Stephanie Lemek’s Playbook for Leaders I sat down with Stephanie Lemek, founder of The Wounded Workforce, expecting a complex, clinical discussion about mental health. What I got instead was a masterclass in simplicity. Stephanie is a “translator.” She takes the heavy, often scary language of workplace trauma and mental health […]
Moving from Reactive Firefighting to Intentional Impact “He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.” — Victor Hugo I recently took my leaders through a workshop on the concept of the daily […]
In his latest appearance on WDEL, Placers President Chris Burkhard breaks down the complex dynamics currently shaping the Delaware job market. With unemployment rising to 5.5%, Chris identifies a new trend called “job hugging”, where employees unnaturally hold onto roles due to a lack of confidence in finding new ones, paradoxically leading to fewer […]
Tracy Davidson on why the best stories aren’t found on the screen, but within ourselves. “Whatever it is they’ve been afraid to do or thought that they couldn’t do it, I hope they leave braver than when they came in.” — Tracy Davidson I recently sat down with Tracy Davidson, […]
Thoughts from a First-Time Grandfather There is a specific kind of “noise” we all carry. It’s the hum of unfinished emails, the pressure of quarterly targets, and the mental weight of a to-do list that never ends. We spend so much time sprinting toward the next finish line that we often forget to look […]
Grant Otto on what 1,000 feet underwater can teach us about career purpose and the power of “waiting.” “The biggest ‘career moves’ don’t start with a resume; they start with curiosity.” I recently sat down with Grant Otto, a marine scientist and researcher specializing in marine robotics. If that sounds like […]
In his latest interview with WDEL’s Peter MacArthur, Placers President Chris Burkhard offers a grounded perspective on the current employment landscape. While February’s loss of 92,000 jobs nationally (following a gain of 130,000 in January) may seem alarming, Chris suggests the market is simply “normalizing.” Key Insights for Delaware Business Leaders: The 5.2% […]
Leaders spend a lot of time thinking about strategy, hiring, and growth. But culture is often shaped by something much smaller: the expectations we reinforce every day. Over the course of my career, I’ve sat through more bad meetings than I care to count. Meetings with no agenda. Too many people in the […]
A conversation with community banker Marc Pelletier on trust, credit, and how entrepreneurs can walk into the bank with confidence I’ve met many people over the years who have helped shape my business, but today’s guest holds a special place in my story. On this episode of Outside Insights, I sat […]
The Placers 500, the race to our critical number, and how we win by putting people first Every year at Placers, we choose a theme that’s more than a phrase on a slide or a poster on a wall. It becomes a lens, a story, and a way to see our work, our people, […]
