🥂Looking Back at 2024: Year In Review

Thank you for being a part of this community + Vote for What's Next

☃️ Hello. It’s Julia, Founder of The Switchboard. Thank you for being a community member. It’s my holiday wish to support more people with stories, interviews and best practices. This is only possible because of your kindness. If there’s an article that’s helped you, would you share it with a friend, post on LinkedIn or simply reply to let me know? Happy Holidays! ☃️

As 2024 wraps up, I’m toasting it as the year of children's literature, menus and values. It was also the year of friendship, vacation and story banks. Looking back, I started The Switchboard as my professional development project in 2021 and in many ways it remains that, except I share it publicly with y’all. I hope in some way, one edition has sparked an idea, helped you with a project or simply lifted your spirits.

What Switchboard edition resonated with you this year? Let me know, I love hearing from this community. Reply to this email, direct message me or add a comment below.

To you, the community, thank you for being a subscriber and championing the importance of the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. To the leaders I’ve featured and who have shared quotes, I’m grateful to you for sharing your time with me to talk career and life. I’ve learned so much from these conversations. Take a look at 2023, 2022 or 2021. Here’s my review of 2024.

Best Practices

My posts focused on creative and innovative ways to foster positive relationships, tell stories and build community.

• 💌 Buy Yourself a Greeting Card

• 🏦 Start an Executive Story Bank

• 🖼️ The Power of The Herman Miller Picnic Poster

• 🌮 Create a Culture Menu at Work

• 📸 Virtual Background Ideas You Never Knew You Needed

• 🦋 Reading Rainbow at Work: The Transformative Power of Stories

• 🌽 The Friendsgiving Edition: Why Work Friends Matter

Learnings

I shared personal and professional stories to foster leadership, growth and encouragement, drawing from literature, life lessons and sports to name a few.

• 🏔️ 5 Pivotal Projects for Profound Impact

• 📰 24 Inspiring Quotes from Women Leaders

• 🍪 Lessons from "The Smart Cookie": A Recipe for Resilience from 11 Friends

• 🧸 What Children's Literature Teaches us about Communications and Community

• 🎓 Top 5 Sparks To Career Paths

• 🔒 Unlocking Communications Lessons from Investor’s Business Daily

• 📚 Summer Book Recommendations

• 🧑‍🎤 How Anime Transformed my Summer Job Experience: 10 Lessons Learned

• 🥇The Olympic Edition: 5 Sports Lessons

• ♥️ 7 Resources for Resilience at Work

• 🇨🇭Beyond the Mountains: 8 Unexpected Lessons from My Swiss Vacation

• 🎁 7 Values to Reflect on this Holiday Season

Interviews

I talked to communicators, culture builders, a top-notch recruiter, leadership coaches, founders, operators and authors. Here’s each conversation:

• 📝 Steven Rogelberg: Professor, Author and Meeting Expert

• 📚 Gorick Ng: Author of "The Unspoken Rules" and Career Advisor

• 🎨 Zofia Ciechowska: VP, Strategy & Operations at Etsy

• 🎤 Lorraine K. Lee: Speaker, Trainer and Founder

• 🇯🇵 Blythe Yee: VP, Employee Communications and Engagement at Freshworks

• 🌝 AJ Thomas: Former Chaos Pilot and Global Head of Talent Experience, X the moonshot factory

• 🪜 Jason Yoong: Operating Partner at Level Up with Ethan Evans

• 💫 Brooke Kruger: Communications Recruiter and Founder of KC Partners

• 🧭 Katia Verresen: Leadership Coach and Founder of Foundations of Inner Power

• 📚 Guinevere de la Mare and Laura Gluhanich: Silent Book Club Co-Founders

• 🌭 Will Guidara: Restaurateur, Author of Unreasonable Hospitality

• 🏥 Claudia Ball: VP, Employee Communications & Engagement, GoodRx

• 🚀 Sylvia Acevedo: CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA (2016 to 2020)

• 🍎 Carmen Boon: VP, Public and External Affairs Food Bank for New York City

• 🛒 Dani Dudeck: Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer, Instacart

• ⚽ Jennifer Levine: VP, PR and Communications at National Women's Soccer League

The Switchboard Exchange

I piloted a new edition summarizing inspiring content posted by people across LinkedIn with three special publications here and on LinkedIn: 1, 2 and 3.

🍽️ The Paper Plate Awards

I recognized 8 people for being exceptional at work with a classic award inspired by my camp experience. Thank you to those who nominated them and spread the word.

1. Best Communicator Katrina Dene

2. Best Community Builder Lisa Blair Fratzke

3. Best Community Builder Rachel Stacy

4. Most Creative Jess Clark

5. Best Communicator Joanna Soucy

6. Best Community Builder Amanda Griffith

7. Most Welcoming Jaime Pfeffer

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What’s Next?

Let me know how you’d like to engage with The Switchboard in 2025. The newsletter will continue. I’m exploring new potential directions. Vote below within the week.

☃️ I’m grateful you’re here. It’s my holiday wish to support more people with stories, interviews and best practices with The Switchboard, and it’s only possible because of your kindness that I can reach others. I have a year-end ask — if you appreciate The Switchboard, would you share it with a friend or post your favorite edition on LinkedIn? Thank you and Happy Holidays. ❄️