Kristi Cappelletti-Matthews is the Chief Human Resources Officer at VSP Vision, bringing more than three decades of HR leadership across healthcare and high tech. Her journey to CHRO started with a chance gym conversation that turned into a career-defining opportunity. Beginning as a compensation specialist, she expanded her scope by consistently connecting her expertise to broader business outcomes, eventually stepping into enterprise leadership where alignment across functions became essential.

Episode Takeaways:

• Alignment requires more than agreement. Leaders must actively connect decisions to enterprise impact and involve stakeholders early to avoid siloed thinking
• Culture doesn’t scale by accident. VSP intentionally evolved its culture during COVID to ensure connection and inclusion across a distributed workforce
• Integration starts with culture. Bringing acquired companies into the “family” works best when values are clear but flexibility is preserved.
• Enterprise mindset is a learned shift. Leaders moving from smaller organizations must adapt from owning decisions to sharing them, which takes clarity and ongoing dialogue
• Good meetings drive alignment. Clear outcomes, purposeful conversation, and real dialogue beat calendar overload every time

Kristi’s perspective reinforces a core truth: alignment is less about grand declarations and more about consistent, sometimes uncomfortable conversations that connect people to the bigger picture. Whether integrating systems, evolving culture, or simply trying to stick to a workout plan, success comes down to commitment, realistic expectations, and a willingness to adjust along the way. Or, as she subtly reminds us, “good enough” often beats endlessly perfect and never delivered.

Connect with Kristi outside of this episode on LinkedIn here or through VSP Vision here.
-------------------------
Is misalignment holding your organization back?
Aligned teams deliver better results more consistently, and they have deeper connections to each other and their organizations.

Download our free Leadership Alignment Evaluation Tool and take the first step toward transforming how your team works together.

Learn more about Julie and Karrikins Group:

• Connect with Julie on LinkedIn
• Follow Karrikins Group on LinkedIn
• Check out Julie's book, 'Make HOW Matter: Key Conversations for Leaders to Build Alignment and Accelerate Growth'
• Learn more about how Karrikins Group helps enterprise teams drive better results

Kendall Colman’s leadership journey starts with a coach who saw her potential before she did. Early struggles with self-doubt and feeling out of place shifted when a field hockey coach challenged her to get out of her own way. That moment sparked a lifelong focus on unlocking potential in others. Over the past 25 years, she’s built Colman Coaching, helping senior leaders elevate their presence, communication, and impact, especially when the stakes are high and the spotlight is unavoidable.

Episode Takeaways:

• Pride is a quiet blocker. Leaders often agree they need to improve but hesitate to seek coaching, slowing growth right at the starting line
• Courage is a daily practice, not a grand gesture. Small moments like speaking up, asking for help, or trying something new build real leadership muscle
• Limiting beliefs quietly fuel the failure gap. Until leaders surface and rewrite them, progress stalls despite good intentions.
• Great leadership shifts from correction mode to teaching mode. Alignment improves when leaders focus on purpose, process, and people, not just fixing outputs
• Servant leadership without strong communication falls flat. Intent matters, but impact depends on how clearly and confidently leaders show up

Kendall’s perspective brings a sharp reminder that many leadership gaps aren’t about capability, they’re about alignment. Leaders know they should communicate better, lead with intention, and invest in growth. The breakdown happens in the follow-through. What stands out is how closely courage, coaching, and communication tie to alignment. Without courage, leaders avoid hard conversations. Without coaching, blind spots stay hidden. Without strong communication, even the best intentions get lost in translation. It’s a perfect recipe for staying stuck in agreement instead of moving to action.

There’s also a subtle but important shift from “how do I perform?” to “how do I serve?” When leaders make that move, presence becomes less about ego and more about impact, which tends to be where the real results live anyway.

If there’s one thing to align on from this conversation, it’s this: growth requires visible effort. You can’t outsource it, and you can’t think your way into it. At some point, you have to step forward, take the swing, and yes, probably realize it wasn’t a half swing after all.

Connect with Kendall Colman outside of this episode on LinkedIn here or through Colman Coaching here.
-------------------------
Is misalignment holding your organization back?
Aligned teams deliver better results more consistently, and they have deeper connections to each other and their organizations.

Download our free Leadership Alignment Evaluation Tool and take the first step toward transforming how your team works together.

Learn more about Julie and Karrikins Group:

• Connect with Julie on LinkedIn
• Follow Karrikins Group on LinkedIn
• Check out Julie's book, 'Make HOW Matter: Key Conversations for Leaders to Build Alignment and Accelerate Growth'
• Learn more about how Karrikins Group helps enterprise teams drive better results

Josh Miramant, founder and CEO of Blue Orange Digital, brings a leadership story that proves careers are rarely built in straight lines. He started on a path toward politics and law, then took a sharp turn into startups, scaling, and eventually data and AI consulting. Along the way, he learned what many leaders eventually discover: growth usually looks less like a master plan and more like a series of thoughtful leaps with just enough ignorance to keep moving. Apparently, that is not recklessness, it is entrepreneurship with better branding.

Episode Takeaways:

• Leadership rarely follows a clean path. Curiosity, calculated risk, and a willingness to say yes can create the experiences that shape real leadership growth.
• Founders and executives are constantly navigating paradoxes. Delegate, but stay close. Take the leap, but be strategic. Both sides can be true, which is why alignment matters more than easy answers.
• AI adoption starts with individual ownership. Leaders do not need to code, but they do need enough hands-on experience to make grounded decisions instead of approving budgets for things that still feel like science fiction.
• Low-stakes experimentation is the best way to build confidence. Play with AI on language-based work like reports, posts, and storytelling before the high-stakes decisions arrive wearing a suit and carrying a budget.
• Josh’s CARD framework offers a practical lens for organizational AI adoption: clarity, ambition, relationships, and distribution. In other words, the tech matters, but the human system around it matters just as much.

What stands out most in Josh’s ideas is the reminder that progress comes through iteration, not perfection. Whether you are building a company, adopting AI, or trying to make better decisions with a team, alignment grows when people make the invisible visible and practice their way forward. The real opportunity is not just agreeing that change is important. It is learning how to move together when the path is still emerging. That is where better stories, better decisions, and better results start to stack up.

Connect with Josh Miramant outside of this episode on LinkedIn here.
-------------------------
Is misalignment holding your organization back?
Aligned teams deliver better results more consistently, and they have deeper connections to each other and their organizations.

Download our free Leadership Alignment Evaluation Tool and take the first step toward transforming how your team works together.

Learn more about Julie and Karrikins Group:

• Connect with Julie on LinkedIn
• Follow Karrikins Group on LinkedIn
• Check out Julie's book, 'Make HOW Matter: Key Conversations for Leaders to Build Alignment and Accelerate Growth'
• Learn more about how Karrikins Group helps enterprise teams drive better results