Teamistry Season 2: The Team of Teams

Why did Concorde disappear from our skies? In the final episode, we pose this question to the people closest to the Concorde project, from the teams who engineered its first flight to those who picked up the debris after the fatal Air France crash. We also discuss Concorde's legacy, and its impact on the aviation sector, on travel itself, and on the personal and professional lives of those who built the plane. And before they turn off their mics for the season, host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far and lead producer Pedro Mendes, alongside aviation journalist Eric Tegler, take a closer look at some recent projects that promise to fly us faster than the speed of sound – again.

Guests in this episode:

Jonathan Glancey, author of 'Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner'
Michel Polacco, French aviation reporter, and author of a book on the Concorde in French
Mike Hall, Chief Engineer for Concorde Support Operations
Katie John, Editor of Mach 2 magazine
John Britton, Chief Engineer of the British Concorde fleet
Yves Gourinat, former Airbus employee during Concorde’s last decade, and currently an Aviation professor at the University of Toulouse.
Ricky Bastin, Technical Liaison Engineer at Concorde.
Eric Tegler, Journalist covering Aerospace and Defence

For more on this episode, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/will-sonic-booms-return-to-our-skies

In the late afternoon of July 25th, 2000, a Concorde crashed into a hotel near Charles de Gaulle airport. Air France flight 4590 was carrying 100 passengers, most of them tourists from Germany, along with a crew of nine. All perished, including four people on the ground. The incident shocked the globe, and halted Air France Concorde operations indefinitely. On this episode of Teamistry, host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far and lead producer Pedro Mendes sit down with the team of engineers who played a leading role in piecing together the evidence from the crash site, hoping to learn exactly what went wrong. We gain insights through cockpit recordings and an interview with a friend of the pilot who tells the story of the crash – and its aftermath – truthfully and respectfully. We also address a common myth that the crash spelled the end of Concorde.

Guests in this episode:

• Jonathan Glancey, author of 'Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner'
• Michel Polacco, French aviation reporter, and author of a book on the Concorde in French
• Mike Hall, Chief Engineer for Concorde Support Operations
• Katie John, Editor of Mach 2 magazine
• John Britton, Chief Engineer of the British Concorde fleet
• Dudley Collard, member of the Aerodynamics Design team at Concorde
• Yves Gourinat, former Airbus employee during Concorde’s last decade, and currently an Aviation professor at the University of Toulouse.
• Ricky Bastin, Technical Liaison Engineer at Concorde.

For more on this episode, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/rising-from-the-ashes.

As teams of engineers work around the clock to keep the supersonic airplane safe and in the air, to the outside world Concorde has become a pop cultural icon. Princess Diana, Mick Jagger, Phil Collins, Joan Collins, Sting – these celebrities form an A-list of frequent flyers. The in-flight menu includes haute cuisine and expensive champaign; air travel aboard Concorde is a high-class, celebratory experience. To join this jet set in the air becomes anyone's most romantic travel dream, and taking a Concorde flight becomes a status symbol. The airplane is the toast of engineering circles and entertainment magazines alike. It inspires art and is even the protagonist in the movie "Airport ‘79," a thriller where a Concorde is chased by jet fighters. But in the real world, Concorde faces serious existential threats from political developments, regulations, and protests, and the only way to save it further limits who actually gets to experience the sexiest flight on Earth.

Guests in this episode:

• Jonathan Glancey, author of 'Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner'
• Michel Polacco, French aviation reporter, and author of a book on the Concorde in French
• Mike Hall, Chief Engineer for Concorde Support Operations
• Katie John, Editor of Mach 2 magazine
• John Britton, Chief Engineer of the British Concorde fleet
• Yves Gourinat, former Airbus employee during Concorde’s last decade, and currently an Aviation professor at the University of Toulouse.
• Ricky Bastin, Technical Liaison Engineer at Concorde.

For more on this episode and to see Katie John's painting referenced in this episode, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/becoming-the-sexiest-flight-on-earth

Years of hard work, innovation, and unprecedented collaboration between teams in the U.K. and France make the impossible, possible: the first French Concorde prototype takes flight, and a new page in aviation history is written. But the supersonic airplane isn’t ready to ferry passengers just yet. As you’ll hear in episode 3, Concorde’s journey from prototype to commercial air travel is beset by unforeseen challenges throughout the 1970s. The Oil Crisis makes the gas-guzzling plane commercially unviable, and several international carriers cancel their orders. Environmentalists protest against Concorde with claims of "Aviation Colonialism," and some communities are dealing with "sonic booms" – the thunderous clap heard from the ground when a Concorde flying overhead breaks the speed of sound. Not everyone’s happy with the realities of the supersonic dream – and they make their displeasure known.

In this episode, host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far and Lead Producer Pedro Mendes travel to the Musée Aeroscopia in Toulouse, France, where they stand spellbound marveling at a giant, glistening Air France Concorde. And they meet with nonagenarian Dudley Collard, a member of Concorde’s Aerodynamics Design team. When the recording crew mention the beauty of Concorde, engineer Collard quips that all he can see are the flaws. Indeed, the story of Concorde includes a seemingly never-ending set of problems faced by these international teams just to get a prototype in the air, and how they responded by developing new ways of working together. Also in episode two: the suspicion of espionage and the capture of spies, the Americans enter the supersonic race, and how Soviet Russia's desire to overtake Concorde’s dream of supersonic flight leads to a nightmare.

Guests in this episode:

Jonathan Glancey, author of 'Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner'
Katie John, Editor of Mach 2 magazine
Nigel Ferris, a former clerk in the hangers where the British Concorde fleet was built
John Britton, Chief Engineer of the British Concorde fleet
Ted Talbot (through an actor’s voice), Chief Design Engineer at Concorde and author of the memoir ‘Concorde, A Designer's Life’
Yves Gourinat, former Airbus employee during Concorde’s last decade and currently an Aviation professor at the University of Toulouse.
Michel Polacco, French aviation reporter, and author of a book on the Concorde in French
Ricky Bastin, Technical Liaison Engineer at Concorde.
Dudley Collard, member of the Aerodynamics Design team at Concorde

For more on this episode, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/building-the-fastest-passenger-jet-ever

In the opening episode, host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far and producer Pedro Mendes set the stage for what’s going to be a supersonic journey documented in six parts—and also reflect on their personal connections to Concorde. You’ll hear about the monumental 1956 meeting of the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee (STAC) that set in motion a complex network of teams from the U.K. and France to realize this ambitious project. Also in this episode — the team travels to the Brooklands Museum in the U.K, where host Nas sees a Concorde up close for the first time.

Guests in this episode:

• Jonathan Glancey, author of 'Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner'
• Katie John, Editor of Mach 2 magazine
• Michel Polacco, French aviation reporter, and author of a book on the Concorde in French
• Nigel Ferris, a former clerk in the hangers where the British Concorde fleet was built
• John Britton, Chief Engineer of the British Concorde fleet
• Ted Talbot (through the voice of Steve Wadhams), Chief Design Engineer at Concorde and author of the memoir ‘Concorde, A Designer's Life’
• Dudley Collard, member of the Aerodynamics Design team at Concorde

For more on this episode, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/the-dream-of-supersonic-flight

Picture this: A flight from New York to London where your co-passengers are Princess Diana, Mick Jagger, and Sting. On the menu: caviar canapés, lobster, and champagne. Your journey takes a little over three hours – half of the time it takes today. And that one flight puts you in the history books, because you just flew faster than the speed of sound.

Welcome aboard for the new season of Teamistry, a podcast from Atlassian. This show is all about teamwork, and the incredible things teams can achieve through collaboration. In Season 4, we’ll tell you the story of Concorde: the world’s only supersonic passenger plane to have taken to the skies. Concorde is an engineering marvel, a pop cultural icon, and a source of controversy – including espionage. Above all, Concorde is a testament to what happens when teams go beyond borders, egos, and politics to make the impossible, possible.

Join new host Nastaran Tavakoli-Far and lead producer Pedro Mendes as they travel to the U.K. and France to where Concorde was built, and talk with the original team of engineers as they reflect on their personal journeys, emotional highs and lows, and mind-numbing complications faced when turning a dream into reality.

Episode 1 of ”Making an Impossible Airplane: The Untold Story of Concorde” takes off on November 21st. See you then!

For more on the show, visit: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/teamistry/season/season-4/making-an-impossible-airplane-the-untold-story-of-concorde

In March of 2020, as Will Smith is filming the biopic "King Richard," the emergence of COVID-19 abruptly shuts down all production. With unusual downtime and an urge to uplift his audience amid looming uncertainty, the actor meets with his production team at Westbrook Media to find a creative solution. What if they created a variety show with Will as the host – from his house? Smith had never hosted a variety show, and Westbrook Media had never done anything like it – not to mention during a pandemic, where the full production crew can't be on set, and those on location must follow strict safety protocols. But they take on the challenge, and in only a few weeks Snapchat offers a lucrative deal to launch the show as soon as possible. In the final episode of season 3, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite tells the story of the making of what became the hit Snapchat show: "Will From Home." A show developed in an entirely new way, where Will Smith's garage becomes the set and the people he interviews aren't with him but in their own homes and garages. Behind the scenes, it's the amazing work of a team of enterprising producers, writers, editors, and leaders who discovered during the making that many age-old industry practices need to be more inclusive and collaborative – even after the pandemic. Throughout the episode, Gabriela, a film director herself, shares her experiences of working in film production during this time and offers insights on teamwork lessons that are here to stay. You'll hear from Gila Jones, COO of Westbrook Inc., and Lukas Kaiser​ SVP and Head of Content. You'll also hear from Dawn Manning, Head of Physical Production, Ashley McCollum,​ SVP, Revenue & Strategy and Dana Z. Currier​ SVP, Operations.

Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For a transcript of the episode and other extras, check out www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/where-theres-a-will-smith-theres-a-way. To listen to episodes from all three seasons of Teamistry, go to www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast

The can is Americana itself; the product indistinguishable from the ordinary contents. It's part of a quintessential American meal, soothing the hunger and warming the souls of families for more than a hundred years. But in 2001, a toxic atmosphere hung over the workers at The Campbell Soup Company. Its headquarters stood isolated behind barbed fences in the run-down city of Camden, New Jersey. Inside, a culture of anxiety and distrust prevailed. Employees, uneasy about going outside the gates, ate lunch in the building – and got no discounts on soup. The dwindling morale, along with impending financial crisis, pushed the company to the brink: it had the lowest employee engagement of any Fortune 500 company. To save this American culinary and cultural icon from collapse, a new CEO enters the scene and embarks on an ambitious mission. He wants to replace and rejuvenate the leadership team, boost morale, and turn the company's fortunes around – in just three years. His strategies are both tough and tender: he lets hundreds of unfit senior managers go, and sends tens of thousands of handwritten letters to employees to recognize and praise their work. 

In the penultimate episode of Teamistry's third season, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite takes us behind the scenes to witness Campbell's rebirth. We hear from the former CEO who led this mission, Douglas Conant, who explains how he translated "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" into a step-by-step framework to rebound employee morale and confidence. We also hear from two of Doug's handpicked recruits who represented a new era of leadership at the company: Nancy Reardon, former Senior Vice President and Chief of HR and David White, former Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain.

Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For a transcript of the episode and other extras, check out www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/campbells-finds-the-soup-for-their-soul

When the pandemic struck, many pivoted their lives online – to connect with family, to work, to attend school. But many others, living in cutoff communities, like several neighborhoods in the city of Detroit, Michigan, where generations of systemic racism and poor infrastructure has left them largely isolated, this wasn't an option. Up to 40% of residents in these underserved areas have no internet at all, keeping them from the online world where everything had moved. But an enterprising team of "digital stewards" is changing this reality. In this episode of Teamistry, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite tells the story of the Detroit Equitable Internet Initiative – a network of formal workers and grassroots organizations that are bringing low-cost or free high-speed internet to families, one connection at a time. Their ability to win trust from the community and strategize on the ground – even during a pandemic – has emerged as a case study on how to mobilize a network to reach people in hard-to-reach places. You'll spend a day with Changa Parker and Kirk Teasley – the digital stewards – as they install WiFi door-to-door. You'll hear from Janice Gates, Director of Equitable Internet Initiative, and you'll hear from Nick Wilson, Network Manager at North End Woodward Community Coalition, as he leads the Digital Stewards on their daily missions. You'll also hear from Norma Heath, a community organizer, for whom reliable and affordable internet is no longer a distant dream thanks to this amazing team's work.

Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For a transcript of the episode and other extras, check out www.atlassian.com/blog/podcast/on-a-mission-for-equitable-internet-in-detroit