We Do Serious Work: Jeanne Hecht on Building Culture Without Losing the Human Element

In this episode of Activating Greatness, Alec McChesney sits down with Jeanne Hecht, CEO and Executive Chairwoman of Lexitas Pharma Services, to explore how culture becomes a true strategic value driver in high-performing organizations. Jeanne shares why building a strong, engaged culture is a “full contact sport” that requires constant attention, intentional leadership, and alignment at every level. From redefining vision into something meaningful and actionable, to measuring culture through retention, engagement, and performance metrics, this conversation breaks down how leaders can create environments where people thrive and results follow. If you’re a CEO, executive, or HR leader looking to connect culture to real business outcomes, this episode offers a practical framework for building and sustaining a culture that lasts.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Activating Greatness, the show where we dig into what it really takes to lead with purpose, inspire performance, and create lasting impact. As always, I'm your host, Alec McChesney. In every episode, we sit down with leaders, thinkers, and change makers who are unlocking potential in themselves, their teams, and their organizations. Here we talk about the real stuff: leadership that drives culture, strategy that creates momentum, and the mindset that turns good intentions into game-changing results. Because greatness, it isn't a title, it's a choice. It's something you activate every single day. So thank you. Thank you for listening, for showing up, and for being part of a community of leaders who refuse to settle for good enough. Now, let's dive in and meet today's incredible guest. Today's guest is Jeannie Heck, CEO and executive chairwoman of Lexitas Pharma Services, a global clinical research organization focused on ophthalmology. Jeannie brings decades of leadership experience across the pharmaceutical and clinical research industries and today leads an organization known for its highly engaged culture, strong retention, and intentional approach to leadership. Under her leadership, Lexitas has built a culture where people are aligned around a clear vision, empowered to contribute, and supported in doing meaningful work. And today we're going to talk about how to intentionally build a culture that people actually want to be a part of, how vision becomes a decision-making lens, and why sustained engagement is built over time, not overnight. And I'm also excited because maybe 15 episodes ago, we had Julie Wassingham uh on the show from Univo IRB. And one of the individuals that she recommended to be on the podcast was Jeannie. So, Jeannie, thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited for this episode. Um, I know that I can get off and running. Everybody that is listening is waiting for your introduction from yourself. So before we jump into the show, I'd love to have you further introduce yourself and give a little bit more background for maybe those who aren't familiar with you.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

All right. Well, thanks, Alec. It's nice to be on the show. Um, I'm not great at talking about myself, but I have been in the industry for almost a little bit over 30 years, and I've had a lot of different roles in this industry. So I was a pharmacy technician, I was a project manager, I was a sales rep, um, I was a head of operations, um, I ran sales for a publicly traded company, and then um, and then I've been into a number of C-suite positions, and it's been a lot of fun. It's a great journey, and I value the friendships and the network that I've built up and invested in over the last 30 years that help me to meet the expectations of my employees, my client sponsors, and my owners and my partners.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Oh, I love it. And, you know, I think an interesting perspective that I love on the Activating Greatness show is how many leaders aren't necessarily comfortable or excited to talk about themselves, or even maybe hesitant to say, you know, am I really an expert in this topic? And then when we get into it, it's like, hey, everything that you're doing is what we're looking for. Those are the types of stories that we are trying to tell. And your background is one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on the podcast in the first place, and especially when you tie your background in with an organization that really is known for having an a highly engaged culture. And you and I talked about the strong retention that you've built over the last couple of years, especially in today's environment in 2025. And I want to start just at the highest level through that background and getting to this point where you're at today, what have you learned through those different roles and your the role that you sit in now, of what it really takes to build that type of culture and why it's something that's worth investing in and worth being intentional about time after time?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

So, one thing I'll say is that building culture and a highly effective um leadership team and a highly engaged workforce is a full context for, I mean, there's no other way to say it. Yeah. Um, and it's not, it's not for the faint of heart. And there are individuals who really excel at this. And um, it requires a tremendous amount of effort from the top to the bottom and from the bottom to the top. And what you can't have within um either of those directions are individuals who are not as vested or committed um as to the culture that you're trying to build. Because when you do have individuals that are not as committed or vested in the culture that you're trying to build, that can be like, you know, maybe we say it's a parasite, maybe we say it's a cancer, but it can it can really eat at the foundation and elements that make your organization special. It requires a lot of focus. This is not something, and I see this a lot, I talk to a lot of people in the industry who say, you know, their you know, their culture is um is perhaps having challenges, that they spend too much time um dealing with politics. Nobody knows there's lots of stuff written on the back of the shirt that's not on the front of the shirt, and you don't know what's on the back of your shirt. Um, and so you we as a leadership team, with me at the helm of that leadership team, have spent a lot of time making sure number one, I had the right leaders in place, that they were as bought into the strategy and the objectives that I had laid out. And to be honest, I I have had some wrong hires, and those folks are no longer here. And I can say that my leadership team that I have right now is fully committed. We're focused on our culture, and as a result, we're seeing the results, right? And I, you know, it's an an hour, minute, hour, day, week, month, quarter, year activity. It's not something that we just pick up every Friday at two in the afternoon. It's not something that we talk about twice a year, it's something that we talk about daily, um, and it involves um everyone in the organization. We've been doing something recently, which has been a lot of fun, that we're um we've implemented this year to try to continue to build on our culture, and that is taking a um a playbook out of um the military and after action reports. So when we get done with a meeting, it's not some bureaucratic five-page document. It's literally a conversation. Hey guys, we just, you know, just went through um a proposal, we just went through a client meeting, we just had an internal rollout of our benefits. What went well, what went wrong, what would we change? Quick conversation. Yeah. And so we're trying to do that so everybody has a say and it's able to really focus on the organization and constantly improving the the organization. Um, so for me, um, it's really important that I spend a lot of my time and that it's not it again, it's not a it's not a job, it's a labor of love and it's a passion.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah. Well, there's there's so much good there, but I do want to double-click on on two things that you said. And and the first is that it is not something that you do in one minute, one day, one month, one quarter, one year. And you tie that in with you as a CEO and the leader of the organization saying that I have to invest in it. And a lot of times what we hear is, oh, I'm being dragged into culture. I'm being dragged into trying to support the happiness of my employees. And clearly you're viewing that as, hey, that's front and center in in this role. And it's something that we have to invest in time and time again. It's not set it and forget it. And one of my favorite quotes that I hear all the time about culture is culture takes a long time to build, but it takes one moment to break it. And and similarly with trust. And so if we forget about it, if we move on, or if we assume because the satisfaction was good in 2025, it's automatically going to be there in 2026. You can kind of fall asleep at the wheel a little bit and it can start to go into a different direction. So, you know, I think that they I I wanted to call that out and just kind of ask, was that a learned behavior for you? Was that, hey, I saw some cultures that I loved, some that I didn't? What led to you saying, no, in this role, this is something that I'm gonna double down on? It's something that I'm gonna hire to, it's something that I'm gonna manage up to at the private equity level and let them know this is what I believe in. How did you really form that thought process?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Well, I'd say two things. First, I've been in companies that have very toxic cultures and everyone knows them. And sometimes they feel a little bit like endangered species organizations. There's a lot of people who are um who are out there and still exist in the organization, and you never you don't quite understand why. Um perhaps the noise makers in the organization, and you know, the uh like a whole group of people could come to an agreement, and then you leave the meeting, and then this one person starts going around trying to erode the trust and the agreement that was made. And I've been in, you know, companies of that culture, and I absolutely hate it. Um, so that's the first thing. The second thing is that I I, you know, we spend too much time at work for any of us to work in a culture that we don't like. And I want to work around people I like, people I trust, and people I I uh wouldn't mind, you know, getting stuck in an airport with or having a beer with, right? And I look at culture as a strategic value driver, and that does come down actually from our private equity QHP Capital. They have a keen focus on building high-performing cultures within their portfolio companies. You know, talked to Julie, um, I know she's talked a lot about it. We spend a lot of time talking about how culture is a strategic value driver. Just to keep just to give it a uh case in point, as a um down like CRO, a lot of times we have contracts, and those contracts have bonus penalties around team turnover, right? So if we have high turnover, we feel uh we get penalized. And as and that means then we have a take a hit on the margin. And I'm willing to put that penalty out there because we have such an engaged culture and we have such a um high retention rate, low turnover rate. Um, we're also a small organization, and so it's very um it's it's much more of a uh an issue when someone leaves this organization.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Yeah. So you have to you have to keep a pulse on it at all times because one person leaving could lead to four and four. That's where you start to have big shifts within an organization.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Yeah. So I want to ask, you talked about the culture being a part of the strategy. And when we talk about culture, uh especially at velocity, we don't talk about culture as just a set of words on the wall. It's how we show up, it's the vision of the company, it is who we are day in and day out. And a lot of times, especially with my background on the marketing side, I like to picture that brand story, the vision of the organization, and why we work here as the culture. That all of that together, the people, the processes, that's all built into it. And when you started at Lex Dos, you mentioned in our prep call that the vision was, it was just a vision. It was a set of words, probably on the website, and it was not applicable to the company that you wanted to be. And it certainly didn't live up to where you are today. So can you just talk us through kind of what changed and how that vision and getting it right served as a lens for the culture, served as a lens for the strategic direction of the company, and again, not just the words on the wall.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

So when I took over, our vision was we wanted to be the premier ophthalmic product development partner.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Like you and every you and anybody else that works within the space, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:48

I hate to say it, but that like is just it doesn't get me out of bed. Okay, right. And it and it's and like you said, it's completely undifferentiated. And it I don't really believe it aligns with my client sponsor's goals, right? So we sat in a room and in 20 in the um in in January of 24, and we said, what would really define who we are? And so we said, I said, I came up with, let's just make it really simple. We want to change the way people see the world. So what does that tell you? That tells you we're committed to ophthalmology. So I'm not going out and running a cardiovascular study or or Crohn's program. Yeah, people can get behind that. Like I if I knew that you had a vision-altering illness and I told you that my company wants to change the way people see the world, you you and I would have an immediate connection. And perhaps even if you didn't, it it's just something so much more engaging. And we want to do that by being an employer of choice and being a partner of choice worldwide. But again, when I thought about what's our vision, that's our vision, and that's something that makes people excited. It also defines what we do and how we do it. I don't, I didn't say that I want to change the way people see the world by, you know, gleaning the most profits. I didn't say I want to change the way people see the world by um, you know, setting up low-cost centers around the globe. I just said I wanted to change the way people see the world. That then leads into, and when I think about then, as a company, we have our strategy on a page and then we have our culture on a page. But the culture, the strategy feeds into the culture and the culture feeds into the strategy. And when we're working through that, um, it's it's important that we have both of those elements. Because if I if my my strategy, since I say I want to change the way people see the world, my strategy is not to go out and build capabilities in another therapeutic area. My strategy, because I say then I'm gonna do that by being the employer of choice and the partner of choice worldwide, then that means my strategy has to be all around my being the employer of choice and being a partner of choice worldwide. And if I didn't have those two things connected, there's no focus and no direction for the company. Now it took us a while to get here. It took having the right leaders, it took having the right um uh commitment by from all the different levels within the organization. And it took a hell of a lot of time having conversations and actually making sure that that resonated.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

And then take taking that information up and feeding it back into our strategy and our culture work.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

I I also love that you had the external view on this. You talked about the client sponsors and you talk about the patient, right? Yeah, so often we set this mission, vision, values, and it's all about us. And it gets lost in this crowd of the, especially in the sea of sameness that is the life sciences. You are able to create that differentiated story and then have buy-in. So, a follow-up question that I have for that, you you talked about it took time. What about internally to the organization? What are some of the things that you implemented as you're changing the vision to say, hey, we're changing this, and this isn't just changing it to change it. We're changing this for the better. We're changing this because we want to evolve as an organization. And whether you are, you know, the lowest on the totem pole, the highest on the totem pole, the first person here, the last person here from a hiring perspective, we want everybody to believe in this. This now is a part of our philosophy and our organization's culture. What are some of the things that you did to really help that stick?

SPEAKER_01 16:43

So foundationally, we created our pyramid, which has the patient at the top and goes through our vision, mission, and values. And those values we have set up as what are the company values, what are team values, and what are individual values, right? Um, and then we use that slide in all trainings, all onboarding, all hiring, every town hall, every key business review, every board meeting. And we're sharing that slide just to ground ourselves before we enter into the room, shall we say, and have that conversation. Then the other thing that we did was um I started doing what's called Java with genies, like small round tables where I met with folks. I'd send them a $5 or $10 Starbucks gift card. Um, we'd have a conversation, uh, I'd ask a couple questions, and it was an open forum. Then the next thing that we started doing was, and my head of HR, she runs MOCAS with Michelle. Um we have an employee engagement committee and that um, you know, various people from across the organization that's helping us to think through ways that we can connect with our employees in better, smarter, and more impactful ways. Um, I spend a lot of my time on the road. So I'm in front of clients, I'm in front of custom um, in front of employees. When I go to Michigan, for example, I ask who's in Michigan, and we all get together for lunch, right? I'm trying to do that so that when I'm there, I'm also trying to relate because we work in a virtual environment predominantly. We've got a small office here in Raleigh, but a large percentage of employees aren't here. We do bring people in, and when we bring people in, that our mission, vision, values, and our pyramid is at the front of every discussion and meeting. Um, we do a lot of skip level discussions as well. Um, we have a poll survey to ask is, you know, are is the are the culture, the elements of the culture resonating with you? Like I want to make sure we're not drinking our own Kool-Aid, right? I um we can take our the the thing that I worry a lot about is is taking our eye off it because our results are good.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

And I want to make sure that we don't. And um, you know, we've had very high retention the last 20, 20, almost 24 months. I want to make sure that we maintain that.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah. Because again, like you said, at an organization, especially where there is a remote angle to it, one person leaving can create that friction if you let it slip. I did want to, I want to just highlight that. You know, I I know you're in an office for those that might be watching a LinkedIn clip, but you have a remote team and it's possible to still invest in culture in the right way, even with a remote team. And the job is with Genie, Moka's with Michelle, meeting in person, bringing them in. And what I loved is even you mentioned on the pyramid, and you have the patient first, then what this means. What does it actually look like at the individual level to live these values? What does it look like at the organizational level to live these values? And I'm sure it also becomes a hiring and a firing lens, and even bringing clients on. Is this client going to help us drive this mission and vision forward? Or are they going to cause a lot of issues for us in a team culture and be a disruptor that maybe we don't need to bring on right now? And again, it just comes back to that culture ties into strategy, and then strategy ties into culture. They cannot be in a silo, which I think is so important for people to hear.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

And we do, we measure our employees on our values. So are they accountable? Are they authentic? Are they passionate? Um, when we're looking at, we have what's called the Seymour Circle because we have our little mascot, Seymour, S-E-E-M-O-R-E, right? He's our little fun guy. So um with Seymour Circle, you you can be nominated for Seymour Circle based upon living one of our values. So are you as a team, like if a team wins Seymour Circle, were they innovative, collaborative, respectful, or as individuals were they passionate, authentic, and accountable? And you can nominate, you can nominate um your colleagues for this, or uh somebody who works for you. Um, and then they then um get um called out of the town hall and get a little bit of swag and um recognition.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Oh, I I love the external recognition, love the mascot. And I also for those that are listening, I I feel it's necessary to resay it that this is not that this mission and the vision and the values were not said one time at a town hall. They weren't in one deck. It is a repeatable process. And I had uh, I think it might have been Lisa Cliclio over at WCG, but we were just talking about this on a on a past podcast in terms of it being portable. It needs to be memorable, it needs to be consistent from a mission, vision, values standpoint. And and it sounds like what you have done is anybody on the team at any time can pull out of their pocket what these values are, what it means to work really well, what right looks like. And ultimately, that's when you know you have a strong culture and a strong understanding of the impact that you're making at the organizational team and individual level.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Exactly. Exactly. Yes. It's, I mean, it's on our extra nut. It is an option, you know, definitely uh it they're trained on it, they have access to resources. Um you want to make sure that it's not within, you know, any more than a small little reach for them to grab it and see it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Okay. I want to, I want to pivot to something that you said earlier on, which was, you know, we spend a lot of time at work. And when I started at Velocity, uh almost, gosh, now seven or eight months ago now, I was asking a bunch of our clients, hey, why would you hire velocity? What impact do we create? I was asking that internally and externally. And one of the answers I got is, well, you know, most humans are going to spend more than 60% of their adult life at work. It might as well not suck. And it has been so refreshing to hear leaders like yourselves repeat that because there are certain generations, especially the younger ones that are entering the workforce that don't believe that opinion exists in other generations. And there is now a generational divide of what work means. And you saying we spend way too much time at work for it to not be great in our prep call. I think we both uh, you know, added in that we don't want it to suck. It sounds so simple, but it's not how most organizations operate, and it's certainly not how individuals perceive a lot of leaders. So what does that actually look like for you? How are you mindful of creating an environment not only for yourself, but for teams to want to show up, who enjoy showing up? And then the impact is they're probably happier people, which means they're gonna contribute more, they're gonna stay and they're gonna invest in themselves at the same level that you are. So, pretty big question here. And if we solve this, we could we could probably sell it to a lot of companies. But what are your thoughts here?

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Well, I don't know if we'll solve it, but I'll give you the couple nuggets that I've taken away. And um, I was down with my leadership team in Florida a couple weeks ago, and my CFO brought up the fact that we do serious work, but we don't take ourselves too seriously. And we've written that into our strategy and our culture. And it is about laughing, it is about taking the time. You know, this company has been through a lot of ups and downs up until probably I'm gonna call it mid-24. And the last two years have just been very enjoyable. And I will tell you that the first year wasn't as enjoyable, and it wasn't as enjoyable because we were going through a lot of pain. We are working through a lot of leadership changes, a lot of evolution and change within the company, a lot of folks who were on the bus and some who were not on the bus. And it took a while to really find, you know, what makes a good lexicon. And once we figured out that, it ended up being it ended up becoming just this really fun place to work. Um, and you know, for people that send gifts around and you know, just different funny pictures and videos. We all have call signs. So in the leadership, so this is my call sign, miracle whip. And they all come with a they all come with a story behind it. Um, and that's something that my chief medical officer put into place because he was in the military and was a pilot, and so all pilots have call signs. And um, and so we've been trying to really do a number of those things that that are fun, a little kitschy, um, but also it's about how you treat people and how you want to be treated. So I have seen really good leaders who sabotage themselves because they're they're fun, they're enjoyable at a meeting, but what you don't know is that they're teensing their other colleagues and they're talking about you. And so, but so I absolutely hate that. That is, I don't like drama and I don't do well with drama. And so as a result, we've really spent a lot of time having kind of leadership principles, team engagement principles, how do we want to treat each other and how do we want to engage? And as a result, we do serious work and we don't take ourselves too seriously.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah. I I just want that to sit for a little while because everybody needs to hear that. I love the we do serious work, but we don't take ourselves too seriously. And especially in the life sciences, you know, it is it's it's utterly important work that's impacting patients all over the world. And so you have to have that level of seriousness about the work. But I love the the little things that you are doing to be human beings at work. And one of the things that Velocity was founded on is the disc profiles and the birds and having owls and eagles and doves and parrots and just having a different way to communicate and to understand what is Jeannie like, what is Alec like? How should we communicate more effectively together? Because human relationships, it the data shows itself when there are happy individuals in terms of, hey, I like the people I work with, I trust the people I work with, and I would hang out with them, I would invite them to my wedding, I would not be upset if the flight got delayed. They're more likely to contribute more and be more effective and also believe in the mission, vision, and values of the organization. And I think sometimes we overcomplicate the answer, right? It is just how can we implement the small things to make life uh to make our day-to-day process at work a little bit more human-centric and not feel like we are all just cogs in the machine, understanding that we have results-based outcomes and we haven't hit that. But I think you owning that and your leadership team owning that, it gives the rest of the team permission to feel that as well. And the rest of the team permission to say, okay, you know, if they're doing it, then certainly I can as well. And I can have a little bit of fun or play at work while still getting the job done and creating the impact that we want to create.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Exactly. Exactly. I can't I couldn't have said any better. There's so much good work that we can do together, and the only way we're gonna do really good work is if we enjoy the people that we work with.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Yeah. I so every time that I talk about culture, frankly, it it feels like lately, Jeannie, and for those listening, that every conversation I have, it's like, well, yeah, of course we should do that. Well, yeah, of course we should train or invest or do. And then it still doesn't happen for so many organizations. I'm gonna ask, I think I told you I'm allowed one bad podcast question uh every episode because I get to make the rules. I think I'm gonna use it here. In your perspective, purely your opinion, not even inside your organization. What's the biggest hang-up for leaders to know that this is important and should be something they invest in, but aren't able to commit to it? Where is the disconnect from yes, of course, I want my people to be happy and we need them to be happy, to be retained and confident and want to work here, but I don't have the time. We don't have the time, we don't have the budget, and we'll push it off till next year, or we'll try to fix it next year, or we'll throw a band-aid on it. Where's that disconnect and and how can we maybe open more eyes as we as we go through this process, you know, for the rest of the year and into 2027 and beyond?

SPEAKER_01 29:55

They don't see it as a strategic value driver, and they believe that people aren't what actually makes their organization great. They believe that anyone could do the job. And I had a meeting, I presented at a group of um women leaders here at the end of last year as part of a nonprofit organization. And a woman who was the head of HR, CHRO for a company, came up to me afterwards and said to me, you know, I can't get my CEO to believe that people aren't replaceable. And she said, So as a result, we have high turnover and our culture is toxic. And her job, he said to her, that's HR's job to fix it. And it is not HR's job to fix it, it is a full team effort led by, supported by, and in and quite frankly, somewhat enforced by the CEO. It is not just the head of HR's job. And I think that too many um CEOs, CFOs, they don't see the connection between profit generation, stable revenue growth, stable sales, and a highly engaged and committed team. And if they did, if these CEOs and CFOs did see that connection, then they would have a high more higher engaged workforce.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Yeah. Might have been a bad question, but it was an unbelievable answer and one that I would like to put on, I would like to put on those moving billboards around a commercial across the country. And it's you know, on the marketing side, I used to, I love Dave Gerhardt. He does B2B marketing, always talks about life's too short to work for a CEO who doesn't believe in marketing. And now when I'm uh in this seat, I hear I hear what that CHRO is saying uh on a frequent basis. Hey, they just don't believe that if we train the people, the people will stay. Or the the my least favorite quote has now been what if we train them and they leave? And you know, that is not the right way to be thinking about this thought process. So I really appreciate that answer. And, you know, I put in all asterisks here, you know, they believe that anyone could do the job. They they don't have the belief that people are what make that company. And I think if you have that thought process, even thinking about culture is if you if that's the underlying belief, culture is not going to exist at the organization. The mission, division, values are not going to exist uh as an organization as well. So thank you for doing that. I want to I want to pivot here to talk about the sustaining aspect of culture. So we talked about it not being something that you can set and forget. It's one thing, though, to say, okay, our vision wasn't where it was supposed to be. Now we're gonna set the new vision and we're all gonna get rallied behind it. But over the last 24 months, you've also grown, you've added team members, you have probably expanded your reach, brought on new clients. Now we're talking about sustaining the culture. We've talked about a couple of the activities that you do. I want to know from like the leadership perspective, how often are you guys as a group talking about the culture? How do you make sure that we aren't closing our eye? And as you mentioned, you know, letting it go or letting it slip for a little bit. How are you keeping this top of mind when you're trying to hit quarter one goals, when you're trying to prepare for a big client meeting? Just kind of walk us through. I know you had hinted at some of these tools, but I would love to hear a little bit more about that perspective to ensure that it scales with you as you continue to scale too.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

So the first thing I'd I would say is we um we measure it. And I don't just mean by employee engagement score that's done once a year. We have our pulse surveys, we have voluntary turnover, we have regrettable losses that we're looking at. Um, we have uh a whole you know nine box program that we're looking at to determine how we invest in our talent. Um, we spend, you know, all I mean, again, I want to say, sure, it's written into agendas for a bi-weekly meeting, but outside of that, it's something that we're talking about daily and we're reviewing from a metrics perspective every single month. And if we're off on a metric, we create what's called an action A3, and that action A3, even if we're forecasting off, then action A3 is something that we dig into with what are the appropriate steps to ensure we get back on track. Now I I shared, you know, last year our turnover was tiny. This year our turnover is not that bad either. Um, but we did lose three people to one client. So one client came in, poached three people from our organization. And we can't compete. Like there's certain things we just can't compete against with big firms, right? It's just not possible. Um, and they want our people because they're they're very well trained and they're amazing. Yeah. Um, and so but I, you know, I had a really open conversation with my whole leadership team and say, did we not catch those three people because we were so focused on how we did well we did last year? So when I think about what are we doing and how are we constantly looking at this, it literally is how are we making sure that we're not caught on our back foot? How are we having those skip level conversations? What are we hearing in the employee engagement committee? What are we hearing in the mochus with Michelle? What kind of information are we getting back from um line managers, from the functional manager meetings, the town halls? You know, it is uh it is it ha it has to be woven into what you do daily and weekly. Otherwise, it is the thing that you write, you post up on the wall so that when your clients come in or your prospective employees come in and everybody else just kind of laughs about it, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

I I don't want to say that I was leading the witness there, but I wanted to hear that you have a scorecard and that you have metrics. You know, I think you talked about the the the problem where the CEO thinks it's the CHRO's job and it's only their job and they have to figure it out. And that disconnect of not seeing it at the strategic impact level also comes because you haven't quantified or qualified it. You haven't understood how to measure success, how to measure failure, how to measure the leading and lagging indicators. I love the Action A3, like having a scorecard, and that's going to look different for every company, but you have to have some way that is not just the employee satisfaction survey in June of every year to be able to monitor that on a consistent basis. So I love to hear that. And I think more and more teams need to start implementing that as they go forward as a way to monitor and measure success.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

Exactly. Agreed. I couldn't agree more. And one of the things that we measured early on was effectiveness with onboarding. And then at 30, 60, and 90 days, did we hire the right talent? I'm sorry, when we when we first started, we weren't doing any of that. Now we're doing all of that. And that's helping us to make sure that we can make decisions quickly if for some reason we brought somebody in who's not the right fit, right? Right person, wrong role. But what if it's what if it's wrong person, wrong role, right? And I hate those types of environments, but that usually has to do with a cultural mismatch because nobody gets up and goes, I want to go do a really bad job today. That's not everybody's goal, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Yeah, I I love the even that hiring lens in the 30, 60, 90, and were they trained properly? Were, you know, I think that comes back to the the questions that you have to be willing to ask, and certainly the the concept of you got to hire, but you also have to be able to fire quickly, right? You have to make that decision. And a lot of times that does come down to culture. And if you wait too long on a new hire who is eroding culture, it starts to pluck away at those people who are high potential employees and emerging leaders who have been there for years and they start to see the the wrong piece of the puzzle being there. So I love that that is a part of that. I want to I I look down at the clock and we're at the 40-minute mark, and I could easily talk to you for another couple of hours. And I've just been so enamored with this conversation. I do want to say, uh, Java with Genie, if you ever want to create a podcast, I think that it's there. Like I think the name, the alliteration of it, I am certain you would have like you could do a little round table panel. I mean, Mocus with Michelle as well. I feel like there's a huge marketing play there. And I'm gonna, I think that it has to happen um because it's uh it's like those roundtables or fireside chats that that people do. And I think you would you would be fantastic at it because this episode has been exactly what I thought it would be. I'm gonna give you a chance to to to kind of wrap all of this up. But before we do that, I've got to ask you the rapid fire questions. We ask every leader the same four questions, and then we'll figure out who we're gonna interview next. But these four questions are gonna go in a book at the end of the year. All the leaders that we interview with their questions and about 30 seconds each, Jeannie. I'll give you some leeway uh if you go long on one because you're really excited. So let's let's see what we have. Question number one What is one leadership habit that you rely on every day, no matter what?

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Clear, concise, and consistent communication.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

Clear is clear is kind, is like my favorite. Like you have to demand clarity. And one of my first bosses told me if there's not clarity, you have to kindly demand it. And if you can't get that clarity, they don't have clarity themselves, and then there's no way to put you in a position to be successful. So I I love I love it. And the only reason we went 30 seconds was because Alec opened his mouth and he didn't think he's but that was a that's an excellent start to an excellent start. Question number two What is the most underrated skill that a leader needs today to be successful?

SPEAKER_01 40:46

A solid network that exists within and without side their industry and within and without side their business.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

I have to be honest, we are episode 30, I think, today, and that's the first time that that answer has come up. So I I love it. Go ahead, elaborate.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

I don't know. I don't know how you can be a leader in any role in your company, regardless of whether you're a new manager or you're the CEO, and not have people who exist outside of your company that can give you ideas or outside of your line of business. So, for example, if you're in sales, do you know somebody in IT? If you're in sales, how close are you with people in quality, right? People that can help you to learn more. And I use it and I value and I call it, I value and I invest in my own network. And I think too many leaders don't. And and they run it, they have a challenge. They're trying to set up in a new country, they're trying to launch a new offering. I don't know, they have a cyber attack, and their their network is so small that they don't know how to who to ask, and they lose time as a result. So it's about building that network wide, deep, you name it.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

Oh, I I love that. And that's not only for leaders, but for anybody that's listening, that's the up and coming, right? That is go put yourself out there, try to learn and connect as as much as humanly possible so that you have those different perspectives. On the flip side of this, what is one thing that great leaders should stop doing?

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Everything. They have a, you know, you can't do everything. If you do everything, you don't do anything well. And so you have to be able to delegate in power. And um, the more there's too many leaders who do it all themselves. And listen, I fall victim to it occasionally, right? And so it is um, it is a struggle for a lot of leaders, but it is something that we have to stop doing.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Yeah, a couple of times the the topic of you got to be able to delegate, you got to be able to teach, and you gotta be able to hire people that you know are smarter than you in a certain area in order to be a great leader. So that's a great one. Uh, last of the rapid fire is what's the best leadership advice that you've ever received?

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Somebody told me a long time ago that you get what you organize, measure, and incentivize. And I have said that one million times ever since they told me that. And so it's organize, measure, incentivize. Wow. So if your organization is screwed up and nobody understands rules and responsibilities, if you don't have the metrics and you don't incentivize against those metrics, you're gonna be lost. And so as a result, it is something that I think about constantly and I say that all the time.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

I I have a feeling that there are a lot of people who could look back at a problem over the last couple of years through that lens and be able to identify which bucket we we fell short on, and there wasn't that clarity and conciseness within that bucket.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

Yeah. I mean, have you ever gone into a company and you didn't understand what people do? People did or why they did it. And it's usually because it's not organized well, there's no nothing being measured, or or measuring the wrong things, right? Yeah. And you're incentivizing the wrong behaviors.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

You two out of four never have been mentioned on this show. And that is that is what it's all about. That's uh you just you get two gold tokens uh that will be mailed to you uh in the next year. Uh I love it. The last question that I have for you before we wrap up is who is a leader that we should interview next? Somebody that is doing meaningful work that others can learn from, and that the activating greatness, you know, would be blessed with their their participation here on the show.

SPEAKER_01 44:45

I'm gonna call out two people, Dave Esposito and Bob Dempsey.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Yeah. Do you wanna? I always send the video. Do you want to give them a little shout out of why you are why you're recommending them?

SPEAKER_01 44:59

I will I'll start with Dave Esposito. I mean, he is a leader in the ophthalmic space, he's running a really pioneering biotech company. Uh, he has invested countless hours into developing his team and leadership and lots of training. Um, and so he's he's just somebody I think a lot of people could learn some really um good things from. And then Bob Dempsey is someone who I have just come to truly appreciate his partnership style, how he tackles problems, how he looks towards um the solution as opposed to dwelling on an issue. And he's and he's a networking champion. So there's just so many good things about both of those gentlemen.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

I love it. Well, Dave and Bob, as you're watching this, I hope that you uh you are our next guest here on the episode uh or on the Activating Greatness podcast, because Julie's recommendation is one of the ways that we landed this incredible guest, Jeannie. You have been uh everything that I could have hoped for when we initially connected. And then last week when we had our prep call, you know, I was so excited just with the way that you talk about vision, the way that you talk about culture, and that you're not just saying it, that you really believe in this process, you're putting in the work and then frankly reaping the rewards from at the organizational level and certainly at the individual level. What's the final takeaway? If someone, you know, uh if someone asked, hey, give me your final thoughts or a way to kind of summarize all of the things that we talked about today, where would you point people? What would you what would you want them to take away from this conversation and frankly this important topic?

SPEAKER_01 46:43

I'd say that we do serious work and we don't take ourselves too seriously. Building culture is serious work, but have fun while you're doing it.

SPEAKER_00 46:51

Ooh, I I love it. That might just be the promo for the episode as as we promote this here over the next couple of weeks. I know that anybody that's listening to this is thinking, wow, this is probably one of the best episodes of the Activating Greatness podcast. You are absolutely right. Make sure that you reach out to Genie, connect with her on LinkedIn, go check out what the Lexitas Farmer team is doing. We will put all of this, uh, the links to Genie's LinkedIn and to Lexitas within the show notes. Uh, you know, one of the things that we hear is you all listening, reaching out to the guest and saying, hey, I listened to your episode and I learned this or learned that has been really rewarding for not only the guests, but certainly for us to continue to hear that feedback. So please go and do it. As you're listening and thinking this is great, please make sure you sign up and download on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. Like I said, this is episode 30. Somehow we're on pace for 60, 70, 80 here in 2026. The only reason that's possible is the wonderful audience that we have and certainly the incredible guests like Jeannie that we continue to have on the show. But I still have to prove that it works. So, five-star reviews, downloads, shares, all of that is great and continues to tell us that these are stories that we want to tell. So, Jeannie, one more time, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking time out of your day, you sharing your expertise with us. And thank you again to the activating greatness audience for being a part of a community of leaders who refuse to settle for good enough. We'll see you on the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

Thank you.