Elevate Your Workforce: Insights from the ISS Americas C-Suite

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: Your hiring process might be fine. You know, it’s easy to go with a traditional model, a process that you’re comfortable with, that you know well, because it hasn’t changed in years. It’s actually serving applicants or not? Because sometimes fine isn’t good enough, especially now when you have to fight hard for top talent. Like, I’m sure you’ve heard the term, talent war. The truth is that applicants expect more. They want to feel connected, valued, and understood. And if you’re an employee experience leader at a global company, with a diverse range of employees, one way to instantly stand out as an employer from the get go is to literally speak their language. That’s one of the things we’re talking about today with the CHRO, CIO, and CMO of ISS Americas. Here’s Head of People and Culture, CHRO, Lisa Mitchell Kastner. 

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: If we can bring an applicant in and start to connect with them and their own native language on their own technical level of comfort, , and in a way that serves them best. We found very early in that there was an opportunity to win in the marketplace or win in the talent war, and really connect with our employee base throughout their journey from applicant through, we’ll say retire because we hope they stay with us for their entire career.

Narrator: There is one tool that ISS Americas is using specifically that’s helping them meet applicants where they are, which we’ll get into later. But let’s get into this episode where we also speak with ISS Americas CIO Alice Fournier and their CMO Marjorie McCarthy. Together they speak with our host Nicole Alvino about their powerful collaboration as they work together to enhance the employee experience through technology and AI. They also discuss the importance of personalized communication, leveraging AI and technology for better recruitment and onboarding, and the role of data in making informed decisions. On Cruising Altitude, we talk about employee experience lessons from leaders at companies with over 30, 000 employees. A lot like reaching cruising altitude at 30, 000 feet, things look a little different when you’re managing 30, 000 people.On this podcast, we bring you insights from the leaders who inhabit that rarefied air. Today’s episode features an interview with Alice Fournier, Marjorie McCarthy, and Lisa Mitchell Kastner. But first, let’s hear a word from our sponsor. And now your host, Nicole Alvino, CEO and co-founder of Firstup.

Nicole Alvino: Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us on Cruising Altitude. I’m Nicole Alvino, founder and CEO of Firstup. Super passionate about ensuring that every worker feels connected and engaged with their employer. Firstup is a SaaS platform used by 40 of the Fortune 100 to provide an exceptional employee experience for every employee. When we do this, we retain and grow our people and increase efficiency and adoption of organizational initiatives, all part of driving a high performance culture. So our mission today is to help you learn about how we can retain top talent, improve organizational culture, and drive your business outcomes. So, Welcome to this edition of cruising altitude. I am so excited for today’s conversation because we have a CIO, a CHRO and a CMO all together from ISS Americas. So welcome Alice, Lisa and Marjorie.

Alice Fournier: Thank you. 

Nicole Alvino: So first we’re going to go through, we need everyone to get to know you a bit, who you are, what you do, and three fun facts. You all know, we introduce new employees to First Up with three fun facts. And I love to do that on the podcast as well. So Alice, we’ll start with you.

Alice Fournier: All right. Let’s see. Well, three fun facts. First and foremost people who know me know that I am a hardcore DIY er. I own lots and lots of power tools and in my daily spare time. I like to build things. That’s one. Second, I am from a very, very large, very large, traditional French Canadian family, originally. And probably the last and most connected to this podcast, when I was a young adult, my summer job was to be a flight attendant. And so love flying, love high altitude, and excited to be here with all of you.

Nicole Alvino: Great. Thank you. Lisa, you’re up next.

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: foremost um, I am just a people passionate person. There’s nothing better in my world than being around amazing people and getting the energy and enthusiasm. And so I will spend a lot of my spare time trying to be around people that, that I think are amazing. Uh, So that’s fun fact one. Fun facts two is I’m only five feet tall. And I get a lot of people that meet me for the first time and say, I thought you were like, you know, tall. You were tiny. So that’s fun fact two that you wouldn’t necessarily see on a podcast. And fun fact three is I love family and kids. I have three amazing kids and they are my heart and soul always. And when I’m not working, I try to spend just every minute I can with them and my fabulous husband. So, love all things kids and youth is the third one.

Nicole Alvino: That’s awesome. Thank you, Lisa. Well, you’re clearly in the right profession with your love of people. So that’s great. I also have three, I have three boys, so that keeps me busy outside of work as well. Okay, Marjorie, how about you?

Marjorie McCarthy: All right, well I’ll start with one that I know aligns with all of us here. I’m also a mom. I’m a mom of two kids. So they’re really kind of my entire life. Fun fact two is I am an amateur florist. I love floral design and I actually didn’t plan have this here. But as you can see, I love flowers and I love floral design. Not very good at it, but it really does bring me pride passion and a sense of well being to do it. And then fun fact three is before I wanted to be a CMO, I wanted to be a soap opera actress and a yoga instructor, kind of in that order. So maybe that tells you a little bit about, about my personality.

Nicole Alvino: I think you’ve landed probably in the right career. So, well done there. Let’s see, let’s stay with you. Can you explain to us who ISS is and what you all do for those people who are maybe not as familiar?

Marjorie McCarthy: Yes. so ISS we are a global facility management, workplace experience, and food services company. So we touch every aspect of our clients employees days from, The reception areas, you know, and the warm welcome that they get to clean facilities, to technical services that are working, whether it’s elevators or escalators, or, you know, kind of the behind the scenes temperature controls to the, food that they’re eating. And we really like to think that. We make everyday experiences extraordinary for our clients and for their employees. We are a global company. We have 320, 000 placemakers around the world. So if, you know, if you just think about that reach and a people company our people are who we are. And so, we’re really proud to represent all of those amazing placemakers around the world. And here, of course, in the Americas.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, I love that. So Firstup is actually putting people first to lift companies up. So very much, very much people first. And so staying on that, Lisa, can you talk about your different employee personas and the different types of people who work for you and you need to make sure that they, they have exceptional experiences as well.

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: Sure. I love this question. We have a very diverse workforce. We have folks that are finance gurus. We have technical experts on Alice’s team that are top notch I. T. Or security or technology experts. We have marketing gurus and Marjorie’s team with people in culture. H. R. Professionals in in my organization and everything in between all the way to health and safety experts. So folks who understand the nuances of OSHA requirements, Canadian requirements, you know, South America requirements, how to keep our workforces and workplaces safe and compliant. And then at our frontline that you heard Marjorie give a couple of examples to, we have everything from executive chefs who curate amazing culinary experiences and products for the elite, all the way to you know, our cleaning staff at the frontline, who are these amazing humans who just care a lot about making sure that experiences and bathrooms or airports or an office promote health and wellbeing through cleanliness. And so wide groups of employees, wide groups of personas, there are hourly employees, there are unionized or collective bargaining teams that we represent and get to work and serve. And then there’s elite specialty functions as well with double and triple degrees uh, and everything in between very wide workforce.

Alice Fournier: Yes, I love that. So we’ll definitely dive into the challenges and opportunities with such a diverse workforce. Alice, from your perspective on the I. T. side, what are some of those unique challenges with having so many different personas, especially as you think about the digital employee experience? 

Of course the number one challenge is reaching everyone. Right? That’s always a challenge how you communicate with people. And that really starts from the moment somebody’s looking for a job. How we Recruit them all the way through the employee journey. But how we reach people, how do we engage? I mean, when you talk about this amount of employee personas, that’s a very, a fast type of audience. So the technology tools that make sure that we can engage with people the way they want to be engaged with. That’s a real challenge. Of course, secondly, and as importantly, making sure that everyone has the equipment they need and, and there’s a lot of movement. It’s a frontline business, so managing the movement, the dynamic nature of these organization, that’s a big challenge and certainly that ensuring that our technology is comfortable for people who may have lower technology literacy, right? When we’re talking about our great workforce here in the U. S., in North America, but also globally, we have a lot of people who are at different levels of their knowledge of English here in the U. S. Certainly, their ability to engage with technology can be pretty varied. And so, as a CIO, my job is not only to deploy technology, but it’s to deploy technology that people can use. That’s not too complex. And that’s a real issue. And of course the surface of vulnerability, because when you’re talking about cybersecurity um, and managing this size of a workforce You are more vulnerable because you have more people engaging with the technology. So I would say broadly, these are really the big challenges, but there’s plenty of others.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, no, that’s super helpful. We talk a lot about meeting people where they are and you have to and that means in their language in the digital channel that they feel comfortable with, or perhaps there’s another analog way with their manager, but with such a diverse workforce, you have to do that in order to get that full reach, which is obviously the foundation for any engagement.

Alice Fournier: Yep. Yep.

Nicole Alvino: So how do you all work together and think about providing an exceptional employee experience for that workforce?

Alice Fournier: Well, I think I can certainly say that I’m here to power Marjorie and Lisa up. Right. I am here to deliver on their big ideas. Certainly that when you think about the size of a workforce that we have, right, Lisa’s role in heading up that great big workforce is pretty challenging. And so we work, I would say, very, very closely as I understand where Lisa needs to go, wants to go, wants to engage with the people. And I’m really just here to provide the tools and make the big ideas happen.

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: Nicole, I, my favorite phraseology is this collective genius construct, right? Where collaboration comes together with all of our unique and collective experiences and the genius that comes with each of those. And I think in this world and day and age, but definitely with the eclectic nature, not only of the products and services we provide, but with the people that serve to provide those, it’s so important, the high collaboration, the ability for me to reach out and say, Marjorie, I’m thinking about this. Can I just pick your brain? Hey, Alice, we’re really wanting to be able to do ABC. Is there something that that you could offer or help us think about? And oftentimes it’s actually far larger than just the functional experience that we bring to the table. It’s our own personal experiences. It’s the vast. ecosystem that we can operate in. And so that high collaboration towards a common goal. We all want the same thing. We all want high engagement for our customers. We all want exceptional best in class customer experiences, and we all want exceptional best in class people, human experiences. And certainly true for our employees. And I think we all know that none of us can do that in a vacuum, and it is when all of that collective genius comes together that we really get the best impact. And so I think that’s really the secret sauce is, we all contribute, we all bring each other in, there’s unified diversity in all the solutions.

Nicole Alvino: I love that concept of, yeah, the collective genius and especially in your industry that exceptional people experience is a direct translation to the phenomenal customer experience. And so, even more important to focus on that employee experience. Marjorie, can you share a little bit of how you’re thinking or bringing marketing principles to the employee experience and some of the things that kind of at that different lens to both what Lisa and Alice are doing.

Marjorie McCarthy: So I think one is, messaging, right? So how do we make sure that we have clear and aligned messages that we are making sure that our employees hear multiple times you know, across multiple channels, right? And so I think one thing that we we certainly spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about are. What are the messages? What are the channels and how are we leveraging those at any given time? And also thinking about how we continue to evolve, right? Whether it’s evolved the messages or evolve the channels, because certainly what we find that works in one moment, we keep having, especially kind of in this fast paced environment that we’re all in we need to be really smart and really keyed in about what’s working for this moment so we spend a lot of time thinking about that. I think the other piece and maybe thisGoes into messaging and channels as well as user experience So, you know one thing that you know, we work quite closely with with alice’s and lisa’s team as well as is just on What that user experience looks like, certainly for some of the client facing work that we’re doing but absolutely for our employees as well.

Alice Fournier: Marjorie is pretty humble in what she’s saying, but if you think about, right, we’re managing, she, as our leader of the marketing, manages as much a B2B as a B2C business. and the challenges and the opportunities to be able to engage both with that end consumer when we think about our phenomenal food business and all the great way food can live online while also supporting technical services, cleaning services, which is really that B2B customer facing messages. I think there’s so much there that Marjorie and her team do across many channels, but really importantly across B2B and B2C, which is no small feat.

Nicole Alvino: I would even add it to B to E to B and C, right? you have to do all of that as well.

Marjorie McCarthy: All of those different acronyms, right?

Nicole Alvino: Correct. So we obviously all of us are focused on providing an exceptional employee experience from hire to retire. You all have started doing some really interesting things in the, pre hire or that phase. Do you want to talk about how, how you’re starting to transform the employee experience from the very beginning? 

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: Happy to do that. and this is one that, back to the collective genius, was really a joint effort across many of our teams. We recognized last year through a ton of data collection and listening sessions, frontline forums, listening sessions, that we had an opportunity to better connect with our employees pre day one. They were going through a hiring process that I would call traditional. They were having engagements with a recruiter or a hiring manager. And they were, they weren’t bad, but they weren’t awesome. They weren’t these wow moments where we really wanted to connect. And we have a company of belonging, EVP. That we’re very intentional about this is really a place where everyone belongs and where you as an applicant belong. And that journey doesn’t stop the day you start. It’s not just the applicant that belongs. It’s all of our employees throughout their career here and throughout that experience journey as an employee. And so we recognized three main things. One, the diverse languages that Alice alluded to earlier. We have a presence that is predominantly English. We have a presence that is predominantly French or French Canadian, and we have a presence that is predominantly Spanish and being able to connect with applicants in that moment of inquiry about a company. Is a real differentiator for us. If we can bring an applicant in and start to connect with them and their own native language on their own technical level of comfort, as Alice alluded to, and in a way that serves them best. We found very early in that there was an opportunity to win in the marketplace or win in the talent war, as it’s been called in recent years, and really connect with our employee base throughout their journey from applicant through, we’ll say retire because we hope they stay with us for their entire career. And that required. a level of kind of exploration on, well, how do we best do this? Is it that we just go hire a bunch of recruiters that can connect with all different types of people? Do we need a technology upgrade? Do we need a presence, an in person, on site presence delineator and differentiator? And we went through that exploration and discovered that with AI, we’re able to do all the above and meet people where they are on all the elements of where they are, if they need to apply at night, great. We have a solution for that. If you need to interview at night, fantastic. We have a solution for that. If you need a particular language that you really understand the interview questions and your native tongue in a way that makes you comfortable and you can relate back with us, fantastic. We can do that. And so the technology AI solution. It enabled us not only to connect with people where they were, but to differentiate ourselves with that belonging to connect with them on all the elements of where they are. It also unleashed human power on our own employees because then our recruiters and our hiring managers had a tool to connect language agnostic with applicants throughout the journey. We were able to auto schedule them in the moment. So the data journey that I mentioned, you know, we started looking at how many days does it take us to go from application to hire? Oh, my stars. It takes us 10 days to get an interview scheduled. Well, that’s not a great applicant experience, but it’s also not a great employee experience. If you need someone on your team very, very soon. And we benchmark that in the marketplace and realize not a good benchmark experience either. The competition is better. And so the tool that we chose to go invest in actually enabled us to invest not only in the pre-hire experience and our applicants, to your point, but also invest in our people. Take the admin task off and unleash the human potential to connect. with both internal employees, recruiter to hiring manager, but also applicants who then became our employees and felt like they belonged from the beginning. So, long winded answer, but you can see how we got to that place and then now we’re able to really connect with them throughout their life cycle.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, I love that. And again, it’s you have to start even on a pre day 1 on creating that sense of belonging on making sure that they understand the sense of purpose and their contribution. And so, you know, definitely a passion point of mine. And then how do you think about taking that experience and with what they need their language, their digital channel or type of digital connection of choice and really thinking about giving them what they need in those different moments that matter to them.

Alice Fournier: Yeah, I’ll start and then I think Alice, you can probably overlay here as well. Alice has a really unique tech answer to this as well. She and I have worked together. I think first is just seeking to understand, really diving in with listening sessions with people, whether they’re onboarding process or they’ve been here for 10 years. Being very intentional about listening. I call them frontline forums, right? And they’re experience Sessions where we’re just connecting with our employees and listening. Can I walk a day in your shoes? Can I have a ride day? Can you walk me through what it’s like to go through this experience with you? And so we spend a lot of time walking with our applicants walking with our employees and listening intently to make sure that we understand what’s most important to them. Once we know what that is, then we’re able to create the unique experiences around those connecting moments that matter. So, we started out saying, what is a typical career journey? We even went so far as, you know, there’s this little graph that shows smiley faces and frowny faces. What are the positive moments that matter and what is a moment that mattered or It’s kind of just a meh, and then what is really terrible, and how do we understand why and get underneath that once we were able to to document those. And by the way, to Marjorie’s point, they change. The experience that matters most for someone who’s been here for 10 years is different than someone who’s been here for 10 days. So really getting underneath those personas and the career components that are important enabled us to then design intentional employee experiences around that. And thankfully we had Alice on the team who could help us do that in a dynamic digital format. And then Marjorie, I’d love for you to speak about even some of our employee internal communications that we’ve done trying to meet the front line with, you know, we have stand up meetings and huddles on site all the way to very intentional teams, channels and connection communities of connection as well. So Alice, what would you add from a tech perspective? 

Alice Fournier: Only two pieces that I would add when it comes to how do we deliver a great digital employee experience from end to end. I mean, knowing your audience and Lisa covered that, right? Really understanding what is a day in the life. The other two points I would add consumer technologies a UX that really mirrors consumer technologies, right? There’s been sentiment that B2B technology or employee technology is different than consumer technologies, but that’s, the reality is, if it sits on my phone, if it sits on my computer, I want it to be easy. I want that consumer UX and that has not yet completely translated into the B2B world into people technology. But I would say this is critical to what we’re looking for as we continue to evolve the employee experience. So consumer like technology, that UX, it matters. It matters to our people. It matters to us. And then the other piece that we leverage alongside all of the audience check in and the real in person conversation, data and insights, because the benefit of all these great technologies is to deliver, right, new behavioral knowledge. Boy, the information that we have on our candidates now, looking in the back of the technologies we’ve deployed is significantly different than anything we had. So yes, there’s a phenomenal impact on the candidate on the employee delivering that experience. But for the back end and the insights, we get a lot more information when we deliver the right technologies and when we also staff and bring in the resources who have the skills to look at the technology and to make better decision for the employee experience because it’s it the same thing as consumer technology, right? It’s what you used to get in a survey, right? I buy X, Y, Z, X amount of time per week. But when you actually look at omni channel data, you realize that actually what people think they do is a little bit different than what they do the employee experience similar. So the data and insight also matters to how we seek to understand and to improve.

Marjorie McCarthy: You know, one thing that we have found in addition to having really really well leveraged and functional digital channels is at the end of the day, there is a lot of information that our people want to get from their managers, right? We understand that because we’re always, you know, frontline focus grouping. We’re always focus grouping with our corporate, you know, teams as well. And understanding that at the end of the day, their managers, their unit leaders are the people that, that they trust to bring them information. And so making sure that our managers are equipped with the messages and the information that they need to share. And. Digital is, great. We are always still also providing toolkits that can be printed and posted and you know, we work in so many different types of spaces and so just making sure that, again, our communications mix and our channels are as diverse as, That’s where our employees are working and who they are.

Nicole Alvino: Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, 2 things that came up for me. I think 1 of just thinking through that the employee journey map and analogous to Marjorie probably what you’ve been doing in marketing for many years, but is newer on the employee experience side and being able to map and then especially having some of the data to inform the next best action. And you brought up a survey. So you, you ask a question that sort of, you know, what’s happened in the past or what’s happening you know, based on today, but if we can take all of the different data and some of the behavioral data and how people are responding, what’s resonating with them, what’s perhaps not, we can take all of that data and start to build that windshield view and take a look at, wow, this type of employee would really benefit from having this type of experience. And so it sounds like that’s very much you all are doing.

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: I love that you wrap the bow that way. I think one of the most powerful intersections of the data and the experience has been in this onboarding of new employees where we can see real time. Oh, Alice started her onboarding today. She started, but the video paused for 30 minutes. Let’s alert. Should someone reach out to her? Is this a moment where we need a human connection or wow, someone is whipping through this. They are ready to get started. Maybe I can bring them on board faster or sooner and send them a congratulations note and just make them feel seen, heard, and you know, that we care. We’re so excited about their journey even before they start. And so it’s been this really neat dynamic. It’s almost like if you could be on the outside of a house and watch your family from the inside and when a moment of conflict Or a moment of success happened, you could jump in and go, Yay, or so sorry. Let me help you with that. And the technology has allowed us to do that. It’s giving us that real time and then we can track it and monitor it so that it does become predictive and proactive, huh? In the last 24 hours, we’ve had seven people get stuck on this. Maybe we’ve got a problem there that isn’t quite as clear or that could use some embellishment. And so we’re able to do that real time. And then there’s text messaging that goes with it and emails and phone calls. So it’s, it’s really exacerbated our ability just to connect with people and engage that experience. We shouldn’t have it before, right? We just didn’t have it. So it’s very powerful when you can start to see that real time and, and then aggregate the data.

Alice Fournier: Yeah, I would probably reinforce on the data side and specifically, of course, in the employee journey but truly beyond that, it is what we are focused on as an organization. Really for, you know, now and the foreseeable future is truly to look at the data behind great technologies. Look at the information behind what we deploy to make better decisions to adjust. A lot faster when we’re gone wrong and find that out. and that’s again, in the employee experience, absolutely. But also in our food business and our food waste we are using data and we’ve really invested in a, pretty cool actually data infrastructure. Because we believe that that’s how we become better. We believe that’s how our operators become better. It’s by having the information and what better way to do that than to deliver technology that you want to adopt, that’s easy to use and that we can get better insights from. So in the employee journey, 100%, but I would say the focus for our, our overall technology strategy is really to deliver better. That data and insights and to train people because the data and insight is important, but most important is training the people who can make the decision based on those insights.

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: I also would say it helps us ask different, better questions, right? I think pre Intel and insights from the data and the analytics, it’s very easy to allow your subjective personal experience to influence the questions or the way you go seek to understand. Intro data and intro different insights, it forces you to really have a broader and different perspective. And so you ask better questions, which then gleans better information and then you’re able to make better decisions. So just the questioning aperture widening has been really advantageous for us as well.

Marjorie McCarthy: And I would add to that enables us to have better messages that resonate.

Nicole Alvino: it’s the insights and then it’s the, so what, and what are you going to do with it? And then now what on the action? And then it becomes this great flywheel of, I have insights, then I can be predictive, then I can be prescriptive around behaviors that I want, the understanding that I want. What do I not want my people to know, feel and do? And so I think that that’s the part that’s so exciting with that foundation and data. Okay. Let’s spend one minute or more on some transformation. So you all have been through a lot of transformation. Every organization on the planet right now is going through transformation. How do all of you work together to ensure that your people are supported and really encouraged and upskilled and brought along through change and transformation? 

Marjorie McCarthy: It’s a one word answer. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate again. Communicate some more. Communicate about 50 percent more than you feel like you need to. I think it all comes back to that.

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: Yeah, I think that’s spot on Marjorie. Nicole, would add. realizing that the change journey is different for every person. And really back to what you said earlier, meeting people where they are first requires you to understand where they are. There are some folks that are just the change agents and catalysts and they’re like, yes, let me go. I want to be the first, right? It’s the users of the first Google glasses and the users of the first new iPhone And that’s fabulous. We love people like that. But we also love the people who need a little bit more information, who really need to understand the why, who really need a moment of psychological safety infused in their interactions to get them bought in and not bought in because it was an edict from whoever, but really bought in because they understand and they’re going on this journey of transformation with us, whether it’s tech adoption and Alice’s space or a new supervisor or a new, you know, Partner that we’re doing business with. It’s really understanding how we bring the people along with us and meet them where they are. You said it very well earlier. It’s taking the time to invest in that using all the data and analytics and all the insights that we can, but also being very intentional and recognizing that people are on different change adoption journeys and we need them all. We need them all together.

Alice Fournier: I think from a, yes, communicate and change management, boy, do we need change management as we transform? And it’s the thing sometimes that comes at the tail end, right? For many organization, ours as well. Sometimes change management, we, you know, plug it in, but I think the best way to transform organization is to have change management really lead the way. Putting the technology hat on probably the most exciting and most challenging approach or reality around transformation is to keep up the pace of technology while not going after the shiny object or trying to avoid the shiny object if it’s just And A shiny object managing, you know, all the application. I mean, the technology landscapes versus how much, how little do you bring AI into your organization? How much, how little do you bring, you know, all kinds of new technologies. There is so much out there that can accelerate the organization, but the reality in the CIO role and employee technology is no different. You have a subset of really legacy types of applications that really, you know, on which the foundation of a lot of organizations sit. And so when you’re talking about transforming these core systems these are exciting, exciting times in technology, but they are also true challenges given how quickly the world’s evolving.

Nicole Alvino: It’s, back to the, we have to give the right communication to the right person in the right way at the right moment to bring them along throughout the change and to be that change management for any transformation to be successful. So I love that what you all are doing and driving and really leading with that people first approach and taking advantage of the latest and greatest with technology and AI. So with that I will go to our lightning round at the end and do one thing you always do. And one thing you never do. So Marjorie, I’ll start with you,

Marjorie McCarthy: gosh. Okay. Let’s see. Always do is I, I’m a big believer in relationships and well, maybe my always do and never do are the same. Big believer in relationships. I truly believe that relationships are the foundation of everything, and so I think it’s really important regardless of work style or personality or what not to form strong relationships. That’s the always. The never is the same. You know, don’t burn bridges. You know, don’t discount the importance of I think it’s really important to have that connection with a person or with a group of people because what may not seem like it matters today may end up mattering a whole lot tomorrow, and so I think just, it all comes to me back to the relationships that we have.

Nicole Alvino: Lisa.

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: Okay, this one’s super easy for me. Always assume good intent. Always find the good. Always, always find the good and assume good intent. And never sacrifice or integrity. gotta have character as the center pole. Your integrity is something that’s so important. And so, always assume the best. Assume good intent. And never sacrifice character or integrity.

Nicole Alvino: Love it. And Alice 

Alice Fournier: I think, similarly, always pause for the human. We engage with a lot of different people. Everyone is human. Everyone. Wants and needs to be seen and take the pause to see the human and to honor the person that’s in front of you. That’s really important. And it’s especially important in these large, large organization. We have lots of great people to pause for and my never. Okay, very different. I never wake up past 5 a. m. That’s a rule in my life. Don’t 

Lisa Mitchell-Kastner: This is true. I can vouch for this. This is true.

Alice Fournier: There you go.

Nicole Alvino: The 5 a. m. Club. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Alice, Lisa, and Marjorie. This has been such an exceptional conversation. And can you please share quickly where our listeners can find you? 

Alice Fournier: Yes, you can on LinkedIn, certainly. We are all over LinkedIn. Marjorie is probably better suited to say all the great places you can find us, but we are all on LinkedIn for sure.

Marjorie McCarthy: ISS, North America. website, issworld. com slash us. we’re all there and, you can find us.

Nicole Alvino: Super. Well, thank you so much for joining us.