Greetings!

If you are a CEO, CHRO, Chief Diversity Officer. VP/Head of Talent or other C-suite leader, I want to ask how you are helping your organization navigate this challenging climate & prepare for a more inclusive, more prosperous future?  As a Talent Strategist & People Architect with DHR Global - a Forbes Best Executive Recruiting Firm – I’ve asked this question of current and future clients.

In my conversations with healthcare & life sciences executives, I’ve noticed that their goals & initiatives are to:

✅ Innovate quickly & ethically 
✅ Improve quality of care & patient outcomes 
✅ Eliminate health disparities
✅ Improve the patient experience
✅ Facilitate an efficient & profitable go to market (GTM) strategy & process (growth hacking)
✅ Hire, engage & retain a diverse workforce
✅ Strengthen governance

In my conversations I have discovered internal challenges such as: 

👎🏽 No talent acquisition &/or retention KPIs,
👎🏽 Overwhelmed Recruiters with little time to upskill
👎🏽 Non-existent / inconsistent sourcing, recruiting & onboarding processes
👎🏽 Old technology not able to meet current & emerging needs for applicant tracking (ATS/HCM/HRIS)
👎🏽 Insufficient talent market knowledge / data
👎🏽 Little time to focus on sourcing critical top talent to stabilize, scale & transform the organization
👎🏽 Even less time to be proactive & engage talent opportunistically in order to dominate the market
👎🏽 No time to develop a diversity strategy & execute to increase representation, equity & foster belonging

My commitment is to minimize your pain, maximize your joy & guide your organization to better outcomes:

👍🏽 No more failed assignments
👍🏽 No more excessively long vacancies
👍🏽 No more homogeneous candidate slates
👍🏽 No more communication breakdowns or lack of transparency
👍🏽 No more resenting placement fees because of low value partnerships or inflexible cost structures

My personalized approach to Executive Search and Talent Advisory is different.  I help my clients compete in a tight talent market to win the war for talent by leveraging an unparalleled industry network, using insightful market data, compelling positioning & magnetic messaging.

⭐ I also work with mature organizations that: 
⚕️ Have an urgent assignment
⚕️ Need a very niche role filled 
⚕️ Lack diverse candidate slates 
⚕️ Have an overloaded internal TA team

If you want a strategic partner who will make your organization smarter, faster & more agile, please email me at ahenderson@dhrglobal.com

Reach, Resourcefulness & Relationships - the DHR way.

Andrea Henderson, SPHR, CIR, RACR

My candidates didn't get the job and I've never been so grateful that I failed.

I submitted two intelligent, accomplished women for a Chief of Staff role working for a CEO of a major entertainment company. 

Both sailed through multiple rounds - interviews with the CFO, the former Chief of Staff, even the executive's mother.

But the process felt... off. 
➵ They were told to expect grueling hours and attend countless industry events. 
➵ Their personal style was scrutinized. 
➵ They fielded scenario-based questions about situations that seemed trivial, outrageous, and quite frankly, unlikely to ever occur. 

It got weird. 

Then came the request to fly from NY to LA for a final meeting. Before they could book flights, I got the call: neither was moving forward.

We were all disappointed. We said the usual "it wasn't meant to be" and moved on.

Years passed before the headlines announced the CEO’s arrest. The Chief of Staff who eventually got the role, was then in the news as an alleged enabler.

I immediately reached out to both candidates. We had a joint moment of relief - and profound gratitude.

My intention is to only work with ethical clients who value integrity as much as excellence.

So this experience taught me something I'll never forget:
↳ Sometimes the blessing is the door that slams shut. 
↳ Sometimes the win is the rejection. 
↳ Sometimes the greatest act of protection is not getting the job - or the assignment - you thought you wanted.

And as a recruiter …someone entrusted with people's livelihoods, reputations, and futures …I hold that truth close: 

Let's stop believing that any high-profile role is worth the cost. 

My work will always center around finding talent that can thrive in high-stakes environments, but I also have to ensure those environments don't destroy them.

To anyone searching for their next role, know this:
↳Not every opportunity is aligned.   
↳Not every 'yes' is safe.   
↳And sometimes the biggest success is what didn’t happen.

Exec Search Pro helping biotech, value-based care, digital health companies & hospitals hire transformational C-suite & Board leaders. Partner, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Diversity, Board Search | Board Member | Investor

Excited to announce I'll be attending the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in January! 🎯

This is always such a valuable opportunity to connect with industry leaders, explore innovations in healthcare, and engage in meaningful conversations about the future of our field.

If you're attending and would like to connect, please send me a message to schedule a time to meet up. I'd love to catch up with familiar faces and make new connections!

Who’s going to JPM?👇🏽

#JPM2026 #JPMHealthcare #HealthcareInnovation #HealthTech #HealthcareLeadership #DigitalHealth

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His parents locked him in a psychiatric hospital. Three times. Electroshock therapy. Medication. All because he wouldn't conform.

He walked the Camino de Santiago - 500 miles across Spain - and came back with both blisters and clarity.

Call it awakening. Call it courage. Call it remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.

He wrote about that just before he wrote The Alchemist;
Paulo Coelho's simple story about a shepherd boy chasing a dream. 

It’s a story about the treasure that's always closer than we think. About seeking everywhere in the distance only to find it was at home all along.

But before it sold 150 million copies and became one of the most translated books in history, it flopped. 

He refused to let it die. 
He refused to surrender what he believed in.
He knew what it meant to be misunderstood.
He knew what it meant to wander.
He knew what it meant to keep going when the world said stop.

I read The Alchemist at a time when I was searching for something I couldn't name.

The unconventional path. The wandering. The need to go far away only to realize the treasure was home all along…it didn't just resonate. It explained me.

I've lived that story. The detours that looked like failures. The rejections that felt like proof I was on the wrong path. The moments I almost gave up because nothing was going according to plan.

And then I became a recruiter.
Not in spite of the wandering. Because of it.

Through my candidates, I do the work all over again. I walk with the ones who've been rejected 47 times. The ones whose paths don't fit the template. The ones who are blistered and unsure but won't stop walking.

Through my clients, I'm constantly seeking the stars. The proven performers. The transformative talent everyone wants.

I am all of them.

The pilgrim. The shepherd. The best-seller. The one who wandered far only to find what I was looking for was in the journey itself.

I am the bridge between the seeking and the seekers.

Executive search isn't just my job. It's my pilgrimage.
It's how I keep walking.

If you're feeling off-path today, maybe this is your sign.
Keep walking.
Your legend isn't lost.

What "6-7" Teaches Us About Generational Diversity in the Workplace

You might have heard kids shouting "six seven!" lately. Dictionary.com just named it their 2025 Word of the Year.
(Is it even a word? 🤦🏽‍♀️)

And while it means absolutely nothing, here's the insight: it's Gen Z's version of "Who's on first?"

When adults ask what it means, young people give a unified response: It has no definition. 

The phrase, which is driving parents and teachers crazy, is absurdist humor for the digital age …just like Abbott and Costello's classic routine was for theirs.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐩 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠:
➵ Right now, we have five generations in the workplace. 
➵ Boomers remember when "Who's on first?" was cutting-edge comedy. 
➵ Gen Alpha thinks "six seven" is hilarious for the exact same reason …the joy of shared absurdity. 

Different reference points, same human need for connection and humor.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩:
This isn't "brain rot"
…it's a deliberate, gleeful effort by young people to remain unknowable in an era of relentless online observation. 

Each generation develops its own cultural codes shaped by its unique context. 

👥 Boomers and Gen X built careers before email. 

👩‍❤️‍👨 Millennials bridged the analog-digital divide. 

👽 Gen Z witnessed social media's dark side. 

🤳🏾Gen Alpha has never known privacy.

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬:

✔️ Recognizing that a 22-year-old and a 62-year-old bring different lived experiences that both add value

✔️ Creating space for generational perspectives without stereotyping

✔️ Ensuring that "cultural fit" doesn’t just mean "people who grew up like I did"

✔️ Building mentorship that flows in multiple directions

💰 The companies thriving in 2030 won't be the ones that "understand" every generational trend. 

💰 They'll be the ones that recognize generational differences as a strategic advantage 
…where "𝑾𝒉𝒐’𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕?" and "𝒔𝒊𝒙 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏" can coexist, and both are valued.
__________________

So... are you being driven crazy by "six seven," or do you totally get it?

Being invisible is expensive, but you can't hack your way into a trusting relationship.

I've seen it in executive search for years: the professionals who land the BEST opportunities aren't just qualified.

They know how to show up AUTHENTICALLY and build real connections on LinkedIn and IRL.

From hidden to → VISIBLE
From generic to → MAGNETIC
From waiting to → ATTRACTING

The landscape has shifted:

↳ Recruiters are searching LinkedIn first (not job boards)
↳ Your voice matters MORE than ever
↳ Building a brand isn't vanity, it's STRATEGY

Here's what I see working in 2025-2026:
✓ Authenticity over perfection
✓ Consistency over virality
✓ Connection over self-promotion

That's why I'm excited to join Katheline Jean-Pierre MSc  TODAY for "The LinkedIn Tea" 🍵
We're spilling on:

↳ How to define YOUR unique voice and show up unapologetically
↳ What the LinkedIn algorithm actually prioritizes (and how to use it)
↳ How to build a brand that attracts recruiters, clients & collaborations
↳ Where the opportunities actually are in this new landscape

📍 Join us For Free 📍
TODAY at 12 PM PDT / 3 PM EST
https://lnkd.in/gtTAjTpZ

Whether you're actively job searching, building your practice, or ready to attract better opportunities…this session is for you.

*This webinar is sponsored by Graphy.
___________
👋 I'm Andrea Henderson, Executive Search Professional helping companies identify top talent and match them with opportunities that align with their career goals.

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐀𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞

One of my clients is doing something that should be standard practice but unfortunately isn't: they're compensating every candidate who completes their second-round strategic planning exercise.

They want to be clear …they're not looking for free labor! 

They want to understand how candidates think, approach complex problems, and communicate strategy. 

But they also recognize that asking someone to develop a thoughtful strategic plan is a significant investment of time, expertise, and intellectual energy.

So they pay for it. 

Every single person who completes the exercise gets compensated, regardless of whether or not they get the job.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞:

𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲. 
Not everyone can afford to spend 5-10 hours on unpaid work exercises. Some candidates are juggling multiple interviews, others are working full-time, and many have caregiving responsibilities. Compensation levels the playing field.

𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭. 
If the work requires professional-level thinking and produces something of value, it's work. 
And work deserves pay.

𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬. 
How you treat candidates tells them everything about how you'll treat employees. If you don't value their time during hiring, why would they believe you'll value it after?

𝐈𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭. 
Top candidates know their worth. 
They're more likely to invest deeply in an exercise when the company invests in them too.

There's a clear line between a reasonable interview case discussion and asking for deliverables like strategic plans, marketing campaigns, competitive analyses, or detailed proposals. The latter should be compensated.

If your hiring process requires candidates to produce substantial work, pay them for it. 

If you can't afford to pay candidates for their work, you can't afford to ask for it.

It's that simple.

___________

If you need help, DM me for my proprietary 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭

Thanksgiving recipe for boundaries

As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, I'm reminding myself of something important: self-care isn't selfish.

It's easy to overcommit during the holidays …saying yes to every side dish, every special diet request, every guest/family/colleague expectation. 

But sustainable success requires us to protect our energy and set healthy boundaries.

Please be intentional about including yourself on the list of people youre taking care of. 

That might mean saying no to some things, taking breaks when you need them, and being present where you choose to show up.

I'm deeply grateful for this network …for the colleagues who inspire me, the mentors who guide me, and the connections that make this professional journey meaningful. 

Thank you for being part of it. 

Wishing everyone a restful and restorative Thanksgiving. 🍁

Start an argument to save money on Christmas presents 

OR

Take some advice from Mike Muse on how to keep the peace at Thanksgiving dinner today. 

Either way, enjoy! 🦃🍁

Happy Thanksgiving

What says “transactional” more than disconnecting after you get the job?

Tickles me because I’ve seen this movie before. 

Headhunters are not the Boogeyman.  

And we’re not the wait staff that you tip after you eat, burp and go home, never to be seen again. 

We're relationship builders. Career-long partners. 
The people who remember you when the perfect opportunity comes around again.

So when you disconnect after you get what you need…

We remember that too.

What do you think happens next time? 

_________________

Has anyone ever gone radio silent, disappeared or disconnected from you after getting what they want?

I see this question all the time:
“Know a recruiter in Charlotte, NC?”
Let’s talk about why that’s not the question you should be asking.

I see people asking for recommendations for a recruiter in their city.

But here’s the thing: most of us don’t work locally. We work nationally. Some, like me, even work globally.

So the better question isn’t 
❌ “Who’s near me?”
✅  It’s “Who specializes in what I do?”

❓Are you in CPG? 
❓Tech? 
❓Luxury retail? 
❓Healthcare? 
❓Manufacturing?

❓❓Are you a CFO? 
❓❓CMO? 
❓❓Chief Commercial Officer?

The clearer your ask, the better the recommendations you’ll get.

Ask better questions, get better answers, Beloved, 🫶🏽

Best way to find a Recruiter to work with

Obstacles are often smaller than they appear.

Overthinking can be as bad as under-thinking. 

Leaders [and Coaches] help others turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

Agree? 

_______________
Repost from Oleg Vishnepolsky, CTO at Daily Mail Online

I’ll be the voice in the room on December 1st. 

Katheline Jean-Pierre, MSc: a brilliant, award-winning revenue leader, coach, podcaster and truth-seeker, will be asking the questions, and I’ll be answering them live.

She reached out and said, essentially: People are lost in this market. Why the **Crickets**? 

And she mirrored what I keep hearing across industries:

High-performers who were once chosen are now the ones doing the choosing, the searching, the competing for attention.

🤔 Recruiters seem to have evaporated. 👀
🥴 Process fractured. 
😤Access collapsed.
🫩 The rules rewrote themselves without asking permission.

So she asked me the questions you’ve been carrying in the quiet:

• How do ambitious professionals run a modern job search without insider access?
• What tactics still work and which ones need to be added to the toolkit?
• And most importantly, how do you manufacture momentum in this market?

I have a lot to say. (I always do.)

Which is why we’re hosting a live conversation, post-holiday fog:

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐉𝐎𝐁 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆

How to navigate the market and create your own path
A live Q&A with me and Katheline on Zoom

📅 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝐬𝐭 
• It’s free • It’s live 
• It’s clarity when clarity is scarce.

No gatekeeping. No fees. No performative posturing.

Just answers. Just access. Just the unfiltered mechanics of what works now.

If you’re searching for a role, planning a pivot, or trying to decode the signals that suddenly went silent: Be in the room.

Bring the questions you’re tired of holding.

I’ll bring the truth you’re tired of not hearing.

🔗 Zoom link in comments.

Andrea Henderson, SPHR, CIR, RACR ✦ Executive Search Professional
In dialogue with Katheline Jean-Pierre, MSc .
Your questions, answered.

When a CEO says "exploring all options," we all know what that means.

Jim Forbes and I had a great conversation last night at the PDA holiday party about what boards actually need when they're looking for a CEO who can make the company "transaction ready."

When the board is facing a go-private scenario, preparing for an IPO, or navigating an acquisition, the leadership profile changes dramatically. You need to find the right CEO for this particular journey.

The leaders who excel in transaction-heavy environments bring a specific toolkit:

↳ They view constrained runways as catalysts for decisive action, not paralysis
↳ They've built credibility with PE firms, investment bankers, and boards during high-pressure processes
↳ They can articulate competing strategic paths without becoming attached to any single outcome
↳ They understand that "exploring all options" requires rigorous strategic discipline

The question that the board should let shape the CEO search: Are we hiring for the company we are today, or the company we're about to become?

If transformation, transaction, or transition is on your horizon, your leadership profile needs to reflect that reality from day one.

I partner with boards to define these nuanced requirements before the search begins because getting this hire right is crucial. It could kill the deal if you get it wrong so it isn't a hire you'll get to make twice.

Thanks Jim Forbes for sparking this reflection. 

___________________

Private Directors Association® - Atlanta Chapter  

*picture for attention

#ExecutiveSearch #CEOSearch #BoardAdvisory #LeadershipTransitions

Codie A. Sanchez  said “The best founders do one thing brilliantly... 

Hire.”
.
.
.
.
.
She isn’t wrong. 

It’s worth investing in a good partnership with an executive recruiter. It’s too important to “wing it.”

Your next executive hire was at Art Basel this weekend in Miami.  

Or she might have been at the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association conference in Las Vegas. 

Or the Private Directors Association event at Disneyland in October.

This weekend I was at Art Basel in Miami. I went to celebrate a friend's milestone birthday, reconnect with old colleagues, and meet new connections.

People see the photos and say, "Wow, you're living your best life!"

Here's what they don't see:
Yes, I am out a lot. 
I'm out in the rain.
I'm out in the cold. 
I'm out in the snow. 
I'm out in the extreme heat. 
I'm out when I'm tired.
I'm out when my feet hurt. 
I'm out when I have nothing that I like to wear. 
When I feel like I look like a frump, I'm out. 
Sometimes tired, sometimes not feeling my best. 
But I show up anyway.

Because when you need to fill a critical executive role, you can't afford to wait weeks for the "perfect candidate" to surface through job boards.

The executives you want aren't likely actively looking for you. They're not scrolling LinkedIn Jobs. 

They're at Art Basel. 
They're at industry conferences. They're at that startup founder's dinner party.

And when you need them, they'll take my call. 

Not because I sent them a cold InMail, but because we've had real conversations. 

Because someone they trust vouched for me. 
Because I've invested in the relationship long before you had an opening.

You can't be everywhere your next hire might be. But I can.

That's not work-life balance, that's how executive search actually works.

The relationships I build at a birthday celebration this weekend might solve your hardest hiring challenge next quarter.

When everyone else is fighting over the same 5 candidates on LinkedIn, I'm bringing you people who weren't even "on the market."

The secret recipe = Trust + Access.

That's the difference between recruiting and executive search.

Art Basel and Executive Search 

Stop showing your scalp and start showing your teeth.

You’ve done everything right …but invisibly. And invisibility doesn’t lead to advocacy,  recognition, promotion or payment.

Showing your teeth is a metaphor for visibility, voice, and power. 

It means speaking up. 
It means that you’re comfortable smiling in power rooms that you belong in. 
It means making yourself known and unmissable.

Translation: You stop shrinking. You claim your space. You speak your value out loud …that’s self-advocacy.

But sometimes the hardest person to advocate for is yourself.

Early in my career, I struggled with asking for what I deserved. I thought my work would speak for itself. It didn't.

The turning point was realizing that knowing your value and asking for it isn't arrogance. 
Understanding that it's necessary.

Today, I pray that everyone reading this finds:

The clarity to recognize their own worth 

The courage to speak up and ask for what they deserve

The resilience to keep going, even when the path gets tough

Early in your career, you have to put your head down and get things done. 

But at a certain point, working hard isn't enough. 

You have to understand your value and demand fair recognition for the work you put in and the results you create.

Do you know where the inflection point is?

Are you in grinding season or speak-up season?

Tell me in the comments:
🔨 GRIND
🗣️ SPEAK
🤔 IDK

She did her mom’s makeup at the funeral home to get her “casket ready” and then recorded this video.

Ashley Ann Jones is someone I respect deeply. Her work ethic is unmatched. I also knew her mom and how much they loved each other. 

That’s why when I watched this, I felt like she punched me in the chest having recently experienced the same loss. 

Because she wasn’t just talking to the internet …she was talking to ME!

To the part of me that knows exactly what it means to lose my mother and still have the world tapping its watch. 

To the part that kept moving - - not because I’m brave, but because stopping felt like free-fall.

It punches the chest because it mirrors a truth most people never have to look at head-on:
grief doesn’t pause responsibility.

Payroll doesn’t pause for grief. Vendors don’t accept sorrow as payment. Rent, subscriptions, contracts, dependents …they all keep tapping you on the shoulder.

So yes, working can be a coping mechanism. Structure can be a lifeline. Motion can keep you from drowning in the quiet. Channeling energy can feel safer than sitting still with the enormity of loss. I know this terrain. Many of us do.

Can you relate? Have you pushed through difficult seasons in order to be successful … or simply stay afloat? 

I know this may be an unpopular opinion in this era of anti-hustle culture. 

Thoughts?

Happy Founders’ Day to the Distinguished Men of 
𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚 𝐏𝐡𝐢 𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝! 

For 119 years, you’ve led the way with purpose, service, and a commitment to “Manly Deeds, Scholarship and Love For All Mankind.” 

May your legacy deepen, your influence widen, and your light keep cutting through places that still need you!

🖤💛🩷💚

#APA1906Network #AKA1908

This is going to make my Atlanta friends mad!

I don’t know who created this list but the best airlines I’ve ever flown, #Emirates, isn’t even on here. 

Neither is my hometown favorite #JetBlue.

I co-sign on #TurkishAir though. 

Do you agree with this ranking? What’s your favorite airlines?

This was so much fun and got such good feedback, its only fair to share with my folks also. If you missed it and want to see the replay, comment "TEA" below or in my DM and Katheline or I will send it to you.  I'm following her lead on this... 😎

Award Winning Fortune 500 Exec | I Coached 15,000+ tech workers to Build a Career & Business they Love | Ex-Google

View Katheline Jean-Pierre MSc’s profile

Part 1 of The LinkedIn Tea is officially done  🫖 🍵 . Co-hosted with Andrea Henderson, SPHR, CIR, RACR, we broke down what moves the needle on LinkedIn right now, and how to turn your presence into real outcomes: interviews, partnerships, clients, and offers.

Here’s what we covered:

On LinkedIn Growth
•⁠  Define your unique voice + show up unapologetically
•⁠ What the algorithm is prioritizing (and what it’s quietly deprioritizing)
•⁠ How to create posts even when you “don’t know what to say”

On Career Growth
•⁠ Build a brand that attracts recruiters (not just likes)
•⁠ How to job-search in today’s landscape when “apply + wait” doesn’t work

On Attracting Opportunities
•⁠ Convert visibility into partnerships, clients, and revenue opportunities


If you missed it, don’t worry... Part 2 is coming.
👋🏾  Comment “TEA” and I’ll send the replay. 
 🗞️ Also... Join my newsletter to never miss a beat: https://lnkd.in/gX4mEkVA

P.S.: We met a few months ago in person in my backyard in LA. Then we decided to run a webinar on our journey.

Ex-VP at Symantec, Lenovo, Intel, IBM | Through my flagship program, I help women turn their expertise into a compelling offer, visible authority, and repeatable revenue—without spinning their wheels

I’ve led $100M+ businesses inside Intel, Lenovo, and Symantec — with 90-day mandates I couldn’t afford to miss.

I know what it’s like to carry a P&L, walk into a new role, and be handed a goal that looks clean on the slide but messy in reality.

Now I help senior leaders in the same position.

Not with decks. Not with workshops.
With results that land inside the quarter.

What I Solve:

Mandate, no movement
You’ve been told to cut costs, grow, or integrate — but the team’s stuck. No ownership. No traction.

Revenue, no profit
You’re selling. But cash feels unstable. Custom deals, margin leaks, unstable motion.

In role, out of time
You’re stuck reviewing contracts, fixing underperformers, or coaching managers — instead of leading at your level.

In the age of AI:

Expected to lead without being technical
I help execs show real AI leadership — by tying it to tools, decisions, and outcomes that actually move the business.

If you're carrying a mandate that defines your next chapter — but nothing's moving — I'm the one you call when you can't afford to wait 6 months.

Betsy Tong

❌ Over the hill at 50?
Trinny Woodall started at 53. Now worth $225M.

It is a fake myth that you cannot start something big later.
Age doesn’t shrink your chances.
It multiplies your odds.

I was laid off at 56.
Started a business.
Not despite my age, but because of it.

My career has been a zig zag:
🕛 At 30, earned my MBA.
🕒 At 37, became a Fortune 500 Tech Executive.
🕠 At 55, had to slow down to care for my dad with dementia.

Today at nearly 59, I can say age is just data.
Let others believe there is an expiration date on dreams.

We build better with a foundation of lived experience.
Five reasons why:

🧠 Neuroplasticity 
↳ Your brain adapts as long as you use it 
↳ Not too late to build new skills

💡 Growth mindset 
↳ Belief fuels change 
↳ Experience turns belief into action

🔥 Motivation 
↳ Purpose doesn’t expire 
↳ And you know how to turn it into a plan

💪 Resilience
↳ You’ve already survived a lot
↳ That makes you harder to stop
 
🕒 Longevity 
↳ Longer, healthier lives = more time 
↳ Relevance keeps us sharp

Proof, not just inspiration: 

👉 Vera Wang launched her label at 40 → still designing at 76
👉 Julia Child published her first cookbook at 50 → millions sold
👉 Joanna Strober founded Midi Health at 52 → now worth $100M
👉 Reese Witherspoon built Hello Sunshine at 40 → sold for $900M
👉 Arianna Huffington launched Huffpost at 55 → acquired for $315M

Age was never your limit.
Question: What will you start now?

♻️ Share to inspire others to reinvent at any age.
👋 Follow Betsy Tong for insights on building your next stage.

Them: Everything happens for a reason.
Reality: 1.1 Million people laid off in the US so far this year.
The most since the pandemic.

And now it's holiday season.
What do you say to someone you care about facing this?

Them: Corporate profits hit record highs.
Reality: Your coworker with three kids just lost their health insurance.

See a friend by the punch bowl.
It's a reflex to ask, "How was your year?"
Then the awkward pause before, “I got laid off.”

People suddenly remember they need the toilet.
The conversation ends fast.

It's the same thing that happens after a divorce.
People don't know what to say, so they say nothing.
They feel guilty about being glad it isn't them laid off.
Invitations dry up. Texts go unanswered.

The isolation makes the job loss ten times worse.
And imperfect words can cause more damage.

Here's what NOT to say:
↳ "Everything happens for a reason"
↳ "Have you tried networking more?" 
↳ "At least you have time off now"
↳ "When I was unemployed..." (making it about you)
↳ Promising to keep an eye out for opportunities.

Every one of those lines soothes you.
It doesn't help them.

Here's what TO say instead:
↳ "I've got a connection at [company]. I will make an intro. No pressure."
↳ Check in a few weeks later: "Coffee is on me."
↳ "Let me write you a LinkedIn recommendation."
↳ "This sucks. I'm here if you want to talk or just vent."

Someone in your network is dreading these conversations.
Don't be the person who looks away.

♻️ Repost this so it reaches someone who needs support this holiday season.
➕ Follow Betsy Tong for frameworks on leading through difficult conversations.

Ex-F500 Big Tech VP | I help business leaders make sense of AI | Built $100M+ divisions

❌ Too old for the work?
Bob Iger came back to fix Disney at 71.

For the leaders told they’re “overqualified.”
The ones ghosted the second the recruiter saw the dates.

You didn’t lose relevance.
The world just lost perspective.

It’s a lie that older workers can’t adapt or build again.
Experience doesn’t weigh you down.
It gives you leverage.

Imagine the boardroom saying:

“Bob’s overqualified.”
“Bob might not stay long.”
“Bob can’t adapt to new tech.”

Bob a risk? He grew profit 145% in the last year.

99% of skills can be taught.
Judgment can’t be bought.

Expertise doesn’t fade—it multiplies.
That’s why years served aren’t dead weight.

🧠 Pattern Recognition
↳ Judgment comes from years of seeing what works.
↳ You cannot Google experience.

💡 Context Advantage
↳ You understand the ripples each decision creates.
↳ Perspective is your edge.

🔥 Adaptability
↳ You’ve already reinvented through tech shifts, recessions, and restructures.
↳ Change isn’t scary; it’s muscle memory.

💪 Trust Capital
↳ Colleagues follow people who’ve got the scars.
↳ Credibility can’t be hired—it’s built.

🕒 Endurance
↳ You don’t worry about the paper cuts.
↳ You focus on getting from thought to execution.

Most reinventions start after 40…
Today I turned 59, and  am still excited about reinventing.
↳AI has opened doors closed before. I wrote 7 books last year.
↳From sitting by myself on my couch, I have spoken before crowds of 9,000
↳Rebuilding myself publicly has taken me from 5,000 to 17K plus new friends.

Proof I’m the pattern — not the exception:

👉 Ray Kroc — Franchised McDonald’s at 52. Led for nearly 30 years.
👉 Kris Jenner — Launched Kardashians at 52. Built a billion-dollar empire.
👉 Stan Lee — Created the Marvel universe in his 50s.
👉 Samuel L. Jackson — Breakthrough at 46. Now one of the highest-grossing actor ever.
👉 Flo Meiler — Took up track at 60. Still breaking records at 90.

Experience was never the risk.

When most idolize  “young and hungry,”
You show up seasoned and strategic.

Past your prime?
You’re finally in position.

♻️ Repost to remind others that longevity builds leaders.
👋 Follow Betsy Tong because it is my BIRTHDAY!

AI isn't replacing leaders who are smart.
It's replacing leaders who are only smart.

I built a $100M business in 12 months.
I expected a promotion. Instead, they wanted to fire me.

The numbers were great. The team was breaking.
I was so focused on winning that I forgot the people doing the work.

That failure taught me what three decades of success couldn't.

Your brain will eventually be matched by software.
Your ability to make someone feel valued when they're scared won't be.

Three years after nearly getting fired, they made me VP.
Not because I got smarter. Because I got better at the work AI can't copy.

The skills that saved my career:
✅ Making the quiet ones feel safe to speak up in meetings.
✅ Repairing trust after hard decisions damaged relationships.
✅ Helping high performers stay when they're being recruited away.

Over the next 5 years, AI will close the gap on your "smart" work.
Strategy decks written in minutes. Analysis done while you sleep.

What it won't replace: your ability to hold people through change.

When machines can do every task, care will still move people.

💡 What leadership skill do you think won't be replaced?
♻️ Repost if you believe soft skills are worth every investment
🔔 Click to follow Betsy Tong for more on building career momentum.

I hired a woman in her 50s out of work for 39 months.
The backlash was crazy! 

The interview panel said:
↳“She’s been out of work too long.”
↳“She won’t understand the tech.”
↳“She might not stay long.”

Translation: 
↳She’s too experienced for our comfort.
↳Onboarding her will take too much effort.
↳We want a unicorn that will walk into the job knowing everything.

I pushed back. Hard.

They focused on the job description.
I focused on what the panel missed:

↳She led teams through major tech shifts. The job was about creating resiliency not about any tech implementation.

↳She stepped out to care for her elderly father. That gave her extreme compassion and emotional regulation we need in leaders now.

↳99% of jobs can be taught. We should give people a chance.

One year later, she didn’t just fit in.
↳She didn’t pull out her title in every meeting, 
     she stepped in to coach those who needed it.
↳She showed our entire group what a servant leader means.
↳Her lived wisdom with clients made our product decisions better.

You can’t AI judgment.
You can’t Google experience.

Stop ghosting talent because they’ve been in the game longer than your LinkedIn profile.

The next “overqualified” candidate you reject might become your best hire ever. Give people a chance.

📢 Agree?
♻️ Repost this to remind hiring managers not to overlook experience.
🔔 Click to follow me, Betsy Tong for frameworks on leading in the AI era.

❌ Feeling washed up after being laid off?
 Steve Jobs was fired from his own company. 
 He came back 12 years later. 

Under his leadership, Apple became the world’s most valuable company.

But when it happens to you, you feel irrelevant overnight.

I get it. I was laid off at 56.
↳ Embarrassed to tell people I had to start again.
↳ Didn’t know how to ask for help.
↳ Thought it was my fault.

That feeling is real. It’s also not a verdict.
Sometimes you need distance to get:

🧠 Clarity
 ↳ You finally see the dysfunction you were swimming in.
 ↳ What felt “normal” was just daily survival.

💡 Identity Reset
 ↳ You rebuild without other people’s limits on you.
 ↳ You stop performing for approval.

🔥 New Energy 
 ↳ You shed the naysayers who drained your confidence.
 ↳ You protect your mindset like it’s oxygen.

💪 Resilience Recall
 ↳ You rediscover what was always your secret weapon: you.
 ↳ Reinvention isn’t new, it’s an old muscle.

🧭 Direction
 ↳ You discover what you actually want…
 not what you thought you should.

During my layoff, I fulfilled a lifelong dream:
I wrote 7 books in under a year.
Four were best sellers.

So if you’re starting again, know this:
We aren’t the outliers. We’re the pattern.
👉 Oprah was told she was “unfit for television news.” 
👉 Anna Wintour was fired from Harper’s Bazaar.
👉 Facebook rejected Jan Koum. 
He co-founded WhatsApp. Facebook bought it.

Being pushed out forces you to rebuild from intention, not inertia.

That layoff isn’t your ending.
 It’s your beginning.

👊🏼 When did getting pushed out become your biggest breakthrough?
♻️ Repost this for someone who needs to see their layoff differently.
👋 Follow Betsy Tong for turning career setbacks into comebacks.

In every failing team I’ve coached, the numbers were fine.
The conversations weren’t.

I get it, every quarter execs brag how they hit their KPIs.
The metrics give you alignment, clarity, accountability, scalability.
They show you what’s happening inside the work.

But numbers alone don’t build high-performing teams.
Behind every metric is a manager.

And if you’re leading humans, not just tracking output,
you need a second layer of KPIs:

Keep People…

1️⃣ Interested → Work should challenge them, not just fill time.
2️⃣ Informed → Context drives decisions, clears confusion.
3️⃣ Involved → Ownership beats compliance every single time.
4️⃣ Inspired → Energy creates momentum.

Of course, KPIs don’t literally stand for any of these.
But they do reveal the gap special leaders measure.

Because it’s easy to tighten the metrics.
It’s harder to tighten the purpose that made them.

KPIs tell you what changed.
How your people feel show you why it changed.

Data follows dialogue.
Not the other way around.

When the dialogue improves, the numbers do too.
Always in that order.

💬 Which of these four is the real gap you see on your team?
🔁 Repost this if your leaders measure output but never conversations.
🔔 For more leadership frameworks that actually work inside real teams, follow Betsy Tong

The smartest people in the room aren’t your competition.
But it is up to you whether you use them as fuel, or try to crush them.

Your ego starts sweating.
Your insecurity is screaming - Am I not going to measure up?
👉 But iron needs iron to get sharper.

And thanks to my great friends Maryann (MJ) Jamieson and Lindsay Linhart for always challenging me with their brilliance.

When I was younger and full of self-doubt,
Someone would say something really smart, I jumped in to find fault.
… showing how great I was too.
It just made me a jerk.

Does this sound familiar to you?

As I have gotten older, I now know I have a choice.
Give in to anxiety, or be challenged.
The ones who step up are the ones who grow most.

Here's what I've learned about working with people smarter than I am:

They're not here to expose you.
They'll expand you if you let them.

↳ That colleague who finds the mistake in your proposal? 
She just helped you win bigger.

↳ The team member suggesting a completely different approach? 
You got a new lens for every future problem.

↳ That person asking all the hard questions?
They just made you bulletproof.

When you are open to others catching what you miss,
they push you past your limitations, and
they strengthen your thinking.

So don’t choose ego over evolution.
Don’t let comfort keep you less capable.

Here is what turns their brilliance into your growth:

📌 If you start feeling small, you’re in the right place.
Now take notes like your career depends on it.

📌 After the sting fades, start being curious, ask questions, learn.

📌 Your job isn’t to compete with their strengths, it’s to make 1 * 1 = 7.
You multiply together.

No need to waste one drop of energy protecting your ego.
Be the sponge, absorb everything they know.

You’ll  grow faster in the presence of masters.

Don’t waste this advantage.
Use it.

📢 Who's the smart person who challenged you and made you better?
♻️ Repost if you're ready to grow faster
➕ Click to follow Betsy Tong for lessons on humility in leading.

Wall Street: "We want margins!"
Target and Walmart: "We'll cap wages."
Costco: "No."

Former CEO Jim Sinegal didn't run Costco like a typical retailer.
While competitors paid minimum wage and cycled through workers,
he paid MORE and kept people longer.

Everyone said he was crazy.
Wall Street yelled you will kill margins.
Costco's stock outperformed others for decades.

What Sinegal did was so simple. He paid people so they could live.
↳ Costco warehouse workers ~$26/hour
↳ Retail average: ~$17/hour

Plus he treated all types of work with respect.
He gave comprehensive benefits.
Health insurance. Retirement plans. Paid time off.
For everyone, not just executives.

And the business?
✅ Costco turnover: 8%
❌ Typical retail: 50-60%

Less hiring. Less training. More expertise.
Workers who stayed became the advantage.
Superior productivity per dollar spent.

This wasn't charity.
It was smarter business disguised as fairness.

And what is even better is the big ripples the strategy delivered:
✅ Healthier workers not burnt out from double shifts, 
✅ Ability to buy homes in their local neighborhoods, and 
✅ More time at home with their families.

Most CEOs optimize for quarterly financial measures.
They cave to Wall Street pressure to keep doing more for less.

Sinegal optimized for the people doing the work.
He proved you can pay people MORE
and still crush your competition.

The question isn't whether this works.
It's why so few leaders have the courage to do it.

This is what real leadership is.

👉 Agree?
♻ Repost this to show you are a leader who believes people are the advantage.
➕ Follow Betsy Tong for frameworks on how to lead under pressure.

99% of skills can be taught.
The 1% high performers are built.

We’ve all had that moment,
feeling invisible at work,
carrying more than we should,
doing more than they notice,
hearing “not yet” when you know you’re ready.

When my boss left, I asked for his job.
He told me I wouldn’t even be considered.
I resigned the next week.

And after a career of promotions in Big Tech, 
here’s what I can tell you if you’re a high performer who feels stuck:

You weren’t overlooked because you lacked talent.
You were overlooked because managers still chase the myth.
They think high performers arrive fully formed.
They post a job hoping for the unicorn hire.

So when you showed up with potential, hunger, willingness,
they didn’t invest. They didn’t coach. They didn’t lift you. 
They judged your past, not your possibility.
That’s on them.

Because every unseen high performer eventually learns:
Your growth depends more on the leader you get
than the skills you started with.

No one suddenly “gets talented.”
Someone finally engineers the conditions where they grow.

Here’s how to tell if you have the right leader, the one who won’t let you shrink:
➡️ invests early
➡️ removes friction
➡️ protects your focus
➡️ shows you who you can become, even before you believe it.

And here’s how to spot a leader who holds your potential back:
❌ treats you like the average
❌ rewards polish over potential
❌ uses you as the team’s safety net
❌ mistakes silence for satisfaction

You weren’t unseen.
You've been undervalued,
led by someone who never grew enough to lift you.

You deserve to be developed, not dismissed.
And if you never had that kind of leader?

Be the one someone else needs.

Agree? Repost this to help your network ris ♻️.
And click to follow me, Betsy Tong for more 🔔.

I am nearly 60, and the best me I have ever been.
17 life lessons I wished I learned at 33.

Four years ago:
No calls on my birthday. No texts. No cake.
Told to "smile more" at work.
Friday night: Chips, Netflix, shame spirals.

Now I am excited, house packed for Thanksgiving.
Spent two weeks on the road with clients,
9,000 heard me speak last month,
Ozempic took away the food f@*%kery.

At some point in life, we all feel that melancholy...
dreams deferred, life milestones missed, others winning where we are not.
It took me years of soul searching, courses and books to get here.
Now I know I am on the right path for me.

The difference isn't luck or age.
If you apply these lessons, you will become happier in half the time. 👇 

1/ Happiness is a moment, not a permanent destination.

2/ Embrace sadness and challenge. 
Hard moments make good ones sweeter.

3/ Dodge envy. Comparisons are the thief of joy.

4/ Get out of your head. Assumptions make an a$*$ out of you..

5/ Live in the gain. Write down three things that were great every day.

6/ Surround wisely. 
You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

7/ Eat real food. I’m now a vegan.

8/ Nap. Working without sleep is like driving drunk.

9/ Read everything. Books bring adventures to you.

10/ Be a craftsman. Obsess over getting better at one thing.

11/ Be present. Wrench the phone out of your hand.

12/ Socialize intentionally, even 2 minutes at Trader Joe’s counts.

13/ Be kind, especially to strangers on social media.

14/ Smile at strangers (unless you’re in a dark alley).

15/ Be random. Not everything needs a 22 point plan.

16/ Dance for 2–3 minutes every day to silly disco.

17/ Outsource or delegate unhappiness. 
Doing fewer things that make you stressed or unhappy makes you happier overall.

And if you are reading this and think it is too late,
I promise you: Your life can change slowly, and then suddenly.
Mine did. Yours can too.

💖 What lesson will you try for a week? 
You don't need to wait until you are 60. Share please!

♻️ Repost to inspire others to reinvent at any age.
🔔 Follow Betsy Tong for insights on building your next stage.

Annual reviews aren’t about your impact.
They’re about whether you make someone uncomfortable.

And the cost of missing the code?
You think you’re performing.
❌ They think you’re a problem.

It’s November.
Suddenly you’re replaying every meeting, not assessing what you did,
but guessing which part of you they’re about to judge.

What they say:

“Lacks executive presence.”
“Communicate better.”
“Be more collaborative.”
“Show leadership.”

These aren’t competencies.
They’re coded character traits.

What they mean:

➡️ “Executive presence.”
You didn’t perform loud confidence like they expected.
This is personality judgment dressed up as professionalism.

➡️ “Communicate better.”
They didn’t like your tone, cadence, or emotional temperature.
Not the message—your delivery style.

➡️ “Be more collaborative.”
They want you to be more visible, more available, more socially fluent.
This is about chemistry, not teamwork.

➡️ “Show leadership.”
They needed louder certainty or earlier dominance,
but they can’t name when or why.

And this is where the system gets cruel.

I once coached a brilliant analyst who got put on a PIP for “collaboration issues.”
On-time delivery. Zero complaints.

His real mistake?
He wasn’t loud.
He didn’t perform belonging. He just did the work.
The system punished him for not acting like family.

He quit.

Here’s the threat:
People don’t get blindsided for poor performance.
They get blindsided for failing an unspoken personality test.

If the feedback doesn’t make sense, 
Use these three exact questions to expose what’s really going on:

💡 Who on the team best demonstrates this trait?
 What do they do that makes you say that?

💡 Can you point to specific moments where you felt I didn’t show it?
 What were the exact words or actions?

💡 Going forward, what specifically do you need to see or hear for me to meet this expectation?

You convert a personality critique into concrete expectations,
so no one can weaponize popularity against you.

💬 Which of these coded phrases has been used on you,
and what did it actually mean?

♻️ If this hit a nerve, repost it so someone else realizes they’re not crazy.
➕ Follow Betsy Tong for more truths nobody else says out loud.

JSESSIONID

li_at

Max Kimber SC

The biggest leadership risk isn’t poor communication.
It’s being confidently misunderstood.

Because once your message gets reinterpreted,
you don’t just lose clarity, you lose credibility, alignment and momentum.

Back at Intel, a colleague would walk out of stand ups saying:
“I told them XXX, why are they still screwing up.”

He wasn’t wrong.
He said the words.
But the team didn’t hear what he thought he said.

Because the real enemy in every team isn’t poor communication.
It’s the silent rewrite that happens in people’s heads.

Let’s pause here.
That rewrite?
It happens fast.

Ambiguity doesn’t wait.
It starts rewriting your intention the second it’s spoken.

And the gap between spoken and interpreted?
That’s where execution fumbles and dies.

You’ve lived this:
↳ “ASAP” - today, tomorrow, or next week?
↳ “Make it look better” - cleaner? different format? more detailed?
↳ “Just pull something together” - for whom? with what inputs?
↳ “Do what you think is best” - until it turns out it wasn’t.

These aren’t instructions.
They’re mind-reading assignments wrapped in corporate jargon.

And here’s the part most leaders stumble over:
Most messages don’t get ignored.
They get reinterpreted.

Every hop your message takes, it shifts a little more —
until the final version barely resembles the one you spoke.

By the time your request moves through:
heard → understood → remembered → prioritized → acted on…
…it’s bent, softened, or reshaped into something you barely recognize.

In childhood, telephone was a game.
In companies, it’s a cost center.

And it’s the #1 reason projects stall, teams spin, and leaders repeat themselves.
The bigger your team gets, the faster clarity decays.
That’s not a people problem.
It’s a complexity problem.

And in complex times, even tiny ambiguities get amplified fast.

Here’s a quick Clarity Checklist the best communicators use before assuming “I told them” was enough…

(Save this):

↳What I asked for - plain language
↳What they heard - repeat back in one sentence
↳What success looks like - the picture in your head
↳When it’s due - exact date, time, or trigger
↳What’s their motivation - Why or why not will they care
↳What’s out of scope - what you don’t want
↳Who owns the decision - and who does not

If you skip even one of these, you’re not leading with clarity.
You’re hoping for alignment.
And hope is not a plan.

Good leaders speak clearly.
Great leaders create clarity.

Where does clarity usually break down for your team — heard, understood, prioritized, or acted on?

💬 Where does clarity break down for your team?
🔁 If this shifted the way you see communication, repost it. Smart leaders share clarity.
🔔 For frameworks to lead with clarity and precision, follow Betsy Tong

Your team doesn’t want ping pong tables.
Promotions don’t make them love work.
Other people do.

Good leaders build teams that work.
The best leaders understand their relationships with each other make their day happy or miserable.

Studies confirm it:

It isn’t what they do that makes the team feel fulfilled.
It’s who they do it with.

Four out of ten workers say their peers are the reason they love their job.
(Virgin Pulse)

It’s not perks or paychecks.

It’s connection.

It’s how they feel about each other.

And it works the other way too.

Just as many dread the people they work for.

I once reported to a CEO who said he never made a friend.
Ever. In 31 years with the company.

He told me people only talked to me because of him.

When the board fired him after 13 months?
He walked out alone.

Your effect as a leader doesn’t start in all-hands.
It's in how your team talks when you’re not in the room.

It isn’t the mission statement or big ideas presented at all hands.

It’s built (or broken) in the everyday moments:

✅ How we build teams that listen, respect, and support each other.
✅ How we create spaces so that even the quiet ones speak.
✅ How we reward those work well with others.

If you lead people, pay attention to this:

You’re part of someone else’s reason to stay — or to go.
And it comes down to how you lead the team.

📢 Tell me about the best team you have ever worked on.
♻️ Repost if you think the people you work with are the best part of the job.
➕ Follow Betsy Tong for tips to build high performing teams that like each other.

I asked a SEAL commander how he survived Hell Week.
He answered in the simplest, most terrifying way.

“You don’t beat the week.
You beat the moment.”

No fake bravado or crazy grit.
Just the truth of what happens when you’re freezing, exhausted, 
and every intelligent cell in your body screams quit.

And the reason it hit me? It felt familiar.

Not the wet, brutal training,
but the way my brain whispers when things become hard:

❌ “This is going to get uglier… bail now.”
❌ “You’re not cut out for this,” after one rough meeting.
❌ “Maybe my whole life plan is wrong,” after a bad week.

If you’re honest, you've had those moments too.

Here’s what surprised me.
SEALs have the same human failing.
They’re not fearless or superhuman.

My friend said they know the most dangerous moment, the one where many ring out, isn’t actually the hardest part of Hell Week.
It’s the anticipation that things will get worse.

That hit me. Because isn’t that when most of us quit?
Not from the thing itself, but from the story we sell ourselves about what’s coming.

And here’s the uncomfortable part, 
Most of us aren’t beaten by others, we’re beaten by our own doubt.

The ones who survive, SEALs or not, are ruthless about one rule:
Don’t make decisions about anticipation.

Here’s what that looks like in real life:

✅ Postpone quitting.
✅ Shrink your decision to the next breath, the next step.
✅ Focus on the actual moment, not the imaginary disaster.
✅ Use self-talk, calm breathing and humor to stay present.
✅ Believe you will adjust and adapt until you succeed.

Most smart people don’t fail from lack of trying.
They fail because they make decisions while over-stressed.

And the real lesson my friend gave me...

Don’t let 10 seconds of doubt decide your next 10 years.

💡 When was the last time you pushed through a moment you almost bailed on?
♻ Share this with someone who’s standing in that moment right now.
➕ Follow Betsy Tong for frameworks on how to lead under pressure.

AI isn’t replacing you.
It is quietly eroding your reputation.
One confidently wrong answer a minute.

Your boss put “Use AI” on your development plan.
IT is tracking your log-ins.

Speed is rewarded now.
Common sense isn’t.

I’ve led global teams of 1,500.
Built businesses before thinking required a keyboard.
I know what confident-but-wrong looks like.

AI wears the same smile.

AI now writes your reports, your proposals, your thought leadership.
If it’s wrong, your name’s on the line, not the model’s.

We’ve seen it already.
Australia outed Deloitte for a report full of AI errors.
The news went viral for days.

Independent reviews put error rates ~30–67%. 
(Columbia Journalism Review)

The errors turn: 

❌ client rework into lost margin.
❌ compliance reviews into legal bills. 
❌ clients fact checking you before they sign.

AI is great at patterns; shaky on hard facts.

Before you ship an AI answer, run this 9-second gut check:

✅ Risk → Who pays if it’s wrong?
✅ Source → What proof backs this?
✅ Edge → Did the AI answer sound specific or formulaic?
✅ Judgment → Did you steer or nod along to AI’s answer?
✅ Alignment → Could you defend this in front of others?

AI is confident. 
You can't afford to be careless.

You’re not anti-AI.
You’re anti-bullshit.

Your competence still beats AI hype.

💬 Which of these 5 checks do you already run?
🔁 If your team is being told to use AI faster, repost so someone’s confident mistake doesn't become your clean-up job.
🔔 Follow Betsy Tong for how leadership shifts in the age of AI.

I hadn’t thought about him in twenty years.
Then I got the email one of my favorite teachers died.

Professor Richard Shultz.
The tears after so long surprised me.

Before him, my world was limited.
I judged others through my white-picket-fence lens:
overeducated, Western, privileged.

My life plan was predictability others covet.
The best schools, a great job, a family who loves me - A bow-tied life.
He changed that for me and 33 years of students after.

Prof. Shultz didn’t just lecture.
He didn’t only teach theory.
He never patted your head with “You’ve got potential, kid.”

He put me in real and uncomfortable situations.
↳ One of a few woman at the Iraq DMZ right after the first Gulf War
↳ Questioning how democracy was being rebuilt in Panama
↳ Debating the US Army’s role in a domestic drug war
↳ Sitting in military briefings I had no business being in.

Here’s what I understand now, and should’ve seen years ago:
Exposure changes people more than cheering ever will.

Many of us grow up inside our own limited mental box.
We don’t see the wall until someone drags us past it.
And what the best teachers do is exactly what great leaders do:

1️⃣ They take you places you’d never end up on your own.
(And don’t make a big deal out of it.)

2️⃣ They throw you into situations above your pay grade.
(They set the bar high because they know you will hit it.)

3️⃣ They show you how things work behind the curtain.
(The stuff no training ever covers.)

4️⃣ They let you borrow their perspective until you build your own.
(Not with slogans, but by bringing you along.)

5️⃣ They challenge how you think.
(And you only realize it years later.)

Prof. Shultz did that and more for me.
I wish I’d told him.
All these years later, I still think differently because of him.

Because the greatest thing you give someone
isn’t a raise or a title,
it’s a wider way of seeing.

💬 Who expanded your thinking before you were ready for it? Tag them.
♻️ Repost to remind others growth comes from exposure, not slogans.
➕ Click to follow Betsy Tong for leadership lessons built on experience.

A Blueprint for Leaders Building High Performing Thinkers

600 people didn’t just “quit” Paramount because of RTO.
They walked because it was never about culture.
It is quiet firing wrapped in a pretty PR package.

The CEO announced he wanted collaboration and innovation.
Everyone needed to come back 5 days a week to rebuild culture.
What he actually got was $185M in trust and talent walking out the door.

The mandate was for VPs and below.
Not for him.
Not for his team.
Nothing breaks culture faster than a double standard.

This was not a culture problem.
This was headcount cutting disguised as leadership.

I have seen this play in big tech many times.
Move the office, watch 30 percent quit, avoid paying severance.
Wall Street applauds.

But look at what was happening around the mandate:
$8B merger
$3B in cost cuts
2,600 layoffs already planned
Severance buyouts timed with January RTO

The biggest tell?
The timing was perfect.
The innovation language was a decoy.

During the remote years:
+76 percent subscriber growth
$6B DTC revenue
Stable EBITDA

Hybrid was working.
Executives ignored the evidence.

Paramount paid $185M severance to burn the exact people they needed.
They disrupted execution.
They collapsed morale.
They bought themselves a PR disaster.

The first to leave are never the low performers.
It’s the people you can’t replace.

If your CEO is about to copy this play, the signals show up early.
In 2026, one in 3 companies will kill remote work.

Here is how you read the signs in yours:

1/ “Culture” shifts from trust to proximity.
2/ IT starts tracking logins and badge swipes.
3/ RTO is “optional” until it becomes a loyalty test.
4/ Badge alerts appear and output stops being the priority.

If you see two of these, the playbook is active.
Your company will call the exits “voluntary.”

RTO is not the problem.
Using it as a decoy for silent firing is.

It destroys trust and burns cash.
It guarantees your best people leave first.

If you want to be the leader talent stays for, 
you measure outcomes, not obedience.
You build environments where people can actually think.
You create a place where they want to stay.

The leaders who win will not have the fullest offices.
You will keep the people who have other options.

📢 Which cost do you think leaders underestimate most?
♻️ Repost so more leaders rethink the price of forced RTO.
🔔 Follow Betsy Tong for insights other leaders will not tell you.

Gentle reminder. 
The people who matter won’t thank you for answering emails Thursday

Because here’s what actually happens:

My friend spent last Thanksgiving glued to her phone.
Shushing us while a German client raged about a late delivery.
And it wasn’t a one-off.

Our friendship became a series of last-minute text cancellations:
“Sorry, I know you’ll be pissed. Can’t make it.”

I knew her job was important.
I just didn't expect it to always be more important than me.
Eventually… I stopped waiting.

Then in March she was laid off.
Suddenly she had all the time in the world, and nothing to fill it.

Work replaced her in a month.
But the relationships she dropped,
They didn’t bounce back as fast.

Anything that costs you the people who care about you...
Not worth the trade.
Work can replace you.
Your family and friends can’t.

📢 Tag someone you’re grateful for today.
♻️ Repost to someone you know who needs a reminder, work is not love.
👉 Follow Betsy Tong for tips on reinvention.

AI didn’t steal thinking.
It stole the pause where we form judgment.
What's at stake? The moment that made you sharp.

Leader: “I don’t think like I used to.”
AI: “Relax. I’ll do it for you.”

It takes 29 seconds to ask AI.
↳You send the email faster.
↳Your brain relaxes.
↳And then ever so quietly, it gets lazy.
↳AI made thinking optional.

I feel it too. I advised CEOs long before AI existed.
Now I catch myself unable to think without a keyboard.
Not because I’m incapable, but because AI is always right there, offering me a shortcut.

Here’s the scary gap for leaders:

AI doesn’t replace the task.
It replaces the first 90 seconds of judgment...
the part where leaders define the problem.

And most others won’t notice it disappearing.
More and more, people go to AI before they think.

And slowly that voice creeps in:
“The model probably knows more than me.”
“No need to think—AI will handle it.”

That’s when judgment atrophies.
And that’s what leaders like us are actually afraid of.

Your judgment is the only competitive advantage left.

Here’s the blueprint the sharpest operators use to keep it intact:

1/ Define the problem before you open AI.
Most use AI like Google.
They ask a vague question, get a vague answer, and three hours later they’re 47 tabs deep with zero decisions made.

Decide what you’re solving first.
Treat the output like raw material, not the destination.

2/ Stop using AI for low-value labour.
Everyone automates emails and summaries.
High performers use AI for strategy, options, consequences.

Give the model a job title, not a to-do list.

3/ Inject your experience.
Models trained on Reddit give you Reddit-grade insight unless you lead with your real-world context.

Start with: “Here’s what I know. What am I missing?”
Your experience is the accelerant.
AI is the loud friend in the passenger seat.

4/ Question everything.
The most dangerous AI output is clean, confident, and dead wrong.
Make it defend its assumptions.

Make it argue with your world.
By round ten, you’ll finally get something worth using.

The pattern is simple:
AI doesn’t replace thought.
It amplifies whatever thinking you bring: Excellence or mediocrity.

Use it like a coach who sharpens your judgment, not a vending machine for answers.


♻️ If this hit a nerve, you’re not alone. Repost for other leaders who need a wake up call.
➕ Follow Betsy Tong for insights on AI and leadership.

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The Battle

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