When leaders don’t define decision guardrails early, decisions drift upward, risk feels unsafe, and teams stop building the muscle to decide for themselves.

In this episode of Let’s Talk, People, Emily sits down with Olesya Govorun, who leads organizational development and culture transformation at Pfizer, to unpack why ineffective decision-making is one of the most costly (and fixable) leadership challenges today.

Drawing on her work at Pfizer, including efforts to empower expert-level decision-making during the rapid development and launch of the COVID-19 vaccine, Olesya shares what it actually takes to move decisions closer to the work without sacrificing alignment or trust.

Together, they explore why decision rights often remain unclear, how over-involving leaders slows momentum, and what leaders can do to shift from being the final approver to building confident, capable decision-makers across their teams.

Whether you’re leading in a complex organization, navigating high-stakes change, or trying to speed up execution without losing rigor, this episode offers practical frameworks and mindset shifts to help you redesign how decisions get made and unlock better outcomes at every level.

Timestamps:

1. [00:16:40] Establishing Decision Guardrails Early – Olesya introduces the principle of Decision Guardrails - clarifying and agreeing upon which decisions can be fully owned, who gets to decide, and when a decision needs feedback or approval.
2. [00:19:34] Decision-Making as a Learnable Skill – Emily and Olesya explore how leaders can reduce the fear and risk tied to decision-making by adopting a learner’s mindset and providing the right supports like coaching, training, hands-on experience, and real-time feedback.
3. [00:22:31] Making It Safe for People to Make Decisions – Emily and Olesya unpack how psychologically safe teams create norms around risk-taking, having disagreement, and challenging ideas (not people) to make better decisions faster.
4. [00:26:11] Shifting the Role of the Leader from Decision Makers to Decision Builders – Olesya articulates that one of the most critical roles of leadership today is building others’ confidence and capability to decide.

Access the episode transcript.

Join the Conversation: This year we’re taking audience questions! Send in your toughest people management and leadership challenges, and we’ll anonymize them and tackle them in an upcoming episode. Email Abigail on our Let’s Talk, People team with your situation as a written note or voice memo to abigail@arosegroup.com.

Connect with Emily Frieze-Kemeny on LinkedIn and Instagram or explore her work through AROSE Group’s website.

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Every leader faces it… the moment you realize someone on your team just isn’t cutting it..

Too often, leaders hold onto struggling employees out of compassion, hope, or fear of being “too harsh.” But avoiding hard decisions can quietly drain energy, stall team performance, and create bigger problems down the line.

In this episode of Let’s Talk, People, Emily sits down with Mary Beech, Chief Growth Officer at Thorne, to explore one of leadership’s toughest balancing acts: managing performance with clarity and care and knowing when it’s time to call it. Together, they unpack how to recognize when coaching isn’t enough, how to make confident calls under pressure, and how to support your high performers. Mary shares personal lessons she learned the hard way, from holding on too long, to learning that accountability is an act of empathy.

Whether you’re a new manager navigating difficult conversations or a seasoned leader looking to sharpen your performance management skills, this episode offers practical tools and mindset shifts to help you lead with clarity, fairness, and heart.

Timestamps:

• [00:01:15] Acting with Empathy and Accountability in Tough Decisions –Underperformance isn’t a relationship issue. It’s a team issue. As leaders, our job is to protect the business and the team, not just preserve one relationship. Mary describes how delaying difficult performance decisions can quietly erode trust, credibility, and team morale.
• [00:07:32] The Sprint vs. Marathon of Managing Performance – Be very intentional about which people you spend your time on. Treat your coaching and attention like a portfolio. Emily and Mary unpack when it’s appropriate for leaders to overinvest time with certain team members, and how leaders can leverage strategies to balance time between both high and low performers.
• [00:13:09]: Evolving Roles from Generalists to Specialists – As your business evolves, not everyone will still fit the needs. What worked in an early, generalist-heavy stage may not work in a more specialized, scaled environment. Emily and Mary discuss how sometimes the most caring choice is to clarify the new expectations and support someone to shift roles or move on.
• [00:22:22] Feedback as a Lifelong Skill – Giving clear and timely feedback gives you credibility and reinforces you as the leader. Mary reflects on why feedback isn’t a box to check but a practice to keep refining, even for experienced executives. They discuss real-time coaching and how ongoing conversations strengthen your credibility, align the broader leadership team, and give the individual a real chance to adjust.

Access the episode transcript.

Join the Conversation: This year we’re taking audience questions! Send in your toughest people management and leadership challenges, and we’ll anonymize them and tackle them in an upcoming episode. Email Abigail on our Let’s Talk, People team with your situation as a written note or voice memo to abigail@arosegroup.com.

Connect with Emily Frieze-Kemeny on LinkedIn and Instagram or explore her work through AROSE Group’s

What if the key to high performance isn’t pushing harder, but knowing when to pause?

In leadership, the line between ambition and burnout is thinner than we think. True performance isn’t about doing more; it’s about creating the boundaries that protect your energy, wellbeing, and focus.

In this episode of Let’s Talk, People, Emily sits down with Janet N. Ahn, PhD, behavioral science expert and experimental social psychologist, and Founder of Perilla & Co., to explore how leaders can balance performance and wellbeing in fast-paced, high-pressure environments. Together, they unpack how prioritizing wellness can transform the way we work and help us lead from a place of wholeness rather than depletion.

Whether you’re a high performer on the edge of burnout or a leader trying to build healthier team dynamics, this conversation will help you reimagine what balance and wellbeing really look like in modern leadership, and how to lead without losing yourself.

Timestamps:

• [00:03:49] Redefining Success for High Performers – Janet opens up about the pressure to constantly achieve and why redefining what “success” looks like is essential for balancing performance and wellbeing in fast-paced roles.
• [00:10:41] When Effort Doesn’t Equal Impact – Emily and Janet discuss how leaders often confuse activity with progress and how focusing on meaningful outcomes, instead of endless action, helps teams stay energized and effective.
• [00:16:04] Boundaries as Leadership Signals – Emily and Janet unpack the subtle signals that tell you a boundary has been crossed (like resentment, exhaustion, tension within the team), and how leaders can reset expectations without losing compassion.
• [00:21:59] The Power of Choice – Janet challenges the “I have to” mindset so many high performers fall into, reminding leaders that reclaiming choice is the key to sustainable energy and self-trust.

Access the episode transcript.

Join the Conversation: This year we’re taking audience questions! Send in your toughest people management and leadership challenges, and we’ll anonymize them and tackle them in an upcoming episode. Email Abigail on our Let’s Talk, People team with your situation as a written note or voice memo to abigail@arosegroup.com.

Connect with Emily Frieze-Kemeny on LinkedIn and Instagram or explore her work through AROSE Group’s website.

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