Whataburger’s Director of Talent Development on Relationship Capital, Learning at Scale & Restaurant Immersion

Co-hosts Derek Williamson and Kathleen McDonough interview Donta Watson, Director of Talent Development and Learning at Whataburger, about his career path from talent management roles in healthcare (Christus Health and Intermountain Health) to consulting at Right Management and ultimately joining Whataburger after a pickleball encounter with a talent acquisition leader. Donta discusses why leadership development matters even for time-strapped physicians and how those lessons translate to 24/7 restaurant operations, emphasizing that leaders must make learning worth employees’ time. He explains Whataburger’s family-member culture, the practice of sending support-office leaders to work three days in restaurants, and strategies for scaling leadership development to 5,500+ leaders through partnerships, consistent content, and digital learning pathways tied to a leadership capability model. He shares how success is measured via utilization, content trends, engagement scores, and correlation storytelling, and highlights concepts like managing “relationship capital,” human sustainability, and recommended resources such as Fierce Conversations.

Follow along with Donta Watson on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donta-watson/

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:27 Meet Donta Watson

00:56 Career Path in Talent

03:23 Pickleball to Whataburger

04:11 Leading Busy Executives

06:15 Healthcare to Restaurants

08:28 Family Member Culture

10:31 Three Days In Restaurant

14:51 Scaling Leadership Development

19:05 Measuring Learning Impact

21:51 The How vs What

23:53 Define Core Behaviors

24:47 Toxic Talent Tolerance

26:00 Leadership Portability Lessons

29:48 Relationship Capital Explained

31:31 Human Sustainability Tips

33:33 Books Talks and Stories

38:08 Where to Follow Donta

39:45 Host Debrief Takeaways

42:22 Shifting Questions Wrap

46:01 Final Thanks and Signoff

We Built a Free Reverse Recruiting Tool: AI Job Search Organizer Walkthrough (Part 2)

Derek Williamson and Kathleen McDonough continue their discussion on “reverse recruiting,” where job seekers pay services to apply and follow up on their behalf, often costing over $1,000/month plus a percentage of salary. They explain why they believe job seekers shouldn’t be charged and walk through a free tool they built to streamline the job search. The tool combines a dashboard with a daily habit tracker, automated suggestions, and job-application tracking in both card (drag-and-drop) and table views. It includes an AI assistant that uses an uploaded resume and a job posting link to generate customized cover letters, LinkedIn outreach, and next-step recommendations, plus notes, contact tracking, and basic analytics to monitor progress. They invite feedback for future features and wish job seekers luck in a tough labor market.

00:00 Podcast Intro

00:27 Reverse Recruiting Recap

01:13 Why Build It Free

02:20 Job Search Pain Points

03:20 Core Features Overview

03:50 Getting Into The Tool

04:20 Dashboard And Habit Tracker

05:14 Job Tracker Views

05:50 AI Assistant For Outreach

07:01 Notes Contacts And Analytics

08:18 Free Signup And Feedback

09:11 Final Encouragement Outro

On the Shifting People Podcast, co-hosts Derek Williamson and Kathleen McDonough interview Fern Chan, TEDx/keynote speaker, communication coach, and author, about practical communication frameworks for the hospitality and service industry. Drawing on her experience training New York law enforcement in de-escalation, Fern explains how leaders should first diagnose the real problem, connect with the intended audience by focusing on “W-I-I-F-M” (what’s in it for me), and translate corporate jargon into actionable, plain-language expectations. She shares tactics for managing up (metrics plus reputation and stories), coaching new managers to speak with confidence (avoid hedging and upward inflection), giving constructive feedback privately using neutral, fact-based paraphrasing, and handling guest conflicts by validating feelings without excusing behavior. The episode closes with how Fern works with organizations and her book, “How to Not Suck At Presentations.”

Follow Fern on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernchan/

Reach out to fern here: [email protected]

Fern’s book for FREE: https://fernchan.com/free-book/

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:27 Meet Fern Chan

00:48 From Training to Deescalation

01:46 Why Hospitality Needs Soft Skills

04:15 Start With the Real Problem

05:09 WIFM Audience Connection

08:04 Frontline Guest Language

09:26 Managing Up With Metrics

11:26 Stories Make Numbers Stick

13:57 New Manager Confidence

19:44 Vulnerability Builds Trust

22:39 Constructive Feedback Framework

25:59 Coaching Guest Conflict Deescalation

29:51 Active Listening Empathy

32:19 Sharing Your Story Wisely

33:45 Give Them Agency Options

36:47 Handbooks HR Support

40:49 Ditch Jargon Plain Speak

43:51 Custom Training Approach

48:18 Book Title Pattern Interrupt

50:12 Host Takeaways Shifting Questions

57:39 Final Wrap Up (edited)

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernchan/

https://fernchan.com/free-book/

On the Shifting People Podcast, co-hosts Derek Williamson and Kathleen McDonough interview Fern Chan, TEDx/keynote speaker, communication coach, and author, about practical communication frameworks for the hospitality and service industry. Drawing on her experience training New York law enforcement in de-escalation, Fern explains how leaders should first diagnose the real problem, connect with the intended audience by focusing on “W-I-I-F-M” (what’s in it for me), and translate corporate jargon into actionable, plain-language expectations. She shares tactics for managing up (metrics plus reputation and stories), coaching new managers to speak with confidence (avoid hedging and upward inflection), giving constructive feedback privately using neutral, fact-based paraphrasing, and handling guest conflicts by validating feelings without excusing behavior. The episode closes with how Fern works with organizations and her book, “How to Not Suck At Presentations.”

Follow Fern on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernchan/

Reach out to fern here: [email protected]

Fern’s book for FREE: https://fernchan.com/free-book/

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:27 Meet Fern Chan

00:48 From Training to Deescalation

01:46 Why Hospitality Needs Soft Skills

04:15 Start With the Real Problem

05:09 WIFM Audience Connection

08:04 Frontline Guest Language

09:26 Managing Up With Metrics

11:26 Stories Make Numbers Stick

13:57 New Manager Confidence

19:44 Vulnerability Builds Trust

22:39 Constructive Feedback Framework

25:59 Coaching Guest Conflict Deescalation

29:51 Active Listening Empathy

32:19 Sharing Your Story Wisely

33:45 Give Them Agency Options

36:47 Handbooks HR Support

40:49 Ditch Jargon Plain Speak

43:51 Custom Training Approach

48:18 Book Title Pattern Interrupt

50:12 Host Takeaways Shifting Questions

57:39 Final Wrap Up (edited)

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernchan/

https://fernchan.com/free-book/

It’s probably time to introduce ourselves: Welcome to The Shifting People Podcast!

We’re on a mission to have conversations with the great minds in people operations and leadership in service-based businesses because it’s much harder to lead folks on the restaurant floor - and in my humble opinion, the service industry is where the best people are.

We chat with everyone from general managers to area representatives and district managers, HR and operations, talent development and trainers, chief people officers and CHROs to franchisees and small business owners.

We get into culture, employee engagement, hiring, training, retention, leadership, communication, data, mentorship, AI and lots of other topics - all with a focus on people.

We try to balance bringing stories with actionable tips and insights you can really use in your business. At the end of each episode, your hosts Derek Williamson and Kathleen McDonough, have a short “Shifting Questions” segment where they each give a task or question to listeners to apply something from the episode to their business right away.

You can look at all our episodes here and filter by brand, job title, topics, etc of our guests: https://evercruiting.com/the-shifting-people-podcast

And please do us a favor and subscribe so you get notified when new episodes come out.

#podcast #employeemanagement #restaurantleadership #restaurantculture #peopleops #franchisees #recruitmentexperts #ats #funny #hiring #employeeengagement #employeemanagement #teammembers #crewmembers #gms #generalmanager #hr #humanresources #operations #restaurantoperations #franchise #franchisee #franchisor

From Sandwich Line to CEO: Ric Gruber on Scaling Billy Bricks with Real People, Real Food, Real Fast

On the Shifting People Podcast, co-hosts Derek Williamson and Kathleen McDonough interview Ric Gruber, CEO of Billy Brick’s Restaurant Group (Billy Brick’s Wood-Fired Pizza and Moo Joe’s ice cream), about joining the family business during college, taking “pit stops” while pursuing law school and other careers, and eventually returning to scale the company amid an aging founder’s succession timeline. Ric discusses earning credibility after working every role from dishwasher to CEO, handling transitions with long-tenured employees, and focusing manager development on the business fundamentals of scheduling, labor, and hitting targets. He explains challenges of maintaining culture across locations by simplifying values into “real people, real food, real fast,” using a decision filter to reduce menu clutter, and sharing transparent operating principles publicly to attract candidates, support AI-driven search visibility, and strengthen relationships with customers and vendors.

Follow along with Ric & Billy Bricks here:

https://www.billybrickshq.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricgruber/

https://www.pizzaric.com/

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:27 Meet Ric Gruber

00:48 College Job Origins

02:14 Law School Pit Stops

03:41 Choosing the Family Business

05:23 Succession and Founder Clock

07:26 Earning Respect as Leader

12:06 Draw the Line in Leadership

12:57 From Dishwasher to CEO

15:06 Leading by Doing

18:05 Manager Development Focus

21:26 Culture at Scale

23:21 Core Values and Tagline

26:44 Menu Simplification Filter

28:10 New Operating System Rollout

29:47 Core Values in Public

31:04 Polling the Audience

31:40 Service Fee Math

34:15 Transparent Pricing Rollout

35:47 Podcasts for Hiring

36:52 AI Search and AIO

41:22 Vendor Relationships Filter

42:24 Profit and Performance

43:43 Where to Find Billy Bricks

44:41 Post Show Reflections

47:10 Living Careers Page

49:44 Values Reality Check

53:27 Final Wrap Up

Burton Snowboards’ Talent Development Leader on Miscast Roles, Transitions, and Performance Management | Aaron Raby

On the Shifting People Podcast, co-hosts Derek Williamson and Kathleen McDonough interview Aaron Raby, Director of Talent Development and Performance at Burton Snowboards, about his non-linear career from county government programs to HR and leadership development roles at Gallo Winery, Simpson Strong-Tie, Foster Farms, NuHarbor Security, and then Burton (starting August 2025). Raby explains Burton’s talent development objectives: helping people reach full potential by getting the right people in the right roles and aligning development to company growth, culture, and performance management. He shares ways to spot “miscast” employees through career coaching and the “51/49” fulfillment rule, discusses internal mobility in family-owned businesses, and emphasizes focusing HR impact on employee “transitions.” The conversation also covers bridging executive-frontline experience gaps, change management through communication and decision clarity, Burton’s values-driven community (including the New Rider program), and pride in seeing Burton boards featured during the Winter Olympics.

You can learn more about Burton Snowboards here:

Working at Burton: https://www.burton.com/us/en/content/working-at-burton.html

Burton's Purpose: https://www.burton.com/us/en/content/purpose.html

From Burton to the World Collection: https://www.burton.com/us/en/content/from-burton-to-the-world-collection.html

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:38 Aaron Career Journey

05:16 Building Talent Development

08:07 Spotting Miscast Roles

11:06 Internal Mobility Benefits

13:21 Legacy And Values

17:40 Bridging Experience Gaps

23:26 Community And New Riders

28:48 Transitions Focus Strategy

32:30 Applying Transitions Anywhere

34:03 Tell Show Do Training

34:40 Promotion Timelines Myth

35:46 Manager to Director Stall

37:15 Own Your Career Plan

38:47 Career Talks in 90 Days

40:35 Managers Create Options

42:01 Communicate Change Repeatedly

43:12 Change Runway and Readiness

44:19 Decide If You Should Change

46:40 Protect vs Go Get Model

49:11 Olympics Pride at Burton

52:45 Post Interview Debrief

55:50 B Corp Values Breakdown

58:51 Shifting Questions Wrap Up