Path Forward

Andres Traslavina & Jami Adkins
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The podcast dedicated to empowering professionals through every twist and turn of their career journey. Whether you're exploring new job opportunities, coping with a recent layoff, or strategizing your next big move, we're here to provide the guidance and inspiration you need. traslavina.substack.com

  1. 4d ago

    Daniela Abraham Hautzinger

    Andres and Daniela talk through how business fluency, curiosity, and learning agility make HR more strategic. Daniela shares how her early life, retail experience, consulting background, and HR leadership shaped the way she thinks about workforce planning, AI, the CHRO role, and purpose. “Workforce planning shouldn’t be an HR exercise. It has to start with the business strategy.” Key topics * Daniela’s background and what shaped her as a leader * Her first job in retail and the customer mindset * Why business fluency makes HR stronger * Workforce planning as a business-led discipline * AI, hybrid work, and the “messy middle” * What the CHRO really owns in the C-suite * How the CHRO connects strategy, operations, and people priorities * Learning agility and staying relevant * Purpose, perspective, and loving the work of HR Think of the CHRO as maybe the architect of the organization, not just the head of HR. Clip timestamps 00:00 - Daniela’s background and what kind of kid she was00:31 - Her first paid job in retail01:13 - How sales experience helped her as a CHRO02:27 - Workforce planning and business strategy03:14 - AI and the hybrid workforce04:02 - Piloting change and preparing leaders before rollout05:01 - What a CHRO does at the C-suite level06:20 - The CHRO as the architect of the organization07:19 - Why learning agility matters08:07 - How Daniela learns from different sources09:01 - Purpose in life and loving HR What I learned in the full conversation She is a business person first, and everything else follows from that.Her first real job was retail, on the floor, solving people problems when the customer was unhappy. “I’m a business person first,” she told me. Running a business taught her the customer, the economics, how to do more with less, and how to keep her eye on the target. She brought that into HR instead of learning HR and then trying to understand the business. HR is a partner, not an execution arm.Talent and succession do not get handed to HR. She said it plainly. The business has a role in it, and because she knows where leaders are coming from and how fast they are moving, she can hold that line without it becoming a fight. Workforce planning starts with the business strategy, and you make the case in their language.“Workforce planning shouldn’t be an HR exercise. It has to start with the business strategy.” She builds it with finance, off headcount, turnover, productivity, labor cost, and future demand. Future demand is the piece she has to push, because the business is usually trying to get through today. Then she walks into the CFO’s office and talks about capacity, build versus buy, financial impact, and risk. His numbers, his lens. On AI, the messy middle is the actual state, not a failure.Most companies are already hybrid. Nobody has done it perfectly and there is no Harvard Business Review case study yet on what good looks like. She thinks CHROs should give themselves a break about that and keep working through it instead of waiting for the answer to arrive. Prepare the leaders before you deploy, not after.Pick a business case, pilot it, and make sure whoever tests it actually has the skills for the outcome you want. Then make sure the management team understands what you will be asking people to do differently, before rollout. “I don’t see us being technologists. I see us being responsible people and organizational leaders to make sure people are ready for the change.” Credibility is built in HR operations, not in the strategy deck.She runs the function in three parts. Business facing HR leaders who turn strategy into people priorities. Operations, meaning comp, payroll, benefits, systems. And the COEs that build the programs and scale them. Operations is the one people skip. When someone has a health matter or a leave, that is a direct relationship with HR, and if it is not a well oiled machine you have no credibility for anything else. The COEs exist to hand ownership to managers.Build the practices, then prepare people leaders to own and lead them. “HR can’t be everywhere all the time.” She wants the management team leading talent with HR advocating, not HR doing it for them. The CHRO connects the pieces and brings the executive team along.Not manage each piece independently. Connect them, and carry the executive team with you. “Like don’t build your vision and execute it.” They are the ones who have to support it over time. Then the line that reframed the whole role for me. “Think of the CHRO as maybe the architect of the organization, not just the head of HR.” HR leaders run companies when they can show value and risk in numbers.I asked why some CHROs become CEOs. Credibility with the business, she said. Efficiencies in the workforce plan with reinvestment where it makes sense. Proactive on organizational risk before it gets expensive. She used employment litigation as the example, where one case costs more than the prevention. Build the business case, get the funding, show the fruit. External sources for possibility, internal for context.There is no one place to learn. Leaders she has worked with, her own consulting years, the big firms, the small niche shops. External tells her what is possible. The business tells her what is actually needed. She translates somewhere in the middle, and the pace of change the organization can absorb decides how fast she moves. Nothing you pick up is wrong. Some of it is just not applicable yet.That answer changed how I think about filtering. It is about where the organization sits in its maturity, which levers you pull now and which ones wait. She gave an example. Payroll running manually off spreadsheets, human error waiting to happen. She added a workforce management module at renewal even though the group would harmonize systems two years later, because the team needed to stretch that muscle now. When the harmonization comes, they walk in ready to shape it instead of receiving it. Her monster moment was learning at night and applying it the next day.Sears to Accenture. Business operations leader to consultant, zero consulting experience, hired three levels above where anyone normally starts. The first six months were monstrous. There was no classroom. She had to learn stakeholders, complexity, and how to translate her business experience into that room. Nobody told her that was the work. She had to figure out that she needed to figure it out. Happiness is not the next achievement.Ask her what she would do differently and she says nothing. She spent years chasing the next challenge and still loves it, but what she has learned is that happiness is being present enough to appreciate where you are while staying curious about what is next. She says she is afraid of failure and that she is working on it. Her purpose has nothing to do with a title. Get full access to People ATX at traslavina.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Aug 13

    Ralph Hasson

    Ralph Hasson said one thing on the podcast that I made him repeat. Networking and building relationships are not the same. Networking is you walking into a room with your hand out. Building relationships is you walking in curious about the other person, trying to help them first, before you ever ask for anything back. One of those makes people feel used. The other one is why, years later, they still pick up your call. I have known Ralph a while. We share an orthopedic surgeon, we cross paths at Whole Foods on Saturdays, and I still learn something every time we talk. Lawyer, mediator, sits on real boards, spent years at the National Association of Corporate Directors. But the reason I wanted him on the show is that he does the relationship thing better than almost anyone I know, and he does it without performing it. Then we got into boardrooms, and this is the part I want you to slow down and read twice. If you are an executive thinking about board service, Ralph handed me a whole playbook in about ten minutes. Here is what he said. How boards actually pick people now * The old way was celebrities and stars. Big names in the industry. Ralph says well run boards do not do that anymore. * They build a matrix. They look at the company’s strategy first, then ask what skills and experience already sit on the board, and what is missing. * Then they recruit to fill the gap. So if you want a seat, stop trying to be impressive and figure out exactly which gap you fill. How you earn your way in * Name the sectors where you genuinely add value. Get specific. Have a few sample companies in mind. * Go build relationships in those sectors. Not networking. Relationships. Two way street. * Get in front of the right boards with a value proposition that is strong, because the room is crowded and competitive. What the job actually costs * Usually four board meetings a year, sometimes more. * Committee work between the meetings, and real homework. A lot to read, a lot to absorb. * On a good board, you are doing site visits and meeting the people who work there, not just the management team. * His line: this is not something you show up for four times a year. The part nobody tells you * The fiduciary duties are serious. If the board does not do its job, you can be personally liable. * So Ralph’s advice is blunt. Do not join a board unless you know it is right for you. * Nonprofit boards are unpaid, and you are expected to give or get. Paid boards vary a lot by size and whether the company is public or private. Most people are not getting rich doing this. How to run a board meeting worth attending * Spend less time looking back at last quarter and more time looking forward. * Cut the historical reporting. Maximize the actual conversation between board and management about where the company is going. * Strategy belongs on every agenda. Every single one. * Someone has to keep time and move the room along, usually the lead independent director, and Ralph does it gently. How are we doing on the agenda. How you know if you are any good at it This was my favorite part. Well run boards assess themselves. The full board, each committee, and then peer reviews of individual directors, usually a third of the board each year so everyone gets looked at over three years. What are they looking for in you. * Are you prepared. Did you do the reading. * Do you show up on time. He knows it sounds basic. It is not. * Do you engage constructively. You have to be willing to challenge what you hear, but you do it in a way that moves the room forward, not one that blows it up. * Are you collegial, even when you disagree on a decision. * Do you do your committee work between meetings, where a lot of the real work happens. * Do you bring new ideas to the table. Read that list again and you will notice something. None of it is about being the smartest person in the room. It is about showing up, doing the work, and treating people right. Which brings the whole thing back to where Ralph started. Networking gets you in the door. Relationships are what keep you in the room. Get full access to People ATX at traslavina.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Mar 8

    The Man Who Grew Up in Paradise—and Built Something Worth Keeping

    Most people start a business because they spotted a market opportunity. Daniel Bolaños started his because of a memory. His grandfather, standing at a clay pot in the backyard of their home on Santa Cruz Island, stirring coffee beans over heat with a wooden spoon. The smell. The sound. A young boy watching, not knowing that thirty years later, he would be doing the same thing—but this time, building something that could carry that memory into the world. That’s where Islander Coffee begins. Not with a pitch deck. Not with a market gap. With a boy, a grandfather, and the kind of love that gets passed down when you’re paying attention. I sat down with Daniel recently on the Path Forward podcast. What followed was one of the most honest conversations I’ve had about what it actually takes to build something—and who you have to become to do it. Your first classroom is your family. Daniel was born and raised in the Galápagos. No TV for most of his childhood. His backyard was lava rock and cactus. He made arrows and explored. He went to the beach alone. He watched the animals and the tides. His grandparents ran a bakery and a farm. His grandmother, Irene Nivella, had already been dreaming of making sparkling juices from island fruit—when the supply boat arrived once every three months. His grandfather, Gustavo Manjarrez, grew coffee and roasted it by hand. “They taught me: if you want something, you can do it. No matter the difficulty. No matter the hostile environment. You can do it.” He didn’t learn entrepreneurship from a course. He learned it by watching people he loved do hard things with dignity. Quick Takeaway: Who shaped your work ethic? Before you chase a role or build a company, get honest about the values you’re already carrying. Most of us are already living someone’s lesson. The question is whether it’s the right one. Honesty and hard work aren’t soft skills. They’re the foundation. I asked Daniel about his first job. He was seven or eight years old, cleaning pans in his grandmother’s bakery. She paid him in sucres—Ecuador’s currency before the dollar. He earned it. When I asked him what attributes he learned in that first phase of his career, he didn’t hesitate: honesty, and working hard. “I don’t remember hearing anything bad about them. Ever. Not in childhood, not in adolescence, not now.” That’s integrity modeled, not instructed. It’s the difference between being told to be honest and watching someone choose honesty when it costs them something. Quick Takeaway: Reputation is built in the small moments. Not the big presentations. Not the promotions. The moments when no one’s watching and you do the right thing anyway. The pandemic didn’t break him. It activated him. For years, Daniel and his wife Belén talked about opening a coffee shop. They delayed. Life got in the way. Kids arrived. Jobs were stable. The dream sat in a drawer. Then COVID-19 shut down the Galápagos. Tourism—the backbone of the local economy—went to zero overnight. Daniel and Belén both lost their income in the same week. “We said: now is the moment to make this real. The project we’ve been postponing for years. Let’s do it.” Four years ago, Islander Coffee opened its doors. Most people in crisis look for safety. Daniel looked for the thing he’d been putting off. That distinction matters. Quick Takeaway: Disruption is information. If you’ve been postponing something important, the question isn’t whether you’re ready. It’s whether the cost of waiting is higher than the cost of starting. He ran out of coffee. He didn’t compromise. Islander Coffee has one non-negotiable: every bean comes from Galápagos farmers. No imported coffee. Ever. In the first year, a harvest shortfall left them with almost nothing. Daniel was calling loyal customers through the back door, quietly selling his last remaining bags, asking them not to tell anyone. “Many would say: just bring in coffee from outside. But no. We said we have to stay firm with our purpose. We don’t change direction just because circumstances are hard.” That’s what values actually look like. Not a mission statement on a wall. A decision made when no one would have blamed you for going the other way. Quick Takeaway: Your values are tested in the hard moments—not the easy ones. If you’ve never had to choose between your principles and your revenue, you haven’t been tested yet. He didn’t wait for the industry to catch up. The industry caught up to him. From day one, Islander Coffee evaluated its farmers not just on the quality of the bean—but on how they treated their workers, managed water, and cared for the land. One partner is reforesting native trees that were cleared by earlier generations. Another uses a machine that reduces water consumption in coffee washing by 600 percent. They weren’t following a trend. They were following their conscience. Then last year, the Specialty Coffee Association updated its global scoring framework to include “extrinsic” factors—ethics, sustainability, social impact. Daniel told his wife the news. “We looked at each other and said: we’ve been doing this for four years. Not because we knew the industry was coming here. Because it was the right thing to do.” Quick Takeaway: Doing the right thing before it’s rewarded is called integrity. Doing it after everyone else does is called following. The leaders worth watching usually arrive early. He was an air traffic controller. And it made him a better entrepreneur. Before Islander Coffee, Daniel spent years directing planes at Galápagos airport. When I asked him what that career taught him, his answer was immediate. “Two planes approaching each other at 900 kilometers per hour. That’s 1,800 kilometers per hour of closing speed. You don’t have time to hesitate. You think, you decide, you act.” He carries that into every business decision. Not recklessness—clarity. The discipline to move when moving is required. Every career you’ve had has left something in you. The question is whether you’re using it. Quick Takeaway: You are not starting over when you change careers. You are compounding. Every skill, every environment, every pressure you’ve survived is still inside you. Use it. On humility: he’s still just learning. I asked Daniel what brand he admires most. He teared up. It wasn’t Apple. It wasn’t Nike. It was his grandmother’s bakery. La Selecta. “When I remember it, tears come to my eyes. She built that here—in the Galápagos—with nothing. That is the craziest thing to me. That is what I admire most.” He’s a Q-Grader certified coffee taster. A trained roaster. A barista. A triathlete preparing for Ironman Lima. He reads James Clear. He meditates while cycling. He’s studied his craft since 2017. And when you ask him who taught him the most, he points to a woman with a wooden spoon and a dream and a boat that came once every three months. Quick Takeaway: Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It’s knowing exactly where you came from—and staying connected to it, even after you’ve grown beyond it. What he would tell his 20-year-old self. I asked Daniel what he would say to Daniel at 20. His answer was fast and direct. “Don’t postpone. If you have something in your mind, do it. If you fail, it doesn’t matter. You get back up. But stop waiting until everything is perfect. Everything will never be perfect.” He waited eight years to start Islander Coffee. He says he wishes he’d done it twenty years earlier. The coffee was always there. The island was always there. The skill was being built all along. What was missing was the decision. Quick Takeaway: Readiness is often a story we tell ourselves to avoid risk. The question is not “Am I ready?” The question is “Is the cost of waiting higher than the cost of starting?” The real reason he does this. I asked Daniel why he’s really doing this. Why the effort, the early mornings, the certifications, the farmers, the team. “For my children. For the generations. So that when I’m not here anymore, they can hear the stories and feel proud.” That’s not ambition. That’s legacy. And there’s a difference. Ambition is about you. Legacy is about what remains after you. Daniel isn’t building a coffee brand. He’s building a story his kids will tell. He’s honoring the grandparents who showed him that hard things are worth doing. And he’s proving that a small island at the edge of the world can produce something the entire world should taste. 6 Leadership Lessons from Daniel Bolaños * Your first classroom is your family. Watch what the people you love do when it costs them something. * Integrity is modeled, not instructed. The people who shaped you didn’t lecture you into honesty—they showed it. * Crisis activates what comfort delays. The pandemic didn’t give Daniel an excuse. It gave him a deadline. * Hold the line on what matters. Values aren’t real until they cost you something. Daniel had an easy way out. He didn’t take it. * Every career leaves something in you. The skills you developed doing something else are not wasted. They’re waiting. * Legacy is the reason. Not revenue. Not recognition. The clearest leaders know what they’re building toward—and who it’s for. Daniel Bolaños is the co-founder of Islander Coffee, based in Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador. Islander Coffee sources exclusively from local Galápagos farmers and is available in their café and online. If you’re visiting the islands, go find them. The coffee will tell you the rest. Get full access to People ATX at traslavina.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Feb 28

    The Quiet Discipline of Leadership

    Executive leaders talk about scale, performance, and enterprise value. Few talk about humility, love, and endurance in the same sentence. Francisco does — not rhetorically, but operationally. Born in Peru and forged through transition, reinvention, and disciplined self-examination, Francisco’s journey reflects what Jim Collins defines in Good to Great as Level 5 Leadership: a rare combination of personal humility and professional will. This is not soft leadership. It is not charismatic leadership. It is not performative leadership. It is durable leadership. And it is built on resilience, discipline, and an unusual comfort with letting people grow beyond you. Level 5 in Practice: Humility Without Weakness Collins’ research found that companies that moved from good to great were led not by celebrity executives, but by leaders who were “ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the organization, the work — not themselves.” Francisco embodies that orientation. He does not frame leadership around personal visibility. He frames it around standards. He leads with clarity: * Clear ownership. * Clear expectations. * Clear consequences. * Clear accountability. When asked about retention, his response is not defensive. He states plainly: “If someone leaves because they outgrew the role, that is success.” That sentence reflects Level 5 thinking. Ego-driven leaders hoard talent.Level 5 leaders develop it — even if it costs them in the short term. Humility here is not passivity. It is disciplined self-control. It is the ability to subordinate ego to institutional strength. Resilience: The Endurance Athlete’s Advantage Francisco approaches leadership the way endurance athletes approach ultra-distance racing. In high-endurance sports, performance is rarely about explosive moments. It is about: * Energy management. * Consistency. * Mental resilience. * Long-term pacing. * Recovery discipline. The parallel is precise. Sprint leaders burn out. Endurance leaders compound. Francisco prioritizes rhythm over intensity. He invests in physical training, mental clarity, and reflective time. That is not lifestyle branding. It is capacity management. In ultra-distance races, quitting rarely happens at mile one. It happens at mile seventy, when fatigue erodes judgment. Leadership fatigue works the same way. Poor decisions are often exhaustion decisions. Resilience, in this context, is not toughness theater. It is sustainable discipline. Discipline as an Act of Love Executives often separate “care” from “performance.” Francisco does not. He believes clarity is respect. Avoiding difficult conversations is not kindness — it is avoidance. He addresses underperformance directly and early. Not to punish, but to preserve standards. Love in leadership is not sentiment. It is commitment to someone’s growth, even when that growth requires friction. In Good to Great, Collins describes the concept of “First Who, Then What.” The right people on the bus, in the right seats. Francisco operationalizes this through his “crew” model. A crew implies: * Defined roles. * Mutual accountability. * High interdependence. * Shared mission. In a high-performing crew, ambiguity is a liability. Community as Leadership Laboratory Francisco’s involvement in the community is not symbolic. It is relational and consistent. At Islander Coffee, he is not merely a customer. The space represents something deeper: connection across founders, students, operators, and creatives. It is a physical ecosystem where ideas are exchanged and standards are observed in real time. The coffee shop becomes a microcosm of Level 5 leadership: * The barista owns the experience. * The workflow is respected. * The founder protects tone, not ego. * Consistency outperforms flair. The espresso tastes the same whether leadership is present or not. That is culture. For executives, this matters. Culture is not what is written. It is what replicates. The Power of Letting Go Level 5 leaders are paradoxical. They combine fierce resolve with personal modesty. They build institutions that outlast them. Francisco measures leadership not by retention rates alone, but by post-departure impact. He asks: * Did I stretch them? * Did I give them ownership? * Did they leave stronger? In executive environments, exits are often treated as loss events. Francisco treats them as audits. If high performers repeatedly leave for similar reasons, the pattern is systemic, not personal. That orientation requires humility. It also requires courage. Resilience is not only about enduring pressure. It is about enduring feedback without defensiveness. Passion Without Ego Passion, in Francisco’s model, is not emotional volatility. It is sustained commitment to standards. The endurance parallel returns here. Elite endurance athletes do not chase adrenaline. They protect recovery. They monitor pace. They respect constraints. They train in obscurity. Similarly, Level 5 leaders: * Avoid theatrics. * Protect long-term capacity. * Build disciplined habits. * Measure success in decades, not quarters. Humility protects focus. Discipline protects performance. Passion protects mission. What This Means for Executives Francisco’s journey reinforces a research-backed reality: Organizations that endure are led by leaders who subordinate ego to mission. Resilience without humility becomes rigidity.Humility without discipline becomes weakness.Passion without structure becomes chaos. Level 5 leadership integrates all three. For executive leaders, the question is not whether you are ambitious. It is what you are ambitious for. Personal legacy?Or institutional durability? Francisco’s journey suggests a higher standard: build people so strong they no longer require you — and build systems so disciplined they continue without you. That is endurance leadership. And that is what lasts. Get full access to People ATX at traslavina.substack.com/subscribe

  5. 12/27/2025

    Save a Seat—The Power of Real Connection

    As we close this monumental year, I’ve felt the weight of movement. Friends changed jobs. Neighbors packed up. People I admire moved on. Some left quietly. Some left a hole. It’s a strange kind of sadness — not dramatic, but deep. It reminds me of a thought I’ve carried for years: imagine your own funeral. After an hour, people leave. Someone else takes your job. Your house sells. Life goes on. That idea used to scare me. It made me wonder: Does anything really last? This year, that thought came back — but not as fear. As clarity. I’ve found myself reflecting on mentors, friends, colleagues, and even people I wasn’t particularly close to. People who, through a shared season or circumstance, made a quiet but lasting mark. Some moved on because of new opportunities. Some because of distance. Others simply drifted. But I still carry them. When I left Colombia at 15, connection became my anchor. It’s been the constant ever since — sometimes in coworkers, sometimes in strangers through a book, a podcast, a chance encounter. If the connection is genuine, it lifts me. That part hasn’t changed. What has changed is how I understand connection now. For a long time, I assumed closeness required proximity. That being connected meant being in touch. But it doesn’t. You don’t need daily contact to stay close. What matters is that you once shared something real. You saw each other — fully, honestly. That kind of truth doesn’t dissolve with time. I’ve seen it in my own life. You can pick up the phone after five years of silence and the voice on the other end feels like yesterday. Research backs this up: dormant ties — old colleagues, classmates, even brief but meaningful encounters — can be just as powerful, if not more so, than our current circles when reactivated. Because the foundation was real. In Japan, there’s a word for this kind of commitment: moai. These are lifelong groups, chosen early, that walk with you through life’s ups and downs. In Okinawa — one of the world’s longest-living communities — people belong to moais for decades. Some for nearly a century. They celebrate births, endure grief, share food, and show up — year after year. Dan Buettner’s research on Blue Zones — the world’s healthiest, longest-living populations — found this kind of deep, reliable connection matters more than exercise, even more than diet. These aren’t transactional relationships. These are emotional safety nets. You fall, they catch you. You disappear, they look for you. When I worked in consulting, we often asked executives, Who do you admire? And I always found myself answering with people I knew. My mom. My dad. Leaders I worked beside. Not the ones on magazine covers. The ones who showed up fully. Who led with presence, not perfection. Some of them are no longer in my life. But they’re still with me. I’ve saved them a seat. Not out of nostalgia — out of gratitude. Because here’s the thing I’ve realized: Real connection doesn’t end. It just changes form. And in some seasons, it returns when you need it most. This is not just about personal relationships either. It shows up in leadership. In culture. In hiring. It’s the difference between retaining people who stay for a paycheck and people who stay because they feel seen. The future of work isn’t only about skills. It’s about trust. Belonging. Knowing someone has your back — even if they’re no longer in the next room. This year, I felt that shift. People left — but they also stayed with me. Not physically, but emotionally. Mentally. Spiritually. I’ve found myself quietly whispering thank you to those who walked beside me, even briefly. A few were mentors. A few were strangers. Some were just people who showed up once — but fully. We live in a time of hyperconnection, but loneliness still runs high. That’s because scrolling doesn’t equal bonding. LinkedIn messages won’t replace shared presence. Not really. So I’ve stopped chasing more contacts. I’m choosing depth over reach. I’m learning to name the people who shaped me. To say: You moved me. You mattered. I’m glad you were on my train. Because life is a train — constantly in motion. People get on. Some stay for a few stops. Some for many. Some leave when you least expect it. And that hurts. But what stays isn’t the seat they left behind. What stays is the part of you they helped build. And that... doesn’t get sold. That doesn’t move out. That doesn’t end. So as we enter 2026, I’m not chasing more contacts. I’m going deeper. I’m not afraid to say: I admire you. You moved me. I’m glad you were on my train. Companies come and go. Seasons shift. But real connections stay. Get full access to People ATX at traslavina.substack.com/subscribe

  6. 12/10/2025

    Will Watson

    Some conversations stay with you because they reveal simple truths about work, life, and who we’re trying to become. My conversation with Will Watson — a young triathlete, coach, and someone still shaping his early chapters — was exactly that. Will is 22. But the way he talks about discipline, fear, community, identity, and purpose has the weight of someone who has already lived a few lifetimes. Here’s what surfaced — and what’s worth carrying forward. 1. The discipline to show up, even when everything in you says don’t. Triathlon is a long game. You don’t win on race day — you win at 5 a.m. on the days when you’d rather stay in bed. Will admitted motivation is inconsistent. Injuries wear you down. Cold mornings test you. Lows come without warning. But he also learned something simple: The lows are temporary. Showing up isn’t. That’s no different from work. The wins stack over time, not in one burst. 2. Perceived effort beats analytics — in sport and at work. Will loves data. Heart rate. Power. Fuel. But he realized something: the deeper skill is knowing yourself. Knowing when you’re holding back, when you’re pushing too hard, when fear is making decisions for you. We chase dashboards at work — KPIs, OKRs, performance cycles, AI tools — but what actually moves the needle? Awareness, intuition, and the courage to risk blowing up on the run to see what you’re capable of. That’s how people grow. That’s how teams grow. 3. Community is the multiplier. When Will moved to Austin, he discovered something surprising. He wasn’t “behind” in his training — he was just training alone. The moment he found community, everything leveled up. Accountability changed. Energy changed. His belief in his own potential changed. The same thing happens in companies. High-performing teams aren’t built on job descriptions — they’re built on proximity, shared standards, and the feeling that someone is running beside you. Community is the cheat code for growth. 4. Hard seasons change your life — but they don’t define you. Will got sick, ended up in the ER with a massive bill, then two weeks later got hit by a car. He thought his season — and maybe his career — was over. He laughed telling the story, not because it was funny, but because it reminded him of something essential: Life hits in clusters. Your job is to keep going anyway. In work and in life, it’s not if you hit a low — it’s when. Resilience isn’t heroic. It’s quiet. It’s the decision to keep pedaling even when fear is louder than momentum. 5. Education is not the map — it’s one of the tools in your bag. Will wrestled with college:• Good grades in some areas• Not great in others• Unsure of direction• Feeling like school wasn’t “lighting him up” We talked about something that took me decades to learn: The workplace doesn’t reward straight A’s. It rewards people who know what makes them come alive and who build the self-discipline to pursue it. Will has that. Many people twice his age are still searching for it. 6. Identity is flexible — especially in your 20s. Will started his life as a soccer kid. Then he became a triathlete. Now he’s exploring a professional career in a company he believes in. Identity shifts are not failures — they are chapters. What matters is exactly what he’s doing:• Listening to his gut• Asking thoughtful people for advice• Placing himself in the right rooms• Taking intentional risks while the stakes are still low If more young professionals operated like that, career transitions would feel less overwhelming. 7. AI is a tool — not a replacement for critical thinking. Will uses AI in coaching: adjusting workloads, tailoring recovery, planning how athletes return from injury. He uses it the right way — he interprets it, questions it, adds judgment, translates it for real humans. In a world terrified AI will replace us, his approach is refreshing: AI can’t replace someone who knows their craft. It amplifies people who think clearly. That’s the future of work. 8. Joy comes from lighting other people up. Will defined happiness in a way that many executives struggle to articulate: Happiness is helping people find their spark.Joy is watching people do things they didn’t think they could do.Fulfillment is waking up early for someone else’s growth. That’s not the answer of a 22-year-old. That’s the answer of someone who understands leadership at its core. 9. Purpose is simple: be a light in the pond you’re in. He doesn’t care about titles, status, or prestige. He said something that stayed with me: “I think I’m here to be a light. If I can help one person show up, try something new, or find some purpose, that’s enough.” That’s it.Not everyone needs to change the world.But everyone can change the room they’re in. 10. The triathlon–work analogy is real. A race is life compressed into hours:• You start behind sometimes.• You catch up by leaning into your strengths.• You collaborate without drafting — like teams do when they’re aligned.• You suffer in silence and then in community.• And you cross the line knowing the real victory happened long before the finish. The workplace is the same. People think careers are built on milestones — promotions, titles, LinkedIn updates. But they’re really built on the invisible moments of discipline, community, resilience, and purpose. This is the heart of Path Forward. Will doesn’t have all the answers — none of us do. But he understands the fundamentals: Show up.Trust your gut.Invest in people.Take risks when you’re young.Ride out the lows.Be a light. If more people lived like that, workplaces would change. Teams would change. Lives would change. Get full access to People ATX at traslavina.substack.com/subscribe

  7. 11/07/2025

    Lisa Kunkel

    In a world where career paths can be as unpredictable as they are exciting, the journey of self-discovery often shapes our professional lives in profound ways. In this enlightening podcast episode, Lisa Kunkel shares her experiences and lessons learned from childhood to adulthood, offering valuable insights for both newcomers to the workforce and seasoned professionals contemplating a career change. What Lisa does (and how she does it): * Who she helps: high achievers, executives, and people in transition who feel stuck despite “success.” * Core outcomes: clearer choices, aligned careers, calmer operating rhythm, better leadership habits. * Method: short, direct conversations that surface the real issue; “return to the truth inside” and honor it with simple actions. * Tools & craft: UC Berkeley executive-coach training, leadership and communications background, journaling frameworks, nature-based exercises (yes, actual forest time), and practical accountability. * Where she’s different: she won’t solve your life—she’ll help you hear your own answer, then make you act on it. The story behind the coach:Lisa grew up in South Minneapolis, an only child who learned early to observe people—hosts, diners, strangers downtown—like a young ethnographer. She found media and movies as a window into human dynamics, then built a career telling stories at scale: Mall of America, General Mills, agency work, and later Whole Foods Market, where she led social, brand content, and influencer. She climbed fast, got the awards, the title, the house—and then asked, “Is this it?” India cracked something open. Away from labels and routines, she made hard calls: a divorce, an exit, a real sabbatical. She walked, journaled, sat in silence, and—my favorite detail—brought a Polaroid to give people their own photos on service trips. Simple connection, no strings. Sobriety is the engine room. She got sober at 17 and just marked 25 years. She calls it the most important investment of her life: a decision that built the tools to face anything without armor. That discipline shows up everywhere—daily walks, journaling, grounding in nature, and a bias for honest conversations over performative ones. On work, her pet peeve is the fake split between “professional” and “human.” On leadership, it’s clarity with care. On happiness, it’s a steady state of contentment, not a high. She’s still a Minnesota booster. The State Fair is joy and nostalgia—kettle corn, dairy-building twist cones, Sweet Martha’s cookies (her fifth-grade art teacher!), and the reminder that community is a real thing, not a slide. She loves brands that earn attention with ideas (Apple’s “Think Different”) and brands that play smart in culture (Liquid Death). On AI, she’s curious and pragmatic: learn it, use it, set ethics around it; don’t give your power away to fear. Today her coaching practice is the synthesis: strategy from two decades in communications, courage from lived resets, and a simple promise—she’ll help you get back to what you already know, then stand there with you while you honor it. The rest—career moves, titles, salary—tends to follow. Get full access to People ATX at traslavina.substack.com/subscribe

  8. 10/21/2025

    Be a Light, Build the Leaf: Harrison Tognela’s Early-Career Playbook

    Some careers look like a chess game—grand strategy from the start. Harrison’s path reads more like a series of deliberate sprints: recover, reframe, re-aim, repeat. From a Division I soccer dream interrupted by a brutal knee injury to a summa cum laude pivot into data science—and high-impact roles at Tesla, Walmart/Store No. 8, and Amazon Grocery—his compass is simple and stubborn: serve others, learn fast, and let purpose set the pace. The early rewrites Harrison grew up moving across the country—Carolina to Texas to Seattle and back again—collecting teams and mentors along the way. Soccer dominated his childhood and carried him into college, until a torn ACL/MCL/meniscus changed the script. That detour, plus the shock of COVID, nudged him to transfer to Baylor, change his major to Data Science, and adopt a guiding motto he saw on campus: “Be a light.” At Baylor, he didn’t just collect grades (though he collected almost only A’s). He built a worldview: work should make the room brighter—for teammates, customers, and strangers who will never know your name. What the fast lane teaches Tesla was a crash course in speed and ego-free iteration. “You can be 90% done and leadership will scrap it if there’s a better idea.” Translation: progress is not sacred—outcomes are. He learned to fail fast and attach to the customer, not the sunk cost. Walmart/Store No. 8 sharpened the systems brain: Python + SQL automations, clickstream dashboards, cross-functional alignment with eight teams. Storytelling mattered as much as code. Amazon Grocery is where scale met stewardship: analytics for a burgeoning grocery subscription, customer segmentation across tens of millions of shoppers, and the quiet craft of building the tables, pipelines, and visuals that let leaders see what matters. The part he loves most? Turning data into narratives that drive better decisions—making the abstract concrete so teams can move. The hidden engine: people Harrison’s “networking” isn’t transactional—it’s devotional. Short, sincere notes; quick follow-ups; gratitude with details. He credits mentors and alumni connectors for key doors at every stop. He’s right: most people never send the second note. He always does. Craft over perfection School rewards perfect scores; industry rewards useful change. Harrison had to unlearn perfectionism—sleep more, adapt faster, and favor outcomes over optics. He keeps a watch to defend eight hours, runs Austin’s trails, cuts sugar and alcohol, and guards the inputs that keep the outputs sharp. Faith anchors the posture: life is long and, with the right center, surprisingly light. That posture bleeds into how he handles chaos at work—calm, positive, relentlessly constructive. The “leaf” mindset A story he loves: an artist obsessed with painting one perfect leaf never finishes the tree. The point isn’t to do everything; it’s to do your leaf with excellence, trusting others to do theirs. That frees him to choose stretch goals, accept misses, and still climb. How he sets goals Start with the result and work backward (Amazon’s native tongue). If the goal shifts, the plan shifts. Stretch on purpose; if you’re never failing, you’re not stretching. Who he admires His dad—25 years at Microsoft, still learning, still serving, leaving concert-level perks to sit on a youth-league sideline. That single choice taught Harrison what loyalty feels like from the inside. Five lessons to steal * Outcome > ownership. Kill the 90%-done work if a better path appears. Pride is expensive; customers are priceless. * Ship stories, not just stats. Dashboards don’t move people—narratives do. Make the data speak in verbs. * Practice visible gratitude. Short, personal follow-ups compound. Your network is built in the small, specific thank-yous. * Protect the inputs. Sleep, movement, food, faith, relationships—optimize the system that produces your work. * Pick your leaf. You’re a part of a larger tree. Do your part exquisitely; trust the forest. Key takeaways * Pivot power: Injury and COVID didn’t end a dream; they rerouted it toward Data Science and purpose-driven work. * Speed with humility: Tesla taught him to detach from sunk costs; Amazon taught him to scale impact with clarity. * Network like a neighbor: Notes > noise. Small, consistent touches beat big, rare asks. * Grades aren’t gospel: Industry rewards adaptability, not 103% scores. * Purpose is portable: “Be a light” turns every meeting into a chance to leave people and systems better. Chapters 00:00Welcome to the Sauna: A Space for Healing 00:58Path Forward: Finding Purpose in Work 01:57Harrison’s Journey: From Soccer to Data Science 06:04Internship Insights: Learning from Tesla 08:07The Power of Networking: Building Connections 11:51Managing Energy: Balancing Work and Well-being 14:54Spirituality and Reflection: Being a Light 18:50Monster Moments: Transformative Life Experiences 21:54Learning and Growth: The Importance of Curiosity 24:42Goal Setting: The Amazon Approach 26:50Living with Purpose: Making a Difference 28:49Legacy and Fulfillment: What Matters Most 31:30Admiration and Influence: Learning from Family 35:25Closing Thoughts: The Journey AheadHarrison Tognela Get full access to People ATX at traslavina.substack.com/subscribe

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About

The podcast dedicated to empowering professionals through every twist and turn of their career journey. Whether you're exploring new job opportunities, coping with a recent layoff, or strategizing your next big move, we're here to provide the guidance and inspiration you need. traslavina.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Andres Traslavina & Jami Adkins
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Andres Traslavina
  • Show Website
    Path Forward