It Starts With Everyone

Years ago, I was facilitating new hire orientation — full of pride as I spoke about our company values and our patients. The values were everywhere: on the walls, in the decks, in our annual report, and yes - embedded into our performance ratings. 

During a break, a new hire came up to me and said quietly, “I don’t know why companies make such a big deal about these values. They all sound nice and very similar - and every place ends up feeling the same and dysfunctional.”

His comment left me speechless...

I thought to myself, "First week and already so jaded. He must have had a bad experience somewhere". Then I felt annoyed. Didn’t he know how much heart we put into this culture being different?

That exchange stayed with me.

Later, as I sifted through stacks of onboarding data, engagement heatmaps, and exit surveys (a much better read than any morning news), I started to see a clear pattern:

✨ People joined excited.

⚖️ A few months in, their experience diverged.

🌱 Some stayed and thrived.

💔 Some left disillusioned.

The data told me what I didn’t want to admit — the biggest variable and engagement driver wasn’t policy, perks and rewards, posters, or even the great initiatives we were embedding. It was leadership and manager support. 

The way people were led — supported, seen, heard, stretched, and recognized — shaped their entire experience.

 A leader’s vision and values could make work something worth aspiring toward, or quietly drain it of meaning.

 Through their everyday behavior, leaders signaled what was truly important — what was valued, tolerated, or ignored.

And so much of an organization’s success depended on leaders' ability to bring new initiatives to life within their own teams, and beyond. 

That realization changed everything for me. It’s the domino that led to my becoming a coach. 🛣️

And yet with all of that in mind, experience keeps teaching me that leaders are actually just one part in the larger organizational system and coaching leaders alone is not enough. Some day, those leaders will leave and others will fill their shoes. 

If we truly want workplaces where people thrive — not just survive — it starts with not just leaders, but with every person embedded into that system looking in the mirror, and cultivating greater self-awareness, empathy, and courage. 

It starts with listening with curiosity, leading with clarity, and building trust in our every interaction. It starts with each of us — simply being a decent and humane human. 

And it continues with helping more people understand the fundamentals of coaching — not as a skill for a select few, but as a mindset for all.

Because when more of us learn to listen deeply, ask better questions, and support growth in others, we begin to build healthier organizations — not just for today, but for tomorrow. And that is MY MISSION.

👉 What would shift in your workplace or on your team if more people could thrive?