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How Openness Helps These Two LeagueApps Teammates Succeed

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By Melissa Wickes
June 6, 2022
3 min

The LeagueApps value system is an integral part of each employees’ everyday— and it’s one of the many things that set us apart from other organizations. It allows us to stay aligned with one another and check in on each other, resulting in a strong company culture that is present throughout the organization.  

Each week, LeagueApps team members have the opportunity to recognize peers who have demonstrated one or more of our values by shouting them out for that value during our All Hands meeting. This allows for the larger LeagueApps team to stay connected as we strive to achieve our company objectives, and to learn a little bit more about what makes each employee at LeagueApps great. 

Employees who truly embody any of these values are named SPORTSDOG Award recipients during our annual ceremony, based on a company-wide vote.

This month, we’re spotlighting the O in SPORTSDOG—Openness—by acknowledging the 2021 SPORTSDOG Award Recipients, David Cameron and Amanda Astudillo.

At LeagueApps, Openness means setting clear expectations and communications to build better teams, on and off the field. Openness is important to us at LeagueApps because it gives everyone clearer visibility on projects, relationships, outcomes, and day-to-day responsibilities—allowing us all to succeed. 

When asked to describe what Openness looks like to him, Javie Rios—Senior Director and Head of Product Engineering and 2020’s Openness award recipient—said he always thinks of someone who isn’t afraid to ask hard questions, someone who will tell you what’s on their mind, and someone who is curious and willing to receive whatever the answer to their question will bring. 

After all, as Ted Lasso taught us, it’s important to be curious, not judgemental. 

Here’s a little bit about how David and Amanda display openness at work everyday.

Openness SPORTSDOG Award Winner: David Cameron

David is a Front-End Engineer on the LeagueApps Engineering team. His colleagues recognized him for openness during the 2021 SPORTSDOG Awards because of the way he is honest and communicative with his team everyday. 

So communicative and honest, in fact, that Jamie Hancock recalls a time when David said “to feel more connected you would have to start holding mass weddings or kidney swaps” to describe the LeagueApps bi-annual offsite (OTAs).

As someone who is described by his colleagues as “curious” and “open about everything,” David was a perfect choice for this year’s SPORTSDOG Award for Openness. These qualities are particularly important when working on an engineering team, as they allow him and his teammates to access all of the information they need to reach solutions faster. Here’s a little bit of what his teammates had to say about him:

“David always keeps an eye on his teammates. He always has a thought on how to improve things and always expresses it in the most polite way possible,” said Kion Kasianenko.

“He is open about everything, good and bad, and always delivers his perspective in a constructive manner,” said Rob Wong.

“I’ve always been able to go to D-Cam with a topic in mind, and come away with a better perspective than I’d started with,” said Jesse Ehrenzweig.  

Openness SPORTSDOG Award Winner: Amanda Astudillo

Amanda is a Senior Manager on the People Team at LeagueApps, and as someone who manages and navigates relationships (and sometimes the more difficult situations) at LeagueApps, openness is an absolute must to do her job. She is tasked everyday with not only asking the right questions, but providing the right answers to people in all different roles at LeagueApps—and doing both with openness, honesty, and clear communication is what makes her successful as a People Team leader.

When asked to describe how Amanda represents Openness at LeagueApps, here’s what the team had to say: 

“Amanda brings her best self to every conversation, helping People leaders and the entire team navigate all the various challenging situations that arise,” says Bharat Chopra.

“Amanda embodies openness down to the tee. She is always ready to help when she is needed and provides her team the best path forward in any scenario,” says JP Pagtalunan. 

“Amanda is by far the most open person I know. She speaks straight forward to you, no extra fluff,” Onki Yeung.

“She communicates succinctly, clearly, always genuinely, and from the heart, as she tries to make our team better. That’s what makes Amanda so very special,” says Joanne Murray. 

Why Our Team Values Matter

Having annual SPORTSDOG Awards—as well as weekly shoutouts that highlight a team value—allows us to hold ourselves accountable as members of the LeagueApps team and truly live our company values each and every day we go to work. Stay tuned for next month’s SPORTSDOG Award spotlight: the winner of Results.

Do you think you embody the value of Openness as well as David and Amanda do? Be sure to take a look at our open positions to find your fit at LeagueApps.