The MassTLC Tech Top 50 celebrates tech companies and leaders across the region who have made a significant impact in the community during the past 12 month. This year, we are excited to recognize winners across 8 categories: Best Pivot to Meet the New World, Business Accomplishment, Company Culture, Inclusivity Impact, Leadership, New Company of the Year, Tech for Good: Social Responsibility, and Tech to Watch.
Forty-nine honorees were chosen across these categories, with the final recognition, the Mosaic Award, given to Chevalier “Chevy” Cleaves, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, for his work creating access and opportunity for future leaders. View the full list of winners, here.
Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more about each of the recipients to spotlight their accomplishments and their impact on customers, partners, employees, and the broader community.
Today, meet Todd Piett, CEO of Rave Mobile Safety, one of this year’s honorees for Leadership.
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How did your CEO lead or support their team in a unique way?
At Rave, the company’s mission—providing critical communication and collaboration technology trusted to help save lives—is core to its culture and makes it easy for employees to be passionate about their work. In-person collaboration was part of Rave’s DNA. The move to remote work meant that culture was completely upended. Recognizing that it was critical to ensure the closeness employees felt both to Rave’s mission and to each other remained intact in the face of the challenges brought on by the pandemic, Rave CEO Todd Piett sprung into action with initiatives aimed at supporting employees professionally and socially.
It was important to Todd that employees have the same access to him—and perhaps even more—than they had in person. To that end, he set up several programs to create open lines of communication and foster connectedness:
- Monthly virtual onboarding breakfasts with Todd for all new hires, providing a chance for them to get to know the CEO and ask questions face-to-face
- Virtual open forums with Todd for every department each quarter with no agenda, providing a chance for employees to ask questions, voice whatever concerns might be top of mind or share ideas. Todd says colleagues have been surprisingly up front during these sessions, a testament to how valuable they are
- Motivational videos recorded by Todd and shared with employees to rally the team
- A Slack plugin called “Donut” that randomly pairs colleagues for a 30-minute meeting where they can chat life and work, and get to know each other better
- Groups focused on hobbies or shared experiences, like Rave Parents, Rave Nature Lovers and Rave Cooks. These groups provided not only a chance to connect, but a chance to engage with colleagues outside of work conversations. For example, the Rave Cooks group held several cooking classes via Zoom where one Raver would lead the rest through cooking one of their famous recipes
Additionally, Todd ensured impactful customer stories were still being shared among the team by instituting a “Rave Talks” series, virtual sessions that feature a Rave customer sharing why they use Rave’s solutions and how it’s helped them overcome their most pressing emergency communication challenges. The sessions have not only been a great way for Rave employees to feel close to the mission they are so passionate about, but it’s also fostered new ideas to further solve customers’ challenges.
What measurable outcomes exist because of the support and leadership this CEO provided?
Because of Todd’s support, Rave employees were able to continue doing what they do best—support customers through today’s most pressing safety and emergency communication challenges. 2020 marked Rave’s 11th consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth and Rave’s solutions were used in 38 million incidents, representing billions of individual communications in 2020, a 68% increase over 2019.
The results of an external third-party employee survey conducted in March 2021 showed Rave employees feel overwhelmingly positive about their work and work environment—a testament to Todd’s leadership:
- 93% of employees had a favorable response to the statement, “I feel like the work that I do is meaningful and contributes to the success of the company.”
- 92% of respondents had a favorable response to the statement, “My supervisor is responsive to my ideas, requests, and suggestions that I raise.”
- 93% of respondents had a favorable response to the statement, “I am proud of the quality of service we provide to our customers.”
- 91% of employees had a favorable response to the statement, “My immediate manager cares about me as a person.”
What does it mean to have your CEO recognized with the other Tech Top 50 honorees?
“Todd Piett is not necessarily one to clamor for spotlight – he chooses instead to lead with honesty and humility, focusing on the people and customers he serves. Todd is a real person – with kids coming in and out of Zoom calls like the rest of us – and has taught us now more than ever that embracing your humanity is ok. Throughout the pandemic, he has guided the company in being service-oriented, always reminding us of the role we play in helping our customers save lives and protect their communities.
Todd’s leadership has allowed us to thrive, innovate and come together in ways that we didn’t think were possible before the pandemic. For that we are all truly grateful and it is an honor to see a leader we admire and respect so much included as part of the Tech Top 50.” – Terri Mock, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, Rave Mobile Safety
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Learn more about Tech Top 50 and meet all the winners, here.
