Hello, It’s Julia. Welcome to my weekly newsletter exploring the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. Today’s article is about the power of storytelling. Be sure to scroll down to celebrate our 1st Paper Plate Award Winner. Nominate until Nov. 15th.
In This Edition
Stay Grounded in Truth: Communicators must prioritize truth and authenticity.
Know Your Product: Effective communicators need to understand the tech and business.
Find Great Leaders: Strong partnerships can unlock professional growth by investing in your success.
About Dani
Dani Dudeck is Instacart’s Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer, where she oversees the company’s communications, policy, and government affairs practice groups. Dudeck is a 20-year communications veteran and has worked with some of the fastest growing companies in the world at the intersection of entertainment, technology and pop-culture.
Dudeck currently serves on the Center for PR Board of Directors for The University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and is the executive sponsor of Women@, Instacart’s largest employee resource group that aims to connect, empower, and provide opportunities for women. Dudeck is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations and French language.
What sparked your path into your field?
I have been in communications for two decades at agencies like Hill & Knowlton and Edelman and fast-growing tech and media companies like News Corp, Zynga, and now Instacart for the last six and a half years. I caught the bug in college when I went to USC's Annenberg School of Communications. I’ve always loved the idea of being on the inside helping to tell a story, and I decided to pursue public relations. I chose to focus on technology because I’m all about the product. I’m an early adopter of it, whether it’s gaming which led me to Zynga or grocery which led me to Instacart.
What’s your favorite item to order on Instacart?
To me, slowing down and creating is grounding, so I cook and bake a lot with my kids. I love the science of what we’re making. My son is into making large batches of lemonade so we’re buying a lot of lemons and sugar. My daughter is into making slime so we’re buying shaving cream, foam not gel, and activator ingredients. It’s a lot of fun.
What is a value that drives you?
From a young age, I’ve always felt that one of the most important things we can do is stay grounded in truth. For me, it’s about saying what needs to be said even if it’s an unpopular point of view and doing what needs to be done in the best way possible. It’s important to set aside personalities and egos. If I’m in a meeting, and I think we need to change our opinion or our point of view, I believe it’s important that we need to speak up and do the hard work.
As you look back, is there a pivotal project that's shaped your career or inspired you?
Being in tech for 20 years, there are lots of twists and turns as well as highs and lows. A week in this industry can feel like a year in another. It is always about navigating change, staying ahead of disruption and maintaining a positive mindset.
Over the years, I’ve worked on a lot of transitions with leaders as a partner, welcoming them at the start or celebrating them on the way out. When Fidji Simo joined as CEO of Instacart, it was a really unique transition. I knew immediately it was a different type of partnership with great energy to both imagine and co-create. One of my most pivotal projects has been partnering with Fidji to help take Instacart to the next level after 10+ years of its founding.
It’s been wonderful to see Fidji at work and to work with her on taking Instacart public, articulating the strategy for the next 10 years for Instacart, and more personally, to have her unlock in me a professional growth I didn’t know was there. She was an even bigger believer of what I could contribute and what I could become professionally than even I was on my best day. Having someone advocate for you and see your path is a very unique thing. This led to me expanding my purview to oversee corporate affairs for Instacart, including policy and government affairs as well as comms. It was and continues to be a career defining moment for me.
What are the skills needed for great communicators?
I’ll share three top skills that are not the typical answer. First, communicators need to have the same level of fluency when it comes to the product roadmap and the technology as product managers. You need to be able to sequence and run your launch calendars across your team to recognize opportunities.
Communicators also need to keep a commercial point of view to strategically serve the business. It’s important to stay connected to the financial point of view.
Third, it’s important to evaluate people by both IQ and EQ as you're trying to inspire, retain and engage them. When we're interviewing candidates, we're talking about how the day, the week and the month feels to try to create a very clear picture of how we do the work to understand if there's a match — somebody wants to either do that work and is on a similar wavelength. One of the questions that I ask in background checks focuses on character. When talking with former employees, more senior peers and more junior teammates for candidates, I want to understand how someone metabolizes change, manages pressure and how they tick. It takes a different level to understand people's motivations.
What's a hack or habit that grounds you in life and work?
As a family, we love reading. I read a lot of news. My husband's obsessed with reading five newspapers a day. But most importantly we read to our kids and teach them the appreciation and value of stories. We have a little area in the house that is all their books and we do a book rotation in their rooms. We also read to our kids every night and have family reading hour.
If you could give a TED talk, what would the topic be?
There's a concept that we really embody at Instacart that I've loved getting close to and trying to build out — the notion that companies can and should be commercially minded and purpose driven. That’s why, for example, Instacart Health – one of our core business priorities centered on how we can work across the healthcare industry to drive healthier outcomes – isn’t a CSR or social impact initiative. It’s a part of our core business because we know we can do more good if it’s sustainable and successful – and leverages our products and platform to reach that scale.
Thank you to Brooke for introducing me to Dani. Thanks to you for reading The Switchboard. If you enjoyed this edition, feel free to share this article.
Congratulations to Lisa Blair Fratzke for receiving The Switchboard's Best Community Builder Paper Plate Award. She was nominated by Amy Brennan Learn about her impact:
"Lisa and I worked together for nearly 10 years at Disney. While we have both left to pursue other opportunities Lisa has not only made sure we have kept in touch professionally, she has worked to create a community of communicators to come together quarterly. Her Communications Think Tank is a community of around 15 people all of whom work in various fields within communication and we meet quarterly to share ideas, brainstorm, help solve issues others may be facing and talk about trends we are seeing within the field. Lisa is a great thought partner and an exceptional person to boot.”
Great read! As someone in HR and operations, I couldn't agree more with Dani Dudeck's insights on evaluating candidates based on EQ. It's a key indicator of future success and cultural fit.
Great read! As someone in HR and operations, I couldn't agree more with Dani Dudeck's insights on evaluating candidates based on EQ. It's a key indicator of future success and cultural fit.