How I Built Resilience: Live with Jenn Hyman

How I Built This · 4 Jun 2020 · 23m

What this episode covers

Jenn Hyman, co-founder of Rent the Runway, discusses how the company navigated the pandemic by cutting non-personnel expenses, executing layoffs and furloughs, and keeping warehouses open to preserve operational knowledge. She explains the strategic pivot toward the circular economy, emphasizing sustainability and value, while restructuring leadership to empower employees with transparency and data. Hyman also addresses the criticism that fashion is frivolous during a crisis, arguing that clothing provides essential normalcy and joy, and reflects on how remote work may permanently reshape workforce dynamics and gender equity.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • People of Packaging · 52m

    44 - Philippe Erhart - leadership in a crisis and how sustainability and diversity connect

    Philippe Erhart, President of North America for Beauty and Home at Aptar, discusses his leadership during the pandemic, emphasizing empathy, transparency, and the decision to avoid layoffs while prioritizing employee safety. He details Aptar's focused strategy in dispensing technologies across beauty, food, and pharma, and highlights the company's aggressive shift toward sustainability, specifically converting from virgin plastics to post-consumer resin (PCR). Erhart also connects the industry's sustainability challenges to broader social issues, arguing that diversity, inclusion, and civil discourse are essential for business resilience and societal progress.

  • Global Medical Device Podcast · 1h 01m

    #331: 28 Days To Save The World: Lessons Learned from a Pandemic Month of Supply Chain Issues

    Dan Purvis, CEO of Velentium, explains how the company pivoted during the early pandemic to help General Motors and Ventec Life Systems scale ventilator production from 100 to 10,000 units per month. He details the extreme supply chain challenges, including buying $2 million in parts without a purchase order and using personal networks to source components, to reopen a GM plant in Kokomo, Indiana. Purvis emphasizes that this crisis validated Velentium's core culture of 'changing lives for a better world,' which enabled the team to commit to 16-hour workdays and deliver 30,000 ventilators over the summer. He argues that strong culture, clear vision, and principles-based leadership are more critical than strategic planning when facing existential threats.

  • Manufacturing Happy Hour · 42m

    How a Strong Company Culture Leads Through Crisis with Dan Stutterheim

    Dan Stutterheim, CEO of Kasa Companies, a Salina, Kansas-based industrial control systems integrator, explains how his company navigated the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritizing employee health and transparent communication. He details the implementation of daily 'culture dialogues' and 'MAPS' emails to address staff anxiety, while narrowing business focus from 160 monthly goals to four key quarterly metrics: cash, sales, backlog, and execution. Stutterheim highlights how Kasa's conservative financial strategy and strong balance sheet provided the runway to maintain operations and even hire talent during the crisis, despite facing cash flow challenges from slow-paying customers.

  • EMS@C-LEVEL · 21m

    EMS@C-LEVEL Season #1 Episode #2 with Creative Electron's Dr. Bill Cardoso

    Dr. Bill Cardoso, CEO of Creative Electron, explains how his company pivoted its manufacturing operations during the COVID-19 crisis by decentralizing assembly to eight locations in San Diego County to maintain production of x-ray systems. He details the adoption of AI-driven autonomous inspection and the shift to 'X-ray as a Service' (XAS), allowing remote operation of equipment via virtual laboratories. Cardoso also discusses leadership strategies, including a '20-mile march' philosophy and a results-oriented culture, which allowed the company to avoid layoffs and sustain growth despite supply chain disruptions.

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 37m

    #88 Undaunted Leadership with Hint Founder Kara Goldin

    Kara Goldin, founder of Hint, discusses scaling her unsweetened flavored water company from a garage startup to over 30,000 retail locations, emphasizing leadership lessons from the pandemic and early growth. She explains how Hint grew 40% in 2020 by pivoting operations, securing deals with Costco, Walmart, and Aldi, and managing supply chain disruptions through direct store engagement. Goldin highlights the importance of hiring 'creators' rather than just managers, maintaining transparency with employees, and the strategic value of lacking prior CPG industry experience. The episode covers her book 'Undaunted,' detailing key decisions like losing Starbucks to focus on Target and refusing unfavorable promotions from Whole Foods to protect brand equity.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by How I Built This. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.