{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Fa96a8b09-a92f-480e-a7a9-2ba67afad6da","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"John Ferguson: VP of People and Culture, Monumental Sports and Entertainment","description":"
\nHey everybody, I\u2019m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast\u2026
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\nDo you ever say a word over and over again so that it becomes common in your mind, but if you take a moment to really think about it, it\u2019s arbitrary and weird. 
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\nTake the word spoon for example. Yes, I know this is a strange start to a podcast intro but you should be used to that about me by now, so stick with me. 
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\nWe all know what a spoon is, but when you say it a bunch of times you start to realize -- that\u2019s a weird word. Who the heck came up with calling that scoopy you eat with a spoon. 
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\nWe normalize things in our brains the more we say them or experience them. We become desensitized over time to their uniqueness and just accept them for what they are. We don\u2019t often challenge what has become normal.
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\nSpoon. Not to go too far down this rabbit hole - but spoon is of Germanic origins meaning \u201cchip of wood\u201d which doesn\u2019t help things at all.  
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\nAlright, I have a point here. 
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\nLet\u2019s spin this forward to this conversation, and throw another phrase out at you: Human Resources. 
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\nThink about it for a second -- it\u2019s kind of cold, isn\u2019t it? Objectifying just a little? 
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\nPeople are people, not just resources to be managed.
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\nHuman Resources makes it sounds like \u201cHi I\u2019m Jane, I manage the Human Assets, John over there manages the Material Resources, and Bill manages the Software Assets\u201d  
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\nKind of cold, right?
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\nAnd yet the Human Resources departments of every organization are the people that care most about the employees! These are the living breathing hearts and souls of an organization! But their title, their sector of the industry... I don\u2019t know, kind of sounds menacing when you really think about it with a fresh set of eyes and ears.
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\nSmarter people than me, I think, have started to feel this same way. I\u2019ve seen more and more titles break away from straight up Human Resources, and break toward something more akin to -- Chief People Officer or People and Culture.
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\nLook there is nothing wrong with Human Resources, I\u2019m not getting upset over it, I\u2019m not staging a walkout, I just like to question some of the things we accept as normal. Watch a movie from the 80\u2019s and you\u2019ll see people smoking at their work desk or on airplanes -- that was really normal for a while, until someone said -- maybe we need to do this a little differently. 
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\nAgain, not conflating human resources with smoking on a plane, but I just find myself enamoured with norms and accepted behavior and terms...that when you really think about them are a bit out of place. 
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\nThis brings me to today\u2019s guest -- John Ferguson, who is the VP of People and Culture at Monumental Sports And Entertainment, one of the biggest ownership groups in sports -- Washington Wizards, Mystic, Capitals - arenas, esports teams, conferences, TV networks -- they dominate the sports scene in the DC region. 
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\nAnd John, one of the coolest most down to earth people I have ever spoken with in my life, cares about the people and the culture of his operation. He cares so much about every person that comes into the organization and creates a culture that brings out the best in everyone. 
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\nGear up -- this is one of my favorite discussions of all time -- here\u2019s John Ferguson:
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