of Metropolitan Phoenix to spotlight their 2020 Tribute to Leadership honorees. Up first, is January Contreras. January ran for Arizona Attorney General in 2018, after founding ALWAYS, a nonprofit that provides no cost legal services to vulnerable young people and victims of human trafficking. She also served for 12 years on the staff of former Arizona Governor Janet Napoitano and for four years in President Obama's White House. January shares where her passion for creating change came from, and why she is driven to personally positively impact those around her. From law school to election day, she opens up to Catherine about what she's learned along the way and what's next on her journey of community change.

Catherine is joined by Javelina partner David Waid to discuss The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz, field notes from the desk of a seasoned Silicon Valley tech CEO on how to build and run a business. Catherine and David share their key takeaways from the entrepreneur and current-day venture capitalist's own personal story. Look out for actionable takeaways on hiring and firing, the importance of culture, and when making a "culture hire" is a bad idea - along with much more!

Anyone who knows Kate Wells know she is a friendly, warm extrovert who has a passion for the people around her and the community we all call home that abounds from her every word. Catherine first met Kate years ago, when she saw her speak on a panel to a group of young nonprofit professionals, and was struck by how she has created a life she loves with intentionality and planning. Over 20 years ago, Kate and her friends vowed to open a children's museum when they learned Phoenix was the only city in the country's largest 100 cities without one. It took them a decade to open it, and it has been shaping our community ever since. Kate shares with Catherine the secrets to her success and what it takes to turn a vision into reality.

Last June, Jacqueline Thomas was crowned Miss Arizona 2019, and is currently serving our community under that title, driven by her deeply held passion of women's equity. In high school, Jacqueline was forbidden from being her class President because of her gender, and ever since she has been determined to make change for women in Arizona and nationwide. Jacqueline talks to Catherine about the pivotal moment that changed her mindset forever and enabled her to win the Miss Arizona title after 6 years of competing, as well as what politics and pageantry have in common, and how we can take lessons about how to change the world from both.

Jenny Poon is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of CO+HOOTS, a purpose-driven coworking space in Arizona. Jenny is committed to building vibrant and equitable cities by bringing visibility to coworking as an economic development tool. She talks to Catherine about the childhood moment that changed everything for her, and has led her to a career dedicated to changing the face of entrepreneurship in our communities.

This month, Catherine is joined by Blake Hardison, founding member of Keyser, an innovative commercial real estate firm that exclusively represents tenants and owner occupants in real estate transactions. Blake has completed over a quarter billion dollars' worth of commercial real estate transactions and has helped grow the firm from 5 to 50 people since 2013. What's noteworthy about Blake is that he is committed to giving his time, talent, and energy to better those around him. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, he believes that the greatest amount of personal success comes from selflessly serving others. In fact, Blake sent Catherine a copy of Give and Take by Adam Grant when they first met, which is why she invited him to join her to talk about Grant's argument that in professional interactions, it turns out that most people operate as either givers, takers, or matchers. Whereas takers strive to get as much as possible from others and matchers aim to trade evenly, givers are the rare breed of people who contribute to others without expecting anything from them in return. Learn why givers are the least AND most sucessful among us, and how to implement giving into your own work life and culture.

For our first episode of the decade, Catherine is joined by her husband Ruben to roll out their four biggest predictions for changes we'll see in 2020. From non-alcoholic craft beer to Harvey Weinstein's criminal trial, they dig into the things they'll be on the lookout for this year - and the wider implications they have for creating community change.