Lever Talent, Inc.

As founder & CEO of Lever Talent, Inc. - the talent strategy agency - I get to lead our efforts to help leaders implement strategies to bring their best selves to work and take control of the biggest lever in business.

Our mission is to help leaders realize they are capable of more than they could ever imagine. We believe individuals make a business, not the other way around, and all business is personal.

The employee-employer relationship is broken. Thankfully, employees are gaining leverage. Innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and Web3 are shifting the power dynamic. We’re flipping the script by helping businesses lean into this shift - bringing humanity back to business in the future of work.

At Lever Talent, we help businesses deploy technology-enabled talent strategies that empower leaders to find leverage in themselves and their teams to spur growth in any market. Maximizing team performance while ensuring they maximize their greatest asset - their career.

We help with:

- Talent Strategy: We help leaders align their people strategy to their business strategy and accelerate growth with talent optimization.

- Career Development: We give people the training and coaching they need crush their current job and achieve their goals.

- Leadership Communities: We bring growth-minded leaders together to share ideas, learn from each other, and grow.

Detailed Services Overview:
- Leadership & Strategy Alignment Consulting
- Mission, Vision, Values & Culture Transformation
- Hiring Process and Strategy Consulting
- Management Training
- Leadership Coaching 
- Team Building Workshops
- Career Development Communities
- Employee Engagement / Performance 
- The Predictive Index Software sales and client service - we are a PI Certified Partner.

Founder & CEO

The Lever with Drew Fortin Show

With a goal to redefine your understanding of the future of work, "The Lever with Drew Fortin" launched on YouTube and your favorite podcast streaming app starting on August 7, 2023.

Over the first half of 2023, Connor Lewis, Executive Producer and founder of Studio Lewis, and I set out to find experts to dive deep, not just into the technology but its implications on our world of work, investment, academia, economics, and businesses.

There is a lot of fear-mongering out there on the rise of AI and robots are coming to take jobs. It's important to remember that every major platform shift before AI has led to more prosperity and further innovation. The Lever is designed to challenge current thinking and highlight the transformative effects of AI, robotics, and Web3 on the traditional employee-employer relationship. It emphasizes the good things these advancements mean for workers.

Each of the six episodes in Season 1 of The Lever is about 10-20 minutes long and is a carefully crafted composition of news, research, and expert commentary on future of work trends. With pre-drafted episode summaries in hand, we set out to interview leaders, innovators, and trailblazers across work tech, investing, academia, economics, and business. We then carefully analyzed 25 hours of footage and transcripts from 23 interviews and dozens of news and research articles to finalize the show scripts for Season 1.

Learn more 👉 Levershow.com

Co-creator, Host, and Future of Work Researcher

The Predictive Index

The Predictive Index (PI) is a private-equity-backed talent optimization software and services company.

I was promoted three times in my tenure:
- Chief Growth Officer 7/2021 - Present (1 yr)
- Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing 11/2018 – 7/2021 (2 yrs 9 mos)
- Vice President, Sales & Marketing 9/2017 - 11/2018 (1 yr 3 mos)
- Vice President, Marketing 5/2015 - 9/2017 (2 yrs 5 mos)

As Chief Growth Officer, I reported directly to the CEO and was responsible for maintaining their unified vision and go-to-market plans by keeping tight collaboration and cross-functional alignment - breaking down silos and challenging the status quo.

I was part of the senior leadership team since my start. We achieved over 550% revenue growth since 2015 (28% CAGR - breaking $100M ARR in 2022!), 100% growth in the paying subscriber base (achieving 11.5K), and 2,000% growth of the PI certified partner network (achieving 1.1K partner firms).

I led the development of our strategy to create the talent optimization (TO) category and evangelize the TO discipline, which led to the $50M growth equity investment from General Catalyst in 2019.

My charter was to navigate the transition from sales-led to product-led growth (PLG). We successfully launched our first PLG product in 2021 called PI Design - which quickly grew to 2K paying business subscribers and grew our client expansion billings over 50%. Followed by PI Hire and PI Diagnose in 2022.

I spent most of my time focused on PI’s long-term growth plan and goals to develop the TO category and remain the industry-leading SaaS platform. Healthy growth was the name of the game, so there was constant, necessary conflict to manage between long-term/short-term goals and results. (👈 That was the fun part. I love that stuff!)

I was extremely fortunate to work with a dream team of direct reports who led our sales, partner recruitment & activation, demand generation, product marketing, brand, and content marketing functions (of 100 PIoneers).

Chief Growth Officer

In Confidence Podcast

Difficult co-worker? Meddling micromanager? Tough team? Sabotaging self-talk? No doubt, work perpetually challenges everyone’s confidence causing us to feel uncomfortable, unworthy, and unengaged. Get science-backed confidence coaching from two of the best in the biz.

I co-hosted this leadership and personal growth show with Alyssa Dver of the American Confidence Institute. We take calls from real callers and help them work through workplace issues that are getting in the way of them being their best.

Podcast Host

PennySaver USA

The California PennySaver was a local advertising and classified media icon from 1962-2015. I joined at a time of great risk and change - we had the strategy to introduce digital products to fill the ever-growing void created by declining print ad revenues. It was my first executive leadership position reporting directly to the CEO. We were generating $175M in annual sales revenues from 12K business clients and millions of consumer classified ads. 

While there, I led a strategic revamp of our full-service local digital marketing and SaaS website service to a monthly subscription model, integrated 3rd party applications, and kicked off a 3rd Party Reseller Program that increased our growth rate 90%. We also introduced new digital ad products on our classifieds website, which grew revenue from our online listings & classified product by 100%.

I managed many different teams of many shapes and sizes - including a field sales team, product management, engineering, development, and design teams in Poland, India, and Arkansas. I also set up and managed our strategic partnerships with companies like Google, Bing, and Yext.

In 2013, I was tasked with downsizing efforts, restructuring, and assisted the company through a pitch and spin-off of ownership from Harte-hanks, our parent company, to any acquiring private equity firm. Although it was an amazing learning opportunity, I was exposed to the dark side of business when our owners shut the company down in 2015 with little notice - they were subsequently sued for not providing proper notice before firing hundreds of employees.

Vice President, Marketing & Digital

HubSpot

The growth and success we were achieving at Compete caught the eyeballs of HubSpot's CMO and I and jumped at the opportunity to join this growth-stage SaaS start-up on their marketing team. Although brief (the team dynamic was admittedly not for me!), I learned so much and made long-lasting relationships.

We were able to grow our already gargantuan monthly lead flow by 20% while I was there to 45K leads. I managed all of our advertising and search marketing. I implemented mobile marketing, affiliate marketing, and ad retargeting programs. I also wrote a lot of content and held presentations to educate our users on topics that were near and dear to me like SEO, search engine marketing, and content generation. 

Check out this top-ranking article I wrote when I was there (which was accompanied by a 20+ page guide I also wrote) been since been updated several times and generated thousands of views and leads.

Inbound Marketing Manager - Advertising Programs Lead

Compete, Inc.

Compete was a competitive web analytics start-up co-founded by David Cancel (current CEO and co-founder of Drift). I joined as their first dedicated marketing manager responsible for running demand gen programs for their SaaS start-up product called Compete PRO (competitive intelligence and market research tool). This was product-led growth before product-led growth was cool! I reported directly to the GM of Compete PRO. 

The freemium client firehose was on and the problem of the day was figuring out how to convert this free client base into paid subscriptions and monetize our products. 

I created a multi-channel marketing and go-to-market strategy that leveraged our brand strength in the marketing technology space (we had an AdAge Top 25 ranked marketing blog) across all digital channels.

In less than a year, we grew our freemium base 83% to 220K accounts and increased free to paid conversions by 30%+! The result was 50% growth to $6M ARR while maintaining 85% retention rate - this was in 2010! 

Compete was acquired by WPP's Millward Brown Digital, formerly Kantar, formerly TNS just as I started there. The Compete PRO product was eventually folded into other products and assets were sold off as M&A activity evolved.

See the attached presentation I prepared and presented at a Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (aka MassTLC) meeting in 2010.

Senior Manager, Internet Marketing (SaaS)

Staples

I developed and executed growth strategies to drive e-commerce sales and revenue on Staples.com. This was a very exciting time in retail and e-commerce. Staples.com generated about $500M in annual revenues from over 30K+ products - it was one of the world's largest online retailers at the time. Amazon was starting to gain traction and disrupt, but no one had a clue just how significant and transformational the rise of e-commerce would be.

This was also the beginning of the SEO movement. I had the unique opportunity to spearhead Staples.com's first SEO task force. We met regularly to talk about how to implement site-wide optimizations and execute a transformational strategy to democratizing our product data. 

I also managed our affiliate marketing and comparison shopping engine programs which generated over $60M in annual revenues. We had over 1,000 affiliate publisher websites. 
 
I quickly fell in love with web analytics and learned about website architecture, programming, and merchandising products online. I became obsessed with digital marketing, analysis, and growth modeling and projections.

Online Marketing Manager - Staples.com

Online Marketing Specialist - Staples.com

Corporate Communications Coordinator - Staples Copy & Print Center

Picture this… I had just graduated with my music degree, I landed an interim choir director gig at my old high school. I was in a band and we played many times a week. I needed health insurance, so picked up a shift at my local Staples store in Acton, MA (Store #1219) in their copy and print center. 

I’ve always been infatuated with business (I set up our band as a general partnership, ran our books, and admin stuff). I quickly became passionate about running this copy and print center too.

When my choir gig was up I became manager of the copy and print center. I had my own $650K P&L. I managed a small team. I ran the business, kept the engine humming, went knocking on doors to increase business, managed the books, ordered supplies, covered gaps in shifts, etc.

This was truly an amazing experience that led me to becoming an assistant store manager and attracted the eyeballs of our corporate offices.

Assistant Store Manager

Founder & CEO @ Lever Talent | Host of The Lever Show | Helping leaders develop talent strategies that leverage a tech-empowered future.

You're capable of more than you could ever imagine.

I started my career impatient, driven, and naive - pushing hard to climb the corporate ladder and eventually found myself fired from a highly coveted growth-stage start-up in my mid-20s. 

That moment sent me on a journey of self-discovery. I realized I'm a fixer, visionary leader, relationship builder, and goal setter. I’m fascinated by the human condition and the impact that technology is having on humans at work.  

Innovations in AI, robotics, and web3 stand to scale our potential, strengthen our superpowers, and free us up to focus on the more human elements of work. Over the last 20 years, I've learned that if you paint an inspiring vision, surround yourself with people you admire and trust, and embrace technology, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can grow.  

In 2022, I decided to follow my passion and became the Founder & CEO of Lever Talent, Inc. - the talent strategy agency. I spend my time helping business leaders deploy talent strategies and tools to find leverage in themselves and their teams to spur growth in any market. Join the movement at levertalent.com. 

I use my LinkedIn to network, learn from others, and share any wisdom I've gained along the way.  

With technology, our leverage is limitless. Let's embrace and change the world. ⚡️🌎 

Specialties: Talent Strategy, Growth Leadership, Cultural Transformation, Mission Vision Values, Team Building, Talent Optimization, Go-to-Market Strategy, Digital Transformation, Consulting, The Predictive Index, Engagedly

Drew Fortin

I’ve seen a lot of posts from leaders talking about how hard layoffs are for them.

They’re right, it is brutal to sit across from someone and tell them their job is gone. 

I’ve done it more than once. It never gets easier.

But here’s what I don’t see enough of: 

Acknowledgment that the person being let go has it far, far harder.

They’re the ones facing an insurance crisis, mortgage payments, daycare costs, food bills, and the emotional gut-punch of losing purpose overnight.

As leaders, we talk a lot about empathy and “doing it the right way.” 

But if we’re being honest, most layoff comms are designed to protect the company’s emotions, not the individual’s livelihood.

We’ll say things like “this was the hardest decision I’ve ever made” while the person we’re letting go is quietly wondering how to tell their family.

Layoffs are sometimes necessary. But if you have to do them, don’t center your pain.

Center their reality.

If you’ve ever had to do layoffs, reflect on this:

Who carried the real weight of that moment, you or them?

Founder & CEO @ Lever Talent | SHRM-SCP | Helping leaders develop talent strategies that leverage a tech-empowered future.

Amazon doesn’t pretend to have a great culture.

That’s exactly why their strategy works.

Andy Jassy has been blunt: automation is driving results, and they’re doubling down on it.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Amazon’s culture has never been warm and fuzzy; it’s designed for efficiency, precision, and relentless execution.

And for them, that alignment works.

Where leaders go wrong is pretending their company can act like Amazon but feel like Patagonia.

You can’t build a cutthroat, hyper-optimized operating model and then talk about “psychological safety” and “belonging” like it’s in your blood.

If your business is tightening up, getting lean, and optimizing for efficiency, own it.

If you’re trying to grow through experimentation and empowerment, build the space for that.

But don’t sell one and live the other.

No, your coworkers are not your family. 

And the “workplace family” is one of the biggest lies we keep telling ourselves.

Sociologist Sarah Mosseri’s new book, Trust Fall, takes that myth head-on, and I’m here for it.

For decades, leaders have used “we’re a family” as shorthand for belonging, loyalty, and trust. 

But as Mosseri’s research shows, it’s often a cover for imbalance: companies say “family,” but act like corporations.

Her work reminded me of how often I see teams confuse trust with comfort.

True trust is risky and vulnerable. It means giving people the freedom to question the system without being punished for it.
 
Most workplace "families" rally during a crisis, “bond in the trenches,” and call it teamwork, but never stop to ask why they're always in crisis. 

That’s a leadership problem, not a culture win.

The best workplaces are communities built on shared accountability and mutual respect.

If you have to call it a family to keep people around, you’ve already lost their trust.

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Talks about #culture, #leadership, #futureofwork, #humanresources, and #transformation

No one cares more about your career than you do.

It is the single greatest asset you own.

Yet most people treat it like a group project, waiting for someone else to tell them what’s next.

Promotions, stretch projects, mentorship, even recognition, none of it just happens because you deserve it. 

It happens because you’ve made it clear what you want and you’ve done the work to prove it.

If you haven’t taken the time to define your next move, no one’s coming to do it for you.

And if you haven’t told anyone what you actually want, don’t be shocked when the world stays quiet.

When you do speak it out loud, when you say “this is what I want, this is who I’m becoming,” the universe starts to rearrange itself around you.

So stop waiting for permission.

Own your path.

Your next chapter starts when you decide what you want.

I wish someone had told me that in my 20s.

So I’ll tell you:

Don’t outsource your trajectory. You own the asset, so start managing it that way.

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Every leader should be able to say:

"Here’s what I’m great at, and here's where I need help.”

Imagine if every team normalized that kind of honesty. 

No need to guess, just strengths out in the open and gaps named for what they are.

Success doesn’t come from trying to be great at everything. 

It comes from doubling down on what makes you exceptional and building systems that let others do the same.

It's common knowledge that the best athletes don’t play every sport. They find the one that amplifies their strengths, and they go all in.

The same goes for leaders. 

As technology evolves and AI expands, being more human is becoming a leadership advantage.

The future belongs to teams that know themselves deeply, celebrate their natural talents, and build around them.

Let’s start with transparency and build well-aligned teams.

AI layoffs are a cop-out.

Let’s stop pretending otherwise.

The economy’s rough right now.

So when I see companies announcing “AI-driven layoffs,” I can’t help but roll my eyes.

No one’s getting a commensurate productivity lift from AI in 2025 or 2026 for that matter. 

At least not yet.

What we are seeing is leaders using AI as the scapegoat to justify tough calls they don’t want to own.

“I’m sorry, it’s just automation.” No, it’s economics.

AI will absolutely reshape jobs and displace workers. It’s already changing how we work and what value humans bring.

But most of these cuts have nothing to do with true AI efficiency. They’re about maintaining needed profitability in a weak market.

And when leaders hide behind “AI transformation” instead of admitting that, they erode trust even faster.

Let’s be honest with our people.

Let’s say, “The market sucks right now, and we have to make hard choices to survive.”

Because the story of AI shouldn’t be about fear and headcount cuts.

It should be about how we redesign work to make humans more valuable than ever.

Everyone says the hardest part of layoffs is losing people.

No one talks about what it’s like to be the one who stays.

Some folks in my network shared what it’s like to “survive” multiple rounds. There’s the obvious: survivor’s guilt.

But then there’s the post-anxiety layoff that no one really talks about.

Because the truth is, no matter how loyal you are to the mission, surviving multiple RIFs changes you.

You might still want to help the company rebound, but once people start scanning for exits, the culture’s already cracked.

Culture doesn’t survive that kind of fear intact. In many cases, you have to rebuild from scratch.

And this is where most companies overcorrect.

They double down on wellness, celebrate using PTO, and hang posters that say “It’s okay to not be okay.”

The intention is good, but it becomes the new avoidance strategy. If everyone’s recovering, no one’s building.

Healthy organizations don’t glorify burnout, but they also don’t treat ambition like a bad habit.

Real balance means creating an environment where people want to give their best because they believe the effort still matters.

If you want your people to stop running scared, give them something they can't help but run toward.

A lot of companies are only adding AI to their title because it makes for a better headline.

And honestly, that’s not a bad thing. AI holds massive promise. 

And if you’re not actively adopting AI tools and building your company’s AI fluency, you’re falling behind. 

AI is a huge opportunity. The issue is that most companies are chasing “AI strategy decks” instead of asking better questions like:

- How can we use AI to optimize what already works?

- Where can it automate the repetitive stuff so our people can focus on higher-value work?

- How do we teach our teams to experiment and adapt as AI tech evolves?

That last one is key.

HR has a huge role to play here.

AI is an organizational change problem, and right now, HR is being asked to lead that charge, often without the tools, confidence, or seat at the table they deserve.

Now’s the time to use AI as the catalyst to build a culture of learning, agility, and human adaptability.

It’s the basic, day-to-day work of evolving how we work with AI that actually paves the way for the kind of strategic, differentiated applications everyone’s chasing.

Because the future of leadership is about using technology to help humans become more capable, creative, and resilient than ever.

Empathy became the new performance metric.

And now no one knows how to say the hard stuff.

Since COVID, we’ve seen a cultural overcorrection. And somewhere along the way, performance and clarity got left behind.

Caring for people doesn’t mean cushioning them from reality. 

We still operate in a capitalist system. Companies exist to grow, compete, and win. 

When your culture forgets that, it starts to drift.

You can feel it when a company faces tough calls, layoffs, restructures, and missed targets. 

Suddenly, people are shocked. Disillusioned. “Wait, how could this happen?”

Because no one said the hard stuff when it mattered.

Strong cultures don’t hide from reality. They help people understand the business, the risks, and the road ahead.

And it falls on leaders to do two things at once:

1) Build a humane culture that treats people like adults.
2) Stay ruthlessly focused on the strategic imperatives of the business.

Empathy matters. But empathy without clarity only creates confusion.

Specialization is killing innovation in HR Tech.

For 15 years, HR leaders have been told to “find their niche.”

Hyper-specification was the smart move. Now, they’re paying for it.

Last week, a digital marketing partner told me,

“You call yourselves a full-service talent strategy agency, but no one else does that.”

Exactly.

Because the industry has spent a decade unbundling itself into a thousand micro-experts.

Now we’re entering the great rebundling.

Just like streaming: first came Netflix, then the flood, now everyone’s craving cable again.

HR is no different.

Leaders don’t want 10 vendors solving 10% of the problem.

What they really want is one partner who can help them with the whole system, not just a piece of it.

That’s why we built Lever Talent, Inc. as a full-service talent strategy agency.

Whether you need cultural transformation, org design, leadership training, fractional HR support, or HR software management, you can start small and scale with us.

If your company vanished overnight and you had to rebuild it tomorrow…

Would your org chart look the same?

Now imagine applying that to your workforce strategy.

If you were starting your company today, in a world of AI agents, async collaboration, and 10x productivity per person, how would you design your org?

Would you still define “manager” the same way?

Most wouldn’t.

And that’s the point. 

We’ve built orgs layer by layer for decades,  adding roles, tools, and policies like barnacles on a ship, without ever scraping them off to see if the structure still floats.

A “zero-based” approach to human capital would force us to rethink how work actually gets done now.

If you’re not familiar, it’s when companies start their budgets from scratch every year.

No “last year plus 10%.”

It’s a thought experiment worth doing, especially for HR and people leaders trying to design the next era of work.

If you were rebuilding your org from zero today, what would you keep… and what would you leave behind?

Everyone loves to say HR is “slow to adopt AI.”

HR is the only team smart enough to ask what happens after the adoption.

This is the function responsible for compliance, documentation, process, and most importantly, people. 

Of course, they’re going to measure twice and cut once. That’s our responsibility.

AI is moving so fast that “measured” can start to look like “left behind” if leaders don’t stay curious.

Every HR leader I talk to should be getting fluent in the language of AI right now.

The HR leaders who figure out how to make AI work for people are the ones every CEO will want on their team.

We’re already seeing it in logistics, where people collaborate with software and robots every day. 

That’s just the beginning.

HR’s role in the AI era isn’t to keep up.

It’s to lead the integration responsibly, strategically, and humanely.

Stop saying “AI won’t replace you; someone who knows AI will.”

That’s not true.

If 15% of your workforce gets cut overnight, it’s not because every manager suddenly became a prompt engineer. 

It’s because the CFO did the math.

Tenure, pay bands, performance stack ranking… that’s the calculus, not who’s best at ChatGPT.

Yes, AI is replacing people. But not in the way LinkedIn gurus want to sell it.

It’s commoditizing everything except distinctly human ability.

So yes, AI will force displacement.

But what it’s really forcing is a reckoning with what makes us valuable in the first place.

You don’t survive this shift by becoming “AI fluent.”

You survive by becoming more human than ever.

If a candidate’s first touch is a faceless agent, you just told them exactly how much you value people: not much. 

Automation is efficient. But hiring isn’t a spreadsheet exercise.

Candidates want speed and someone accountable for decisions that shape their careers.

Tech is not strategy. People still are.

As someone obsessed with what AI and robotics mean for the employer–employee relationship, I’ll die on this hill: 

The more tech we adopt, the more our differentiator becomes distinctly human judgment, trust, context, and dignity.

If you’re racing toward “AI-run hiring by 2026,” start here:

1) Human decides, AI informs. 

Use models to structure, summarize, and surface signals. Final calls belong to accountable humans.

2) Radical transparency. 

Tell candidates where/when AI is used and how it influences outcomes. No black boxes. (Trust is the currency.)

3) Bias isn’t “fixed,” it’s governed. 

Treat bias as a system problem: data audits, adverse-impact monitoring, and escalation paths that real people own.

4) And most importantly: Train the humans. 

Most teams don’t know what “AI skills” even means. Make fluency part of manager enablement and recruiter craft.

I’m not anti-AI. I’m anti-abdication.

You didn’t hire more people to slow things down...

But that’s exactly what happened.

Scaling should make things smoother, but it rarely does. The habits that helped you win early on don’t serve you later.

When companies start, they’re agile, experimental, and fueled by belief.

Then, they hit product-market fit. Now they’re in growth mode. 

That’s when process, discipline, and focus take over. Meetings multiply, and decisions slow.

The business becomes about precision: tightening systems, reducing errors, building consistency.

But when you over-optimize for process, you lose the agility that made you successful in the first place.

At a certain point, you need to redesign how your organization works.

At Lever Talent, Inc., we use the Competing Values Framework to help companies do exactly that.

If your team feels stuck in “slow motion growth,” this is your signal to recalibrate.

Because every stage requires a different kind of leadership, culture, and operating model.

CEO turnover is spiking in 2025, and it’s not because CEOs are failing. 

It’s because the job changed faster than they did.

New data shows high-performing companies are now almost just as likely to replace their CEO as underperformers. 

In the S&P 500, 2025 turnover in the top three performance quartiles hit 12%, nearly matching the bottom quartile at 14%.

Boards aren’t waiting for a downturn or a misstep. They’re finally acknowledging what many of us inside organizations have felt for years:

AI transformation is reshaping every role, and yesterday’s leadership profile doesn’t map to tomorrow’s demands.

The leadership equation has shifted: agility, digital fluency, and stakeholder orchestration now matter more than tenure.

That's why external CEO appointments nearly doubled this year. 

If the last few years taught us anything, it’s that strategy fails when leadership, structure, and decision-making can’t keep pace. 

The companies built for the future are the ones redesigning leadership for it, before the market forces them to.

And if your org isn’t building future-ready leaders, your board will go shopping for one.

Most companies hide bad news.

Amazon broadcasts it, and it wins them loyalty. 

When they make tough calls like layoffs, restructures, or pivots, it’s rarely a surprise.

Internal memos are written for public consumption. Leaders get out ahead, set expectations, and communicate the why behind the what.

That doesn’t make it easy. But it does make it clear.

Most leaders think people can handle bad news. What they can’t handle is being blindsided.

Trust isn’t built on inspirational speeches or glossy “values” slides.

It’s built when your team sees your strategy in action, and when your decisions line up with the story you’ve been telling all along.

So, before your next big announcement, ask yourself:

Have we shown the team how our strategy is actually working?
Are we building trust through clarity, or confusion through silence?

Trust isn’t a communications exercise.

It’s a pattern of visible alignment between what you say and what you do.

The biggest mistake businesses make about their AI strategy?

Is thinking they need one.

AI isn’t something you strategize for, it’s something you adapt to.

AI is evolving faster than any strategy document can keep up.

If you are a business, your strategy needs to be about how your organization adapts to it:

- How you experiment.
- How you absorb what works.
- How you can exploit it for strategic differentiation.
- How you operationalize it into how you build, decide, and lead.

This is why HR is suddenly at the center of the AI conversation,  helping the business get good at change.

AI’s showing up in every board meeting, every strategy deck, every investor call. 

The market’s on fire with it, even while the workforce feels the drag of uncertainty.

So here’s my take:

Stop trying to make a “five-year AI plan.”

Start building a system for transformation, one that helps your people, your leaders, and your org evolve as fast as the technology does.

Executive & Leadership Coach | Organizational Consultant | Adjunct Professor | IFS-Trained Coach | Self-Leadership is a Superpower

What do I do, you ask? Well, let me tell you a little story. 

Short story: 
I help create high-performing organizations by harnessing the power of their people's natural abilities. 

Long story: 
I support growing small and mid-sized companies to create clear people strategies to revolutionize how they do business. Companies I work with create efficiency, increase clarity, cut expenses, increase revenue, and operationalize values to become purposeful in representing their brand to clients and customers. 

💥 Any organization's success is only as strong as the people - and investing in the development of your people is a direct investment in your company 💥 

Long story short: 
By putting people first – you can make more money.

And we all want that. 


The backstory: 
Culture isn’t a buzzword. 

Culture is what people feel when they come to work or buy your product.

And that is 100% based on your people.

And if you aren’t deliberately cultivating your culture – you are letting it create itself. Unchecked.

An unchecked culture can hurt your business.

Creating the right culture by will impact every single aspect of your business.

Every. Single. Aspect.
•	Revenue generation
•	Client retention
•	Client acquisition
•	Marketing
•	Branding
•	Company reputation
•	Employee satisfaction
•	Employee retention
•	Employee acquisition

The only way to create a strong culture is to have a strong people strategy.

Email me larissa@quivetconsulting.com, and let's get rolling!

Focus Impact Areas:

•	Executive Coaching
•     Pre & Post Hire Assessments
•	Team Cohesion Facilitation
•	Manager Training & Development
•	Leadership Development
•	People Strategy Consulting

Larissa Haynes

I’m excited to share something new I’ve been working on: 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚, a weekly LinkedIn Live where we slow down long enough actually to see our week.

If you’re anything like most leaders I coach, the week can feel like a sprint,  full of conversations, decisions, emotions, and moments that deserve more attention than they get. By Friday, there’s insight to harvest… but rarely the space to hear it.

That’s what this time is for.

Each Friday, I’ll host a live, end-of-week pause where we reflect on the themes that surfaced in coaching sessions: the patterns, the a-ha’s, the tensions we’re all navigating in different ways. My hope is that you walk away with a little more clarity, a bit of grounding, and a sense of companionship on your leadership journey.

Our first session is coming up next week, and I’d love for you to join me.

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚

A few minutes to breathe, reset, and step into the weekend with intention.

Let’s end the week with clarity, together.
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

Sometimes growth isn’t about changing the situation.  It’s about changing the lens.

In leadership (and in life), the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening shape how we show up.

“I failed” can become “I learned.”
“This is hard” can become “This is growth.”
“I don’t know yet” can become “I’m getting clearer.”

Reframing doesn’t erase the challenge.  It gives you a way to meet it with intention rather than in reaction.

So here’s a gentle challenge for the week:

Notice your next moment of frustration or self-doubt and ask, “What else could be true?” 🌿
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart, leading from the inside out.

Sometimes growth isn’t about learning more.  It’s about noticing what’s in the way.

When we slow down long enough to see our own patterns, we create the space for real transformation.

Every pause is a possibility.
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart, leading from the inside out.

For most leaders, growth isn’t about lack of opportunity. It’s about interference. Not from others, but from within. The mind is a master strategist. 

Open article: When the Mind Gets in the Way: How Leaders Unknowingly Sabotage Their Own Growth by Larissa Haynes • 3 min read

When the Mind Gets in the Way: How Leaders Unknowingly Sabotage Their Own Growth

Most leadership challenges aren’t personal. they’re systemic.

But you can’t shift a system you can’t see.

So much of leadership is learning to zoom out far enough to notice the patterns underneath the problems… the dynamics beneath the dialogue… the stories shaping people’s behavior long before they step into the room.

When you expand your lens, you stop reacting to symptoms and start leading from a deeper, wiser place.

This week’s article is all about what becomes possible when leaders learn to see the whole frame, and why that skill changes everything.

👇 Read the full piece here.
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart, leading from the inside out.

One of the biggest turning points in a leader’s growth is the moment they stop looking at individual behaviors and start seeing the system those behav

Open article: When You Can See the System, You Can Change It by Larissa Haynes • 2 min read

When You Can See the System, You Can Change It

Each week in my coaching conversations, I witness leaders navigating big questions: about clarity, courage, boundaries, connection, and the daily work of showing up with intention.

Starting next Friday, I’ll be opening a space here on LinkedIn to pause with those themes.

Nothing polished. Nothing performative.
Just a live, end-of-week moment to reflect on the ideas that shaped the week and the lessons worth carrying forward.

If you’re craving a softer landing at the end of your week — a moment to breathe, notice, and recalibrate — I’d love for you to join me.

Friday Focus with Larissa
Live next Friday.

A few minutes to come home to yourself before you step into the weekend.
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

Perfectionism often hides in plain sight: praised, rewarded, and quietly exhausting.

Real excellence isn’t about getting everything right.

 It’s about staying present enough to learn, adapt, and lead with authenticity.
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart, leading from the inside out.

Perfectionism is one of the most socially accepted forms of self-sabotage in leadership. It wears the right clothes: high standards, attention to deta

Open article: The Saboteur We Reward: Why Perfectionism Still Gets Mistaken for Excellence by Larissa Haynes • 3 min read

The Saboteur We Reward: Why Perfectionism Still Gets Mistaken for Excellence

Happy Thanksgiving, LinkedIn family! 🦃✨

✨ A heartfelt thank you to our clients, whose trust and collaboration drive our success. You make our work meaningful, and your partnership inspires us daily.  

🤝 To all the connections I've made here on LinkedIn—thank you for your insights, support, and shared knowledge. Your influence and thought-provoking interactions enrich my professional life 

May your Thanksgiving be filled with warmth, joy, and meaningful moments! 🦃🍂

What are you thankful for this year?

As we get closer to the first Friday Focus, I’ve been thinking about how rarely leaders get space for quiet clarity.

So much of leadership happens between the lines — in the pauses, the realizations, the decisions we make when no one is watching.

This new weekly live session is simply an invitation to slow down with me.
To look back at the week, name what mattered, and reconnect to the leader you’re becoming.

No pressure. No performance.
Just a gentle place to land at the end of your week.

I hope you’ll join me this Friday.
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

At 1:00 PM ET, I’ll be live for the first Friday Focus — a quiet end-of-week reflection where we’ll explore one meaningful insight from this week’s coaching conversations.

If you’ve felt stretched, rushed, or pulled in many directions lately, this is your reminder that you deserve a few moments to regroup and breathe.

Bring your coffee.
Bring your questions.
Bring your whole self.

I’ll meet you there.
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

Leadership would be easier if everything were black-and-white.

But the truth is, most of it happens in the gray: the in-between spaces where clarity takes time and the “right” answer isn’t apparent.

It’s in those moments that your mindset, not your manual, matters most.

How you listen.
How you stay curious.
How you hold space for uncertainty without losing your center.

Instead of rushing to resolve the gray, try staying there a little longer. That’s where wisdom grows. 🌱

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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart, leading from the inside out.

Control can look like strength.

It can sound like confidence.
It can even feel like safety.

But underneath, it often hides something quieter: the fear that if we let go, things might fall apart.

The truth is, control can keep things running… but it can also keep people small.

Real power isn’t in holding tighter. It’s in creating space.

Space for others to step up.
Space for trust.
Space for something new to emerge.
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart, leading from the inside out.

Control is one of leadership’s most misunderstood instincts. We often equate control with strength: with being decisive, reliable, and capable. And in

Open article: Reframing Control: How Positive Intelligence Redefines Power in Leadership by Larissa Haynes • 3 min read

Reframing Control: How Positive Intelligence Redefines Power in Leadership

You don’t need more frameworks.
You need more focus.

Leadership isn’t a checklist. It’s a lens. When the view is cluttered, even small steps feel hard. When it’s clear, direction comes naturally.

Open Aperture helps leaders quiet the noise and reconnect with what matters most.

Explore the program →  https://loom.ly/rGi8ZWg
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

As we move toward year’s end, it’s natural to reflect on where we’ve been and what we’ve learned to see more clearly.

Open Aperture was created for leaders in exactly that space: ready to pause, to reframe, and to lead with renewed perspective.

If you’re feeling the pull toward clarity, this might be your moment.

𝐀𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐬. 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰. 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Join the next cohort      →       https://loom.ly/rGi8ZWg
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

Friday Focus with Larissa — A Weekly Leadership Reset

End your week with a moment to breathe, reflect, and reconnect with what matters most.

Each Friday, I’ll be going live to unpack one meaningful theme that has surfaced in my coaching conversations throughout the week. These sessions aren’t tutorials or quick fixes.  They’re an invitation to pause, think more deeply, and realign with the leader you’re becoming.

Every episode offers:
A grounded reflection drawn from real coaching work
Insight into the patterns many leaders experience
Practical, human-centered takeaways you can carry into the week ahead
A space to reconnect with your own clarity, compassion, and intention

Whether you’re navigating change, leading a team, or simply trying to show up with more presence in your work, this weekly reset is designed to support you.

Bring your coffee, your curiosity, and your end-of-week exhale.

I’m looking forward to spending this time with you and continuing to build a community grounded in growth, self-awareness, and heart-centered leadership.

Let’s end the week stronger, together.

Jennifer Suarez, Dave Belliveau and 3 other attendees

Real leadership isn’t about control. It’s about perspective.

When we shift our lens, we begin to see the full picture: the people, the patterns, the possibilities.

That’s the heart of Open Aperture: slowing down enough to lead from the inside out.

Because when you see clearly, you lead differently.

Learn more ➡️ https://loom.ly/rGi8ZWg
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

December has a way of turning up the volume: deadlines, decisions, expectations, planning for a new year. It’s easy to get swept into the rush and forget that clarity rarely comes from speed.

The leaders who thrive in seasons like this aren’t the ones who push harder…

They’re the ones who learn to shift the light: to step back, widen the frame, and create enough space to see what really needs their attention.

This week’s article shares a perspective I hope meets you right where you are:

 🌿 How to find clarity in chaotic seasons
 🌿 Why perspective, not pressure, is what moves us forward
 🌿 And why this moment might hold more possibility than it seems

If you’re navigating a lot right now, this one’s for you.👇
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

December has a way of tightening everything. Deadlines accelerate, priorities collide, energy thins, and leaders feel that familiar tension between wh

Open article: The Leadership Light Shift: Seeing Clarity in a Season of Chaos by Larissa Haynes • 2 min read

The Leadership Light Shift: Seeing Clarity in a Season of Chaos

I’ve seen it so many times: a leader feels stuck in the same cycle - trying to solve new problems with old perspectives.

And then, something shifts. They pause. They step back. They see the situation differently.

And suddenly, what felt tangled starts to make sense.

That moment isn’t magic; it’s awareness.

Open Aperture creates the space for those moments. It’s where leaders come to see themselves and their work through a wider lens, one that brings both light and clarity.

The next cohort starts soon.

𝐀𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐬. 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰. 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Join the next cohort →   https://loom.ly/rGi8ZWg
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart — leading from the inside out.

Most leaders don’t need more information.  They need a place to make sense of everything they’ve already learned.

If you’ve read the books, attended the trainings, taken the assessments, and worked with coaches, and you’re still thinking, “Okay… now what?”

You’re not alone.

Open Aperture is that “now what.”   

It’s the space to turn insight into alignment.
Learning into leadership.
Awareness into grounded action.
 
If 2026 is the year you want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and intention, this is your place.

✨ Enrollment now open.
 https://lnkd.in/eJX5_KpR
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart, leading from the inside out.

A lot of leaders head into the new year with bigger goals.  Fewer feel like they have the space actually to reach them.

Open Aperture is intentionally designed to be that space:  a protected, reflective container where you step out of the noise and back into your own leadership.

No competing voices.

No overwhelming frameworks.

Just room to breathe, reflect, and see what you’ve been missing.

If you’re ready to enter 2026 with clearer thinking and stronger leadership grounding, this community is waiting for you.  https://loom.ly/rGi8ZWg
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Hi, I’m Larissa, founder of Quivet Consulting, and I’m on a mission to help people show up with courage, clarity, and heart, leading from the inside out.

Open article: Open Aperture by quivetconsultinginc.com

What happens when you lead without the script?

https://loom.ly/jUh8G_A

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Open article: What Happens When You Lead Without The Script? by mailchi.mp

What Happens When You Lead Without The Script?

taplio

The Battle

Drew Fortin

Larissa Haynes

Followers

Posts

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Performance ScoreDrew Fortin's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLarissa Haynes's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Drew Fortin

Larissa Haynes

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Drew Fortin's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLarissa Haynes's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDrew Fortin's LinkedIn Performance