The LeaderLab: Powered by LifeLabs Learning

Empathy at work isn’t just understanding how someone feels. It’s what you do next.

Claude Silver joins Micaela Mathre to explore how leaders turn care into everyday behavior; from giving clearer feedback to noticing when someone on the team has gone quiet.

Drawing on her journey to becoming Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia, Claude shares why manager training should give people something they can use immediately, how emotional fluency helps leaders navigate difficult moments, and why consistent attention matters more than a single thoughtful conversation.

Claude and Micaela also unpack the micro-yes before feedback, the confusion vague urgency creates, and practical ways to help people feel seen. Along the way, Claude shares an exercise for challenging negative self-talk with evidence, and they discuss where AI can help prepare people conversations—and where human judgment needs to lead.

In this episode:

• The difference between recognizing an emotion and communicating it constructively.
• Why feedback needs preparation, clear examples, and thoughtful timing.
• Small ways to practice empathy through recognition, check-ins, and follow-through.
• How to acknowledge uncertainty without pretending to have every answer.
• Using AI to support your thinking without passing the review burden to someone else.

One idea to try: After your next check-in, choose one concrete action based on what you heard. Follow up, make a connection, or investigate a concern. Let the conversation lead somewhere.

Workshops:

• Coaching
• Delegation
• Effective 1-1s
• Feedback
• Skills Lab

Programs:

• Manager Core
• Change & Alignment

Read:

• Manager Conversations: How to Use AI to Prepare for 1-1s  Without Losing the Human Touch (CAMPS)
• Skills Spotlight: Better Meetings Start With a 4P Opener
• Manager Feedback: How to Keep Clarity and Trust When Using AI  (Playing Cards Method)

Resources:

• Manager Training
• Leading Change
• Adaptivity & Resilience

Watch:

• How SonderMind’s VP of People Is Scaling Managers, Culture, and AI Readiness
• From “War for Talent” to “War on Talent”: Change, Fear, and Executive Alignment in NerdWallet’s AI Shift

How do you get honest feedback when people may be reluctant to give it?

In this episode of The LeaderLab, Dr. Dossier Harps joins Micaela Mathre to explore Pulling for Feedback: asking deliberate, specific questions instead of waiting for someone else to speak up.

They discuss why critical feedback can trigger defensiveness, how hierarchy shapes what leaders hear, and why asking is only part of the skill. How a manager responds can determine whether someone feels safe being honest again.

The conversation also looks at how AI can help prepare better questions, why it can’t replace a willingness to learn, and how withholding constructive criticism can leave employees without the information they need to grow.

For People, HR, and L&D leaders, this episode offers practical ways to help managers seek useful input, respond with curiosity, and make feedback a regular part of how they lead.

Workshops:

• Feedback
• Coaching
• Effective 1-1s
• Skills Lab

Programs:

• Manager Core
• Workplace Core

Read:

• Skills Lab: What Happens Beyond the Workshop
• How to Give Constructive Feedback That Improves Team Performance: The Playing Cards Method™
• Manager Feedback: How to Keep Clarity and Trust When Using AI  (Playing Cards Method)

Resources:

• Feedback
• Feedback Prep Grid
• Adaptivity & Resilience

Watch:

• Give Feedback That Lands: The Playing Cards Method with Kathy Pearce
• How SonderMind’s VP of People Is Scaling Managers, Culture, and AI Readiness
• From “War for Talent” to “War on Talent”: Change, Fear, and Executive Alignment in NerdWallet’s AI Shift

AI can accelerate insight, sharpen thinking, and remove friction from how work gets done. But it cannot replace the trust, reflection, feedback, and human connection that help people grow.

In this episode of The Leader Lab, Megan Wheeler, Director of People Development at Articulate, joins Micaela Mathre to explore what leadership development needs to look like in an increasingly remote and AI-enabled workplace.

Drawing on nearly two decades of experience in organizational psychology, facilitation, coaching, and leadership development, Megan shares what she learned moving from studying and teaching leadership to leading teams herself. One of her biggest lessons: skills training alone is not enough. For new behaviors to stick, they must be reinforced by organizational systems and modeled consistently by senior leaders.

Megan also takes listeners inside Articulate’s approach to developing managers in a fully remote organization, including why the company brought leaders together in person to practice coaching, feedback, psychological safety, and cross-functional problem-solving.

Tune in to learn:

• Why a leader’s emotional energy can shape the entire team
• Why manager development requires both individual skills and system-level support
• How in-person learning can strengthen connection in remote organizations
• What leaders should and should not outsource to AI
• How the Most Important Things method creates clarity during constant change
• Why great managers do more asking and less telling

A grounded conversation for People, HR, and L&D leaders designing the next generation of manager development.

Workshops:

• Coaching
• Delegation
• Effective 1-1s
• Feedback
• Skills Lab

Programs:

• Manager Core
• Collaboration & Trust

Read:

• Manager Conversations: How to Use AI to Prepare for 1-1s  Without Losing the Human Touch (CAMPS)
• Delegation Skills That Help Managers Scale Their Impact
• Manager Feedback: How to Keep Clarity and Trust When Using AI  (Playing Cards Method)

Resources:

• Manager Training
• Leading Change
• Adaptivity & Resilience

Watch:

• Preparing for a Defining Moment: The Obama Foundation’s Investment in Leadership
• How SonderMind’s VP of People Is Scaling Managers, Culture, and AI Readiness
• From “War for Talent” to “War on Talent”: Change, Fear, and Executive Alignment in NerdWallet’s AI Shift

How do you create a culture where learning becomes part of the way people work?

In this episode of The Leader Lab, Patrick Choquette, Director of Learning & Development at The Obama Foundation, shares lessons from a career spanning public service, education, international development, and leadership development.

From teaching in Ghana as a Peace Corps volunteer to leading learning programs across global teams and mission-driven organizations, Patrick explores what it takes to create environments where people grow, managers thrive, and learning becomes part of everyday work.

He shares why managers represent the highest ROI for organizational development, how strong systems create better learning outcomes than standalone training programs, and why AI may be one of the most powerful learning reinforcement tools available today.

🎧 Tune in to learn:

• Why managers have the biggest impact on employee growth and engagement
• How to create learning systems instead of relying on one-off training events
• Lessons from scaling development across thousands of employees globally
• What mission-driven organizations can teach us about leadership
• How AI can help reinforce leadership behaviors and learning habits
• Why behavior change matters more than knowledge transfer

A practical conversation for People leaders, L&D professionals, and executives building stronger managers and more adaptive organizations.

Workshops:

• Coaching
• Delegation
• Effective 1-1s
• Feedback
• Skills Lab

Programs:

• Manager Core
• Collaboration & Trust

Read:

• New Leadership Programs for Today’s Workplace Challenges
• The Science Behind Effective Delegation (And Why Managers Struggle With It)
• Manager Conversations: How to Use AI to Prepare for 1-1s  Without Losing the Human Touch (CAMPS)

Resources:

• Manager Training
• Leading Change
• Adaptivity & Resilience

Watch:

• Inside Fabletics: How L&D is Preparing for an AI-First Future
• How SonderMind’s VP of People Is Scaling Managers, Culture, and AI Readiness
• From “War for Talent” to “War on Talent”: Change, Fear, and Executive Alignment in NerdWallet’s AI Shift

What makes feedback useful instead of just emotional?

In this Skills Spotlight episode of The Leader Lab, Kathy Pearce, Facilitator at LifeLabs Learning, joins host Micaela Mathre to unpack the Playing Cards Method™,  one of LifeLabs’ most memorable frameworks for turning blurry feedback into clear, actionable communication.

Using the four suits in a deck of cards, Kathy explains how Hearts and Clubs represent vague praise and criticism, while Diamonds and Spades point to the specific behaviors someone should keep doing or change.

Kathy shares practical workplace examples, including how managers can give clearer feedback about AI-generated work, why public Diamonds can create ripple effects across teams, and how “Diamond Days” help organizations build stronger feedback habits.

🎧 Tune in to learn:

• Why “great job” and “that was terrible” are equally unhelpful
• How to turn Hearts into Diamonds and Clubs into Spades
• Why specific praise helps teams replicate great work
• How to avoid leading with assumptions in feedback conversations
• What managers often get wrong when giving feedback about AI
• Why feedback skills require constant practice, even for experts
• How shared language makes feedback easier to recognize and improve

A thoughtful, practical conversation for managers, People leaders, and teams who want feedback to create clarity instead of confusion.

What does it take to scale teams, culture, and leadership at the same time?

In this episode of The Leader Lab, Sara Marzitelli-Sanchez, VP of People at SonderMind, shares how she’s helping leaders grow alongside their organizations by focusing on manager development, human-centered leadership, and practical AI adoption.

From her unconventional path into HR to her belief that “people are complex beings,” Sara explains why the fundamentals of People leadership stay consistent across industries, and why this role is more industry-agnostic than most think.

She also shares how meeting every employee helps her build trust (and make HR feel less “scary”), how it gives her a 30,000-foot view of the business, and how that insight shapes smarter People strategies.

🎧 Tune in to learn:

• Why investing in manager training is a core business strategy & not just L&D
• How to remove the “HR is scary” barrier and build trust across teams
• What it looks like to lead with a 30,000-ft view of team function and challenges
• Why brain science-backed training creates more effective, scalable managers
• How to navigate the shift from individual contributor to people leader
• What it takes to build AI fluency across an organization

A practical, grounded conversation for People leaders building resilient, scalable teams in a fast-changing world.

What does it take to lead people well when the rules of work keep changing?

In this episode of The Leader Lab, Lynee Luque, Chief People Officer at NerdWallet, shares how she’s navigating AI adoption, organizational change, acquisitions, and remote-first leadership, while keeping the human side of work at the center.

Hear how Lynee approaches leading through ambiguity, why copying and pasting playbooks rarely works, and how People teams can act as the testing ground for change before it scales across the organization.

🎧 Tune in to learn:

• How to lead through uncertainty without over-relying on process
• Why mindset shifts need to come before AI skill-building
• What it takes to support a truly remote-first workforce
• How NerdWallet approaches acquisitions by elevating, not absorbing, new companies
• Why today’s shift from the “war for talent” to the “war on talent” matters for every People leader

A thoughtful, practical conversation for People leaders building resilient, adaptive teams in a fast-changing world.

What’s the role of L&D in the age of AI?

In this episode of The Leader Lab, Will Feng (VP of People, Fabletics) shares how TechStyle Fashion Group is rethinking learning, from the ground up. Hear how they’re developing human skills, engaging middle managers, and building an “AI-first mindset” across brands.

🎧 Tune in to learn:

• The power of peer-based learning and clear communication
• What an AI-first mindset really looks like
• How middle managers can be your greatest asset in transformation
• How they reached 90% L&D program participation 

A practical, real-world conversation for People leaders shaping the future of work.

AI is transforming how we learn at work, but it can’t replace human connection or the practice it takes to turn knowledge into lasting skills. In this episode of The LeaderLab, LifeLabs CEO Priscila Bala and Facilitation Manager Michelle King share why people skills remain essential in the age of AI. They discuss the risks of relying too heavily on technology in leadership development and why live, human-centered learning is critical for building trust, collaboration, and resilient teams.

📌 Explore more resources:

• AI for HR Resource Hub
• AI for HR Playbook
• Manager Training Resource Hub
• The Great Managers Playbook 

Change is hard, especially on the brain. In this episode, LifeLabs Learning Facilitaton Manager Brendon Nimphius introduces the CAMPS Check—a science-backed framework that helps leaders anticipate the psychological impact of change. Learn how to use Certainty, Autonomy, Meaning, Progress, and Social Inclusion to listen better, lead more effectively, and reduce resistance. Whether you're navigating a reorg, new process, or cultural shift, this episode will give you simple, actionable tools to lead through change with clarity and care.

CAMPS Resources:

Article: What’s Your CAMPS Score?

Article: CAMPS: The Best Model for Leading Change at Work

Workshop: Effective 1-1s 

Video: CAMPS Video

Leading Change Resources:

Playbook Leading Change In Uncertain Times

Workshop: Leading Change

Article: Decoding the Secrets to Change Resilience

Template: Change Checklist