CarahCast: Podcasts on Technology in the Public Sector · Carahsoft

Culture That Cares Why Philanthropy is Good Business (and Great Leadership)

·25 min·1 clip

A deployed service member says a USO care package with an Xbox, lounge chairs, and games arrived in Afghanistan within a month.

1. CarahCast: Podcasts on Technology in the Public Sector turns to “Culture That Cares Why Philanthropy is Good Business (and Great Leadership)” with Kerasoft and the Operator Relief Fund. 2. Joe Tabatabayan is the guest, and he matters because he is a Kerasoft sales director who has worked there since 2012 and supports ORF events. 3. The episode asks why a company like Kerasoft keeps showing up for nonprofit work and what that says about leadership. 4. Joe says Kerasoft opened its doors in 2004 and grew from 170 employees when he started to about 4,000 today. 5. He says the company’s growth has been visible in both revenue and personnel, and that he has watched that change for 13 years. 6. He describes his first interview as a casual Friday with Jordans, jeans, and a T-shirt. 7. Joe says the early culture included lunches, training, and a lot of time spent building camaraderie. 8. He credits Craig and Mike with giving him continuity because he has had the same bosses for 13 years. 9. Before Kerasoft, Joe interned at the USO after graduating from Radford in 2011. 10. He says that internship put him at Fort Myer with the Wounded Warrior Project and later at Fort Belvoir on USO care package work. 11. Joe recalls traveling the country for stuffing parties and seeing a quadruple amputee his own age at an event. 12. He says that experience made the work feel “really moving” and stayed with him. 13. He tells a story about receiving a USO care package in Afghanistan in 2016 after filling out a form online. 14. He lists the package contents as a digital entertainment setup with an Xbox, lounge chairs, and games. 15. Joe says that kind of support gives deployed service members “a little piece of home.” 16. He describes Kerasoft’s giving as a mix of leadership support and employee initiative, not a pure top-down mandate. 17. He cites Thanksgiving drives, Christmas drives, and a golf tournament that drew 25 to 30 Kerasoft volunteers. 18. Joe says people should “hit start” when they want to launch volunteer programs and should expect to adjust if only eight people show up. 19. The interview is conversational and personal, with repeated references to family, work culture, and real examples from events. 20. Listeners who care about corporate volunteering, nonprofit partnerships, and leadership culture will get the most from it.

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