September 8, 2025 • 37 mins
Marcelo Elliott, Chief of Staff and head of HR at La Tourangelle, shares how his combined role helps connect HR strategy directly to company goals. He talks about using AI to handle repetitive HR tasks, setting up ad hoc committees for grassroots improvement, and building effective communication across teams. Marcelo also gives practical examples, like launching sustainability initiatives and merging HR data with business planning, and recommends pistachio oil on ice cream as a personal favorite.
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Who Am I?
If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want.
Time Stamps:
00:51 Background and Career Path
01:35 About La Tourangelle
02:36 Role of Chief of Staff and HR
04:08 Benefits of a Dual Role
07:44 Impact of AI in HR
12:55 Balancing Chief of Staff and HR Responsibilities
17:43 Talent Management Strategies
19:31 Communication and Leadership
24:45 Continuous Improvement and Empowerment
32:45 Practical Advice for Setting Up People Operations
36:00 Favorite Products and Conclusion
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
emily-sander_1_01-15-20 (00:25):
Marcelo Elliot Lopez, and he is the
chief of staff and head of HRfor, let me see if I can do
this, La Tourangelle?
Is that
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (00:34):
That is correct.
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (00:35):
close?
Okay.
The company name.
Everyone in France is, uh,turning this off, but, uh, stay
tuned because Marcelo has gotsome amazing information to
share.
So Marcelo, welcome, welcome tothe show.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (00:49):
I'm glad to be here.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (00:51):
Can you just give us a quick
background of, of where you'vecome from, how you got to be
chief of staff?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (00:57):
Sure.
Well, my background's in, uh,staffing, talent acquisition,
staffing management and, um, HRconsulting.
And I have been HR manager, HRdirector at different companies.
I was an HR director here.
and with the size and scope ofthe company here, um, there was
a need for change management andsome of the other project
(01:21):
management and kind of, youknow, the principle, the CEO
meeting, uh, somebody to helpshare the weight of pushing the
vision forward.
And so when we had the chief ofstaff head of HR role here at
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (01:35):
Okay.
And just for quick context, whatdoes your company do?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (01:38):
we are an artisan producer of
quality organic and specialtycooking oils.
So if you've been to Whole Foodsor Williams Sonoma or a bunch of
other great, uh, retailers outthere, then you've probably seen
our oils, beautiful tin cans,uh, French crafted and all that
good stuff.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (01:58):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
I definitely have to check thatout.
We have a local like oil andvinegar shop here
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (02:03):
Sure.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (02:03):
have like what seems like really good
stuff.
I got like this, uh, it was likeleek, um, olive oil.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (02:08):
Yeah.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (02:09):
used with leeks and we use it on like
salads and stuff like that.
So yeah.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (02:13):
uh, you know, we have organic olive
oil.
We have, uh, you know,regenerative olive oil.
We have like four differentgreat olive oils that even the
New York Times has said are thetop four, uh,
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (02:26):
Oh wow.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (02:26):
in the, in the US.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (02:28):
Okay.
Okay.
And it sounds like you've gotsome pretty good distributors
there.
So people can, can pick up your,uh, can pick up your oil.
Um, okay.
So chief of staff and HRprofessionals, CHROs often get
confused sometimes and there'soften some overlap and it's
interesting that you have a dualrole.
So can you talk a little bitabout the thought process of
(02:49):
making that a dual role?
Was that your idea?
Was that your principal'sproposal?
How did that come about?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (02:54):
Oh, that's a good question.
I think it happened organicallyin terms of the work that was
being done.
I think the The question was,you know, is head of HR or
director of HR correct title,uh, and job description for what
I'm doing.
you know, did the horse for thewagon wagon for the horse.
(03:16):
So, yes, I think it happens, atleast in my experience.
It happened kind of organicallythrough the projects we were
working together.
And then we realized, thereneeded to be a change.
And, this company is not bigenough for a CHRO and my
position wouldn't be.
truly reflected in the CHRO.
Um, but what did make sense isthat chief of staff, somebody
(03:37):
who works with the differentmembers, uh, you know, in the
departments, my principaloversees.
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (03:44):
Right.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (03:45):
so that made sense.
And then on top of that, I stillmanage all of HR.
So I still oversee that.
And there's a benefit to having,at least for me.
And I think for a lot of othersthat I've spoken to that have
similar positions.
Is a benefit to having this dualnature position where you can
leverage Uh the potency of eachposition towards the company's
(04:06):
objectives and goals
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (04:08):
What are some of those benefits?
So I mean, when I was chief ofstaff, I was essentially an HR
generalist and was kind of thefrontline HR.
And then if it got into anythingmore specific or more nuanced or
complex, we had an outside thirdparty that I could go to, but I
was like the first, uh, thefirst one people would go to.
So I kind of have a notion oflike being chief of staff in HR.
(04:31):
It sounds like yours is muchmore official and robust, but
what are some of the benefits ofhaving that combined role?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (04:36):
You know, I I want to go back to
what you said you said you werea uh hr business partner,
correct
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (04:42):
Uh, yes.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (04:43):
Okay, so That is my background.
And I feel that, you know, as anHR business partner, used to be
outsourced as HR businesspartners from third parties used
to work for consulting companiesthat worked with those
companies.
so essentially what you're doingis you're doing performance
driven HR, where you're, you're,you're linking some of the
(05:04):
initiatives of HR towards aspecific goal for the company.
And, you know, I kind of got mywhole, I, I.
I bit my teeth into HR that way.
So I never knew the differencebetween HR as administrative and
HR as consultive performancedriven because of that when I
approach HR, that's kind of howI've always seen it And now you
(05:25):
have people ops and you have HRinternal HR business partners
and you have um Changemanagement professionals and of
course chief of staff.
I think they're you know I don'tknow if it's a spectrum, but I
think there is a correlation toHow that is driving within the
industry within HR as a, as asector.
Um, and I think for me, when youthink about the streamlined
(05:48):
communication that you can have,or when you think about, uh, you
know, how you can align thecompany's HR to strategic goals,
that chief of staff, head of HRmakes sense.
When you think of like, more ofa holistic approach where you're
taking into consideration theemployees.
But then also not forgetting thestrategic objectives of the
(06:12):
company.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (06:12):
Mm hmm.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (06:13):
you might have benefit in these two
roles together.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (06:17):
Yeah.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (06:18):
And I think resource, you know, for
companies my size, it's a smallcompany.
We have limited resources.
I think there's a benefit to,um, the roles because you can
have, you can save time andmaybe effort move that in the
direction that makes the mostsense for, you know, The company
and the people.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (06:39):
Yeah.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (06:39):
lot of, I think there's a lot of
things that, that help, youknow, when you look at where HR
is going as a field with theadvancement of AI coming into,
um, taking on and helping ussupport the administrative
functions, taking that off ourplate and allowing us to, to
coach, to mentor, to, you know,do those strategic things.
(07:00):
I think that that is just a signof at least my role.
I think it's, it's special forme that chief of staff HR, but I
think the field itself isturning into how does HR become
a player at every level, bigcompany, small company in the
strategic planning and executionof company objectives.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130 (07:22):
I love that approach.
And I think that's where yousee, um, HR functions and
departments really add so muchvalue.
They're not, I hesitate to saylike just kind of doing the, the
performance reviews and like theresume reviews and like all of
those things are important toyou.
Don't get me wrong, but I thinkyou're talking about that and so
much more at a higher level.
(07:44):
Um, so thank you for, for forum, noting that and then you
kind of brought it up there, butin terms of AI, where are you
seeing?
I mean, everything's changing soquickly, but right now, what are
you seeing in terms of here'show our company leverages AI to
our advantage, or here's how I'mseeing some other people in HR
do it.
Maybe they're a differentcompany size or a different
(08:04):
industry.
What are some of the things thatyou're seeing there?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (08:07):
You know, it's funny, uh, when I was
at Cornell, we had the CRO ofIBM come in Nicole and she came
in and she spoke about.
What AI is doing in HR.
And if anyone could speak aboutit, it's her because right now,
you know, with Watson and withthe advancement of what they've
done in their HR department, Ithink she just came out with an
article today or yesterday onthis, but AI agents and how that
(08:32):
is helping eliminate or noteliminate, excuse me, let me
change that word, take off theplate of some of the things that
we do that are remedial andrepetitive, you know, those
questions about.
what, um, policies are for timeoff or those questions about it
means in this state, you know,specific, um, policies or, or
(08:57):
guidelines of governance,whether it's state, federal,
what have you, these things, wecan all become experts at it,
but if we have a system thathelps us do that and manage it,
what we can be is, um, moreeffective in the interaction,
the transaction part.
A lot of times thosetransactions lose some of the
qualities of connection becausewe're so busy trying to figure
(09:19):
out what is the right answerthat we lose the human touch.
Now, if I can have the rightanswer on cue in a difficult
situation in a, uh, multifacetedvariables that, and rely on this
agent to supply that for me, Ican be a much better partner, HR
business partner, supporter,what have you.
(09:41):
And your team can do the samething.
And I think that's where AI isgoing.
It's how can we leverage, weneed to stop looking at AI as,
sometimes I have people thattalk to me and they say, What's
happening in HR?
What's happening inmanufacturing or food?
And then, what's happening inAI?
no, it's not, it's not aseparate thing.
AI is a tool that goes intoevery one of those things.
(10:03):
So when people ask me what's,going on with AI, I think, it's
developing into a tool and aservice and you need to
integrate it both into your dataanalytics for sure.
We talked about performancemanagement and doing all those,
those things that HR typicallydoes.
Well, sometimes you, you don'thave the resources or the time
(10:26):
to pull that data that youalready have and, and analyze it
in a way that can give you backsomething that will move
actionable items forward,whether it's HR initiatives that
are tied to.
Some of the important thingsthat a department or a section
of the company wants what ai cando for you.
And uh, you need to there's noone ai solution I think we're
(10:48):
all going to have some of ourfavorites.
I already use three or fourdifferent ai services Some to
help me create sops some to takenotes with meetings some to
understand um data But Iactually I did my um senior
thesis at uc davis on the impactof ai In the staffing industry
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (11:08):
Oh, okay.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01 (11:09):
Professor Beamish and Professor Kyle, both
great professors in sociology,organizational studies.
But, um, yeah, I think that it'sinteresting to see, you know, 10
years ago, whatever, how manyyears ago, the impact that it
had been and what we thought wasgoing to happen and what's
happening now.
And I'm excited, uh, that AI isgoing to, uh, help us become
(11:34):
supporters of AI.
All the team members we have.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (11:37):
Yes.
I love, I love that.
And I, it's funny, like in 10years, we're going to look back
at, at this and be like, Oh mygosh, look, I'm like, gosh, look
at where we were, um, type ofthing.
But so much of what you saidresonated with me, especially
that state by state.
piece because I remember havingto look up employee law like
state by state because it'sdifferent and you don't want to
get it wrong, especially ifyou're talking about something
important like a potentialtermination.
(11:59):
And so I would spend time and Iwould make sure I didn't want to
get it wrong.
So I'd make sure I had myinformation accurate, but that
could take, you know, hours.
In total, and I, that took meaway from other things, but it
had to be done right.
And so, um, and things like, youknow, PTO policies, I would get
those questions on repeat.
And I would literally have likea copy paste thing that I would
(12:20):
like send to people because theanswer didn't change.
Um, I might tweak it, you know,based on their message to me.
But I think what you're, whatI'm hearing is like those
certain types of rote, Pieces ofinformation where, hey, someone
has a question, it's a validquestion, but I can easily
generate this answer using AI,where I, as a human, can be
involved in some of these, um,higher level conversations where
(12:44):
it just makes more sense, and AIcan't do that, it has to be a
human to human connection, andyou're spending your time there.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-1 (12:52):
Agreed.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (12:53):
Okay.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (12:54):
I see it going.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (12:55):
Okay.
And then practically speaking,how do you split your time
between, I mean, do you even seeit as kind of split time between
chief of staff type, uh,activities and HR, or are you
just like, this is all blendedin my approach and how this
company views this type of role?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15 (13:11):
That's a good question.
I think that, um, I wouldn't saythey're split roles.
I don't walk into a place andgo, HR right now, but I do, in a
situation, tell myself very, um,I say I'm taking off my chief of
staff hat.
I'm putting on my HR hat, youknow, or vice versa Because
(13:32):
there's situations that call fordifferent things and sometimes
the situation, um, can be uhCalling for maybe a little bit
of uh Step back where I put onmy HR hat first, right?
And then I know that i'm gonnahave to follow up as as some of
(13:52):
the objectives of chief of staffyou play that according to how
well you can manage, you know,either it's kind of like code
switching, right?
Manage what you just said aboutdepending on what the message
they're bringing to you.
What do they need?
What is the person that's infront of you need to hear at the
moment?
Um, and then what is the followup and what, what communication
(14:14):
and what support needs to happenafter that?
And sometimes that may be the HRhat in the beginning.
Chief of staff later.
I think there's there's a mixthere And I think every company
and every person needs to findthat that balance themselves
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (14:30):
I'm curious where you come down on,
Is there ever, um, how do Iphrase this?
Like a disadvantage or is thereever a, a point where you can
tell people are a little bituncomfortable, like art is the
HR hat is the chief of staffhat.
I had like a very select handfulof these instances where I could
tell someone was like, like, amI talking to her as chief of
staff over here or is this likean HR conversation?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15 (14:53):
That's a good question.
I think that um There's a groupof people that you work with
like my peers happen to be theleadership or the executive
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (15:01):
Yes.
Yep.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (15:02):
and so that should always be a place
of comfort a place of safety ofcommunication You know, um, and
I think I I supply that to theto those folks And I think at
every level, HR needs to be opento hearing and giving space for
folks to feel comfortable andable to communicate what they
(15:23):
want.
But yes, there are times when,um, what I afford to my peers
and my executive team.
No, I don't do that across theboard to every of the, every
level of the company.
You just can't.
I mean, you need to be, uh,effective with, with, uh, your
time and your, um, uh, Yourresponsibilities.
(15:43):
So
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (15:44):
Mm hmm.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (15:45):
I hope that answered, I tried to
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (15:48):
It did.
It did.
No, it's a, it's a trickyquestion, but I think that if
people are hearing this, thatmight be a question that comes
up in their mind.
So, I mean, I just wanted toacknowledge for, for me and my
experience that did come up andit was something that at certain
points I definitely had to becognizant of, but overall it
was, it was completely fine.
And, uh, People just knew, knewwhat function I was carrying out
(16:11):
and sometimes it was blended.
Sometimes it had more emphasisover here, over there, and
people just got it.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (16:17):
I will say this, that as I came on
board, I was, I was brought onby a pet hunter and came in just
as a consultant to do sometalent management stuff.
Um, and then I ended up saying,but when that happened, HR had a
different, The culture of HR wasdifferent when I arrived.
It was very HR is HR.
(16:38):
And I think that as I'm kind ofgoing back to your question, you
have to change the dynamic ofwhat HR is for the company, for
the company to understand andeveryone to understand that HR
is not about, you know, HR, andit's not this separate thing.
The company's objectives, thecompany's goals, company itself,
that that is all part of it.
(17:00):
And so I think if folks knowwhere you're coming from and
what.
Your values are and my valuesare are are aligned with the
core of the here our employeesbuilding Our our talent base
building our company And I thinkif they see that they understand
where you're coming from andthere's no now I don't see that
(17:20):
question So I you know, it'sfunny when you said that I
thought oh that reminds me likefour years ago And people are
like our hr this now.
Everybody has that mentality ofknow Everything we do, whether
it's HR, receiving, what haveyou, accounting, we're all, uh,
focused on, on the company andmoving it forward.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (17:43):
So in terms of talent, in terms,
you know, chief of staff and HR,like in terms of talent
management, how do you, how doyou, what's your overall
approach to that in connectingoverall talent management to
like the strategic goals of thecompany and the long term goals
of the company?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (18:00):
Yeah.
No, I think that's a good point.
I think that, you know, that'sanother benefit of being a chief
of staff and coming with atalent background and being head
of HR is that you have thatability now.
Yeah.
to leverage one thing for thebenefit of the other.
What one thing is understandingmaybe the objectives and the
(18:20):
strategic goals of the companymore and then using that
knowledge and that understandingto better position a development
within the company.
So telemanagement shouldn't justbe new talent coming in.
It should be the development ofthe talent you have now,
understanding that noteveryone's going to stay.
And that's, that's okay.
And that's a good thing.
like being a platform forgrowth.
(18:41):
Um, for individuals, if you'rehere, you know, four years and
you, you need to move on becauseyou've hit the ceiling with us,
more power to you and, uh,you'll always be part of the
company.
We have a lot of folks that havedone that.
Um, but, uh, for those folksthat we do have tracks for,
maybe we have a longer runway,um, having the knowledge, uh, on
the, um, the executive side orthe chief of staff side that,
(19:05):
that can inform what you do onthe HR side.
To help retain those folks, givethem that growth.
in the same vein, um, you know,attrition is important as well.
And so knowing when and whereyou have to reorg, restructure
and change and doing that, um,in the best way for, for
(19:28):
everyone.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (19:29):
Yeah.
Can you talk a little bit aboutyour.
Your interactions with theexecutive team, with maybe
directors, managers, kind ofdifferent folks across the
organization.
What does that look like on aday to day, week to week, month
to month basis?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (19:42):
Uh, for us, it's it's been core to
our growth.
I think over the last, uh, yeah,I've been with the company a
over four and a half years.
And one of the core things thatwe've done is, you know, we had
meetings and some weeklymeetings scattered throughout
the company, team and sales teamand what have you.
I think it took a while to buildand that that's what we did.
(20:04):
You know, we built that coreleadership team, that executive
team as well.
Um, and that looks like, youknow, a biweekly for us at
least.
It once was a weekly touchpointmeeting.
It's a biweekly meeting now thatwe have with the CEO.
And we're directors and myselfand others.
Um, and then we have ourquarterlies.
(20:26):
We have, you know, retreats aswell.
Leadership retreats.
Um, we have town halls witheverybody.
Communication one of the mostimportant.
I mean, everyone knows this.
I hope.
Um, and it's, it's not justabout communication.
It's about effectivecommunication that, that reaches
the people, um, on the levelthat they want.
(20:47):
And so you have to havedifferent forms of it with
different levels and it has tobe with everybody it has to be
sometimes, you know, and so weand it has to be ongoing and
regular and um, you got to putin the work, you know, you have
those moments to build a team.
That's comfortable enough to behonest with each other and Know
(21:08):
how to reach out for support andit took Several years, but I
think at this point um thoseWeekly Bi weekly and, and even,
uh, quarterly meetings have madethe most impact, uh, for us.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (21:23):
And I know that I've worked with
chiefs of staff and executiveswho, they have a chief of staff
and a separate CHRO, and it'soften like, who does this
communication?
Like, who, like, who does thiscommunication come from?
This all hands or, you know,this division or this
department, it could easily comefrom one or the other and make
sense, but it's just kind of howdo we get our talk tracks and
(21:45):
messaging aligned.
And so I think one of thebenefits of having this in one
person or one function is yousend it out from, you know, from
Marcello or from the office ofthe chief of staff or head of
HR.
So, um, and again, At what?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15 (22:00):
People team.
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (22:01):
People team.
Yes.
Thank you.
And then over the four years,can you just talk about some of
the, Some of the types ofprojects and initiatives you
worked on, or, or even what'scoming up for you, what you're
excited about in the next, youknow, 12, 18 months.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (22:15):
Sure.
Um, You know, what we're workingon now is actually, um, our, we
have two locations.
We have one artisan mill thatis, uh, an expansion of what we
have here, here at thewarehouse.
And there we have like amolecular distillation tower.
And we have, uh, about 13, 000olive trees and we have the
(22:38):
roasting and the, and the, um,pressing of, of oils.
Um, and we have an initiative tokind of bring the two teams
together, um, standardize a lotof the processes that we have in
one place with the other, uh,bringing, uh, some of the
compliance up to a certainlevel, changing the talent.
(22:59):
We actually did a restructureand change uh, um, scheduling
and kind of the shifts that wehave.
So we have a 24 hour shift onthat side, which we don't have
over here.
And that calls for a lot of, uh,change in, and, um,
communication and managementand, uh, you know, we moved some
of the food grade processes wehave here, uh, that do different
(23:22):
things into this other area.
And so we're working withquality assurance and, um,
engineering and, uh, production.
To make sure that we supply theright training, the right,
structure and support mechanismsfor the team, uh, to bring forth
what we want, which is, um, kindof that, uh, new step in our
(23:48):
company's, uh, production of, ofoil.
And so it's an exciting time forus.
emily-sander_1_01- (23:53):
Interesting.
And then you have, you have twolocations or groups, U.
S.
and, and France.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (23:58):
Yes, we do.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (23:59):
Okay.
Gotcha.
And then throughout all of this,everything you've talked about
and kind of past initiatives,future initiatives, HR,
strategic objectives, chief ofstaff.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (24:09):
too.
Sorry.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (24:10):
Oh, Peru.
Okay.
You're going global here.
So, um, in all of this, allaround the world, how do you,
how do you talk about continuousimprovement?
So how do you espouse, like, wewant this company to grow and
learn and thrive together.
Um, but that just doesn't happenby itself.
There has to be a culture of itand leadership.
Yep.
on those types of things.
(24:31):
And obviously grassroots, uh,people taking action at all
levels of the business ishelpful there, but how do you,
how do you go about, um,motivating people or, or making
that part of the culture,
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (24:43):
I like the grassroots thing
because for me, that's all aboutempowering, empowering folks at
every level to, to takeownership and take initiative
and kind of be part the change.
You know, we've moved into leanmanufacturing, uh, several years
ago, but right now what we haveare like these ad hoc
committees, whether it's forsafety or sustainability or for
quality assurance at differentplaces.
(25:04):
We, teams people coming fromdifferent parts of the company
that come together and worktogether to these initiatives
and to move things forward.
You know, three years ago, wedidn't have, uh, you know, a
social sustainability program,and now we do.
And now we monitor, you know,the waste and the recycling and
(25:24):
the, you know, what can weupcycle and all those great
things.
And we find external partnersthat we work with, you know,
both locally and we like towork.
You know, whether it's ourstaffing company, our
sustainability partners, we liketo work with companies that
share our values.
And so we have some minorityowned companies and companies
that are not only local, buthave some of the same
sustainability values that wehave.
(25:45):
If you know anything about LaTourangelle, you know, we have
sustainable packaging, know, wehave, um, uh, sustainable
processes in some of our oil andfood making.
And so, um, that's important andyou have to, um, allow.
folks that work for you to takethat and, and build that into
(26:06):
their own identity and theirown, uh, value system, which
they do.
And, uh, you do that byempowering them to make change
within the, within theorganization, giving them, uh,
the possibility to, to make animpact in different ways that go
beyond just their jobdescription and recognition.
Of course, I think the mostimportant, uh, often gets
(26:26):
overlooked.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (26:28):
how do you do that?
So for instance, we had aprogram where there was like
Slack channels and differentways you could submit an idea.
And it didn't matter what teamyou were on.
You could submit, if you werein.
product and you had an idea fora marketing campaign, you could
submit that.
If you were an accountant thathad a idea for an internal
process that could be better,you could submit that.
And we would go through theseand talk to people about, you
(26:51):
know, their idea.
And, and that was very popularand people engaged in that way.
So what you said kind ofreminded me of that initiative
we had.
So I'm wondering if you have anyexamples of like practically,
how do you do that?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (27:02):
Yeah, I can tell you how we did it and
then it didn't work.
We were there to say, Hey,everyone say a comment.
Um, and you want those comments,but what you really have to do
is ask folks how they want tocommunicate and listen to what
they say and, and then give themother options as well.
So whether you're in the townhall and you open it up for some
folks that are extroverts
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (27:23):
Right.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (27:23):
you come in and you one on one
meetings or you take thefeedback that they're giving
both in a mid year review or anannual review.
Or the suggestion box, which westill have, uh, we also have
online and phone, methods of, ofgiving feedback.
Uh, so you can do anonymousfeedback, you can do non
anonymous feedback.
(27:43):
We have, and we have multiplestreams of this, both on, you
know, digital platforms, uh,physical platforms that are
private, that aren't in areaslike the break room.
and then you.
You challenge and you developpeople to get into spaces where
they can give their opinions.
And then sometimes we do alittle training on what the
(28:06):
difference between an injuredexpert is and how you need to
sometimes go around the tableand ask everyone to share and
give everyone, you know, give methree minutes of what you think.
And then you find that a lot ofthose folks that don't typically
talk, have great ideas that canhelp their departments or help
others.
Um, And once that ball startsrolling, that's when it, it
(28:27):
really starts to, um, uh, tostart, I guess what you would
call it infectious.
It becomes start to want to, uh,to share.
And so I think now, three yearsago we had a culture where
people, once they shared, theywere already aggravated.
(28:47):
I think now when people share,uh, they feel comfortable to
either.
Say what they want to say orshare ideas and things.
Um, and this, you know, whileI'm speaking about where I'm
sitting right now, theproduction area, we're still
working, uh, a lot of this at,uh, the other location.
Um,
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130 (29:09):
I mean, there's so much good stuff
in what you said.
It's so funny at our town halls,we would do the same thing.
We had like a Q and a sessionwhere people could ask any
question they wanted ofleadership.
And some of our leadership teammembers were like, okay.
Cause
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (29:22):
yeah,
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (29:22):
people could throw some zingers out
there and you'd have to answerin front of everyone, but that
was good.
And then you could tell certainpeople like asking questions in
front of people and, or we'recomfortable.
And some people just would neverask a question in that forum.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (29:36):
but they have a question.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (29:37):
Yes, exactly.
So we, uh, I just like, Hey,here's an anonymous form to fill
out.
If you have a question that youwant to ask at the town hall.
And we got a lot of questionsthat way, which I don't think we
ever would have gotten if wejust said, here's the microphone
stand up in front of the wholecompany, ask your question.
So I love that you said, youknow, the sentiment of meet
people where they're at andunderstand.
(29:58):
People will feel comfortable indifferent settings and forums.
I think that's so, so importantbecause if you're like, everyone
communicates like me, so I'mgoing to set this up where I'd
feel comfortable.
You might be missing out on halfof your company's feedback.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (30:13):
Yeah.
And that's a great point.
Because when you have these adhoc committees where you have
smaller groups, sometimes peopleautomatically feel more inclined
to share.
But really, what you have to dowith any group that you start is
be there in the beginning, notto set up the group or to set
the structure of the you want tohelp set the tone for a place
where everyone feelscomfortable.
(30:34):
So, you know, we talked abouticebreakers, we talked about
people, you know, having timejust to.
Have some camaraderie, become,uh, acquaintances and friends.
By the time they're in that, youknow, three months, four months
of an ad hoc committee, that'swhen you start to get folks that
feel comfortable enough to sharereally what they feel, what they
think.
Um, and so these ad hoccommittees will start them,
(30:56):
we'll invest in them for, a yearand, uh, the fruits of that
labor really start to pay offwhen you stick to the process
and stick to, yeah, givingpeople that space.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (31:09):
Yes.
And it's long term because youdon't just automatically trust
people, or at least many peopledon't automatically just trust
the other person.
And so it does take time, butthe dividends that you reap from
that investment.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (31:20):
Yeah.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (31:20):
so high, and they're just
continuous.
Uh, another thing that youhighlighted, which is really
important, is, um, some peopleare very spontaneous.
Like, you ask them a question,and they can think on their feet
and answer.
But some people like to thinkabout it.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (31:34):
Yes.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (31:34):
So it's like, sometimes it was, let
me give these questions out inadvance and say, Hey, for next
Thursday's meeting, here's theopening round of questions or
how we're going to kick thingsoff.
Now, some questions are justmeant to be spontaneous.
I don't want you to think aboutit very hard.
So I'll ask those on the fly.
But a lot of people, I think,don't feel comfortable with
like, I'm going to go into thisthing.
(31:56):
I know they're going to ask mequestions and I don't, I don't
like that.
So again, that's just anotherversion of making everyone feel,
feel comfortable.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (32:04):
And it's an important part of it,
too.
Yeah, giving people the, theopportunity to give that
feedback in the way they want.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (32:10):
Yeah, for sure.
If you were talking to someone,um, a chief of staff, a head of
people, an executive, who'sthinking about how to set up
this kind of people operationsor chief of staff role at their
company.
Um, what advice would you havein terms of a blended role or
other ways to set that up?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (32:27):
Well, that's a good question.
I, I, um, I think I would askthem to, to think about why they
want that.
You know, what is it about yourcurrent situation?
Or.
uh, the variables of the teamyou have lead you to, to kind of
leap at this, you know, itshouldn't be, Hey, I hear this
works for la charge L and it'sgreat.
And it is, um, so it's going towork for me.
(32:50):
It should be, um, you know,what, what, what structure do I
have?
What talent really do I have?
I think this, you know, um, thisrequires the kind of, um,
Intellectual, uh, Intelligenceand, um, kind of the background,
uh, and it was a lot of folkshave, but then it's not just
(33:12):
that it's the structure of thecompany.
So, you know, I, I am in thisposition because of the
structure of the company and theneeds of the organization make
it so.
Um, and so if that's the casefor you, then move forward with
it.
Uh, and it's, it's more likelythat, uh, you might see this in
(33:33):
a small to midsize company.
Um, because of the structure andbecause of that overlap.
And you see that in a lot ofother positions as well, the
hybrid positions.
Now you can have some hybridpositions in very large
organizations, especially whenthose organizations are divided
up in, in such a way that, um,you have some regions that can
help.
I think I'm getting a littlebeyond the question there, but
(33:55):
the most important thing to sayis that, uh, it's not one size
fits all.
And, uh, it is an option.
And learn more about, uh, whattalent you have and what they
want.
I think it's important to knowwhat, uh, you know, your HR
person wants or what yourmanager wants or the chief of
staff wants and what the companyneeds
emily-sander_1_01-15-2 (34:14):
Exactly.
I think the two main points Iwould highlight there are, ask
yourself, what are you trying toachieve?
Like, don't just bolt this thingin there just because Marcelo
said so.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (34:23):
Yeah
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (34:23):
but also know it's an option.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (34:25):
Yes
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (34:25):
some people might not have ever, oh,
that can be a combined blendedrole.
That's, that's perfect for us.
So just know it's an option andit can be a very effective one.
Um, so.
Excellent.
So Marcello, anything else on,we've covered a lot of topics
here on chief of staff, onpeople ops, on growing a
company, on oil, anything,anything you want people to want
(34:46):
people to know.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (34:47):
Um No, I I think that you know,
there's uh, I think you said itbest right there is that there's
an option That chief of staff isa dynamic role and it's not what
I like about.
It's not a one size fits allrole.
It comes in many differentshapes and forms and each of
those shapes and forms havetheir own benefits and can fit.
Uh, there's probably a versionof it that works best for your
(35:10):
company.
Uh, but you know, somebody thatdrives and helps drive change
for the company, uh, and thatcan make considerations, uh, for
the principal and for, for theteams that they support, I think
is, is going to be.
valuable in any, in anyorganization.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (35:27):
My last question, when someone
picks up one of your products,what is, what is your favorite
product?
What's your most popularrecommendation?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (35:35):
Oh man, so many.
But our olive oil is by far thebest out there.
Olive oils, really.
Um, but we just came out with aCalifornia olive oil, which is
incredible.
It's beautiful.
I think I have a bottle overthere.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (35:51):
Oh,
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (35:52):
but yeah, I love the olive oils.
The pistachio oil is one of myfavorites.
I eat it with my ice cream.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130 (35:59):
I have never heard of that.
I have to try this pistachio
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (36:03):
I was at a lavender event, a
lavender run.
We were, you know, runningthrough lavender fields, and it
was a, you know, uh, uh, anevent where we were raising
funds for an organization.
but they had lavender ice cream,and we had our different oils,
and somebody came up and said,Can I have some of that
pistachio oil?
I gave it to them.
They poured it on top of theirice cream, and they just, lines
(36:25):
of people just started eatingthis, and so
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (36:26):
Whoa,
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (36:27):
some, and it was delicious.
But it's even better with coffeeice cream.
So, yeah, it's, it's a gamechanger.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (36:35):
This is a game changer.
Okay.
No, thank you for that.
Okay.
I'm going to have to pick thatup.
So we'll put a link for sure toyour products that you
recommended in the show notes.
But, uh, Marcello, thank you somuch for being on.
I loved our conversation and Ithink this is, it is good for
people to know this is an optionand to hear straight from you
about how it's worked for youand your company.
So thank you.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (36:54):
thank you.
for having
Marcelo Elliot Lopez, and he is the
chief of staff and head of HRfor, let me see if I can do
this, La Tourangelle?
Is that
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (00:34):
That is correct.
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (00:35):
close?
Okay.
The company name.
Everyone in France is, uh,turning this off, but, uh, stay
tuned because Marcelo has gotsome amazing information to
share.
So Marcelo, welcome, welcome tothe show.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (00:49):
I'm glad to be here.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (00:51):
Can you just give us a quick
background of, of where you'vecome from, how you got to be
chief of staff?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (00:57):
Sure.
Well, my background's in, uh,staffing, talent acquisition,
staffing management and, um, HRconsulting.
And I have been HR manager, HRdirector at different companies.
I was an HR director here.
and with the size and scope ofthe company here, um, there was
a need for change management andsome of the other project
(01:21):
management and kind of, youknow, the principle, the CEO
meeting, uh, somebody to helpshare the weight of pushing the
vision forward.
And so when we had the chief ofstaff head of HR role here at
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (01:35):
Okay.
And just for quick context, whatdoes your company do?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (01:38):
we are an artisan producer of
quality organic and specialtycooking oils.
So if you've been to Whole Foodsor Williams Sonoma or a bunch of
other great, uh, retailers outthere, then you've probably seen
our oils, beautiful tin cans,uh, French crafted and all that
good stuff.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (01:58):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
I definitely have to check thatout.
We have a local like oil andvinegar shop here
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (02:03):
Sure.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (02:03):
have like what seems like really good
stuff.
I got like this, uh, it was likeleek, um, olive oil.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (02:08):
Yeah.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (02:09):
used with leeks and we use it on like
salads and stuff like that.
So yeah.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (02:13):
uh, you know, we have organic olive
oil.
We have, uh, you know,regenerative olive oil.
We have like four differentgreat olive oils that even the
New York Times has said are thetop four, uh,
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (02:26):
Oh wow.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (02:26):
in the, in the US.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (02:28):
Okay.
Okay.
And it sounds like you've gotsome pretty good distributors
there.
So people can, can pick up your,uh, can pick up your oil.
Um, okay.
So chief of staff and HRprofessionals, CHROs often get
confused sometimes and there'soften some overlap and it's
interesting that you have a dualrole.
So can you talk a little bitabout the thought process of
(02:49):
making that a dual role?
Was that your idea?
Was that your principal'sproposal?
How did that come about?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (02:54):
Oh, that's a good question.
I think it happened organicallyin terms of the work that was
being done.
I think the The question was,you know, is head of HR or
director of HR correct title,uh, and job description for what
I'm doing.
you know, did the horse for thewagon wagon for the horse.
(03:16):
So, yes, I think it happens, atleast in my experience.
It happened kind of organicallythrough the projects we were
working together.
And then we realized, thereneeded to be a change.
And, this company is not bigenough for a CHRO and my
position wouldn't be.
truly reflected in the CHRO.
Um, but what did make sense isthat chief of staff, somebody
(03:37):
who works with the differentmembers, uh, you know, in the
departments, my principaloversees.
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (03:44):
Right.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (03:45):
so that made sense.
And then on top of that, I stillmanage all of HR.
So I still oversee that.
And there's a benefit to having,at least for me.
And I think for a lot of othersthat I've spoken to that have
similar positions.
Is a benefit to having this dualnature position where you can
leverage Uh the potency of eachposition towards the company's
(04:06):
objectives and goals
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (04:08):
What are some of those benefits?
So I mean, when I was chief ofstaff, I was essentially an HR
generalist and was kind of thefrontline HR.
And then if it got into anythingmore specific or more nuanced or
complex, we had an outside thirdparty that I could go to, but I
was like the first, uh, thefirst one people would go to.
So I kind of have a notion oflike being chief of staff in HR.
(04:31):
It sounds like yours is muchmore official and robust, but
what are some of the benefits ofhaving that combined role?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (04:36):
You know, I I want to go back to
what you said you said you werea uh hr business partner,
correct
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (04:42):
Uh, yes.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (04:43):
Okay, so That is my background.
And I feel that, you know, as anHR business partner, used to be
outsourced as HR businesspartners from third parties used
to work for consulting companiesthat worked with those
companies.
so essentially what you're doingis you're doing performance
driven HR, where you're, you're,you're linking some of the
(05:04):
initiatives of HR towards aspecific goal for the company.
And, you know, I kind of got mywhole, I, I.
I bit my teeth into HR that way.
So I never knew the differencebetween HR as administrative and
HR as consultive performancedriven because of that when I
approach HR, that's kind of howI've always seen it And now you
(05:25):
have people ops and you have HRinternal HR business partners
and you have um Changemanagement professionals and of
course chief of staff.
I think they're you know I don'tknow if it's a spectrum, but I
think there is a correlation toHow that is driving within the
industry within HR as a, as asector.
Um, and I think for me, when youthink about the streamlined
(05:48):
communication that you can have,or when you think about, uh, you
know, how you can align thecompany's HR to strategic goals,
that chief of staff, head of HRmakes sense.
When you think of like, more ofa holistic approach where you're
taking into consideration theemployees.
But then also not forgetting thestrategic objectives of the
(06:12):
company.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (06:12):
Mm hmm.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (06:13):
you might have benefit in these two
roles together.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (06:17):
Yeah.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (06:18):
And I think resource, you know, for
companies my size, it's a smallcompany.
We have limited resources.
I think there's a benefit to,um, the roles because you can
have, you can save time andmaybe effort move that in the
direction that makes the mostsense for, you know, The company
and the people.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (06:39):
Yeah.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (06:39):
lot of, I think there's a lot of
things that, that help, youknow, when you look at where HR
is going as a field with theadvancement of AI coming into,
um, taking on and helping ussupport the administrative
functions, taking that off ourplate and allowing us to, to
coach, to mentor, to, you know,do those strategic things.
(07:00):
I think that that is just a signof at least my role.
I think it's, it's special forme that chief of staff HR, but I
think the field itself isturning into how does HR become
a player at every level, bigcompany, small company in the
strategic planning and executionof company objectives.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130 (07:22):
I love that approach.
And I think that's where yousee, um, HR functions and
departments really add so muchvalue.
They're not, I hesitate to saylike just kind of doing the, the
performance reviews and like theresume reviews and like all of
those things are important toyou.
Don't get me wrong, but I thinkyou're talking about that and so
much more at a higher level.
(07:44):
Um, so thank you for, for forum, noting that and then you
kind of brought it up there, butin terms of AI, where are you
seeing?
I mean, everything's changing soquickly, but right now, what are
you seeing in terms of here'show our company leverages AI to
our advantage, or here's how I'mseeing some other people in HR
do it.
Maybe they're a differentcompany size or a different
(08:04):
industry.
What are some of the things thatyou're seeing there?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (08:07):
You know, it's funny, uh, when I was
at Cornell, we had the CRO ofIBM come in Nicole and she came
in and she spoke about.
What AI is doing in HR.
And if anyone could speak aboutit, it's her because right now,
you know, with Watson and withthe advancement of what they've
done in their HR department, Ithink she just came out with an
article today or yesterday onthis, but AI agents and how that
(08:32):
is helping eliminate or noteliminate, excuse me, let me
change that word, take off theplate of some of the things that
we do that are remedial andrepetitive, you know, those
questions about.
what, um, policies are for timeoff or those questions about it
means in this state, you know,specific, um, policies or, or
(08:57):
guidelines of governance,whether it's state, federal,
what have you, these things, wecan all become experts at it,
but if we have a system thathelps us do that and manage it,
what we can be is, um, moreeffective in the interaction,
the transaction part.
A lot of times thosetransactions lose some of the
qualities of connection becausewe're so busy trying to figure
(09:19):
out what is the right answerthat we lose the human touch.
Now, if I can have the rightanswer on cue in a difficult
situation in a, uh, multifacetedvariables that, and rely on this
agent to supply that for me, Ican be a much better partner, HR
business partner, supporter,what have you.
(09:41):
And your team can do the samething.
And I think that's where AI isgoing.
It's how can we leverage, weneed to stop looking at AI as,
sometimes I have people thattalk to me and they say, What's
happening in HR?
What's happening inmanufacturing or food?
And then, what's happening inAI?
no, it's not, it's not aseparate thing.
AI is a tool that goes intoevery one of those things.
(10:03):
So when people ask me what's,going on with AI, I think, it's
developing into a tool and aservice and you need to
integrate it both into your dataanalytics for sure.
We talked about performancemanagement and doing all those,
those things that HR typicallydoes.
Well, sometimes you, you don'thave the resources or the time
(10:26):
to pull that data that youalready have and, and analyze it
in a way that can give you backsomething that will move
actionable items forward,whether it's HR initiatives that
are tied to.
Some of the important thingsthat a department or a section
of the company wants what ai cando for you.
And uh, you need to there's noone ai solution I think we're
(10:48):
all going to have some of ourfavorites.
I already use three or fourdifferent ai services Some to
help me create sops some to takenotes with meetings some to
understand um data But Iactually I did my um senior
thesis at uc davis on the impactof ai In the staffing industry
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (11:08):
Oh, okay.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01 (11:09):
Professor Beamish and Professor Kyle, both
great professors in sociology,organizational studies.
But, um, yeah, I think that it'sinteresting to see, you know, 10
years ago, whatever, how manyyears ago, the impact that it
had been and what we thought wasgoing to happen and what's
happening now.
And I'm excited, uh, that AI isgoing to, uh, help us become
(11:34):
supporters of AI.
All the team members we have.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (11:37):
Yes.
I love, I love that.
And I, it's funny, like in 10years, we're going to look back
at, at this and be like, Oh mygosh, look, I'm like, gosh, look
at where we were, um, type ofthing.
But so much of what you saidresonated with me, especially
that state by state.
piece because I remember havingto look up employee law like
state by state because it'sdifferent and you don't want to
get it wrong, especially ifyou're talking about something
important like a potentialtermination.
(11:59):
And so I would spend time and Iwould make sure I didn't want to
get it wrong.
So I'd make sure I had myinformation accurate, but that
could take, you know, hours.
In total, and I, that took meaway from other things, but it
had to be done right.
And so, um, and things like, youknow, PTO policies, I would get
those questions on repeat.
And I would literally have likea copy paste thing that I would
(12:20):
like send to people because theanswer didn't change.
Um, I might tweak it, you know,based on their message to me.
But I think what you're, whatI'm hearing is like those
certain types of rote, Pieces ofinformation where, hey, someone
has a question, it's a validquestion, but I can easily
generate this answer using AI,where I, as a human, can be
involved in some of these, um,higher level conversations where
(12:44):
it just makes more sense, and AIcan't do that, it has to be a
human to human connection, andyou're spending your time there.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-1 (12:52):
Agreed.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (12:53):
Okay.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (12:54):
I see it going.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (12:55):
Okay.
And then practically speaking,how do you split your time
between, I mean, do you even seeit as kind of split time between
chief of staff type, uh,activities and HR, or are you
just like, this is all blendedin my approach and how this
company views this type of role?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15 (13:11):
That's a good question.
I think that, um, I wouldn't saythey're split roles.
I don't walk into a place andgo, HR right now, but I do, in a
situation, tell myself very, um,I say I'm taking off my chief of
staff hat.
I'm putting on my HR hat, youknow, or vice versa Because
(13:32):
there's situations that call fordifferent things and sometimes
the situation, um, can be uhCalling for maybe a little bit
of uh Step back where I put onmy HR hat first, right?
And then I know that i'm gonnahave to follow up as as some of
(13:52):
the objectives of chief of staffyou play that according to how
well you can manage, you know,either it's kind of like code
switching, right?
Manage what you just said aboutdepending on what the message
they're bringing to you.
What do they need?
What is the person that's infront of you need to hear at the
moment?
Um, and then what is the followup and what, what communication
(14:14):
and what support needs to happenafter that?
And sometimes that may be the HRhat in the beginning.
Chief of staff later.
I think there's there's a mixthere And I think every company
and every person needs to findthat that balance themselves
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (14:30):
I'm curious where you come down on,
Is there ever, um, how do Iphrase this?
Like a disadvantage or is thereever a, a point where you can
tell people are a little bituncomfortable, like art is the
HR hat is the chief of staffhat.
I had like a very select handfulof these instances where I could
tell someone was like, like, amI talking to her as chief of
staff over here or is this likean HR conversation?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15 (14:53):
That's a good question.
I think that um There's a groupof people that you work with
like my peers happen to be theleadership or the executive
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (15:01):
Yes.
Yep.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (15:02):
and so that should always be a place
of comfort a place of safety ofcommunication You know, um, and
I think I I supply that to theto those folks And I think at
every level, HR needs to be opento hearing and giving space for
folks to feel comfortable andable to communicate what they
(15:23):
want.
But yes, there are times when,um, what I afford to my peers
and my executive team.
No, I don't do that across theboard to every of the, every
level of the company.
You just can't.
I mean, you need to be, uh,effective with, with, uh, your
time and your, um, uh, Yourresponsibilities.
(15:43):
So
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (15:44):
Mm hmm.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (15:45):
I hope that answered, I tried to
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (15:48):
It did.
It did.
No, it's a, it's a trickyquestion, but I think that if
people are hearing this, thatmight be a question that comes
up in their mind.
So, I mean, I just wanted toacknowledge for, for me and my
experience that did come up andit was something that at certain
points I definitely had to becognizant of, but overall it
was, it was completely fine.
And, uh, People just knew, knewwhat function I was carrying out
(16:11):
and sometimes it was blended.
Sometimes it had more emphasisover here, over there, and
people just got it.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (16:17):
I will say this, that as I came on
board, I was, I was brought onby a pet hunter and came in just
as a consultant to do sometalent management stuff.
Um, and then I ended up saying,but when that happened, HR had a
different, The culture of HR wasdifferent when I arrived.
It was very HR is HR.
(16:38):
And I think that as I'm kind ofgoing back to your question, you
have to change the dynamic ofwhat HR is for the company, for
the company to understand andeveryone to understand that HR
is not about, you know, HR, andit's not this separate thing.
The company's objectives, thecompany's goals, company itself,
that that is all part of it.
(17:00):
And so I think if folks knowwhere you're coming from and
what.
Your values are and my valuesare are are aligned with the
core of the here our employeesbuilding Our our talent base
building our company And I thinkif they see that they understand
where you're coming from andthere's no now I don't see that
(17:20):
question So I you know, it'sfunny when you said that I
thought oh that reminds me likefour years ago And people are
like our hr this now.
Everybody has that mentality ofknow Everything we do, whether
it's HR, receiving, what haveyou, accounting, we're all, uh,
focused on, on the company andmoving it forward.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (17:43):
So in terms of talent, in terms,
you know, chief of staff and HR,like in terms of talent
management, how do you, how doyou, what's your overall
approach to that in connectingoverall talent management to
like the strategic goals of thecompany and the long term goals
of the company?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (18:00):
Yeah.
No, I think that's a good point.
I think that, you know, that'sanother benefit of being a chief
of staff and coming with atalent background and being head
of HR is that you have thatability now.
Yeah.
to leverage one thing for thebenefit of the other.
What one thing is understandingmaybe the objectives and the
(18:20):
strategic goals of the companymore and then using that
knowledge and that understandingto better position a development
within the company.
So telemanagement shouldn't justbe new talent coming in.
It should be the development ofthe talent you have now,
understanding that noteveryone's going to stay.
And that's, that's okay.
And that's a good thing.
like being a platform forgrowth.
(18:41):
Um, for individuals, if you'rehere, you know, four years and
you, you need to move on becauseyou've hit the ceiling with us,
more power to you and, uh,you'll always be part of the
company.
We have a lot of folks that havedone that.
Um, but, uh, for those folksthat we do have tracks for,
maybe we have a longer runway,um, having the knowledge, uh, on
the, um, the executive side orthe chief of staff side that,
(19:05):
that can inform what you do onthe HR side.
To help retain those folks, givethem that growth.
in the same vein, um, you know,attrition is important as well.
And so knowing when and whereyou have to reorg, restructure
and change and doing that, um,in the best way for, for
(19:28):
everyone.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (19:29):
Yeah.
Can you talk a little bit aboutyour.
Your interactions with theexecutive team, with maybe
directors, managers, kind ofdifferent folks across the
organization.
What does that look like on aday to day, week to week, month
to month basis?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (19:42):
Uh, for us, it's it's been core to
our growth.
I think over the last, uh, yeah,I've been with the company a
over four and a half years.
And one of the core things thatwe've done is, you know, we had
meetings and some weeklymeetings scattered throughout
the company, team and sales teamand what have you.
I think it took a while to buildand that that's what we did.
(20:04):
You know, we built that coreleadership team, that executive
team as well.
Um, and that looks like, youknow, a biweekly for us at
least.
It once was a weekly touchpointmeeting.
It's a biweekly meeting now thatwe have with the CEO.
And we're directors and myselfand others.
Um, and then we have ourquarterlies.
(20:26):
We have, you know, retreats aswell.
Leadership retreats.
Um, we have town halls witheverybody.
Communication one of the mostimportant.
I mean, everyone knows this.
I hope.
Um, and it's, it's not justabout communication.
It's about effectivecommunication that, that reaches
the people, um, on the levelthat they want.
(20:47):
And so you have to havedifferent forms of it with
different levels and it has tobe with everybody it has to be
sometimes, you know, and so weand it has to be ongoing and
regular and um, you got to putin the work, you know, you have
those moments to build a team.
That's comfortable enough to behonest with each other and Know
(21:08):
how to reach out for support andit took Several years, but I
think at this point um thoseWeekly Bi weekly and, and even,
uh, quarterly meetings have madethe most impact, uh, for us.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (21:23):
And I know that I've worked with
chiefs of staff and executiveswho, they have a chief of staff
and a separate CHRO, and it'soften like, who does this
communication?
Like, who, like, who does thiscommunication come from?
This all hands or, you know,this division or this
department, it could easily comefrom one or the other and make
sense, but it's just kind of howdo we get our talk tracks and
(21:45):
messaging aligned.
And so I think one of thebenefits of having this in one
person or one function is yousend it out from, you know, from
Marcello or from the office ofthe chief of staff or head of
HR.
So, um, and again, At what?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15 (22:00):
People team.
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (22:01):
People team.
Yes.
Thank you.
And then over the four years,can you just talk about some of
the, Some of the types ofprojects and initiatives you
worked on, or, or even what'scoming up for you, what you're
excited about in the next, youknow, 12, 18 months.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (22:15):
Sure.
Um, You know, what we're workingon now is actually, um, our, we
have two locations.
We have one artisan mill thatis, uh, an expansion of what we
have here, here at thewarehouse.
And there we have like amolecular distillation tower.
And we have, uh, about 13, 000olive trees and we have the
(22:38):
roasting and the, and the, um,pressing of, of oils.
Um, and we have an initiative tokind of bring the two teams
together, um, standardize a lotof the processes that we have in
one place with the other, uh,bringing, uh, some of the
compliance up to a certainlevel, changing the talent.
(22:59):
We actually did a restructureand change uh, um, scheduling
and kind of the shifts that wehave.
So we have a 24 hour shift onthat side, which we don't have
over here.
And that calls for a lot of, uh,change in, and, um,
communication and managementand, uh, you know, we moved some
of the food grade processes wehave here, uh, that do different
(23:22):
things into this other area.
And so we're working withquality assurance and, um,
engineering and, uh, production.
To make sure that we supply theright training, the right,
structure and support mechanismsfor the team, uh, to bring forth
what we want, which is, um, kindof that, uh, new step in our
(23:48):
company's, uh, production of, ofoil.
And so it's an exciting time forus.
emily-sander_1_01- (23:53):
Interesting.
And then you have, you have twolocations or groups, U.
S.
and, and France.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (23:58):
Yes, we do.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (23:59):
Okay.
Gotcha.
And then throughout all of this,everything you've talked about
and kind of past initiatives,future initiatives, HR,
strategic objectives, chief ofstaff.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (24:09):
too.
Sorry.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (24:10):
Oh, Peru.
Okay.
You're going global here.
So, um, in all of this, allaround the world, how do you,
how do you talk about continuousimprovement?
So how do you espouse, like, wewant this company to grow and
learn and thrive together.
Um, but that just doesn't happenby itself.
There has to be a culture of itand leadership.
Yep.
on those types of things.
(24:31):
And obviously grassroots, uh,people taking action at all
levels of the business ishelpful there, but how do you,
how do you go about, um,motivating people or, or making
that part of the culture,
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (24:43):
I like the grassroots thing
because for me, that's all aboutempowering, empowering folks at
every level to, to takeownership and take initiative
and kind of be part the change.
You know, we've moved into leanmanufacturing, uh, several years
ago, but right now what we haveare like these ad hoc
committees, whether it's forsafety or sustainability or for
quality assurance at differentplaces.
(25:04):
We, teams people coming fromdifferent parts of the company
that come together and worktogether to these initiatives
and to move things forward.
You know, three years ago, wedidn't have, uh, you know, a
social sustainability program,and now we do.
And now we monitor, you know,the waste and the recycling and
(25:24):
the, you know, what can weupcycle and all those great
things.
And we find external partnersthat we work with, you know,
both locally and we like towork.
You know, whether it's ourstaffing company, our
sustainability partners, we liketo work with companies that
share our values.
And so we have some minorityowned companies and companies
that are not only local, buthave some of the same
sustainability values that wehave.
(25:45):
If you know anything about LaTourangelle, you know, we have
sustainable packaging, know, wehave, um, uh, sustainable
processes in some of our oil andfood making.
And so, um, that's important andyou have to, um, allow.
folks that work for you to takethat and, and build that into
(26:06):
their own identity and theirown, uh, value system, which
they do.
And, uh, you do that byempowering them to make change
within the, within theorganization, giving them, uh,
the possibility to, to make animpact in different ways that go
beyond just their jobdescription and recognition.
Of course, I think the mostimportant, uh, often gets
(26:26):
overlooked.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (26:28):
how do you do that?
So for instance, we had aprogram where there was like
Slack channels and differentways you could submit an idea.
And it didn't matter what teamyou were on.
You could submit, if you werein.
product and you had an idea fora marketing campaign, you could
submit that.
If you were an accountant thathad a idea for an internal
process that could be better,you could submit that.
And we would go through theseand talk to people about, you
(26:51):
know, their idea.
And, and that was very popularand people engaged in that way.
So what you said kind ofreminded me of that initiative
we had.
So I'm wondering if you have anyexamples of like practically,
how do you do that?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (27:02):
Yeah, I can tell you how we did it and
then it didn't work.
We were there to say, Hey,everyone say a comment.
Um, and you want those comments,but what you really have to do
is ask folks how they want tocommunicate and listen to what
they say and, and then give themother options as well.
So whether you're in the townhall and you open it up for some
folks that are extroverts
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (27:23):
Right.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (27:23):
you come in and you one on one
meetings or you take thefeedback that they're giving
both in a mid year review or anannual review.
Or the suggestion box, which westill have, uh, we also have
online and phone, methods of, ofgiving feedback.
Uh, so you can do anonymousfeedback, you can do non
anonymous feedback.
(27:43):
We have, and we have multiplestreams of this, both on, you
know, digital platforms, uh,physical platforms that are
private, that aren't in areaslike the break room.
and then you.
You challenge and you developpeople to get into spaces where
they can give their opinions.
And then sometimes we do alittle training on what the
(28:06):
difference between an injuredexpert is and how you need to
sometimes go around the tableand ask everyone to share and
give everyone, you know, give methree minutes of what you think.
And then you find that a lot ofthose folks that don't typically
talk, have great ideas that canhelp their departments or help
others.
Um, And once that ball startsrolling, that's when it, it
(28:27):
really starts to, um, uh, tostart, I guess what you would
call it infectious.
It becomes start to want to, uh,to share.
And so I think now, three yearsago we had a culture where
people, once they shared, theywere already aggravated.
(28:47):
I think now when people share,uh, they feel comfortable to
either.
Say what they want to say orshare ideas and things.
Um, and this, you know, whileI'm speaking about where I'm
sitting right now, theproduction area, we're still
working, uh, a lot of this at,uh, the other location.
Um,
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130 (29:09):
I mean, there's so much good stuff
in what you said.
It's so funny at our town halls,we would do the same thing.
We had like a Q and a sessionwhere people could ask any
question they wanted ofleadership.
And some of our leadership teammembers were like, okay.
Cause
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (29:22):
yeah,
emily-sander_1_01-15-202 (29:22):
people could throw some zingers out
there and you'd have to answerin front of everyone, but that
was good.
And then you could tell certainpeople like asking questions in
front of people and, or we'recomfortable.
And some people just would neverask a question in that forum.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (29:36):
but they have a question.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (29:37):
Yes, exactly.
So we, uh, I just like, Hey,here's an anonymous form to fill
out.
If you have a question that youwant to ask at the town hall.
And we got a lot of questionsthat way, which I don't think we
ever would have gotten if wejust said, here's the microphone
stand up in front of the wholecompany, ask your question.
So I love that you said, youknow, the sentiment of meet
people where they're at andunderstand.
(29:58):
People will feel comfortable indifferent settings and forums.
I think that's so, so importantbecause if you're like, everyone
communicates like me, so I'mgoing to set this up where I'd
feel comfortable.
You might be missing out on halfof your company's feedback.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (30:13):
Yeah.
And that's a great point.
Because when you have these adhoc committees where you have
smaller groups, sometimes peopleautomatically feel more inclined
to share.
But really, what you have to dowith any group that you start is
be there in the beginning, notto set up the group or to set
the structure of the you want tohelp set the tone for a place
where everyone feelscomfortable.
(30:34):
So, you know, we talked abouticebreakers, we talked about
people, you know, having timejust to.
Have some camaraderie, become,uh, acquaintances and friends.
By the time they're in that, youknow, three months, four months
of an ad hoc committee, that'swhen you start to get folks that
feel comfortable enough to sharereally what they feel, what they
think.
Um, and so these ad hoccommittees will start them,
(30:56):
we'll invest in them for, a yearand, uh, the fruits of that
labor really start to pay offwhen you stick to the process
and stick to, yeah, givingpeople that space.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (31:09):
Yes.
And it's long term because youdon't just automatically trust
people, or at least many peopledon't automatically just trust
the other person.
And so it does take time, butthe dividends that you reap from
that investment.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (31:20):
Yeah.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (31:20):
so high, and they're just
continuous.
Uh, another thing that youhighlighted, which is really
important, is, um, some peopleare very spontaneous.
Like, you ask them a question,and they can think on their feet
and answer.
But some people like to thinkabout it.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (31:34):
Yes.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (31:34):
So it's like, sometimes it was, let
me give these questions out inadvance and say, Hey, for next
Thursday's meeting, here's theopening round of questions or
how we're going to kick thingsoff.
Now, some questions are justmeant to be spontaneous.
I don't want you to think aboutit very hard.
So I'll ask those on the fly.
But a lot of people, I think,don't feel comfortable with
like, I'm going to go into thisthing.
(31:56):
I know they're going to ask mequestions and I don't, I don't
like that.
So again, that's just anotherversion of making everyone feel,
feel comfortable.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (32:04):
And it's an important part of it,
too.
Yeah, giving people the, theopportunity to give that
feedback in the way they want.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (32:10):
Yeah, for sure.
If you were talking to someone,um, a chief of staff, a head of
people, an executive, who'sthinking about how to set up
this kind of people operationsor chief of staff role at their
company.
Um, what advice would you havein terms of a blended role or
other ways to set that up?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (32:27):
Well, that's a good question.
I, I, um, I think I would askthem to, to think about why they
want that.
You know, what is it about yourcurrent situation?
Or.
uh, the variables of the teamyou have lead you to, to kind of
leap at this, you know, itshouldn't be, Hey, I hear this
works for la charge L and it'sgreat.
And it is, um, so it's going towork for me.
(32:50):
It should be, um, you know,what, what, what structure do I
have?
What talent really do I have?
I think this, you know, um, thisrequires the kind of, um,
Intellectual, uh, Intelligenceand, um, kind of the background,
uh, and it was a lot of folkshave, but then it's not just
(33:12):
that it's the structure of thecompany.
So, you know, I, I am in thisposition because of the
structure of the company and theneeds of the organization make
it so.
Um, and so if that's the casefor you, then move forward with
it.
Uh, and it's, it's more likelythat, uh, you might see this in
(33:33):
a small to midsize company.
Um, because of the structure andbecause of that overlap.
And you see that in a lot ofother positions as well, the
hybrid positions.
Now you can have some hybridpositions in very large
organizations, especially whenthose organizations are divided
up in, in such a way that, um,you have some regions that can
help.
I think I'm getting a littlebeyond the question there, but
(33:55):
the most important thing to sayis that, uh, it's not one size
fits all.
And, uh, it is an option.
And learn more about, uh, whattalent you have and what they
want.
I think it's important to knowwhat, uh, you know, your HR
person wants or what yourmanager wants or the chief of
staff wants and what the companyneeds
emily-sander_1_01-15-2 (34:14):
Exactly.
I think the two main points Iwould highlight there are, ask
yourself, what are you trying toachieve?
Like, don't just bolt this thingin there just because Marcelo
said so.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2 (34:23):
Yeah
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (34:23):
but also know it's an option.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (34:25):
Yes
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (34:25):
some people might not have ever, oh,
that can be a combined blendedrole.
That's, that's perfect for us.
So just know it's an option andit can be a very effective one.
Um, so.
Excellent.
So Marcello, anything else on,we've covered a lot of topics
here on chief of staff, onpeople ops, on growing a
company, on oil, anything,anything you want people to want
(34:46):
people to know.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (34:47):
Um No, I I think that you know,
there's uh, I think you said itbest right there is that there's
an option That chief of staff isa dynamic role and it's not what
I like about.
It's not a one size fits allrole.
It comes in many differentshapes and forms and each of
those shapes and forms havetheir own benefits and can fit.
Uh, there's probably a versionof it that works best for your
(35:10):
company.
Uh, but you know, somebody thatdrives and helps drive change
for the company, uh, and thatcan make considerations, uh, for
the principal and for, for theteams that they support, I think
is, is going to be.
valuable in any, in anyorganization.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_13 (35:27):
My last question, when someone
picks up one of your products,what is, what is your favorite
product?
What's your most popularrecommendation?
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-202 (35:35):
Oh man, so many.
But our olive oil is by far thebest out there.
Olive oils, really.
Um, but we just came out with aCalifornia olive oil, which is
incredible.
It's beautiful.
I think I have a bottle overthere.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_1 (35:51):
Oh,
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-20 (35:52):
but yeah, I love the olive oils.
The pistachio oil is one of myfavorites.
I eat it with my ice cream.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_130 (35:59):
I have never heard of that.
I have to try this pistachio
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15-2025 (36:03):
I was at a lavender event, a
lavender run.
We were, you know, runningthrough lavender fields, and it
was a, you know, uh, uh, anevent where we were raising
funds for an organization.
but they had lavender ice cream,and we had our different oils,
and somebody came up and said,Can I have some of that
pistachio oil?
I gave it to them.
They poured it on top of theirice cream, and they just, lines
(36:25):
of people just started eatingthis, and so
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025 (36:26):
Whoa,
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (36:27):
some, and it was delicious.
But it's even better with coffeeice cream.
So, yeah, it's, it's a gamechanger.
emily-sander_1_01-15-2025_ (36:35):
This is a game changer.
Okay.
No, thank you for that.
Okay.
I'm going to have to pick thatup.
So we'll put a link for sure toyour products that you
recommended in the show notes.
But, uh, Marcello, thank you somuch for being on.
I loved our conversation and Ithink this is, it is good for
people to know this is an optionand to hear straight from you
about how it's worked for youand your company.
So thank you.
squadcaster-9cic_1_01-15- (36:54):
thank you.
for having
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