Humessence

We spend a lot of time teaching managers how to give feedback.

But what about teaching people how to receive it?

In the latest episode of The Present Professional, we sit down with Mallory Herrin, CEO and Principal HR Consultant of HerrinHR, to talk about the other side of the feedback conversation.

Because even when feedback is delivered thoughtfully, it can still sting. It can challenge how we see ourselves, trigger defensiveness, or feel unfair.

So what do you do next?

Mallory shares how curiosity, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence can help us separate feedback about our performance from our worth as a person. We also explore what to do when you disagree with the feedback, why asking for specific examples matters, and how proactively seeking feedback can actually build confidence over time.

Receiving feedback well does not mean agreeing with everything you hear.

Sometimes growth starts with simply asking, “What can I learn from this?”

🎧 Listen to Episode 84: How to Receive Feedback and Turn It Into Growth with Mallory Herrin

https://humessence.com/podcast/084-how-to-receive-feedback-and-turn-it-into-growth-with-mallory-herrin/

How do you typically respond when you receive feedback you don’t agree with?

What does authentic power look like when it is no longer tied to performing, pleasing others, or proving your worth?

In Episode 83 of The Present Professional Podcast, John Marshall sits down with leadership coach, organizational psychologist, and bestselling author Dr. Sohee Jun for a deeply personal conversation about aligning what you think, say, and do.

Together, they explore:

• Why outward success can still feel deeply misaligned
• How inherited “shoulds” influence the way we lead
• Why relationships—not results alone—determine how far a leader can go
• How body awareness and nervous-system regulation shape executive presence
• What changes when we loosen our attachment to outcomes
• How curiosity and self-compassion support lasting growth

As Dr. Sohee shares, authentic leadership begins by noticing the voice inside your head and asking whether it supports the way you want to show up.

Listen to Episode 83:
https://humessence.com/podcast/083-unlocking-authentic-power-in-leadership-with-dr-sohee-jun/

What is one expectation or “should” you are ready to reconsider?

Executive coaching is often misunderstood.

It is not advice-giving.
It is not performance correction.
It is not a place where someone else tells a leader who to become.

At its best, executive coaching is a structured, confidential partnership that helps leaders build self-awareness, examine patterns, clarify choices, and apply new behavior in the real context of their work.

It can support executive presence, communication, decision-making, emotional regulation, stakeholder influence, confidence, and the gap between intention and impact.

At Humessence, we see coaching as a space where insight becomes practice.

Because leadership growth is not just about knowing more.

It is about leading with greater clarity, consistency, and care when it matters most.

Ready to explore what executive coaching could help you strengthen in your leadership? Learn more about our coaching options for individual leaders:
https://humessence.com/coaching/individuals/executive-coaching/

HR is carrying more than most organizations realize.

In Episode 082 of The Present Professional, John Marshall sits down with Jessica Miller Merrell, founder of Workology, president and CEO of Exceptional HR, and author of Digitizing Talent, to explore the hidden workload HR professionals carry every day.

From recruiting, compliance, and benefits to culture, communication, reporting, employee support, and training, HR is often expected to hold together an enormous amount of invisible work behind the scenes.

Jessica shares practical ways HR leaders can make that work more visible, communicate their strategic value in business language, and use data, technology, AI, ticketing systems, and influence to build a stronger case for support and resources.

If you are an HR leader, executive, founder, manager, or people leader trying to better understand burnout, hidden work, and the business impact of people operations, this episode is worth your time.

Listen here: https://humessence.com/podcast/082-the-hidden-workload-of-hr-and-how-to-address-it-with-jessica-miller-merrell/

At Humessence, coaching goes beyond asking thoughtful questions.

Because our team is trained, certified, and actively practicing, we bring a coaching mindset into every workshop, training, facilitation, and culture enablement initiative we lead.

That matters.

A great learning experience is not just about the presentation. It is about the ability to read the room, respond to what is emerging, adapt in real time, and connect the material to the actual leadership challenges people are facing.

Our coaches are working with leaders every day in confidential one-on-one spaces, supporting the real conversations, decisions, tensions, and growth moments that shape organizational performance.

That lived context makes our training more relevant.
It makes our facilitation more responsive.
It makes our culture work more human.

There is a reason our team is trained, certified, and actively practicing.

We believe the work of developing people should be led by people who are deeply engaged in that work themselves.

Meet the Humessence coaches and facilitators who help leaders turn insight into meaningful, lasting change: https://humessence.com/about/leadership-coaches-and-facilitators/

Reorganizations can shake a team’s sense of safety, clarity, and control.

And in those moments, managers often become the “shock absorber” for everyone else’s uncertainty.

But you cannot steady a team if you are running on panic yourself.

That’s why the first step in leading through a reorg is to secure your own oxygen mask first.

In our latest Humessence blog, Don Fries shares a practical framework for helping managers lead teams through reorganization with more clarity, empathy, and confidence.

Inside the article, you’ll learn how to:

• Stabilize and validate team concerns
• Communicate clearly when you do not have every answer
• Protect your team from scope creep and burnout
• Create short-term wins that restore momentum
• Help people shift from surviving the reorg to finding opportunity in it

Read the full blog: https://humessence.com/insights/leading-teams-through-reorganizations-secure-your-oxygen-mask-first/

Executive coaching is not a tool for “fixing” leaders.

At its best, coaching is a developmental partnership that helps leaders build self-awareness, examine their patterns, and apply new behaviors in the real context of their work.

Leadership training is powerful when a group needs shared language, tools, and expectations.

Executive coaching is powerful when the development need is more personal, nuanced, confidential, or role-specific.

That might mean helping a leader integrate assessment feedback, navigate a major role transition, strengthen executive presence, understand the gap between intention and impact, or lead through a sensitive interpersonal or strategic challenge.

At Humessence, we often see the strongest results when coaching and training work together.

Training creates the framework.

Coaching helps the leader live it.

Explore how Humessence partners with organizations to support leaders through focused, practical executive coaching:
https://humessence.com/coaching/organizations/executive-coaching/

Hiring an executive coach for your company is not just a personal fit decision.

It is a high-trust leadership investment.

The right coach may support an executive through a difficult transition, help a team name tension that has been sitting under the surface, or strengthen communication, confidence, judgment, and change leadership.

That means organizations should not choose a coach on “chemistry” alone.

In our latest Humessence blog, Rachel Krug shares how companies and nonprofits can evaluate executive coaches with more structure and confidence.

Inside the article, you’ll learn how to:

• Start with the business problem
• Evaluate credentials and coach-specific training
• Match experience to the assignment
• Clarify confidentiality before the work begins
• Use a sample session wisely
• Watch for coaches who overpromise

Read the full blog: https://humessence.com/insights/how-to-hire-an-executive-coach-for-your-company/

What if work could be designed to support both business performance and human well-being?

In Episode 081 of The Present Professional Podcast, John Marshall sits down with Dr. Angela Jackson — Harvard lecturer, researcher, CEO of Future Forward Institute, and author of The Win-Win Workplace — to explore the nine pillars of a workplace where people and performance grow together.

They discuss employee voice, trust, frontline leadership, benefits that meet today’s needs, hiring for potential, and the role of data in making workplace change more human and more measurable.

Special free offer: Listen to Episode 081, The 9 Pillars of a Win-Win Workplace with Dr. Angela Jackson, to learn how to receive a free copy of The Win-Win Workplace. https://humessence.com/podcast/081-the-9-pillars-of-a-win-win-workplace-with-dr-angela-jackson/