Just Checking In – Details, episodes & analysis

Keyana Corliss and Becky Buckman welcome veteran technology-comms executive and founder of communications coaching practice poseycorp, Lisa Poulson, to the show. Lisa shares stories and insight from decades of work in the comms industry, weighing in on issues like getting nerdy engineers to stay on message; how much interview prep is too much prep; and how the current AI boom, PR-wise, is similar to the dawn on the Internet.  Join Keyana and Becky as they learn about everything from executive “Simba moments” to “the river of money”--the key to getting reporters to actually cover your news–from Lisa.

Lisa Poulson likens today’s tech-PR landscape to the period between 1995 to 2008, when the Internet first came on the scene and software like Java fundamentally changed how people could work and live online. But now, as then, most reporters aren’t as interested in technology products as they are about how those products will make or lose companies money and impact the overall market. Lisa offers tips for getting executives to relay those higher-level, market-oriented messages in interviews–and finding alternate communications outlets (whitepapers, podcasts) for those who can’t. She says many PR pros over-coach their executives and give them overly long briefing documents that they’ll never read, which is why it’s important to keep it brief and coach executives on a handful of pithy sound bites. Lisa admires executives like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai for their communications discipline, and in this humorous and detailed episode, she has lots of advice for helping your spokespeople refine their PR skills as well.

“But you know what I would say to a certain person, depending on how old they are and how sophisticated they are, I would say, look, the only reason people cared to write about Java, it wasn't because it was an object-oriented programming language, it's because it blew up Microsoft's monopoly in software. It was not a technology story. It was a business story. Because it changed where money was being spent. … and right now with generative AI, what are half the stories about? Who's going to lose jobs. What new companies are going to be incredibly successful every time Anthropic gets more money thrown at them out of a t-shirt cannon by Amazon or Google, that's a news story. So the money is what matters.” - Lisa Poulson  

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

About Lisa Poulson: 

Lisa Poulson, poseycorp’s principal, helps innovators scale by becoming great communicators, because great communicators create the change they want to see in the world.

Lisa, who has shepherded fundamental innovations from the incubator to the global stage, loves working with leaders who must scale fast and publicly. With incisive, actionable advice, she will help you build the skills to connect, persuade and lead. Because every effective leader must become a great communicator. 

Lisa pairs the principles and practices of executive coaching with 30 years of experience in technology communications – a rare and powerful combination. Lisa brings empathy, candor, vision and grit to helping her clients become effective leader/communicators and fluent evangelists.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• The River of Money by Lisa Poulson

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Contact Rebecca Buckman...

Keyana Corliss and Becky Buckman welcome Stanford University School of Business lecturer, communications expert, and author Matt Abrahams to Just Checking In. Host of the podcast ‘Think Fast, Talk Smart’, Matt Abrahams just released his new book, “Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot”.  In the business world, communication doesn’t just happen in planned presentations and pitches, but also in spontaneous interaction, and Matt holds the keys for unlocking that ability in everyone.   

The first barriers speakers need to overcome are anxiety and mindset, which Matt assures listeners is not as daunting as it sounds. It’s the little steps that count towards making us comfortable in the moment. Matt shares one of his warm-up tongue twisters with Keyana before emphasizing that internal-facing communication is just as important as the external speaking we constantly prepare for. From lessons imparted by a Lego executive to the wins Matt has seen companies achieve with communication guidance, this episode reveals the key takeaways that communications professionals should adopt for greater success.

“Many of us feel threatened when we're put on the spot and that makes us defensive. We get tighter, our answers are shorter, our tone is more curt. Yet if we see [speaking situations] as opportunities, it fundamentally changes the way we interact. It actually brings us forward. We're more big in our body posture and our gestures. Our answers are more in-depth and our tone is more collaborative.” Matt Abrahams  

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

About Matt Abrahams: 

Matt Abrahams is a leading expert in communication with decades of experience as an educator, author, podcast host, and coach. As a lecturer in organizational behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, he teaches popular classes in strategic communication and effective virtual presenting. He received Stanford GSB’s Alumni Teaching Award in recognition of his teaching students around the world. 

When he isn’t teaching, Matt is a sought-after keynote speaker and communication consultant. He has helped countless presenters improve and hone their communication, including some who have delivered IPO road shows as well as TED, World Economic Forum, and Nobel Prize presentations. His online talks garner millions of views and he hosts the popular, award-winning podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart: The Podcast. He is the author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to  Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot. His previous book Speaking Up without Freaking Out:  50 Techniques for Confident and Compelling Presenting has helped thousands of people manage speaking anxiety and present more confidently and authentically. 

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Think Fast, Talk Smart the Podcast
• “Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot” by Matt Abrahams
• “Speaking Up without Freaking Out: 50...

Episode show notes:

Given the current market volatility, all tech companies are, in some sense, in unchartered waters–and comms departments are no exception. To get a better understanding of the current landscape, we’ve invited comms pro Sean Garrett, the founder of Mixing Board and the first communications hire at Twitter, to share his perspective. In this episode, you’ll hear about the genesis of Mixing Board and its business model; his experience with a previous consultancy, the Pramana Collective; Garrett’s take on the current Twitter saga (of course!); and his thoughts on how comms professionals can, and should, have a seat at the corporate decision-making table.

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

Jump straight into:

02:01 - Stripe in the news and turbulent markets - “We always like to just talk a little bit about comms and technology or market topics before we dive in. And this week, I was thinking about Stripe...” 

09:29 - Sean Garrett and Mixing Board - “So mixing board was kind of a way to completely shake up,  and bring the community into top comms and marketing leaders.”  

17:04 - Difficult  times for comms - “I'm not sure what I could say about that to make it better besides the fact that like, if you can make it through this, you can make it through anything.”

21:53 - It’s the inside that matters: The importance of internal comms - “Nine times out of 10, like whatever the end tactical problem was, it was almost always tied to some internal discombobulation.”

30:48 - Twitter’s case: What to do when a leadership team doesn’t respect comms - “Obviously this is a communications platform, that like lives and breathes communications and is all about transparency. It's about openness.”

35:34 - The power of comms - “I think like, you know, Brian Chesky kind of did this with Airbnb right after the pandemic started. Everyone praised that. I think certainly the messaging has been good on those kinds of notes.”

45:58 - The media landscape in the tech industry - “It's intentional to like create those divisions because you're able to separate the different tribes of this world and now there's like a media tribe and that's counterbalanced with like this tech tribe.”

48:53 - New York vs. San Francisco - “There's something very specific about the media industry in New York and their feelings toward this disruptive industry that impacts them specifically.”

Episode resources:

Sean Garrett’s Twitter and Linkedin

Mixing Board

Thank you for listening to Just Checking In by Battery Ventures. Go follow Becky and Keyana on social media to know more...

Episode show notes:

Welcome to another episode of Just Checking In. Today our guest is noted tech journalist and author Brad Stone. As senior executive editor for global technology at Bloomberg News and author of books including The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound, Brad has followed Amazon’s and Jeff Bezos’s personal evolution. In this episode, you’ll hear about the profound changes Amazon and Bezos have gone through over the last 10 years, many of them related to the company’s near-compulsive need to innovate across industries and maintain a mindset Amazon calls “Day 1.” Finally, we discuss Amazon’s notoriously tough corporate culture and Bezos’s surprisingly sharp PR skills, deployed when an extra-marital affair sparked a high-profile media scandal.

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

Jump straight into:

00:33 - Welcome back to Season 2 of Just Checking In! 

1:45 - The new environment of the tech comms industry - “If you're a tech comms person these days, right? The news cycle is different. You've got different internal dynamics, you're trying to make do with less. It may be a good opportunity for people to reset and really think about their priorities.”

2:22 - Layoffs, layoffs, layoffs - “It's been a very interesting few weeks this past week. It's just been one layoff after another. Yeah, I mean, it was kind of like if you're not laying off people, are you even in tech? 

3:18 - Season 2 guest lineup -  “Let's talk about who we're going to hear from this season, cause I think we have an amazing lineup.” 

5:53 - Keyana’s life recovery run - “I took a couple of months off and then I took a role outside of Silicon Valley, still in tech. And, you know, I'll sort of ease my way back into the crazy.”

7:05 - Intro to Brad Stone - “Excited about our guest today, Brad Stone, who I think many of you probably know, but he is the Senior Executive Editor for Global Technology at Bloomberg News. He's also the author of some really, really awesome books. Many of them about Jeff Bezos and Amazon. The most recent one, Amazon Unbound”.

9:30 - The genesis of Brad’s books - “With that kind of sort of intuition based as with all things, uh, for all journalists in insecurity and the feeling like, I didn't know this, this story as well as I was pretending to, I thought, oh, maybe there's room for part two of the story.”  

10:43 - Looking for Amazon’s cooperation - “I sent one to Jeff and I explained what I wanted, to do.  They got back to me and through a series of, I would say kind of negotiations. Over well, or discussions over what I wanted to do and how I would go about it.”

14:15 - The real challenge in writing books about Amazon: The case of AWS - “While the chapters are kind of categories, I'm also trying to tell a story.”

17:10 - Finding the common thread: Telling a time-coherent story in the ever-changing world of Amazon and Bezos - “The company almost needs to be inventive because, if you don't, you eventually slow down.”

18:15 - The Day 1 mentality: Amazon’s working culture - “Day one is the...

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech, corporate-communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry—with plenty of humor and irony thrown in—they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won't hear anywhere else!

The first season of Just Checking In concludes with a can't miss interview focused on one of the biggest technology and comms stories of the year–Peloton. Jessica Kleiman, Peloton’s SVP of global communications, talks about her career arc, the challenges and opportunities she’s faced over the last year and the company’s much-heralded response to a Peloton-related storyline in the recent “Sex and the City” reboot. Jessica has plenty of lessons and takeaways for other corporate comms professionals, including some related to Peloton’s recent success leveraging its dedicated community of members to serve as the voice of the brand. Join in and ride with us to the end of this amazing first season!

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

Jump straight into:

(03:59) - From Instagram to Peloton: Introducing Jessica Kleiman - “As communications professionals, I think we're naturally networkers and connectors.”

(08:36) - Writing a book while being on maternity leave - “We split up the chapters and while my daughter Emma was napping, I wrote.”

(10:26) - This is how Peloton is relying on their community of users to tell their story - “It feels authentic because it is authentic, because if we did anything that didn't feel authentic, we would hear about it from our members immediately.”

(16:49) - How is Peloton dealing with the brand being continuously relevant? - “I almost feel like we have lovers and we have haters and there's not a whole lot in between. That makes for a great headline because the lovers are going to click on it and the haters are going to click on it.”

(19:47) - Lessons and takeaways for corp comms professionals - “People think that it's a less sexy area of communications, and the fact is that is not only super critical, but it really helps you develop the voice of the company internally and create and foster culture.”

(25:41) - Discussing the greatest PR response of all time and how Ryan Reynolds jumped in - “Just as background, I have to clarify, as I'm sure you've read, that the And Just Like That scene was not a product placement.”

Episode resources:

Follow Jessica Kleiman on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin

Peloton

Thank you for listening to Just Checking In by Battery Ventures. Go follow Becky and Keyana on social media to know more about them. If you enjoyed this show leave a review and help us find new audiences! 

This show is produced by StudioPod Media in SanFrancisco.

Unicorns and dragons? A criminal trial? Eluding death? It sounds like we might be talking about Game Of Thrones in this episode, but actually we’re discussing a recent event that shook Silicon Valley to its core. Rachel Lerman was one of the people on the front lines covering the landmark Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes trial over the past few months. Rachel is a tech reporter at the Washington Post and previously worked for other publications including the AP and the Seattle Times. Listen in and discover what it was like to be in the hallways of federal court in San Jose during this trial–and, separately, how The Washington Post continues to grow its technology team and focus on “accountability journalism.”

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

Jump straight into:

(04:48) - Rachel’s 3AM trip to have a place in the San Jose Federal Courthouse - “It wasn't just me and other reporters, but also spectators because people have heard so much about her, seen the documentary or read the book, so they wanted to come and see it for themselves.

(08:34) - Rachel's pre-trial research and involvement in the Theranos case - “It makes it almost easier to see the case through fresh eyes because you're seeing the evidence that they're presenting to the jury as new evidence.”

(10:59) - The moment that Elizabeth Holmes was called to the stand - “It's the only voice I've ever heard her talk in, including in the hallways of the courtroom house, because it was a very, very small, tight courtroom. So truly I have no idea if it's her real voice.”

(16:29) - Rachel's internal debate to decide what questions to ask - “The only time I really tried to ask her questions was when she was entering or leaving the courthouse on big days, like on the verdict day, we tried to call out questions to her, which she didn't answer.”

(18:31) - Will this be a major highlight in Rachel’s reporting career? - “This is probably one of the more high profile people that I've covered. Of course I've covered tech CEOs and things like that, but she is a very controversial and battled figure.”

(19:35) - Were Elizabeth Holmes' allegations against “Sunny” Balwani an effective move for her defense? - “I expected since they brought it up, maybe they would bring on the psychologist or psychiatrist to kind of back that up or maybe they would bring it up in their closing arguments. They didn't do that.”

(21:17) - The Washington Post: How is it doing? How is it stacking up against the competition? - “They're putting a real focus on accountability journalism, so they want to hold companies accountable. They want to investigate what's going on and shed light on these historically very opaque institutions.”

Episode resources:

Rachel Lerman’s Twitter and Linkedin

Rachel Lerman - The Washington Post

Just about every communications professional has dealt with a PR crisis–and when they happen in today’s fast-past media world, the response needs to be faster and more well thought-out than ever. In this episode of Just Checking In, crisis-comms expert Amanda Duckworth, now an SVP focused on corporate reputation at Outcast Communications, talks about the “perfect storm” that has developed in the technology world that is leading to many PR crises, especially for the tech giants–and how many supposed PR crises are, at their heart, business problems that can’t be solved by PR alone. Amanda discusses the difference between a PR issue and a crisis; how emerging technology companies should plan for public blowups; and the importance of CEOs getting counsel from those outside their immediate orbit so they respond to crises, and protect their companies’ reputations, in the right way. Join us for a high-level and actionable conversation with concrete tips for how PR pros can manage crises better and more proactively.

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

Jump straight into:

(01:04) - Teasing Rachel Lerman on Just Checking In - “So we’re going to have Rachel Lerman of The Washington Post, who is amazing.” 

(01:39) - Introducing Amanada Duckworth - “We’re talking about Amanda Duckworth who is a longtime crisis and reputation management counselor.” 

(02:52) - A brief tease to the topics covered in this interview - “We talk a lot about reputation management at large companies, you know, the big five tech companies, which are under the microscope in a lot of ways in Washington these days.”  

(05:22) - Amanda’s philosophy on crisis comms: How should companies be approaching it? - “Reputation management is really a sort of holistic wheel in which a crisis is sandwiched.”

(07:37) - Unraveling the common belief that all press is good press through an interesting Airbnb case - “This all happened in the July of 2011 and in August, the following month, they had the best month ever in terms of bookings.”

(13:55) - Having a seat at the table: The need for PR strategy understanding among high-level executives - “Increasingly boards understand one of the key functions of a CEO is to be chief messenger, particularly in a crisis.”

(20:54) - The limits of ‘fake it til you make it’ and why the current environment of tech is always on the edge of crisis - “I was talking to someone the other day who described boards for private companies as sort of board meetings is performance art. Well, it shouldn't be performance art.”

(23:30) - What can big tech companies do to improve their message around the social issues they’re involved in? - “Do something proactively that's really meaningful or legislation is coming your way and you probably won't like it.”

(25:08) - Crisis management advice for startups and growing tech companies - “I can’t tell you, typically in early stage companies, the number of times I've been involved where no one knows actually who should be at the table making decisions.”

(33:17) - On political issues becoming corporate issues and what you shouldn’t do in a Therano’s type crisis - “That feels to me like a classic case...

Despite what many may think, the field of public relations isn’t always straightforward.. Rather it’s an art that demands strategic thinking, a deep sense of empathy, and good relationships built over time. And when it comes to PR in the tech industry, things get even more complicated–and some professionals today, anxious to secure coverage in an increasingly crowded and competitive market, are making blunders that are hurting their companies’ reputations. In this episode, our guest Nairi Hourdajian, VP Communications, Content and Community Marketing at Figma shares insights on what it takes for a company to build an effective strategy in the PR world, delving into the best and the worst practices she’s seeing and the current state of media covering tech startups. Don’t miss this episode if you’re curious about public (and human) relationships in this new era of information!

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

Jump straight into:

(01:42) - Introducing Nairi Hourdajian - “We have a great interview today with Nairi Hourdajian, who is a longtime friend of mine. She’s now running comms at Figma, which is a super hot design startup.” 

(04:02) - Elizabeth Holmes news - “One other thing we have to talk about before we jump into it is Elizabeth Holmes fake it till you make it culture.” 

(06:27) - Becky’s tech comms branding predictions for 2022 - “ I do think storytelling is going to become more important.” 

(10:42) - PR malpractices: Why should communications professionals care about them? - “People don't realize there's actually expertise, real nuance, and detail to doing this work well.”

(13:03) - Understanding PR as human relations: Best and worst practices when building trust with executives and reporters. - “If you think about almost any other practice or field, you would never go in cold to make strategic asks like ‘Hey Amazon, I'm ready to sell my company, are you interested?’ Would you ever do that cold?”.

(19:06) - Discussing the value of earned media and backlash against big tech companies - “There is a credibility that earned media brings that owned content never will. But owned content also is important. Yes. It's important to tell your own story.”

(24:28) - What does it mean to do a good job and have a smart strategy in the PR world? - “Forming these relationships, and educating executives and investors is key, because I think they especially understand that this market is pretty special and probably won't last forever.”

(25:55) - Nairi’s collaboration with All Raise to improve the number of female founders and leaders - “A group of women got together and started formulating an operational plan to launch initiatives that could help move the ball forward for female founders and funders and through a stroke of luck that included the GP at my firm.”

Episode resources:

Find Nairi Houdajian’s on Twitter and Linkedin

Corporate communications are often the most human side of a company. For groundbreaking organizations, building a communications team means enhancing new narratives aligned to a common goal. In this episode, Gina Sheibley, CCO at Qualtrics joins the conversation to talk about growing and leading a comms team, her experience working with agencies, and what it means to lay the groundwork for a corporate culture in which mental health and work-life balance within team members are managed as a top priority.

Join technology comms pros Becky Buckman and Keyana Corliss as they cut to the heart of today’s tech-news cycle and the general craziness that is high-tech corporate communications right now. With a short, not-too-serious take on the industry - with plenty of humor and irony thrown in - they’ll bring you the best in the biz, across comms and media together, for one-of-a-kind insights and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else!

Jump straight into:

(00:58) - Peloton and the ‘Sex And The City’ Reboot - “They have the greatest response to a crisis communications situation ever.” 

(04:41) - Introduction of Gina Sheibley - “So excited to have Gina Sheibley on our podcast. Gina’s the Cheif Communications Officer of a super, super hot tech company called Qualtrics.” 

(09:04) - Culture first: How does Gina Sheibley grow a team? In-house teams vs. working with an agency - “If you have a small team and you're not able to grow it to the size that you need, you need the scalability of people being able to dial-up and dial down.”

(12:28) - How to manage good relationships with partner agencies - “You got to bring them in.

You have to have those conversations. You have to get people ready because if you are constantly just dropping bombs on them you're not going to get the most out of it at all.”

(16:04) - Assuming the CCO role in a B2B company - “Being a member of the executive team is being able to bring back the conversations that are happening at the strategic level for the business and really helping my team understand that, so we can align what we're doing to business priorities.”

(20:51) - Discussing burnout, work-life balance, motherhood, and mental health in the communications field - “You have to protect your space to ensure that you can perform at your best, that can mean taking 30 minutes in the middle of the day and taking care of yourself.”

(30:26) - Gina’s takeaways on Qualtrics current environment - “I think of a journalist as someone else who has a job to do and where perfection is when we can meet in the middle.”

Episode resources:

Gina Sheibley on Linkedin

Qualtrics

Thank you for listening to Just Checking In by Battery Ventures. Go follow Becky and Keyana on social media to know more about them. If you enjoyed this show leave a review and help us find new audiences! 

This show is produced by StudioPod Media in SanFrancisco. Editing and music is provided by Teresa...