Episode 158: Tal Frankfurt

Working with nonprofits and educational institutions, Tal Frankfurt leads Cloud for Good, creating and implementing strategic solutions based on cloud technology. Three-time winner of the B Corp Great Place to Work award, Tal shares his views about leadership, diversity, and impact in a growing company.

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Prior to founding Cloud for Good, Tal Frankfurt was the director of resource development for a nonprofit organization that worked with at-risk immigrant youth. He was looking for tools to better manage his donors, participants, and volunteers. It was through this experience that Tal learned about Salesforce. The adoption of Salesforce into his everyday work was what sparked the inception of Cloud for Good, a Salesforce implementation partner working primarily with nonprofit and educational institutions to create and implement strategic solutions based on cloud technology. Tal was chosen in 2010 to be one of the first Salesforce.com MVP Program members, an exclusive club representing the top 1% of the Salesforce community, and has maintained that status to date. Tal currently serves on the advisory committee of the School of Management of Information Systems at the University of Memphis and Give365, an initiative to create a collaborative philanthropic fund in Memphis. Tal enjoys boxing for fun and spending weekends with his family.

3 Key Points

• We intentionally create connections between staff members who have never met in person. We see and talk with each other multiple times per week.
• When you give people the opportunity to fulfill themselves and do work for good, it strengthens the culture and connections among employees.
• If we don’t take risks, if we don’t make mistakes, we won’t be able to grow as a company. We want to learn from each mistake and opportunity.

Quote

Impact is reciprocal: by making an impact on someone, you make an impact on yourself.

What We Talked About

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• 01:20 – the combination of Salesforce and B corps isn’t obvious: why is impact important to you?
• 02:59 – what have you implemented to make your company a great place to work?
• 04:30 – how challenging has it been to build your culture globally and virtually?
• 09:24 – how would you describe the culture at Cloud4Good?
• 9:42 – how did you move from the non-profit to the for-profit realm?
• 12:46 – your business awards imply a certain level of leadership: how has your leadership evolved?
• 16:18 – what’s the most important thing you’ve learned in your leadership journey?
• 17:58 – diversity: a conscious choice?
• 20:31 – what does diversity bring to your organization?
• 22:01 – international business: has that expansion helped you have more impact? what have been the challenges?
• 26:37 – how have you managed growth in order to maintain impact?
• 29:02 – what’s your morning ritual?
• 31:22 – how do you maintain your energy?

Actionable Tips

1. Be involved in your community: give back.
2. Think about what impact means for you.
3. Be intentional about how you have impact: create a plan and execute.

Resources Mentioned

• Cloud4Good.com

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