MN Tech Mag | Spring/Summer 2020

MN Tech Mag is a Concord publication devoted to improving the relationship between business and technology, starting our home state of Minnesota.

A C O N C O R D P U B L I C AT I O N

WORK CULTURE IN THE NEW ABNORMAL Pg. 16

BRAIN RESISTING CHANGE Pg. 26

NAVIGATING THROUGH CHANGE

DAVE DOHERTY COO | DIGI -KEY Pg. 10

JULY 2020 | ISSUE 1

PUBLISHER Stu Nutting

PHOTOGRAPHY Joe Lemke

EDITOR IN CHIEF Natalie Sheffield

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Doherty Laura Woodward Mike Mathews Natalie Sheffield

DESIGN Brea Marsh Steve Bubb

Paula Winkler Peter Haugen Rene’ Coult-Calendine Stu Nutting

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What’s INSIDE? INSIGHTS & FEATURES 4

BRAIN RESISTING CHANGE Why do our brains fight so fiercely against change? We learn how to rewire our thinking and adapt to new habits. By: Paula Winkler & Laura Woodward PHILANTHROPY RULES! CONCORD FOUNDATION Concord’s nonprofit organization focuses on relationship-based giving. THE TOP 12 A round-up of Minnesota-based businesses large and small making a difference in response to COVID-19. RELEVANT HEALTH ROUNDTABLE Q&A: RENE’-COULT CALENDINE Influencing care and changing Minnesota’s healthcare landscape, M Health Fairview’s VP of Business, Market, & Product Development shares her story.

EDITOR’S NOTE The mission of MN Tech Mag, plus how we got here. UPCOMING EVENTS A curated list of virtual and nationwide events. BY THE NUMBERS Disruption takes many forms. We pulled stats on major moments over the decades. TRENDING TECHNOLOGY Deluxe: A Transformation for the Ages! Deluxe Corporation turned a check printing business into a digital powerhouse through their technology transformation. By: Mike Mathews WORK CULTURE IN THE NEW ABNORMAL How do we build - and differentiate - culture when employees stop walking in

34 TWIN CITIES SUPPORT GUIDE In the wake of difficult times across our state, there are many individuals doing good. Here’s a list of resources to help rebuild the local community.

the front door? By: Stu Nutting

QUIPS & QUOTES How are Minnesotans breaking free from the birdcage this summer?

COVER STORY NAVIGATING THROUGH CHANGE With a penchant for continuous improvement and a strong conviction that teams drive success, Digi-Key’s President & COO Dave Doherty is leading the business through disruption and thriving.

MN Tech Mag | 03

Editor’s NOTE

For the first time in Concord’s 17-year history, we published a magazine. This, the inaugural issue, is coming at a time when everyone uses words like ‘unprecedented,’ ‘challenging,’ and ‘difficult’ to describe the circumstances. I’m pleased to have made it three sentences before mentioning COVID-19. On top of a pandemic, our state is contending with a tragic death and subsequent destruction in Minneapolis (Twin Cities Support Guide, page 34). Undoubtedly, everyone’s life has been upended in some way. In rapid fashion, we changed our work patterns, how and where we shop, our interactions with friends and family, and, well, just about everything else. It’s timely, then, that the theme of this issue is disruption. Throughout the course of business history, disruption has taken many forms. Sometimes it’s a new technology changing the landscape for everyone, a startup challenging old ways of thinking, or a global pandemic forcing new habits. Check out page 08 for a brief selection of disruptors throughout the years. We are taking a closer look at the role disruption plays on an individual (Brain Resisting Change, page 26) and corporate (Work Culture in the New Abnormal, page 16) level. We believe leaders, regardless of rank, are the linchpin of an organization’s successful navigation through change. Our featured interview with Dave Doherty, President & COO of Digi-Key, showcases the importance of leaning into your values during times of change and relying on a collaborative path with your team to move forward. So, how did we get here? It’s quite a short story. Back when it was permissible to eat in public around other humans, Stu Nutting, Concord’s co-founder, and I had lunch at Lions Tap, a Minnesota establishment serving (arguably) the best burgers in town. He suggested we start a magazine. I thought, why not? Now, here we are. Though the idea formed quickly, the implementation has been thoughtful. We’re here to highlight the importance of relationships in business and technology. In fact, our mission is to help break down barriers and encourage real communication by sharing the groundbreaking stories in our local, resilient, and proud Minnesota community.

Thank you for reading – we hope you find some encouragement in these pages. Better times are ahead.

Natalie Sheffield Director of Marketing, Concord Editor in Chief, MN Tech Mag

04 | Editor’s Note

Dreamforce

Upcoming EVENTS

Black Hat USA

Relevant Health Roundtable

July 14-16 | Digital Summit - VIRTUAL Explore sessions from Bit.ly, LinkedIn, and National Geographic covering topics in strategy, mobile, video, social media, email, content marketing, UX design, and SEO.

September

October

5-8 | Interop - VIRTUAL Interop is where IT professionals unite, connect, and learn some of today’s newest IT strategies, and is one of the few remaining independent events for networking and IT pros. 26-28 | Cyber Security Summit Minneapolis Convention Center | Minneapolis, MN Learn how to combine industry, government and academic trends to improve the state of cyber security. 9-12 | Dreamforce - VIRTUAL Dreamforce encompasses the entire SalesForce community by bringing together thought leaders, industry pioneers, and thousands of your peers. November

22-24 | DevOps World - VIRTUAL Connect with thought leaders, practitioners, and contributors providing opportunities to learn, explore, network, and transform the future of software delivery 22-23 | TIBCO NOW - VIRTUAL Learn how to make innovation more predictable and repeatable so you can deliver fresh, compelling customer experiences and optimize your company’s operations using the latest technology trends. 25 | Relevant Health Roundtable Minneapolis, MN The premier healthcare discussion group in the Midwest will gather to discuss the cost of care dilemma.

August

1-6 | Black Hat USA - VIRTUAL The world’s leading information security event, providing attendees with the very latest in research, development, and trends. 17-19 | CIO 100 Symposium & Awards Ceremony Rancho Palos Verdes, CA Network with the top leaders in IT, forge new partnerships, and prepare to be inspired.

Hear from RHR Advisory Committee Member Rene’ Coult- Calendine on Page 21.

17-19 | ThoughtSpot Beyond The Wynn | Las Vegas, NV

Get ready for unparalleled discovery, learning, and networking with the most innovative minds in modern AI & data analytics.

*All dates and locations are subject to change.

Upcoming Events | 05

Deluxe’s First Factory

TRENDING TECHNOLOGY

DELUXE: A TRANSFORMATION FOR THE AGES! TURNING A 100-YEAR-OLD LEGACY CHECK PRINTER INTO A DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY POWERHOUSE. By. Mike Mathews

MIKE MATHEWS IS THE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER AT DELUXE, A ROLE HE HAS HELD SINCE MAY 2013. AS THE 2019 TWIN CITIES CIO OF THE YEAR GLOBAL ORBIE WINNER, MIKE’S APPLIED USE OF TECHNOLOGY ENRICHES THE LIVES OF DELUXE CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES. HERE HE SHARES HIS STORY OF TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION.

MITIGATE RISK WITH TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT

When the world changed in March of 2020, I found myself again turning to technology to solve a problem I never thought our company would face. In 1915, W.R. Hotchkiss, founder of Deluxe, invented the checkbook, a product that fundamentally changed commerce and the payment landscape. Over the next 105 years, Deluxe remained a leader in the check and business form printing space, evolving and innovating alongside our customers to grow into a $2 billion publicly-traded company. Our innovation included expansion into web hosting and development, payroll services, business incorporation, payment processing, promotional products, cloud services, and so much more. When COVID-19 impacted the world, Deluxe experienced one of our most profitable quarters to date and signed four of the top ten deals in our company’s history. With more than 4.5 million small business customers and over 4,000 financial institution customers, we felt poised for even greater growth.

To keep up with our growth trajectory, we improved our inbound call centers and acquired payment processing companies around the US and Canada. With 6,500 employees in more than 80 locations, we were a very office-based and physical plant-located company. However, when we needed to keep our staff safe and send people to work from home, our investment in technology paid off. Within three-and-a-half weeks, we moved more than 1,100 workers previously designed to be in an office setting to work from home. We improved our server capacity and invested in secure systems to ensure we kept our client data safe. We instituted virtual training and, thanks to an earlier investment in Microsoft Teams, we had the bandwidth and capacity to conduct business as usual across our company. Now, as the economy begins to slowly rebound, more than two- thirds of our workforce can work from home, creating social distance space for our team members still at essential sites.

06 | Trending Technology

THE PURPOSE OF OUR “6 FLAGS” TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY At Deluxe, our IT organization exists to serve our Chief Revenue Officer and our four division presidents – Payments, Cloud Solutions, Promotional Solutions, and Checks. With our technology, we create pathways for frictionless revenue, create scale and leverage for the enterprise, and continuously drive out costs creating savings and efficiencies that fuel future investment. We enable and drive innovation, collaboration, and differentiation in the solutions we offer and the markets we serve. It’s as simple as that. To truly get our transformation right, we identified six major platforms we believe are necessary for our success, and once installed, enable Deluxe to grow organically and profitably:

MICROSOFT: OUR COLLABORATION ENGINE WORKDAY: OUR PEOPLE ENGINE CLOUDERA: OUR DATA ENGINE SALESFORCE: OUR EXECUTION ENGINE SAP S4/HANA: OUR FINANCIAL ENGINE ANAPLAN: OUR PLANNING ENGINE

Mike Mathews

CONTINUED... I look back now on what we accomplished, and none of it could have been done if we hadn’t already been deep into the technological transformation of Deluxe, as enabled by our President and CEO Barry McCarthy and the backing of our board of directors. When McCarthy arrived in November 2018, he realized we needed one view of our customers and streamlined financial reporting. Our sales teams weren’t talking to each other, some of our customers didn’t know our full product base, and we were unable to cross-sell to our full ability. In the words of Barry McCarthy, “ We needed to think and act like a tech company. ” This was music to my ears. To realize this transformation, we decided to invest nearly $120 million over two years to deliver enterprise platforms, modernize our technology stacks, andbuildplatforms to support sales-driven, organic growth. We coined this body of work “6 Flags,” and it is the central theme of Deluxe’s technology strategy.

Each of these six platforms is at a different stage of implementation and plays a critical role in our transformation. As I mentioned earlier, Microsoft Teams has been an invaluable tool during this time, allowing seamless communication across the company and with clients and prospects. Salesforce has been a critical partner, giving Deluxe a single view of enterprise customers by moving more than six million data records to one platform. These technologies are fundamental to our operations and touch nearly every area of Deluxe, including financial planning and reporting, inventory and resource management, customer management, and human resources. We added technology that provides enterprise-wide communication and collaboration capabilities non-existent to Deluxe previously. Most importantly, these new technologies ultimately provide us with capabilities to better know and understand our customer’s needs, allowing us to create products and solutions that leverage our data and resources through our new innovation labs. Time and time again, technology has proven to be the answer to many challenges for Deluxe. While we may not always be able to predict what’s coming next, I’m confident our investment in technology will carry us through our next phase of growth and innovation.

About Deluxe Headquartered in Shoreview, Minnesota, Deluxe transformed from “the check company” into a partner that can deepen customer relationships through trusted, technology- enabled solutions. From web marketing to payroll services and logo design to remote deposit capture, Deluxe powers commerce.

Trending Technology | 07

BY THE NUMBERS

DISRUPTION Through the Years

Disruption comes in different shapes and sizes. From revolutionary products and ways of doing business to startups changing the game, here are 12 noteworthy disruptions over the last few decades.

1950 Frank McNamara, founder of Diners Club Card, charges dinner at Major’s Cabin Grill in New York - the first transaction made with a credit card.

$ 666 66 In 1976, the Apple I

Remember VHS tapes? So do we...and we kind of miss them!

computer goes on sale for a retail price of $666.66.

08 | By The Numbers

$ 0 Cost of the open source Linux

operating system, released in 1991 by Finnish engineer Linus Torvalds.

Linux The Penguin

2016 VHS tapes are finally dead. The last ever VCR was made in July of 2016.

1995 The year Amazon was invented and would go on to become one of the most valuable companies in the world.

$ 148 MILLION Revenue Amazon.com reached in 1997, a significant jump from $16 million in 1996.

BILLION 3.5

Representing

MILLION 3 . 5

of the world’s population. 45 %

Number of people

who have a smartphone as of 2019.

SECONDS 18

One year after being launched, Google was answering 3.5 million search queries daily.

Length of the clip YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim

uploaded to the site for the first time. He was sharing a clip of his visit to the San Diego Zoo.

MILLION Zoom added 2.22 million monthly active users in 2020, exceeding the 1.99 million users from all of 2019. 2 . 2 ACTIVE USERS

DAYS

2010 The year Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy and closed all but one store.

Time it took to sell one million iPhones after the original release on June 29, 2007.

By The Numbers | 09

[ NAVIGATING THROUGH

CHANGE ]

DAVE DOHERTY President & COO Digi-Key Located in a quaint town in northwestern Minnesota, one of the nation’s largest electronic components distributors is quietly transforming an industry. Leading the charge is Digi-Key’s President and COO, Dave Doherty. We caught up with him to hear how he connects the dots between business and technology to keep the business thriving.

Where did you grow up? I grew up in a suburb of Boston, but my mom was from a small town in Wisconsin, which gave me a great appreciation of the Midwest. What was your very first job? After graduating from mowing lawns and shoveling snow in my neighborhood, my first job was cleaning the bleachers of a racetrack. That track was subsequently torn down and is on the current site of Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. What did you study in college? I always enjoyed math and science, leading me to a BSEE degree at Worcester Polytech in Worcester, MA. A few years into my career, I went back to school in an evening program to earn an MBA at Babson College in Wellesley, MA.

Navigating Through Change | 11

What are your priorities over the next 1 – 3 years? We have three main priorities over the next few years: 1) Continue our mission of One Digi-Key, globally, where we maintain and export the powerful values that formed the company while we learn and adapt from the experiences of new team members around the world. 2) Digital acceleration: Leveraging our roots of being a digital innovator and evolving at the pace required by our customers. 3) Create a passion for continuous improvement; what was a differentiator yesterday will be simply the cost of entry tomorrow. All of these things must happen as we embrace an outside perspective, in line with understanding our customers emerging needs. What lessons have you learned in your current role? Virtually every company will tell you that people make the difference; yet their policies express everything but that sentiment. Being headquartered in a small community, we try to continue to feel small, even as we grow bigger. This intimacy has created a culture for ‘having each other’s back’. Building a culture on a foundation of trust, open communication and honesty is powerful. We learned that asking for help goes a lot further than trying to mandate it. Hire great people, let them delight customers, and customers will fuel the growth that allows this cycle to be repeated. Don’t measure financial metrics such as return on working capital (ROWC) or inventory turns as much as you measure customer- facing service metrics such as in-stock rate and same-day ship. If you take care of the customer, the financials will follow.

What was your career path like after graduating?

My first position was as a manufacturing engineer with Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) in Marlboro, MA. I realized that I enjoyed work at the component level and became a component engineer, assisting internal programs with component selection and performing vendor qualifications on devices selected. I left DEC to become a field application engineer with Toshiba and later went into sales management, supporting DEC as one of Toshiba’s four global accounts. I ultimately relocated to Long Island, NY to join Arrow Electronics where over a 13-year period I held various positions ranging from leading their North American application engineering team to becoming Vice President of semiconductor products.

I was always fascinated with Digi-Key and the reputation they held of having outstanding customer service and being easy to do business with for both suppliers and customers.

How did you get your start at Digi-Key?

I was always fascinated with Digi-Key and the reputation they held of having outstanding customer service and being easy to do business with for both suppliers and customers. I met Mark Larson at an industry function, and we spent an evening getting to know each other personally; exchanging philosophies and life stories. When the opportunity to join the company arose in late 2007, I discussed it with my wife and oldest child at the time (a son who was entering his junior year in high school) and we made a family decision to leave Denver and relocate north.

12 | Navigating Through Change

Digi-Key Headquarters | Thief River Falls, MN

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

Are there any factors that helped make the communication between the two groups successful? Agile teams with frequent communication at many levels; including open town hall meetings between the team. What advice would you share with companies who struggle in getting the business and IT to properly communicate? The old adage: walk a mile in my shoes. Move high- potential IT leaders to serve in business roles for specific assignments and conversely, have business folks assume product leader roles on the agile teams. Ask the teams to tackle situations together and jointly report back recommendations, with associated risks and alternatives.

Across your career, how have you seen the relationship between business & technology progress? To me it’s really two-fold. Technology is most powerful when it’s solving a business need or opportunity. Sometimes it’s the business need that spawns a new technology and sometimes it’s a technology that spawns new business opportunities. Regardless of which comes first, the environment is created by listening to customers. Strong analytics allow that listening to happen, even if it’s in absence of traditional direct to customer contact. You can’t be afraid to reinvent what you do. Holding a competitive advantage in a process or model that is not where your customers are headed is useless. How would you describe the relationship between the business and IT at Digi-Key? As a digital company, IT is as key an element of our business as any other functional area. We migrated to an agile methodology a number of years ago which has driven an even tighter coupling between IT and our Sales, Marketing, and Operations areas.

Navigating Through Change | 13

GUIDANCE & THE TIMES AHEAD

Where do you see the distribution industry moving in the next several years? While some segments of our industry continue to consolidate to leverage scale, particularly in technologies that are becoming commoditized, many others will remain fragmented to keep up with the opportunities presented in the face of acceleration technology enablement. Distribution continues to be that needed bridge between customer needs and supplier technology solutions. As distributors become larger, they can also serve as that financial buffer, buying in economic order quantities to facilitate the needs of manufacturers while offering flexible ordering, payment terms and supply chain solutions. However, all of that will need to migrate to state-of-the-art digital platforms and mediums to deliver these solutions. Speed is still king and the speed of digital is daunting for most. What advice would you give to someone managing through times of change? In times of uncertainty or change, turn to your values and lean into them even more. As a senior leader, avoid the mistake of thinking you are an island and that you must come up with solutions on your own. Leverage your team; outline the realities (and identify both the risks and opportunities that change inevitably creates), commit to a path, and be vigilant in your execution, with appropriate feedback mechanisms that validate the appropriateness of your assumptions and effectiveness of your execution.

Digi-Key Leadership Retreat (From L to R): Ramesh Babu, Chris Lauer, Shane Zutz, Brian Robinson, Dave Doherty, Jim Ricciardelli Teri Ivaniszyn, Linda Johnson, & Yvonne Ellison-Sandler

Where do you typically turn for advice on professional matters? My direct and extended reports, interfacing with folks on the floor (closest to the action), active participation with our industry association, professional coaching sessions from an external resource and lastly, some quiet time to reflect on the feedback from all of these sources. What is the number one takeaway from your career thus far? Discerning how to be an effective team member, by recognizing that sometimes the team needs you as a leader, and sometimes it’s best to defer to someone else to lead. More is accomplished by effective, high performing teams rather than groups of individuals. Also, have a passion for whatever you are doing, keep a learner’s mindset and have fun! I guess that’s 4?!

About Digi-Key Electronics Headquartered in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Digi-Key is one of the fastest growing distributors of electronic components in the world. Founded in 1972, Digi-Key was a pioneer in the mail-order catalog business and a key resource for design engineers. Today Digi-Key offers the world’s largest selection of electronic components in stock and available for immediate shipment. From prototype to production, they fuel innovation all over the world.

14 | Navigating Through Change

To all essential workers...

THANK YOU.

IN THIS TOGETHER

MN Tech Mag | 15

Work Culture In the New Abnormal

How about those articles where they pose a bunch of probing questions and don’t give you any answers? Lame, isn’t it? Well, I’m about to do the same thing. In my opinion, though, I have a good excuse – we all were slapped across the face with a pandemic over three long months ago and are in the midst of navigating circumstances the living generations of our world have never experienced. What will change, what will stay the same? There’s one area I believe will be a new challenge for almost all organizations looking to survive and grow in this “new abnormal,” as I like to call it. In a word: Culture . WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE NO LONGER CONGREGATING IN THE OFFICE? IT’S TIME TO PRIORITIZE CULTURE IN THE NEWWORLD ORDER. By: Stu Nutting Concord Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer

Now, if you don’t believe people are the reason work gets done, you can stop reading because then culture really doesn’t matter.

16 | Work Culture In The New Abnormal

CULTURE IN THE ‘OLD’ WORLD

So, what if we no longer walk through the front door? How will your organization create a metaphorical “home base”? Let me throw out a couple of considerations as you’re building your culture in the new world order.

I arrived at the office mid-morning on a Friday in March, before the stay-at-home order was ever enacted. As I walked through the lobby, I noticed people gathering, talking, and laughing in the common area, as they often do. Some were collaborating on projects, hovered over laptops, others were just enjoying a loaf of banana bread that one of the employees hadmade with their own hands. I saw people warming up breakfast in the microwave and putting their lunch in the community fridge, wondering if it was too early to fire up the popcorn machine (it’s never too early). I saw three of our conference rooms full of people writing on whiteboards, passing the dry erase marker back and forth, presenting an outline agenda

TIP #1: START SMALL

We think one of the secrets is to start small. If you try managing throughgenericmass communication, you’llmiss it. Corporate communication is often sterile and doesn’t make any of us feel like we’re really part of something

special. For an illustration, consider those universitieswhere the lecture was held in an auditorium with 200+ students and then the next class was 15 students gathered in a small classroom, facing each other and engaging in dialogue guided by the professor. Maybe you were nodding off from Thirsty Thursday in either case. However,

to power through for the next hour. In the not so distant past, our atrium was full of people in the office for an all-company “town hall” meeting. As part of that event, we announced our core value shout-outs to celebrate those employees who exemplified one of our five core values over the last quarter.

Again, if we’re trying to differentiate, just having small ‘work groups’ doesn’t cut it. We have to find ways for people to really connect and build relationships.

you can’t argue the fact that building relationships in those smaller classroom settings was a whole lot easier. Likewise, with your company’s culture initiatives, start small. Encourage groups to gather. Not just work groups, but shared interest groups, too. Perhaps use surveys to understand the interests within your organizational walls. Put all of those fancy collaboration tools to good use and help your people connect on a more meaningful level than their morning scrum meeting. Again, if we’re trying to differentiate, just having small ‘work groups’ doesn’t cut it. We have to find ways for people to really connect and build relationships.

With each of the five award recipients announced, there was clapping, whistling, hootin’ and hollerin’. I could hear every sound because no one was on MUTE. That is culture. That is corporate identity. At Concord, we are proud of ours and have refined it over the last 17 years. Yet, we are faced with a new challenge, like many of you, and are spending considerable time deciphering how to maintain this culture in a world that is becoming increasingly more distant. We can and will do it, but it takes some thought, planning, and desire. It’s easy in a very connected world to take for granted those things that put your company’s culture on the map. Now is the time we will all be reminded that a company’s identity is a primary reason people continue to walk through the front door. I mean, the paycheck is nice, too.

Stu Nutting

Work Culture In The New Abnormal | 17

TIP #2: EMPLOY THE RIGHT LIEUTENANTS & LEAD BY EXAMPLE

So maybe, instead, you or your lieutenant take advantage of those first four minutes and get the group loosened up and ask a fun question to start some chatter before diving into the agenda. If you’ve been on a call where everyone was sitting silently on mute waiting for the “late party” to join, we can all admit it’s awkward. We can and should do better than the awkward silence. Little things, but they add up to culture…and they start from the top.

As a leader, make sure you have the right lieutenants to ‘lead from a distance.’ They know how to engage with people, communicate effectively, and balance the need for humor while getting tasks done. In practice, to me, the lieutenants see and do the little things. For example, your virtual Teams meeting starts at 2:00 pm, and people are trickling in until 2:04pm. Yes, there’s the “be prompt, ‘cause everyone’s time is valuable” mentality, but perhaps the latecomer was trying to solve a big problem for a customer.

Concord’s Culture in Motion

You can talk all the generational lingo you want, but one thing is certain – people value and want to be part of a good culture. It’s a collective effort to build and maintain culture – leaders can help facilitate, but the entire organization needs to take part to make it stick. At Concord, we’re working hard to make sure our culture maintains its differentiation. I’m sure we’ll drop the ball occasionally, but we’ll pick it back up. I encourage you to do the same. Have a blessed and adventurous summer. There’s lots to see in the world that won’t put you or others at risk. At least not at risk from catching a virus, that is. No matter how big or small your army, if you want to keep the soldiers fighting for you, you’d better get them connected and figure out what makes them tick.

TIP #3: COLLECT & REVIEW YOUR DATA

Now, for some of you big, global companies, you’ve been leading/managing/operating from a distance for years. Maybe the challenge for you is to understand the data you already have sitting around. For example, of those you’ve allowed to work remotely, how well have they kept connected? If you allowed 3,000 people to work remotely, how many stuck around? What’s the turnover of your remote workforce? What percentage of those workers are promoted or lead teams? Do your remote members boast a better or worse retention rate than those who walk through the front door most days? This is the type of data that your human resources leaders can help you gather, understand, and act upon since remote work has and will continue to explode as a result of the pandemic. If your HR team does not have that data or doesn’t know how to get it, perhaps you need to give Concord a call.

18 | Work Culture In The New Abnormal

JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT PANEL SESSION!

Solving the Cost of Care Dilemma

Healthcare costs are anticipated to rise by an average of 5.5% per year over the next decade, growing from $3.5 trillion in 2017 to $6 trillion by 2027. Undoubtedly, cost of care containment strategies continue to dominate conversations across the industry. Whether healthcare professionals are planning for an international health outbreak, implementing large-scale care management programs, or simply directing consumers from the ER to office visits, healthcare entities have tried numerous methods to reduce, or at a minimum, maintain healthcare costs.

Join us as three distinguished Twin Cities leaders discuss current plans and future visions to bend the cost curve and transform healthcare.

Troy Simonson Chief Executive Officer Twin Cities Orthopedics

Jay Matushak Chief Financial Officer BCBS of MN

Susan Knudson Chief Informatics & Health Engagement Officer HealthPartners

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 Learn more at: relevanthealthroundtable.com

Relevant Health Roundtable | 19

THE PREMIER HEALTHCARE GROUP IN THE MIDWEST. Relevant Health Roundtable (RHR) has steadilygrownandevolvedintotheMidwest’s premier healthcare-based discussion group. RHR aims to provide members with the opportunity to engage with other healthcare industry leaders, discuss important topics in the healthcare realm, and provide attendees with tangible insights they can use throughout their careers.

20 | Relevant Health Roundtable

Q+A: RENE’ COULT- CALENDINE M HEALTH FAIRVIEW Vice President Business, Market, & Product Development After dedicating 40 years to the healthcare field and working to improve care systems, Rene’ Coult-Calendine is retiring! We honor her role in Minnesota’s healthcare industry and reflect on her career spanning the payer and provider space.

BACKGROUND

Where did you grow up? I was born in California and grew up in the Twin Cities.

What did you study in college? For my undergraduate degree, I attended the University of Minnesota where my studies focused on Education and Psychiatry. Subsequently, I received my MBA from St. Thomas. What was your fi rst job? I started working at North Memorial in a coffee shop when I was 16 years old. My mom was the head of dietary for North Memorial, so anyone who knew my mom or me ended up with a job there! I stayed at North Memorial through college and worked in the emergency room as an ER tech. It was a fast-paced job where I gained a great appreciation for medical care and the importance of connected teams. What’s your family like? My husband Cal and I have two grown children, Ben and Layne. Ben and his wife Kelly have two children – Quinn (4) and Levi (2) – and our daughter, Layne, is married to Ryan. We are a close-knit family and love to spend time together at our cabin up north.

Q+A: Rene’ Coult-Calendine | 21

YOUR CAREER

What challenges do you see needing to be solved in the healthcare industry? First, collectively as health plans and care systems, we still need to get a good handle on how to effectively manage and bring down the cost of healthcare in the industry. This challenge requires a level of collaboration that we’re just starting to see in various relationships and emerging payment models. Second, there are areas of duplication between healthcare and health plans. We need to look where we continue to overlap and offer differentiation in our service delivery.

Where do you work? I have been with M Health Fairview for the last 10 years.

What is your current role? I am the Vice President of Business, Market, and Product Development. While I have enjoyed my career at Fairview immensely, the time to retire has come and I did so on June 1! How did you get your start at M Health Fairview? I had been working at Blue Cross Blue Shield on the health plan side for almost 20 years and wanted to get back to the care system side. The desire to influence care pivoted me towards Fairview. What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career? Early on at Blue Cross, I was in charge of product development and built out a complete health and wellness portfolio called Blueprint for Health . We oriented all of the resources at Blue Cross towards a portfolio framework to take services to market and augment health products. This is a very common practice now, but was a new way of thinking at the time. More recently at M Health Fairview, I led the development of the new Accountable Care model and the establishment of multiple payer relationships. Many of the ACO products and models in the market today actually originated out of M Health Fairview as a result.

Collectively as health plans and care systems, we still need to get a good handle on how to effectively manage and bring down the cost of healthcare in the industry.

What areas are you seeing the most innovation in healthcare right now? We’ve seen innovation happening in new payment models and ways to access care - including virtual care, remote monitoring, and telehealth. The COVID-19 environment has really accelerated adoption and increased consumer comfort levels in interacting with the healthcare system in a more virtual way, as well as provider comfort in managing patient care remotely. What major changes can we expect in healthcare post-COVID-19? In addition to increased comfort with virtual care, I think we will see an ongoing move to more consumer engagement and control as people take more responsibility for their own health. We will likely see a change in how many actual clinics and brick- and-mortar facilities are in a particular community, as other ways to access care and reduce the need for physical spaces.

PERSPECTIVE ON HEALTHCARE

What is your Healthcare background? When you start out working in a hospital like I did at North Memorial, you become familiar with that environment. Thanks in great part to that early background, I ended up staying my entire career in healthcare. After North Memorial, I started working at United Hospital (before it was purchased by Allina), then Cigna, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and M Health Fairview.

22 | Q+A: Rene’ Coult-Calendine

RHR EXPERIENCE

JUST FOR FUN! What movie could you watch over and over? I have a great fondness for Breakfast at Tiffany’s . The Big Chill is another one – I love the soundtrack in that movie. What was the last book you read? I read a lot of books, probably two or three a week. One that stands out is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – it was so well-written that you easily get absorbed into the story. Where is your favorite travel destination? We love spending time at our cabin, but in terms of big trips, I would pick the South of France. I’m French by background and feel a unique sense of home and belonging when I’m there, as if I’m with my people. Where is your favorite place to eat? My husband is an excellent cook, so I enjoy his meals at home. I like The Sample Room and The Sonder Shaker in Northeast Minneapolis, as well. The latter has outstanding Tuna Poke Nachos!

How were you fi rst introduced to RHR? I worked with Rajat Relan [founder of RHR] at Blue Cross Blue Shield and he reached out to me when he first considered forming the Advisory Committee. I was one of the first to work with him and get involved!

How long have you been on the Advisory Committee for RHR? I have been on the Advisory Committee since it was formed seven years ago.

What has been your favorite panel so far? There have been so many informative panels! One that really stands out was ‘Debunking the Myths of Behavioral Health & Technology’ with panelists from MOBE, Ginger, and Optum. They shared about innovative, virtual programs and challenged one another in a way that I really appreciated. Who would you love to see on a panel someday? More than a specific individual, I would love to see an upcoming panel centered on the topic of for-profit healthcare versus not-for-profit healthcare and the models that emerge as a result. It would be interesting to discuss what offers a better contribution to society.

M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital

Q+A: Rene’ Coult-Calendine | 23

Minnesota’s business landscape is innovating and giving back. Here we highlight 12 companies doing great things in the midst of COVID-19. THE TOP 12

3 FACE MASKS

LOVE YOUR MELON Founded in an entrepreneurship class at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul,

Minnesota, Love Your Melon has always been about positive social impact. Their newly-added masks follow the same model as their hats - “Buy One, Give One” for the medical community.

4 MEDICAL-GRADE FACE SHIELDS WOODCHUCK USA

1 HAND SANITIZER

COPPERWING DISTILLERY This St. Louis Park distillery is using what they have - alcohol! - to serve the community. Through a GoFundMe, they were able to produce and donate hand sanitizer to the essential heroes who needed it most.

Woodchuck USA manufactures customized, technology-driven wooden products like journals, keychains, and phone cases, but quickly pivoted 50% of their production to medical/PPE demands, including face shields.

5 THE PORCH TRAIT PROJECT DAVE PUENTE PHOTOGRAPHY

On a mission to spread joy, photographer Dave Puente safely distanced from his subjects in a series of “ porch traits.” His aim is to help others find the silver lining in a scary and frantic time. 6 VIRTUAL TRIAGING SCREENER ZIPNOSIS

PB560 VENTILATOR MEDTRONIC

Placing patient well-being as a top priority, Medtronic released their design files for the PB560 ventilator system to the public in response to the COVID-19 ventilator shortage.

The Zipnosis team designed and launched a COVID-19 screener to recommend virtual care patients where appropriate and made the virtual screeners available to their health system partners nationwide.

24 | The Top 12

11 MEAL & CAKE KITS THE BUTTERED TIN

7 PLEXIGLASS SCREENS VERSARE SOLUTIONS

Versare Solutions builds premium room dividers, barricades, and partitions, but recently pivoted to counter top screens made of plexiglass to help protect workers behind checkout lanes and service counters. 8 CURBSIDE & DELIVERY CARDIGAN DONUTS

In staying true to their farm-to- table roots, The Buttered Tin quickly realized it didn’t matter what table their food was served on and started selling meal and decorative cake kits to customers. Now, anyone can enjoy some of TBT’s best-selling entrées and impress family and friends with their cake baking skills from the comforts of their own home.

Located in the heart of Downtown Minneapolis,

Cardigan Donuts relied heavily on foot traffic to their bakery. They quickly shifted gears and began metro-wide delivery and curbside pickup to share their delicious treats with the city.

9 VIRTUAL FITNESS COLLABORATIVE SWEAT MINNESOTA

Sweat Minnesota is a movement focused on the collective health of Minnesotans. With gyms closed, exercise enthusiasts banded together to provide a source for fitness centers to host virtual sweat sessions for those wanting to keep their bodies moving.

12 VIRTUAL CONCERT LIBRARY

ST. PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA With music enthusiasts unable to go to concerts, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra quickly created a concert library containing both audio and video performances, as well as live streams for those wanting to experience the sounds of orchestra performances for free.

10 N95 RESPIRATORS 3M

Keeping their global respirator supply chain running 24/7, 3M doubled their N95 output rate to 1.1 billion per year and plans to double again to 2 billion within 12 months.

The Top 12 | 25

BRAIN RESISTING CHANGE

Learn how to ease into those changes anyway! YOUR BRAIN IS SO NOT OK WITH CHANGE...

PAULA WINKLER & LAURA WOODWARD CO-FOUNDERS THE DISRUPTIVE ELEMENT

26 | Brain Resisting Change

Human beings are hardwired to resist change. Don’t believe us? Try swapping the spoons and forks in your silverware drawer or switching around the keys on your keyboard. Change is difficult and uncomfortable. It can even prompt us to react physically—we might seize up, fidget, or start to sweat. If the change is large enough, as many are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic, we may become depressed or despondent.

WHY DO OUR BRAINS FIGHT SO FIERCELY AGAINST CHANGE?

Change avoidance represents lingering survival instincts we adopted eons ago. Our reptilian brain, composed of the basal ganglia and brainstem, governs our primitive drives and habits. Much of the time, this part of the brain operates on “autopilot,” so we scarcely have to think about everyday activities, such as peeling a banana or walking from the shower to the bedroom. In a world brimming with stimulation (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch), it is essential to let some of the “program” run in the background of our minds, governed by habit and our reptilian brains. Another reason we’re programmed to cling to the familiarity of habit is our innate aversion to risk. Our Stone Age ancestors lived in harsh environments, and one misstep could spell disaster. As Nigel Nicholson says in How Hardwired Is Human Behavior, “When you are living on the edge, to lose even a little would mean that your very existence was in jeopardy. Thus, it follows that ancient hunter-gatherers who had just enough food and shelter to survive weren’t big risk takers.” He goes on to say, “Indeed, any kind of change is risky when you are comfortable with the status quo.” SO, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR STATUS QUO— THE COMFORTABLE WORLD IN WHICH YOU OPERATE DAY IN, DAY OUT—IS BLASTED TO PIECES? Such an earth-shattering change might occur if you are ejected from your job or if your health takes a sudden turn for the worse. In fact, such change has occurred for the millions of people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we write this article, the world today is vastly different than it was only a couple of months ago. Most states required everyone but essential workers to “shelter in place,” meaning that, suddenly, people had to adjust to working from home, caring for or homeschooling their children, or adjusting to an abrupt reduction in hours or, in some cases, a furlough. Routines are thrown off-kilter, and our comfort-craving reptilian brains are roaring in protest. IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, WE’VE BEEN REQUIRED TO CREATE NEW HABITS AND DEVELOP NEW ROUTINES. We know, in theory, we have to adjust, but it’s so damn difficult. Our brains feel threatened, and our fight or flight instinct, rooted deeply in the brain’s amygdala, is in high gear. How can we possibly win the battle against our change-resistant brains? How can we rewire our neurological pathways to accept and, eventually, embrace change? Whether you’re dealing with a new COVID-caused routine or simply trying to adjust to a new role or new company, change takes time and concerted effort.

WE SUGGEST STARTING WITH THREE EASY STEPS

Brain Resisting Change | 27

STEP 1

BUILD AWARENESS

How often do you truly monitor your thoughts and reactions? If you’re like most people, you’re probably not terribly in tune with your inner narrative and instinctive reactions. That’s normal. Most of us are comfortable humming along in the status quo, paying little attention to our thoughts.

If you’re trying to break a deeply-entrenched habit, however, it’s time to start paying attention.

Begin noticing the choices you make throughout the day, and reflect on why you make them. If you find yourself opting for the comfortable route, rather than the right route, you may want to pause and think about that choice. Why are you gravitating toward safety and convenience? What is driving that decision? Let’s say, for example, you’ve been awarded a new leadership position. Part of your job involves delegating tasks to other employees, but you’re already in the habit of doing this type of work yourself. What’s more, you know you will do quality work, and get it done in a fraction of the time of your co- workers. Your inclination is to complete the task yourself. It’s easy, it’s comfortable, and delegating the work sounds like a daunting chore. Logically, you know your co-workers should be doing this task (you’re in a leadership position now, and it’s no longer in your scope of work), but your habit-driven brain is wired to continue processing familiar functions, including the tasks you grew accustomed to before stepping into your new role. Once you’ve built an awareness of your tendencies and the emotions they provoke, move on to Step Two…

It’s time to pay attention to your daily habits. Notice when you fall back on comfort and convenience, rather than taking the more difficult and less familiar route.

STEP 2

ASK YOURSELF A ‘THINKING QUESTION’

When you find yourself in a situation where your brain feels challenged, uncomfortable, or even threatened, it’s time to pause and ask yourself a “thinking question” or two. This involves asking a provocative, open-ended question that prompts you to think about the heart of the issue and motivate action. Ideally, the questions will move you into a positive, problem-solving state of mind. For example:

“Why am I resisting this, and what can I do to stop resisting?”

“I notice I feel anxious and annoyed when I have to do XYZ. I wonder what others in my position have done to overcome those feelings?”

28 | Brain Resisting Change

continued...

If, as a new leader, you decide to consult your company’s leadership team, you could reword your thinking questions as follows: “I would like to improve my delegation skills. Could you advise me on strategies you have found effective as a leader?” When you take action to retrain your brain and pull yourself out of a deeply ingrained habits, you are taking the first step toward developing new habits. Action is crucial – it distances you from the fear and anxiety associated with stepping out of your comfort zone. Action can and should be small incremental steps. We have to trick our brain into change, as it will naturally resist it otherwise. To do that, start with small steps that build upon each other. This creates a ninja-like move with our brain, and before you know it, you are working in a change environment that now feels normal. Today, it is more crucial than ever to learn how to retrain your brain and reprogram your automatic tendencies. The COVID pandemic has pulled us collectively into an uncomfortable and habit-breaking time, and the best way to adapt is to take intentional, conscious steps. By reforming your habitual behaviors, you are giving yourself a gift: a more comfortable future. Though life may seem chaotic and unpredictable right now, you can conquer uncertainty and fear. It just takes time, patience, and a strategy. Start with the three steps above, take a deep breath, and begin taking control of the panic stirred up by your habit-loving reptilian brain.

These questions cannot be resolved with a simple yes or no answer. They require some reflection and follow-up action. This way of thinking will take your mind off the discomfort of changing your habit and guide you into a problem-solving mentality. Our brains are wired that in order to ‘think’, we have to get out of the emotional and automatic parts of our brains. By asking a non-yes or no question, you are guaranteed to be less emotional, less threatened, and access more problem solving/creative alternatives! Applying this strategy to the scenario of a new leader, you might frame your thinking question in the following way: “I recognize that delegating does not come naturally for me. What if I made a conscious effort to assign a simple task to a team member every day this week?” Another question you might ask is this: “What if I consulted other members of leadership about my struggles?” Notice that these questions are open-ended, thought- provoking, and require further action.

STEP 3

ACT ON YOUR THINKING QUESTIONS

Asking thinking questions inevitably leads to action. In this step, you bring your thinking questions to life and start strategizing and engaging others who are involved in your problem-solving. Start gathering relevant information with the goal of answering your thinking questions and successfully carving out a new habit or methodology for yourself. In the case of the new leader, you may choose to either talk with your team, your superiors (who have, perhaps, been in the same position at one time or another), or both. If you talk with your team, you might reframe your thinking questions and say something like this: “I am preparing to increase your involvement in the company’s daily tasks. How can we work together to make sure you have the resources and support you need to complete your assignments in an accurate and timely manner?”

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS BRAIN TRAINING IN GREATER DETAIL, PLEASE SEND US A NOTE.

ABOUT THE DISRUPTIVE ELEMENT

THE DISRUPTIVE ELEMENT IS A LEADERSHIP PERFORMANCE COMPANY THAT HELPS BUSINESSES IDENTIFY AND IGNITE POTENTIAL IN THEIR PEOPLE. OUR MODEL REVOLVES AROUND A NUCLEUS OF NEUROSCIENCE—BECAUSE CHANGE IS AN INSIDE JOB. WE HELP INDIVIDUALS, TEAMS, AND ORGANIZATIONS MEET THEIR DESIRED RESULTS THROUGH OUR ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT (OD), LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, AND COACHING SERVICES.

Brain Resisting Change | 29

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