HR & Change Consultant | I help Executives succeed at organisational change, saving MILLIONs in lost time, money, and talent | Delivered £68M in savings in 2024 | 30+ years of global experience | Ex-Big 4

For consulting and commercial enquiries, contact: hayden@arellahr.com

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Hi, I’m Hayden – I help HR leaders and businesses make HR work smarter through HR operating models, organisation design, change management, and training.

With 30+ years of global experience, I’ve worked with some of the world’s leading organisations, from Big 4 consulting to professional services, retail, and tech, helping them simplify complexity, scale effectively, and build high-performing teams.

Thought Leadership
I’m passionate about HR transformation and regularly contribute to industry panels, leadership forums, and global conferences. My work on change management, and HR effectiveness has been featured at events.

If you’re tackling big HR challenges and need practical, no-nonsense support, let’s connect.

You're doing everything right in HR.

And still... nobody listens.

You build programs. Run initiatives. Present data.
But when the CEO talks strategy? You're not in the room.

That stings.

Here's what Dave Ulrich taught me that changed everything:

HR isn't about HR.
It's about the business winning.

Stop asking "What should HR do?"
Start asking "What does the business need to win?"

The shift sounds small.
The impact? Massive.

Here's what actually moves the needle:

Build capabilities, not just skills.
Your company doesn't need better individuals. It needs better systems.

Cut the busy work.
Running 10 programs means nothing if none solve real problems.

Speak their language.
Walk the floor. Sit in ops meetings. Learn what keeps the CFO up at night.

Make leaders your multiplier.
One great manager impacts 50 people. That's your leverage.

Turn data into stories.
Numbers inform. Stories move people to act.

The brutal truth?

You'll never be strategic by doing more HR stuff.
You become strategic by solving business problems.

Want to stop being seen as admin and start shaping strategy?

Follow me for insights that bridge HR and business impact.

What's the biggest barrier keeping HR out of strategic conversations at your company?

For more HR insights and challenging the norm
 Follow Hayden Swerling 
 📩 Subscribe: https://lnkd.in/eysBEU_k

Hayden Swerling

Hayden is a change professional with an operations, hr and consulting background having managed complex projects in matrix environments. 

Specialties - Operating Model Design, change Management, transformation, organisational redesign, performance management, HR Function Effectiveness  HR business partnering, Shared Services, Workforce Planning, Process Improvement, Cost improvement, Talent Management, SaaS.

HR & Change Consultant | I help Executives succeed at organisational change, saving MILLIONs in lost time, money, and talent | Delivered £68M in savings in 2024 | 30+ years of global experience | Ex-Big 4 | AI enthusiast

Teresa Gould

You're wasting your time.

Not because you're lazy.
Because you're busy doing things that don't matter.

Another meeting that could've been an email.
Another report nobody reads.
Another day where you got everything done and felt nothing.

Here's what nobody tells you:

Someone your age is living their last day right now.
They'd kill for one more Sunday.
One more chance to do things that matter.
One more shot at making their time count.

And you're spending yours on autopilot.

I'm not trying to be dark.
I'm trying to wake you up. ⏰

Because the truth is brutal:
You can't get today back.
You can't redo this week.
You can't rewind the last year of "just getting through it."

The time you're killing at work?
It's your life.
Not a dress rehearsal.
Not a warmup.
Your actual life. 💡

So stop treating it like something to survive.

Every task you touch should either move something forward or get cut.
Every meeting should create clarity or get cancelled.
Every day should leave you feeling like you spent your time, not like it spent you.

Your time isn't renewable.
Stop acting like it is. ⚡

What's one thing you will do this week that you'd cut if you knew this was your last month at work?

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You didn’t get the job. 

And it feels like a punch to the gut. 

You prepared for weeks. 
Rehearsed answers in the mirror. 
Bought the perfect outfit. 
But they chose someone else. 

Your startup died after two years of sleeping on couches 
Your promotion went to someone who joined last year. 
Your project got cut after you gave it everything. 

The rejection email sits in your inbox like a weight. 
The disappointment tastes bitter. 
And the voice starts whispering: 

"You're not cut out for this." 
"Everyone else has it figured out." 
"Maybe it's time to settle." 

I’ve been there too, staring at the ceiling at 3am, wondering if I’m fooling myself. 

Then I came back to something Nelson Mandela said after spending 27 years in prison before becoming president: 

“I never lose. I either win or learn.” 

Read that again. 

What if every setback is intel? 
What if every rejection is redirection? 
What if every “failure” is preparation? 

That job you didn’t get? 

You learned what to sharpen for next time. 
That startup that failed? 
You learned what customers actually need. 

That promotion you missed? 
You learned which skills actually move the needle in your company. 
The pain is real, honour it.

But don’t let it write your story. 
You’re not losing. You’re learning. 
And every lesson makes you harder to stop. 

That sting you feel? 
It’s not failure. 
It’s growth knocking. 
When you think back to a rejection that changed you
what skill did it force you to develop next? 

For more HR insights and challenging the norm: 
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People & Change Consultant | I help Executives succeed at organisational change, saving MILLIONs in lost time, money, and talent | Delivered £68M in savings 2024 | 30+ years global experience | Ex-Big 4 | AI enthusiast

Mohamed E.

Every morning at 9am, a dog sat at Shibuya Station.

Waiting. 🐕

His owner had died.
But Hachiko didn't know that.
Or maybe he did — and showed up anyway.

For nine years, he waited at that platform.
Through rain. Through snow. Through summers that burned. ☀️

People tried to take him home.
He always came back.

Because loyalty doesn't calculate odds.
It doesn't check if the effort is worth it.
It just shows up. 💯

And that's what we've forgotten in business.

We want people to bleed for us. 💼
To stay late. To go the extra mile. To defend us when we're not in the room.

But we've never given them a reason to.

You can't buy loyalty with a paycheck. 💰
You can't manufacture it with perks.
You can't fake it with company values on a wall.

Loyalty is built in the small moments nobody sees: 👀

When you protect someone's reputation behind closed doors
When you keep a promise that's no longer convenient
When you show up for people after the project ends
When you admit you were wrong before anyone asks

Hachiko didn't wait because he was trained to.
He waited because someone had earned it. ❤️

Your team isn't leaving because of money.
Your clients aren't leaving because of price.
Your best people aren't leaving because of opportunity.

They're leaving because you never gave them a reason to stay. 🚪

Real loyalty is forged in fire. 🔥
In the moments when it costs you something.
When defending someone hurts your position.
When keeping your word means losing short-term gain.

That's when people remember. 🎯
That's when they decide if you're worth coming back for.

So ask yourself:
If everything fell apart tomorrow — would your people still show up? 🤔

Or were they just waiting for the train to leave?

What's the most powerful act of loyalty you've witnessed in business? 👇

For more People and Change insights and challenging the norm:
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Need a reason to smile today? 😊

Meet the quokka. Officially the happiest animal on the planet.

And honestly? Looking at these little guys taught me something beautiful about leadership.

They don't try to be happy. They just are.

And everyone around them lights up. ✨

That's the thing about energy. It spreads.

When you walk into a room with genuine warmth, people feel it.
When you bring lightness to a heavy moment, the whole team breathes easier.
When you show up with real optimism, it gives others permission to hope too.

You don't need a grand strategy to lift people up.

Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is just show up as the person who makes the room feel better. 💫

The leader who:
→ Smiles when things get tense
→ Encourages when doubt creeps in
→ Brings calm when chaos hits
→ Sees the good in people first

That's not soft leadership. That's magnetic leadership.

The quokka doesn't know it's changing someone's day.
It just exists with this disarming joy, and suddenly everything feels possible again.

Great leaders do the same thing. 🌟

They don't force positivity. They radiate it.

So here's your reminder: the energy you bring matters more than you think.

And today might be the day someone really needs yours.

What's one small way you've seen positive energy change a team's dynamic? 👇

For more People and Change insights and challenging the norm:
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Happiest Animal On the Planet

Stop calling your people "resistant to change."

They're not resistant. They're confused.

Because you never explained the WHY.

Here's what I see happening everywhere:

Leaders announce change.
People push back.
Leaders label them "resistant."

But here's the truth 👇

Your people aren't difficult.
Your change communication is.

When you skip the WHY, you create the exact resistance you're complaining about:

1️⃣ Trust erodes fast. People feel manipulated, not motivated.
2️⃣ Rumours fill the gaps. What you don't explain, they'll imagine.
3️⃣ Good people disengage. Your best talent checks out first.
4️⃣ Change stalls completely. Energy dies before momentum builds.
5️⃣ You waste time and money. Failed rollouts cost more than slow starts.

The real resistance isn't to change.
It's to being changed without understanding.

Here's what works instead:

🎯 Start with PURPOSE: What problem are we solving?
🎯 Connect to IMPACT: How does this help our customers/team/mission?
🎯 Address CONCERNS: What will be different? What stays the same?
🎯 Show the PATH: What happens next? When? How can they help?
🎯 Make it PERSONAL: How does this change benefit them directly?

People don't resist change.
They resist being left behind.

Stop blaming your team for your communication gaps.
Start explaining the WHY first.

📌 Save this for your next change initiative.
🔁 Share it with a leader who needs to read this.
👥 Follow Hayden Swerling for more people-centred leadership insights.

I used to think leadership was about being the loudest in the room.

I was wrong.

Years ago a crisis meeting changed everything.

The client was furious. 
The project was bleeding. 
Voices competing just to be heard.

Everyone desperate to look like the hero.

And then there was Lisa.

While others shouted, she listened.
Really listened.
Not plotting her next comment.
Absorbing every single word.

Our VP started spiraling.
Everyone else caught his panic like a virus.
Sarah stayed calm.
Pulled up the data. 
Asked one simple question:
"What do we actually know for certain?"

I couldn't look away.

She didn't rush.
Every move had intention.
When Jim tore down every idea, she didn't fight back.
She quietly made him feel capable of better ones.

When the blame-throwing started, she focused on facts.
Pure. Simple. Facts.

Then something beautiful happened.

She gave credit to Tom.
Even though the idea was clearly hers.
While everyone performed loudly, she had prepared quietly.

Her questions weren't rapid-fire.
They were thoughtful.
Made us think instead of react.

Others obsessed over the perfect slide.
She focused on actual progress.

When someone tried to start a blame game, she held them accountable.
Not with anger.
With crystal clarity.
"What can we control moving forward?"

I realised I was witnessing something rare.

Trust being built one small action at a time.
Someone who saw the entire puzzle while we fought over pieces.
Who adapted to every curveball while we complained.

She didn't need to be the loudest voice.
She was the most consistent one.

When she said she'd handle the client call, everyone relaxed.
No excuses. 
No drama. 
Just certainty.

By the meeting's end, the results spoke louder than any of our shouting.
Team aligned. 
Crisis contained. 
Path forward clear.

And Sarah? 
She was already three steps ahead.
Making the team better.
Not her reputation.
The team.

I've sat through a thousand meetings like that one.
Watched a thousand "leaders" perform their authority.

But quiet effectiveness?
It doesn't just solve problems.
It transforms people.

It doesn't demand attention.
It earns devotion.

The loudest person in the room is rarely the most powerful one.

Which leader are you becoming?

Follow Hayden Swerling for more people insights

The room nodded in agreement.

But I knew the truth, they were lying.

Silent resistance.

I was reviewing a transformation plan last month when the project leader stood up with complete confidence.

"Everyone is on board," he declared to the room.
Chest puffed out.
Smile beaming.
Pure conviction.

But I could feel it.
The tension nobody else noticed.
The way people shifted in their seats.
The polite nods that meant nothing.
The silence that screamed volumes.

I scribbled two words on a piece of paper.
Folded it.
Walked over to him after the meeting.

"See this first," I whispered as I handed it over.

He unfolded the note.
His face went pale.

"Silent resistance."

That's what kills transformations.
Not the loud objections.
Not the obvious pushback.
The quiet ones.
The nodding heads with closed hearts.
The "yes" that really means "hell no."

When people don't feel safe to disagree, they agree to your face.
Then sabotage behind your back.
Not out of malice.
Out of survival.

Your transformation fails in the shadows.
Where the real conversations happen.
Where people whisper their true concerns.
Where fear lives and thrives.

Leaders mistake silence for buy-in.
Compliance for commitment.
Participation for passion.

But silence isn't agreement.
It's resignation.

The most dangerous person in your transformation isn't the vocal critic.
It's the quiet one who stopped fighting.

Stop celebrating the nods.
Start noticing the sighs.
The crossed arms.
The eyes that look away.

Which signals are you missing?

For more People and Change insights and challenging the norm:
 Follow Hayden Swerling
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Your highest performers are quietly crumbling.
Not because they're weak. 
Your organisation taxes performance. 

And no one talks about it.

I watched a CHRO present glowing leadership metrics last week:
"Our top talent is crushing targets. Culture scores are up."

Then the CEO asked a question that froze the room:
"Why did we lose four directors this quarter?"

The truth? 
High-performance cultures often destroy the very leaders they claim to value.

According to DDI, 71% of leaders report significantly higher stress since taking their roles. 

Meanwhile, 56% of senior leaders hit burnout last year.

This isn't normal attrition. It's organisational self-sabotage.

The hidden performance tax works like this:

1. Short-term results trump everything
Quarterly targets create survival thinking. 
Long-term planning becomes a luxury.

2. Execution beats development
Leaders who deliver now get promoted. 
Those who build for tomorrow get overlooked.

3. Firefighting outranks fire prevention
Crisis responders become heroes. 
Culture builders become "nice to haves."

The cost? 
Beyond £130K to replace each leader, you create a system that:
→ Rewards heroic burnout over sustainable results
→ Teaches leaders to hide struggles until they break
→ Drives away precisely the talent you need for tomorrow

Three shifts that transform high-performance into lasting success:

1. Measure leadership beyond delivery
Track psychological safety, team retention, and succession strength.

2. Reward the invisible work
Recognise leaders who develop others, not just those hitting numbers.

3. Create strategic pauses
Make room for thinking and relationship building. 
The best decisions rarely happen in back-to-back meetings.

Your best people aren't resources to be consumed. 
They're assets to be developed.

What's one way organisations tax its highest performers? 
Share below.

For more People and Change insights and challenging the norm:
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You're losing your best people.

Not because of pay.
Not because of perks.
Because they don't feel heard.

Every day, talented employees walk into meetings with ideas that could transform your business.

And every day, those ideas die in silence.

Why?

Because leaders are too busy talking to listen.
Too focused on being right to admit they're wrong.
Too comfortable with "how we've always done it" to try something new.

The cost? Brutal.

Your top performers disengage.
Innovation stalls.
Competitors who actually listen start winning.

And you're left wondering why your culture feels broken.

Here's what Satya Nadella figured out when he took over Microsoft:

Empathy isn't soft. It's strategic.

He didn't just change products. He changed how people felt about showing up to work.

The shift?

→ Listen more than you speak
→ Reward learning over knowing
→ Build safety so people take risks
→ Focus on clarity when everything feels chaotic
→ Make inclusion the engine of innovation
→ Think beyond this quarter

Microsoft went from stagnant to unstoppable.

Not through brilliant strategy alone.
Through leaders who made people feel valued.

Your team has the answers you're looking for.

The question is: are you creating space for them to share?

What's one way you've seen empathy drive real results in leadership?

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Most HR transformations fail because they're designed by consultants who've never run HR. 🎯

I've spent 15 years leading HR operating model redesigns.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: underneath every failed HR transformation sits the same behavioural problem:
Too much people-pleasing HR, not enough people-first HR.

Across 30+ organisations.

The pattern is predictable.

Transformation initiatives look brilliant on paper.

They collapse within 18 months. 📉

Not because of poor strategy.

Because of preventable execution mistakes.

Here are the critical errors I see CHROs repeat:

**Mistake 1: Designing the operating model before defining the operating rhythm** ⚙️

• You can't structure your team until you know how work actually flows
• Map your decision rights first
• Structure follows decisions, not the other way around
• Most teams restructure, then realize they've just moved the bottlenecks

**Mistake 2: Underestimating change management by a factor of 10** 🔄

• HR transformations fail at the human level
• Not the technical level
• Your team needs to unlearn years of muscle memory
• Budget 30% of your transformation effort for change management
• Most teams budget 5%
• Then wonder why adoption stalls

**Mistake 3: Building an HR strategy disconnected from business strategy** 🎯

• If your transformation can't articulate its impact on revenue, cost, or risk, it won't survive budget cuts
• Every operating model decision should trace back to a business outcome
• "Better employee experience" isn't enough
• Better experience that drives what business result?

**Mistake 4: Copying someone else's operating model** 📋

• The three-pillar model works brilliantly for some organizations
• It fails spectacularly for others
• Your operating model must reflect your organization's complexity, maturity, and strategic priorities
• There is no universal best practice

**Mistake 5: Treating technology as the transformation** 💻

• A new HRIS doesn't transform HR
• It automates your current process
• Good or bad
• Fix the operating model first
• Then digitize
• The most expensive mistake is automating dysfunction

Here's what actually works: ✅

Start with your most painful process.

Redesign it completely.

Prove the value.

Then scale the approach.

Transformations that try to fix everything simultaneously fix nothing. 🚫

The organizations that get this right don't just redesign HR.

They fundamentally change how the business views HR's strategic contribution. 🚀

If you're planning an HR transformation or struggling with one that's stalled, I'd welcome a conversation. 💬

Sometimes an outside perspective on your operating model challenges makes all the difference.

For more HR insights and challenging the norm:
Follow Hayden Swerling
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I watched another change initiative crash.

Not because the strategy was wrong.
Because nobody cared about the humans living through it.

Professor Julie Hodges gets what most leaders miss:
Change isn't a project plan. 
It's a human experience.

Her 6 rules aren't theory. 
They're survival tools for anyone leading people through uncertainty.

Here's what she taught me:

1. Change Is Emotional. Stop Pretending It's Not

Your team isn't resisting change. 
They're scared, uncertain, grieving what they're losing.

Map emotional impact like you map business impact.
Both determine if this works.

2. Value Lives in People, Not Deliverables

Ticking boxes doesn't create change. 
Shifting beliefs, building capability, earning commitment does.

Measure what matters: Are people more confident? 
More capable? 
More bought in?

3. Meaning Before Messaging

People don't resist change. 
They resist pointless change that nobody explained.

Build the "why" with your team, not for them. 
Co-create meaning or watch engagement die.

4. Involvement Beats Communication

Another all-hands email won't move anyone. 
Involvement will.

Bring people in early, especially those most threatened. 
Give them voice, not just updates.

5. Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

Your brilliant plan means nothing if culture blocks it.

Identify what enables change and what kills it. 
Fix culture first or watch everything stall.

6. Humanity Builds Trust Faster Than Any Gantt Chart

Your timeline doesn't earn trust. Your honesty does.

Listen more. 
Admit uncertainty. Show empathy. 
Humans follow humans, not project plans.

Professor Julie Hodges doesn't just study change. 
She understands the heartbreak, fear, and hope inside it.

That's why her work matters.

What's the most human thing a leader did during a difficult change you experienced?

For more People and Change insights and challenging the norm:
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Your executives are nodding in HR meetings.

But they have no idea what you're talking about.

"Employee lifecycle analytics."
"Talent sourcing."
"360° feedback."
"eNPS scores."

Blank stares behind polite smiles.

Here's what this costs you:

Strategic decisions get delayed while you explain basic concepts.
HR initiatives die because leadership doesn't understand their value.
Budgets get slashed for programs they can't grasp.
Your expertise gets dismissed as "HR speak."

The result?
HR stays stuck in the administrative corner.
While people issues destroy business performance.

Every leader needs to understand these 9 critical HR categories:

🔍 PEOPLE ANALYTICS & INSIGHTS
Employee Lifecycle Analytics: Track movement from hire to exit
People Analytics: Analyse behaviours and trends using data
Predictive Analytics: Forecast turnover and hiring needs
Attrition Rate: Measure staff turnover outcomes

🎯 TALENT ACQUISITION
Employer Brand: Your reputation as a workplace
Candidate Experience: Perceptions throughout recruitment
Talent Sourcing: Finding and engaging potential hires
Offer Acceptance Rate: Hiring process effectiveness

⚡ PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT  
360° Feedback: Collect feedback from multiple perspectives
Performance Improvement Plan: Structured support for underperformance
Key Performance Indicators: Metrics for success measurement

Plus 6 more categories:
📊 Workforce Planning
📚 Learning & Development  
💰 Compensation & Benefits
❤️ Employee Engagement
🏢 Organisational Culture
🤝 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

When your C-suite understands "attrition rate," they grasp the cost of turnover.
When they know "succession planning," they see the risk of key person dependency.
When they understand "employee engagement," they connect it to productivity.

Stop translating on the fly.
Start speaking the same language.

Save this post for your next leadership meeting.

Which HR term confuses your executives the most?

For more HR insights and challenging the norm:
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Your company thinks it's agile.

It's not.

It's just chaos with a fancy name.

Every organisation tells me the same story.
"We're agile now."
"We move fast."
"We adapt."

Then I watch the reality unfold.

Priorities flip every week like a broken switch.
Monday you chase one goal.
Friday you chase three others.
Focus drifts faster than anyone can follow.

Decisions happen wherever someone shouts loudest.
Corner conversations override strategy meetings.
The loudest voice wins.
Not the best idea.

People guess what they should do.
Roles blur into nothing.
"Just figure it out" becomes the job description.
Strategy changes more than seasons.
Vision disappears entirely.

Every meeting feels like pure firefighting.
Always reacting.
Never steering.
You call it empowerment.
But everyone is drowning.
Freedom without guidance breeds confusion.
That confusion kills your momentum.

Feedback loops create noise, not learning.
Plenty of talk.
Zero progress.
No one owns delivery when things fail.
Accountability evaporates under pressure.

And the worst part?

Burnout gets praised as drive.
Exhaustion gets called commitment.
Structure feels like a threat.
You've mistaken control for constraint.

This isn't agility.

This is organisational chaos destroying your people.

Real agility looks different.
Clear direction with flexible paths.
Structure that enables speed.
Accountability paired with real autonomy.
Intentional adaptation.
Not reactive scrambling from crisis to crisis.

Stop calling your dysfunction agile.

Start building systems that actually move you forward.

What's one sign your organization mistakes chaos for agility?

For more People and Change insights and challenging the norm:
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Most change strategies don’t fail from resistance.

They fail when people feel changed, not seen.

We announce.
We communicate.
We train.

But we forget to connect.

Here’s what I’ve learned after years of watching transformations stall 👇

1️⃣ Change is told, not understood.
 Leaders jump to the what before explaining the why.
 Start with meaning, people move for purpose, not PowerPoints.

2️⃣ Managers get left behind.
 Execs align, but middle managers translate chaos.
 Equip them as messengers and sense-makers, not mouthpieces.

3️⃣ We confuse activity with impact.
 Emails, decks, campaigns — but no dialogue.
 Change sticks when people are heard, not managed.

4️⃣ Training ≠ Change.
 Tick-box learning doesn’t transform behaviour.
 Enable skills people can use tomorrow.

5️⃣ Burnout isn’t a side effect, it’s a signal.
 Sustainable change beats fast change.
 Add recovery to your roadmap.

6️⃣ Stakeholder maps miss the real influencers.
 Influence lives outside the org chart.
 Find the people others trust and bring them in early.

7️⃣ You’ve got milestones, not meaning.
 
The story is what moves hearts, not the slide deck.

Because here’s the truth:

People don’t resist change,they resist feeling unseen.
Let’s make change more human.

💬 What’s one human moment you’ve seen make or break transformation?
📌 Save this before your next rollout.
🔁 Share it with a leader who needs to read it.
👥 Follow Hayden Swerling for people-led change that sticks.

The Change Strategy You Need

Amy Yamashiro

I watched a CEO walk past the security guard.
No eye contact.
No acknowledgment.
Not even a nod.

Same CEO, 30 seconds later in the boardroom:
"We value every single person in this organization."

Character isn't what you say in meetings.
It's how you treat people when cameras are off.

→ The intern you ignore in the hallway
→ The cleaner you walk past without seeing
→ The contractor you don't bother learning their name

These moments reveal everything.
Your title might command respect.
Your character earns it.

For more People and Change insights and challenging the norm:
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Credit: Dr. Brigette Hyacinth

He hadn't spoken in months. 🕰️

Dementia had stolen his words.
His memories.
His recognition of loved ones.

But then the music started. 🎵

In that moment, he wasn't lost anymore.
He was found. ✨

Dementia is ruthless. 💔
It steals names.
Erases faces.
Burns down entire lifetimes of memories.

But music? 🎶
Music lives in a different place.

Deeper than memory.
Stronger than disease.
More persistent than fear.

The lullaby he sang to his babies.
The hymn he hummed while working.
The dance song from his honeymoon.

They're all still there.
Untouchable.
Waiting for someone to care enough to play them.

This is why kindness changes everything in dementia care. 💙

Not because it cures anything.
Because it sees everything.

It sees the father who's still there.
The husband who's still loving.
The man who's still whole.

When caregivers choose compassion over convenience.
When families keep trying connection.
When strangers offer gentle patience.

Magic happens. ✨

A hand squeeze during a familiar melody. 🤝
A smile when hearing an old favorite. 😊
A moment of clarity in the chaos.

These aren't small things.
They're everything.

Because dignity doesn't depend on memory.
Humanity doesn't require recognition.
Love doesn't need words. ❤️

Music reminds us.
Again and again.

The person you knew is still in there.
Changed, yes.
But not gone.

Never gone.

Follow Hayden Swerling for more people insights

This kid couldn't speak. 💔

Now he's the only voice in a room of 400.
Delivering a graduation speech.

Year 7, he wanted to disappear.
The bullying was destroying him.
His attendance dropped to 34%.
"I didn't have a voice then," he tells the crowd.

Literally and figuratively.

He had a stammer.
Words trapped behind walls of fear.
Every stuttered sentence gave bullies more ammunition.

Then Mr. Burton saw him.

Actually saw him.

While others saw a problem kid who wouldn't show up
Mr. Burton saw someone worth fighting for.
Lunch breaks helping him speak.
After school sessions rebuilding what bullies had torn down.
Not just fixing words.
Fixing a soul.

Today that same kid commands the stage. 🎤
Voice clear and strong.
Making everyone laugh:
"It's good I don't have a dream to work at a call centre or else I would be hired same day."

The whole auditorium erupts.

He thanks Mr. Burton by name.
Voice breaking with gratitude.
Thanks everyone who refused to give up on him.

The kid who once had no words.
Now wishes he had more.

From 34% attendance to addressing hundreds.
From voiceless to unforgettable.

One teacher changed everything. ✨

Not with grand gestures.
With daily choices to see a kid everyone else had written off.

Mr. Burton didn't just teach him to speak without stuttering.
He taught him his voice mattered.

How many kids are waiting for someone to see them?

For more People and Change insights and challenging the norm:
 Follow Hayden Swerling
 📩 Weekly insights: https://lnkd.in/eysBEU_k

Ever felt like you’re leading in a storm? 🌊

The waves keep rising.

The noise gets louder.
And everyone’s looking to you for direction.

That’s leadership when everything feels messy.
It’s not about having all the answers
It’s about being the calm in the chaos.

Here’s what I’ve learned when the waters get rough:

 1️⃣ Stay calm when others panic. Your tone sets the temperature.
 2️⃣ Focus on what you can control. Don’t chase every wave.
 3️⃣ Communicate direction clearly. Uncertainty multiplies in silence.
 4️⃣ Simplify decisions. Clarity beats complexity.
 5️⃣ Protect team energy. Momentum only lasts if people do.
 6️⃣ Reframe problems as learning. Curiosity beats frustration.
 7️⃣ Celebrate progress, not perfection. Every small win matters.
 8️⃣ Keep perspective. Zoom out, storms don’t last.
 9️⃣ Ask for help early. Leadership isn’t solo sailing.
 🔟 Reflect after the storm. That’s where real growth happens.

Leading through mess isn’t glamorous.
It’s human. It’s humbling.
But it’s also where the best leaders are made.

If you’re steering through rough seas right now. 
Keep going.

Your calm will be someone else’s anchor. ⚓️

➡️ Repost this if you know a leader who is steering through rough seas right now.

And if you need the full strategic blueprint for stability, get my high-resolution guide here:
⬇️ FREE DOWNLOAD: HOW TO LEAD WHEN EVERYTHING FEELS MESSY
https://lnkd.in/exPxttbQ

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