Why Human Performance Will Define the Next Era of Work with Dr. Jennifer Posa
Release Date: 04/21/2026
What Is Actually Behind Your Inability to Delegate with Susan Drumm
Transform Your Workplace
Most leaders who cannot delegate assume it is a process problem. Susan Drumm has studied both sides of it, and her answer is that the skill gap is real but it is rarely the whole story. Underneath it is usually a belief you have been carrying since long before you managed anyone. Susan has spent two decades coaching C-suite executives, and her work centers on pattern recognition and pattern disruption. In this conversation she explains how she spots those patterns in a leadership team, why leaders resist looking at them, and what it takes to change one in the moment. She shares the story of a...
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Why Your Labels Are Your Limits with Nir Eyal
Transform Your Workplace
Most managers already know what good management looks like. Give real feedback. Delegate. Have the hard conversation. Knowing it has never been the problem. Nir Eyal spent years asking why people who have the right answer still don't act on it. His conclusion is that the gap is not motivation or discipline. It's belief. And beliefs are harder to spot than habits, because from the inside they feel like facts. In this conversation, Nir walks through what a belief actually is, why confirmation bias quietly hardens a manager's read on an employee until it stops being reviewable, and what to do...
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Unpacking the 2026 Human Capital Trends Report with David Mallon
Transform Your Workplace
Deloitte's David Mallon on the Culture Debt AI Is Building Most organizations are treating AI like the last big tech rollout. Buy the licenses, run some training, expect results. The data says that approach is backfiring. David Mallon leads the research behind Deloitte's Global Human Capital Trends report, now in its 15th year. In this conversation, he explains why 59% of organizations taking a tech-first approach to AI are 1.6 times more likely to miss the return, and what changes when you redesign the work instead of layering tools on top of it. Brandon and David get into the human side of...
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Why Your Sunday Night Mood Is Not Lying to You with Amy Leneker
Transform Your Workplace
How you feel on Sunday night tells you something real about your relationship with work. Amy Leneker, the author of Cheers to Monday, calls it one of the most honest assessments we have, and she would know. Seven weeks into medical leave after a panic attack, she sat in a doctor's office, got handed a questionnaire, and could not answer a question about what she did for fun. In this conversation, Amy walks through what she learned from that unraveling and the research that followed. She explains the difference between the stress that helps you perform and the stress that wears you...
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The Space Between Communicating and Being Understood with Lee Caraher
Transform Your Workplace
You wrote the announcement, rehearsed it, sent it, and a week later the questions rolled in anyway. In this episode, communication strategist Lee Caraher explains why most workplace communication fails on delivery, not message, and what to do about it. She shares a practical three-send formula for making any announcement stick, a protocol for deciding which messages belong in email, Slack, or a meeting, and a test for knowing whether your message actually landed. Silence and nodding, it turns out, are the clearest signs it didn't. Lee also makes the case for retiring the feedback sandwich for...
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What Being Always On Is Costing You with Justin Hai
Transform Your Workplace
Stress has become so normal at work that plenty of people wear it like a badge. Justin Hai wants that to change. He is the co-founder and CEO of Rebalance Health and the author of Stress Nation, and he studies what our always-on habits do to our stress, our sleep, and our health. Justin breaks down cortisol, the hormone he calls the body's alarm system, and explains why it gets stuck in the on position when we never put the phone down. He makes the case that sleep is the first thing to protect, not the last, and that most of the shortcuts people reach for are treating symptoms instead of the...
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Why Knowing Your Blind Spots Is Not Enough with Cam Yenokida
Transform Your Workplace
Most leaders think self-awareness means understanding their patterns. Cam Yenokida sees where that falls short. The executive coach and founder of Achieve Excellence explains why intellectual self-awareness alone never changes anything, and what it takes to turn insight into new behavior. Cam and Brandon get into the quiet reality of senior leadership, where the higher you climb, the less room you have to think out loud. They talk about what actually makes a leader coachable, why assessments are a starting point and not an answer, and how a simple look at your calendar can reveal where your...
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Why Waiting Is the Most Expensive Decision You Can Make
Transform Your Workplace
Most leaders treat their technology problems as technology problems. Richard Tarity has spent 26 years watching companies prove otherwise. In this episode, Brandon Laws talks with Richard, the founder of truCX and author of The Intelligence Within, about why how an organization decides matters more than the tools it buys. They get into how slow discovery quietly kills good projects, why sitting on the sidelines costs more than picking the wrong tool, and how some teams gather more insight in one week than others do in ten months. Richard shares real stories, including a...
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The Job Market Is Not Broken the Way You Think with Bonnie Dilber
Transform Your Workplace
The job market feels broken to a lot of people right now. Bonnie Dilber has a different read on it. As Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition at Zapier, she looks at hiring data for fun, and she says the problem is not that the jobs disappeared. It is that more people are competing for a pool of roles that has stayed flat, while plenty of work in trades, healthcare, and education goes unfilled. In this conversation, Bonnie and Brandon Laws get honest about what is actually happening in hiring. They cover the myths job seekers still believe, why AI-written resumes are making recruiters work...
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We're Not Aliens. We're People - A Case for Belonging at Work with Zhou Fang
Transform Your Workplace
What does it mean to truly see your employees? In this episode, Brandon Laws sits down with Zhou Fang, founder of Intersectional Group LLC, to explore how an intersectional lens can transform the way leaders support their teams. Zhou draws on her experience as an immigrant, multilingual professional, and DEI consultant to unpack what most organizations get wrong about inclusion, how to hold people accountable with warmth and compassion, and why your people are your most important business decision. Whether you're leading a team of five or five hundred, this conversation will challenge you to...
info_outlineWhat if your company's biggest untapped competitive advantage isn't technology or talent, but well-being? In this episode, Brandon Laws sits down with Dr. Jennifer Posa, an organizational psychologist with 30 years of experience building well-being strategies inside some of the world's most demanding organizations, including Mayo Clinic, Johnson & Johnson, and the CIA. Jennifer shares her bold 2026 predictions for the workplace, explains why most well-being programs fail before they start, and reveals what it actually takes to build a strategy that drives real business results. From psychological contracts to the AI culture crisis brewing right now, this conversation is packed with insights that HR leaders, executives, and people managers can't afford to miss. If you care about the future of your workplace and who's going to be left standing after the next wave of disruption, this episode is essential listening.
Key Timestamps
[00:01] – Introduction & Jennifer's Unique Background Brandon introduces Dr. Jennifer Posa and her remarkable 30-year career in well-being at high-performing organizations including Mayo Clinic, Johnson & Johnson, and the CIA.
[00:55] – When Well-Being Became a Strategy, Not a Perk Jennifer shares the personal and professional turning points that revealed well-being isn't just a "nice to have"—it's backed by decades of research showing measurable improvements in business outcomes.
[03:03] – Lessons from the CIA: Well-Being in High-Stakes Environments What does well-being look like when the stakes couldn't be higher? Jennifer unpacks three powerful lessons from her role as Chief Well-Being Officer at the CIA, starting with the critical insight that well-being is individual—not prescriptive.
[07:25] – Proactive vs. Reactive: The Well-Being Gap Most Employers Miss Brandon and Jennifer discuss why so many organizations wait for burnout, turnover, and absenteeism before taking action—and what a truly proactive approach looks like when it's embedded at the C-suite level.
[08:27] – Prediction #1: Accountability Is the Differentiator in 2026 Jennifer's first 2026 prediction: organizations that hold themselves accountable for employee pain points will win. She breaks down what accountability actually looks like—hint: it's a business strategy, not a wellness app.
[13:32] – How to Find the Real Pain Points (Not the Ones You Assume) Jennifer reveals her research-first approach—why she leads with qualitative focus groups before any survey, and how asking "what matters most to you?" unlocks a well-being strategy grounded in truth, not assumption.
[17:59] – Prediction #2: Strategic Employee Relationships Drive Exceptional Growth Jennifer introduces the concept of the "psychological contract" and explains why every decision an employer makes right now is either building or breaking that unspoken agreement with their workforce.
[21:32] – Scaling the Personal: Well-Being Across 140,000 Employees at J&J How do you make well-being feel personal inside an organization with 140,000 employees across 77 countries—during a global pandemic? Jennifer shares how J&J humanized their strategy at scale.
[27:26] – Prediction #3: AI Is a Cultural Issue, Not Just a Technology Issue Jennifer's most provocative prediction: organizations that fail to address the human side of AI adoption will fracture their culture from the inside out. She explains why AI integration is one of the biggest C-suite conversations of our time.
[31:45] – How to Prepare Your Workforce for an AI-Driven World Jennifer offers a practical framework for thinking about AI and humans as collaborative partners—and introduces the concept of "performance tradecraft" to help employees build the brain skills needed to thrive amid rapid change.
[36:49] – Where to Connect with Dr. Jennifer Posa Brandon wraps up the conversation and Jennifer shares how listeners can follow her work, access her insights, and continue the conversation.
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Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR Host: Brandon Laws
In Brandon's own words: "The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders."
About Xenium HR
Xenium HR is on a mission to transform workplaces by providing expert outsourced HR and payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses. With a people-first approach, Xenium helps organizations create thriving work environments where employees feel valued and supported. From navigating compliance to enhancing workplace culture, Xenium offers tailored solutions that empower growth and simplify HR. Whether managing employee relations, payroll processing, or implementing impactful training programs, Xenium is the trusted partner businesses rely on to elevate their workplace experience. Discover how Xenium can transform your workplace: Learn more
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