The higher you go in leadership, the harder it can be to get honest perspective. And when you're leading through transition, growth, or culture change, going it alone can limit what you're able to see.

In this episode, CEO Heather Haas and leadership consultant BJ McKay are joined by John D'Addario III, CEO of D'Addario, for a conversation about leadership transition, culture clarity, and the value of outside perspective.

What does it take to honor a company's legacy while leading it into the future? Heather and BJ talk with John about stepping into the CEO role after a founder-led era, revisiting values, and partnering with ADVISA to build alignment across the organization.

Additional Resources:

Connect with John on LinkedIn

Learn more about D'Addario and their products at https://www.daddario.com/

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Connect with BJ on LinkedIn

Learn more about Advisa

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Learn more about PeopleForward Network

Key Takeaways:

• Leaders grow faster when they seek outside perspective.
• Culture can become a lasting competitive advantage.
• Succession requires preparation, responsibility, and earned trust.
• Values matter most when reinforced through behavior.
• Candid conversations protect families and businesses from conflict.

Some workplace "rules" are written in handbooks. The most powerful ones often aren't written anywhere.

Live from CultureCon, Jasmine Bellamy sits down with Bryetta Calloway for a powerful conversation about meritocracy, marginalization, and the invisible barriers that keep people on the fringes at work. Bryetta unpacks how leaders can confuse sameness with safety, why inclusion has to come before diversity and equity efforts can truly work, and how workplace harm does not stay neatly contained inside the office.

This episode is a call for people-first leaders to pause, get curious, and stop asking marginalized employees to carry the emotional labor of fixing cultures they did not break. From mirror-tocracy to repair, allyship, trauma, and the real cost of bad managers, Bryetta offers language for what so many people have felt but could not name.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Bryetta on LinkedIn

Connect with Jasmine on LinkedIn

Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn

Learn more about CultureCon

Subscribe to CultureCon's YouTube channel!

Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn

Learn more about PeopleForward Network

Key Takeaways:

• Unspoken rules often shape workplace advancement.
• Inclusion must come before true equity.
• Workplace trauma is still real trauma.
• Allyship requires emotional investment and action.
• People-first leaders pause before reacting.

Alignment sounds simple until Monday happens.

Nick and Zach sit down with Kate Zappitelli, Principal Consultant at Karrikins Group and Chair of the Alignment Institute, to unpack why agreement is not enough for people-first leaders.

Kate shares how real alignment requires clarity, connection, commitment, and courage, especially when teams are stuck in side conversations, unclear expectations, or old habits. From AI adoption to intentional optimism, she challenges leaders to model the behaviors they want to see, name what is getting in the way, and build the muscle of alignment every day.

If you have ever left a strategy session energized only to watch the work fade by Monday, this conversation will help you turn good intentions into consistent leadership action.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Kate on LinkedIn

Get the book: "Make HOW Matter"

Learn more about Karrikins Group

Connect with Zach on LinkedIn

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn

Learn more about CultureCon

Subscribe to CultureCon's YouTube channel!

Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn

Learn more about PeopleForward Network

Key Takeaways:

• Agreement is not the same as alignment.
• Side conversations weaken trust and team alignment.
• Leadership requires consistent communication and intentional energy.
• AI adoption starts with leaders experimenting personally.
• Sustainable alignment depends on clear team commitments.