UNLEASHED By LoyaltyOps

Last week, Ipsos published a study of 9,100 employees in 32 countries, and based on what they see in their organization today, only one in four said becoming a people manager looks attractive.

In this episode, Mickey Anderson looks at what that finding means for the leaders your people are watching right now, and for who will step up to lead next.

What the episode covers:

- Why Ipsos found that management is increasingly viewed as a burden, and why career support is the factor most linked to people wanting to take on a people manager role

- The difference between the manager role and the leadership part of it, and why leadership is the part your people are watching

- Korn Ferry's 2027 forecast, where 66% of more than 1,300 talent and senior leaders expect managers to spend more time guiding their teams through change than managing day-to-day work, a shift toward leadership

- Edelman's Trust at Work research, where trust in direct managers fell from 79% to 72%, and how much that trust depends on how people are led through change

- The question to ask yourself: if your best individual contributor described what leading people in your company looks like, what would they say?

- What this looks like in an organization of 30 to 300 people, where most future leaders already work for you

- Why listening without visible action does more harm than not asking at all

 Mickey's one thing to try this week: in your next three one-on-ones, ask one question, "From what you see, what does leading people here look like?" Write down what you hear, compare notes with your leadership team, and then go back to the people you asked with what you heard and one thing your leaders will do differently.

Sources mentioned in this episode:

Ipsos, The Workplace Reality: https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/the-workplace-reality

Korn Ferry, "Korn Ferry Report: AI and Capability Gaps Will Reshape Talent in 2027": https://www.kornferry.com/about-us/press/korn-ferry-report-ai-and-capability-gaps-will-reshape-talent-in-2027

Edelman, "Trust at Work: Transformation Triggering Trust Demise": https://www.edelman.com/newsroom/richard-edelmans-6am-blog/trust-at-work-2026

Gallup, "Employee Engagement Remains Flat as AI Adoption Accelerates": https://www.gallup.com/workplace/712433/employee-engagement-remains-flat-adoption-accelerates.aspx

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast from LoyaltyOps for leaders building businesses that last in a decade no one is prepared for.

About Mickey: Mickey co-founded LoyaltyOps, and her background sits at the intersection of organizational performance and leadership development. LoyaltyOps is a leadership development firm that develops individual leaders and leadership teams against clear leadership competencies, so performance improves across your organization.

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

This month, 521 HR and business leaders said the biggest source of friction for managers is leadership expectations, and a lack of manager training came last. And one of Canada's largest employers has written down what effective leadership means across a company of about 220,000 people.

So do your leaders agree on what good leadership looks like?

In this episode, Mickey Anderson looks at why unclear expectations hold managers back, what that employer did about it, and what a version of it looks like in an organization of 30 to 300 people.

 What the episode covers:

 - Why 48% of HR and business leaders named leadership expectations as the biggest source of friction for managers, and why a lack of training came last, at 25%

- Why HR leaders and business leaders disagree on who owns manager effectiveness

- The question to ask yourself: would each of your leaders describe a good manager in your company the same way?

- How Loblaw, with about 220,000 people, built leadership expectations for four levels of leaders, as reported by HRD Canada

- What a one-page version looks like in an organization of 30 to 300 people  

Sources mentioned in this episode:

Betterworks, 2026 Manager Effectiveness Survey: https://www.betterworks.com/magazine/2026-manager-effectiveness-survey

HRD Canada, "Loblaw builds shared leadership expectations to strengthen talent development": https://www.hcamag.com/ca/specialization/transformation/loblaw-builds-shared-leadership-expectations-to-strengthen-talent-development/591095

Gallup, "Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement": https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/182792/managers-account-variance-employee-engagement.aspx

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast from LoyaltyOps for leaders building businesses that last in a decade no one is prepared for.

About Mickey: Mickey co-founded LoyaltyOps, and her background sits at the intersection of organizational performance and leadership development. LoyaltyOps is a leadership development firm that develops individual leaders and leadership teams against clear leadership competencies, so performance improves across the organization. 

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

Get the Cultural Standards Builder: https://loyaltyops.com/cultural-standards-builder

Schedule A Discovery Call with LoyaltyOps: https://loyaltyops.com/book 

Follow Mickey Anderson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heymickeyanderson

LoyaltyOps: https://loyaltyops.com

Want to be a guest on UNLEASHED? Apply here: https://unleashed.loyaltyops.com/apply

Emily Schneider says one of the most steadying things a leader can tell their people in an uncertain year is "I don't know," as long as it comes with what you're doing about it and a commitment to work through it together.

Emily is a fractional COO with more than 25 years of experience in B2B and B2C companies, from startups to $300 million in revenue. She and Mickey Anderson talk about what she looks for when a company keeps missing its objectives and the CEO is sure the answer is more process.

In this episode:

• Why a "sales problem" usually turns out to involve marketing, client experience and product, and how a short conversation with each department shows it
• Why your people and your customers are the two best sources of answers you already have
• Why leaders who have grown out of startup mode need to slow down, and what that does for how their people see them
• What happens when a leader says out loud what they're struggling with, and why people pull harder in response
• Why Emily listens to every person before she tries to fix anything, and why she tells her people she'd rather they try and get it wrong

Connect with Emily Schneider
If something isn't working in your business and you can't work out why, Emily works out what's driving it, what needs to change and how to make it happen.
Website: https://www.es-cx.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilymarieschneider/

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast from LoyaltyOps for leaders building businesses that last in a decade no one is prepared for. Host Mickey Anderson talks with leaders about what they are building, the decisions behind it, and what they are betting on next, and in solo episodes she takes one problem from inside growing organizations and shows what to do about it.

Book A Discovery Call with LoyaltyOps: https://loyaltyops.com/book

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

Want to be a guest on UNLEASHED? Apply here: https://unleashed.loyaltyops.com/apply

Marketing has a plan built around lead volume, sales has one built around close rate, and customer success has one built around retention, and the three leaders never sat down to build those plans together, even though each one depends on the others.

• Why plans built inside each function can hit every target and still miss the growth plan, and what research published in Harvard Business Review found when it studied 95 cross-functional teams
• The six parts of a brief to send 48 hours before a session, from the objective to the assumptions nobody has tested
• How to run the session well, with respectful disagreement, time boxes and small breakouts, and what research on devil's advocate and genuine dissent means for your meetings
• Why working across functions is a skill, and how to run three to five practice rounds with an after action review after each one
• One thing to try this week: pick one objective or problem that crosses two or more functions, send the leaders involved a one-page brief 48 hours ahead, and book 60 minutes to work on it together

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast from LoyaltyOps for leaders building businesses that last in a decade no one is prepared for. Host Mickey Anderson talks with leaders about what they are building, the decisions behind it, and what they are betting on next, and in solo episodes she takes one problem from inside growing organizations and shows what to do about it.

Book A Discovery Call with LoyaltyOps: https://loyaltyops.com/book
Get the free leadership frameworks: https://loyaltyops.com/free-resources

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

When Clark Ingram took over people operations at a hospital, turnover dropped 40 percent in six months.

He did it as a self-described finance guy who got thrown into HR and is convinced most companies misread the whole problem. As he puts it, culture eats strategy for breakfast, but employee turnover eats culture for breakfast.

In this episode, Clark makes the case that about half of a company's turnover is created by HR itself, why his first move is always to stop the bleeding before anything else, and why the real root causes of turnover live several layers below the surface, where no AI tool can find them. He shares the story of unknowingly training his own competition, the small compensation fix that stopped it cold, and why he holds HR to a zero-turnover standard the same way a factory holds itself to zero defects. Along the way, you will hear why values fall apart the moment one leader stops living them, and what it actually takes to keep good people through this AI decade.

Clark Ingram is the founder of People Profits and the CHRO of Littleton Regional Healthcare. A finance leader by background, he was pulled into HR by a CEO frustrated with relentless turnover, and he has since helped multiple organizations cut turnover by more than 40 percent and stabilize workforces others had written off as unfixable. His new book, Churn, lays out the process step by step.

Learn more from Clark at People Profits: https://peopleprofits.com or https://clarkingram.com
Get his book Churn: Proven Strategies to Overcome Failing Conventional Talent Management and Achieve Zero Turnover, on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
Find Clark on LinkedIn: Clark A. Ingram

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast for business owners building companies that last in a decade no one is prepared for. Host Mickey Anderson talks with founders and operators about what they are building, the decisions behind it, and what they are betting on next.

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

Derek Fredrickson has a simple rule for founders who feel stretched too thin. You cannot scale complexity, you can only scale simplicity.

After more than sixteen years as the operator behind seven-figure companies, he has watched founders try to grow by piling on more offers, more funnels, and more initiatives, and watched the clarity drain out of their businesses in the process.

In this episode Derek breaks down the three things he does as a CEO and nothing else, why he stopped selling himself and started selling a process that works without him in the room, and the identity shift of going from best operator to founder who lets go.

He shares his 10-3-1 planning method for turning a big vision into this week's plan, his honest take on when a business actually needs a fractional COO versus a full-time one, and a practical hack for handling a visionary who shows up with ten new ideas every week.

Derek Fredrickson is the Founder and CEO of The COO Solution, a fractional COO firm that gives seven and eight-figure founders the operational leadership to scale without the cost of a full-time hire. He spent more than sixteen years as a second-in-command, including years building his wife's business coaching company, before assembling a team of fractional COOs to do that work at scale.

Not sure whether your business is ready for a fractional COO? Take Derek's quick assessment to find out: https://thecoosolution.com/

Connect with Derek Fredrickson:
The COO Solution: https://thecoosolution.com/

The COO Solution Podcast, wherever you listen

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast for business owners building companies that last in a decade no one is prepared for. Host Mickey Anderson talks with founders and operators about what they are building, the decisions behind it, and what they are betting on next.

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

After more than twenty years running his agency, Wes Towers is facing the question every business owner is asking right now.

How do you survive AI without losing what makes you human?

His answer is to bet on the one thing the technology cannot fake, which is trust, at the exact moment AI is flooding the internet with fake photos, synthetic video, and generic content.

In this episode, Wes shares why he leaned on his team for the first time in twenty years and rebuilt his agency's playbook around AI, how his niche in trades and construction found him rather than the other way around, and why the message is stronger than the messenger, so you should show up even before you feel ready.

He gets honest about the personal side too, how seeing a psychologist and getting his own health in order made him a better founder, why he refuses the black-hat shortcuts and shiny objects that tempt most agencies, and the real danger of building a business on a single lead source.

Wes Towers is the founder of Uplift 360, a digital agency he has run for more than twenty years, helping builders, trades, and construction brands turn websites and SEO into steady, qualified work. With teams across the Philippines and India, his approach is simple. Prioritize authenticity and human connection in an AI-driven age, and double down on what works.

Learn how Wes helps construction companies grow online, grab practical tips from the blog, or book a strategy call: https://uplift360.com.au

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast for business owners building companies that last in a decade no one is prepared for. Host Mickey Anderson talks with founders and operators about what they are building, the decisions behind it, and what they are betting on next.

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

Every executive has two teams. There is the function they lead, and there is the executive team they sit on.

The one they treat as their first team is what your business becomes.

When five leaders run five functions instead of one team, the whole business runs at a fraction of what it could.

In this solo episode, Mickey Anderson breaks down why a growth plateau so often starts at the top, where talented functional leaders quietly optimize for their own department instead of the business.

You will hear the symptoms to watch for, the executive meetings that feel like status updates, the handoffs that break between marketing, sales, and delivery, and the cross-functional work that takes three times longer than it should. She unpacks the psychology of the first team, draws on Stanley McChrystal's Team of Teams, Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and Jim Collins' Good to Great, and gives you three moves you can start in your very next executive meeting to make the executive team the primary team and get everyone deciding for the business instead of the silo.

If your functions are well run and the business is still stuck at a plateau, this is the work we do. Book a call: https://loyaltyops.com/book

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast for business owners building companies that last in a decade no one is prepared for. Host Mickey Anderson talks with founders and operators about what they are building, the decisions behind it, and what they are betting on next.

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

Eighteen years ago, Mike Moreau went through a short survey and sat down with a stranger who told him things about himself he had never said out loud.

That moment led him into the business he runs today, and to a question he is still answering. Why doesn't every manager understand this about their people?

In this episode, Mike explains how personality shapes performance, and why the right person in the wrong seat will struggle no matter how talented they are.

He shares his belief that jobs have a personality of their own, why he builds the role around the person when he can, and how he decides when a good person is no longer the right fit, illustrated with a hockey-team analogy you will not forget. He also makes a grounded case on AI, using it to speed up recruitment while protecting the human conversation that actually builds trust, and why easy and right are rarely the same thing.

Mike Moreau is the President of Concord Consulting, a people and performance strategy firm powered by TRAITS, a psychometric assessment platform that reveals how people are naturally wired to work. For two decades he has worked alongside founders, executives, and leadership teams, helping them make better decisions about who they hire, how they lead, and how they build teams that last.

If today's conversation made you curious about how you or your team are wired to work, take the TRAITS assessment. It takes about 15 minutes, and from there you can book a complimentary 30-minute debrief with one of Mike's consultants: https://app.traits.com/survey/2827368a-80a3-4f44-9757-62f5952b6f77

Connect with Mike Moreau:
Concord Consulting: https://www.concordconsulting.com/
TRAITS: https://traits.com/
Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikejmoreau/
Concord Consulting on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/concord-consulting-corporation/
TRAITS on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/traits-tools/
TRAITS on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TraitsToolsStudio

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast for business owners building companies that last in a decade no one is prepared for. Host Mickey Anderson talks with founders and operators about what they are building, the decisions behind it, and what they are betting on next.

Subscribe to UNLEASHED for new episodes every Thursday.

Jorge Chavez asks business owners a simple question that tends to land hard. What did your last bad hire cost you? The answers run from twenty thousand to five hundred thousand dollars, and almost no one has a budget line for it. His whole business exists to help owners stop guessing at that decision.

In this episode, Jorge explains why hiring right starts with a clear job description and a screening process that tests for both culture fit and real skill. He makes the case that great selling is closer to listening than pitching, why a culture of excuses is the top reason strong performers leave, and how he uses AI to prepare for conversations while keeping the human presence that actually closes them. He also shares the family story behind the company, from co-founding with his wife to building something his sons can carry forward.

Connect with Jorge Chavez at Topaz Sales Consulting: https://topazsalesconsulting.com

Download the free Ultimate Guide to Prospecting: https://www.topazsalesconsulting.com/prospecting/

About UNLEASHED: UNLEASHED is the podcast for business owners building companies that last in a decade no one is prepared for. Host Mickey Anderson talks with founders and operators about what they are building, the decisions behind it, and what they are betting on next.