Rachael Powell is the Chief Customer, People and Marketing Officer at Xero, a cloud-based accounting platform for small and medium businesses around the world. She’s an experienced business executive with a demonstrated success across strategy, marketing and human resources. Rachael has a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Melbourne and is passionate about enabling people to do the best work of their lives.

In this week’s episode, we explore how Xero, a cloud-based accounting platform for small and medium businesses around the world, are using positive psychology to help their people thrive as they do the best work of their lives.

Connect with Rachael Powell: 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/powellrachael/

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You’ll Learn:

• [02:29] – Rachael explains how she began applying what she learned in the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology to her leadership of the people and culture function at Xero.
• [04:22] – Rachael shares why Xero chose Professor Martin Seligman’s PERMAH framework to guide their wellbeing strategy.
• [05:32] – Rachael outlines how Xero operationalized the PERMAH framework across five different continents in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment.
• [10:14] – Rachael shares her tips for what’s worked best when it comes to embedding a wellbeing strategy across the workplace.
• [13:05] – Rachael talks about the struggles of embedding a wellbeing strategy across a workplace and how Xero is working to overcome these.
• [17:43] – Rachael shares her biggest a-ha when it comes to taking the science of positive psychology and applying it practically in a workplace.
• [19:50] – Rachael shares her thoughts on the role CEOs and leadership teams play in the success or failure of wellbeing strategies in workplaces.
• [21:53] – Rachael offers some cautions and caveats for people trying to improve wellbeing in workplaces.
• [23:09] – Rachael completes the Lightning Round.

Your Resources:

• MPPW Podcast on Facebook
• The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky
• Give & Take by Adam Grant

Thanks for listening! 

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

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Until next time, take care!  Thank you Rachael!