Lead the People

Currently serving as the Chief People Officer at California Pizza Kitchen, Shannon is an experienced HR executive with over 20 years in the hospitality and tech industries. Known for driving change, fostering resiliency, and spearheading innovations through a people-centric approach, she has a proven track record of enhancing organizational culture and performance. In addition to her current role, she is also the Vice-President of the Kindness Fund at CPK, a 501(c)(3) peer-to-peer giving program supporting employees in need. Top 3 Takeaways Get Ready. Resilience is about problem-solving and reaction to challenges. Leaders should build it by focusing on related competencies like communication, emotional intelligence and proactive problem-solving. Stack it Up. Effective accountability requires three layers: individual clarity about expectations, team accountability toward shared goals and leadership that addresses negative behaviors quickly. Seek Harmony. Balance stability and innovation by recognizing team members' natural roles as innovators, implementers, or communicators and fostering awareness of these strengths. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "Resilience at its simplest form is problem solving and also your reaction to challenges. So as an individual or an organization, what it does is it strengthens your approach and your perspective to problems." "Leaders have to model these behaviors, so they have to be transparent about the problems that we're dealing with, involve others in the problem solving. So you're teaching your organization how to become problem solvers." "You have to be aware of yourself as an organization. Look to make sure that you're not self-inflicting your own problems and creating your own crises and expecting the answer to be employee resilience." "We have to define what vulnerability is not. It's not weakness. Vulnerability, what that does is it brings a human into leadership. It makes leaders approachable, and that's how you build trust." "You're really so strong as yourself, but you're stronger as a team... when you empower others around you, when you involve them in this, you get to such a stronger place." "Everybody's voice matters. Everyone's perspective matters. And so when you give people that sense of empowerment and they feel safe to express that... you've gotta model the behavior that you wanna see as a leader." "Who you are outside of work is just as important as who you are inside. And if you respect that as a leader, you get so much more." Connect with Shannon Website: http://www.cpk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-kirk-8464463 

Ashley Herd is the founder of Manager Method, a business focused on empowering managers with practical tools to lead effectively. With a background as a General Counsel and Head of HR, Ashley has a unique perspective on balancing legal considerations with people management. She's passionate about making leadership development accessible and impactful, helping managers create positive ripple effects within their teams. Top 3 Takeaways Know Why. Most managers fail because they lack basic people skills training, not because they're bad people. Organizations too often promote top performers without teaching them how to manage different personalities. Send Help. HR teams want to provide manager training but they lack capacity, not capability. They're stretched thin with compliance work and need scalable, ready-to-use training resources. Join Forces. The best management training comes from internal leaders partnered with external speakers. Combining expert content with internal context creates the most impactful learning experience. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "The problem that I've seen is that people don't get training on the skillset that it is to manage all of these different personalities. You may actively avoid [poor performers] or you just don't work with them as much because you are put on high potential projects." "What I sometimes say to people is management, why it's so different is if you're trying to figure out what it's like to be a manager is go look at or join your local community Facebook group, and you may think like, how is this person a human being that is walking within the same radius as me?" "The biggest gap really is a time perspective. HR is a cost center and so it's never gonna be, or rarely ever going to be staffed as it probably should be. The number one priority for HR frequently in reality is compliance." "It's really often basic free things that people can do to be that good manager. You can build those muscles when you have the right tools of understanding what motivates people." "I don't want to be a road warrior. Really, people want to hear from the manager. What I love is hearing from HR teams that they had people that said, ‘I didn't want to take this training, but I really liked that.’" Connect with Ashley Website: www.managermethod.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd 

Naomi Titleman Colla is Co-Founder of future foHRward Inc. (futurefoHRward.com), whose mission is to empower Human Resources (HR), and all leaders of the future to make work better through their weekly newsletter (foHRsight), podcast (the foHRsight podcast), and private community for Sr. HR Leaders (foHRsight+). Naomi is also Founder of Collaborativity Inc., a Toronto-based consultancy focused on driving progressive talent strategy in this new world of work. She has proven success leading teams and collaborating with senior executives and Boards of Directors to develop and implement creative strategies to maximize employee engagement and ultimately drive business impact. Top 3 Takeaways Proceed with caution. You should pressure-test AI outputs and maintain healthy skepticism while leveraging automation for efficiency. Take back time. By automating repetitive tasks, you can gain time to focus on coaching, empathy and personalized team experiences. Now’s your chance. As AI handles technical work, you need to develop humanistic leadership skills to add value beyond your technical expertise. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "Humans still think that it's cheating if you use AI, and we really have to get over that in order to use it in the best way possible." "Using AI actually enables you to focus more on the human side if you take some of that repeatable task. That admin stuff and really focus on building those connections with your team." "Critical thinking is a skill that we need in all aspects of our life and just apply that to AI." "We're in inning one of a million inning game, and so the tools are not perfect. They're never going to be perfect, but they're going to certainly evolve." "Leadership development is the number one thing organizations can do right now in a real meaningful way." "Taking the robot out of the human leaves the human to do what they do best." "You can't just throw this brand new technology on people's laps and ask them to learn it in their spare time. You have to give them the opportunity to learn." Connect with Naomi Website: futurefoHRward.com   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomititlemancolla/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurefohrward/ 

Dr. Mary Poffenroth is a scientist, professor, and fear/courage researcher. From being adopted at birth to being a first generation college student to her first day at NASA and beyond, Mary has dedicated her life to understanding how best to do scary things. Her work has been featured in Forbes, TIME, Science, TED, Entrepreneur, Cosmopolitan, the Wall Street Journal, SUCCESS Magazine, and Fast Company. Mary has three master’s degrees (biology, psychology, science communication) & a PhD in psychology. Mary shares some of her best stories and strongest courage building, fear fighting neurohacks in her book Brave New You: Strategies, Tools, and Neurohacks to Live More Courageously Every Day. Top 3 Takeaways Open Up. Fear shuts down our prefrontal cortex, disrupting creativity and problem-solving abilities, which is why managing fear is essential for innovation and leadership. Fact vs. Fiction. There's a critical difference between factual fears (immediate dangers) and fictional fears (stories we tell ourselves), with the latter being more insidious to our wellbeing. At Ease. The RAIN method (Recognize, Assign, Identify, Navigate) offers a practical framework to identify fear responses and implement neurohacks that can calm your brain's fear response. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "If we don't take care of our fear stuff, we can't innovate. We can't be creative. We can't solve complex problems." "Fictional fear can have a grain of truth, just like a really good fiction book could be based on true events... But it's not true in the moment, and it's not true in totality." "It's biologically impossible not to feel fear... All those goals and dreams are going to be on the other side of being afraid, because it means you're doing something new." "We parent like we were parented, we lead like we were led, we teach like we were taught. Unless we put in the energy and the time and the effort to do something differently." "With AI and technology, things aren't going to get slower. Things are going to get faster and faster and faster. It's easy to really freeze up and feel overwhelmed if you don't have these tools in place." Connect with Mary Website: http://hellobravenewyou.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marypoffenroth 

Lisa Gelobter is the CEO and Founder of tEQuitable. Using technology to make workplaces more equitable, tEQuitable provides an independent, confidential platform that makes it easy for companies to improve psychological safety and employee engagement, resolve workplace conflict (including micro-inequities), and uncover camouflaged systemic issues before they escalate. With 25+ years in the industry and products that have been used by billions of people, Lisa has worked on several pioneering Internet technologies, including Shockwave, Hulu, and the ascent of online video. Top 3 Takeaways Go there. Conflict is another word for collaboration. Diverse perspectives lead to better outcomes and should be embraced rather than avoided. Set the example. Role modeling the behaviors you want to see is crucial for leaders in order to create inclusive, balanced, and equitable work environments. Get an edge. Heterogeneous teams consistently outperform homogeneous teams because diverse perspectives drive innovation and better problem-solving. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "Conflict is just another word for collaboration. If it's a monolith and everybody's kind of marching to the beat of the same drummer, you're not gonna get extended and expanded opportunities." "That idea of bringing your perspective to the table is actually critical and is your superpower. It's the thing that's going to help make you more successful as well as the organization." "[Diverse teams] are also the most productive, and the ones that are going to be the most successful." "A lot of it goes back to role modeling behaviors that you wanna see replicated. Honestly, that's the crux of it all." "The biggest thing why people come to us is employees don't trust management and HR. That's not a ding against HR and management. It's just being able to talk to a third person. It goes a really, really long way to have a safe place where you can have those conversations." Connect with Lisa tEQuitable Website: https://www.tequitable.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisagelobter 

Rachel Boehm is a leading authority on burnout prevention, workplace stress and sustainable high performance. She empowers decision-makers to protect themselves and their teams against the costs of burnout which can be in the tens of thousands per employee. Her services include leadership coaching, team training, and culture change initiatives, ultimately enhancing employee engagement, retention, and client satisfaction. She holds a national board certification in health and wellness coaching and is a PhD candidate focused on business psychology and worker well-being. Top 3 Takeaways Step onto the Scale. Burnout is not a binary state but a spectrum ranging from sustainable high performance to complete exhaustion, caused by chronic stress that builds up over time. Fall in Line. Burnout often stems from workplace misalignments in areas like values, workload, community, fairness, and autonomy rather than just individual resilience. Be Vigilant. Self-awareness and recognizing changes in behavior are crucial for identifying burnout, both in ourselves and others. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "It's not a switch. It's a spectrum. So if you think like sustainable high performance, which to me means, okay, like say the duration of your career, 80 percent of the time, give or take because we all have the days. You can show up as the best version of yourself." "When we're looking at burnout, the canary can only be so resilient. You have to make the mine less toxic or you will run out of canaries." "If you remember nothing else from this conversation, remember that common and normal are not the same thing." "Emotions are contagious and leaders especially show, right, especially so that they set that bar." "Look for changes in behavior or notice changes in your thoughts... You'll feel that off. You'll feel off." Connect with Rachel Website: http://www.rachelboehm.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelboehm 

Angel Cruzado is the Founder & CEO of Respiris, a company on a mission to reinspire how we approach offboarding. Angel has spent his career in HR with startups, venture-backed companies, and publicly traded Fortune 500 companies. He understands transitions on a personal level, too, having built his own career from the ground up after being laid off and laying 50% of an entire company. His experiences fuel Respiris’ mission: to make sure no one experiences transitions alone. Top 3 Takeaways Hit Pause. Handling employee transitions with deep empathy rather than transactional approaches reduces company risk and supports impacted individuals and their families. Think Bigger. The "career prayer" approach helps transitioning employees articulate their situation and future goals, activating their network more effectively than just updating resumes. Open Up. Showing gratitude to previous employers and colleagues during transitions creates positive energy that helps navigate the uncertainty of career changes. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "When you're sending an email and you're terminating someone who has been someone's best friend for 10 years in the company, it really sets the tone of people being disposed of, and I don't think you can create culture that way." "What's happening is that we've sort of desensitized ourselves to humans. We are not taking into account like their own personal journeys and their life story." "When you terminate someone without deep empathy, you're putting the company at risk, but you're also putting the family at risk." "Most people when they're displaced by their prior employer, they're just super angry. No man, you gotta show gratitude, like what did you learn at your prior company?" "If you can share your journey and your path with me in a way that I am inspired by you, I will actually help you find your next gig." "We are innovating in the last mile of the employee lifecycle." Connect with Angel Website: http://www.respiris.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedIn.com/in/angelcruzado 

As KidGlov’s founder, president, and chief strategist, Lyn leads their diverse team of talented professionals to drive growth through strategic branding and marketing communications. She has been instrumental in promoting regional and national organizations such as Immanuel, Lincoln Community Foundation, HopeSpoke, St. Monica’s, Regency Shopping Center, MembersOwn Credit Union, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Union Bank & Trust, and Bryan Health. Top 3 Takeaways Give it a Boost. A strong brand strategy makes everything easier and more effective - from commanding higher prices to warding off competition and building stronger internal culture. All-Inclusive. Branding isn't just about logos and names - it's about messaging, visual identity, and expressing your organization's unique value through comprehensive strategy. Get in Synch. Purpose-driven branding helps organizations connect with audiences who want to align with brands that share their values, creating meaningful impact. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "We like to say that when you have your brand, a strong brand strategy in place, everything is easier. Everything is more effective." "Why does what you are doing, whether it's a product, a service, a department, a project, why does it absolutely need to exist in the world?" "What we've done with this Brand Advancement process is we've taken some of those tools that those big brands use and we've made them accessible to organizations with more modest budgets." "If you wanna stand out, just like the name of the book, Untangling Spaghetti... If I get your attention and you ask why, even for 10 seconds, I win. Right? And that's what the branding is all about." "One of the hardest things about branding is if you're doing it right, you're probably going to pick something that makes you a little uncomfortable at first because it's different." Connect with Lyn Untangling Spaghetti (book): https://a.co/d/6mR9jgm Brand Advancement (masterclass): https://kidglov.com/brandadvancement Website: http://www.kidglov.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynwineman 

Stela Lupushor is on a mission to humanize the workplace. She works with the Conference Board’s Fortune 500 corporations-members on rethinking their workplace strategies; leads Reframe.Work Inc. and consults on how to create inclusive workplaces through the use of technology, human-centered design, people analytics, and future-thinking; and founded amazing.community, a nonprofit extending the work horizon for women. Previously she transformed the workplace at the intersection of technology, analytics, and HR at Fidelity Investments, TIAA, IBM, Price Waterhouse, and PwC Consulting and their clients. Top 3 Takeaways Freshen up. Traditional job descriptions fail to capture the actual work being done so focus instead on work activities, outcomes, and problems to be solved. Think again. The workplace is no longer a binary concept but encompasses physical, digital, and cultural environments that should be optimized to support different types of workers. Design for the times. Employee experience happens primarily outside HR processes requiring a deliberate design approach centered on a worker’s' journey from brand discovery to daily team interactions. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "How many of us have worked using a job description that matches what we actually do day in and day out? Past day one, if ever." "If you ask any employee who is not in HR, they will prefer to spend as little if any time with HR processes. The work experience happens on a manufacturing floor, on a team that you work in, in Slack, in your interaction with your managers." "There's no linear way you cannot know and anticipate all the problems that will emerge during the day or during the administration tenure or during the lifespan of a project. And it's important to find the right people and put them in the right environment to solve the right problems and get out of the way usually." "People care when somebody cares about them, even though you may not necessarily address the use case they are asking you to address. The sheer fact of asking creates a lot of goodwill." "You come to work, you trade your time, you trade your talent, you trade your skills, your passion, and you expect something fair in exchange for that. And that fairness is not just the money and the benefits. That's kind of the baseline." Connect with Stela Website: http://reframe.work LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slupushor 

Marshall is a Partner and majority owner of Knight Agency, a marketing firm that builds from inside out. They use storytelling to help companies connect people and strategy, driving performance. He acquired Knight through Meraki Investments, which he founded to invest in companies making a difference. He is also a shareholder of Lockton, the largest family owned insurance brokerage, where he worked for 14 years. He lives in KC with his wife Nora and two children, Miles and Sloane. Top 3 Takeaways Be Clear. Purpose doesn't require grand social initiatives - it's about clearly articulating why your company exists and how it uniquely serves the world, which motivates both employees and customers. Sync Up. Connected people drive growth through four essential connections: to the company's purpose, to meaningful work, to supportive leadership, and to collaborative teammates. Listen Up. Authentic employer branding requires listening to employees' stories and allowing their voices to create a genuine narrative that builds trust and engagement. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "I think we each have an individual purpose... something where our greatest strengths meets our passion meets the place we can make an impact and I think the same is true for companies." "Businesses don't exist to make a profit, they're like red blood cells, you need them, you need the profits to make a profit. But really the purpose of the business is why it exists." "Connected people drive growth and results... the four connections that we talk about are connected to the company, which is really the purpose... connected to the work... connection to the leader... and connection to each other." "Retention is the obvious business risk that you're running if you have individuals who are out of whack in any of those four quadrants or four connection types." "Purpose and values really work if the individuals believe them, and they also resonate with their own personal values and why they exist." "It's not great when people come on to work and they have to feel like they got to put on a different person. And that doesn't feel like a very good fit for work." "The trust pyramid really starts with vulnerability and being willing to share. Because if you don't do that, you're probably not going to get any kind of ability to have candid conversations and trust with one another." Connect with Marshall Website: http://www.knightagency.com Email: marshall@knightagency.com