Ep 02 - World’s Best Boss: Jascha Kaykas-Wolff

Jascha’s coaching philosophy drives high‐performing teams with an emphasis on valuing team success above individual achievement, developing inclusive work practices, and building ‘T’ shaped professional skills.

World’s Best Boss with Ruckus is a series of conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders that explore how the best bosses attract fantastic people, build up their teams, and keep their employees happy.

In this episode, Jascha dives into his thought process when finding his next career opportunity. By viewing his work through the lens of ‘being a tourist,’ he aligns himself with those roles that leave him feeling excited about his work and continue to point him towards his greater goals. Jascha shares the methods he uses with his teams to help them navigate what they enjoy doing, what they're great at doing, and how to help them align that towards the ultimate goals they have for their careers. All this and more! 

Here’s What We Discussed: 

• 6:45 – Jascha explains how he became CMO of various popular companies and the mindsets that helped him get there
• 9:56 – Jascha compares his current role to past one at Mozilla as CMO
• 13:31 – Anish shares advice for interview process that lights CEOs’ eyes up
• 15:05 – Jascha comments on the biggest risks he’s taken along his career
• 18:40 – Jascha shares why understanding what your team defines as success is so important
• 20:20 – Jascha speaks about the true role of a manager in any organization
• 25:07- Jascha shares how you can create a system to create an opportunity for your employees to be successful
• 26:26 – Jascha advises on how to onboard new team members and how to get them up to speed in the company’s culture
• 28:20 – Jasha’s former Microsoft manager questioned him and shared the heart, tree, and star system – system used for career development
• 38:28 – Jascha’s anecdote about how he didn’t get a role he wanted and how it had nothing to do with his qualifications
• 49:19 – Jascha encourages leaders to create scenario planning into their cultures moving forward
• 52:33 – Jascha focuses on online mentorship and how to approach this new virtual reality
• 56:00 – Jascha replies on “What makes a good marketing leader and which attributes you appreciate in leaders around you?”
• 1:07- Jascha dives into his current role as Lytics president

About Our Speaker 

Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, is an executive business leader with a creative flair, who has built teams that transformed the customer and user experience.

A champion for supporting company values and mission; his coaching philosophy drives high‐performing teams with an emphasis toward valuing team success above individual achievement, developing inclusive work practices, building ‘T’ shaped professional skills and constantly reinforcing the importance of business acumen in addition to functional expertise.

In his current role as President of Lytics, Jascha is responsible for Go-To-Market, Customer Success and operations. Previously, at Mozilla, BitTorrent, Webtrends, Microsoft and more. Jascha has a strong track record of building robust brands with hockey-stick growth trajectories for new products.

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!