Human Capital Leadership

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Luis Garcia about personalized adaptive workplace learning and assessment.Luis Garcia is a seasoned international executive with over 25 years of experience in technology, digital media, and education. He specializes in driving new ventures and products to rapid growth by building effective teams that harness innovation, technology, and creativity to solve complex problems. He is the president of PETE, an Orlando-based tech startup that offers a suite of cost-effective and customizable solutions that enable organizations to deliver personalized workforce learning at scale. The PETE team is dedicated to harnessing the power of AI to help organizations of all sizes optimize their training initiatives, spanning from onboarding to regulatory compliance, product knowledge, technical skills, and more, without hiring additional training resources.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Derrick Mains about returning to the fundamentals of leadership.Derrick Mains is an Emmy Award-winning content creator, four-time author, operations podcaster with more than 160,000 monthly listeners, and optimization consultant renowned for his pioneering work in process engineering, design, and transformation. Mains work spans more than 20 years and 150 companies across nearly every industry, from early-stage companies on through the Fortune 10. Mains approach melds essentialism with a keen focus on human-centric system design, emphasizing the need for regular audits, reflection, and reinvestment to achieve optimization. Mains believes that all organizational systems share a fundamental purpose: transforming the input of resources into value, through outputs. He highlights how, without active management, systems degrade, leading to inefficiency and value and margin fade. His philosophy underscores the criticality of understanding the interconnectedness of systems and their natural progression towards entropy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Kyle Harkema about his new book, Strategic Clarity.Dr. Kyle Harkema, DBA, MBA, is a distinguished scholar-practitioner with a wealth of experience at the intersection of academia and industry. With an academic foundation built on rigorous study and research, combined with extensive practical experience in the business world, Dr. Harkema epitomizes the modern scholar-practitioner—a professional who not only understands theoretical frameworks but also knows how to apply them in real-world contexts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Shaun Arora about what companies get wrong about neurodiversity.Shaun Arora seeks opportunities in the margins. As a coach, he propels leaders and their teams to thrive. Emerging leaders, founders, and technologists seek out Shaun’s lens to explore non-linear pathways for reducing daily friction as they grow their companies and their teams. While working within organizations as a coach, advisor, and COO, he has built the infrastructure and workflows that transform a company’s neurodiversity into a strength and asset.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Aiko Bethea about why we need more learners instead of knowers in the workplace.Aiko Bethea is a leader, builder and connector who has successfully navigated leadership roles in government, philanthropic, nonprofit and private sectors. The founder of RARE Coaching & Consulting, Aiko guides leaders and organizations, including Fortune 100 companies and global nonprofit organizations, to remove barriers to inclusion. She has been recognized by Forbes as one of the top seven anti-racism educators for companies and is a senior equity consultant for the Brené Brown Education and Research Group. Find her new book here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Dustin Snyder about his book, Sink or SWIM: Stop Managing Employee Behavior. Design Systems That Drive It.Dustin Snyder stewards the trajectories of companies navigating critical inflection points. As founder and Chief Advisor of Wayforward, he personally developed Strategic Workforce Insight Mapping - the diagnostic methodology that defines the standard for organizational behavior consulting - and wrote the book on it. Sink or SWIM: Stop Managing Employee Behavior. Design Systems That Drive It is the definitive framework for diagnosing and solving workforce dysfunction at its root, deployed across organizations nationwide - from family businesses navigating generational transition to Fortune 500 multinationals launching new divisions. Dustin's client portfolio spans mid-market companies in manufacturing, healthcare, professional services, agriculture, distribution, and hospitality, alongside divisions of large enterprises in aerospace & defense, SaaS, and advanced manufacturing. He works extensively with executive teams charged with managing challenging, multi-stakeholder operations, to build structures that can sustain aggressive growth while preserving founding values. He serves on the AWS Workforce Development Advisory Committee and the Harvard Business School Research Advisory Group. His practice bridges psychology and executive business leadership. Prior to founding Wayforward, Dustin served as President of Aurubis AG's 600-employee US manufacturing division, leading it to profitability through an organizational transformation. Earlier HR leadership roles spanned tier 1 automotive supplier Oetiker Group, Kaleida Health, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He also founded an axe-throwing venue chain that was acquired in 2019. Dustin holds an MBA from SUNY Buffalo, an MA in Industrial Labor Relations from Cornell, and a BA in Organizational Psychology from Canisius University. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt and Myers-Briggs certified practitioner. His next book, Learn to SWIM, a practical field manual for HR executives, is currently in development. Outside work, Dustin practices muay thai, competes in strongman and shooting sports, and is an avid mountaineer working toward the goal of summiting the highest peak on all seven continents. Wayforward specializes in organizational diagnostics and change management for companies at critical growth or transition points. Its Strategic Workforce Insight Mapping (SWIM) process provides leadership teams with the most actionable insights and implementation roadmaps that consistently generate workforce buy-in on change.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Amy Spurling about employee well-being and engagement.Amy Spurling is the Founder and CEO of Compt, HR software that revolutionizes employee benefits through personalized, inclusive, and tax-compliant Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs). With a distinguished background as a three-time CFO and two-time COO, Amy is dedicated to fostering symbiotic growth between companies and their employees. Under her leadership, Compt has become a pivotal tool in enhancing employee satisfaction and productivity with LSAs. With over two decades of experience in venture-backed startups, Amy has driven over $200M in financing and successfully led two acquisitions to close. Her expertise and innovative approach have made her a leading voice in the HR and tech industries. Amy holds an MBA from Simmons School of Management and a BA from the University of Rochester.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.