meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

588: Tara Viswanathan (CEO Of Rupa) - Handling Rejection, Creating Magical Moments, Leadership Hiring 'Must-Haves,' Learnings From Lululemon, and Keys To a Great Off-Site Retreat

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Ryan Hawk

Careers, Management, Business

4.81.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Order our new book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3VJoYFZ

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

This episode is supported by Insight Global. Insight Global is a staffing company dedicated to empowering people. Please CLICK HERE for premier staffing and talent.

  • Rejection is a learned skill. Tara has gone through rejection therapy. Go out and ask for something crazy big. Get comfortable with being rejected. Hearing the word no. Go big.
  • Confidence is about keeping promises to yourself. Create evidence for yourself.
  • Create magical moments for the people you’re leading. Show them how much you care for them. The small touches are a big deal. The magic is in the small details.
  • How to have fun at your company: Fun (and culture) cannot be outsourced. You cannot delegate “culture carriers." You (the leader) are the ultimate culture carrier. It has to come from you.
  • "Ask for money, get advice. Ask for advice, get money."
  • "If it's too easy, you get soft."
  • It's important to set high expectations for the people you're leading. "The boss I respected the most was a hard ass and very demanding."
  • The difference between nice and kind:
    • Nice = Soft, easy.
    • Kind = Set high expectations. Hold you accountable to them. You're better long-term being kind.
  • Tara's "must-haves" when hiring a leader:
    • Raw intelligence - How quickly can you learn? Must be a clear and critical thinker.
    • Fantastic communicator
    • Intensity, drive, hunger
    • Sense of humor - Need to be able to laugh and have fun.
  • Values:
    • Business owner
    • Kid at heart
    • Design thinking - Craft for the end-user
    • Peak performance
    • Be human
  • Keys to a great off-site retreat
    • Craft for the people
    • High energy
    • Sense of connection - get to know each other
    • Peak performance workbook - set goals
    • Small touches - personalized gifts for the team (like picture frames with personalized pictures in them)
    • Create magical moments to connect
    • Focus on the arrival - make it special
    • Eliminate loneliness - Assigned seats, name tags, conversation prompts (especially helps introverts)
  • Tara worked at LuluLemon while in grad school at Stanford. It was a useful learning experience for her. She worked for a world-class manager.
  • What Tara learned from her parents:
    • Leadership is about modeling the right behaviors.
  • Advice - "If you want to be extraordinary, you can't fit in."
  • "Give way more than everybody else."
  • "Follow great people and be around greatness."
  • Tara created a 50-slide PowerPoint while going for a role as a part-time content writer. Going above and beyond for that leader left an impression and that woman who Tara impressed remains a mentor, investor, and friend to this day more than a decade later. You never know what will happen if you consistently over-deliver for people.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The kindest thing that we can do is set super high expectations for people.

0:04.7

CEO of Rupa. Infrastructure supports chronic illness that supports lifestyle medicine.

0:10.0

I had this strong conviction that there was about to be a whole new market in health care and wellness.

0:16.4

How do you set high expectations for the people that you're leading?

0:21.4

We believe we are nice when we are soft on people

0:24.6

and let them you know let them do less than what they're capable of but we're not kind.

0:29.3

It's this concept of we take our work very seriously but we don't take ourselves seriously.

0:34.4

Building together doing hard things together, accomplishing things together, it's fun.

0:39.4

I think you can create magical moments in every moment.

0:41.8

Follow great people.

0:44.6

Don't overthink it.

0:46.6

Listen to your gut.

0:47.5

Ask for money, get advice.

0:48.7

Ask for advice, get money twice. Welcome to The Learning Leader Show presented by Insight Global.

1:00.1

I am your host, Ryan Hawk. Thank you so much for being here host Ryan Hawk.

1:03.0

Thank you so much for being here.

1:05.0

Text Hawk to 66866

1:07.0

to become part of Mindful Monday.

1:10.0

You, along with tens of thousands of other learning leaders from all over the world, will receive a carefully curated email for me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right.

1:20.0

You'll also receive details about how our new book, The Score That Matters, will help you become a more effective leader.

1:26.6

Text Hawk to 66866.

1:29.4

Now on to tonight's feature leaders.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ryan Hawk, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ryan Hawk and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.