Hero to Zero

In this episode of Hero to Zero, Ken Pearson sits down with Tina Schust Robinson to challenge one of the most common—and costly—assumptions in business today:

When uncertainty rises, leadership development gets cut.

Tina makes the opposite case.

In moments of instability, leadership is not a cost to manage—it’s the deciding factor in whether a business stabilizes, adapts, and grows… or stalls under pressure.

Drawing from decades of experience across consulting, operations, and leadership coaching, Tina reframes leadership development as leadership investment—a strategic lever that must be directly tied to business outcomes, not treated as a standalone HR initiative.

Together, Ken and Tina unpack why so many organizations invest heavily in leadership—and still fail to see results.

They explore the disconnect between strategy and execution, the over-reliance on programs without purpose, and the hard truth that much of what companies call development is simply corporate theater.

In this conversation, you’ll hear:

• Why most leadership development efforts fail to deliver measurable impact
• The critical mistake organizations make by starting with how instead of why
• How to connect leadership investment directly to business strategy and outcomes
• Why ROI in leadership isn’t always financial—but still must be observable and real
• How to identify where leadership gaps are actually costing the business
• A practical approach to getting started: start small, prove value, and scale intentionally

This episode is especially relevant for leaders heading into planning cycles, budget decisions, or navigating uncertain economic conditions. It challenges the instinct to pause investment—and instead makes the case for doubling down where it matters most.

Tina also shares insights from her upcoming book, Developing Your Business Leaders: A Guide to Investing at All Levels, which provides a practical framework for building leadership capability that actually translates into business performance.

📘 Learn more about Tina’s work and her book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1960231766?

If you’ve ever questioned whether leadership development is worth the investment—or struggled to prove its impact—this conversation will change how you think about it.

🎙️ Thanks for listening to Hero to Zero — where the real stories of HR, leadership, and corporate life get told (finally).

📩 Got a wild workplace story? We want to hear it:
[email protected]

🧠 New episodes drop monthly — subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Because in HR... it only takes one email to go from hero to zero.

H_AI_R: When the Humans in HR Compete with the Robots
A conversation with Russell Porter on how HR can protect what stays human in the age of AI.

In this episode of Hero to Zero, Russell Porter joins Ken Pearson to explore what happens when HR’s most human qualities—empathy, judgment, and culture—collide with the rise of artificial intelligence. Together they unpack the five levels of AI capability, the limits of human change capacity, and why “designing for dignity” might be the most important skill of all.

As organizations chase efficiency through automation, HR stands at the fault line between progress and purpose. Russell and Ken discuss what happens when algorithms start hiring, managing, and evaluating people—and what leaders can do to preserve trust, fairness, and humanity inside increasingly digital workplaces.

In This Episode
• The five levels of AI and how they’re reshaping human work
• HR’s evolving role: AI for scale, humans for depth
• Change fatigue, empathy, and the emotional side of transformation
• How to “design for dignity” in every stage of AI adoption
• The ethical gap between innovation and accountability

Key Moments
00:00 – Opening: What we choose to keep human
03:00 – The cultural lens on technology
07:00 – The five levels of AI
11:00 – Change fatigue and finite human capacity
17:00 – HR’s role in the age of AI
28:00 – Empathy, authenticity, and accountability
39:00 – The “Jared effect” and AI guardrails
52:00 – Closing: Designing for dignity

Takeaway Quote

Why Listen
This conversation invites HR and business leaders to slow down long enough to ask the right question: as machines get smarter, what will it mean to stay human at work? The answers may redefine how we hire, manage, and measure success in an AI-enabled world.

Credits
Host & Producer: Ken Pearson
Guest: Russell Porter
Production: Hero to Zero
Learn more and join the discussion at HeroToZeroPodcast.com

🎙️ Thanks for listening to Hero to Zero — where the real stories of HR, leadership, and corporate life get told (finally).

📩 Got a wild workplace story? We want to hear it:
[email protected]

🧠 New episodes drop monthly — subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Because in HR... it only takes one email to go from hero to zero.

What happens when employees keep showing up physically, but emotionally and mentally they’ve already left? Welcome to the world of Resenteeism — the workplace trend where people check in, but they don’t truly check out.

You’ve probably heard of presenteeism (being at work but not fully productive) and quiet quitting (dialing back effort to the bare minimum). Resenteeism is different — and more dangerous. It’s what happens when frustration, dissatisfaction, or burnout take root, but people still occupy their desks, attend meetings, and go through the motions. Their presence masks the problem, yet their resentment quietly spreads through the culture.

In this episode of Hero to Zero, host Ken Pearson is joined by Michelle Hargis Wolfe, an experienced HR leader and culture strategist, to unpack this subtle but powerful dynamic. Together, they explore:

• Why resenteeism is on the rise in today’s disrupted workplace
• How it erodes trust and culture when left unchecked
• The difference between burnout, disengagement, and resenteeism — and why leaders must learn to spot the signs
• The hidden costs of ignoring employee sentiment while focusing only on output
• Practical ways leaders can respond, from improving feedback loops to building psychological safety and rethinking performance metrics

Michelle brings a unique perspective on how organizations can build cultures of transparency and trust that keep resentment from festering in the first place. Her insights help leaders shift from reacting to symptoms to proactively creating environments where employees can be candid, engaged, and truly present.

For listeners in leadership, HR, or team management roles, this conversation offers both clarity and a call to action: don’t assume attendance equals engagement. If people are showing up physically but leaving their best energy, creativity, and commitment at the door, resenteeism may already be reshaping your workplace.

By the end of this episode, you’ll walk away with:

• A sharper understanding of what resenteeism looks like in real time
• Language to start meaningful conversations with your teams
• Actionable ideas to re-energize engagement and rebuild trust

🌐 How This Fits into Hero to Zero

Each episode of Hero to Zero peels back another layer of how work really feels on the inside versus how it looks on the outside. In Episode 1 we examined the shifting role of recruiting. In Episode 2, Frederic Deschamps joined to talk about culture misalignment — when the “music” of daily life doesn’t match the “lyrics” of corporate promises. In Episode 3, we dug into learning and adaptability in a disrupted world.

This episode on resenteeism carries that thread forward: it shows what happens when culture breaks down in quiet, invisible ways. It’s not the dramatic resignation letter or the viral social media rant — it’s the slow drift of resentment that leaders often miss until it’s too late.

By connecting these dots across the season, listeners can start to see a larger pattern: organizations succeed or fail not on their stated policies, but on the lived experiences of their people.

📣 Call to Action

If you found this conversation valuable, please take a moment to:

• Subscribe to Hero to Zero on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode
• Rate and review the show — your feedback helps others discover these conversations
• Share this episode with a colleague, leader, or friend who needs to hear about resenteeism before it quietly reshapes their workplace

Hero to Zero is about telling the unfiltered truth of work — the moments where culture, leadership, and humanity either align or collide. Join the conversation, sprea

🎙️ Thanks for listening to Hero to Zero — where the real stories of HR, leadership, and corporate life get told (finally).

📩 Got a wild workplace story? We want to hear it:
[email protected]

🧠 New episodes drop monthly — subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Because in HR... it only takes one email to go from hero to zero.

Companies love to say they’re “learning organizations.”
But when the pressure hits, training is the first to get cut—or worse, it's used to mask deeper failures in leadership, culture, and accountability.

In this episode of Hero to Zero, host Ken Pearson sits down with David Dauman, CEO of Solutions House and longtime L&D advisor, to unpack how corporate training programs can become a performance illusion. What starts as a genuine effort to develop people often collapses into checkbox compliance, hollow slogans, and “launch in 30, measure in 2” metrics that never had a chance.

Together, Ken and David explore:

• Why so many learning initiatives are designed to fail
• The difference between training that teaches vs. training that protects leadership optics
• The myth of self-directed learning—and what people actually need to grow
• The fading line between “development” and “damage control”
• Real stories from organizations that got it right—and those that faked it until trust was gone

David introduces his framework of Compliant vs. Catalyst organizations:

You’ll also hear sharp metaphors, lived satire, and stories that blend humanity with strategic critique—from the gym to Hamburger University to operating rooms and construction sites. This is one of our most layered episodes yet.

Whether you're in HR, executive leadership, or just tired of being “trained” without being supported—this episode will hit home.

🔊 Subscribe and listen to Hero to Zero on your favorite platform:
🎧 Apple Podcasts: [link]
🎧 Spotify: [link]
🌐 All platforms: https://linktr.ee/ShadeTreeConsulting

Follow David Dauman
🔗https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-s-dauman-a11bb8/

Follow Ken Pearson and ShadeTree Consulting
🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/pearsonken/
🔗 https://shadetree-consulting.com/

Hero to Zero: What happens when leadership efforts collapse—and how to rebuild better.

🎙️ Thanks for listening to Hero to Zero — where the real stories of HR, leadership, and corporate life get told (finally).

📩 Got a wild workplace story? We want to hear it:
[email protected]

🧠 New episodes drop monthly — subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Because in HR... it only takes one email to go from hero to zero.

🎙️ Hero to Zero | Episode 2: "Do the Music and Lyrics Match?"
Guest: Fred Deschamps, Founder of FitMe

What happens when the culture your company sings doesn’t match the one your people hear?

In this episode, Ken Pearson sits down with Fred Deschamps—cultural strategist and founder of FitMe—to dissect the dangerous disconnect between stated values and lived experience inside organizations.

Using the metaphor of a dysfunctional orchestra, they explore how corporate leadership often acts as the conductor, shouting “people first” while setting a tempo that burns people out. From HR to high performers, from silent middle managers to performative policies, this episode tackles the reality of what happens when the music and lyrics of workplace culture don't match.

Fred brings 30+ years of corporate experience and the data to back up what many have felt but couldn’t prove: culture misalignment can now be measured. And when it's ignored, it doesn't just cost you talent—it breaks trust, destroys engagement, and creates dissonance that no mission statement can fix.

In this episode:
🎼 Why employees fake harmony when leaders are out of sync
🧠 How culture becomes weaponized by well-meaning managers
🧛 “Vampires and Zombies”: the hidden risk of toxic high performers
📉 Real-life moments when policies killed trust (“Bring us a death certificate”)
🧾 How record profits and pizza parties became the new gaslight
📊 What FitMe is doing to measure and predict culture fit—before it’s too late

If you’ve ever been promised belonging and given burnout…
If you’ve ever watched a quarterly town hall and thought, “Do these execs even like each other?”…
If you’ve ever wondered whether the culture is really what it claims to be…

This one’s for you.

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
If you missed Episode 1 with Dean Trimble, it’s streaming now:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iLN4wCQwyqL2bcaOqvqsp
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-01-recruiting/id1810908481?i=1000708583152

About the Host:
Ken Pearson is the founder of ShadeTree Consulting and architect of the Eye to I framework. He’s spent two decades coaching executives, rebuilding cultures, and calling out the gap between what organizations say and what they do. Hero to Zero is where those stories get told—with candor, context, and a refusal to sanitize the truth.

🎙️ Thanks for listening to Hero to Zero — where the real stories of HR, leadership, and corporate life get told (finally).

📩 Got a wild workplace story? We want to hear it:
[email protected]

🧠 New episodes drop monthly — subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Because in HR... it only takes one email to go from hero to zero.

Recruiting used to be about finding great talent. Now it feels like applying for a mortgage, joining a secret society, and surviving a reality show — all at once.

In Episode 1 of Hero to Zero, host Ken Pearson is joined by Dean Trimble (Managing Director at Jackson Stevens Global) to unpack why the modern hiring is so frustrating — and what to do about it.

From job descriptions that read like horoscopes to interview loops that never end, this episode is both a reality check and a roadmap. Plus: a powerful closing story from listener Sean Gibbons about walking away from an opportunity — and choosing empathy over explanation.

🎯 Real stories. Real red flags. And no, pizza parties don’t replace performance bonuses.

💌 Send us your HR fails: [email protected]

[Hero to Zero is hosted by Ken Pearson, Executive Coach and Founder of ShadeTree Consulting.]

🎙️ Thanks for listening to Hero to Zero — where the real stories of HR, leadership, and corporate life get told (finally).

📩 Got a wild workplace story? We want to hear it:
[email protected]

🧠 New episodes drop monthly — subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Because in HR... it only takes one email to go from hero to zero.

Welcome to Hero to Zero — the podcast where HR legends, leadership missteps, and workplace chaos collide.

Hosted by Ken Pearson, Certified Global HR Professional and Executive Coach, this series pulls back the corporate curtain to share the real stories, the real mistakes, and the real lessons that don’t make it into the company newsletter.

In this quick trailer, Ken introduces the why behind Hero to Zero, what you can expect each month, and how you can join the conversation — with your own outrageous, hilarious, and downright unbelievable workplace stories.

🎯 Expect real talk, real laughs, and just enough satire to keep it honest.

🎧 New episodes drop monthly, starting with a deep dive into the beautiful disaster that is modern recruiting.

📩 Got a story we need to hear? Email it to [email protected] — and your tale might just be featured.

Because in HR (and life)... it only takes one email to go from hero to zero.

🎙️ Thanks for listening to Hero to Zero — where the real stories of HR, leadership, and corporate life get told (finally).

📩 Got a wild workplace story? We want to hear it:
[email protected]

🧠 New episodes drop monthly — subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Because in HR... it only takes one email to go from hero to zero.