Episode Title: Hiring for Authenticity: Emotional Intelligence, Discernment, and Building the Right Teams

Host: Dr. MJ

Guest: Julie Spear, CEO of Jewels Talent Solutions, LLC

In this episode of Heartwired, Dr. MJ sits down with Julie Spear, CEO of Jewels Talent Solutions, LLC, to explore what it really takes to hire the right people in today’s fast-paced, AI-influenced hiring landscape. Drawing from over a decade of experience in recruiting, Julie shares how she moves beyond resumes and scripted answers to truly understand the person behind the candidate.

From navigating overly prepared interviewees to helping organizations avoid rushed hiring decisions, Julie emphasizes the importance of slowing down, asking deeper questions, and focusing on long-term fit. The conversation also dives into emotional intelligence in leadership, adapting communication styles across different personalities, and the critical role of onboarding and mentorship. Julie also shares her journey from corporate to entrepreneurship and her passion for advancing women in leadership, reminding us that people—not just positions—are the foundation of every successful organization.

Go Beyond Scripted Answers:

With candidates increasingly relying on AI tools to prepare for interviews, it’s essential to ask deeper, more personalized questions. Real authenticity shows up when candidates speak from lived experience, not rehearsed responses.

Slow Hiring Leads to Stronger Teams:

Rushing to fill a role often leads to misalignment and turnover. Taking time for multiple interviews, panel conversations, and deeper evaluation helps ensure long-term success.

Read the Human Signals:

Emotional intelligence isn’t just what candidates say—it’s how they respond. Body language, tone, and how someone reacts under pressure reveal far more than prepared answers.

Onboarding is as Important as Hiring:

Hiring the right person is only the beginning. The first 30 days, along with proper training and mentorship, are critical to long-term employee success and retention.

Adapt Leadership to the Individual:

Strong leaders adjust their communication style based on who they’re working with. Understanding different personalities—especially across technical and non-technical roles—is key to effective leadership.

Women in Leadership Create Balance:

Julie highlights the importance of women having a seat at the table. Their ability to lead with empathy, collaboration, and mentorship brings a necessary balance to modern organizations.

"I want to know that the person I’m speaking to is the real person—not just words on a resume."

"Slow down and figure it out."

"Emotional intelligence is about learning to communicate with different types of people in different ways."

"We lift as we climb."

Julie Spear is the CEO of Jewels Talent Solutions, LLC, a strategic recruiting firm dedicated to connecting exceptional talent with organizations nationwide. With over a decade of experience, she is known for her relationship-driven approach, helping companies build strong leadership teams while guiding professionals toward meaningful career opportunities.

Here more from her here: LinkedIn | Website

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Host: Dr. MJ Guest: Jake Pasimi, Digital Marketing Strategist & Villanova University Professor

In this episode of Heartwired, Dr. MJ sits down with Jake Pasimi—a leader with over 15 years of experience spanning D2C brands and SaaS martech—to discuss where technology meets humanity. Jake shares his "Batman" persona as a professor at Villanova University, where he has spent a decade teaching the next generation of leaders how to balance high-tech tools with high-touch emotional intelligence.

From the "Tree Metaphor" of prompt engineering to the ethical concerns of data privacy, Jake and Dr. MJ explore how leaders can use AI not just for productivity, but for genuine differentiation and human-centric collaboration.

• Trust But Verify: Reliability in AI starts with understanding the "inputs before the outcomes". Jake explains that while AI offers instant gratification, the best results come from the 80/20 rule: if you can get your question 80% of the way there with context and detail, the AI can provide a much more useful output.
• The Tree Metaphor: Think of a goal as a leaf on a tree. If you jump straight for the leaf, you break the branches; true success comes from planning a path up the trunk and limbs—understanding the foundational context before seeking the final answer.
• Differentiating in the Final 20%: Since everyone has access to AI, the "80% solution" is now the baseline. Human expertise and specialization are required to reach the final 20%, which is where true competitive advantage and differentiation live.
• The Leader’s Role in an AI World: Leaders should be tool-agnostic and result-focused. Success comes from collaborating with teams to identify which problems, if solved by AI, would make their jobs more energized and impactful.
• Ethical Concerns: Beyond corporate data security, Jake expresses deep concern regarding how personal search data (such as health inquiries for children) could be used by future systems to impact insurance or long-term opportunities.

"Trusting the outputs starts with making sure you have the right inputs."

"You actually could argue that the 20 percent's even more important than the 80 because everybody's going to do the 80."

"With more power and more tools, we need more collaboration, not less."

Jake Pasimi has spent over 15 years leading marketing, revenue, and analytical teams for some of the world's largest brands in the e-commerce and retail space. His expertise spans digital marketing, RevOps, and customer lifetime value (CLV). By day, he finds simple human answers buried under mountains of data; by night, he teaches Digital Marketing Strategy & Analytics at Villanova University in both the undergraduate and MBA programs.

Get more updates from him here: LinkedIn

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In today’s episode, we’re diving deep into how emotional intelligence empowers us as leaders in the rapidly advancing age of AI.

I have the privilege of sitting down with Noah Daniels, Senior Vice President of Market Development at Simpson Strong-Tie. Noah’s career is a remarkable journey that seamlessly blends technical expertise with a true people-first philosophy. He’s known for championing emotionally intelligent leadership and driving digital transformation in the traditionally structured world of manufacturing.

We explore Noah’s unique approach to integrating digital transformation within Simpson Strong-Tie, a 70-year-old manufacturing company that’s leading innovation in homebuilding and affordable housing. We get into the challenges and opportunities when introducing technology to an under-digitized industry, and how staying human-centered is the key differentiator in a tech-focused landscape.

Noah and I also get personal as we talk about the “double whammy” impact of post-Covid isolation and AI automation on our social fabric, especially how these forces affect younger generations. We reflect on the urgency of emotional intelligence in leadership, and why relationships, empathy, and vulnerability are more crucial than ever.

• Digital Transformation with Heart: How Noah is leading the charge at Simpson Strong-Tie by blending innovation with a human-first approach in a manufacturing environment.
• Affordable Housing Solutions: The role of technology and emotional intelligence in addressing the housing crisis and building more accessible homes.
• AI and Outsourcing Our Thinking: The risks of letting AI do the thinking for us, and strategies to maintain critical and creative human thinking on your teams.
• Emotional Intelligence Post-Covid: The heightened importance of empathy, connection, and psychological safety in a remote and automated workplace.
• Building Trust Remotely: Practical tools for engaging virtual teams, fostering trust, and sustaining meaningful relationships even when you’ve never met in person.
• Addressing AI Anxiety: How to help your team move past the fear of job loss through continuous learning, a growth mindset, and leveraging unique human strengths.
• The Indispensable Power of Empathy: Why empathy is the one irreplaceable human quality that no AI will ever replicate and how it builds trust, loyalty, and collaboration.

If today’s conversation resonated with you, I encourage you to share this episode with a leader or friend who needs to hear it. Want to keep leading with heart in the AI age? Subscribe to HeartWired for more insights and connect with Noah Daniels on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-daniels-0a0b911/

Stay wired to what matters most and keep leading with empathy.