Meet Joe Jurec of CultureShoc

I didn’t take the most traditional route to being a professional. After bouncing between schools and eventually graduating from Holy Name High School, I jumped straight into a sales associate position with Sony Electronics in Beachwood. For a while I felt ashamed that I didn’t attend college, I was embarrassed by that decision and felt it would ultimately hold me back. Over the next ten years, I worked my way up the ranks, became the GM of the Beverly Hills store and held other field leadership roles in Southern California, before ultimately managing Business Transformation at their U.S. Headquarters in San Diego. During this time, I realized how gratifying it was to lead others, how much I loved new technology, and that having a learner mindset didn’t require a formal structure for me to constantly seek out knowledge. Around this time I started looking at my lack of a degree (or enormous student loans) as more of a badge of honor than a blemish. Things unfortunately took a bit of a turn when 5,000 people were laid off from Sony in 2012, me being one of them. I took what I’d learned, combined with my determination to “just figure stuff out”, and moved forward. This helped me lead a newly formed function for Sears Holdings in San Francisco focused on Training & Technology, and then elevate to a leader with the Electronics & Home Appliance business units in Chicago.

A few years later I joined a sister company of Sears and moved back to Cleveland with my wife, where I helped small business owners set up their new businesses and optimize profitability through team leadership, operational effectiveness, and grassroots marketing. This afforded me the chance to apply what I’d learned at large corporations but also look at things through a much different lens. Every dollar matters and you had to get really creative to grow the business with minimal resources, it was much more personal because of the livelihood and well-being of local business owners being at stake.

Eventually I ventured into the startup world, where I led Sales and Marketing for a SaaS company in the energy industry before becoming the managing director of another government and education-focused SaaS subsidiary. By combining disciplines and structure I learned from being part of global organizations and the scrappy entrepreneurial mentality I’d started to develop, I was able to leverage freelancers, tech, and AI to scale a business fast, growing from less than 4 employees to over 100 in about a year.

Now, I am part of the team of entrepreneurs at CultureShoc, where we help small to mid-sized businesses gain clarity on their vision and get healthy traction by developing their workforce. As the leader of our growth efforts, I lead all sales and marketing efforts while also facilitating workshops and programs for emerging leaders. I find great fulfillment in helping others succeed and bringing a unique perspective to the entrepreneurial world.

Some of the biggest challenges I’ve faced include being laid off at Sony, working in an extremely challenging environment at Sears during a historic downturn, continually finding ways to do more with fewer resources during reductions in workforce and budget, and working with highly dysfunctional leadership teams in toxic environments. At one point I regularly had to terminate contracts and take over stores in decrepit locations with only teams of temp workers at my side. I’ve had people flash guns at me, been called every nasty word you can think of (some of which were so creative I couldn’t even be mad), and even gotten attacked by snakes and rats.

A few years ago, I leaned in too far at a rapid paced startup, and nearly lost focus of what really matters (prioritizing time with family), before fortunately getting some clarity on my mistakes and making some hard decisions. Even though I was now the soul income for my family of four, I took some much needed time at home to hit reset and reconnect, even though it meant some major financial risks. I passed up a few high-salary opportunities and was really intentional about finding somewhere that not only aligned with the type of work that brings me energy, but that was also around people who advertised their principles through their actions. That’s how I ended up at CultureShoc, where we all hold each other accountable to live the The EOS Life®.

1. Entrepreneurial Mindset: Every Member of the CultureShoc team has built or started something from the ground up. We’re not professors speaking to philosophy and theory. Everything we do is practical and applicable in the real world.

2. Masters of Engagement: Whether a keynote, workshop, or session, our meetings don’t suck. We know how to read an audience and adjust to maximize engagement and will often get people moving with energizers and other activities to ensure participation and retention of learning. We also embrace productive conflict and will pull it out from the group when necessary to get a universal commitment.

3. Results or Nothing: We’re anti-consultants that don’t operate on long-term contracts or retainers. Everything we offer has a Results or Nothing guarantee – if you don’t see value, don’t pay us, and don’t move forward.

Discover, Engage, and Grow Leaders.

Our ITS (Into The Storm) Leaders program is offered in two formats:

• Internal Cohort – Teams of cross-functional employees from the same company develop trust & camaraderie while learning
• Community Forum – Individuals from different companies and industries participate together to network & sharte best practices as part of the learning

This 10-day program has 2 phases: Foundation & Mastery, but is modular in nature and can be offered in as little as 2-hour segments to larger audiences.

The Foundation phase of the program is focused on strengthening skills in areas such as Trust, Communication, Positive Accountability, Delegation, and Workforce Engagement.

• Emerging Leader Development Programs
• EOS® Implementation
• The Kolbe System™
• The 6 Types of Working Genius
• Executive Coaching
• Middle Manager Coaching
• Team Building Events

• You can’t do it all alone, but that doesn’t mean you need to be irresponsible by prematurely scaling your workforce. Leverage freelancer networks, automation, and AI at different stages of growth to scale economically and responsibly.

• Earlier in your career, yo’ll be rewarded for and give the most value by having all the answers, but as you move into more senior roles, and especially those with leadership responsibilities, the ability to hold back advice and instead ask the right questions is far more valuable. Put simply, strive to be more curiosity-led than advice-driven.