Sit. Stay. Hire

Most management advice is about control. Jackye Clayton talks with John Sumser, principal analyst at HR Examiner, about Carlos, his labradoodle, and why the only thing a leader can actually change is themselves. They talk about respect before obedience, why correction and public humiliation push people away, what it means to remove the obstacles in someone's way instead of managing them like property, and why people, like dogs, come back to the leaders they want to come back to.

Respect has to come before obedience, with dogs and with people.

The only behavior a manager can fully control is their own.

Correction without respect teaches people to avoid you, not to improve.

Public humiliation damages trust across the whole team, not just with one person.

Good managers remove obstacles instead of adding rules.

Treating people like property leads to compliance, not commitment.

People come back to leaders who make them want to come back.

Leaving people alone to do their work is often the most useful thing a manager can do.

00:00 - Cold open: the only thing I can change

00:35 - Meet Carlos

04:38 - Respect before obedience

07:25 - The pronoun story

12:36 - Why public humiliation backfires

16:15 - When to leave people alone

19:57 - Who is in your pack today

21:23 - Why people and dogs come back

22:32 - The dog in my lap

management style, respect at work, control vs trust, leadership lessons from dogs, employee engagement, public criticism at work, manager behavior, HR leadership, retention, positive reinforcement

When a dog reacts, people ask whether it is a rescue. When a person reacts at work, they usually get written up. Jackye Clayton talks with Katrina Collier, author of The Damage of Words, about Lance, the dog who taught her she was worthy of love, and what that taught her about defensive, prickly behavior at work. They talk about learning to receive kindness, how old wounds show up in meetings, why documenting beats defending when someone turns a team against you, and why trust takes much longer than a two-week onboarding.

People who seem difficult at work are often protecting themselves from something that happened before.

Giving people the same patience we give a rescue dog changes how they respond.

Learning to accept kindness is a skill, and some people have to learn it as adults.

When someone turns a team against you, write down facts instead of defending yourself in the moment.

Rewards and recognition only work when they match what the person values.

Yelling and pressure stop learning, for dogs and for people.

Trust is built over months, not during a two-week onboarding.

Hiding at work is often a sign that someone does not feel safe yet.

00:00 - Cold open: is that a rescue?

00:27 - The soul dog

04:22 - Learning to receive love

10:12 - Bringing wounds and scars to work

13:04 - Document, do not defend

16:12 - Finding the reward that works

17:34 - What a shaking dog taught about yelling

18:33 - Hiding in plain sight

trauma informed leadership, difficult employees, psychological safety, workplace conflict, rescue dog lessons, employee trust, toxic coworkers, documentation at work, recognition and rewards, leadership and empathy

A dog that lunges on a leash is not always aggressive. Sometimes it just wants to play and has no other way to say it. Jackye Clayton, a talent acquisition leader and certified dog trainer, talks with Steven Rothberg, founder of College Recruiter, about what happens when managers judge behavior without looking at the leash, the environment and the history behind it. They cover why a star performer can fail in a new role, why the same person can thrive in one team and struggle in another, and how leaders can tell the difference between a bad hire and a bad fit. Jackye also shares the leash in her own story: an unexpected surgery, losing her job, and having to figure out what she does for a living.

Behavior that looks hostile is often a signal that a need is not being met.

A person who succeeds in one environment can struggle in another without anything changing about who they are.

Managers should look at the environment and the incentives before deciding someone is the problem.

Restrictions people did not choose often create the behavior leaders complain about.

Fit is not permanent. It changes as people, roles and companies change.

Good hiring asks what a person needs to succeed, not only what they have done before.

Different people, like different dogs, need different kinds of leadership.

Labeling someone a bad hire too early can cost a team a strong contributor.

00:00 - Cold open: when play looks like hostility

01:08 - The dog on the leash

03:24 - What a first dog teaches about patience

08:29 - When the rules at home do not match the rules at work

10:53 - Why star performers sometimes fail in new roles

13:22 - Choosing your own constraints at work

20:29 - Jackye's story: surgery, job loss and starting over

24:25 - What to do when the fit changes

26:54 - Leading different people differently

30:15 - What to take back to your team

hiring fit, reactive dog behavior, employee performance, management and leadership, bad hire vs bad fit, talent acquisition, workplace behavior, career change, manager coaching, dog training lessons for leaders

She set out to write a leadership book about what dogs could teach us. Then life changed the story. Recovering from surgery and facing the possibility of never walking without help, host Jackye Clayton brought home Shiloh, an injured foster dog facing his own uncertain future. As they learned to walk again, she began questioning what she thought she knew about leadership, belonging, and herself.

Sit Stay Hire brings together personal storytelling and conversations with people whose careers revolve around who gets hired, who advances, and who gets left behind. What emerges challenges how we lead—and what we’re willing to change about ourselves. Ten episodes. Lots of dogs. Starting November 3. Listen to the trailer and follow "Sit. Stay. Hire." so you don’t miss the first episode.