Shadowing Practice: Business Partner B2 Unit 1.1.1 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

B2
Different businesses have different styles.
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Different businesses have different styles.
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We talk about the culture of a company,
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and this might mean its dress code or the way in which its staff communicate with their managers.
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Gravity Payments is a credit card processing company based in Seattle.
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It organizes the authorizations of fund transfers for credit card transactions.
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Its clients are retailers who accept card payments for purchases,
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and it aims to cut the cost of processing card payments.
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Gravity Payments, this is Corinne.
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Gravity Payments has grown quickly,
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from a small startup to a profitable mid-size operation.
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Company culture changed for the hundred employees of Gravity Payments when their boss,
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Dan Price, announced the company's minimum salary would go up to $70,000 a year.
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Effective immediately, we're going to put a scaled policy into place
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and we're going to have a minimum $70,000 pay rate for everyone that works here.
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And he cut his own salary from $1 million a year to $70,000.
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Curious if anyone has any questions.
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Let me see if I can find that for you.
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Corrine Ward in customer support used to have a long commute.
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Now she can afford to live close enough to walk to work.
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I'm able to afford, you know,
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the cost of living in Seattle, which is incredible.
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Gravity Payments, this is Alyssa.
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Alyssa O'Neill used to make $21,000 a year before coming to Gravity Payments.
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Now she makes almost $60,000 a year as a customer support representative.
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She's paid off her car loan,
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credit card debt, and moved into a better home.
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It's something I never could have imagined.
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Following the announcement, Dan Price was praised as America's best boss,
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and the company received a flood of job applications and new client inquiries.
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But there were negative effects as well.
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Gravity lost a few of its most senior staff.
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They felt their skills and experience were not recognized in the new more equal pay structure.
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Over time, however, Gravity reported a 75% increase in revenue and 67% increase in new clients.
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Harvard Business School researched the changes at Gravity Payments.
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Some of their success might be attributed to increased productivity on the part of the workers now who,
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you know, feel respected and understand that they're going to have a hard time finding another job that pays so well.
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But it also has generated a lot of publicity and that has been good in terms of pulling in business.
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Tom Osborne is a client of Gravity Payments.
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To me, if they're running their business in a way that their staff feel better about being part of the company,
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work harder with their customers,
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to me as a vendor, that's a good thing.
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And another good thing seems to be happening at Gravity's headquarters.
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The staff are up to something.
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We had tried to think of a way that we could thank Dan for what he's done for us.
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Customer support representative Alyssa O'Neill got the ball rolling.
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We have one more gift for you.
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All right.
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It's outside, though.
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Alyssa convinced the other employees to contribute hundreds of dollars each.
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They bought Dan a Tesla car worth $90,000.
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Are you kidding me?
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No. It happened.
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It was like it was meant to be.
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Oh my gosh!
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I'm really surprised by his reaction.
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Thank you.
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In the short term, Dan Price's strategy seems to have been a success,
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particularly in creating a new culture at Gravity Payments.
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And only time will tell if it's going to be a long-term success or whether other companies will take the same approach.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, learners will engage with a compelling case study exploring the culture of a successful company, Gravity Payments. By listening to the transcript, you will practice your English speaking skills while examining themes such as business culture, employee satisfaction, and innovative salary practices. This content focuses not only on vocabulary enhancement but also on listening comprehension and spoken fluency. Overall, students will improve their English speaking practice through contextually rich material, ideal for those preparing for speaking assessments like the IELTS.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Company culture - The characteristics and traits of a company that influence its environment and employee interactions.
  • Minimum salary - The lowest amount of money that can be paid to an employee.
  • Commute - The travel time between home and work.
  • Customer support representative - An employee who assists customers with inquiries and issues.
  • Productivity - The efficiency of production, often measured by output over time.
  • Vendor - A person or company offering something for sale; a supplier.
  • Recognition - The acknowledgment of someone’s skills or contributions.
  • Generate publicity - To create public interest or attention, often through media coverage.

Practice Tips

To maximize your learning experience with this video, consider using a shadowing app to enhance your practice. Shadowing involves mimicking the speaker as closely as possible, helping improve pronunciation and rhythm. As you watch, pay close attention to the speed and intonation of the speakers, which is moderate and clear, making it ideal for repetition.

Start by playing short segments of the video, repeating them phrase by phrase. Aim to imitate the tone and emotion conveyed by the speakers. The conversational nature of this content means you can also practice with a friend or record yourself to evaluate your progress.

Try to incorporate these new vocabulary words into your regular conversations, as doing so will further solidify your grasp on them. Engaging with authentic material like this is a great way to learn English with YouTube efficiently. Use the material not only for speaking practice but also as a topic to develop your writing skills related to business English.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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