Highly Adaptive

Jeff Pelliccio

Real conversations. Real leaders. Insights you can use. Highly Adaptive is where executives and change makers come to hear what's actually working—not what's being sold. Hosts Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie bring together operators, advisors, and industry leaders for candid 30-minute conversations that deliver actionable takeaways, not theoretical fluff. Every episode tackles what matters to leaders navigating change: AI strategy, digital transformation, growth tactics, team development, and the decisions that shape organizations. The approach is agnostic—no platform pushing, no vendor allegiance—just multi-perspective truth that helps you cut through noise and lead with confidence. Whether you're running an organization, advising one, or driving change from within, this podcast exists to help you adapt and stay ahead. --- Our Sponsors: Allied Insight & All Things Staffing

  1. Going Narrow to Go Far

    4일 전

    Going Narrow to Go Far

    Summary You said yes again. To the client. To the new service line. To the second business you swore you could run alongside the first. It felt like ambition at the time. Six months later, the P&L tells a different story. In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with Scott Geller of Path Predict to dig into one of the hardest moves a leader can make: narrowing down on purpose. Scott spent his early years as a fractional CFO saying yes to everyone, from software companies to ghost kitchens to pre-made meal businesses. Then he made the deliberate choice to specialize in staffing. He walks through what changed on the other side of that decision, why "saying no is sometimes more important than saying yes," and what most leaders get wrong about fractional expertise. You'll hear how an industrial staffing client said "we know a lot of nurses" while trying to pivot into healthcare, why Scott applies a five-pillar pressure test before recommending an adjacent expansion, and how to tell when a fractional resource is the right fit versus when a full-time hire is the smarter play. Plus, Erin's "TRY" sticker reframe on what early-stage leaders need to unlearn. If you've been carrying every yes you've ever said and wondering why it feels heavier instead of bigger, this conversation is your blueprint for going narrow to go far. Key Takeaways 🎯 Going wide is often avoidance, not ambition: The hardest question isn't "what else can I sell?" It's "what am I actually the best at?" Saying yes to everything keeps you from answering it. 🚫 Saying no is a growth lever, not a loss: Scott walks away from manufacturing and inventory clients on purpose. Every "yes" you make on autopilot is a "no" to the work you actually do best. 🧩 Run the 5-pillar pressure test before any expansion: Strategy, process, people, tech, and capacity. If you can't honestly stress-test a new direction against all five, you're not expanding. You're guessing in public. 🪝 Specialization is a hook, not a cage: When Scott introduced himself as "a fractional CFO," nobody knew what to do with him. "A fractional CFO for staffing companies" started pulling referrals. The narrowing didn't shrink the opportunity. It changed who was looking for him. 💼 Fractional fits stages, not budgets: For firms in the growth zone trying to reach the next tier, renting the right slice of executive expertise often beats hiring the full seat. The signals to watch for are inside. 🪑 Vet fractional partners for the chair, not the title: Accountants calling themselves CFOs is the trap. Sat-in-the-chair, ran-the-strategy, navigated-the-crisis experience is the test. 📊 Match what you're good at with what you actually enjoy: Competence without enjoyment is a slow burnout. Focus where both overlap, and outsource (or fractionalize) the rest. Sponsors 🐼 Allied Insight: Going narrow only works if the marketing engine behind it actually fits the industry. Allied Insight is the Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses. 🐙 All Things Staffing: Where staffing leaders go for the resources that match the specifics of the work. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.

    58분
  2. Making Remote Teams Work

    5월 13일

    Making Remote Teams Work

    Summary Before the pandemic, about 5% of paid workdays happened at home. Today it's roughly 25%. Remote and hybrid aren't experiments anymore. They're the operating model. So why does it still feel like most companies are winging it? In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with Valerie Bowden, founder of CRDLE, to get into the real reason remote teams struggle. Spoiler: it's not the model. It's the system behind it. Valerie has built distributed teams from scratch and works with companies every day navigating the gap between "we hired someone remote" and "we actually set them up to succeed." The conversation covers where onboarding breaks down for remote hires, why proximity was never a management strategy, and what operators like Jeff and Valerie have built to replace it. You'll hear the story of one client named Josh who invested an hour a day training three remote SDRs and generated $100,000 in closed revenue in six weeks. You'll also get a look inside Allied Insight's virtual office on Gather Town and why 38 out of 40 team members show up to a voluntary monthly Coffee Break. If your remote team is online but not connected, this episode is your starting point. Key Takeaways Start with onboarding, not outcomes — If you're expecting day-one KPIs from someone you haven't trained, the problem isn't the hire. It's the setup. Rethink your remote onboarding before you evaluate remote performance. Proximity was a crutch, not a strategy — The hallway conversations, the desk drop-bys, the lunch table learning. When everyone was in the office, those moments covered for weak systems. Remote work didn't break your management. It exposed it. Treat remote team members like they're in the office — Give them the same tools, the same access, the same introductions across departments. The closer the experience mirrors in-office onboarding, the stronger the results. Invest in connection, not surveillance — Stop watching the green dot. Build cultural rituals like voluntary Coffee Breaks, cross-department introductions, and personal celebrations. People invest back when they feel invested in. Give someone ownership of the remote experience — One of the biggest mistakes is having no single person responsible for remote team member success. Assign it. Own it. The results follow. Be like Josh — One hour a day of personal training. Six weeks. $100,000 in closed revenue. Three SDRs who are still on his team. The ROI on intentional onboarding is real and measurable. Your talent pool is as big as your infrastructure allows — When your systems work, geography stops being a filter. Whether that means across the state or across the world, good remote infrastructure removes the ceiling on who you can hire next. Sponsors 🐼 Allied Insight: The team behind the systems that make distributed work actually work. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses. 🐙 All Things Staffing: Where staffing leaders go for the resources that sharpen their edge. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.

    44분
  3. Yes And - Leadership

    5월 6일

    Yes And - Leadership

    Summary Your team is smart. Experienced. Capable. And they still won't make a decision without you. That's not a hiring problem. It's a culture problem — and it almost always starts at the top. In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with Gina Trimarco, keynote speaker, leadership trainer, and creator of the trademarked Improvised Intelligence framework. The topic: why decision paralysis is almost always a leadership issue, and what it actually takes to build a culture where people decide, learn, and decide again. Gina owns Carolina Improv Company in South Carolina and trained at Second City in Chicago. She's spent nearly 20 years watching smart, capable people freeze. Not because they don't know what to do, but because the culture made it unsafe to act. She walks Jeff and Erin through her Improvised Intelligence framework, the connection between improv performance and emotional intelligence, and why the same discipline that makes a great scene partner makes a great leader. The conversation moves from the root causes of team paralysis through the mechanics of psychological safety done right, and into how her book The New Choice Effect reframes the way leaders approach big decisions. The takeaway isn't a framework to memorize. It's permission, for your team and for yourself, to move without waiting for perfect. Key Takeaways Start with self-awareness: Before you can fix your team's decision-making culture, you have to understand your own. Log what gives you doubt. Track how you actually make decisions. Look for the patterns before you look at the people. Psychological safety is working when: people voice opinions without fear, knowing their perspective will be considered even if it isn't used. If your team is silent, that's data about the environment. Safety and accountability aren't opposites: A culture where it's safe to fail isn't one where anything goes. The best leaders create space for imperfect decisions while holding people to the values that define how they show up. The higher you go, the more your EQ can slip: Leaders in the ivory tower lose the pulse. Going to the collective isn't weakness. It's the fastest way to make better decisions with better information. Improvised Intelligence is a trainable discipline: The same skills that make a great improv performer, presence, social awareness, the instinct to make your partner look good, are the skills that make a great leader. And they can be practiced. Every choice is a door, not a verdict: Leaders who treat decisions as permanent stop moving. The New Choice Effect reframes big decisions as the first step in a series, not the cornerstone of everything. Give people permission: Whether it's your team, yourself, or the person next to you, people need explicit permission to explore, decide, and fall safely. Without it, they'll wait. Every time. Sponsors 🐼 Allied Insight: When your team can't move without you, the message isn't working. Allied Insight helps staffing and consulting firms build the kind of marketing that earns trust before the first conversation. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses. 🐙 All Things Staffing: For the leaders and operators who keep the staffing world moving. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.

    58분
  4. Building the Loom

    4월 29일

    Building the Loom

    Summary You've identified the problem. Your departments are fraying. The silos are real. The revenue impact is measurable. Now what? In Part 2 of The Fabric, Not the Thread, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie continue their conversation with Anna Frazzetto, Founder and CEO of AFM Strategic Partners, and shift from diagnosis to action. Anna walks through a tech rollout that looked great on paper and collapsed within three months — not because the tool was bad, but because nobody inspected whether the team was actually using it. She introduces her "inspect what you expect" framework, explains why she treats every rollout like a rehearsal dinner, and shares the three-touchpoint communication method she developed managing offshore teams. Jeff drops the line that may be the most shareable insight across both episodes: "The responsibility of the message landing properly is on the sender, not the receiver." And the PB&J exercise? It's the simplest proof that what you think you communicated and what your team actually heard are almost never the same thing. Part 1 found the fray. This is where you build the loom. Key Takeaways The responsibility is on the sender, not the receiver: If your rollout failed, don't start by looking at the people who didn't execute. Start by asking whether the message was ever woven into the way they actually work. Ownership of communication sits with the person sending it. Inspect what you expect: Rolling something out and walking away isn't leadership. Anna's framework: if you set an expectation, follow up on it. Use gaps as learning opportunities, not blame opportunities. The rollouts that unravel are the ones where nobody checked back in. Over-communication hasn't failed yet: Anna uses three touchpoints for every initiative: a team meeting to discuss, a follow-up email to document, and a check-in the following week to confirm understanding. It sounds like a lot. Until that third touchpoint is when someone finally says, "Oh, now I get it." The PB&J test reveals everything: Ask your team to write instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Watch the assumptions surface. Some people skip "open the jar." That's the same gap that kills your rollouts — the assumption that everyone sees the same picture you do. Treat every rollout like a rehearsal dinner: Before you go live, bring every team member and their managers together for a final check. Make sure Jane knows her role, John knows his, and nobody's carrying a hidden red flag. The tighter the rehearsal, the faster you recover when something breaks. Build templates that outlast the project: The best organizations don't reinvent the rollout every time. They build a repeatable project plan — who's involved, how communication happens, where the checkpoints are — and use it from project to project. The loom becomes a system, not a one-time effort. Thinking in fabric is a leadership identity: Cross-functional leadership isn't a trend. It's a philosophy. The leaders who see the full pattern — not just their own thread — are the ones who move entire organizations forward. Sponsors 🐼 Allied Insight: Building a loom takes intention. Allied Insight helps staffing and consulting businesses design marketing strategies that connect to sales, operations, and growth...not just look good on a slide. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses. 🐙 All Things Staffing: The templates, the insights, the community that keeps your threads connected. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.

    35분
  5. Culture Isn't a Perk, It's the Point

    4월 15일

    Culture Isn't a Perk, It's the Point

    Summary You've sat in that meeting. The one where someone says "culture is everything"...right before cutting the program that proved it. This week, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with DeLibra Wesley, founder of NRC and Women of Color in Staffing, for a conversation about what happens when leaders stop copying culture playbooks and start building from what they've actually lived through. DeLibra didn't read about best practices in a book. She built maternity leave because hers didn't exist until her eighth month of pregnancy. She created wellness days because she watched what happened when people were forced to work through their worst moments. She launched a student loan repayment program because her team told her what they needed and she listened. Every policy traces back to something real. The conversation moves from what breaks inside organizations when culture gets treated as optional, to what DeLibra built at NRC that stopped the bleeding, and then beyond her own walls into the communities she serves. Her nonprofit, Women of Color in Staffing, started because she went looking for a community that didn't exist. So she created one. NRC Cares, the philanthropic arm of her company, puts employees on the board of directors and teaches them how to build something that lasts. If you've ever wondered why your culture programs look right on paper but don't stick, this is the episode that explains what's missing. Key Takeaways Culture isn't discretionary, it's infrastructure. When leaders treat culture programs as perks to cut during downturns, they signal that employee wellbeing was never embedded in the first place. "We're going to sunset this" means it's already gone. DeLibra calls out the pattern: companies promise to replace what they cut, and the replacement never comes. The message employees hear is louder than anything on the careers page. Build from what you lived through, not what you benchmarked. Every policy at NRC traces back to a real experience. Maternity leave DeLibra didn't have. Holidays that didn't reflect her team's identities. Fear cultures she watched break people. That's what makes them stick. You can't be a lazy leader. Culture investment is individual. It means figuring out what each person on your team needs, not applying a one-size-fits-all framework and calling it done. The Tomorrow File. DeLibra's concept for change-makers who aren't yet in a position to implement: keep a running file of every culture change you want to make, and be ready when the window opens. Even a crack is enough if you're prepared. Your community doesn't stop at your doors. NRC extended culture investment to contractors through student loan repayment and summer savings plans. Women of Color in Staffing grew from 50 members to nearly 400. NRC Cares puts employees on the board. When the community you need doesn't exist, you build it. Showing up is the strategy. DeLibra adjusts her own calendar around the team's monthly happy hour, not the other way around. The simplest culture investment costs nothing but your presence. Sponsors 🐼 Allied Insight: When your culture runs deep, your marketing should reflect it. Allied Insight helps staffing and consulting businesses build brands that match the organizations behind them. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses. 🐙 All Things Staffing: The leadership insights don't stop when the episode ends. All Things Staffing delivers expert resources to keep you sharp between conversations. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.

    56분
  6. Finding the Fray

    3월 25일

    Finding the Fray

    Summary You've felt the friction before. The meeting where marketing is celebrating lead volume and sales can't convert a single one. The initiative that stalled because three departments had three different scripts. The moment you realize everyone's working hard — just not together. In this episode, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with Anna Frazzetto, Founder and CEO of AFM Strategic Partners, for Part 1 of a two-part conversation about what it actually costs when your organization operates as loose threads instead of connected fabric. Anna shares what she's seen firsthand, including a 23% revenue loss at one company where back-office systems weren't aligned with the services being delivered. She walks through the evolution of the C-suite, why specialization created silos nobody intended, and what happened when she started having teams shadow each other across departments. The results were a paradigm shift in how the organization operated and it started with mutual respect, not a reorg. This is the diagnosis. Part 2 is the fix. Key Takeaways Alignment isn't a buzzword — it's a revenue driver — Only 31% of employees are engaged at work, and 84% of marketers say cross-functional work feels like dragging an anchor. The organizations that figure out how to weave their departments together see compounding returns. Most organizations have all the threads — they're missing the loom — The talent, the tools, and the expertise are already there. What's missing is the structure that connects them. Without shared metrics, interlocking goals, and deliberate coordination, departments run parallel instead of together. The C-suite evolved for good reason — but lost end-to-end ownership — Specialization addressed complexity. But in creating a CRO, CSO, CMO, CDO, and more, organizations lost anyone responsible for the full journey. The threads got stronger. The fabric disappeared. Silos cost real money — Anna observed a 23% revenue impact when back-office systems weren't aligned with service delivery. That number only became visible after an organizational change proved the delta. Most companies don't even measure it. Shadow programs break silos faster than reorgs — When Anna had sales sit with recruiters and recruiters sit with IT, mutual respect replaced finger-pointing. Teams started solving problems together because they finally understood what the other side was dealing with. Start with baby steps, not big bangs — Fear and tenure are the two biggest barriers to organizational change. Anna's advice: pitch the smallest structural shift that creates alignment. One department realignment. One shared metric. One interlocked goal. Build from there. Come with solutions, not just problems — For change-makers who aren't in leadership yet: do the homework, understand the players, and present possible paths forward. Even imperfect solutions show leadership that you're invested in the company's future. Sponsors 🐼 Allied Insight: When your departments aren't woven together, your marketing feels it first. Allied Insight helps staffing and consulting businesses build strategies that connect — not just campaigns that compete for attention. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses. 🐙 All Things Staffing: The threads are already out there, industry insights, case studies, and practical resources that connect the dots. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.

    45분
  7. Courageous Culture with Ericka Hyson

    3월 18일

    Courageous Culture with Ericka Hyson

    Summary What's actually separating the organizations that are thriving right now from the ones that feel stuck? Most leaders point to technology, talent, or timing. Ericka Hyson makes the case that the real variable is courage — and not the inspirational poster version. In this conversation, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie sit down with growth advisor Ericka Hyson of Hyson Advisory to dig into what courageous culture actually looks like in practice — and how leaders can build it deliberately before the pressure forces their hand. Ericka brings two decades of experience building Ettain Group from a startup to over $150 million in revenue, and she doesn't work from theory. The conversation covers the paralysis that's keeping leaders frozen in the face of AI and market uncertainty, the real reason most core values don't stick, and why the most important question you can ask your team this week is one most leaders are avoiding entirely. Three moments stand out. First, Ericka's reframe of vulnerability as a leadership skill — not a weakness, but the muscle that creates psychological safety for everyone around you. Second, her practical breakdown of how to use core values as a daily decision-making lens, not a wall decoration — including what it means when your top producer isn't living them. And third, the zoom in/zoom out framework for knowing which circle to turn to when the weight of leadership gets heavy. This one doesn't just challenge how you think about culture. It gives you something to do about it this week. Key Takeaways Start by starting — The leaders winning right now aren't the most prepared. They're the most willing to act with clarity before they have all the answers. Waiting for certainty is its own kind of decision. Redefine courage for your team — Courage isn't about bold speeches or having the answers. It's about being vulnerable enough to admit what you don't know — and creating a space where your team can do the same. Make your core values a decision-making lens — If your values only live on a wall, they're not working. Define the specific behaviors behind each one, and use them to coach, recognize, promote, and — when necessary — make the hard call. Stop being the complaint department — When you solve every problem that lands on your desk, you train your team to bring you problems instead of solutions. Ask for two ideas before you offer one of your own. Share the backpack — Innovation doesn't have to live at the top. Empower people to own ideas from conception to execution, and watch what happens when they come back with the plan themselves. Know when to zoom in and when to zoom out — Your internal circle helps you execute. Your external circle — peers, coaches, advisors — helps you see the bigger picture. The right conversation in the wrong circle produces the wrong result. Ask the question your organization is avoiding — This week, find someone you trust and ask: what's one conversation we're not having that we should be? Then actually listen. Sponsors 🐼 Allied Insight: Building a courageous culture starts with having the right partners in your corner. Allied Insight helps staffing and consulting firms find their voice, sharpen their positioning, and show up with clarity in the market. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses. 🐙 All Things Staffing: Expert resources for the staffing community. Whether you're building culture, navigating change, or growing your firm, All Things Staffing connects you with the tools and insights to move forward. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.

    56분
  8. The Invisible Scorecard

    3월 11일

    The Invisible Scorecard

    Summary You've done the RFP. You've narrowed the field. You've sat through the presentations. And somehow, you still aren't sure who to choose. That's not a process failure. That's a signal that the process stopped too soon. In Episode 022 of Highly Adaptive, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie reimagine what vendor evaluation looks like when you go beyond capability and price to organizational alignment. The conversation starts with a real experience: Erin flew to Louisville for a final-two vendor evaluation, and after back-to-back presentations, the client sat both vendors at the same dinner table. No decks. No agenda. Just people telling their stories. What got revealed that night is the whole point of this episode. With conference season here, the timing couldn't be better. You're about to meet more potential partners in a compressed window than at any other point in the year. Jeff and Erin break down how to use that in-person time intentionally with an invisible scorecard that most executives are already running, just not formally. Walk in with it. Use it on purpose. The RFP gets you to the right finalists. This episode helps you figure out who actually belongs in your organization for the long run. Key Takeaways Go beyond the RFP — Capability and price get you to the right finalists. Organizational alignment determines who belongs in your organization for the long run. Build your invisible scorecard — Trustworthiness, emotional intelligence, conflict style, and cultural alignment are already being evaluated. Make those criteria explicit before your next selection process. Use the conference environment actively — Informal settings strip away controlled conditions. Cocktail hours, dinners, and hallway conversations reveal the version of a vendor you'll actually work with. Skip the booth demo for serious finalists — Request a side conversation outside the vendor hall. Change the setting, change the dynamic. Watch who can get off the product — If a vendor can't hold a conversation that isn't about their solution, that tells you something important about the partnership you'd be entering. Bring a buddy — An unbiased second perspective catches what you'll miss and removes bias from your evaluation. Use a simple rubric — Three criteria, a one-to-five scale, and a note taken right after the conversation. Drop it into AI when you're home. Let the data do the work your gut can't do alone. Sponsors 🐼 Allied Insight: When your vendor evaluation is done, your marketing still needs a partner you can trust. Allied Insight works alongside staffing and consulting firms to build the kind of brand presence that earns long-term relationships. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses. 🐙 All Things Staffing: The resources your team needs to navigate vendor decisions, industry trends, and everything in between. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.

    40분
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Real conversations. Real leaders. Insights you can use. Highly Adaptive is where executives and change makers come to hear what's actually working—not what's being sold. Hosts Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie bring together operators, advisors, and industry leaders for candid 30-minute conversations that deliver actionable takeaways, not theoretical fluff. Every episode tackles what matters to leaders navigating change: AI strategy, digital transformation, growth tactics, team development, and the decisions that shape organizations. The approach is agnostic—no platform pushing, no vendor allegiance—just multi-perspective truth that helps you cut through noise and lead with confidence. Whether you're running an organization, advising one, or driving change from within, this podcast exists to help you adapt and stay ahead. --- Our Sponsors: Allied Insight & All Things Staffing

정보

  • 제작진
    Jeff Pelliccio
  • 방송 연도
    2025년 - 2026년
  • 에피소드
    29
  • 등급
    무삭제판
  • 저작권
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • 웹사이트 보기
    Highly Adaptive