Episode 81: Winning at Business and Life with Juliana Stancampiano

This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.

My name is Juliana Stancampiano. I'm the CEO and owner of Oxygen. We are a learning and development sales enablement company that does the consulting side as well as the development side.

Juliana, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?

You know, it's the reason why I got in it, and it is literally helping people be successful at work. And that is the best part about our industry and about what we do, um, and is something that was meaningful to me as a person in a job for the first time trying to navigate and figure out how to be successful. So that's something that we've always carried through in everything that we do.

Oh, I love that. That's great. Question number 3: I hear from other business leaders that staying in a good work-life balance for them and their team members is a challenge. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, so I love the work-life balance question because it has been such a thing that has come up year over year over year. And there's a lot of different sides to it. And I actually believe everybody has a work-life balance. And I believe that it is individualistic to every person. And I think the key to it, as a business leader especially, is figuring out what work-life balance means for each individual that works for you or each individual that you lead or manage. And knowing that and then helping to make that the reality for them versus trying to say, this is what it is, or this is what it isn't, and being prescriptive about it because it's— I haven't met one person in my life that it is the same for anybody, you know? And I think that it also helps to relieve judgment from other people when they say, oh, so-and-so's, you know, doesn't ever take a vacation. Like we have somebody like that on our team and it's like, yes. And That is his choice. It is how he wants to work. And he knows he has the option should he want it, but I'm not going to force that upon somebody if they're not— if that's not how they work with it. So I believe getting into the details of what that means for people is where you start to really find the goodness.

I think that's really insightful because it's— if I'm understanding you correctly, it's very similar to customizing your management style for each employee to— in order to make it work best for you and for that employee.

Yeah, I have people that have kids, I have people that don't have kids, I have, you know, we're all such a spectrum of differences and understanding those and then working with somebody to help manage what that means for them. Or, you know, I have somebody that likes to work at 1 in the morning, but she's not going to be on an 8 AM call, you know. So helping and being able to manage that, I think you bring out the best in your people.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Thank you. Question number 4: What other successful business leader like yourself should be on my podcast?

I would recommend Mikayla Kiner. She's with a company called Reverb and just published a book called Female Firebrands.

Oh, great. I will reach out to her. Thank you for that referral. Question number 5: What insight or advice would you give to other business leaders?

This has been really interesting for me over just the last year. I met somebody who is a coach of leaders and she kept asking me, she said, "Your team's fantastic. They all speak so highly of you. Like, what's your secret?" Right? And that's kind of what you're getting at. And when I first looked at her, I was dumbfounded. I was like, "I don't know. I don't think I have a secret. You know, it's just what I do." And we've had many conversations since and It's come down to being consistent. And I've talked to a lot of the people that have worked for me, even clients and customers, and that consistency is there in every single conversation. And I actually told her recently, I said, "You asked me that question and now I sound so boring." Like, who wants to know that consistency is the secret to success? Some success, right? But I think it's, you know, and I've had my people say, I know I can turn to you and I know what I'm going to get. And I know, you know, there's not a lot of hidden surprises. I treat customers the same way as I treat our employees, as I treat my family members, as I treat my friends. Like, there's not a lot of difference across the different areas in my life of how I show up. And I've been told many times that that is very helpful for all the people that are around me.

I think that that is so, so insightful. You know, what I think of when you were talking about that is the business model that McDonald's has created worldwide about that consistency of the experience that they come into a franchise and they know what to expect. Exactly. And so this is the first time that I've heard that from any of my guests. So thank you for sharing that. That's really insightful.

Yeah, fascinating.

Question number 6: please tell me about your first job.

Yeah, so this is maybe my, you know, very a little different as well. I grew up in Alaska, which not a lot of people know about me, and my father was the president of the board of the Yukon Quest, which is a 1,000-mile sled dog race. Most people know the Iditarod. Yukon Quest is kind of its a sister race that is more endurance-based versus short sprints, which is the Iditarod. And I got to know the woman who ran the retail store really well. And when I was 9, she would allow me to come in and work on the weekends if my parents allowed it. And I did everything. I did all the sales jobs, right? We sold all sorts of trinkets from prints and t-shirts and keychains and all those things. And I got to man the register. I got to close the books with her at night and do the deposits to the bank and all of those kind of fundamental aspects of running a business. And I loved it. And so that was kind of my first job. And she would ask me when I could come in and could help. I think I was just a good extra pair of hands as well to have around on the weekends. So that was really my first foray into working.

Well, and I think that at 9 years old, getting an opportunity to do all those things, including the books, talk about a great experience for such a young person.

Yeah, I had— it was totally fascinating. I remember sitting there and running down the numbers and trying to understand how it worked, right? Because you're balancing a balance sheet where you have cash in the bank already, and that's confusing. You know, as a kid, you're like, this is the money I have, or we have, and that's what you see versus what was there, you know, what came in, what's being deposited, and what you have to keep for the next day, and how to, you know, manage your register as well, and she would make me count back change and all of those things, which I think are very fundamental to understanding how to run a business at the end of the day.

Yeah, absolutely. What a neat experience, especially that, you know, the fact that in Alaska there with a, with a unique kind of, uh, unique event. That's great. So Juliana, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?

You're welcome. This has been very fun and very fast, which I appreciate. They can absolutely find me on Twitter. Most of my handles are @JStancampiano. So if you can spell my last name, you can typically find me. And then you can also find Oxygen at oxygenexp.com on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., and our website.

Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.