Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Unusual Attitudes

There are few continents Neil Crumpton either hasn’t visited or recruited from. He even once did a search in Burkina Faso! Crumpton is a natural at navigating cultural boundaries.

His career as a global recruiting executive was forged in his early 20s when he led a multinational team comprised of different cultures, languages, and perspectives. The experience taught him how to find common ground and bring multiple nationalities together.

In this episode of “Unusual Attitudes,” Crumpton describes how assimilation is a part of understanding others, a crucial skill in recruiting.

The first title on Stephanie Worley’s LinkedIn is “Mom.” The second title is “Vice President Talent Acquisition at Bright Horizons.” The mother of three doesn’t want her children to be just like her, nor does she want her teams to be carbon copies either. She wants them to make her a better parent and leader.

Building teams with people who are different yet complementary to one another is key to creating success at work. The key is bringing the right type of talent into the mix. Surrounding herself with people who empower and support was a valuable lesson when Worley worked in an organization primarily run by women. “Sometimes we were our own worst enemies,” she said.

Tune in to this episode to hear Worley’s advice about how men can advocate for women in the workplace by listening, valuing their opinions and asking for more details if something isn’t clear.

Tim Sackett thought he was destined to go the corporate HR route. He was running talent acquisition for a large health system when he received a call one day that would upend his career ambitions: His mother had had a heart attack.

Lured back to the family-owned staffing firm where he worked earlier in his career, Sackett has experience on both sides of the TA equation. Automation is one of the biggest advancements he’s seen in recruiting, providing access to new data sets that help HR work smarter, not harder.

Tune into this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear Sackett’s advice about how organizations should be looking at better sourcing access through technologies.

Dr. Ben Waber is the author of a New York Times bestseller on using analytics to gauge how effectively (or not) people work and collaborate. The data offers insights into building a more productive and profitable organization.

Big companies often make big people decisions while flying blind. Tune into this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear how little tweaks such as changing the way call center employees spend their breaks can boost performance while significantly reducing stress.

Lavonne Monroe of Hewlett Packard Enterprise doesn’t call life’s obstacles and challenges “failures.” Rather, they are “opportunities for learning.” And she has stared down a number of them throughout her professional career to become a better leader and learner.

Adapting to new lines of thinking, flexibility, and perseverance are traits that business leaders would do well to consider the next time they’re faced with an obstacle. Tune in to this episode to hear Monroe’s advice about how to stare adversity in the face and emerge victorious.

When people ask Jonathan Berlan, global head of talent acquisition at Brussels-based biopharmaceutical company UCB, what he does for a living, his answer is simple: he tells stories.

Berlan is an avid reader who considers himself a storyteller at heart. For fun he writes restaurant reviews not to draw his audience to the restaurant but "to tell them the story of a meal I had there," he said.

But Berlan's most powerful story is deeply personal. One morning, he went to work feeling perfectly fine, only to return home later that day in agonizing pain. What makes his journey compelling isn't just the chronic pain itself but how he responded to it. Instead of letting it take control, Berlan made the bold choice to reshape his life on his own terms. His perspective is raw, unfiltered and refreshingly honest — offering a unique and inspiring way to think about living through the unimaginable.

Tune in to this episode to learn how a color-coded spreadsheet helped Berlan put pain in perspective and transformed his approach to both life and work.

Antonio Howard, known as “The Rebel” for his curiosity and questioning nature, describes himself as an introverted individual with extroverted traits. His leadership style at Regions Bank is to value understanding and maximizing each team member’s unique talents. Howard emphasizes soft skills like openness to learning and friendliness over technical proficiency. 

He also values the power of community. Tune into this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear how his neighbors banded together to support him and his family after a house fire that took nearly three hours to extinguish. The incident reinforced his belief in finding the silver lining in life’s clouds.

Andrew Lipke’s lifelong goal was to conduct other musicians. He achieved that and plenty more, leading some of the most talented musicians in the world. It is no easy feat conducting the 1% of the 1%, yet Lipke has been successful because his sole aim is to help others reach deep into themselves and play their very best. With Lipke, it is never about his success alone.

To watch him work at his craft is a thing of beauty to behold. Tune into this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear how Lipke inspires and energizes everyone from school children to accomplished adults to hit those notes with deft precision.

Guest: Andrew Lipke, professional musician

Janet Gipson was a mechanical engineer on a nuclear aircraft carrier before pivoting to a sales engineering role at DISH network. That’s where she learned to love technology, people, and leading teams — passions that eventually led to talent acquisition roles including her current position at one of the nation’s oldest universities, Yale.

Gipson’s competitive spirit means she does not like being told what she can’t accomplish. She’s driven to prove her doubters wrong and has first-hand experience in the power of coaching and mentoring — traits she instills in her teams today.

Tune in to this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear how this daughter of a NASA aerospace engineer and a high school physics teacher found her own leadership path, and in doing so, her own definition of “leader.”

Finding college “boring,” Stephanie Waite left school early to work at a friend’s fledgling telemarketing business. With no degree, she almost had to beg for roles early in her career. But the experience made her work harder than everyone else and instilled a work ethic that has driven her to the pinnacle of professional success as a VP of talent acquisition at a mortgage company.

Tune in to this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear how other challenging moments in Waite’s life, including the diagnosis of an autoimmune disease, turned her into a self-described scrappy fighter.

Lugging a typewriter from one desk to another to write credit reports was not what Ryan King had in mind when he embarked on a career in finance. Later, after sending his resume to an executive recruiter for a financial analyst role, he was told he had a knack for engaging with people. Thus began King’s journey to the top of the recruiting profession, becoming Head of Talent Acquisition at Regions Bank.

Tune in to this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear about King’s eternal curiosity, his zest for problem solving, and how to leverage the latest in HR technology to draw in talent — and keep it.

Tragedy is a test of mettle. It is often in the face of crisis that we find out who and what is most important to us. Triumphing over hardship develops the musculature of our character and molds the unsurrendered into leaders.

Tune in to this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear how a human resources VP’s epiphany while she lay injured in a hospital bed led to her working for one the world’s largest companies.

An inherent challenge some people have is that they don't know how to connect with their roots or embrace their history, good or bad. In order to create a value system, people should actively understand where they came from and be honest with themselves about the impact it had on them.

Tune in to the inaugural episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear from an HR executive about her journey from algebra teacher to scientist to digital transformation leader — and the lessons she learned from each experience.

The most challenging situations are often the most rewarding. 

A video podcast hosted by Cliff Jurkiewicz, a strategist, musician, pilot, and evangelist who loves to explore the extraordinary lives of individuals, showcasing their stories and accomplishments — the personal journeys that have shaped these remarkable individuals. Through compelling storytelling and thoughtful reflections, the discussions inspire listeners to embrace their own journeys and strive for greatness.