Every episode is built around your biggest challenges, questions, and ideas. The review you're dreading. A meeting that didn't go the way you wanted. An engagement strategy from the CEO and you don't know where to start. A talent pipeline you want to run by someone. A challenge you need to solve for the future, not just put a band-aid on. I answer and unpack each one, and bring on expert guests steeped in wisdom to talk through your submission with me. Bring it — we'll unpack it together.
"I've spent my career building businesses and teams through the people. Not studying it from the outside — living it, every day, at scale."
As Chief People Officer of a growing organization — nearly 1,200 employees across 16 sites — I build and run the people strategy behind one of the best places to work in its field. Performance, culture, the tough conversations, leadership transitions, all the messy human stuff: I'm not studying it from the outside. I'm living it, every day, at scale.
That ground-level work sits on top of more than two decades of building businesses and people. I've launched and grown multi-million-dollar companies — learning as much from the failures as the wins — and created the Everyday Innovators™ assessment and the book Innovation Is Everybody's Business to make big ideas tangible for the rest of us. My expertise has been sought by Procter & Gamble, Disney, Nike, Hills Pet Nutrition, and the U.S. Army Research Labs.
But what I do best is make all of it land in the real, everyday work of leading people. On I'm a People Person, I bring the whole toolkit to your situations — the review you're dreading, the conversation you keep avoiding, the team dynamic you can't quite name — plus other experts (guest interviews) steeped in wisdom to talk through it with me. No jargon, no performance. Just an honest, experienced read from someone who's made the mistakes, had the wins, and has nothing left to prove.
I'm a travel enthusiast, an amateur crime sleuth, and — according to my kids — an average cook. As a kid at Atari Computer Camp I won the "I'll Try Anything Once" Award. A motto I still live by.
Here's what people are bringing for the founding episodes. Sound familiar?
I have to tell my top sales rep that his behavior is toxic to the team. He brings in 40% of our revenue and I'm terrified he'll quit...
My two best engineers refuse to be on the same project. Both are invaluable. I don't want to lose either of them over this...
I got promoted to lead the team I've been on for 3 years. Now I'm boss to people I used to complain about bosses with...
Our VP of Operations is retiring in 4 months and she's the only one who knows how half our processes work. I'm not sure where to even start...
Our CEO handed me a project with no budget and a 3-week deadline. I'm supposed to 'figure it out.' I don't know where to start...
I need to tell my designer his work has slipped, but he takes everything personally. Last time he didn't speak to me for a week...
We desperately need help but everyone's too busy to interview properly. How do you hire well when nobody has time to breathe?
I presented the new strategy and my whole team went silent. Not good silent. Panic silent. I don't know what I missed...
My best employee keeps rescheduling our one-on-ones. I can't tell if she's avoiding me or just swamped. I don't want to push too hard...
I have to tell my top sales rep that his behavior is toxic to the team. He brings in 40% of our revenue and I'm terrified he'll quit...
My two best engineers refuse to be on the same project. Both are invaluable. I don't want to lose either of them over this...
I got promoted to lead the team I've been on for 3 years. Now I'm boss to people I used to complain about bosses with...
Our VP of Operations is retiring in 4 months and she's the only one who knows how half our processes work. I'm not sure where to even start...
Our CEO handed me a project with no budget and a 3-week deadline. I'm supposed to 'figure it out.' I don't know where to start...
I need to tell my designer his work has slipped, but he takes everything personally. Last time he didn't speak to me for a week...
We desperately need help but everyone's too busy to interview properly. How do you hire well when nobody has time to breathe?
I presented the new strategy and my whole team went silent. Not good silent. Panic silent. I don't know what I missed...
My best employee keeps rescheduling our one-on-ones. I can't tell if she's avoiding me or just swamped. I don't want to push too hard...
Lead the humans well, and the rest follows. People leadership isn't the thing you delegate when you get busy — it's the thing that determines whether everything else works.
Lead the humans well, and the rest follows. Why people leadership isn't the thing you delegate when you get busy — it's the thing that determines whether everything else works.
Job descriptions lie. What to look for when the seat you're filling has to fit the people already in the room.
It's not always about fixing it. Sometimes it's about naming it. A messy one, with a guest who lived through it.
The founding episodes are in production right now. Subscribe to be the first to know when they drop.
The conversation you're avoiding. The hire that isn't working. The dynamic you can't name. A meeting that didn't go the way you wanted. An engagement strategy from the CEO and you don't know where to start. A talent pipeline you want to run by someone. A challenge you need to solve for the future, not just put a band-aid on. Tell me a little — I read everything, and the best ones become founding episodes (anonymously, always). Be part of the show from the very beginning.