Great Minds Series Podcast

Hilton Hotels & Resorts has 400,000 employees, in over 100 companies, working for 15 distinct brands. With those numbers, what does their L&D look like? 

Learn more here: https://inno-versity.com/

Starting a business is tough and failure is commonplace. However, problems can be turned into life-changing opportunities. 

Today, Dr. Zandstra sat down with Kristen Hadeed to discuss her new book and the power of failure. 

PERMISSION TO SCREW UP is the laugh-out-loud, inspiring story about how Kristen learned to lead, not despite her mistakes, but because of them. As she took her business from living-room-based startup to local powerhouse, Kristen made almost every mistake in the book: giving out hugs instead of feedback, fixing employee errors instead of enforcing accountability, and throwing parties instead of cultivating meaningful relationships. But when things weren’t working and failure seemed imminent, Kristen turned her problems into opportunities to learn and grow.

PERMISSION TO SCREW UP follows Kristen’s journey to build a company in which people are happy, loyal, productive, and empowered—even as they scrub toilets. Though she started as an almost comically inept leader, Kristen is now a sought-after CEO who teaches others how to lead by rejecting perfection and embracing mistakes. And a decade later, Student Maid is thriving.

Wolverine Worldwide is a global footwear and apparel wholesale and retail organization. It has 12 different brands and a footprint than spans the globe. 

Today, Dr. Zandstra sits down with Toni Freeland, the Director of Learning and Development at Wolverine, to discuss how she works to help others realize their potential, one person at a time, one interaction at a time and one day at a time.

Toni Freeland is the Director of Learning and Development at Wolverine World Wide, a global footwear and apparel wholesale and retail organization with 12 brands, including Merrell, Saucony, Sperry, Keds, and Chaco. Over her 22 year career with Wolverine, Toni has served in a variety of Human Resource roles including talent acquisition and
recruitment, employee relations, learning and development, and organizational development. Listen in as Toni discusses how she works to help others realize their potential, one person at a time, one interaction at a time, one day at a time.

Today, Dr. Jerry Zandstra sits down with Jerry Kaminski, learning and development leader at Consumers Energy. Having spent over 30 years in L&D, Jerry has worked at multiple multinational organizations and has led thousands of people. Listen in as Jerry discusses how he works to effectively develop roughly 16,000 people every year.

Today, Dr. Jerry Zandstra sits down with Matt Brunk, training lead at Chipotle Mexican Grill. With a background in film, Matt has worked hard to bring "edutainment" to Chipotle. By mixing entertainment and education, Matt has created material that has resonated well with the restaurant's younger workforce.

Today, Dr. Jerry Zandstra sits down with Morris Sims. Morris spent over 30 years, leading the training and development efforts at New York Life Insurance Company and now speaks and writes on developing people to their fullest capacity.

Today, co-founder Dr. Jerry Zandstra sits down with Heiko Fischer, Founder and CEO of Resourceful Humans. Before starting Resourceful Humans, Heiko became the youngest head of Human Resources at Crytek, a European video game company. Though he resides in Berlin, Heiko was able to sit down with Dr. Zandstra and talk about how he works to turn Human Resources on its head.