How Emotional Bravery Transforms Leadership and Culture
One truth stood out when I spoke with Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerX: leading with humanity is not a soft skill. It is a strategic...
How to Make External HR a Force Multiplier for Your Team
Executives often bring outside HR expertise to accelerate change or close capability gaps. Internal HR leaders sometimes read that move as a...
Wellness 2.0: Building a Sustainable Workplace Culture
When Danielle Dinkelman, Co-founder and CEO of Advanced Corporate Wellness (ACW), talks about wellness, she doesn’t start with gym memberships or...
Building “Embodied Safety” at Work: A Practical Blueprint for Leaders
The most challenging leadership problems often masquerade as simple ones. Safety looks obvious until you widen the lens and see how physiology,...
Leading Calmly in Chaotic Times: A Conversation
In a world where change moves faster than people can process it, calm leadership is becoming a rare art. I recently sat down with Nir Megnazi,...
Employee Spotlight: Emily Etherington
I sat down with Emily Etherington to talk about her journey at Xenium, what lights her up about HR...
Work Here Now: Building a Human-Centered Workplace in the Age of AI
When Melissa Swift published Work Here Now: Think Like a Human and Build a Powerhouse Workplace, her goal was to expose the ways the everyday...
What Good Leaders Can Learn From Bad Bosses
Organizations do not suffer from bad leadership because malevolence suddenly takes over a manager's body. More often, capable people are placed in...
Nicole Blevins on HR’s Relationship With Executives
In the age of instant virality, leaders' private decisions no longer stay private. Several weeks ago, a CEO and his chief people officer were caught...
“Leaders Are Gardeners”: How Wes Adams Teaches Managers to Grow Meaning at Work
My discussion with Wes Adams explored one of the most important questions in leadership today: how purpose translates into performance. Wes...
“Treat AI Like a Teammate”: Lessons on Modern People Leadership from Nextdoor’s Bryan Power
I’ve had hundreds of conversations with leaders about workplace transformation, but few have been as wide-ranging and refreshingly candid as my...
Navigating the Future of Employee Benefits: Insights from Hub International’s 2025 Outlook
Employee benefits are at a critical crossroads. Rising costs, new technologies, and shifting employee expectations are forcing employers to rethink...
Employee Spotlight: Ayani Yapa Bandera
Ayani Yapa Bandera has served as an Onsite HR Generalist at Xenium for nearly three years, building a strong strategic partnership with Far West...
It’s All in Your Head: Rethinking Psychology’s Place in How We Lead
Interviewing Barry Wolfe about his book It’s All in Your Head: Why Psychology Doesn’t Help Your Workforce Deliver Value felt like holding up a...
How to Spend a $100,000 HR Budget in a 50-Person Company
Small businesses live and die by how well they manage people with limited resources. Give an HR leader $100,000, and you force trade-offs: buy...
Style Is More Than Clothes: How Personal Branding Can Transform Your Workplace
When I sat down with Jenny Eversole, co-founder and CEO of StyleSpace, one thing became clear right away: style is about much more than what we...
Redefining Mental Health at Work: A Conversation with Sarah Harris
When I sat down with Sarah Harris, a licensed clinical social worker turned workplace culture consultant, I was struck by how her career path...
What’s in a Name? The Overlooked Key to Workplace Belonging
Most organizations say they want an inclusive culture. They invest in diversity, equity, and belonging initiatives, train managers on empathy, and...
Whispering with Stakeholders: Why Listening Beats Order Taking
When Bill Shander joined me on the Transform Your Workplace podcast, our conversation centered on his new book, Stakeholder Whispering: Uncover What...
The Power of the Pause: How to Respond Instead of React
In our fast-paced, high-pressure world, most of us struggle to slow down—especially in moments that matter most. Cynthia Kane, author of The Pause...
How AI-Native Learning Platforms Will Rewrite Corporate Training
Corporate learning has long been trapped in a "course‐centric" mindset. Build a curriculum, upload it into a learning management system, send...
Stop the Drift: How to Lead with Support, Clarity, and Trust
Michael Wozniak knows firsthand how fast a team can lose its way when leadership becomes purely transactional. As an executive during the NBA’s...
Employee Spotlight: Tracy Callan on Employee Relations, HR Evolution, and Leading with Care
From the moment I met Tracy, I could see her deep sense of care for her team and clients, and for doing the right thing, even when it's hard. Her...
Termination with Humanity: Leading Through Layoffs with Empathy and Transparency
Layoffs are never easy. As leaders, we do everything in our power to avoid them. But when economic pressures mount or funding falls short, sometimes...
Bridging the Gap with Gen Z: Why Communication, Clarity, and Curiosity Are the Leadership Skills of the Future
In our recent discussion, Marcia Homer offered a refreshingly practical perspective on what Gen Z needs from today’s leaders and how organizations...
Why Technical Expertise Isn’t Enough: Helping STEM Professionals Become Better Communicators
As someone who has always considered myself more technical than expressive, I’ve wrestled with anxiety any time I’m asked to present in front of a...
Communicating Corrective Action: Turning Tough Conversations Into Growth Opportunities
Let's be honest, no one looks forward to conversations about performance issues. They can be awkward, tense, and emotionally charged. But handled...
Employee Spotlight: Nae Hakala, HR Business Partner
From the minute Nae walked through Xenium's doors—dressed for Halloween and meeting teammates in full costume—I knew she'd bring equal parts heart...
The Leadership Blueprint Behind Amazon’s Success: Lessons from John Rossman
When you talk to someone like John Rossman, former Amazon executive and author of The Amazon Way and Big Bet Leadership, you’re not just having a...
HR Myth Busters: What Leaders Get Wrong—and How to Get It Right
In my work with hundreds of business and HR leaders and a recent deep-dive conversation with Nicole Blevins, Director of HR Services, I was reminded...
Beyond the Chatbot: What AI Mascots Reveal About the Next Wave of Business Innovation
Artificial intelligence is a workplace transformation hiding in plain sight. But while individuals are signing up for free ChatGPT and Gemini...
The Hidden Link Between Brand Storytelling and Workplace Culture
When we think of brand-building, most of us default to the visible elements, like logos, colors, fonts—the things that “pop.” But after sitting down...
Bold Kindness: The Leadership Shift the Workplace Has Been Waiting For
What if leadership could be both courageous and compassionate, without compromising results? Cathy Thorpe, CEO of Nurse Next Door and author of Bold...
From Burnout to Purpose: Why the Mattering Revolution Starts with You
When John R. Miles joined me on the Transform Your Workplace podcast, I expected a rich conversation—he’s a former military officer, Fortune 50...
Employee Spotlight: Kim Thompson, Client Success Manager
From the moment Kim joined Xenium, she's been a quiet powerhouse. In just one year, she's become a trusted resource for so many teams across the...
How HR Can Lead the AI Revolution Without Losing Its Humanity
As someone who's spent years at the intersection of HR and technology, I’m constantly energized by the way AI is reshaping how we work. And in a...
What a Popsicle CEO Taught Me About Loving Work
Photo credit: King of Pops When I first picked up Work is Fun by Steve Carse, CEO of King of Pops, I expected quirky stories and some...
The Win-Win Workplace: Reimagining How We Work — And Why It Pays Off
In today’s ever-evolving workplace, organizations are under more pressure than ever to create environments where employees not only stay, but...
Enhancing Relationships Through Active Constructive Response (ACR)
Everyone loves to share good news—landing a new client, nailing a project milestone, getting that long‑awaited promotion. Yet many of us...
Radical Listening: A Quiet Strategy for Powerful Leadership
In a time when everyone’s talking—and tweeting and posting and pinging—the ability to truly listen has become a lost art. Yet, as I recently...
Employee Spotlight: Andrea Stefan — A Decade of Versatility at Xenium HR
I've had the pleasure of working alongside Andrea for years, and her ability to pivot, problem solve, and build genuine relationships never ceases...
Designing Your Life: How to Focus on What Matters Most
In a world where we’re constantly told to “do more with less,” it’s no wonder stress, burnout, and overwhelm have become standard features of modern...
What Returning Parents Really Need—and How Employers Can Deliver
When my colleague Nicole Blevins returned to work, toting baby stories in one hand and a fresh Director of HR Services title in the other, our...
Opening the Right Doors: Rethinking Sponsorship, Trust, and Inclusion at Work
Before Kim Ng became Major League Baseball’s first female general manager, she was passed over—despite decades of experience and undeniable...
The Culture Shift We Can’t Ignore (and How to Lead Through It)
When Jennifer Moss joined me on the Transform Your Workplace podcast to discuss her newest book, Why Are We Here? Creating a Work Culture Everyone...
Employee Spotlight: Sheila Trnjanin
This month, I enjoyed chatting with Sheila Trnjanin, the Employee Experience Supervisor at Xenium HR. Sheila shared her unique journey into HR, her...
Getting What You Need from the People in Charge
Let’s face it—navigating relationships at work can feel like playing a high-stakes game without a rulebook. And for many professionals, especially...
The Power of Healing-Centered Leadership: A Conversation
In the world of leadership, there are few people who wear their hearts as openly and intentionally as Matty Berryessa. As the Executive Director of...
Values, Safety, and Strengths: The Formula for Happier Teams
In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Brandon Laws sits down with Aoife O’Brien, Career & Culture Strategist and founder of the Happier...
Giving Effective Apologies: How to Rebuild Trust and Strengthen Relationships at Work
Everyone makes mistakes. Despite our best intentions, there are times when our words or actions inadvertently cause harm or misunderstanding. While...
Reclaim Your Time: Why Great Leaders Do Less, Not More
In this inspiring episode of Transform Your Workplace, Peggy Sullivan—keynote speaker, author, and consultant—takes aim at the busyness culture...