Truly Transformative

Caryn Lee and Adriana McLane
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Aligning culture and strategy for lasting results. Most strategic plans fail — not because the strategy is wrong, but because the culture can't support it. The Truly Transformative Podcast tackles this head-on. Hosts Adriana McLane and Caryn Lee bring decades of hands-on experience helping organizations build bold strategies and the cultures that make them stick. Each episode delivers practical frameworks, real-world case studies, and honest conversations about what it actually takes to transform an organization from the inside out. This isn't theory. It's what works.

  1. Oct 20

    Culture as Strategy: Lessons from an ESOP CEO | Ep 21

    In this episode, hosts Adriana McLane and Caryn Lee welcome the show's first guest, Robyn Pollina, CEO of Palmer-Donavin. Robyn shows that strategy only sticks when culture is a formal, evolving part of the strategic plan itself, especially through change, growth, and acquisitions. When she became CEO in 2020, she made culture one of the six goals in her first plan and told her people they were the foundation, and everything else was the house. That goal grew into 28 Palmer-Donavin principles. Many warned her that was too many, so the company practices one every week or two, right down to a handwritten note Robyn mails to every newly promoted leader. Robyn also shares how Palmer-Donavin brought Diamond Hill Plywood into the company under the name Better Together, and how, 90 days in, those employees asked to be called Palmer-Donavin employee owners. She speaks honestly about where strategy and culture collide right now, with a new ERP system and the loss of a large product line landing at the same time, and she names the true cost of transformation: people. Robyn is incredibly humble and an exceptional leader, and this conversation is full of wisdom for any leader building strategy and culture together. About Robyn: Robyn Pollina is CEO of Palmer-Donavin Manufacturing Company, a wholesale distributor of building materials and residential entry doors headquartered in Grove City, Ohio, with locations throughout the Midwest and Southeast. Palmer-Donavin became a 100% ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) company in March 2007, the same year it celebrated 100 years in business. After graduating from Ohio State University in 1993, Robyn started her accounting career as an auditor at Coopers & Lybrand. She joined Palmer-Donavin in 1995, served two years as controller and 23 years as CFO, and was named CEO on August 1, 2020. Key Takeaways: - Making culture its own goal in a new CEO's first strategic plan - Handing strategic goals to director-level teams as a development path - Keeping 28 principles alive by practicing one at a time - Leading through an ERP rollout and a lost product line at once - Integrating an acquisition by listening more than directing Ready to bring this into your organization? Connect with Adriana and Caryn at betrulytransformative.com. Full episode breakdown, key takeaways, and resources at betrulytransformative.com/episodes/lessons-from-an-esop-ceo

  2. Oct 6

    Generational Change: When New Expectations Force Culture Change | Ep 20

    In this episode, hosts Adriana McLane and Caryn Lee look at what happens when younger generations move through the workforce faster than most organizations can adjust. Long-tenured Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are retiring in large numbers, and they are taking institutional knowledge out the door with them, knowledge that was rarely written down in the first place.  At the same time, younger millennials and Gen Z employees bring different expectations about flexibility, hierarchy, and communication, and the old rules of engagement no longer hold the way they used to. Adriana and Caryn walk through the specific shifts underway: rigid policies moving toward flexibility, command and control moving toward empowerment and accountability, annual reviews moving toward ongoing feedback, and money alone no longer carrying the weight it once did as a motivator.  They make the case that both groups have something to offer, the experience and judgment that comes from years on the job, and the fresh perspective of employees who arrive without old assumptions about how things have to work. The conversation connects to the SHAPE and SUSTAIN phases of the Truly Transformative Method, treating generational culture change as a strategic project rather than something that happens on its own.  Key Takeaways: - Why retiring Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are taking undocumented knowledge with them - The shift from rigid policies to flexibility, and command and control to empowerment - Why annual reviews alone no longer meet employee expectations - What to capture beyond documentation, including the mistakes and decisions behind it - Why generational culture change needs to be run as a strategic project  Ready to bring this into your organization? Connect with Adriana and Caryn at betrulytransformative.com. Full episode breakdown, key takeaways, and resources at betrulytransformative.com/episodes/when-new-expectations-force-culture-change

  3. Sep 15

    Engaging Informal Leaders: Influence Beats Authority | Ep 19

    Every organization has informal leaders — people without a formal title who others naturally turn to for advice, perspective, and a read on what's really happening.  In this episode, Adriana and Caryn make the case for why top-down change alone almost always falls short, and why intentionally engaging these influential voices is critical to strategic and cultural success. They break down the difference between positive informal leaders and naysayers (or as Adriana coins them, "hard truthers"), explain why both need to be on your radar, and offer practical steps for identifying and engaging them — starting with simply asking your middle managers who everyone goes to.  The key takeaway: these people are already influencing your organization whether you engage them or not, so be intentional about it. Would you like to discuss this further? Connect with Adriana and Caryn at ⁠⁠betrulytransformative.com/work-with-us⁠

  4. Sep 1

    Snow Melts From the Edges: What the Field Knows That Leadership Doesn't | Ep 18

    In this episode, hosts Adriana McLane and Caryn Lee make the case that strategy belongs to the people responsible for implementing it, and that leaving the field out of the process creates gaps leadership often cannot see. Adriana shares an analogy she returns to throughout the conversation: snow melts from the edges. When conditions shift, the people closest to customers and daily operations feel it first, while leadership, sitting at the top of the pile, may be the last to know. That gap, they argue, is exactly why involving employees is a structural necessity, not an optional step. The conversation works through three distinct points of involvement: before a strategy is finalized, during implementation, and in an ongoing feedback loop afterward. Adriana and Caryn discuss why each phase matters and where companies consistently fall short. During implementation, employees need to control how the work gets done rather than receive a plan handed down from above, because they know what is already in progress and what the organization can realistically carry. The hosts also address why this involvement often gets skipped: leaders who rose through the ranks may assume their own experience still reflects ground-level reality, and teams already loaded with projects may be carrying change fatigue that leadership simply has not accounted for. Key Takeaways: • Why field employees see market and operational shifts before leadership does • The three phases of employee involvement: before, during, and after strategy • Why handing employees a finished implementation plan backfires • How change fatigue and unrecognized capacity gaps slow execution • When employees cannot see their own work in the strategy, communication breaks down Are you involving the people who will implement your strategy before you finalize it? Connect with Caryn and Adriana at betrulytransformative.com/work-with-us

  5. Aug 18

    Building the Foundational Capability to Have Hard Discussions | Ep 17

    This episode is the follow-up to Episode #16 (avoiding conflict) and focuses on how to actually have productive hard conversations.  Adriana and Caryn walk through a five-step process: Be Aware → Be Curious → Be Collaborative → Test Solutions → Commit, Track & Measure.  Caryn introduces the concept of "facts vs. the story" — the tendency we have to invent narratives around situations that may not be accurate. The episode distinguishes between one-off hard conversations (which use the first three steps) and long-standing conflict (which requires more sustained effort, accountability, and sometimes outside help).  Key takeaways: lead with curiosity instead of judgment, and stick to facts rather than the stories you're telling yourself. Would you like to create the cultural capability to have hard conversations? Connect with Adriana and Caryn at ⁠⁠betrulytransformative.com/work-with-us⁠

  6. Aug 4

    The Cost of Avoiding Hard Discussions | Ep 16

    Avoiding a hard conversation feels like the safe choice — until you see what it actually costs. Slow decisions. Compromised strategy. Frustrated top performers walking out the door. In this episode, Adriana and Caryn tackle one of the most common and quietly damaging patterns in organizational culture: the habit of avoiding the discussions that matter most. They explore what hard discussions really are — and why they're not the same as conflict — and share candid real-world examples from the strategy room and the coaching chair, including what happens when a leader outsources a difficult conversation to a consultant rather than having it themselves. You'll hear the research behind why people avoid hard conversations (fear, lack of skills, and the belief that it's someone else's job), why leaders are held to a higher standard when it comes to modeling this behavior, and why addressing tension early is always easier than letting it fester. The bottom line: the ability to have hard discussions isn't just a leadership skill — it's a cultural capability. And building it starts with understanding the cost of avoiding it. Would you like to create the cultural capability to have hard conversations? Connect with Adriana and Caryn at ⁠⁠betrulytransformative.com/work-with-us⁠

  7. Jul 21

    Advisory Councils: How Frontline Voices Keep Strategy From Failing | Ep 15

    In this episode, hosts Adriana McLane and Caryn Lee examine advisory councils as a structured mechanism for bringing frontline intelligence into strategy conversations before execution breaks down. Mid-market organizations frequently struggle with a gap between what leadership believes is happening and what people on the floor or in the field actually see. Adriana and Caryn discuss how closing that gap requires more than an open-door policy, and why a properly designed advisory council creates the feedback loop that sustains strategic momentum. Caryn explains how the language and framing leaders use when launching an advisory council shapes whether participants speak candidly or simply reflect back what they think leadership wants to hear. Adriana connects advisory councils to the SUSTAIN phase of the Truly Transformative Method, showing how they function as a real-time calibration tool rather than a one-time engagement exercise.  Key Takeaways: Why advisory councils belong in the SUSTAIN phase as an ongoing feedback mechanismSelecting participants based on informal influence networks within the organizationHow council framing shapes the quality of frontline candorReady to bring this into your organization? Connect with Caryn and Adriana at ⁠⁠⁠⁠betrulytransformative.com/work-with-us⁠⁠

  8. Jul 7

    When 'Family' Culture Isn't Enough: What Sustains High Performance | Ep 14

    In this episode, hosts Adriana McLane and Caryn Lee examine what "family" culture actually delivers and where it falls short for organizations navigating a changing workforce. Drawing on real client examples, they walk through what makes a family-oriented culture genuinely strong: flexible work arrangements, compassionate leadership, and practices like birthday and anniversary calls that build lasting employee loyalty.  The conversation also surfaces the risks that accumulate when "family" becomes the primary identity rather than one element of a broader culture.  Adriana and Caryn work through two client scenarios where family culture produced very different outcomes, including one where layoffs shattered employee trust and another where the label masked complacency and an absence of accountability. They dig into how tolerating low performers quietly damages leadership credibility and pushes high performers out the door.  The episode also addresses how younger generations, particularly Gen Z, approach work with different expectations, and why leaders need to engage that workforce with something more than a family identity. Key Takeaways: Why "family" culture creates vulnerability when business conditions force hard decisions How tolerating low performers erodes credibility and costs companies their best peopleThe combination of empowerment, accountability, and sentiment that actually drives high performanceHow Gen Z's different expectations challenge leaders who built loyalty through a family identityReady to talk about how to preserve your family culture while sustaining high performance? Connect with Caryn and Adriana at https://betrulytransformative.com/work-with-us

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About

Aligning culture and strategy for lasting results. Most strategic plans fail — not because the strategy is wrong, but because the culture can't support it. The Truly Transformative Podcast tackles this head-on. Hosts Adriana McLane and Caryn Lee bring decades of hands-on experience helping organizations build bold strategies and the cultures that make them stick. Each episode delivers practical frameworks, real-world case studies, and honest conversations about what it actually takes to transform an organization from the inside out. This isn't theory. It's what works.

Information

  • Creator
    Caryn Lee and Adriana McLane
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Caryn Lee and Adriana McLane
  • Show Website
    Truly Transformative