The Skills Gap We’re Talking About Isn’t the One We’re Solving with Krista DiGiacomo
Release Date: 05/07/2026
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
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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_outlineThe labor market is unlike anything staffing veteran Krista DiGiacomo has seen in 24 years, and she's not mincing words about why. In this episode, Krista, franchise owner of Express Employment Professionals in Vancouver, Washington, joins host Brandon Laws to unpack the growing skills gap reshaping hiring today. From soft skills like punctuality and reliability, to hard skills like reading blueprints and running a budget, employers are struggling and the education system is a big part of the story. Krista makes a compelling case for rethinking the four-year degree mandate, investing in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, and why the skilled trades may be the most future-proof career path in an age of AI. If you're an employer, job seeker, parent, or anyone invested in the future of work, this is an episode you can't afford to miss.
⏱️ KEY TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Welcome & Introduction: Krista DiGiacomo joins the show as the first-ever Express Employment Professionals guest in 580+ episodes
00:51 – The State of the Labor Market: What Krista is seeing on the front lines after 24 years in staffing and why she's never seen anything quite like this
01:19 – The Skills Gap Unpacked: Soft skills (attendance, reliability, punctuality) and hard skills (blueprints, budgets, trade knowledge) are both in short supply
02:53 – Who Uses a Staffing Agency? Krista breaks down the wide range of candidates Express serves, from recent grads to career changers to those reentering the workforce
04:16 – Higher Education's Identity Crisis: Why universities optimized for enrollment over practical application and why a bachelor's degree doesn't mean what it used to
07:50 – Changing the Narrative at Home and in Schools: Why the four-year-degree-or-bust mindset is hurting society and what parents can do differently
08:58 – CTE Programs: The Comeback Story: How Career and Technical Education programs are making a powerful return in high schools and what Krista is doing personally to accelerate that
11:10 – From Classroom to Apprenticeship: How CTE programs are connecting students with local employers, internships, and trade careers through creative funding models
14:00 – The Consultant Role of Modern Staffing: Why Krista challenges clients to question whether a degree requirement is actually necessary and what that conversation looks like
17:13 – Making Trades Glamorous: Why skilled trades need a branding refresh for the next generation, and how AI actually makes the case stronger for going into the trades
20:37 – Earning Potential in the Trades: Comparing income outcomes between trade careers and four-year degree paths, and the numbers might surprise you
21:33 – What Happens If We Don't Course Correct: The looming workforce crisis if CTE investment doesn't scale and reasons for cautious optimism
24:20 – The Future of Staffing in a Changing Market: How Krista's team has evolved from order-takers to career consultants and why AI won't replace the human side of hiring
📌 A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
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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