Teamistry

Atlassian

How do we meet the challenges we face as organizations, countries, or even as a species? Whether we’re locked in fierce corporate competition or struggling with matters of life and death, one constant stands out: teams working together. And when teams, and teams of teams, focus on combining their unique abilities, expertise, and experience to embrace uncertainty, innovate, and tackle massive challenges? No problem is unsolvable. Teamistry is all about the chemistry that exists between groups of people who team up to achieve more than they ever thought possible. Join host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far as she delves into stories of teams working together to change their fate and even the course of history. read less
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Episodes

Part 5: Rising from the Ashes
23-01-2023
Part 5: Rising from the Ashes
In the late afternoon of July 25th, 2000, a Concorde crashed into a hotel near Charles de Gaulle airport. Air France flight 4590 was carrying 100 passengers, most of them tourists from Germany, along with a crew of nine. All perished, including four people on the ground. The incident shocked the globe, and halted Air France Concorde operations indefinitely. On this episode of Teamistry, host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far and lead producer Pedro Mendes sit down with the team of engineers who played a leading role in piecing together the evidence from the crash site, hoping to learn exactly what went wrong. We gain insights through cockpit recordings and an interview with a friend of the pilot who tells the story of the crash – and its aftermath – truthfully and respectfully. We also address a common myth that the crash spelled the end of Concorde.Guests in this episode:Jonathan Glancey, author of 'Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner'Michel Polacco, French aviation reporter, and author of a book on the Concorde in FrenchMike Hall, Chief Engineer for Concorde Support OperationsKatie John, Editor of Mach 2 magazineJohn Britton, Chief Engineer of the British Concorde fleetDudley Collard, member of the Aerodynamics Design team at ConcordeYves Gourinat, former Airbus employee during Concorde’s last decade, and currently an Aviation professor at the University of Toulouse.Ricky Bastin, Technical Liaison Engineer at Concorde.For more on this episode, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/rising-from-the-ashes.
Part 4: Becoming the Sexiest Flight on Earth
09-01-2023
Part 4: Becoming the Sexiest Flight on Earth
As teams of engineers work around the clock to keep the supersonic airplane safe and in the air, to the outside world Concorde has become a pop cultural icon. Princess Diana, Mick Jagger, Phil Collins, Joan Collins, Sting – these celebrities form an A-list of frequent flyers. The in-flight menu includes haute cuisine and expensive champaign; air travel aboard Concorde is a high-class, celebratory experience. To join this jet set in the air becomes anyone's most romantic travel dream, and taking a Concorde flight becomes a status symbol. The airplane is the toast of engineering circles and entertainment magazines alike. It inspires art and is even the protagonist in the movie "Airport ‘79," a thriller where a Concorde is chased by jet fighters. But in the real world, Concorde faces serious existential threats from political developments, regulations, and protests, and the only way to save it further limits who actually gets to experience the sexiest flight on Earth.Guests in this episode:Jonathan Glancey, author of 'Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner'Michel Polacco, French aviation reporter, and author of a book on the Concorde in FrenchMike Hall, Chief Engineer for Concorde Support OperationsKatie John, Editor of Mach 2 magazineJohn Britton, Chief Engineer of the British Concorde fleetYves Gourinat, former Airbus employee during Concorde’s last decade, and currently an Aviation professor at the University of Toulouse.Ricky Bastin, Technical Liaison Engineer at Concorde.For more on this episode and to see Katie John's painting referenced in this episode, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/becoming-the-sexiest-flight-on-earth
Part 2: Building the Fastest Passenger Jet Ever
05-12-2022
Part 2: Building the Fastest Passenger Jet Ever
In this episode, host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far and Lead Producer Pedro Mendes travel to the Musée Aeroscopia in Toulouse, France, where they stand spellbound marveling at a giant, glistening Air France Concorde. And they meet with nonagenarian Dudley Collard, a member of Concorde’s Aerodynamics Design team. When the recording crew mention the beauty of Concorde, engineer Collard quips that all he can see are the flaws. Indeed, the story of Concorde includes a seemingly never-ending set of problems faced by these international teams just to get a prototype in the air, and how they responded by developing new ways of working together. Also in episode two: the suspicion of espionage and the capture of spies, the Americans enter the supersonic race, and how Soviet Russia's desire to overtake Concorde’s dream of supersonic flight leads to a nightmare.Guests in this episode:Jonathan Glancey, author of 'Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner'Katie John, Editor of Mach 2 magazineNigel Ferris, a former clerk in the hangers where the British Concorde fleet was builtJohn Britton, Chief Engineer of the British Concorde fleetTed Talbot (through an actor’s voice), Chief Design Engineer at Concorde and author of the memoir ‘Concorde, A Designer's Life’Yves Gourinat, former Airbus employee during Concorde’s last decade and currently an Aviation professor at the University of Toulouse.Michel Polacco, French aviation reporter, and author of a book on the Concorde in FrenchRicky Bastin, Technical Liaison Engineer at Concorde.Dudley Collard, member of the Aerodynamics Design team at ConcordeFor more on this episode, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/building-the-fastest-passenger-jet-ever
Season 4: The Untold Story of Concorde
07-11-2022
Season 4: The Untold Story of Concorde
Picture this: A flight from New York to London where your co-passengers are Princess Diana, Mick Jagger, and Sting. On the menu: caviar canapés, lobster, and champagne. Your journey takes a little over three hours – half of the time it takes today. And that one flight puts you in the history books, because you just flew faster than the speed of sound.Welcome aboard for the new season of Teamistry, a podcast from Atlassian. This show is all about teamwork, and the incredible things teams can achieve through collaboration. In Season 4, we’ll tell you the story of Concorde: the world’s only supersonic passenger plane to have taken to the skies. Concorde is an engineering marvel, a pop cultural icon, and a source of controversy – including espionage. Above all, Concorde is a testament to what happens when teams go beyond borders, egos, and politics to make the impossible, possible.Join new host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far and lead producer Pedro Mendes as they travel to the U.K. and France to where Concorde was built, and talk with the original team of engineers as they reflect on their personal journeys, emotional highs and lows, and mind-numbing complications faced when turning a dream into reality.Episode 1 of ”Making an Impossible Airplane: The Untold Story of Concorde” takes off on November 21st. See you then!For more on the show, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/making-an-impossible-airplane-the-untold-story-of-concorde
Where There's a Will (Smith), There's a Way
16-08-2021
Where There's a Will (Smith), There's a Way
In March of 2020, as Will Smith is filming the biopic "King Richard," the emergence of COVID-19 abruptly shuts down all production. With unusual downtime and an urge to uplift his audience amid looming uncertainty, the actor meets with his production team at Westbrook Media to find a creative solution. What if they created a variety show with Will as the host – from his house? Smith had never hosted a variety show, and Westbrook Media had never done anything like it – not to mention during a pandemic, where the full production crew can't be on set, and those on location must follow strict safety protocols. But they take on the challenge, and in only a few weeks Snapchat offers a lucrative deal to launch the show as soon as possible. In the final episode of season 3, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite tells the story of the making of what became the hit Snapchat show: "Will From Home." A show developed in an entirely new way, where Will Smith's garage becomes the set and the people he interviews aren't with him but in their own homes and garages. Behind the scenes, it's the amazing work of a team of enterprising producers, writers, editors, and leaders who discovered during the making that many age-old industry practices need to be more inclusive and collaborative – even after the pandemic. Throughout the episode, Gabriela, a film director herself, shares her experiences of working in film production during this time and offers insights on teamwork lessons that are here to stay. You'll hear from Gila Jones, COO of Westbrook Inc., and Lukas Kaiser​ SVP and Head of Content. You'll also hear from Dawn Manning, Head of Physical Production, Ashley McCollum,​ SVP, Revenue & Strategy and Dana Z. Currier​ SVP, Operations.Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For a transcript of the episode and other extras, check out www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/where-theres-a-will-smith-theres-a-way. To listen to episodes from all three seasons of Teamistry, go to www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast
Campbell’s Finds the Soup for their Soul
02-08-2021
Campbell’s Finds the Soup for their Soul
The can is Americana itself; the product indistinguishable from the ordinary contents. It's part of a quintessential American meal, soothing the hunger and warming the souls of families for more than a hundred years. But in 2001, a toxic atmosphere hung over the workers at The Campbell Soup Company. Its headquarters stood isolated behind barbed fences in the run-down city of Camden, New Jersey. Inside, a culture of anxiety and distrust prevailed. Employees, uneasy about going outside the gates, ate lunch in the building – and got no discounts on soup. The dwindling morale, along with impending financial crisis, pushed the company to the brink: it had the lowest employee engagement of any Fortune 500 company. To save this American culinary and cultural icon from collapse, a new CEO enters the scene and embarks on an ambitious mission. He wants to replace and rejuvenate the leadership team, boost morale, and turn the company's fortunes around – in just three years. His strategies are both tough and tender: he lets hundreds of unfit senior managers go, and sends tens of thousands of handwritten letters to employees to recognize and praise their work. In the penultimate episode of Teamistry's third season, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite takes us behind the scenes to witness Campbell's rebirth. We hear from the former CEO who led this mission, Douglas Conant, who explains how he translated "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" into a step-by-step framework to rebound employee morale and confidence. We also hear from two of Doug's handpicked recruits who represented a new era of leadership at the company: Nancy Reardon, former Senior Vice President and Chief of HR and David White, former Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain.Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For a transcript of the episode and other extras, check out www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/campbells-finds-the-soup-for-their-soul
On a Mission for Equitable Internet in Detroit
19-07-2021
On a Mission for Equitable Internet in Detroit
When the pandemic struck, many pivoted their lives online – to connect with family, to work, to attend school. But many others, living in cutoff communities, like several neighborhoods in the city of Detroit, Michigan, where generations of systemic racism and poor infrastructure has left them largely isolated, this wasn't an option. Up to 40% of residents in these underserved areas have no internet at all, keeping them from the online world where everything had moved. But an enterprising team of "digital stewards" is changing this reality. In this episode of Teamistry, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite tells the story of the Detroit Equitable Internet Initiative – a network of formal workers and grassroots organizations that are bringing low-cost or free high-speed internet to families, one connection at a time. Their ability to win trust from the community and strategize on the ground – even during a pandemic – has emerged as a case study on how to mobilize a network to reach people in hard-to-reach places. You'll spend a day with Changa Parker and Kirk Teasley – the digital stewards – as they install WiFi door-to-door. You'll hear from Janice Gates, Director of Equitable Internet Initiative, and you'll hear from Nick Wilson, Network Manager at North End Woodward Community Coalition, as he leads the Digital Stewards on their daily missions. You'll also hear from Norma Heath, a community organizer, for whom reliable and affordable internet is no longer a distant dream thanks to this amazing team's work.Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For a transcript of the episode and other extras, check out www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/on-a-mission-for-equitable-internet-in-detroit
Reinventing Hot Wheels
05-07-2021
Reinventing Hot Wheels
In 2016, a research video played in a conference room of Mattel Inc. caused deep concern. It showed an eight-year-old playing with iconic Hot Wheels™ toy cars. "Imagine doing this for an hour," the boy said, as if it was torture. The moment confirmed what many Mattel employees already knew: kids were shifting from physical toys to digital games at increasingly younger ages. And it meant that Hot Wheels, the best-selling toy on the planet, was losing its primary audience to digital gadgets and putting the company's future in jeopardy. The moment galvanized a small group of forward-thinking employees and a risky decision was made: everyone's favorite toy car would ride the digital wave – instead of being totalled by it. The team navigated strong resistance – after all, how do you fix a toy that isn't broken? – to introduce Hot Wheels™ i-d. It's a never-before-seen product that blends the physical toy with a digital platform. And guess what? It crashes and burns. But rather than sinking the venerable company, it benefits Mattel, Inc. To find out how, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite talks with both the innovators who challenged the status quo and the decision-makers who had trouble stomaching the risks. Hear from Chris Down, chief design officer at Mattel, Inc., and Ron Friedman, former director of global marketing. Also hear from senior leaders Steve Totzke, Mattel's executive vice president, and Ricardo Briceno, vice president of franchise marketing.Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For a transcript and extras about this episode visit: www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/reinventing-hot-wheels.
Saving an Indian Cricket League from Itself
21-06-2021
Saving an Indian Cricket League from Itself
A cricket match played on April 18th 2008 between two city-based teams in India marks a historic moment in sports. It was the beginning of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a radically new tournament within the shortest format of cricket. Spearheaded by a flamboyant businessman, the IPL was to become for cricket what the National Football League (NFL) is to American football: an exciting prime-time entertainment for a new, global fanbase. And that worked – at first. Then the IPL's founder is thrown out, scandal rocks the league, and even diehard fans turn away from their beloved sport. In this episode, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite takes you back to the exciting origins of the league and behind the scenes to how the IPL rallies to save itself. Learn how a reformed league with a newly-appointed representative team restored transparency to the game, and how rival cricket boards became allies to stage a tournament during an even bigger crisis: the global pandemic. Listen to exciting analysis from Prakash Wakankar, a cricket commentator with the BBC, and hear from Simon Hughes, former English cricketer and co-author of "A New Innings," a book about the IPL. Also hear from "A New Innings" co-author Manoj Badale, lead owner of the IPL team Rajasthan Royals, and from Shane Watson, the former Aussie cricketer and founder of T20 Stars. Plus, Rehmatullah Sheikh, Teamistry's Story Producer and a massive cricket fan, joins in to talk about his experience with the IPL and the reforms that helped it bounce back from disgrace.Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For the transcript of this episode and extras, go to www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/saving-an-indian-cricket-league-from-itself