Retiring the Superhero Cape and Embracing Curiosity as a CEO & President

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In this episode, Integrity Staffing Solutions President and CEO Jaime Donnelly breaks down the journey from on-site recruiter to the corner office, examining how curiosity, emotional agility, and team empowerment drive scalable growth. Key takeaways include ditching the need to have every answer, removing leadership bottlenecks by enabling teams to fail and iterate, and understanding why human connection remains irreplaceable as workforce technology levels the playing field.

Episode runtime: 33:19
Published: October 27, 2026
Hosts: Leslie Vickrey, Lesly Cardec
Guest: Jaime Donnelly, President and CEO of Integrity Staffing Solutions

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Episode Chapters

01:05 — Saying Yes to Discomfort with a 7-Minute Speaking Challenge
07:28 — Meet Jaime Donnelly, From On-Site Recruiter to CEO (and Why Her Daughters Won’t Let Her Downplay It)
10:21 — Midday Energy, Analog To-Do Lists, and the Generational Emoji Rule
11:54 — The Dopamine Hit of Firefighting (and Why It Turns Leaders into Bottlenecks)
15:06 — Silencing the “Evil DJ”: Letting Go of Having All the Answers and the Freedom to Change Your Mind
18:25 — Why AI Levels the Playing Field and What Actually Remains Your Differentiator
20:42 — Choosing “Considerate” People and Honoring Your Current Season
24:38 — Staying Curious Through Every Chapter
27:33 — Host Recap: The “Take Three” Key Takeaways

3 Key Takeaways from Jaime Donnelly’s Leadership Journey

Retire the Superhero Cape to Empower Problem Solvers

Jaime shared a defining breakthrough with her executive coach, who asked a pivotal question: Did she want to spend her career fighting fires, or teach others how to solve problems themselves? 

Putting out fires delivers an instant, intoxicating dopamine hit, but swooping in with a “superhero cape” turns executive leadership into an organizational bottleneck.

True scale requires leaders to resist the reflex to have every answer. Letting teams test, stumble, and iterate not only builds operational resilience, but it also creates a culture where collective wins far outweigh individual heroics.

Lead with Relentless Curiosity and Remember…You Can Change Your Mind

With more than 25 years navigating the staffing industry, Jaime recognized that relying solely on past playbooks can quietly hold an organization back. She enters every new chapter by asking counterintuitive questions: “What am I getting wrong, and how is what I’m assuming completely upside down?”

In an operating climate rapidly reshaped by automation and AI, past experience helps you spot patterns, but active curiosity is what keeps you relevant. Embracing curiosity means digging deeper before judging, seeking fresh perspectives, and ensuring the speed of your organization’s learning matches the pace of the market.

Surround Yourself with Considerate People and Honor Your Current Season

Jaime pointed to a simple, but often rarely used standard for both her professional circle and personal support system: surround yourself with considerate people.

Leading at the highest level requires navigating competing identities—CEO, mother, daughter, mentor, friend—and what you can give at any moment fluctuates over time. Both Leslie and Lesly resonated deeply with the need for people in your corner who extend genuine grace and understanding across shifting seasons, rather than projecting guilt or resentment when priorities must flex.

Sustainable leadership is about honoring the season you are in without carrying unnecessary guilt. Surround yourself with supportive peers and colleagues who respect your boundaries and fill your cup, and you gain the emotional runway to lead with conviction.

Intro: Welcome to Honestly We’re Learning, a podcast from ClearEdge, the marketing agency that also helps marketers grow their careers.

Join Leslie Vickrey and Lesly Cardec as we explore the turning points that shape a person’s professional story, the highs, the stumbles, and everything in between. We’ll bring you candid conversations with leaders and rising talent, plus our own take on what’s changing in marketing and recruiting today. Because behind every success story is a few lessons learned the hard way. And honestly, we’re all still learning.



Lesly Cardec:
How you doing?

Leslie Vickrey:
Hi Leslie!

Lesly Cardec:
How are you?

Leslie Vickrey:
I’m fantastic. Excited to be here with you today to record our next podcast.

Lesly Cardec:
I know, Jaime is like a breath of fresh air and someone who serves on the Women and Leadership Council. I know you know her, as well. So I’ve been excited to have her on for some time now. So it’s happening!

Leslie Vickrey:
I know, I’m excited. Love Jaime Donnelly and all the things she’s done throughout her career and look forward to learning more from her.

Lesly Cardec:
She has such a great, amazing story. I know we’re in the midst of working on several different things and we’re heading into conferences, and believe it or not, I feel like the contact switching as soon as you walk in the stores, it’s like they don’t mess around. They go straight to you know, straight to Christmas and Halloween and Hannukah, all the things…

Leslie Vickrey:
Yeah, back to school. Then they I watch them literally first day of school at Target, they’re taking things down and putting up Halloween and all the things.

Lesly Cardec:
There’s no time to reflect. But I know we’re also in the midst of as part of conference season getting ready for different association conferences that we all attend and you have one special coming up, Powered by People, I think they’re calling it for American Staffing Association, a new session and and you’re head down working through that. Tell me more about that.

Leslie Vickrey:
Oh my goodness. Well, it is a direct reflection of actually, I keep pulling things up, but my chapter in Rising with Courage, and the courage to lead and really looking at going from a ruinous empathy leader to making and having direct conversations and all of the changes that we’ve gone through, you’ve lived through with me, quite frankly, over the past several years that were really, really hard.

Where, you know, you’re losing teammates, I talk about every Friday starting the day. And Jess would call and I’d say, no, not another resignation. Or someone would call and I’d say, please tell me you’re not resigning. And it would be a resignation. So just talking through the highs and lows of being a in a growth mindset going from kind of more of a lifestyle business into the growth mindset and all of the twists and turns.

So I have to admit to you, so once this goes live, I will have already finished this engagement, which is interesting. But I have to say, Lesly, I’m kind of nervous for this. You know, I don’t get nervous doing public speaking. I mean, I get nervous, but it’s not something that I really worry about.

But the format they have for this is seven minutes each speaker, and every minute they’re changing the slides automatically for you. So you’re kind of not in control up on stage. It’s probably more like a TEDx format where you’ve got that seven minutes and the slides are going to, you know, continue to progress. It’s kind of putting me in an uncomfortable zone, which maybe that’s a good thing for me to know. I don’t know, but it’s making me nervous.

Lesly Cardec:
I know, and it’s interesting being in my side watching you be nervous because if you have ever been nervous, you do a really good job of like holding it in because you’re just some people just are naturally, they’re natural speakers.

And I know that comes with reps. I’m sure you’ve had a lot of experience. You do a lot of speaking, so I’m sure it gets easier as you go. And maybe you weren’t like this maybe, you know, forever, but you’ve gotten more comfortable with it, but I think it’s a good thing.

I think this might be really interesting and I, like, being a fly on the wall and being, you know, on the audience side, that might be really interesting format to test and try for future things, just to kinda really, you know, cut your story and and be really concise and you’re gonna do a great job. I have no doubt.

But it could be really interesting because it’s like you said, making you uncomfortable. You’re gonna have to really refine your story and keep it short and sweet. And how do you do that in such a small amount of time? That’s hard.

Leslie Vickrey:
Well, and you know, I can talk a lot. So it is actually good to keep everyone, you know, myself included on track. But I say this too all the time. You know, say yes and get uncomfortable. And yet, here I am. I said yes and now I’m like, my gosh. I’m needing to take in my own advice that I’m always giving. But yeah, I’m excited. It’ll be fun.

I love getting…once you’re up there and first couple of words are are said it’s, you know, the other thing to remember is all of us are telling our own stories and it’s a lot easier to share regardless of what it is, but it’s a lot easier to share when it’s your own.

Lesly Cardec:
Major kudos. It’s a topic that is very vulnerable. even though it’s in a book too.

Leslie Vickrey:
Well writing it and you know, that was step one. Now maybe step two is I wrote a LinkedIn post that you know got a lot of people commenting that they felt very similar and could relate to it. So let’s call that step two. And now step three will be taking the stage to share the story. So thank you for pushing me to apply for it and you’re helping me prep behind the scenes and yeah hopefully I’ll I’ll do everyone proud.

Lesly Cardec:
You’re gonna do great. You’re gonna do great. Although you give the most beautiful intros to our guests. Every guest that joins our podcast is like, that was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. That was amazing, but you’re always like, I have to cut it down because it’s, I know it’s a lot, but it you know, you try to give it justice because they’re such profound journeys that it’s hard to it’s hard to narrow it down.

Leslie Vickrey:
I know. Well, speaking of that, we’ll transition into the podcast with Jaime, so you all can get there. But similarly, I had to add some personal, you know, touch points just knowing Jaime and I’ve seen her in action, like I mentioned in the intro with her daughters.

And it’s really inspiring. So for me, it gets back to that kind of I am emotional about it. It is personal. Yes, it’s professional, but I really admire these leaders, so I I wanna do them justice with their intros. So Jaime, hopefully I do. And yeah, let’s wrap this up and head over to the podcast.

Today we’re thrilled to welcome Jaime Donnelly, President and CEO of Integrity Staffing Solutions, a national workforce solutions provider helping organizations build scalable, compliant, and people-centered workforce strategies across logistics, e-commerce, manufacturing, and professional services. Jaime’s path to the corner office is one of my favorite kinds of stories. Twenty-five years ago, she was on site as a recruiter supporting a single client account.

And today she leads one of the largest privately held staffing companies in the US. Along the way, she’s held leadership roles across operations, finance, compliance, risk, sales, and HR. She was named president in 2021 and just this past year added CEO to her title, congratulations, by the way, and through all of it, she has what she calls three cheerleaders in her corner, her three daughters.

In a recent ASA Staffing Success magazine cover story, which I happen to have right here, Jaime shared that during an interview call from home, she apparently started downplaying one of her accomplishments. And her daughter, listening from the kitchen, immediately sent her a text, ‘Stop diminishing your accomplishments, Mom!’

And I personally love this story. I’ve seen Jaime jump into action to take care of her daughters. I love this story so much, partly because it says something about the relationship she has with the three of them, and partly because even incredibly accomplished leaders sometimes need someone in the next room reminding them to own what they’ve done.

And I also love it because, Jaime, I have witnessed you pay it forward with your team, the industry, time and time again, sharing lessons and being there as a mentor. And I’m sure you might even remember the phone call, but you’ve even helped me become a better leader and a stronger founder along the way as well.

So that kind of breadth, both professionally and personally, gives Jaime a rare practical view of how workforce strategy actually shows up in business. And she is just known to be direct, collaborative, people-first, okay, I could go on and on, champion of AI, automation, workforce technology. She’s also a Staffing 100 North America list winner and Global Power 150 Women In Staffing list winner.

Jaime, I admire you so much and I’m so happy to have you with us here today. Welcome to Honestly We’re Learning.

Jaime Donnelly:
Let’s see that was really just amazing. Thank you so much. I’m blushing.

Lesly Cardec:
That’s the interview, guys! That’s it!

Leslie Vickrey:
Well Lesly’s gonna kick us off with an icebreaker.

Lesly Cardec:
I know. Okay, we’re gonna start off with something fun. so I’m gonna go quick and you can just tell me the first the first answer. So are you a morning bird or a night owl?

Jaime Donnelly:
Absolutely neither. I’m a midday, right? Don’t talk to me early in the morning. And then once seven o’clock rolls around, I’m winding down. So I’m a solid middle of the day.

Leslie Vickrey:
Gosh, I love that. That’s a first, Lesly.

Lesly Cardec:
Yeah, I like that. Okay, so physical notebook or digital notes?

Jaime Donnelly:
Actually both. So now with transcribing I can, you know, all of my notes from my meetings happen digitally. But I am still a firm lover of writing a task down and crossing it off with my pen when I get it done.

Lesly Cardec:
Yeah, same here. Same here. What is your most used emoji?

Jaime Donnelly:
Probably the skull emoji and my daughters taught me that because it’s not cool to use like the laughing crying emoji, right? That I love to use and like mama, you can’t use that. The skull emoji means I’m dead. That’s so funny. And I was like, okay. And so then I started using it and now I can’t stop using it.

Lesly Cardec:
Okay, I’ll make a note.

Leslie Vickrey:
Lesly, we pick up emoji tips each time. That is a first. And now every time I do a thumbs up, I feel bad about it. I’m like, gosh, I can’t use a thumbs up.

Jaime Donnelly:
I didn’t know that one, you’ll have to tell me that.

Lesly Cardec:
We were told not to use that one, so…

Lesly Vickrey:
I’m using the I’m Dead all the time now. Thank you for that.

Lesly Cardec:
That was so fun. Thank you for that. We learned a little bit into your into your psyche. And I like how you went on a totally different path with the answers. So I like that.

Leslie Vickrey:
All right. Well, we would love to talk to you a little bit, I know your career has taken, as we mentioned, you know, a lot of kind of twists and turns and really exciting things within Integrity. Is there a moment, big or small, that really kind of shaped the way you lead today?

Jaime Donnelly:
Yeah. I think, you know, 25, twenty almost 26 years now, in October it’ll be 26 years within Integrity. I’ve had so many of like those little moments. But I would say is that the hardest thing was realizing that what got me to one level of leadership was not necessarily going to get me to the next level of leadership. In fact, it might actually like hold me back.

And there was a moment where you know, I’m so fortunate to work with a CEO coach and that coach said to me, you know, Jaime, you are an amazing firefighter and problem solver, but do you want to fight fires for the rest of your life or do you want to teach other people to solve problems the way that you can? And that was like an aha moment for me. It made me realize that I was the bottleneck in the organization because I was solving for everyone, right, versus enabling people to solve within the organization. So, you know, I I was always putting out the fire and it was, it was not the right move, right, to grow a successful organization.

So now, you know, it’s more about like asking people the right questions, creating the space for people to to try and fail and iterate, creating clarity for the team, you know, making decisions when people are asking me to make the decision when it’s appropriate for me to, or, you know, otherwise just getting out of the way and letting my leaders act.

Leslie Vickrey:
I love that. That’s, it’s an important lesson, right? Knowing when to give them that opportunity to do that. And I think one of my goals coming into 2026 was to stop being the one who always wore the I called it my superhero cape. So it’s the same thing, putting out the fire where people, you know, I always felt like I was flying in and swooping in to fix all of the things and I didn’t realize I was keeping them from learning how to do it themselves. It’s a lot like parenting a little bit too, Jaime, where we have to let them be independent. Let them do this.

Jaime Donnelly:
It really feels good to be the one to solve a problem. Like there’s it’s like a dopamine hit. I fixed it. I I solved it. Hooray. Like people are high-fiving. Like they’re so thrilled that you did it. There’s an absolute dopamine hit. But what I learned over the years is that that dopamine hit is so much bigger when your team gets that. When your team is the one to solve that problem and get that win and earn that. It it just feels so much better than you being the one to do it.

Leslie Vickrey:
Yeah, I know. It’s tough being a…I’m a fixer by trade as well. And you’re right though, seeing the other people get that experience, that’s a fantastic way to look at it. It’s a good dopamine hit for sure.

Lesly Cardec:
It’s hard though to rewire yourself because when someone comes to you with like a problem and I think we’ve talked about this, Leslie, sometimes they’re just venting, right? And they don’t necessarily want you to solve, but your wheels are spinning already of like, how can I make this, how can I make their lives easier? How can I fix this for them? And it may be related to this other theme that I wanted to ask you about was just looking back on your earlier career.

This may have been something you believe so fiercely, but what is something that you’ve held on to and maybe you’ve had to let go of completely as, you know, with more experience?

Jaime Donnelly:
It absolutely is along the same lines, but it’s that I have as the leader, I’m supposed to have all the answers. Right? And that is such a natural feeling for leaders to have that if you don’t have the answer, you’re you’re, you know, not being a good leader for your team. And now I realize instead of like being the one to have the answers, it’s about creating this environment for the team, you know, where they can go find the answers and get it wrong.

Right. So if you can create that environment where it’s safe for them to get it wrong, quickly fix it and reiterate, like there’s so much gold in that. But it was really hard for me to step away and be like, I don’t I don’t have the answer. And if I don’t have the answer, then I’m going to be wrong. Like I’m going to fail my team. And that that is not the case. But it’s easy to think.

Leslie Vickrey:
Yeah. For me, Jaime, it’s the evil DJ in my head that plays that same song over and over about well, then am I not, will, they think I’m a fraud? Am I not meant to be in this role? Am I not good enough as a CEO? Am I not supposed to be in this position? You know, you just kind of tell yourself these things over and over again. And then you finally realize like it’s okay not to have all of the answers. It’s actually good. You shouldn’t know every single thing. And it it helps to learn.

Ask others like you know, people like you, what are you going through in this experience and learn from them so you become stronger that way too.

Jaime Donnelly:
I would agree. One of the things that kind of fell in line with that as well is like being okay to change my mind, right? And telling my team it’s okay for them to change their mind or to change their recommendation as well. Right. Because once you, you know, you make a decision based upon a certain like set of facts or like information you get at the time. But we as humans have the capacity to learn, right?

And to intake additional information and when you can intake that additional information and it changes the way you’re looking at how to solve a problem or your opinion on something, it’s not unreasonable to change your mind, to make a different decision. And when your teams can see you do that, then it enables them to do that. And you don’t like go down like, march down a path that you’re like, this doesn’t feel right because I have this new information, but I don’t want to be the one to change my mind on this. If you can enable your team to feel that way, then you know, the the success comes more rapidly.

Leslie Vickrey:
Mm-hm.

Lesly Cardec:
That’s really good. I like that. I like that a lot.

Leslie Vickrey:
Well, Jaime, your article in Staffing Success, you talked a little bit, one of the questions they had was the Jaime Donnelly era and what would that look like? And one of the things you mentioned on there was the importance of human work and building relationships and that AI can take care of some of the other things, but we really want to focus on that people, that human side.

So when you think about the future of our industry what really excites you and what maybe worries you a little bit too?

Jaime Donnelly:
Yeah, and I, you know, I don’t mean to give the cliche answer the hot topic right now, but it really is what’s at the forefront for me and for, you know, the rest of my organization. It’s exciting and it’s also frightening: AI. Right? That is definitely something that you that is going to drive the just think about it, not just our industry, like the whole world is in this really exciting place that it’s never been in before.

I think about it like ten times more exciting than when the World Wide Web was developed.

Leslie Vickrey:
Right, that’s good analogy.

Jaime Donnelly:
Like maybe a hundred times more exciting, right? So the whole world is experiencing this transformation, not just our industry, but what it’s doing to our industry and the capabilities it’s giving us. It’s tremendous and scary. And what I would say is that eventually, like the internet, right, the playing field is going to level out. We’re all going to have the same technology at our fingertips.

And that’s not going to be the differentiator for staffing firms. The differentiator is going to be the human side, right? Like, how do you connect with your clients? How do you connect with your candidates and your associates that you’ve placed? How do you make those human connections? That’s really what’s going to be the differentiator in the future.

Lesly Cardec:
I wholeheartedly agree. I mean, it’s so easy to get distracted too. There’s just so much flying at us at all times. I think Friday I went down a rabble hole, right, Leslie and I was like, check this out. I’m like, now I’m making videos on the side. So it’s just incredible. But you’re right, that the folks that break through and really keep that journey in mind, it always goes back to, you know, the heart of what we do, which is placing people in jobs and and finding clients great talent. So I love that.

I wanna talk a little bit about connection because I know we talked about your daughters a little bit and just how important that is in your life and to lead at this level. It takes, you know, support. It takes what does that look like for you? The routines, maybe it’s different support systems that you have or people that help you show up authentically you. What does that look like?

Jaime Donnelly:
So I will say there’s no perfect formula for me in life and it changes depending on what’s happening both in my life personally and professionally. You know, I work to professionally surround myself with people who are insanely capable, right? And curious.

And in addition, I want to be, I want to work with people who are considerate. And I want to be considerate when I’m working with people. And that is something that really helps to calm the chaos in any organization, right? So when you’re working with considerate co-workers, that really helps. And I surround myself personally with people who have the same, you know, traits.

You know, when you can surround yourself with considerate friends and family, and neighbors, it really makes a difference in your life. And you surround yourself with people and the considerate people want to be near you when you are in fact considerate as well.

You know, I can hold the role as a CEO, but I also hold the role of being a mom and being a daughter and a sister, I have two amazing sisters. Like it’s girls all over in my family, right? Amazing sisters, you know, a friend, a girlfriend, like all of those roles. And I sometimes those roles hold different levels of importance in my day-to-day or my week or my month or my year. And when you surround yourself with considerate people, they understand. They understand that what you can give and what you need to take can flex up down depending on what’s happening in your life.

Lesly Cardec:
The season. The season you’re in, right?

speaker-2 (23:01.8)
Yes, yes, that’s the right word for it.

Lesly Cardec:
Yeah. I’ve heard I’ve like I’ve heard of that too and re in reference to having balance, which I don’t know if that word exists, but just whatever’s commanding your attention, just understanding where where that is at the moment.

Jaime Donnelly:
So yeah, and taking the time to fill your own cup.

Leslie Vickrey:
And not feeling guilty. I love that, Jaime. It just makes me reflect too when you think about your friends and the people you surround yourself with. Sometimes you have more time to give than other times. And those who make you feel okay and good about that and support you and cheer you on and you’re doing it back with them. It’s smart. And those who kind of throw guilt and shade at you, not probably the ones who should be in your court. So it’s a good reminder to always remember that. Surround yourself with people who support you.

Jaime Donnelly:
Yeah. And don’t don’t get consumed by the guilt, right? It’s easy to feel guilty when you say no, but when you surround yourself with people who don’t make you feel that way, it’s really a lovely things.

Leslie Vickrey:
Yes, I appreciate that tip. I’m going to take that with me today. Thank you. All right. As you look at you, you know, being in the CEO role and all of the things you have going on in life, you know, your kids are in their 20s, your new hobbies. I was reading about your, this article was very informative, bird watching and all the we have a bird watcher on our team who travels and takes the most incredible photographs, her name’s Stacy, of pictures. So I love that.

But tell us a little bit like the intention you’re carrying with you into the next chapter of Jaime Donnelly.

Jaime Donnelly:
Staying curious, that is absolutely critical, I think, to just life in general, right? But when I think about what’s going to carry me into the next chapter of leading this, you know, amazing organization, it would be really easy for me to just reflect back and say, I’ve got, you know, 25, 26 years of experience. I know, I know what I’m doing here, right?

That experience allows me to identify patterns and you know issues before they really creep up. But if I don’t stay curious, I think I’m going to be doing a disservice to my entire team, to my associates, to my clients, and you know, staying curious in my life to my family and friends as well, right?

The operating reality that we’re all sitting in right now it requires curiosity, like it absolutely demands it. And when you can think about something and say, like, what am I getting wrong? What how is what I’m assuming here or thinking here completely upside down? When you can think about that question and find the answers to that, that’s where like the magic and the gold nuggets start coming out.

Leslie Vickrey:
Yeah, I love that.

Lesly Cardec:
It kind of goes hand in hand with what you said earlier about being open to changing your mind. And you know, I love that. Well, Jaime, this has been really great. I am gonna reach out again to try to find more time with you because I’d love to get to know you a little bit more. but where in general can people find you and learn more about you? What’s the best place?

Jaime Donnelly:
LinkedIn’s definitely the best place to do that. I’m just, you know, backslash Jaime Donnelly, J A I M E, because my parents thought they were real cute when they spelled my name. So…

Lesly Cardec:
I just want you to know that I had to retype a few times ’cause I didn’t wanna…I’m sure you’ve run into that more times than not.

Jaime Donnelly:
Yes. And so I try to do my best. But again, what I will say is sometimes I’m great at it and reflecting about, you know, my organization and my thoughts on leadership. And I can prioritize being on there and participating in the LinkedIn community. And sometimes I have to pull back. But you can absolutely reach me on there. That’s the fastest way.

Leslie Vickrey:
Well, thank you for joining us today. Jaime, as always, you’ve left myself and I can tell from Leslie and I know our listeners with some really great tips and advice for what they can take into their own leadership journey. And again, congratulations on yours. It’s been really fun over the years to watch from the sidelines you to continue to grow and evolve and flourish as a leader and hear your stories as a mom as well. It’s really helpful to those of us who are, you know, trying to do it all as well. So thank you.

Jaime Donnelly:
Thank you, ladies, for having me. It’s been so much fun.

Leslie Vickrey:
Well Lesly, that was a fantastic podcast. I’m so happy Jaime joined us.

Lesly Cardec:
She’s so great. She’s like a breath of fresh air. She just has so much energy. I I loved it.

Leslie Vickrey:
She really does. She does. Okay, let’s go through our take three. And I’m gonna I’m going to start it by talking about the perception of some things that you can let go of. And one is the perception that CEOs need to put out all the fires or leadership teams need to put out all of the fires and realizing that you don’t really need to and that it’s a wonderful feeling.

And she said it’s like a great dopamine hit when you see your team and other leaders kind of step up to do those things, that you don’t have to have the answer to ever every single thing. And you know I am a self-admitted fixer. I love to fix things and get joy out of doing that. However, I also realize that I don’t need to. I did a post earlier in the year we talked about the things we’re not going to do, or I did, and instead of a New Year’s resolution, I was resolute to not do certain things and one of them was to always wear what I coined as a superhero cape.

So you’ve got to fly in and come in and fix things and put out those fires. And you know what? We really don’t. And it’s so fun to see everyone else step up and and help too.

speaker-0 (28:50.914)
And you’ve actually said to me before, I’m trying to remember in the context, it wasn’t work related, it was something else. And you had said clarifying what they’re asking for. Is it just to vent? Is it just to listen? Is it are you looking for my opinion? Because sometimes people are just looking to let it out. That was a good point and something that I’ve used since you’ve since you’ve mentioned it.

So my number two is I love that Jaime is so curious. She’s very transparent about her being very open to mind like changing your mind. Like you’re going down a path, you have this, you know, this set plan, and she’s okay with turning it upside down which I thought was really great. And it’s actually a really powerful message for her teams to hear as well, and just you know, kind of just staying curious.

And I know there’s a couple of other folks in our orbit that always say that, asking really good questions, things like that, and really being open to different perspectives and and pattern seeking, she said, you know, kind of looking at those patterns that keep showing up and just being open to to changing.

Because if you aren’t, it’s really not a growth mindset. and she seems to really have that and I’m sure it’s something that, you know bleeds into her whole organization.

Leslie Vickrey:
Right. I agree. I think it’s one of the best learning s signs of a great leader is always learning. And that being curious piece to me goes hand in hand with that. Always be learning. And if you’re learning, you’re growing. It also reminds me of Casey Jacox because he talks about that all the time. And, you know, just asking specific questions and digging a little bit deeper before just jumping into response because sometimes what we assume someone means or what they’re saying, really it could be something totally different. And if you don’t get curious, then you really you won’t know.

Lesly Cardec:
I know. I’ve used those TED questions more more often than not.

Leslie Vickrey:
Tell me more, Explain, Describe.

Lesly Cardec:
I actually I don’t know if anyone else uses sticky notes, but I do have I’m like a sticky note person, but I have it on my computer.

Leslie Vickrey:
Aw little nod to Casey here too.

Lesly Cardec:
So final one would be she mentioned the importance of surrounding yourself with really considerate people and the word considerate is just not one that I hear very often, but the meaning holds really true and just people who get it.

I think you and I were just going back and forth off camera, thinking about just people in your lives who are understanding with how chaotic it can be sometimes and the fact that you just giving each other grace depending on what season you’re in and and just cherishing those people. And for me it has to be that way because plans change, things come up as you know all the time that are not planned and you just have to roll with it. And the people that are understanding about it and just go with the flow are are your people.

Leslie Vickrey:
It’s so telling the way people react to something and your reaction is is everything. And when she mentioned that about surrounding yourself with considerate people, it really hit home for me on the friendship side of things because, you know, it’s hard. We were talking about this. It’s hard to keep up with your friends sometimes and those who you can just jump in and even if it’s been a year or three years, six months, however long it’s been and it feels like just yesterday, versus those who really make you feel bad about not being around or not being able to do things. it really struck a chord with me in a in a good way. A reminder, a gentle reminder.

Lesly Cardec:
Yeah, it was great. We’re gonna have her back. I already told her that. It’s coming. It’s coming. We’re coming back. Well, thanks for joining us, everyone. We hope you loved it as much as we did. And if something else stood out, I’m sure there will be. let us know. We’d love to hear it.

Leslie Vickrey:
Fantastic. Thank you, Lesly!

Lesly Cardec:
Thank you! All right, see ya.


Outro: Thanks for listening to Honestly, We’re Learning. If you liked what you heard, you can drop us a like, review, or comment. And if you want to hear more, be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Explore More from Honestly, We’re Learning

Honestly, We’re Learning is a new podcast from ClearEdge, hosted by ClearEdge’s CEO and Founder Leslie Vickrey, alongside Lesly Cardec, CMO and SVP of Recruiting. In each episode, they sit down with leaders across staffing, HR tech, and the broader talent industry for a candid, never-judgmental look at their journeys.

Between guest conversations, we also take a closer look at what’s happening in marketing and talent today. From the trends reshaping how brands connect to the shifts redefining hiring yet again, we explore what makes truly impactful storytelling happen.