Transcript | Episode 3- Bringing your best self to work, cultivating curiosity and crafting personal culture

0.01 – 0.26: Welcome to MedtronicTalks Asia

Hello, and welcome to MedtronicTalks Asia, where we discuss leadership styles and more. 

It is my pleasure today to record this podcast from our newly inaugurated expanded facility of the Medtronic Engineering and Innovation Center. I think I'm the first one to enter here, and even before the employees are here. 

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0.27 – 0.59: Welcoming Torod Neptune

I have a special guest with me, I'm super excited to talk to him. He is Torod Neptune, Chief Communications Officer for Medtronic Global. 

So, welcome Torod. 

It's great to be here. 

Good to have you here in India. 

It's exciting to be here. It's a beautiful city. Beautiful building as well. 

Yeah. Is this your first time in India? 

Not my first time in India. So I've been to Chennai several times, but my first time to Hyderabad and certainly my first time to Mumbai as well. 

Oh, good. Good to have you. We are so lucky to have you here with us today, and I'm super excited for our conversation. 

Me too. 

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1.00 – 2.45: Early inspirations

But talking about Communications. So, how did your career begin in Communication? Where did it start? 

It's a good question. I wonder that same thing sometimes, but I think most often, I trace my interest in the field back to my childhood. My mother was a politician, and at a very young age, I remember campaigning with her on neighborhood walks, handing out materials, and leaflets. 

Wow. 

Rallies. And one of the things that sparked in me was helping people understand issues that they did not naturally understand. 

Yes. 

Seeing the importance of topics that really mattered that perhaps they weren't aware of, was really interesting to me, and clearly she was doing it from the vantage point of politics and public policy. 

Yeah.

But that intrigued me, that it was a very powerful role to be in, where you could help educate people about things that mattered that might not be top of mind. Oftentimes, I trace back those interactions as a child, literally holding pamphlets and leaflets and walking across neighborhoods to my interest in storytelling and making things that are very complex, and simple for the average person to understand, which really, I think, is the core of what we do. 

That's a great piece of trivia for me, your mother being a politician and you doing that during childhood, and what a way to begin, right? The impression that it creates on you as a child, even for me, I think being in a Communications profession, it all started with really wanting to be a newsreader, and from there, then moving on to really getting a career in Communications. 

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2.45 – 5.20: Evolution of Communications

But with that now, it's been more than three decades that you have been in this industry. Right? How do you see things have evolved over the years, especially for the function, now that it's global and post-COVID, it just disrupted the whole thing. The way we are connected in today's world, how do you see this really has changed from when you started to now? How is it affecting our work as a function or as corporate communication? 

Sure, that's a great question. I think there are a couple of things that I think are really important to the genesis of our function, our craft. I think in some ways, what I often say is, I think this is interestingly a seminal time for us. So, the function sits at the most significant inflection point. When you think about all of the global and societal change that we're experiencing, regardless of where you sit in the world, whether that's India, whether that's Africa, whether that's China the changes that are happening across the board are consistent. 

When you add in geopolitics, when you add in what social and digital media have done, the access to information that's changed today, when you think about the last 30 years, those are seismic influences on the craft that we practice. So, in some ways, they all come together to make the challenge of educating stakeholders, bringing them together, connecting them to organizations, and communicating with them in a way that is clear, consistent, that can articulate the value of an organization or an enterprise, or what it does, whether that's the products it sells, or the relationship that enterprise desires to have to those stakeholders. 

All these changes are seismic in their own right, when you think about them as influences on the way we can engage audiences make the importance of what we do so significant to any organization, whether that's a company, a non-profit, or whatever it might be. I think this is probably the most exciting time to be in this function. But at the same time, the challenges that come with all of these significant societal and organizational dynamics as well, are massive and create very challenging jobs for us to be in. 

Absolutely. Especially, I realize while Communication has been existing in many organizations, but I think, post-COVID, it just changed the game for us in a big way, where people also realize how important it is to communicate what you need to communicate in the right manner. 

Yes, as you mentioned, while things are connected, it also has become very challenging for all of us. 

Yes. 

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5.21 – 7.56: Creating a culture of togetherness

Moving on. You head a global corporate communications and marketing organization, and now most companies are global; people are sitting in different parts of the world, and they are not coming to the office. It's a very hybrid structure. Teams are actually spread across the globe. Now, as a leader, how do you really employ Foster Belongingness or being connected to the team and to the organization at large? Because the team is so widespread and especially in Communications, you may be working with one leader in a country while you're part of a global team, and that is happening with most functions. Now, how do you think as a leader, what can you really do to bring them together? 

Yeah, I think it's a great question as well. I think the post-pandemic environment that we live in today, I think it creates either opportunities or challenges, depending on your leadership style. 

Yes. 

I think from my vantage point, I've always valued teams that have been very inclusive. I've tried to be a very inclusive leader and really to lead in a way that allows teams, regardless of where they sit in the organization or in the world, to feel connected, and to build oneness. In some ways, what the environment that we live in post-pandemic has made that easier in some ways because we've removed the traditional confines around which teams were structuring and organized walls and buildings and an eight-to-five schedule in an office and eliminated those things. 

So, what it means is that connectedness is even more important. Right? And us being connected regardless of where we physically may sit or geographically may sit, or what your schedule is versus my schedule. And that can be challenging and fear-inducing on one hand, but on the other hand, it also creates an opportunity to build a much more dynamic and personal culture within a team where everyone feels they belong, and leaders, I think, are challenged to figure out, how do I build a culture that supersedes the confines of an organization or a building? 

I think in some ways, that's part of the challenge and the opportunity today as well. We have always been global, I think. but we have that opportunity even more because we are connected digitally more than anything. But it certainly creates more intentionality. That has got to be a part of the way we go about building teams and ensuring that we feel like we are one unit, regardless of whether we sit someplace together or not. 

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7.57 – 10.48: Blank-slate thinking

Yeah, very interesting, again, but I sometimes feel, and as we kind of grew up in our career as a leader, how do you really get that creativity out from someone who's sitting on a Zoom call thousands of kilometers away? And sometimes you really don't know what's going on on the other side of the screen. And then when you have teams, large teams, really not sitting in the room, how do you think that as a leader, you can really get them more involved in scenarios like this? 

Yeah. I think it boils down to understanding what, at our core motivates us all, and as leaders, understanding what that is and building an environment where you invite people to bring their best selves to work and to see that potential that you could do what that thing is that you desire to do here in your role. For us, I think most of us, individually and collectively, want to do great work. We want to try things. We want to try new things. We want to be excited about our jobs. So, none of us, I've certainly never been anyone who's been too thrilled about job descriptions, and here are the ten bullets that I need to execute today to do my job. What's always inspired me more is a little bit of blank-slate thinking. 

So, the leaders who've challenged me to, well, you think about what the problem is, you solve that problem and bring all of the ideas that you can to the table and invite that. Invite a lot of trying and failing and learning, and also encouraging people to push and poke and prod and challenge organizations. I think that's also a core competency of our function. So, I've tried to be intentional about creating an environment where people are invited to challenge, bring new ideas, and ask why we do things the way we've done it historically. 

And the challenge as a team is about, well, why haven't we thought about doing it a different way or bringing a new and creative idea? And so I think those are the kinds of things that are the underpinnings of a culture where people can feel like this is an exciting place to be. My idea has the potential of becoming something that not just changes my life, but also changes this world and changes the organization that we're a part of. 

I like what you just said. Nobody's worried about those ten points in the job description. I think that brings us to the whole point of culture, the culture of really allowing people to fail, put their ideas on the table, fail faster, maybe, and then pick up the best that they would like to drive. So, I think that's something that is really good in the way that it's building around the organization. 

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10.49 – 15.28: Learning and growing through diversity

But that brings me to another point in which I think and I know that is very close to your heart is the whole inclusion, diversity, and equity. I think as a function also, it's more important for us, but I know it's very close to your heart as an individual, and you have been a very strong advocate of that. What would be your advice to the leaders that we have now to navigate the whole spectrum surrounding us in terms of diversity and equity? Because many a time it may be seen as too forced, but how do you really genuinely do that as a leader? 

Yeah, it's a great question. I think I often spend a lot of time challenging leaders. So, one thing I'll say back to our functions role, this issue, it's critical for me, but more significant, it's a critical issue for businesses and organizations. So, the importance of having a diverse and inclusive organization matters because that's how you compete and win today. It's a fundamental business reality. Our organizations want to be successful. We want to generate a favorable return. We also want to do good in the communities that we operate in. But winning is a factor of profitability and earning money, and that, I think, is sometimes perhaps not as appreciated in this desire for diversity and equity and inclusion. 

Because, again, we know all the data that reinforces diverse teams are more competitive, more creative, and more successful. The results are more positive and more impactful. Ultimately, companies that have a representative workforce that is diverse in perspective and gender, and ethnicity and all these things are not just more dynamic, but they have a better outcome. 

Yes. 

So, as a business leader, first, who happens to sit atop a function, my first desire is to compete and win. If you can tell me that there is a mechanism that I can deploy that makes the likelihood of our team succeeding and winning greater, then why would I not execute that strategy? And fundamentally, that is what this issue is about. Now, there are other downstream, ancillary benefits to this as well, that I think are talked about most often. But I do think sometimes the business impact of this imperative is key. 

The last thing I'll say back to culture and as a leader who's spent more time working in global companies and with teams outside of the US, there's a dynamism that comes from being a part of a diverse team that is really not replaceable when you're outside an integrated and diverse organization. And that, I think also is something that has always inspired me more. 

I've been the most inspired working amongst teams of people who don't look like me, don't think like me, who bring a different perspective culturally, politically, and otherwise, because that's how you learn and grow. As functional leaders and as people within this function, it's so critical that our apertures are open, we are inquisitive, and we are interested in learning about other things. A part of that development for us and that personal growth is dependent on, am learning from someone who can teach me things about their experience, their lived experiences that will help me become a better person, but also a better leader. 

We don't appreciate or desire those things often as well because that has been such a part of my growth and development as a business leader and as a person. Those are things that are purely the result of being a part of a dynamic, diverse organization that I really increasingly want everyone to experience within our organization, to see the importance of that and the significance and the personal benefit from that as well. 

What you mentioned is so true. I mean, when you work in a diverse organization in different countries, different places, it just opens up your mind. And many times, as leaders or as managers, we really tend to have people who are similar looking to us or similar thought processes in our teams. I think that's very natural because, oh, I connect to this person. I think the vibe is great. So, I really want this person on my team. But sometimes, as you rightly mentioned, what really matters is to ask a question, what can I learn from this person, how different is this person? And maybe that brings an absolutely different perspective. 

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15.29 – 17.43: Global Leadership Experience

So, thanks for that. That brings me to my next question. You mentioned you've really worked in different multinationals across the globe, and I know you have worked in Asia for a very long time in China, and I think Beijing is where you were based. How has that experience really shaped your leadership style, moving out and being in China in a different part of the world? I think almost seven years that you were out of the US. So, how has that shaped your leadership?

Back to that last conversation again, that was a phenomenal opportunity. I traveled a lot around the world during that time working with a company that was headquartered in Beijing, in Hong Kong, and spent a lot of that time in Beijing. But again, I think it reinforced just the power of being around people who, again, taught me so much and from whom I learned so much. And to your last point, that's not always easy, because again, when you're working with people who don't think the way you do and bring this completely different perspective, it requires intentionality, right? 

There's some natural friction there, because I, as a leader, if I'm mature, have to stop and think and listen. And the process of getting from A to Z is not always easy because we've got to pause and have this conversation around, well, help me understand the way you think about that, or help me understand your perspective or educate me, and that takes time, that takes patience. And oftentimes, if we desire to do things so quickly, and we desire it in the spirit of getting things done quick and fast in a hurry. Sometimes the intentionality that comes with sitting next to someone or sitting within a team that's much more dynamic and diverse requires more patience, but at the end of the day, the end result is unbelievably positive. So that time working across Asia was significant for me. That was the most time I had spent working in that part of the world. But again, I still have some of my closest friends who are still there, who I'm connected to. 

And again, fundamentally, I feel like I'm a better leader because of that time, a better person, and that makes me a better counselor advisor in my job today because of that aperture and that experience that I had. 

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17.44 – 21.08: Strategic mindset

Great. Thanks for that. You spoke about, again, diversity and the way that it really shapes your mind. As leaders, it's always expected to have this strategic mindset. I mean, it's required, it's imperative. 

How do you really drive this within your team? Again, a global team many a time, as a function, as an enabling team, you really get into this whole thing of being operational and more execution based than really having the big picture view. How do you really think that, or how do you drive the whole strategic mindset and the impact-driven mindset with your teams? 

I think fundamentally, I had a mentor very early on in my career who challenged me to think about my role first as a business leader, and operations leader, and to attach myself to the most significant business organizational challenges that the company that I was part of at that time was trying to address, and then secondarily to put on the function hat. So, this challenge, to wear the business hat first, and then put on the functional hat, was a significant coaching moment for me. That's something I've tried to stay consistent about in the way I operate and the way I lead my teams. I think it’s a framework for making strategic decisions and organizing the work we do and generating an impact, perhaps that supersedes what many perceive to be the value of our function. 

Because at the end of the day, ultimately, our success as a team, as a collective, is really dependent on how successful our organizations are, and the value of our advice and counsel and the work that we do is really seen through the lens of the organizational priorities. But oftentimes we're challenged as functional leaders. We sometimes begin with the function priorities and what the function wants to accomplish first, versus the organization. But flipping the tables in that way is extremely powerful in enabling us to have a strategic framework and to ask strategic questions about the business problems that we're trying to solve as an organization, and then secondarily, how the functional levers that we have access to and can deploy can help drive those outcomes. 

And that, as surprising as it may seem, is still a challenging way to think about things for many people in our function. Not our function here, but our function globally. 

Globally, yeah. 

When I think about my counterparts and peers around the world. 

Yes. 

I think that's perhaps one of the most significant ways that we can drive a level of influence and engagement with our colleagues and counterparts within the organizations we sit in by bringing that perspective and being a bit dispassionate about the function first and really beginning with the organization, enterprise business priorities that we are here to help solve. 

I think that's really great advice because you always put yourself, the function, my team, my department, and that's what generally happens. It's very human. But keeping the organization at large and the business at large, I think is a really good way to really then reflect back what can you do for the larger goal that the organization is looking forward to achieving? 

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21.09 – 25.13: Career Advice for aspiring communication professionals

With your experience, I'm just going to pop an extra question, which I didn't have in my list, but we have many people out there now who now see Communications as a really solid career, the way even the function has really come up. 

What is the advice that you would give to these young Communications professionals who are entering this whole corporate world from your end to really look forward to, to really build a good career in Communications and Reputation Management? 

Yeah, I mean, obviously the foundational competencies are still significant. I mean, at the core, if you think about things like writing and relationship building, those are fundamental to our craft. But I spend a lot of time talking with students who are considering joining the function, or pursuing careers in Communications or marketing a brand or advertising. 

One of the things that I most often challenge them with is the challenge to think first about what ultimately is it that excites you and brings you passion. Because I think that's got to be the most significant lens frame for beginning in this field. because it's not all been positive and easy. These are very challenging times, like we were talking about at the very beginning. And the responsibility, obligation that sits within our function today is, it's all encompassing in some ways. 

And so if you're not truly passionate about influencing organizations and challenging the status quo and helping organizations live up to the promise of what they've established as their vision or who they want to be, it's a tough job, it's a tough role to play, and so you've got to really want it. You've got to really desire it. But I think the other thing that is a significant opportunity, when I think about, again, early career things and even the kinds of things that I was challenged about consistently, when I think about mentors and conversations is, at the end of the day, what motivates I think most of us is we want to have a life outside of our jobs that is rich and meaningful, and we want families and relationships that sustain us. 

And that still is the most important thing. So, I often challenge people to think about we work to live, not live to work. Being able to put things in perspective is also something coming out of the pandemic that I still encourage. Certainly the teams that I've been around and led, but also people who I mentor to think about as well, because we have to have the right perspective about our jobs. I love what I do, but I love my family more and I love the things I do outside. And at the end of the day, that makes me a better employee. 

Yes. 

As well. And so, sometimes I think we can lose sight of that and the desire to do great work and to be promoted and to have great influence, which are all lofty aspirations. But fundamentally, what matters most is what are those things that you do outside of the office that make you a well rounded and likable person and someone who can do a phenomenal job. I encourage people a lot to really recommit to those things first and most so that we can bring our best selves into our day to day jobs. 

You know what? I think this is the best career advice that I've ever heard, because when you ask for career advice, people would always say, you do this to grow in a career. But I wish someone told me this some decades ago, that you first need to think about what you really want in life personally, and rather than talking about work life balance much later when you're almost burning out, or how do I do this and how do I balance family? It's amazing that you think about that first and then really think about what you want as a passion to drive you at work. Yes, thanks a lot for that. _____________________________________________________________________________

25.14 – 28.02: Asking for accountability & making tough decisions

That's a personal one that I'm going to really take back, but that really takes me to my next question, because you did talk about what do you do outside of work? So what is it that drives you? What's the passion that keeps you going outside of work? 

Yeah, so we've talked about these things a lot. And so I'm on a couple of boards again working with young college students, and even a couple that are pre-college as well, helping them think through career aspirations, the skills, competencies that would allow them to be successful practitioners, hopefully at some point in our field. I'm super excited about that, to leverage some of what I believe I've learned over my career to prepare people to make great decisions, to set themselves up. The other thing you alluded to a bit as well is I spend a lot of time working to think about as a function globally, how we continue to push for inclusion and diversity. Our function, unfortunately, is still not that representative of the broader society, stakeholders we want to influence. 

So, I work a lot with my CCO counterparts and CEOs of agencies to really encourage and challenge ourselves to commit to as functional leaders, ensuring that our function not just does phenomenal, ground-breaking work, but that our teams look like the world we're trying to influence. That is an expectation that I think we need to increasingly hold ourselves to. 

As a business leader, I believe it's also my obligation to hold those organizations that I am accountable for to that same standard. 

Yes. 

There's work that I've done over the last several years. We spend a lot of time working with agencies and I believe brands holding agencies accountable. So if you're going to work with us and we're going to pay you, then we expect you to have the same standards as us in terms of the diversity & inclusion that's reflected in your organizations as well. And so I think that's also become a significant focus of mine, being a partner and collaborator to help people do that, but also establishing some real accountability, because as in every other area, we've got to do what we say we're going to do, and that commitment has got to show up in actual results. 

And this is an area where, again, I think the opportunity and the seat that I sit in allows me to have influence in a way that I have not been able to throughout my career, to make some tough decisions and to challenge others around me to have that same view. So I'm super passionate about that as well. 

Yeah, thanks for that. I think it's also a lesson for all of us to really see not just our own growth, but also industry at large. What are you contributing to the industry at large? 

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28.03 – 29.53: Passion outside work

But coming to your personal passion outside of work, what is it that really maybe every weekend I look forward to on a Saturday, Sunday or with family, what is it that's your passion? 

So now, post-pandemic a lot of time, I started walking a lot with my wife. We do a lot of outdoor trail walking and we have a lot of farms in our area, so we like that as well. Music has also become a significant part of my outside of work life. 

So, live jazz and those kinds of things, theaters and plays as well. And then increasingly travel. So we're almost empty nesters as well. We're trying to take advantage of the opportunity to be back together alone, without children in the house to travel more. So my wife will tag along with me on a lot of trips as well. Not this one, unfortunately, but we're trying to be much more intentional about that as well. So those are two big things and a lot of it. Back to this thread from this entire conversation. Spend a lot of time trying to find interesting, unique food.

Yes!

Cultural experiences as well, which again, you'll appreciate. Well I've eaten a lot of great food this week. that's also a passion. So food. And ensuring that we find the most creative, interesting and eclectic types of food. So we travel often for food. 

For food? Wow. 

We have some neighbors who are food connoisseurs as well. So sometimes we'll get on a plane just to go to an interesting restaurant somewhere that we've heard about. 

That's unique. I have never tried to travel for food, though, but that's a good one. I'll take that. So, you're around great food all the time. 

So, in some parts of the world, interesting food is not as accessible. So, you have to actually make some very challenging decisions, like getting on a plane to the side to get there. 

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29.54 – 31.33: Recommendations

That's a good one. That brings me to almost the end of the podcast. And an interesting question, again, is there another podcast or a book that you would recommend to our listeners? 

Yes. So, two books that have been staples for me, and I read them both earlier on in my life. So, one is Start with Why, by Simon Sinek. It's a business-orientated book, but it's more a thinkers’ book, and that helped my management perspective back to the understanding the problem that you're trying to solve and thinking about why we do the things we do. And even it's been a helpful way to think about how we engage our organizations in challenging people to ask the questions around what they may think is the desired outcome, but perhaps does not reflect the true outcome that's needed in the organization. 

The other is a book called Essentialism. This has been a great exercise for me in prioritizing what matters and what doesn't and focusing on the more significant things that will drive the outcome that's desired versus the many things that in many days challenge or distract us that are really not going to help us generate the outcome or achieve the goal that we want. So, that practice of prioritizing something over something else through the lens of what's going to have the ultimate impact on what we're trying to accomplish, is also a management discipline rigor, a way of thinking that that book has been great to kind of remind me of. So, it sits on my night table still. 

Oh. 

Those two in particular, 

Referring back to it at times.

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31.34 – 32.35: Thank you, Torod!

Great! Thank you very much Torod for being here. For me personally also it's amazing to have a conversation with you, someone who really is a veteran in the industry. Thank you for taking out time of your busy schedule in India, and I look forward to seeing you soon sometime. 

Yes, thank you. 

Me, too. It's great talking to you. Thank you, Masooma.

Thank you very much. 

So, great. What a conversation. I was really looking forward to this one personally. Being a Comms professional talking to Torod really gave me a lot of perspective, and I hope it gave you a different perspective of how a leader thinks, how a functional leader really thinks and drives a team.

I have many takeaways from this conversation, and I think the best one for me that will stay with me forever is going to be one that you first decide what drives you personally before your career.

With that, I come to the end of this podcast and look forward to seeing you at my next one with another amazing leader. Thank you for joining us.

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