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One sigh from a VP in a meeting. That's all it takes for a team to stop bringing him problems for the rest of the year, no matter how many speeches about transparency he gave in January.

In part one of a two-part series on culture, Njsane Courtney uses Dead Poets Society to show why leaders create culture, even when they have no idea what it actually is. Welton Academy had four pillars on the wall: tradition, honor, discipline, excellence. The boys called the place "Helton." That gap between the framed values and the hallway reality is where your workplace lives too.

You'll hear:

• A working definition of culture: what people do when nobody who writes the reviews is watching
• The data on the values gap: 86% of workers say their company communicates its values clearly, but only 44% say they're consistently upheld
• A red flag/green flag game built on ordinary Tuesday moments
• The exact words that turn a VP's sigh into a culture-builder
• What Keating did with one classroom and no authority over the pillars, and what that means if you lead a team of six
• How to find out what your culture really is: look at who got promoted, who left, and who stopped talking
• Your homework: change one Tuesday behavior this week, then ask someone what they'd change and say nothing in your own defense

Part two flips the table and makes the case for how employees shape culture every day.

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You got promoted because you were great at your job. That job no longer exists. The skills that got you the corner office are now the ones most likely to cost you your credibility.

This is the sequel to Top 5 Tips for First-Time Managers. I walk you through five things that change when you step into a VP, director, or chief something officer role. I share new research from Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry showing that even first-time CEOs are underprepared, underconnected, and overloaded. I also explain why Lieutenant Gorman from Aliens is a masterclass in what not to do on your first day in command. If you lead leaders, or plan to, this episode is about protecting your team, your culture, and your name.

In this episode:
• Moving from tasks to strategy, plus a monthly executive reality check
• How a joke, a "we'll see," or a public correction travels through the whole building
• The hallway compliment that becomes a broken promise, and three questions to ask before you say it
• Why loneliness is built into the job, and why you complain up, not down
• Building your bench from day one and treating your peers as your first team
• The Lieutenant Gorman Scale, plus challenges for new executives, managers, and future leaders

If this helped, follow or subscribe so the upcoming culture episodes land in your feed. Sign up for The Water Cooler, my monthly newsletter, at https://mfihr.com/newsletter.html. Then connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/njsanecourtney and tell me which executive lesson hit home.

Your job is meant to support your life. Your life is not meant to support your job.

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Leaders are keeping the perks and dropping the protection, and their people have noticed. In one 2026 survey, 80% of workers said they rarely or never trust leaders to put employees ahead of profit.

In this one I go back to the campfire with Simon Sinek's Leaders Eat Last to ask what leadership is for. For most of human history the deal was simple. The leader got the best spot by the fire, and when danger showed up, the leader stepped forward first. Today Gallup says 51% of U.S. employees are looking or watching for openings elsewhere, while layoffs and CEO pay both went up in 2025. I am tough on leaders here, because to whom much is given, much is expected. I am also fair to employees, because trust runs both ways. If you lead people, this is the foundation for the two culture episodes coming next. If you want the corner office, take the first punch.

In this episode:
• The campfire deal: perks in exchange for protection
• Takagi, Ellis, and Sergeant Powell as a Die Hard leadership case study
• Four ways leaders lose trust, including layoffs nobody explains and the silence that rumors fill
• What good looks like, with habits any leader can start this week
• The Ellis or Takagi game and a five question leadership trust check
• The employee side of trust, plus one challenge for leaders and one for employees

Follow or subscribe to My Friend in HR so the culture episodes land in your feed. Get the newsletter at https://mfihr.com/newsletter.html. And connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/njsanecourtney and tell me which leader you would have followed.

Your job is meant to support your life. Your life is not meant to support your job.

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You got the email that said congratulations, you're a manager now, and then zero hours of training on how to do any of it. Meanwhile, the Sunday night dread or calm your team feels runs mostly through you.

I'm sharing five tips for first-time managers, backed by 2025 and 2026 research from Gallup and Sagos. Gallup found managers account for about 70% of the variance in team engagement, yet only 44% have received any formal management training. Sagos found 89% of new managers are satisfied with their own performance, while HR leaders say 68% of the internal candidates they promote are missing soft skills. That gap between how you think you're doing and how your team experiences you is where this episode lives. I also explain why the 1988 Tom Hanks movie Big is secretly the best management training film ever made, and I share a few words for employees with a brand new boss.

In this episode:
• Going from buddy to boss, and why you complain up, not down
• Letting go of the work so you can lead, plus the Friday Five weekly gut check
• Giving feedback that is early, specific, and kind
• Protecting your one-on-ones and spelling out what great looks like
• Managing up, asking for training, and the Accidental Manager Scorecard

Follow or subscribe so you don't miss the sequel on stepping into your first executive role. Join The Water Cooler, our monthly newsletter: https://mfihr.com/newsletter.html

Connect with me on LinkedIn and tell me you heard this episode: https://www.linkedin.com/in/njsanecourtney

Your job is meant to support your life. Your life is not meant to support your job.

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You got the new title, the bigger scope, and the shout-out in the team meeting. Then you waited for the number, and it never came.

That's a fake promotion, and it's everywhere right now. I walk through fresh 2025 and 2026 data. 69% of workers say they now handle responsibilities that used to be split among several people, and three quarters got nothing in return. Managers, I'm direct with you on this one. Consolidating roles after layoffs and calling it an opportunity is not leadership, and I give you four questions to ask first. Then I turn to employees, because there's another side nobody says out loud. Some of the best career moves don't come with a raise on day one. I share how saying yes to an assignment in Nigeria that nobody wanted shaped my whole career. I also explain why the ain't gunners keep getting passed over.

In this episode:
• What a fake promotion looks like, and why "opportunity" is doing so much work
• The numbers on unpaid extra work after layoffs and consolidations
• A four-question gut check for managers before handing one person three jobs
• Nigeria, career bridges, and the research on who actually gets rewarded for stretch work
• Five questions to tell a real career bridge from a fake promotion
• The Ain't Gunner Scorecard, plus a little Karate Kid

Subscribe or follow so you don't miss the next episode. Join the Water Cooler newsletter at https://mfihr.com and connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/njsanecourtney.

Your job is meant to support your life. Your life is not meant to support your job.

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The fastest way to lose a C-suite room is to start like every other meeting. We are talking about executive presentations that land: the kind where you walk in with calm authority, get to the point, and make it easy for leaders to say yes, no, or “here’s what we need next” without wandering for an hour.

We share the mindset shift that changes everything: your presentation starts before slide one. Show up early, get the tech handled, and greet executives as they enter so you control the energy instead of reacting to it. Then we challenge a common slide deck habit that quietly kills attention, the agenda slide, and explain why it gives people permission to tune out and start doing time math.

From there, we lay out a practical structure built for busy leaders: fewer slides, a strong hook that leads with tangible business outcomes, a tension statement grounded in real data to create urgency, and a clear recommendation that explains why your path is the best option. You will also hear why charts, trend analysis, and projections belong in the appendix so you can answer questions without letting data hijack the decision.

If you want to build executive presence and “own the room” without sounding rehearsed or defensive, this framework will help. Subscribe for more, share this with someone who presents to senior leadership, and leave a review with the one slide deck habit you are ready to drop.

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If you've ever stayed somewhere too long because the title looked good on paper, this one's for you. Qiara Suggs got told no for a promotion she'd earned twice over — and turned that no into the executive seat she holds today. We pulled the curtain back on what it actually takes to drive your own career when nobody else is going to drive it for you.

About the Guest

Qiara Suggs is the Chief People Officer at TDECU, the largest credit union in Houston and one of the four largest in Texas, where she leads people strategy, corporate real estate, enterprise strategy, and enterprise project management. A fixture in the Houston HR community and a U of H alum, she's the kind of senior HR voice this show was built for.

What You'll Learn

• Why hope is not a strategy — and the one question a mentor asked Qiara that flipped her entire career
• How to tell when your job description is the floor — and when it's quietly becoming the ceiling
• The difference between leaving for the right reason and leaving because you're hurt (and how to tell which one you're in)
• Why every no is a yes somewhere else — but only if you stay in the driver's seat
• What HR actually does behind the scenes — and why "HR is not your friend" is a worse take than the internet thinks
• How to navigate being the only one in the room without letting it define your brand

Timestamps

00:00 — Cold open: why this conversation matters now

01:49 — Qiara's role at TDECU and the case for going "non-traditional"

04:01 — Mentors, and why your village beats your résumé

06:52 — The leader's job: betting on people who haven't yet bet on themselves

09:18 — "I won't do extra work for free" vs. showing your real ceiling 13:36 — Career growth isn't always vertical — and why that's the point

17:49 — Don't get stuck. Get in the driver's seat.

19:10 — The promotion that didn't happen — and what Njsane did next

24:13 — Every "no" is a "yes" somewhere else

26:54 — Total comp, the dollar trap, and the long game

30:36 — Don't quit mad. Make it a business decision.

33:53 — HR as friend, not villain — and what's really happening behind the scenes

41:12 — Being the only one in the room without losing yourself in it

50:02 — When leadership requires courage, not consensus

52:37 — Closing reflections and what's next

Referenced episode: From Hourly to Salary: Promotion or Prank? — Season 1 on Buzzsprout

Your Move

• Subscribe so you don't miss the next one → https://www.buzzsprout.com/2173681
• Get the newsletter in your inbox every other week → [insert Mailchimp signup link]
• Connect with Qiara Suggs on LinkedIn
• Connect with Njsane → linkedin.com/in/njsanecourtney
• Bringing this conversation to your organization or conference? → myfriendinhr@gmail.com

#MyFriendInHR #HRLeadership #CareerGrowth

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The talent market feels calmer on the surface, but the real shift is deeper: after the pandemic, people rewrote their relationship with work, and companies were forced to take human capital management seriously. I’m joined by Jim Link, Chief Human Resources Officer at SHRM, to talk about what actually happened to the so-called war for talent and why HR leaders suddenly became essential to keeping business moving when the world got unpredictable.

We dig into the practical side of modern HR strategy: why skills-based hiring beats relying on old job descriptions, how skill mapping strengthens internal mobility, and what “cultural clarity” looks like when budgets are tight but expectations are high. Jim also shares how he thinks about generative AI in HR, especially using AI for augmentation such as job description drafts, analytics support, and coaching prompts for difficult conversations, with a clear reminder to protect employee privacy by sanitizing what you share.

Then we get blunt about retention and succession planning. Waiting until a resignation to offer growth is a costly habit, and most leaders underestimate how far honest career conversations can go without spending a dollar. We also challenge the “spreadsheet theater” version of succession planning and talk about building real bench strength, being transparent about potential, and creating space for grace when high potentials stumble.

If you care about talent management, employee experience, and the future of work, this is the kind of conversation you can use immediately. Subscribe, share it with one colleague, and leave a review with the one leadership habit you think would fix retention fastest.

Register for the SHRM 2026 Talent Conference: https://shop.shrm.org/SHRM-TALENT-2026?_ga=2.11244402.75391506.1775908899-634450247.1775908899&_gl=1*6e2gv8*_ga*NjM0NDUwMjQ3LjE3NzU5MDg4OTk.*_ga_HQNM4FGPDS*czE3NzU5MDg4OTkkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzU5MDg5MzAkajI5JGwwJGgw*_gcl_au*MTAzNzc4ODA0My4xNzc1OTA4ODk5

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Visit: MFIHR.com

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Email: myfriendinhr@gmail.com