The Nice Podcast with Dave Delaney

Hosted ByDave Delaney

Candid conversations about communication, collaboration, community, kindness, and *nice* leadership.

“A must-listen podcast for the brightest and most aspiring leaders.”

#41 Fully remote teams, firing yourself, and retention with Brian Roland.

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The Nice Podcast is brought to you by Futureforth.com. We help fast-growing tech companies onboard, create, and keep happier, more connected employees.

Brian Roland is a Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Abenity, the 6x Inc. 5000 Company that’s powering corporate perks for top brands, including U.S. Bank and MasterCard.

What we talked about…

  • Coffee snobbery and a herniated disc.
  • Starting Abenity as a fully remote team in 2006 led to his obsession with coffee.
  • On founding the company with his brother and bootstrapping to millions of members and nearly $10M in annual revenue.
  • Brian fired himself after thirteen years. He hired a CEO and President to run the business.
  • Improving performance reviews and providing feedback.
  • Focus on building momentum and scaling your business.
  • Thirty team members across ten states – fully remote.
  • Covid redirected their focus.
  • Social mission sponsoring children with each client via WorldVision.
  • “Just show up. You’re looking for the people who are looking for you.”
  • Adding a task management platform like Asana to help communication.
  • Hiring team members who already have relationships with staff is important.
  • Open jobs are not advertised. They only tap their existing team for recommendations.
  • Trust, respect, and accountability are already there as they onboard new people.
  • The dangers of hybrid work and loneliness.
  • Using DiSC personality assessments to determine how they will work remotely.
  • Manage output over activity.
  • Read Faith Driven Entrepreneur: What It Takes to Step Into Your Purpose and Pursue Your God-Given Call to Create by Henry Kaestner.
  • Contact Brian at BrianRoland.com. Check out Rules of Engagement for Fully Remote Teams.

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🎸 Theme song is “Little Jane May,” and the end song is “Funny Feeling” by AlistairChristl.ca.

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