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Cali Williams Yost
Transforming work and organizations for more than two decades | High Performance Flexible Work Strategist & Futurist | Work+Life Fit Innovator | Thinkers 50 Radar | Author | Speaker
Cali Williams Yost is a leading authority on high performance work flexibility and the CEO & Founder of Flex+Strategy Group.1 She has been recognized as an "On the Radar" Global Thought Leader by Thinkers50 since February 2018.1
With nearly two decades of experience in the work-life field, Yost has helped hundreds of companies create more flexible workplaces.1 Her expertise focuses on reimagining work and promoting flexible work arrangements.
Career Highlights
Author and Thought Leader: Yost has authored two books:
- "Tweak It: Makes What Matters to You Happen Every Day" (2013)
- "Work+Life: Finding the Fit That's Right for You" (2004)1
Recognition: Her work has garnered significant attention:
- Forbes.com named her website among the "Top 100 Websites for Women" for three consecutive years (2010-2012)1
- She was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society by Columbia Business School in 19951
Education
Yost holds a degree from Columbia Business School, which has likely contributed to her business-oriented approach to work flexibility.1
Recent Insights
Yost frequently shares her thoughts on work-related topics through her LinkedIn profile:
- She has discussed the data-driven support for flexible work and questioned why some leaders reject it2
- She has commented on major companies' policies regarding remote work, including IBM and Amazon34
- She has addressed the challenges faced by working parents during the pandemic5
Through her work at Flex+Strategy Group and her thought leadership, Cali Williams Yost continues to be a prominent voice in discussions about the future of work, work-life balance, and flexible work arrangements.
Highlights
Further proof work flexibility and work+life fit are strategic business imperatives—they are the main points of disagreement in the contentious Canadian railroad labor dispute:
“The stoppage was largely rooted in scheduling, availability of labor and demands for better work-life balance, according to the union and companies.”
And this is a workforce that must be onsite to do their jobs AND is more than 80% male.
This reinforces the need to move beyond the limits of “hybrid” to a broader reimagining of where, WHEN and HOW work is done, and beyond the “women’s issue” framing to one that impacts everyone.
#reimaginework #workflexibility #flexiblework #operations #labor #innovation #worklifefit #worklifebalance
One way to protect workers from extreme heat is with flexibility in the timing and pace of their work. (Note: neither time nor pace flexibility fall under the more limited concept of "hybrid work" but are part of a broader flexible work model, of which “hybrid” or place flexibility is a subset).
Unfortunately, work flexibility is rarely if ever directly mentioned as a climate crisis solution. What makes it powerful and immediate is it doesn't require legislation and, if implemented correctly, would benefit employers AND workers.
Here are two examples of what that time and pace flexibility could look like from the "ah ha" moments of two leaders who attended a recent High Performance Flexibility mastermind I facilitated:
Leader #1: Leads the parks system in a southern state. His biggest challenge is attracting, retaining and keeping maintenance workers safe who often find themselves laboring in temperatures that can climb above 100 degrees during the summer. His "ah ha" was "What if we shift the summer schedule for those who want it to start at 6 am and end at 2:00 pm? Do most of the heavy work before midday when the heat is most oppressive and make sure there's a small on-call staff for any maintenance issues that would come up after 2 pm?" He believed this could allow him to attract maintenance workers from jobs that required them to work at the height of the heat everyday.
Leader #2: Leads operations for a university system in the south. Like leader #1, his greatest challenge was attracting and retaining outside maintenance staff and keeping them safe. His "ah ha" was that during the hottest months of the summer when most students were on vacation he could shift the schedule of maintenance workers to start earlier and miss the worst of the heat. And for those who wanted break up their shifts, maybe come for a few hours in the morning, then come back in the later afternoon and evening when it's cooler to address any maintenance issues that came up during the day.
Again, the power of reimagining not just where, but WHEN (time) and HOW (pace) work is done. That's high performance flexibility...start with the WORK, even for those who need to be on site, then define the operating parameters within which those jobs can be done flexibly. Experiment. Learn. Iterate.
To understand the growing danger to workers as the climate heats up, check out this great article by Manuela Andreoni in the The New York Times.
I'm curious if there are other examples of flexible work adaptations employers are trying in response to the climate crisis?
#reimaginework #flexiblework #workflexibility #ESG #climatecrisis #workforce #performance #wellbeing #time #safety
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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