There are several experiences from my career that have stayed with me long after the job ended. Some of them came from my time at Nexient.

When I was interviewing, I kept hearing the same phrases from different leaders.

“Your success is my success.”

And another one that caught my attention:

“We do the best we can every day for the humans in our care.”

I’ll admit, I was skeptical. I’ve been around long enough to know that interviews often paint an ideal picture. Company values look great on a website. Leaders say the right things. Then you join, and reality looks very different.

This wasn’t one of those places. Those weren’t just words. They were expectations.

As leaders, we genuinely believed that our success was tied to each other’s success. We celebrated wins together. We worked through failures together. We challenged one another. We helped when someone was overwhelmed. We weren’t competing for recognition, we were trying to build something together.

Did we always make decisions that everyone agreed with? Of course not. Leadership is full of difficult choices, and no decision will ever satisfy everyone. But I believe our teams knew something important: every decision was made with the intention of doing the best we could for the humans in our care.

That phrase has never left me.

Not “employees.”

Not “headcount.”

Not “resources.”

Humans.

Because work is personal.

Behind every requisition, every project, every performance conversation, and every organizational change is someone trying to provide for their family, grow their career, or simply have a good day at work. When you lead with that perspective, your decisions change.

Another phrase that has stayed with me is what Nexient called being an Honest Challenger.

I loved it. Being an Honest Challenger didn’t mean being disagreeable or difficult. It meant having the courage to tell people what they needed to hear instead of what they wanted to hear. Whether it was a colleague, an executive, or a client, the goal wasn’t agreement. The goal was success.

Earlier in my career, I’d worked in environments where saying “no” wasn’t really an option. The expectation was often to agree, avoid difficult conversations, or simply tell people what they wanted to hear. In my experience, that doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t move the business forward. It creates frustration because people know when they’re hearing what is convenient instead of what is true.

The best partnerships I’ve ever had, whether with executives, hiring managers, recruiters, or clients, have been built on respectful honesty. Sometimes that means saying, “I don’t think this approach will work.” Sometimes it means asking difficult questions. Sometimes it means slowing down long enough to solve the right problem instead of the loudest one.

Honesty without empathy can feel harsh. Empathy without honesty can become avoidance. The magic happens when you combine the two. Care deeply about the humans in front of you. Challenge them honestly because you want them to succeed.

Nexient was eventually acquired, and many of the leaders I admired have gone on to new companies and new adventures. But I have complete confidence that they carried those phrases and values with them. I know I did.

Humans and honest challengers have become part of my regular vocabulary and how I work with every organization I partner with. Whether I’m helping build a recruiting function, improve hiring operations, or navigate organizational change, I want clients to know two things.

First, I’ll always remember there are humans behind every process and every decision.

Second, I’ll always be an honest challenger.

Because I believe those are two of the greatest gifts a leader can give.