Advice from Jessica Higgins, COO of Gapingvoid

In episode eight of the Second in Command Podcast Cameron sat down with Jessica Higgins, COO of Gapingvoid – a culture design group based out of Miami, FL.

Jessica’s Introduction to Gapingvoid

Jessica came from a background of restructuring healthcare and high-end employment governments. Jessica had always loved helping people and made it her mission to do so in any way she could. It wasn’t until later in life when Jessica was hosting a technology event, for her own consulting firm, when she met the girlfriend of Jason, founder and CEO of Gapingvoid. His partner insisted that Jessica had to meet Scott because he wanted to create a consulting firm. Four years ago, Jessica took Jason on as a client. She was hired to build a consulting firm portion to his current business. Once she had created the company, Jason asked if she would run it.

How Gapingvoid Connects with Hugh Macleod’s Art

Back in 2004, Jason hired Hugh Macleod to handle some marketing, they ended up working on some transformative and disruptive stuff inside the businesses. They also had started selling Hugh’s work online as art and art products – such as shirts, logos, etc. The concept behind the business was to take a more formalized approach to this “disruptive business idea” and disrupt business in specific ways towards specific outcomes. This idea had initially come from a consultant who found Gapingvoid’s work really interesting and allowed people to think differently, more innovatively. Their culture is defined around doing exceptional work.

Advice To COO’s

For Jessica, making sure that you are aware of what is happening inside of a business and with your employees is crucial. A great manager checks in. You have to check in on people and really have a conversation. Some think that there is a work/life falsity, as if we are not human at work. So when in charge, if you do the most human thing, the right thing, then you can see how happy and engaged people become while working with each other. If we are accountable to each other, than we are accountable to the business. It is equally important to praise your employees when something is accomplished as it is to teach them when something goes wrong. They want to have employees feeling empowered and encourage them to bring brilliant ideas to the table.

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