Podcast

Unlocking The Best In People With Ashley Herd – TWMJ #1036

Welcome to episode #1036 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation).

Ashley Herd did not set out to become a management expert. Trained as an employment lawyer and later serving in senior HR and leadership roles supporting organizations including McKinsey & Company, Ashley built her career at the intersection of people, performance and workplace culture. What began as practical leadership advice shared through short-form social media videos evolved into a massive online following, with hundreds of thousands of managers turning to her for direct, actionable guidance on how to lead teams without burning people out. Her new book, The Manager Method – A Practical Framework to Lead, Support, and Get Results, distills that experience into a deceptively simple framework built around Pause, Consider, Act… a reminder that leadership is not about reacting faster, but thinking more clearly. In this conversation, Ashley explores why so many organizations continue promoting high performers into management roles without preparing them to lead people, why workplace culture is often shaped more by individual managers than company values, and how the modern workplace has been reshaped by the pandemic, generational shifts and AI. Ashley argues that the biggest failures in leadership are rarely strategic… they are relational. Silence, unclear expectations, lack of feedback and the inability to coach people effectively create cascading organizational problems. At the same time, she remains optimistic that AI can become a meaningful thought partner for managers… not replacing judgment, empathy or coaching, but helping leaders pause long enough to think better about how they communicate and support others. Grounded in practical experience rather than abstract theory, Ashley’s work is ultimately about helping managers become more human… and helping organizations remember that people are not line items on a spreadsheet. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 1:00:07.
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Chapters:

(00:00) – Introduction to Ashley Herd and The Manager Method.
(02:57) – The Power of Social Media in Leadership Development.
(05:50) – The Journey from Law to Leadership.
(09:05) – Understanding Management Challenges and the Peter Principle.
(12:08) – The Role of Empathy in Management.
(15:09) – Navigating the New World of Management Post-Pandemic.
(17:54) – The Importance of Clear Expectations in Leadership.
(21:02) – The Impact of Generational Differences on Management.
(23:51) – The Role of AI in Modern Management.
(27:04) – Coaching vs. Managing: The New Paradigm.
(30:12) – Creating a Culture of Feedback and Recognition.
(32:54) – The Importance of Pausing and Reflecting in Leadership.
(36:02) – Final Thoughts and Resources for Managers.

Download the Podcast here: #1036 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation).

Before you go… ThinkersOne gives you direct access to the experts shaping tomorrow’s conversations. Get their insights on leadership, AI, culture and innovation all delivered to your team before the rest of the world catches on. Ideal for your meetings, off-sites, and lunch & learns.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.