Bringing the Human back to Human Resources

HR has come a long way from payroll and personnel, and in this six-year anniversary episode, Meg Crosby and Howard Cleveland, JD of PeopleCap Advisors join Traci to talk about what it really takes to move HR from tactical to transformational. Between Meg’s decades leading people-centered HR on both coasts and Howard’s path from employment law courtrooms to leadership coaching, this conversation ge...

Two nominations to the NLRB could rewrite the rules on severance agreements, union organizing, and captive audience meetings, and that’s just the start of this month’s Policy Pulse, which also covers the Department of Labor’s sweeping deregulation push and the independent contractor rule that has already changed. Traci and employment law expert Bryan Driscoll sort out what’s official, what’s still...

This week, Traci talks with Laverne McKinnon, MCC, about professional grief. That's the loss we feel when a job, promotion, project, or career identity we cared about is suddenly gone, and it may be what's behind the burnout, low morale, and missing motivation so many HR leaders are seeing right now. Laverne is a career strategist and grief recovery specialist who works with ambitious prof...

This week's episode is about why most strategies fail at execution, and what leaders can do differently to actually get results. Traci sits down with Kevin Ertell, a veteran executive and advisor with more than 30 years of experience leading transformations at brands like Nike, Tower Records, and Sur La Table. As founder and CEO of Mistere Advisory, Kevin helps companies turn strategy into act...

This Policy Pulse episode breaks down three major employment law developments HR leaders need on their radar right now: a Supreme Court ruling that changes how federal agencies operate, an update on the Workday AI discrimination lawsuit, and a new Maryland law restricting mandatory workplace meetings. Traci and Bryan dig into what each of these means for how you operate day to day, and why "wait a...

Agentic AI is already changing how HR teams buy technology, lead their people, and think about who belongs in the room when decisions about the future of work get made — and most HR leaders don't have a strategy for any of it. This week Traci sits down with Joey Price, CEO of Jumpstart HR, a TEDx speaker on AI in the workplace, and author of The Power of HR: How to Make an Organizational Impact as...

This week's Policy Pulse segment tackles three major legal developments HR leaders need to know about: the EEOC's lawsuit against The New York Times over its DEI program, Colorado's rollback of its AI hiring law, and a Supreme Court case that could give the president the power to fire agency heads at the EEOC and NLRB without cause. Bryan Driscoll returns for another Policy Pulse segment, bringing...

AI is reshaping how companies hire and how job seekers land interviews, and this week's guest is building the tools making it happen. Traci sits down with Reimund Nienaber, a seasoned HR leader and global talent development expert with more than 20 years of experience spanning telecommunications, expat HR leadership across five continents, and now consulting work at Edligo. As Director of Consulti...

Michael Timms joins the podcast to break down why most "succession planning" in organizations is actually just replacement planning in disguise, and why that distinction matters more than most HR leaders realize. Michael Timms is an internationally sought after speaker, consultant, and bestselling author who teaches leaders how to inspire accountability. He's the author of How Leader...

Traci welcomes Dr. Carrie Graham, PhD, a training strategist specializing in scalable talent development who guides small and mid-sized organizations to achieve measurable results through strategic employee training programs. Dr. Graham's research reveals that toxic work environments aren't just unpleasant, they produce real, life-altering mental and physical health consequences for the pe...

In this episode, Traci shares what her return to work has looked like with three kids under three, a demanding career, and a podcast. She opens up about what that took to admit, and why the "have it all" pressure lands differently when both your career and your family are simultaneously demanding more of you. She also gets into what she actually wishes workplaces understood about flexibility, and...

This week, Traci sits down with Greg Roche, founder of Retention and Rewards Partners and author of The Fast and Easy Guide to Networking for Introverts, to explore why intentional connection is the most underrated retention strategy in any organization. Greg shares the "stepping over the line" framework he's used throughout his career in total rewards, walking through the exact moment an employee...

This week's episode makes the case that your next team building session should involve a table full of LEGO bricks, and JoLynn Ledgerwood, certified LEGO Serious Play facilitator and learning and development specialist with over 25 years of experience, is here to explain exactly why. Most people have never heard of LEGO Serious Play. The ones who have? They usually want to get certified on the...

This week, Traci sits down with Chris Taylor, founder of Actionable.co, a company that helps consultants prove the impact of their programs and build deeper, longer-lasting client relationships through behavior change technology, the Impact Certainty Methodology, and a global network of peers. Chris has spent 18 years making the case that the entire L&D industry is stuck measuring the wrong th...

This episode is about authentic leadership, self-awareness, and the quiet ways competition undermines collaboration in the workplace. Traci sits down with Archana Mohan, Chief Operations and Technology Officer in the finance sector and author of The Thru Line: How Understanding Who You Are Empowers How You Lead. Archana holds a BA from Brown, an MA from Columbia, and an MBA from Yale, but her most...

This week, Traci sits down with Rob Gallaher, Entrepreneur and Founder of ProfitX, to dig into how profit sharing actually works, why most businesses aren't doing it, and what it takes to build a program that genuinely transforms how a team operates. What We Cover: What profit sharing actually is and why no real how-to guide existed before Rob wrote one Why his first program was a complete dis...

This episode closes out the layoff series with a look at what employees are rarely told about severance, separation agreements, and their rights when a job ends. This week, Traci sits down with Dan Goodman, founder of Dan Goodman Employment Advisory (DGEA), a firm that has helped nearly 1,800 employees navigate some of the most high-stakes moments of their careers. What We Cover: Why severance exi...

This week's episode is part three of the layoff series, and it's focused entirely on the employee side of the experience: what to actually do when you or someone you know is the one getting laid off. Spoiler alert: Over 40% of Americans have been laid off at least once in their careers. Statistically, this conversation is more relevant than most of us want to admit. This is a greatest hits...

In part two of the four-part layoff series, Traci addresses what often goes unspoken in layoff conversations: the toll on the HR professionals managing them, and how to take care of yourself while taking care of everyone else. What We Cover: — The grief HR professionals carry that nobody talks about— Numbness as a warning sign, not a badge of honor— How to structure your day when the conversations...

Traci sat down with Jena Dunay, founder of Recruit the Employer, to talk about conducting layoffs with dignity. We're bringing this one back as the first episode of our four-part layoff series because it's just as relevant now as it was when it first aired. What We Cover: Offboarding as seriously as onboarding What's at stake when there's no plan in place What outplacement actually...

This week, Traci sits down with the co-founders of Flora Fertility to talk about why employer-sponsored fertility coverage is broken and what the first individually owned fertility insurance solution is doing to fix it. Dr. Christy Lane is a global leader in InsureTech, an investor, founder, and award-winning health scientist with expertise in AI, digital health, and wearable devices. She is the c...

This week, Traci sits down with Steve Cadigan to explore what the future of work actually demands from HR leaders and why most organizations are still building for a world that no longer exists. Steve is a globally recognized talent strategist, advisor, author, and founder of Cadigan Talent Ventures. Best known as LinkedIn's first CHRO, he helped scale the company from 400 employees through it...

This episode is about how the language we use to describe people at work is quietly shaping both workplace culture and the future of AI. Joshua Berry, author, speaker, and Director of Iconic, brought this conversation to the podcast last year and it has only gotten more relevant since. The business terms you've been using on autopilot (headcount, right-size, prospects) aren't neutral. They...

This week, Traci sits down with Stephen Flanagan to tackle one of the most persistent problems in growing organizations: the gap between strategy set in the boardroom and what actually gets executed on the ground. Stephen Flanagan is the founder of Seeks Consulting, a firm dedicated to helping lean, fast-growing companies scale leadership by turning mid-level managers into execution-ready leaders....

This week, Traci sits down with James Warren, founder and CEO of ShareMore Stories, to explore how storytelling, emotional intelligence, and human experience research are reshaping the way organizations understand their employees, and themselves. James brings nearly 30 years across marketing, insights, and strategy, blending storytelling and AI through his company's SEEQ platform to help leade...