Joyosity

What happens when the leader of a legacy beauty brand starts talking about more than skincare products? Joy, purpose, and profit. Episode Summary In this final installment of Jenn Whitmer’s conversation with Helen Morrison of Frownies, the discussion expands beyond brand growth and social media into a deeper conversation about power, beauty standards, aging, visibility, leadership, and influence....

How do you lead a 100-year-old family brand when TikTok suddenly turns it into a viral sensation? Helen Morrison of Frownies shares what it takes to navigate legacy, leadership, criticism, and customer trust while growing fast in public. Episode Summary In this episode of the Joyosity™ Podcast, Jenn Whitmer talks with Jacqueline Kerr about how workplace change actually happens—inside teams, organi...

What if people are not resisting change because they are stubborn… but because their brains literally cannot see the change as relevant yet? Episode Summary In this episode of the Joyosity™ Podcast, Jenn Whitmer talks with Jacqueline Kerr about how workplace change actually happens—inside teams, organizations, and systems. They explore why people often do not respond to new ideas, not because chan...

What if great leadership is not about chasing work-life balance, but about building clear expectations, honest communication, and a culture where people can be fully human? Episode Summary In Part 2 of this conversation, Jenn Whitmer continues her interview with hospitality leader Carrie Campbell to explore what leadership really looks like after a culture vision has been defined. In high-pressure...

Policy may keep things running, but empowered people are what make culture, trust, and exceptional experiences possible. Episode Summary What if the best leadership isn’t about enforcing rules, but about creating a culture where people feel empowered to think, care, and act with intention? In this episode of the Joyosity™ Podcast, Jenn Whitmer sits down with Carrie Campbell, a hospitality leader w...

How do you find joy at work without faking positivity or losing yourself in the process? Episode Summary In this episode of the Joyosity™ Podcast, Jenn Whitmer talks with performer, teacher, and creator Tara DeFrancisco about joy at work, authenticity, leadership, creativity, trust, and self-judgment. Together, they explore how to be fully yourself at work, why presence matters, and how authentici...

Sometimes joy looks like making the non-obvious choice. Episode Summary In this solo episode of the Joyosity™ Podcast , Jenn Whitmer kicks off a new series: The Courage to Do It Differently: Joy Makes Work…Work . Too many leaders are still operating inside systems that reward burnout, confusion, performative productivity, and polished dysfunction. But work does not have to stay that way. Joy is no...

Somewhere between the feedback, the frustration, and the fifth Slack ping, most leaders stop being intentional.   EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of the Joyosity™ Podcast, Jenn Whitmer is back with Michael Whitmer for part two of this ICYMI conversation, pulling together the most practical leadership lessons from the   Joyosity in Practice   series. This one is all about the “now wh...

What do leaders do when they know better… and still spiral anyway?   EPISODE SUMMARY In this ICYMI episode of the Joyosity™ Podcast, Jenn Whitmer is joined by Michael Whitmer for a candid debrief on the Joyosity in Practice: How Leaders Stay Human When It Matters Most series. After Jenn shares a painfully relatable SXSW moment of self-doubt, she and Michael unpack what stood out from the seas...

Great leadership is not about being louder or being first. It is about seeing what other people miss.   EPISODE SUMMARY So many leaders say they want creativity—but secretly punish it the moment it looks inefficient, awkward, or unfinished. In this episode of the Joyosity™ Podcast, Jenn Whitmer talks with bestselling author, keynote speaker, and Non-Obvious Company founder Rohit Bhargava abou...

POV: the world is on fire—and everyone is looking at you to stay calm. Leadership falls apart before the crisis in the quiet moments of fear, pressure, and unchecked emotion. The crisis just reveals it all.   EPISODE SUMMARY What happens when leaders confuse urgency with importance and control with strength?   In this grounding, no-fluff conversation, Jenn Whitmer sits down with Ken Mill...

Collaboration doesn't fail because people are "difficult." It's because we confuse control with leadership.   If you’ve ever left a collaboration thinking “Why was that so hard?” —this episode is for you.   EPISODE SUMMARY Everyone says they value collaboration. Few leaders actually know how to practice it when the pressure is real. In this episode, Jenn sits down with Catherine Casalino...

What if the thing that’s making leadership feel so heavy isn’t the pressure but the pretending?   EPISODE SUMMARY What happens when leadership rewards performance—but quietly erodes the person underneath it?   In this episode of Joyosity in Practice , Jenn Whitmer sits down with Australian employment lawyer and leadership coach Karen Ansen for a powerful conversation about presence, powe...

What do you do when your strategic plan says one thing… but the fire drill of the day demands something else?   If you’re leading in complexity—managing up, down, and sideways—this episode is your playbook.   EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode, Jenn sits down with enterprise leader Harry Cook to explore how leaders balance long-term strategy with urgent operational demands.   With expe...

You don’t need more discipline to lead. You need less fear, fewer rules, and permission to make bad output on purpose.   EPISODE SUMMARY So many leaders say they want creativity—but secretly punish it the moment it looks inefficient, awkward, or unfinished.   In this episode, Jenn sits down with creativity instigator Melissa Dinwiddie to dismantle one of the biggest lies holding leaders...

What if the problem isn’t what you’re doing as a leader… but when you’re doing it?   EPISODE SUMMARY Leaders are taught to push through resistance, decide faster, and trust the data—even when something feels off. But what if resistance isn’t a stop sign… it’s a signal?   In this episode, Jenn is joined by Ipek Gray, founder of The Born Method, to explore how timing, internal signals, and...

You don’t lose your humanity overnight as a leader. You trade it away one “this is just how it has to be” moment at a time.   EPISODE SUMMARY Leadership pressure has a way of quietly narrowing us—our choices, our curiosity, and eventually, our humanity. In this conversation, Jenn sits down with Heather Campbell to unpack what actually helps leaders stay grounded, present, and human when the s...

What if joy isn't denial...but an act of rebellion? When the world feels heavy, choosing joy can feel naïve—or even irresponsible. But it's actually the very thing that keeps you going. In this opening episode of Joyosity in Practice, Jenn wrestles with a question many leaders are quietly carrying: Is it out of touch to talk about joy when things are this hard? After hearing firsthand fear and exh...

You don’t need a new personality, a new job, or a vision board with unhinged optimism. You need to live in the joy ratio . In this final episode of the New Year mini-series, Jenn walks you through how to actually design your life and leadership for joy—not as a vibe, but as a strategy. This is a guided, reflective episode (yes, you'll want to grab a pen), where values, stories, and personality fin...

Personality tools were meant to create clarity—not shame. So why do so many leaders leave personality conversations feeling worse ? In this episode, Jenn tackles one of the most misunderstood leadership tools out there and makes a bold claim: your personality isn’t the problem—misusing is .   If you’ve ever wondered, “Is my personality the thing holding me back?” —this episode is for you. &nb...

If you’re doing “all the right things” and still feel tired, tense, or quietly resentful… It might not be your workload. It might be the story you’re leading from. In this episode, continuing the New Year. New Opening theme, Jenn names the five cultural overstories that sound responsible, professional, and noble—but are quietly draining your energy, joy, and agency as a leader.   And then she...

“New Year. New You.” Hard pass. In this solo episode, Jenn calls time-of-death on “New Year, New You” and offers a far more grounded, powerful alternative: New Year. New Opening.   Instead of reinventing yourself, this conversation invites you to understand yourself—starting with your values . Jenn walks through why values aren’t words for websites or walls, but the foundation of effective le...

You don't cultivate joy in a vacuum.   You practice it at the dinner table, in hallway drive-bys, during crunch time, and when the person you love most has the office door shut… again.   In this episode, I invited my family into the conversation to talk honestly about what the last year and a half of writing Joyosity actually looked like from the inside. Writing a book may have my name o...

Grit isn't it. You need joy in community.   In this second half of our Disneyland conversation, we shift from rides and rain ponchos to something deeper: how community and belonging make joy stick when life is brutal.   My friends and I talk about what it really looks like to have people who’ve got your back—through job changes, grief, divorce, parenting, and the everyday “I cannot do on...

Real leaders. In the rain. Still celebrating.   In this behind-the-scenes joy experiment, I take you to Disneyland with three of my closest friends—including one who witnessed the birth of the Joyosity book idea… from a raft.   We talk about why celebration matters, why leaders resist it, how play actually works in real adult life (hint: it’s not all spontaneous whimsy), and the real fea...