What Is Culture?

Season three premieres with a compilation of the last ten episodes, which aired from July to October 2019. Hear insights from Tangoe employees, psychology professors, and outsiders who have been affected by our show in this very eclectic episode. Also, don’t forget to share this episode with any of your friends and/or colleagues that you know have not yet listened to the podcast. This week’s show is very shareable: It’s short. It includes multiple guests and perspectives, and it paints a clear picture of what we hope to achieve with this show.

Part two of the season two finale of What is Culture? features Dr. Mary Ignagni, a Psychology Professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, and their Director of the Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology program. In this episode, you'll hear Mary discuss the role of an I/O Psychologist, national culture versus organizational culture, dominant culture versus subcultures, as well as some challenges that Tangoe may face on our journey to rediscovering our culture.

This week, you'll learn from Dr. Christopher J. Budnick, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Southern Connecticut State University, who earned a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Northern Illinois University. So, why did I choose to speak with an expert in this field? There are many reasons, and some of the answers will be revealed in this episode, but essentially, I thought it would be interesting to shed light on this particular field - to even know that it exists - to learn more about the complexities of the workplace and to hear a professional's thoughts on this podcast, our journey, and to offer advice and insight for me, for our listeners, and for Tangoe, as we work to discover our culture. Note: This episode is part one of two of our Season 2 finale.

This week, I'm excited to share a fun and candid conversation with five members of the Collections Team at Tangoe, who all work together from our Shelton, Connecticut office. We talk about their primary goals and responsibilities, their group dynamic, their perceptions of our culture, their thoughts about our leadership, as well as why the team recently decided to listen to this podcast together as a department.

Marina Deane is Tangoe's Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist helping bring the right people into our organization. Marina was born in England and began her career with us nearly six years ago, shortly after the British company ttMobiles was acquired by Tangoe. In 2017, Marina and her husband moved from England to the United States and have been living in New Hampshire ever since. Fortunately for us, Marina retained her position with Tangoe. Before joining our organization, for more than 20 years, Marina worked for recruitment agencies, which she says has shaped and influenced the way in which she approaches her current role. Marina is a true advocate for our candidates, ensuring they all undergo a very positive learning experience, whether they acquire a position with us or not.

This week, we learn Tara Rodriguez, Senior Business Analyst, a seasoned professional who’s been in the Technology Expense Management (TEM) industry more than 20 years. In fact, she’s one of Tangoe’s most tenured employees and has worked in nearly every sector of the business; she’s also experienced several mergers and acquisitions. Currently a remote employee based in our Parsippany, NJ office, Tara’s a Senior Business Analyst with two chief responsibilities: First, overseeing ongoing implementation activities for General Electric (GE); and second: Developing ways to build automation into the implementations group, as well as throughout all of Tangoe, to help simplify our processes.

This special episode features more than a dozen Tangoe employees from our Indianapolis office and was recorded during their Power Week (August 19-23), which was five consecutive days of activities and events that celebrate Tangoe's four core values: integrity, excellence, selflessness, and courage. It was also a week chock-full of activities and events that exemplify employee appreciation. This episode also includes portions of Tangoe's August Town Hall address (broadcasted via Instagram Live), which was delivered by Bob Irwin, our CEO.

Caroline Couer, Tangoe’s Project Director, has been with the organization since 2017, though she was part of Anatole going back to 2006. In this informal conversation, Caroline discusses what it was like for her to be a part of two acquisitions—once in 2016 and again in 2017. You will also get to hear how the Tangoe offices in Europe are working more closely together every day, and how they’re integrating more and more with their colleagues in America. We even talk books, cuisine, and how to maintain a healthy work-life-balance.

This week’s episode features Tangoe's new Chief Marketing Officer, Jill Ransome, who's been with the organization less than one month. In this candid conversation, Jill discusses the unusual interview process she experienced with Tangoe, her perceptions of our current culture, and some of her immediate plans of action for Marketing. Jill is the first C-level Tangoe employee, as well as our first new hire to be featured on the show.

In celebration of Friendship Day, this week’s episode of the podcast What is Culture? features the host's best friend, Dan DiVito, Director of Technology at Shelton, Connecticut public schools, who works in a building less than five minutes from Tangoe's Shelton, CT office. In this special episode, Dan discusses how he's been influenced by this podcast, the importance of empathy, as well as his plans to launch his own podcast, which is aimed at tech professionals who work in education.

Kevin Redmond, Tangoe's Product Manager, educates us a bit about retrospective meetings in the Agile & software development world, how they translate directly to any field, and how they can affect company culture. Kevin is a close follower of this podcast; in fact, he and his direct manager use every episode as a learning opportunity and discuss them together each week. Plus, Kevin is a wealth of knowledge, as he holds several certifications from the Project Management Institute and the Scrum Alliance. He’s also an adjunct professor at Union University, where he's currently teaching Information Systems in the Workplace.

Nurturing a positive workplace culture is a constant effort, hence the title of this week’s episode. Sam Araujo, Tangoe’s Internal Communications Specialist, discusses the origin of this podcast, some important ongoing projects and initiatives currently on her plate, the goals of the culture committees, and where she hopes to see our global culture progress in the next year. As you listen to the interview, pay attention to all of the initiatives that Sam is either leading or contributing; it will make you wonder if she ever sleeps!

This week's show is a compilation of the last ten episodes and contains guests from both season one and season two: Tangoe employees, vendors, and clients - from April to July. Plus, this episode has been arranged in a way where you can follow along without having previously listened to the original interviews. Though you should.

Julie Davis, Team Lead for Telecom Expense Management at KeyBank, discusses the culture at her organization, as well as her perception of ours here at Tangoe. We also talk about some initiatives that are taking place at KeyBank to foster a more positive culture, which are especially impressive.

Emily Zhao, who works from our Kunshan, China location, began her career at Tangoe as an Invoice Processor. Six months into the role, she sought training and gained the skills necessary to lead the invoice processing team, helping initiate an invoice acquisition and an invoice auditing team. This episode reminds us that if you want to evolve and progress at Tangoe - or anywhere for that matter - there is an opportunity to do so, as long as you share a similar desire and drive that exists within Emily.

Dave Hansen, Operating Executive at Marlin Equity Partners & Executive Chairman of Tangoe, discusses what it was like to publicly announce the acquisition of Tangoe in 2017, why he feels Bob Irwin was and is the perfect CEO for the organization, how he feels we’ve handled the acquisition of MOBI, where he sees Tangoe in the next five years, and why he believes that culture trumps strategy.

Cristiana Salaoru, Business Process Outsourcing Manager in Tangoe's Bucharest, Romania location, has been with the organization nearly seven years, including her time with Asentinel, before the acquisition. This interview is a reminder that no matter where our coworkers sit, all we need to do is take the time to learn more about them as a person, which will in turn, improve the culture, as well as our professional, working relationships.

It’s here! The season two premiere! Of course, the goal of this show is still to rediscover Tangoe’s culture. But in season two, we plan to extend beyond only interviewing our employees to include our clients, vendors, and more. This week’s guest is Courtney Ebo, Senior Account Executive at Marriott International. She and I recorded together during day one of Tangoe LIVE 2019. Courtney, a Florida State graduate and a long-time Californian, had plenty to share regarding culture.

This week’s episode, our season one finale, is a look back at Tangoe LIVE 2019, our annual user conference, which took place just days ago - May 19-22. Although this installment of What is Culture? is mostly Rocco’s reflections of Tangoe LIVE 2019, it also includes a short conversation with the incredible Katie Ferrante-Greene, our Director of Customer Programs, who headed up the gigantic event. The episode also contains a preview of what to expect in Season 2.

In this candid interview, Sarah Curtis, Director of Sales Enablement, discusses some major challenges that Tangoe's sales organization faces and what she and leadership are doing to remove any obstacles. She also discusses how every Tangoe employee plays a part in the sales journey of our clients — how everyone who does their job with excellence is helping Tangoe retain, acquire, and delight our customers. We also learn what has sparked a fundamental shift in the company culture.