In this episode, Jacob talks with Tara Egan, founder of Serve HR, about what it takes to create a culture where people feel safe sharing feedback—and leaders actually act on it.

Tara shares her journey from 20+ years in corporate HR to launching her own fractional HR practice, and what she’s learned working with fast-moving entrepreneurial companies that often “figure out the people stuff later.”

They dive into:

* Why small businesses often delay their “people plan” and how to fix it

* How to earn real employee feedback (and get 70–90% survey participation)

* The right way to handle feedback without defensiveness

* How trust and candor transform both teams and company performance

* The surprising connection between alignment, engagement, and profitability

If you’ve ever wondered how to move from chaos to clarity in your culture—without killing your entrepreneurial spirit—this one’s for you.

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, Jacob sits down with Morgan Snyder — writer, strategist, and the mind behind some of LinkedIn’s funniest and most insightful posts. Once a Spanish teacher and door-to-door salesman, Morgan now helps CEOs and founders show up online as their authentic selves — sometimes serious, often hilarious, but always human.

Together, they dive into:

* 💬 Why your online self should align with your real-life self

* 😂 How humor and satire outperform “10x growth hacks” five to one

* 🧠 The four archetypes Morgan uses to shape authentic brand voices

* ✍️ Why most people don’t lack ideas — just a system to capture them

* 🚀 How showing up consistently on LinkedIn can literally change your life

* 💡 The balance between being real and respecting company boundaries

Favorite Quote:

“You don’t lack ideas — you lack a capture system. Once you start collecting them, you’ll realize how creative you already are.”

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, Jacob sits down with Steven Puri, a former Hollywood executive turned tech founder whose journey spans blockbuster films, deep tech, and human performance.

Steven has raised over $20M in venture funding, produced digital effects for Braveheart and Independence Day (earning an Academy Award), and served as VP at 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks. Now, he’s focused on helping knowledge workers do their best work through Sukha, a company dedicated to creating more flow — and more time for what really matters.

Together, Jacob and Steven explore:

* 🎬 How Steven transitioned from Hollywood to tech and what he learned about creativity along the way

* 🧠 What “flow state” actually is and why it’s the key to sustainable high performance

* 🧘‍♂️ How yoga, parenting, and a random customer helped him name his company

* 🕰️ Why most leaders unknowingly kill deep work — and how to fix it

* 🤖 The right way to use AI as an accelerant (not a replacement) for human creativity

* 💡 Practical steps to help your team align around deep, meaningful work

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, Jacob Crockett chats with Donna Brown, founder of Cultivation HR. After decades leading HR and tech functions in Fortune 100 environments and the last five years embedded in high-velocity startups, Donna now partners with CEOs as a fractional HR advisor and operator—translating business plans into people strategies that actually ship results.

Highlights

* What “thriving” really means

For people and companies: clear purpose, high performance, healthy processes, and mutual investment—not bureaucracy.

* The cost of ignoring culture

Turnover isn’t abstract: replacement costs (direct + indirect) crush the P&L. Measure it first, then fix it.

* Leaders stuck in “wring the towel” mode

Why legacy systems reward stale behaviors—and how to move leaders toward retention, growth, and trust.

* Ownership done right

Fewer pointless meetings, more decisions and outcomes. Define what “act like an owner” actually looks like day to day.

* AI without fear

Introduce AI as a learning partner and accelerant (starting small), not a headcount cudgel; upskill people while removing grunt work.

* Career agency

No one will care about your career more than you—say yes, seek stretch, and ask for the support and recognition you need.

Practical Takeaways

For leaders

* Audit: Do we have the right leaders for this stage of growth?

* Make clarity non-negotiable: outcomes, connection to company progress, rewards for over-performance, consequences for under-performance.

* Reframe AI: From threat → tool for learning, speed, and creativity.

* Calculate turnover cost now; let data drive your retention roadmap.

For employees

* Say yes to stretch work; learn out loud.

* Check alignment: Does this role ignite your purpose?

* Own the path: Ask for support, feedback, recognition—and move if it’s not there.

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, Jacob Crockett sits down with Scott Frazier—small-town kid turned serial entrepreneur who’s led a 150-person company, built global teams at Freed Up, and is now building a new venture in stealth. Scott’s winding path (family business → eight years as a pastor → real estate PE → multiple startups) sharpened a simple conviction: you can automate tasks, but you can’t automate love, trust, or leadership.

🔍 Highlights

* People > Everything: Why the most durable advantage is relational—being known and knowing your team—especially as tech speeds up.

* From “caught to taught”: Early-stage culture spreads by proximity; at scale, it must be explicit, trained, and measured (values → behaviors → tools).

* Nonviolent Communication as a core skill: Teach teams to disagree well; better conflict = better companies.

* Integrity redefined: It’s not “be nice”—it’s do what you said you’d do (and commit carefully).

* AI-native leadership: Build with AI from day one; hire for learning agility, creativity, systems thinking, and real fluency with AI tools.

* Humility as meta-skill: Admitting gaps and upskilling in public sets the tone for a learning culture.

🧭 Practical Takeaways

For founders & leaders

* Model it first: open with check-ins, lead with empathy, keep promises.

* Make values actionable: list 3–5 observable behaviors per value and coach to them.

* Teach the team to argue well (start with Nonviolent Communication).

* Hire for learning speed and AI fluency, not just legacy credentials.

For operators & ICs

* Build an AI habit: automate one disliked task this week; document and share the SOP.

* Integrity audit: reduce over-commitment; renegotiate before you miss a promise.

* Relationships are the leverage—schedule 2 genuine one-on-ones you’ve been putting off.

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, Jacob Crockett talks with AJ Brow, Chief Human Resources Officer at White Lodging (≈7,000 associates). After big-company stints at Target, Accenture, and an energy firm, AJ shares how operating in a private, family-owned environment unlocks speed to execution—and how White Lodging’s 40-year legacy translates into a modern, measurable culture.

🔍 Highlights

* Private vs. public pace: Fewer layers and clearer decision paths = faster change and execution.

* Three-stakeholder lens: Every decision runs through Guests, Owners, and Associates—driving experiential stays, asset value, and people growth.

* The Associate Promise (in action):

* Leaders are incentivized on engagement scores.

* Local HR teams serve as on-property culture carriers.

* Instructor-led training touches ~30% of leaders annually for real dialogue and peer learning.

* Messages cascade and are repeated—clarity over once-and-done memos.

* Proof it works: Balance scorecards align guest, associate, financial, and ops metrics; internal studies show positive ROI.

* Turnover down 5 percentage points year over year; company turnover now in the 30s (in an industry often ~70%+; QSR 100%+).

* Grow your career here: Low barrier to entry, high mobility (rooms ↔ restaurants ↔ engineering), international pathways, and Purdue on-campus hotel program offering real-time learning.

🧭 Practical Takeaways

* Tie leader incentives to engagement (not just P&L).

* Use a balance scorecard to visualize culture → guest impact → financials.

* Prioritize in-person leadership development where service quality hinges on human interaction.

* Build a change network (local HR) to sustain daily culture.

* Quantify turnover cost and celebrate measurable wins (even single-digit % drops are huge).

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, Jacob Crockett sits down with Ilona Jurkiewicz, a longtime HR leader who proudly claims the HR title—and calls for a more honest, strategic, human approach to work. Ilona explains why culture starts with a clear mutual psychological contract and why the “we’re a family” narrative can quietly harm trust.

🔍 Highlights

* HR: what’s changed vs. what hasn’t

Strategy and expectations have leveled up, but core human/operational problems (like getting better data) often repeat with new labels.

* Ditch the “family,” build a team

Families have fuzzy, lifelong expectations; teams have goals, boundaries, and explicit norms—healthier for work.

* The psychological contract

Culture begins with clear, mutual expectations (role, hours, manager, compensation, travel). Misalignment happens when these change and no one says it out loud.

* Tours of duty > lifetime employment myths

Define a 18–36 month mission that grows the person and the company—then re-evaluate honestly.

* Fractional & the future of work

More people will blend W-2 and 1099 paths; clarity of value goes up—but newbies risk losing osmosis learning. Expect collectives/cohorts to fill the training & community gap.

* Belonging in a remote world

Before collaboration and mentorship flourish, people must feel seen, respected, and valued—in ways that match their preferences.

🧭 Practical Takeaways

* Write down the mutual expectations (role, outcomes, cadence, comp, travel). Revisit when the context shifts.

* Replace “family” language with team norms: how we communicate, decide, meet, measure.

* For leaders of early-career talent: recreate osmosis with intentional shadowing, debriefs, and cohort learning.

* Consider tours of duty to set timelines, outcomes, and growth paths—then renegotiate transparently.

* Invest in micro-signals of care (the version each person wants), because belonging fuels collaboration.

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, host Jacob Crockett sits down with Jared Hamilton — a fifth-generation entrepreneur, family man, and multi-business owner who somehow juggles a sod farm, egg farm, Christmas tree farm, property maintenance company, real estate holdings, coaching, church service, music, and raising five kids.

Jared shares his powerful story of taking over his parents’ business with his sister, and how they approached leadership with deep respect for the legacy they inherited — while also defining their own intentional culture and core values.

🔍 Topics Covered:

* The power of intentional culture: How Jared and his sister redefined their company’s mission, vision, and values — and made them real in everyday decisions.

* Hiring for character, not skill: How clear values became their best recruiting filter.

* “Thoroughbreds and donkeys”: Why aligning your team with shared work ethic and integrity changes everything.

* Family culture and farm life: Lessons from integrating work, life, and family under one roof — and why true balance doesn’t exist, only alignment and seasons.

* Micro-moments of connection: How daily routines on the farm (even closing the chicken coop) become lessons in presence and purpose.

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, Jacob Crockett talks with Linda Ho, Chief People Officer at Nearmap (aerial AI imaging). New to the role and industry (~3 months in), Linda brings a fresh lens from a career spanning recruiting, HRBP, comp, L&D, DEI, and executive leadership at Autodesk and Seismic.

We dig into:

* Skills > titles: Why grade levels don’t translate—but skills, networks, and varied experiences do.

* Intentional discomfort: How seeking stretch roles and new industries accelerates growth.

* From founder-intuition to operating system: Turning mission, vision, values into OKRs, recognition, and performance—so it’s not just words on a wall.

* Alignment beats micromanagement: When purpose is clear, layers shrink and accountability rises.

* Career perspective: Rotating roles inside one company vs. building an external network (and why both matter).

* AI & alignment: How AI can improve clarity (“clarity is kindness”), reduce miscommunication, and potentially flatten orgs.

* Scale context: Nearmap’s ~700–800 global teammates—and how to enable leaders you’ll never meet personally.

In this episode of The Alignment Podcast, Jacob Crockett sits down with Dr. Vanessa Parker-Lewis, an industrial and organizational psychologist, SPHR and SHRM-SCP certified leader, and current Chief Human Resources Officer. Vanessa’s story is one of grit, self-advocacy, and the power of mentors who show up at the right time.

Together, Jacob and Vanessa explore:

* Why “polite” teams are often dysfunctional — and how true trust shows up through respectful challenge.

* The role of resilience in helping teams withstand the ebbs and flows of business and society.

* Interview questions that reveal real character and why imperfection is actually a strength.

* How COVID and access to information have reshaped workplace expectations, making “who you work for” more important than ever.

* The danger of assuming managers are natural leaders, and how to build leadership capacity at every level.

Vanessa also shares insights from her work in hospitality and now in affordable housing, where transforming places into thriving communities drives her passion.

👉 Connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn to learn more about her work and vision.