Becoming Human-Centered - Samara Donald - RevOps 500 Podcast - Episode # 017

Joining us today is Samara Donald, Head of Pan & Cross Industry Marketing at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Songwriter, Producer, & Publisher at Mirror House Music Group. Gather around as Samara engages with our host, Sajeel Qureshi about the intricacies of organizational structure and operating models. Stay tuned to gain valuable insights from Samara about her remarkable perspectives on prioritizing a human-centered approach with clients!RevOps Myths:RevOps is primarily a technological solution, encompassing tools, and systems, and gives less importance to people and processes in its approach.Takeaways: For Samara, the significance lies in recognizing that individuals engaged in processes are intertwined with technology. Technology holds greater importance than merely being a solution in itself. While a tool can't be a universal fix, its efficacy hinges on the concurrent development of the people, processes, and technology working together. Samara emphasizes the importance of comprehending an organization's structure and functioning. Staying informed about its organizing model, structure, team communication, and perspectives is important. Samara considers a drawback when people focus on their tool-related goals rather than addressing deeper organizational issues.Samara recognizes that building an organizational solution for complex companies is hard to achieve. Companies tend to adopt diverse structured operating models where there's no universal approach. The key is for everyone to share an understanding of the organization's workings, facilitating smoother transitions.Samara’s passion is organizational design, development, and sociology. Her experience has taught her that individuals facing sales challenges often overlook their motivations and shared goals. She encourages to develop a human-centered approach with an understanding of how people collaborate and their perspectives, emphasizing the importance of shared fundamentals.Samara is enthusiastic about the increase in adoption of RevOps in companies. However, it remains more of a concept. Many companies still operate with separate departments like marketing, operations, sales, and services, each using different tools, leading to poor communication. RevOps serves as a parallel to engineering different product teams and bridging the gaps within an organization.Quote of the Show:“There's never the right answer. It's what is THE answer that we are going to have to choose to organize ourselves against.” - Samara Donald Links:Samara Donald’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samaradonald/ Amazon Web Services (AWS)’s Website: https://aws.amazon.com/?nc2=h_lg Mirror House Music Group’s Website: https://mirrorhousemg.com/ Mara Sol’s Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0UDswthm0YlfCrzJ488cJG?si=ouICNio4RUa-tHhGhjShoA Samara Donald’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/samarajdonald2 Ways to Tune In:Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/revops-500-podcast/id1664472466?uo=4 Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9jNTc1MjJlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Spotify: ​​https://open.spotify.com/show/2QxBhbhRbiG5XBOdRDjWum  Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/1052213 Podcast Addict: https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/revops-500/4488882 Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/show/6101085 Player FM: https://player.fm/series/series-3480832 Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/revops-500-5099575 Listen Notes: https://www.listennotes.com/c/286dcf154b674018ad35b986d14f664f/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/zpT64XPUxhQ Transistor: https://share.transistor.fm/s/e46746f0 RevOps 500 Podcast is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/ and https://www.computan.com/