Highly Adaptive

You've been told to remove friction. Speed everything up. Cut the steps. Automate the approvals. Make the whole thing frictionless. But what if the friction you're racing to delete is the exact thing keeping your business on the road? In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie turn the mic on themselves and make a case most leaders never consider: friction isn't the enemy. It's the enginee...

Every leader has lived the moment. Someone you thought was happy walks into your office on a Tuesday and tells you they're leaving. Your first thought is the same as everyone else's. What was the offer? If you've ever done that math, this episode is for you. In this conversation, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie  sit down with doctoral researcher and Award Staffing EVP Derek Freese to make the ca...

You said yes again. To the client. To the new service line. To the second business you swore you could run alongside the first. It felt like ambition at the time. Six months later, the P&L tells a different story. In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with Scott Geller  of Path Predict to dig into one of the hardest moves a leader can make: narrowing down on purpose. Scot...

Before the pandemic, about 5% of paid workdays happened at home. Today it's roughly 25%. Remote and hybrid aren't experiments anymore. They're the operating model. So why does it still feel like most companies are winging it? In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie  sit down with Valerie Bowden , founder of CRDLE , to get into the real reason remote teams struggle. Spoiler: it's not the...

Your team is smart. Experienced. Capable. And they still won't make a decision without you. That's not a hiring problem. It's a culture problem — and it almost always starts at the top. In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie  sit down with Gina Trimarco , keynote speaker, leadership trainer, and creator of the trademarked Improvised Intelligence framework. The topic: why decision paral...

You've identified the problem. Your departments are fraying. The silos are real. The revenue impact is measurable. Now what? In Part 2 of The Fabric, Not the Thread, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie  continue their conversation with Anna Frazzetto , Founder and CEO of AFM Strategic Partners, and shift from diagnosis to action. Anna walks through a tech rollout that looked great on paper and colla...

You've sat in that meeting. The one where someone says "culture is everything"...right before cutting the program that proved it. This week, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie  sit down with DeLibra Wesley , founder of NRC  and Women of Color in Staffing , for a conversation about what happens when leaders stop copying culture playbooks and start building from what they've actually lived through. D...

You've felt the friction before. The meeting where marketing is celebrating lead volume and sales can't convert a single one. The initiative that stalled because three departments had three different scripts. The moment you realize everyone's working hard — just not together. In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with Anna Frazzetto , Founder and CEO of AFM Strategic Partners...

Summary What's actually separating the organizations that are thriving right now from the ones that feel stuck? Most leaders point to technology, talent, or timing. Ericka Hyson makes the case that the real variable is courage — and not the inspirational poster version. In this conversation, Jeff Pelliccio  and Erin MacKenzie  sit down with growth advisor Ericka Hyson  of Hyson Advisory  to dig in...

You've done the RFP. You've narrowed the field. You've sat through the presentations. And somehow, you still aren't sure who to choose. That's not a process failure. That's a signal that the process stopped too soon. In Episode 022 of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio  and Erin MacKenzie reimagine what vendor evaluation looks like when you go beyond capability and price to organizational alignment....

You've read the leadership books. You've taken the courses. But nobody hands you a manual for the version of yourself that had no idea what they were doing...and was terrified for anyone to find out. In this episode of Highly Adaptive, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie turn the mic on themselves. No guest. No borrowed framework. Just two leaders being honest about the gap between who they were and...

You've felt it — that moment when a competitor launches something new and your whole team shifts into chase mode. Meetings get called. Tools get purchased. Playbooks get copied. And three months later, nothing sticks. In this episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie  unpack why the most powerful move a leader can make right now might be to stop moving — at least for a moment....

In this episode of  Highly Adaptive ,  Jeff Pelliccio  and  Erin MacKenzie  are joined by  Travis McGrew  at Tracker , to break down a leadership reality most people experience but rarely name: clarity often comes after responsibility—not before it.    Travis reframes resilience as something far more practical than “toughness.” It’s the ability to decide without certainty, stay curious instead of...

In this episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio  and Erin MacKenzie  are joined by Keith Weightman from Bullhorn to unpack what personal branding actually looks like when it’s done with intent—not gimmicks. Keith breaks down why most leaders struggle to show up consistently: they overthink the algorithm, chase what worked for someone else, or fall into polarizing “rage bait” because it perform...

In this episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie are joined by Mark Hummel , founder of Toro Insights , to tackle a problem most staffing leaders feel every day—but rarely name: you’re collecting a mountain of data…and still making decisions like you don’t have any. Mark breaks down why “if it’s not in the ATS, it didn’t happen” became an industry mantra—and why it backfires...

In this episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie are joined by Mark Winter of WinSource Group to deliver a reset sales leaders need heading into 2026: clarity comes before decisions. Because when a year has been rough, leaders tend to reach for the same three levers—new markets, new tech, new hires—without first getting brutally honest about where the business actually is. Ma...

In this season one retrospective episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie go behind the scenes on what they learned from launching the show—fourteen episodes, seven guests, and a surprising number of moments that turned into repeatable leadership frameworks. It’s part highlight reel, part synthesis, and part preview of what’s coming next. They revisit the analogies that helpe...

In this episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie get practical about something most leaders treat as seasonal—but the best companies treat as strategic: recognition. They unpack why gratitude isn’t a random thank-you note, a pizza party, or a gift basket on autopilot. It’s a deliberate, repeatable leadership behavior that drives engagement, improves retention, and strengthens...

How many staffing leaders are actually satisfied with their tech stack—not just tolerating it, but genuinely getting what they were promised? In this episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie welcome Leanne Courtney of Achieve With Tech to diagnose why that demo excitement so often turns to regret within six months. Leanne brings a refreshingly direct perspective shaped by yea...

In this refreshingly honest episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie strip away the polish and get real about their AI journeys. Opening with Jeff's admission that his AI tools might know him better than his wife (and Erin's confession that she could ask AI for her own gift recommendations), this episode becomes part confession, part cautionary tale, part practical guide for...

In this urgent episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie welcome Lauren Jones , founder of Leap Advisory Partners and self-proclaimed tech optimist, to deliver a wake-up call every staffing executive needs to hear: AI adoption is no longer optional—it's table stakes. Opening with the delightful revelation that Lauren's goats (including Justin Timber-goat) aren't using AI yet,...

In this forward-thinking episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie welcome John Ruffini , VP of Professional Development at HealthTrust Workforce Solutions and Amazon bestselling author, to explore why upskilling has become the difference between companies that grow and those that get left behind. With 30 years in staffing and a background that spans from computer programming...

In this eye-opening episode of Highly Adaptive, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie welcome Eric Gregg , founder of ClearlyRated and the driving force behind Best of Staffing, to tackle a paradox that's plaguing the industry: why firms with identical strategies, tech stacks, and training can deliver wildly different client experiences from office to office. Drawing from over two decades of measuring...

In this game-changing episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and E rin MacKenzie sit down with Casey Jacox , top sales coach and former #1 producer at Kforce, to decode why relationships—not deals—determine success in staffing. Sporting his elite Seattle Mariners mustache (a story worth hearing), Casey delivers hard truths about why most staffing professionals are getting relationships comple...

In this candid episode of Highly Adaptive , Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie tackle the lost art of professional networking, revealing why most people are getting it completely wrong. Opening with their own connection story (spoiler: neither can remember exactly when they met, yet feel like they've known each other forever), they explore what authentic networking really means in today's transacti...