Latest news with #Baxley
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
'Slow down' and 'deeply observe' the company culture when starting a new job, says ex-Apple director
When job-hopping, make sure not to accidentally bring your old company's culture along for the ride, said Bob Baxley, a former director of design at Apple. "I think my own particular mistake, and I've seen this with some other Apple executives as well, is we went directly from Apple — I left Apple on a Friday and I started Pinterest on a Monday," Baxley said on a recent episode of Lenny's Podcast. "And I didn't give myself time to recalibrate to the Pinterest culture." After leaving Apple in 2014, Baxley went on to work as the head of product design at Pinterest, where he said he "bounced off" the culture, given that he was still acting as he had in his previous role. "I came in thinking I was supposed to behave the way I behaved at Apple, which is very direct, fighting hard. It's very — everybody cares about each other, it's never insulting, but it's intense," he said. "That's not really where Pinterest was at the time." It's not just Apple's working environment that has a way of sticking with you, Baxley added — most major tech companies have " really powerful cultures." "You get kind of indoctrinated into all those standards and it's really deep. It infuses all of your behavior and how you conduct yourself in the company, away from the company," he said. "And so, I think it's pretty hard to immigrate successfully from one of those environments to another." Baxley said that other former Apple employees have smoother transitions, purely by virtue of taking time off before taking up a new position. Baxley cites Hiroki Asai as a prime example — as Apple's former Vice President of Global Marketing, Asai took years off for "re-wirement" prior to joining AirBnB, according to his LinkedIn. "It also should be noted that he had — it was a multi-year gap between the time he left Apple and the time he started Airbnb," Baxley said. Asai and Apple did not respond to a request for comment by Business Insider prior to publication. "At Apple, I think it was Tim or Steve, used to talk about the Apple car wash," he added. "That when you started Apple, they kind of had to take you through the car wash and get off all that stuff that you'd accumulated at other places. It turns out there's a car wash you need to go through when you leave Apple as well." Though eschewing old habits as you move into a new role is important, that doesn't mean you should forget the lessons your old job taught you, Baxley said. "The thing I took away from Apple, and I think this is true for anybody changing from one major culture to another, is most likely, the new place hires you because of the values of the organization you left, but not the behaviors," he said. As you move on, it's worth asking how you can best incorporate the best aspects of your old company's culture in your new workplace, Baxley added. "And so I think it's important to recalibrate and say, well, I want to hold onto these values," he said. "So at Apple, attention to detail, product excellence, doing everything you can for the customer and the user — so, try to hold onto those values but then think, 'Okay, how are those values best expressed in this culture?'" Still, Baxley told Business Insider, it won't always be possible to pause between roles — particularly in the tech sphere, where companies usually want new hires to onboard right away. Even if you have to start immediately, it could be helpful to go in while expecting a period of adjustment. "My biggest point on this topic is that when you go into a new culture you really need to slow down, deeply observe, don't judge or compare, and then when you have a reasonable handle on things, reflect on the best ways to express the values from the old place with behaviors that are appropriate to the new," he told BI.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
James Baxley returns to the City of Parker as new police chief
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Parker native James Baxley started his career in law enforcement in 2005. Serving as a patrol for the City of Parker Officer Baxley gravitated to his hometown and the training exercises the police department offered at the time. In 2014, he left the Parker Police Department to work for the Gulf County Sheriff's office as an investigator and patrolman. Then in 2019 Baxley moved to Milton, Florida to work for the Florida Department of Corrections at the Office of Inspector General, where he served as an investigator within prison says his main drive for returning to Parker is retiring in the city he loves most. 'The people who live here. I mean, you know, people are friendly here, you know, so that's one reason why I want to come back. I'm in 20 to 20 plus years of service probably another six or seven years, I'll retire then,' Baxley said. 27th annual Spring Skim Jam draws record boarders and top talent When Baxley took on his new role on January 5th, his first goal was to onboard more city currently has 6 officers, and Baxley wants to hire 3 more. 'that's the main goal right now is just this is just getting support staff and right now we have phone calls. I'm at phone calls. I'm actually involved. So hopefully we get to a level where I can concentrate on the higher investigations the more serious crimes,' Baxley said. Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith addresses details about shooting Baxley filled the role as the chief of police within a week of former police chief Dennes Hutto retiring. He says he's the right person for the job. 'I'm honest and fair with my people, and I do have experience to be here as far as the know-how. The actual criminal side of being a police officer that's… I've done that I'm just doing this side,' Baxley said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blountsville town council searching for missing pension funds
BLOUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WIAT) — CBS 42 has learned that the town of Blountsville does not know what happened to seven months' worth of employee pension funds. A concerned employee reached out to us last week saying that even though money was being taken out every paycheck, no contributions were being made to his retirement savings. We confirmed with the town and the retirement systems of Alabama that from June 25 of last year up until late last week, the town of Blountsville had not been paying into pensions. It is still a mystery where the seven months' worth of retirement savings from Blountsville employees went. The town did not alert employees that it was not paying into their retirement savings, and the town council says they were not aware until recently payments were not being made. 'This is something that totally caught us off guard and we are working very hard to get it caught up and make everything right,' remarked councilmember Ray Baxley. Nation's Report Card: Alabama scores still below national average despite growth in 2024 Attorneys for police chief Shane Best, who is on paid leave pending a disciplinary hearing, brought up the missed payments in a letter to the town. They say the non-payment is illegal. 'Under federal law it would be embezzlement for the town to take money from employees and to misappropriate the funds, or in this case, we don't know where the money is going,' said Kristen Gochett, a associate attorney with Maxwell Tillman Lawfirm. A state auditor is investigating the towns financials. Councilman Ray Baxley says as of now he is not aware of anything criminal relating to the lack of retirement payments. But they do not know where the seven months' worth of money taken from employee's paychecks is. 'We are hoping when they finish the audit, we will have an idea of where that money went,' added Baxley. The town has repaid pension funds through Dec. 10 of 2024. Baxley says that money came from tax revenue the town received at the beginning of the year. 'We get tax revenue every month, so as that tax revenue comes in, we will make the submissions, and that is a priority for us right now, is getting that caught up,' commented Baxley The Retirement Systems of Alabama says they are working with the town to get employees pensions up to date. Blountsville will have to pay a penalty to make up for lost interest on the money. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
