>> [MUSIC]
>> This is WorkLab the podcast from Microsoft.
I'm your host, Elise Hu.
On WorkLab we hear from leaders and scientists about
the surprising data and trends
that are transforming the way we work.
>> These creatives, these influencers are the ones who
are fueling so much product purchase right now.
If you are not thinking about how
whatever it is you're selling is being used,
or talked about by the creative class
then I think you're
missing out on a key part of the funnel.
You have to be in front of
this authentic group of people,
these all Creator economy
people who are finding their passion,
their community around your products,
you need to embrace them.
>> That's Daniel Roth,
he's the Editor in Chief of LinkedIn,
which is part of Microsoft.
He knows a lot about creators,
all the people who monetize their content, online,
writers, photographers, gamers, influencers,
and of course, business leaders who
share advice on LinkedIn.
He's got insights on why businesses in
all sectors should pay attention to the Creator economy.
For one, it's growing fast.
Funding for creator focused companies
is up 188 percent so
far this year compared to all of
2020 according to CB Insights.
Later in the episode, we'll hear from
a Microsoft employee who moonlights as
a digital creator and who's building
skills that help him grow in his day job too.
But first, my conversation with Daniel.
Dan Roth, welcome.
>> Hello. Thanks for having me here.
>> Where are you joining from?
>> I am in Brooklyn, New York,
and in Mystic,
which is incredibly hot.
Over the course of the pandemic,
I've been consistently moved out of
rooms as my family's demanded that
I stay quiet to stay out of the hair.
>> Well, tell us a little bit about yourself.
I understand you were a journalist before
joining LinkedIn as an editor.
>> I'm a longtime business journalists.
I've worked at Wired, Fortune,
Forbes, the tech editor at Fortune,
or then grand fortune.com.
While I was at Fortune 10.5 years ago now,
I was building an app for Fortune called the Fortune 500.
Plus it was going to take all this great data that
Fortune had and we needed some social data.
I flew out to LinkedIn to see if I'd use the APIs
and had a really good meeting with the CEO at the time,
Jim Wiener, who called a few weeks later and said,
"Hey, we're going to move into content.
Wont you come join us?"
That was the start of the next part of my career,
which involved building out the entire
editorial operation at LinkedIn.
>> That's fantastic. For those who don't
understand the thinking behind
the editorial content on LinkedIn.
A lot of us might use LinkedIn
or probably do use LinkedIn
as job networking or recruiting hub.
But you do things for creators
and have really championed
this idea of a Creator economy.
What is that and what is LinkedIn's role within it?
>> The Creator economy is the idea that anyone,
through their voice, whether that is
video or writing or posting interesting ideas,
they can form a business.
They can find some way to connect
that economic opportunity through their creations.
The way the economics of this work is either
you're paid directly through your work.
Maybe you publish a content that gets sponsored.
Maybe you're an influencer and someone then
sponsors you as an influencer to talk about their work.
Or this is what we see on LinkedIn,
is that it is often
indirect monetization and that could mean getting a job.
It could mean teaming up on a project.
It could mean getting a book deal or a podcast deal.
It could mean getting invited to come speak at
a conference or speaking to better become a speaker.
>> It sounds like it's really hard to become
an influencer or somebody who gets to write books.
You mentioned that this is actually a huge economy.
Are the barriers to entry of this getting easier?
>> The barriers to entry always get easier.
The ability to get
attention for your work always gets harder.
CB Insights had a recent report
that looked at creator focus companies have
reaped in over $1.3 billion in funding in 2021.
A wound that was up nearly 200 percent from 2020.
There is a belief in the market that this
is what a future of work looks like.
>> What is a creator focused business?
Can you give some examples?
>> It's really anything where there is some creation
involved and you're getting some direct payment for it.
I'll give you an example.
There's a creator on LinkedIn,
who I've talked to in the past,
who is a former chef.
Her big belief is that
the future of cooking is all induction.
An induction cooking is when you cook
by electric only dish,
kept posting about induction cooking.
Why was better? Why was good for the environment?
What she was doing with it.
She shared her own personal stories of induction cooking,
and she was doing it because it was her passion.
Someone from the San Francisco mayor's office
saw her post on LinkedIn.
General induction cooking expert or influencer.
Why don't you come do a cooking class with the mayor?
She did this cooking class with the mayor.
Someone else saw that, they opened
a kitchen with her, induction cooking kitchen.
She's now sponsored by induction cooking companies.
It all came because she had a passion for
this area and she built a community around this topic.
>> I love that. These kinds of examples,
these kinds of people
together make up the Creator economy.
>> Exactly. That's right.
>> How does this differ from side hustles?
>> A big difference between a side hustle and
having something be a full-blown
Creator economy company is you
have to build a community to be able to
have a successful Creator economy company.
You have to have fans and you have to have super fans.
>> That sounds pretty challenging.
What has changed among this community or
the Creator economy writ large
over the past couple of years, what are you seeing?
>> The pandemic has shown us all
that the traditional way
that we have worked might not be the best way of working.
We see this in all of our data at
LinkedIn is there is this incredible demand
for the ability to be able to carve
out your own path and to have flexibility.
There was a recent survey we did
that show that of the demands-
>> Eighty seven percent of
workers in LinkedIn insights survey found that they
would prefer to stay remote at least part of
the time and that flexibility is
the fastest rising priority for workers.
Is that the one you're talking about?
>> That it is exactly it. That's 73 percent
of workers saying job flexibility is their top priority.
We'd never seen that before.
We've done these surveys before.
It was always like, hey,
what's a priority for you as a worker?
It was always pay and recognition.
In the pandemic job flexibility
shot instantly to the top and stayed there.
Have you heard of Ms. Excel?
>> Tell me about her.
>> Ms. Excel is a young creator,
who just offers quick tips about how to use Excel.
She started on TikTok.
She built a massive following
for these Excel tips on TikTok.
She brought those over to LinkedIn.
They're doing incredibly well on LinkedIn as well.
>> We're talking about the spreadsheet software.
>> Yes, I should be clear,
these are tips on how to
use your spreadsheet software better
on a platform that is known for their funny dances.
I think what she has found is that
the audience might be more on LinkedIn than on TikTok.
This is a persona for her,
and you can build
a business out of doing something like this.
>> Thanks Dan. Now let's hear from someone who
leveraged their passion to do exactly that.
Here's [inaudible] chatting with
our correspondent, Desmond Dickerson.
>> I'm super-excited to talk
to a good friend of mine today.
Tommy and I met in college and now
we both work in marketing and Microsoft.
He's also a successful member of the crater economy with
a travel Instagram account that
has over 18,000 followers.
He frequently collaborates with
his partner scholar Marsha.
Welcome Tommy, so glad to talk to you today.
>> Yeah men,
I've really been looking forward to
talk about this with you.
>> I can think back to our time together on college.
Before there was this thing called to create our economy.
It was you in the DJ Booth,
rock in a party or it was you with
the camera in hand showing your creativity that way.
What sparked all of that for you?
When did you start to think
of yourself as a creative person?
>> I'm Nigerian, so
some listeners may relate when I say that my parents
wanted our lives within the home
and to begin and end with our family.
I was only allowed to go to school and
then the football practice and then back home.
For a long time that was about it
really fill that time I was really
interested in books and movies
and more than anything else, Japanese anime.
The storytelling and character
development I feel gave me a row
early peek into what it is to put
depth into building out a story or a timeline.
I mean, that was just really cool
because then I was able to take that and put
it into practice because we
would have African parties where
kids were there sleeping at table is still
two 03:00 A.M. that's just our culture.
Then my mom would nudge me awake like,
hey, come take this picture for the family.
From there as I continued on,
I learnt storytelling through Instagram,
TiKtok and through travel and traveling while
black and letting my audience see audience what it's
like to travel as a black man,
a black man or black woman,
a couple through these various countries and
essentially with black people being one of
the least travel and groups of
people letting them know how
safe it is out there for us in the world,
and how welcoming the world can be
towards us and how accessible it is.
>> With everything you are doing
within the create economy.
What impact has that had on your career?
>> It's been really great.
First off, starting off in Microsoft,
one thing I always tell people
how great of a company it is,
because with it being such a large company,
if there's something that you want to do,
you're more than likely be able
to find it here at Microsoft.
My first position coming in as
an account manager wasn't
necessarily what I wanted to do,
but I felt like that account management skill
is something that I'd be able to use in
the long run as I continue
into the profession of digital marketing.
>> It sounds like your creator work
is definitely helping you get
a different perspective on marketing
that's useful in your day job.
I know you're at NYU right
now you're doing the MBA program.
In the conversations with
classmates or just in classes in general,
is anything about the creative economy popping up?
>> When I discuss what I do
for a living with my classmates,
their ears or eyes automatically just pop up?
I want to hear more about this.
What can I do? I've been having
those discussions with my classmates.
It's so for me, it's always just what interest you.
Why does it interest to you?
It becomes a conversation.
I stop the conversation 20 minutes in them like,
you know way more about this than I do.
The conversation so far has been great.
You've caught my interest.
What would it be to make a video?
Not even with your face in the video,
but just words on a screen or just something to
keep the interest of your audience
and just stay informative.
Boom, you're a creator.
[MUSIC]
>> That was Microsoft employee and digital creator
Tami Ebisi giving us
a personal view of what it's like to be a creator.
Daniel Roth, we were talking about
the Creator Academy in general.
Let's zoom out even more.
Why should the creator economy matter
to business leaders who
might see themselves as
separate from individual creatives.
What can today's managers or workers in general,
the workforce writ large,
learn from creators and what they're up to?
>> If you are managing
a workforce that has any Gen-Z millennial workers.
This is an area that you have to be on top of
because it is highly likely that your employees,
they are thinking about
what the alternative is to working with you.
Then alternative is going to
be being a creator and going off on my own.
It's in the back of your workforce is mine,
so you have to stay aware of it.
>> Good companies identify and then empower
the creators so they can use
those skills within the company.
>> Absolutely. This is especially true in the environment
we're in right now where talent is so hard to find.
When someone's looking for a job,
what are they looking for?
Is this a place where I can work?
Does this company line up to my values?
That is something that has emerged out of the pandemic.
How do you know if that company lines up to your values?
The employees are telling you that it does.
If you have creators internally
who can talk about their work,
you can talk about their passion
that is good for your brand,
that helps you get people in the door.
People say, oh, this is a company that employs
this person I can fit in there as well.
They let me bring my whole self to work.
That's one big part of it.
The second is that these creative,
these influencers are the ones who are
fueling so much product purchase right now.
If you were not thinking about how
whatever it is you're selling is being used,
are talked about by the creative class.
Then I think you're
missing out on a key part of the funnel.
You have to be in front of
this authentic group of people who are saying,
I love using x product.
Here's why I do it, or here are my tips
for how to make y product work even better.
This is what I do using it.
These are all creative economy people
who are finding their passion,
their community around your products,
you need to embrace them.
>> Who are the unknown creators in an organization that
can really push
an organization forward, drive innovation.
How do you uncover them,
especially when those skills don't
necessarily show up in a traditional way?
>> If you are at a company,
you should see who, which of your employees are posting.
You want to find the people who
are not afraid to share their voice.
If I were in a company trying
to figure out who the creators are internally,
I would just start following my employees.
I would start following on my LinkedIn.
I would look for them on Instagram,
I would work for them on
YouTube and start seeing what they're creating.
>> All right, Dan Roth, thanks so much.
>> All right, thank you.
[MUSIC]
>> That's it for this episode of
the workload podcasts from Microsoft,
check out the WorkLab digital publication
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a transcript of this very episode
that is all at Microsoft.com/worklab.
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The workload podcast is a place for experts to share
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as students of the future of work,
Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices.
That said, the opinions and
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may not necessarily reflect
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WorkLab is produced by Microsoft with
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I'm your host Elise Hu,
our are correspondence or Mary
mountain and Jasmine Dickerson,
Sharon Kalandar, and
Matthew Duncan produced this podcast.
Jessica Volker is
the WorkLab editor. Thanks for listening.