378. How People-First Leaders Will Win the Future with Cheryl Desantis

A major determinant of company culture comes down to how you value your people leaders — those who develop the talent within your company.

Cheryl Desantis is the Chief People & Diversity Officer at the Smile Direct Club, a company disrupting the 120-year-old, $20 billion dollar orthodontics industry. She holds more than 20 years of experience in strategic people and organizational development. She enables the growth of a business through its team members, striving to maintain a strong company culture through values-based leadership.

Her purpose is to inspire and empower courageous transformation in leaders to bring more empathy, love, and kindness to the world. Her new book “Steel Backbone, Soft Heart: How Heart-Centered Leadership Changes the Way You Live, Love & Lead” is out now. We discuss what it means to have a soft heart and a steel backbone, why human-centered leadership is a must for the future, and how to find the balance between productivity, profit, and purpose.

If you want to be a strong leader, bringing a full sense of who you are to the table is essential. If you want to dive deeper into your own self-knowledge, visit the1thing.com/corevalues and pick up our Core Values Deck.

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: the1thing.com/pods.

We talk about:

What attracted Cherly to people development and coaching

Leading with courage

The inspiration behind “Steel Backbone, Soft Heart” and what those things truly mean

Reclaiming humanity in the workplace

Turning empathy for your customer into empathy for your employees

The ten principles of “Steel Backbone, Soft Heart”

The courage of asking for feedback

Finding and achieving balance in the workplace

Links & Tools from This Episode

Learn more at cheryldesantis.com

Read: Steel Backbone, Soft Heart

Connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cheryl-desantis-813259a/

Free Resources

Want to be a guest or share feedback? Email [email protected]

Mentioned in this episode:

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