Jeff Tetz is the CEO of a company, Results, that’s raison d’étre is to help business leaders become better at what they do. To create workplaces that offer ways for the employees to grow and become valued.
But, how to keep that going during the pandemic, when in-person conferences have been replaced by Zoom meetings, and seminars have transformed into webinars?
Well, start a podcast, of course. But, how to make a podcast stand out in a sea of, well, podcasts? There is so much noise out there. Let’s face it, even the word “podcast” has you thinking, “oh, no, another one?” (It’s OK, I was thinking that too when I was initially pitched this as a story idea.)
But the Unleashed podcast series has cut through the cynicism. Hosted by Tetz out of the Results headquarters in Edmonton. A fifth season will debut Feb. 3. The secret sauce? Each episode is live; sure, you can listen to archived episodes, but you can also tune in, radio style, to hear the interviews unfold as they happen. And, Tetz has brought on some of the top motivational speakers and “thought leaders” on the circuit.
“This is the ‘why’ for us — we think it’s one of life’s great tragedies that most people will never know what it’s like to work for a great boss,” says Tetz. “The difference in a person’s life when they work in a great culture and they work for a boss that cares for them personally, and takes a vested interest in helping them grow and becoming a contributing member of their team, we think it’s something that everyone deserves to feel. And we know that there are lots of managers out there who want to be that kind of boss to their employees, but they don’t necessarily know how.”
Included on the roster of guests are people like Tom Peters, who used to be a regular on the list of top 100 most powerful people in Silicon Valley. Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi, who has won multiple Super Bowls, has been on the podcast. Annie Korver has spoken about the need for Indigenous inclusion in the business community.
“One thing the pandemic has done is made the world smaller,” says Tetz. “So, people who would normally be jumping on flights five times a week, they’re at home like we are. And they’re looking for things to do, to see how they can help, how they can stay active. So, we’ve been able to tap into this whole world of thought leadership who have been more receptive to strangers reaching out to connect than they ever were before.”
