Deborah Perry Piscione
Appearances
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
It's such a great question. I really appreciate you asking me this because no one's ever asked me this before. But obviously, we are taking on traditional employment in a command and control, Taylorism setting where people are just cogs on a wheel. They don't have emotions. They don't have feelings. They're just there to do a job. And we are in this era where we don't have to take that anymore.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
We don't have to take someone's crap of making us feel bad. What we do need to recognize is we are in the era where we have the benefit of embracing life stage flexibility. Now, to the point, and obviously I don't know all the circumstances, it's not helping anybody.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
If you've got a 26, 27-year-old who's downstairs in the basement and who plays video games all day and doesn't contribute to the rent or the food or things, the best thing you can do for any individual is get them out there to figure out survival because they'll learn so much about themselves.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And so that would be not my parenting recommendation, but even just from a neuro standpoint, if we don't use our brain, just like we don't use our physical bodies, eventually we deteriorate. And so it's really important that people identify authentically with what their interests and passions are, and then figure out how to make a living on that.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
So the real messages that we want to get out there is traditional nine to five work has not worked for a long time. You could be a recent college grad and want to be in an office five days a week, but you don't need to be there all those hours. We can reduce traffic. We need to fix the planet. We need to clean it up.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
But maybe you've had your first child and you only want to work two days a week and AI is going to give us that opportunity to do. And so we're at a remarkable period of time in which we have more choices, more opportunities than ever before. And so it's very exciting not only to see where work is heading, but where we as individuals head as individuals, as family members, as community members.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
We are going to be in an era of not necessarily utopia, but certainly to have more freedom in the way that we want to live life and not be so beholden to traditional
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
Yes, absolutely. We will. I know Taiwan and I think China has bought the book as well. So we'll definitely be in Asia at some point. But I do want to share that you've asked me some very interesting questions. And I thank you for that because it makes it for a much more dynamic interview.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
I'll share that I'm living this. I have twin boys, both would have been sophomores in college by now. One is at a traditional four-year college. The other one got waitlisted at Harvard and was thinking about the Naval Academy as well. And he had started a business during, he had started a street work company called Faith Versus Fury during COVID because he was 15 and very bored sitting at home.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
The business sustained him in a six-figure annual revenue. He knew that he wanted to take a gap year and he took that gap year in South America and Antarctica. And some of the experiences that he had down there are what we look for in entrepreneurs. It's really about survival. It's about when things go really awry or go very tough, are you able to carry through?
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And my son, Drake, had many risky situations, including... crossing the Drake Passage, being pulled off a bus in the middle of the night in Argentina and being left in the cold, but it's learning how to survive. And what you come to realize, he fully intended to go back to university. But at the end of the day, he didn't realize the value based on what he was going to spend.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And both my boys are off the payroll. The other one made nice money on NFTs and crypto. I told him I would pay for private school in K through 12, but they were on their own in college. They were gonna have to figure it out. And so when you look at the growth or the maturity, when somebody goes through difficult experiences,
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
That's really the future of skills and the mindset that individuals need because there's going to be no guarantees moving forward. We are not going to have the security of the big company behind us anymore. So looking back, we've missed out on so many extraordinary young people because they couldn't afford to go to school. And many of those young people have had the most traumatic experiences
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
situations growing up, whether they were in the foster care system or single parent drug-infested environments. I've worked with a lot of these kids. They are unbelievable positioned to be entrepreneurs and everybody has to think of themselves as an entrepreneur moving forward. It's the only way to survive.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And Google and many of the companies in Silicon Valley kind of set the trend and said, we don't and Peter Thiel, of course, we don't want to wait for you to the smartest to waste their time on a four year degree continuing to sit in a classroom. We want you to come work at Google as a high school graduate and just get moving.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And so this idea around apprenticeships or certifications in AI, which many of them are free now. My son who opted not to go to school ended up paying for a certificate program at Cornell, but many of these programs are free.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
and so i think it really the onus is up to the individual to feel secure enough in themselves is my son who doesn't go to college going to get a job at coleman sachs probably unlikely but there are many companies in silicon valley that recognize the value of that individual rather than a degree that's on a piece of paper
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
Yeah, and that's why we talk about the bifurcated work truck, right? Now there's options. Who, who fathomed that we could actually make money off cryptocurrency, a digital asset or an NFT and make a lot of money. I think at the end of the day, we've now evolved into this portfolio career. It's almost like what was heralded during our generation is almost frowned upon now.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
It's about maximizing the T-shape of who you are. Maybe you take advantage of the vertical aspect of you in what you studied. But the horizontal part of you is really about all the things I'm interested in, all the things I'm passionate in. Now I can actually make money at these things. It really is, in some respects, I think many of us
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
We look back so favorably on what we call simpler times, but I also struggled greatly. And I'm not saying anything that that struggle didn't help me enormously, but now this next generation, how lucky they are. If you are entrepreneurial, if you are comfortable taking risks,
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
that you can cobble so many things together you can work with upwork you know that platform when you need certain projects and then eventually we'll see the blockchain and smart contracts and dowels and all sorts of other technologies coming into play where we can work from anywhere at any time and really engage in the things that we love to do versus the things we have to do
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
The first thing is great, transparent communication with your employees and really learning. That's why I say that one of the most important roles moving forward is that CHRO. Of course, a chief AI officer is going to be critical with the CTO, the chief innovation officer, the chief information officer.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
But it is going to be about people and what their level of comfort is, where they feel comfortable upskilling, where they feel comfortable using AI. Where are those learning gaps that we can help support as we make this transformation? So a lot of it is rather than just the technology aspect and the integration that's going to happen, that's going to happen no matter what.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
It's really bringing people along on the train and making them feel comfortable in what's about to happen. And I will always go back to that example when IBM was transitioning from a hardware company into consulting and other elements. That CEO really went around the world talking to IBM offices everywhere and say, look, here's what's happening. Our organization is making a radical shift.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
We want you to be a part of it, but we understand if you're not comfortable moving into this next generation, we'll help you find a new job. I don't know that in this day and age, companies are going to be willing to help people find other opportunities because everybody's going to be dealing with massive shift.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
But it really is about making work more human and making your employees feel like they're a part of the family because every person has played a role in the success or sometimes the failure of a company. So for those who help make your organization successful, just be human, be empathetic, and really just allow your guard to come down to let people know that you are there for them no matter what.
Chief Change Officer
#176 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And you're going to help in this transition if where the future of the company is heading doesn't work.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
how they move and do this massive transformation that's going to happen and bring their employees and workers along to be a part of being on the train, if you will.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I think we're trying to target and edify not just leaders, but workers themselves to say they've got a choice now. They don't have to put up with the old style and the old guard enemy. We are in this era of a hyper gig economy. So maybe you got an education in coding, computer coding. Maybe you don't like it that much.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Maybe you spend an hour a day doing it because Anthropic is now assisting you in coding and you really enjoy a lot of other things. And so you can cobble things. Various ways of earning a living together in ways that you could never foresee decades ago. I remember when I needed extra money because my first job on Capitol Hill was $13,000 a year.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I needed to work at night in order to be able to afford to live. And I would have to type in these job ads as people were watching over me, making sure that I was just doing things just right, really feeling like enslaved in a lot of ways. And so what we're seeing now, Vince, is that we're moving into this bifurcated work track. Traditional employment will remain.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Some industries will never evolve fully. They may die out. There's other industries we need to be more cautious. We can't have AI and Web3 technologies taking over. But there are other industries where... you know, leadership is going to realize that one person can now do the job of three or four. So what happens to those people, the three or four people who now lose their job because of AI?
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And so we're really trying to edify both sides of the house, if you will, to understand here's what's coming. You need to upskill as quick as possible if you need to, because we've got Gen Z coming into the workplace This is the first time we will have a generation coming in who knows the future and work better than the current people in leadership.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And so it's going to be a real, I don't want to use the word that's on my mind, but it's going to be a circus. And so you really have to edify yourself what's coming down the pipe and understanding how you need to evolve or make adjustments as quick as possible.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
As Josh may have shared with you, he ended up applying to speak at a Web3 summit that I was putting on with another Silicon Valley notable. And we were probably getting in about a dozen applications a day. And I wasn't even the person necessarily to do the first vetting of these speaking topics. But I just happened to capture Josh's submission and I thought, There's a book. This is a book.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
So you want to talk about risk taking. We didn't know each other at all. And so I just asked him, I emailed him and I said, look, your topic sounds interesting, but I have something even bigger to talk to you about. And we had our first phone call. And I would say within 10 minutes of that phone call, I was like, hey, do you want to write a book together? And that's how simple it was.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And I think when And I don't want to make this about gender at all, but I think that men in particular are really good about jumping off the cliff, right? And just saying, hey, I'm going to give this a shot. Women may be, in general, a little bit more risk averse. But when you open yourself up for opportunity, you never know what can come along. And it may work and it may not.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
But in this case, not only did it work, but we ended up getting many bids on this book and then ended up working with Harvard Business Review.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Yeah, I have always been fascinated with innovation and bringing ideas to the table because everybody's walking around with good ideas. It's just, is there a pipeline? Is the psychological safety there? Is there an improvisational element to being able to bring forth good ideas?
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
So right after I wrote Secrets of Silicon Valley, I ended up writing a book on risk-taking to enable innovation and really looked at what it took to to be successful, to have bottoms up innovation processes rather than the other way around, where it's top down and it's executives driving the future of innovation within an organization.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Because at the end of the day, what I realized is sometimes it's the people closest to the job. Sometimes it's the people with the smallest paychecks in the room who may have the next multi hundred million dollar idea. And so I ended up developing in concert with Qualcomm, an innovation process that enabled anybody in any corner of the company to bring forth a new idea.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And so I've always come with that. mindset leading with innovation first. Josh comes from more of a HR perspective on and employee dissatisfaction. And I think the marriage between those two perspectives make it a very comprehensive book.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I'll share that I'm living this. I have twin boys, both would have been sophomores in college by now. One is at a traditional four-year college. The other one got waitlisted at Harvard and was thinking about the Naval Academy as well. And he had started a business during, he had started a street work company called Faith Versus Fury during COVID because he was 15 and very bored sitting at home.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Thank you so much, Vince. It's such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for allowing me to share my story because I think my story, my background is so critical how I now see the world. And so prior to coming to Silicon Valley, I had spent 18 years in Washington, D.C. I worked on Capitol Hill. I worked in the White House. I was appointed into one of the
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
presidential administrations, and then I ended up following into media as an on-air commentator with MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN. And then DC ended up writing my first book. But when I realized when we moved to the West Coast and Silicon Valley, I really had to spend 18 years doing two things. Two things I learned how to do really well.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I learned how to divide people into an us versus them, because in Washington, D.C., it is all about politics. You're a Democrat, a Republican for the bill, against the bill. There really is two camps.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
in that regard and i also learned how to put fear in people because when you put fear in people you can increase viewership at your respective on television network that you're at and you can also increase political contributions if you're putting fear into people so i just thought Everybody worked this way. This is the way things were.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I never realized that there were other cultures out there in the way that things got done. So in 2006, my husband and I moved out here and I quickly realized how the shift in the questions and how people introduce themselves. I was so used to Washington, D.C., two questions. Where did you go to school? Who do you work for?
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And then suddenly I came into this culture where it was, how can I help you? And that very question came up at a Starbucks three weeks after being here. And I was standing in line at a Starbucks. Someone noticed I was new in our little small town right near Stanford University and asked me, how can I help you?
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And because of that very meeting, a couple of weeks later, I was sitting down with one of the premier venture capitalists, Claytor Perkins. And that venture capitalist said, I like you, figure out something to do. I'm going to fund you. And because of that funding and my first company that I ended up building out with my co-founder, that company sold 18 months later.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And I realized what a unique culture Silicon Valley truly is. It's collaborative. You often work with your competitors. It's for the greater good. It's not about competition. money or power or greed at the forefront. It's more about how can I contribute in a way to changing the world?
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And so from that experience, I ended up writing the book Secrets of Silicon Valley that got picked up in 39 countries around the world. It made the New York Times bestseller list. And I realized that having this perspective
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
of not being from silicon valley really gave me an interesting view on how things could be and how things should be so i was really the first person to attempt to write what this culture was about and if you wanted to try to adopt a similar alchemy These were the characteristics, the mindset and the culture that you need to bring to the forefront in order to make it successful.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
So really in Silicon Valley, I very much did a build a company, write a book, go on a speaking tour, wash and repeat. So I built out six companies. This is my sixth book coming out and continue to be on a global speaking tour, not only teaching the Silicon Valley ecosystem,
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
risk-taking to enable innovation but also an innovation process that is a bottoms-up process where any person in any quarter of the company can bring forth good ideas and of course this next book employment is dead how do you make this transformation from the traditional into the era of ai and web 3 technologies
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
yeah vince i wish i had a really interesting story but it is quite organic it was really based on needs that popped up or my kids had an influence on one of the companies for sure but it was as silly as i recognized that women in venture capital private equity and entrepreneurs needed to be brought together so one was Alley to the Valley more about the community.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And then when I was on a speaking tour and you're under the hot light, I just developed almost like an undershirt that protected my clothes and that ended up getting licensed. And it really just came out of specific needs that I saw in the marketplace for myself originally or something around my children's development.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
You're incredibly insightful for bringing that up. I do have to feel it. It's not like I definitely see needs out there that are not necessarily applicable to me or the people I know. So it is something I've just, I do put mind, body, and soul into all of it. So there is, there's gotta be a feel. And really at the end of the day, I think what very much distinguishes
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
The people who come to Silicon Valley, and I'll say this over and over, yes, there are times it's been described as the gold rush, but at the end of the day, the people who really succeed are the people trying to make the planet better. It's not about the money first or the greed. When it's quite understated,
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
If for those of your guests who have been here to Silicon Valley or haven't, it's not necessarily what you would think of in terms of being such a wealthy place based on so much entrepreneurial success, because people are incredibly understated and really do care for the most part about the good of the planet and all Obviously, there's certainly competition in trying to be number one.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Without a doubt, we're competitive beings. But at the end of the day, it's really about continuing to advance technology in a way that makes it meaningful for people.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
That actually dates back to a time when I first moved to Washington, D.C. And the first thing I bought myself when I had enough money to do so was a bike. And I would ride this bike every day on Sundays to Roosevelt Island because I didn't have a lot of friends there at the time. I didn't know anybody in Washington, D.C. until I ended up working on Capitol Hill.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And I would ride to Roosevelt Island every Sunday and go to the center of the island where the statue is. And my favorite saying of Roosevelt is, it's better to try and fail than never to have tried to succeed at all. And it's something I've taken to heart. I throw things out there all the time that don't work.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
But I know that sometimes you've got to throw, you know, a dozen things to the ceiling and one of them may stick and 11 may fail. And that's just part of the journey is really about risk taking, because risk taking, no matter what happens, whether it's successful or it fails, at the end of the day, you're going to learn something incredibly valuable.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I have learned in time and time again, there was a great article in Harvard Business Review many years ago about the founder's dilemma. And again, it goes back to the root of greed. It's not about the greed. It's about moving things to the next level. And so maybe you don't like that number that's being offered to you as an asset or in a strategic partnership.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
But there is going to be so much greater benefit by exiting or doing that strategic partnership than continuing to sail on your own. And so for me, it's all about risk taking, knowing that 80% of the time you may fail, but that 20% of the time is what keeps life really interesting.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I never understood the command and control model known as Taylorism, which dates back to 1918. I never understood sitting in my office in Washington, D.C., finishing my job by 2 p.m., but yet I had to sit there until 6 p.m. because it was just FaceTime. So the value was based on time rather than productivity and output.
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Now we're in the era of AI and other Web3 technologies that is going to make work not only that much more efficient, but individuals who can really capitalize off the benefits of having these new technologies in the workplace. So the Work3 Institute that Josh and I built together is really advising companies and enterprises. How do you...
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
traditional organization into the era of AI and Web3 technologies, bringing your employees along in communication, in this evolution, in upskilling, all the things that are going to be required in this next generation of work. And Josh and I, both at the end of the day, we're very passionate. We don't understand if you're going to spend the most hours of day at work Why should you feel bad?
Chief Change Officer
#175 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Why should you be treated poorly? We need to encourage people to bring their best selves to the table. And you can't do that if you don't have psychological safety. You can't do that if you can't try new things. So work three is really showing leaders
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
It's such a great question. I really appreciate you asking me this because no one's ever asked me this before. But obviously, we are taking on traditional employment in a command and control, Taylorism setting where people are just cogs on a wheel. They don't have emotions. They don't have feelings. They're just there to do a job. And we are in this era where we don't have to take that anymore.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
We don't have to take someone's crap of making us feel bad. What we do need to recognize is we are in the era where we have the benefit of embracing life stage flexibility. Now, to the point, and obviously I don't know all the circumstances, it's not helping anybody.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
If you've got a 26, 27-year-old who's downstairs in the basement and who plays video games all day and doesn't contribute to the rent or the food or things, the best thing you can do for any individual is get them out there to figure out survival because they'll learn so much about themselves.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And so that would be not my parenting recommendation, but even just from a neuro standpoint, if we don't use our brain, just like we don't use our physical bodies, eventually we deteriorate. And so it's really important that people identify authentically with what their interests and passions are, and then figure out how to make a living on that.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
So the real messages that we want to get out there is traditional nine to five work has not worked for a long time. You could be a recent college grad and want to be in an office five days a week, but you don't need to be there all those hours. We can reduce traffic. We need to fix the planet. We need to clean it up.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
But maybe you've had your first child and you only want to work two days a week and AI is going to give us that opportunity to do. And so we're at a remarkable period of time in which we have more choices, more opportunities than ever before. And so it's very exciting not only to see where work is heading, but where we as individuals head as individuals, as family members, as community members.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
We are going to be in an era of not necessarily utopia, but certainly to have more freedom in the way that we want to live life and not be so beholden to traditional
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
Yes, absolutely. We will. I know Taiwan and I think China has bought the book as well. So we'll definitely be in Asia at some point. But I do want to share that you've asked me some very interesting questions. And I thank you for that because it makes it for a much more dynamic interview.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
I'll share that I'm living this. I have twin boys, both would have been sophomores in college by now. One is at a traditional four-year college. The other one got waitlisted at Harvard and was thinking about the Naval Academy as well. And he had started a business during, he had started a street work company called Faith Versus Fury during COVID because he was 15 and very bored sitting at home.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
The business sustained him in a six-figure annual revenue. He knew that he wanted to take a gap year and he took that gap year in South America and Antarctica. And some of the experiences that he had down there are what we look for in entrepreneurs. It's really about survival. It's about when things go really awry or go very tough, are you able to carry through?
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And my son, Drake, had many risky situations, including... crossing the Drake Passage, being pulled off a bus in the middle of the night in Argentina and being left in the cold, but it's learning how to survive. And what you come to realize, he fully intended to go back to university. But at the end of the day, he didn't realize the value based on what he was going to spend.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And both my boys are off the payroll. The other one made nice money on NFTs and crypto. I told him I would pay for private school in K through 12, but they were on their own in college. They were gonna have to figure it out. And so when you look at the growth or the maturity, when somebody goes through difficult experiences,
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
That's really the future of skills and the mindset that individuals need because there's going to be no guarantees moving forward. We are not going to have the security of the big company behind us anymore. So looking back, we've missed out on so many extraordinary young people because they couldn't afford to go to school. And many of those young people have had the most traumatic experiences
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
situations growing up, whether they were in the foster care system or single parent drug-infested environments. I've worked with a lot of these kids. They are unbelievable positioned to be entrepreneurs and everybody has to think of themselves as an entrepreneur moving forward. It's the only way to survive.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And Google and many of the companies in Silicon Valley kind of set the trend and said, we don't and Peter Thiel, of course, we don't want to wait for you to the smartest to waste their time on a four year degree continuing to sit in a classroom. We want you to come work at Google as a high school graduate and just get moving.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And so this idea around apprenticeships or certifications in AI, which many of them are free now. My son who opted not to go to school ended up paying for a certificate program at Cornell, but many of these programs are free.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
and so i think it really the onus is up to the individual to feel secure enough in themselves is my son who doesn't go to college going to get a job at coleman sachs probably unlikely but there are many companies in silicon valley that recognize the value of that individual rather than a degree that's on a piece of paper
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
Yeah, and that's why we talk about the bifurcated work truck, right? Now there's options. Who, who fathomed that we could actually make money off cryptocurrency, a digital asset or an NFT and make a lot of money. I think at the end of the day, we've now evolved into this portfolio career. It's almost like what was heralded during our generation is almost frowned upon now.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
It's about maximizing the T-shape of who you are. Maybe you take advantage of the vertical aspect of you in what you studied. But the horizontal part of you is really about all the things I'm interested in, all the things I'm passionate in. Now I can actually make money at these things. It really is, in some respects, I think many of us
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
We look back so favorably on what we call simpler times, but I also struggled greatly. And I'm not saying anything that that struggle didn't help me enormously, but now this next generation, how lucky they are. If you are entrepreneurial, if you are comfortable taking risks,
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
that you can cobble so many things together you can work with upwork you know that platform when you need certain projects and then eventually we'll see the blockchain and smart contracts and dowels and all sorts of other technologies coming into play where we can work from anywhere at any time and really engage in the things that we love to do versus the things we have to do
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
The first thing is great, transparent communication with your employees and really learning. That's why I say that one of the most important roles moving forward is that CHRO. Of course, a chief AI officer is going to be critical with the CTO, the chief innovation officer, the chief information officer.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
But it is going to be about people and what their level of comfort is, where they feel comfortable upskilling, where they feel comfortable using AI. Where are those learning gaps that we can help support as we make this transformation? So a lot of it is rather than just the technology aspect and the integration that's going to happen, that's going to happen no matter what.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
It's really bringing people along on the train and making them feel comfortable in what's about to happen. And I will always go back to that example when IBM was transitioning from a hardware company into consulting and other elements. That CEO really went around the world talking to IBM offices everywhere and say, look, here's what's happening. Our organization is making a radical shift.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
We want you to be a part of it, but we understand if you're not comfortable moving into this next generation, we'll help you find a new job. I don't know that in this day and age, companies are going to be willing to help people find other opportunities because everybody's going to be dealing with massive shift.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
But it really is about making work more human and making your employees feel like they're a part of the family because every person has played a role in the success or sometimes the failure of a company. So for those who help make your organization successful, just be human, be empathetic, and really just allow your guard to come down to let people know that you are there for them no matter what.
Chief Change Officer
#254 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part Two
And you're going to help in this transition if where the future of the company is heading doesn't work.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
how they move and do this massive transformation that's going to happen and bring their employees and workers along to be a part of being on the train, if you will.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I think we're trying to target and edify not just leaders, but workers themselves to say they've got a choice now. They don't have to put up with the old style and the old guard enemy. We are in this era of a hyper gig economy. So maybe you got an education in coding, computer coding. Maybe you don't like it that much.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Maybe you spend an hour a day doing it because Anthropic is now assisting you in coding and you really enjoy a lot of other things. And so you can cobble things. Various ways of earning a living together in ways that you could never foresee decades ago. I remember when I needed extra money because my first job on Capitol Hill was $13,000 a year.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I needed to work at night in order to be able to afford to live. And I would have to type in these job ads as people were watching over me, making sure that I was just doing things just right, really feeling like enslaved in a lot of ways. And so what we're seeing now, Vince, is that we're moving into this bifurcated work track. Traditional employment will remain.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Some industries will never evolve fully. They may die out. There's other industries we need to be more cautious. We can't have AI and Web3 technologies taking over. But there are other industries where... you know, leadership is going to realize that one person can now do the job of three or four. So what happens to those people, the three or four people who now lose their job because of AI?
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And so we're really trying to edify both sides of the house, if you will, to understand here's what's coming. You need to upskill as quick as possible if you need to, because we've got Gen Z coming into the workplace This is the first time we will have a generation coming in who knows the future and work better than the current people in leadership.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And so it's going to be a real, I don't want to use the word that's on my mind, but it's going to be a circus. And so you really have to edify yourself what's coming down the pipe and understanding how you need to evolve or make adjustments as quick as possible.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
As Josh may have shared with you, he ended up applying to speak at a Web3 summit that I was putting on with another Silicon Valley notable. And we were probably getting in about a dozen applications a day. And I wasn't even the person necessarily to do the first vetting of these speaking topics. But I just happened to capture Josh's submission and I thought, There's a book. This is a book.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
So you want to talk about risk taking. We didn't know each other at all. And so I just asked him, I emailed him and I said, look, your topic sounds interesting, but I have something even bigger to talk to you about. And we had our first phone call. And I would say within 10 minutes of that phone call, I was like, hey, do you want to write a book together? And that's how simple it was.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And I think when And I don't want to make this about gender at all, but I think that men in particular are really good about jumping off the cliff, right? And just saying, hey, I'm going to give this a shot. Women may be, in general, a little bit more risk averse. But when you open yourself up for opportunity, you never know what can come along. And it may work and it may not.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
But in this case, not only did it work, but we ended up getting many bids on this book and then ended up working with Harvard Business Review.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Yeah, I have always been fascinated with innovation and bringing ideas to the table because everybody's walking around with good ideas. It's just, is there a pipeline? Is the psychological safety there? Is there an improvisational element to being able to bring forth good ideas?
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
So right after I wrote Secrets of Silicon Valley, I ended up writing a book on risk-taking to enable innovation and really looked at what it took to to be successful, to have bottoms up innovation processes rather than the other way around, where it's top down and it's executives driving the future of innovation within an organization.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Because at the end of the day, what I realized is sometimes it's the people closest to the job. Sometimes it's the people with the smallest paychecks in the room who may have the next multi hundred million dollar idea. And so I ended up developing in concert with Qualcomm, an innovation process that enabled anybody in any corner of the company to bring forth a new idea.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And so I've always come with that. mindset leading with innovation first. Josh comes from more of a HR perspective on and employee dissatisfaction. And I think the marriage between those two perspectives make it a very comprehensive book.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I'll share that I'm living this. I have twin boys, both would have been sophomores in college by now. One is at a traditional four-year college. The other one got waitlisted at Harvard and was thinking about the Naval Academy as well. And he had started a business during, he had started a street work company called Faith Versus Fury during COVID because he was 15 and very bored sitting at home.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Thank you so much, Vince. It's such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for allowing me to share my story because I think my story, my background is so critical how I now see the world. And so prior to coming to Silicon Valley, I had spent 18 years in Washington, D.C. I worked on Capitol Hill. I worked in the White House. I was appointed into one of the
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
presidential administrations, and then I ended up following into media as an on-air commentator with MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN. And then DC ended up writing my first book. But when I realized when we moved to the West Coast and Silicon Valley, I really had to spend 18 years doing two things. Two things I learned how to do really well.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I learned how to divide people into an us versus them, because in Washington, D.C., it is all about politics. You're a Democrat, a Republican for the bill, against the bill. There really is two camps.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
in that regard and i also learned how to put fear in people because when you put fear in people you can increase viewership at your respective on television network that you're at and you can also increase political contributions if you're putting fear into people so i just thought Everybody worked this way. This is the way things were.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I never realized that there were other cultures out there in the way that things got done. So in 2006, my husband and I moved out here and I quickly realized how the shift in the questions and how people introduce themselves. I was so used to Washington, D.C., two questions. Where did you go to school? Who do you work for?
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And then suddenly I came into this culture where it was, how can I help you? And that very question came up at a Starbucks three weeks after being here. And I was standing in line at a Starbucks. Someone noticed I was new in our little small town right near Stanford University and asked me, how can I help you?
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And because of that very meeting, a couple of weeks later, I was sitting down with one of the premier venture capitalists, Claytor Perkins. And that venture capitalist said, I like you, figure out something to do. I'm going to fund you. And because of that funding and my first company that I ended up building out with my co-founder, that company sold 18 months later.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And I realized what a unique culture Silicon Valley truly is. It's collaborative. You often work with your competitors. It's for the greater good. It's not about competition. money or power or greed at the forefront. It's more about how can I contribute in a way to changing the world?
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And so from that experience, I ended up writing the book Secrets of Silicon Valley that got picked up in 39 countries around the world. It made the New York Times bestseller list. And I realized that having this perspective
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
of not being from silicon valley really gave me an interesting view on how things could be and how things should be so i was really the first person to attempt to write what this culture was about and if you wanted to try to adopt a similar alchemy These were the characteristics, the mindset and the culture that you need to bring to the forefront in order to make it successful.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
So really in Silicon Valley, I very much did a build a company, write a book, go on a speaking tour, wash and repeat. So I built out six companies. This is my sixth book coming out and continue to be on a global speaking tour, not only teaching the Silicon Valley ecosystem,
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
risk-taking to enable innovation but also an innovation process that is a bottoms-up process where any person in any quarter of the company can bring forth good ideas and of course this next book employment is dead how do you make this transformation from the traditional into the era of ai and web 3 technologies
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
yeah vince i wish i had a really interesting story but it is quite organic it was really based on needs that popped up or my kids had an influence on one of the companies for sure but it was as silly as i recognized that women in venture capital private equity and entrepreneurs needed to be brought together so one was Alley to the Valley more about the community.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And then when I was on a speaking tour and you're under the hot light, I just developed almost like an undershirt that protected my clothes and that ended up getting licensed. And it really just came out of specific needs that I saw in the marketplace for myself originally or something around my children's development.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
You're incredibly insightful for bringing that up. I do have to feel it. It's not like I definitely see needs out there that are not necessarily applicable to me or the people I know. So it is something I've just, I do put mind, body, and soul into all of it. So there's got to be a feel. And really at the end of the day, I think what very much distinguishes
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
The people who come to Silicon Valley, and I'll say this over and over, yes, there are times it's been described as the gold rush, but at the end of the day, the people who really succeed are the people trying to make the planet better. It's not about the money first or the greed. When it's quite understated,
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
If for those of your guests who have been here to Silicon Valley or haven't, it's not necessarily what you would think of in terms of being such a wealthy place based on so much entrepreneurial success, because people are incredibly understated and really do care for the most part about the good of the planet and all Obviously, there's certainly competition in trying to be number one.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Without a doubt, we're competitive beings. But at the end of the day, it's really about continuing to advance technology in a way that makes it meaningful for people.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
That actually dates back to a time when I first moved to Washington, D.C. And the first thing I bought myself when I had enough money to do so was a bike. And I would ride this bike every day on Sundays to Roosevelt Island because I didn't have a lot of friends there at the time. I didn't know anybody in Washington, D.C. until I ended up working on Capitol Hill.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
And I would ride to Roosevelt Island every Sunday and go to the center of the island where the statue is. And my favorite saying of Roosevelt is, it's better to try and fail than never to have tried to succeed at all. And it's something I've taken to heart. I throw things out there all the time that don't work.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
But I know that sometimes you've got to throw, you know, a dozen things to the ceiling and one of them may stick and 11 may fail. And that's just part of the journey is really about risk taking, because risk taking, no matter what happens, whether it's successful or it fails, at the end of the day, you're going to learn something incredibly valuable.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I have learned in time and time again, there was a great article in Harvard Business Review many years ago about the founder's dilemma. And again, it goes back to the root of greed. It's not about the greed. It's about moving things to the next level. And so maybe you don't like that number that's being offered to you as an asset or in a strategic partnership.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
But there is going to be so much greater benefit by exiting or doing that strategic partnership than continuing to sail on your own. And so for me, it's all about risk taking, knowing that 80% of the time you may fail, but that 20% of the time is what keeps life really interesting.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
I never understood the command and control model known as Taylorism, which dates back to 1918. I never understood sitting in my office in Washington, D.C., finishing my job by 2 p.m., but yet I had to sit there until 6 p.m. because it was just FaceTime. So the value was based on time rather than productivity and output.
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Now we're in the era of AI and other Web3 technologies that is going to make work not only that much more efficient, but individuals who can really capitalize off the benefits of having these new technologies in the workplace. So the Work3 Institute that Josh and I built together is really advising companies and enterprises. How do you...
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
traditional organization into the era of AI and Web3 technologies, bringing your employees along in communication, in this evolution, in upskilling, all the things that are going to be required in this next generation of work. And Josh and I, both at the end of the day, we're very passionate. We don't understand if you're going to spend the most hours of day at work Why should you feel bad?
Chief Change Officer
#253 Deborah Perry Piscione: The End of Traditional Work Begins — Part One
Why should you be treated poorly? We need to encourage people to bring their best selves to the table. And you can't do that if you don't have psychological safety. You can't do that if you can't try new things. So work three is really showing leaders