People Centric Podcast

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about leadership as the discipline of becoming what the situation needs instead of simply becoming what you prefer.   Leaders often have roles they naturally gravitate toward. Maybe you want to be the subject matter expert, the person who executes, the teacher, or even the peer. But effective leadership requires a different question: what does this...

You know you should be coaching your team. You know you should be giving feedback. You know you should be thinking about how to improve things. You know you should be looking at the big picture. But who has the time for that? In this episode, we talk about how to create space to allow you stop fighting fires and start leading your team.   Have questions about this topic? Want to ask for advice fro...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about what happens when an organization says one thing but the people inside it experience something very different. A company may claim that safety, integrity, or respect is a top priority—but what does it mean when its decisions and actions repeatedly contradict those values?   In this episode, we explore how employees can make sense of the gap be...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about surveys and why so many people have grown skeptical of them. Most of us have taken a survey, shared honest feedback, and then watched nothing happen. That kind of experience teaches people not to trust the process. In this episode, we unpack the right way to take a survey and the right way to use one. We talk about why employees should stay pr...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about our book, Becoming People Centric, and why it matters for both people and business. With both authors on the episode, we discuss the bigger purpose behind the book, the problems it is meant to solve, and why organizations need a better way to connect human needs with business performance. In this episode, we explore key concepts from the Peopl...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about the power of asking yourself to find another path. So often, people get stuck in either-or thinking, overcomplicate the problem, or assume the first path they see is the only one available. But sometimes a better next step starts with a simpler question: what is another way? In this episode, we explore the idea that you can train your mind to...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about the idea of having a common enemy and why that can create both strong alignment and serious risk. Rallying around an enemy can feel powerful in the moment, but it raises an important question: when that enemy is gone, does the team stay aligned around the right things? In this episode, we explore the difference between healthy and unhealthy al...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about the changing idea of professionalism and how different generations are shaping that shift in the workplace. As younger generations bring new expectations, values, and ways of working into organizations, long-held ideas about what it means to be professional are being challenged and redefined. In this episode, we explore how younger workers are...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about the difference between latent error and active error, and why that distinction matters. When something goes wrong at work, it is easy to jump straight to blame. But not every problem starts with the person closest to the mistake. Sometimes the deeper issue is built into the system itself.   In this episode, we explore why it is important to ev...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about the habits that build strong systems. Small habits matter because they create momentum, and that momentum can snowball into the next win. When one good habit fuels another, it becomes easier to build rhythms that actually support the way we work and live.   In this episode, we explore why systems make life easier rather than harder, how habits...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about unhelpful motivations and the ways they can quietly shape how we work. Not every motivation leads to healthy outcomes. Sometimes the very thing driving us is also the thing holding us back.   In this episode, we explore what unhelpful motivations are, how to identify them, and how they can affect our choices, relationships, and effectiveness a...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about how words like passion, purpose, happiness, and fulfillment often get used interchangeably, even though they are not the same thing. When we treat them like they all mean the same thing, it becomes harder to understand what we are really looking for from our work.   In this episode, we break down what each of these ideas actually means, how th...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about what happens when leaders are not meeting expectations in strategy, communication, and direction. When leadership falls short, the result is often bigger than one bad interaction. Teams lose clarity, accountability gets fuzzy, and the system itself starts to break down.   In this episode, we explore what people are really expecting from a lead...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about when hierarchy is helpful and when it becomes harmful. At its best, hierarchy creates clarity, sets expectations, reinforces accountability, and keeps people aligned around mission and direction.   At its worst, hierarchy gets used to put people in their place, make others feel smaller, or justify a “because I said so” approach to leadership....

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about the rules of friendship at work. Can real friendship exist in the workplace? And if it can, what does it look like to do it well? In this episode, we explore the value of having friends at work, the healthy boundaries that make those relationships sustainable, and the challenges that can come when friendship and work responsibilities overlap....

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about the mindset behind phrases like “it’s not my job” and “that’s not in my job description.” When those words show up, they usually point to something deeper—unclear expectations, frustration, lack of trust, burnout, or a disconnect between the individual and the organization.   In this episode, we explore what may be happening beneath those resp...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about developing and understanding a personal brand. If a brand is simply what people say about you when you are not in the room, then the question becomes: how intentional are you being about the reputation you are building? In this episode, we discuss why personal brand matters, how it impacts your effectiveness, and what it looks like to shape a...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about communication and what happens when it doesn’t land. A message can miss the mark for a lot of reasons—overanalyzing, unclear expectations, too much humor, too much story, or too much jargon. Even when people mean well, communication does not always create the clarity or connection they intended.   In this episode, we explore what it looks like...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about the phrase "skills fishing" and how it is essentially resume padding for the 21st century. As candidates try to stand out and employers try to quickly identify the right fit, it becomes easy for the hiring process to drift into confusion, exaggeration, and mismatched expectations. In this episode, we discuss how to write strong job description...

This week on the People Centric Podcast, we talk about what to do when your leader feels toxic. Leaders are meant to set direction, create alignment, and reinforce the mission, vision, and values of an organization. But what happens when their behavior seems to work against all of that? In this episode, we explore what toxic leadership can look like, how to recognize when a leader is treating peop...

This week on The People Centric Podcast, we talk about our inner voices and the role they play in how we show up at work.   We all have that voice in our head. Sometimes it pushes us forward. Sometimes it holds us back. And sometimes it is hard to tell if we should listen to it or question it.   We explore what these inner voices sound like, where they come from, and how they can shape our decisio...

This week on The People Centric Podcast, we talk about the wrong lessons people take away from everyday work situations. We have all been there. You delegate something and it does not go the way you hoped, so you decide it is just easier to do it yourself next time. Or something goes wrong and instead of learning from it, we create a rule that actually limits growth moving forward. The problem is...

This week on The People Centric Podcast, we revisit something people consistently need from their leaders: stability, compassion, hope, and trust. These needs become even more important during times of stress, uncertainty, or panic.   We talk about how pressure can cause leaders to unintentionally drop one of these. Some leaders focus so much on stability that compassion disappears. Others lead wi...

This week on The People Centric Podcast, we talk about the power of celebrating, even when it feels like there is nothing to celebrate.   There are seasons at work when progress feels slow, goals feel far away, and morale can dip. In those moments, celebration can feel forced or even unnecessary. But we explore why small wins matter, why progress counts, and how celebration shifts energy on a team...

This week on The People Centric Podcast, we revisit a topic we have talked about a lot: assigning intent. Starting from a neutral and curious mindset can prevent negative stories from taking over and it can help teams stay connected when things get messy.   But today we talk about maturing the concept, because we have also seen it weaponized. Sometimes people use good intent as a shield. Things li...