Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving
Episode: 629: Ashley Herd, Former Head of HR North America at McKinsey, on What Effective Managers Actually Do
Description: Ashley Herd, former Head of HR North America at McKinsey, joins this episode to discuss what effective leadership looks like in practice, especially in environments defined by speed, pressure, and increasing expectations around AI. Drawing on her experience training more than 250,000 managers, she introduces a simple but rigorous framework: pause, consider, act. In fast-moving organizations, leaders often default to speed over reflection. Herd argues that the brief pause before responding to a mistake, delivering feedback, or making a decision materially changes outcomes. It allows leaders to ask: What result am I trying to achieve? How would I...