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If you are a founder who joined our recent webinar with WESK, you likely recognized yourself somewhere in the discussion. And if you couldn't make the webinar, but you're navigating the challenges of growing a business, chances are you're discovering that leading people is becoming one of the most demanding (and important) parts of your role. Whether you're still operating as a team of one, have recently hired your first employees, or are managing a growing team, the people side of business often becomes more complex than founders anticipate. One of the most common observations we hear from entrepreneurs is [...]

I recently came across a YouTube short by content creator Christi Newrutzen that resonated with me. In it, she says: "Do it messy. Do it scared. Do it unprepared." For much of my career, I've been responsible for creating content on social media. A decent part of that role has been supporting team members in creating content too. Those conversations can follow a similar path – there’s an exciting idea brought forward, we might shape it together, tighten the writing, clarify the message, and work towards completing the final draft. Christi’s quote got me thinking about how somewhere between the [...]

I was 21 years old when I was offered my first salaried role in Human Resources. At the time, I was working in a clerical position, paid hourly with incentives. I made what seemed like a perfectly reasonable assumption: a professional HR role must come with a higher salary. I was wrong. To move into HR, I actually had to take a step backwards financially before I could move ahead professionally. Looking back, it makes complete sense. I had no HR experience. I was just beginning my HR education. Someone was willing to invest in my potential before I had [...]

Throughout my career, I've hired or been involved in the hiring of many people. Today, through Leaps&Bounds, we have the privilege of helping organizations through executive search, recruitment, leadership transitions, and strategic growth. Whether it's an executive search, a critical hire, or supporting a leadership transition, one thing I know, recruitment is about far more than filling a vacancy. It's one of the most visible expressions of your leadership, your culture, and your brand. Every interaction a candidate has during the hiring process shapes their perception of your organization. Long before they accept an offer, they're deciding whether they trust [...]

I think a lot about how often we ask people to step into important responsibilities, assuming that because of their skill in one place that they’ll be as skilled in the new place. It’s not inherently true and the odds of it being untrue are greater when we assume it will just happen on its own, without clarity or support. I see and hear this often in relation to new leaders. And I understand why it happens. Organizations grow. People leave. New opportunities emerge. Teams need leadership now, not six months from now. Often, someone steps into a leadership role [...]

In consulting and professional services, it’s common to see requests for proposals ask for a specific number of years of experience. Sometimes it’s five years. Sometimes ten. Sometimes more. And on the surface, that makes perfect sense. Organizations want to know they are working with people who are credible, capable, and seasoned enough to navigate complexity well. But over the last couple of years, I’ve found myself reflecting more deeply on what we really mean when we talk about experience. Are we measuring the age of a company? The tenure of a brand? Or the lived experience of the people [...]

I had a conversation with a CEO several years ago that has stayed with me. We were talking about organizational effectiveness, and operational sustainability, and what happens when businesses hit a point where difficult decisions become unavoidable. At one point, I asked a simple question: “If the organization had to reduce, where would you start?” I expected the answer to focus on middle management. It didn’t. The CEO pointed immediately to senior leadership. Not because leadership wasn’t valued or skilled. Quite the opposite. The concern was that too many leadership roles had gradually become disconnected from the actual functioning of [...]

In February, I wrote Leaps&Bounds’ year-in-review article on a flight to Toronto. We had such a strong year, and I was so proud of what the L&B team had accomplished. At the same time, the flight was taking me to deliver a eulogy for my dear friend Josy, while also processing a breast cancer diagnosis I had just received. It was a lot. Over the last decade, I’ve become disciplined about my health. No matter how busy things get, I go to the appointments, and I do the tests. So when something felt off in December, I followed up right [...]

Leaders have long been recognized as a key driver of organizational success. They translate strategy into action, shape the employee experience, and influence whether people stay, perform, or disengage. In the past, research has shown that managers tended to be more engaged than individual contributors. But recent data suggests that may be changing. According to Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report, the largest year-over-year drop in manager engagement occurred between 2024 and 2025—declining five points from 27% to 22%. In short, managers once benefited from an “engagement premium,” but are now increasingly only as engaged as the employees [...]

I was reading the World Economic Forum’s report on four possible futures for jobs, and what stood out to me wasn’t the scenarios themselves, it was the tension underneath them. More than half of business leaders expect AI to displace jobs, while far fewer believe it will create new ones. That gap reflects what many leaders are experiencing right now: curiosity, pressure, and a lack of clarity about what comes next. The report outlines four directions things could go by 2030. In reality, we’ll likely see elements of all of them, sometimes even within the same organization: AI accelerates and [...]