Trust Stories by Relate

What if the key to becoming a better leader wasn't more training, but better feedback?In this episode of Trust Stories, host Tom Keenan sits down with Milli Feldman, a people and business transformation leader with more than 20 years of experience, to explore why trust, self-awareness, and feedback are essential to building stronger teams.They discuss why traditional performance reviews fall short, how AI can make coaching more accessible, and what happens when employees receive meaningful feedback in the moments that matter, rather than months later.From navigating difficult conversations to taking the sting out of criticism, Milli shares her perspective on how technology can help us become more effective leaders, better colleagues, and more self-aware individuals.In this episode:Why trust and credibility are foundational to effective leadershipWhat's missing from traditional performance managementHow AI can democratize access to personalized coachingWhy frequent, actionable feedback drives growthHow to build a culture where feedback strengthens relationships

What makes someone successful at a large company doesn't necessarily make them successful at a startup.Natalie Ledbetter has spent more than a decade building people operations at early-stage companies, supporting founders across the venture capital ecosystem, and helping startups navigate the growing pains that come with scaling.In this episode of Trust Stories, Natalie joins Tom Keenan to talk about what it really takes to build a company from the ground up. They discuss why hiring for the stage of your business matters more than hiring the most impressive résumé, how too much process can slow a startup down, and why the best individual contributors don't always make the best managers.They also get into the complicated reality of startup equity, the expectations founders place on employees, and why building a team with different perspectives is critical long before a company reaches its growth stage.

HR is expected to be a strategic partner, but Daniel Space argues that many HR business partners are never actually taught how the business works.In this episode of Trust Stories, Tom Keenan talks with Daniel about why understanding sales, marketing, finance, technology, and operations matters if HR wants a real seat at the table. Daniel shares lessons from his time at companies including EA and Spotify, and why learning the language of the teams he supported changed the way he approached HR.They also get into performance management, why ratings often get in the way of better conversations, and how AI can help managers prepare for more thoughtful, consistent feedback.

Performance management is supposed to help people grow. So why does the process so often leave employees frustrated, managers uncomfortable, and trust damaged?In this episode of Trust Stories, Tom Keenan sits down with Fred Leong, Chief People Officer at DVL1, to unpack what’s broken about traditional performance management and what a better approach could look like.They explore the difference between transparency and honesty, why difficult conversations get delayed, the problems with annual reviews and forced rankings, and why continuous feedback matters more than another process or form.They also dig into the growing role of AI. Can technology reduce bias, help managers remember what happened throughout the year, and make feedback more useful? Or does removing the human element create an entirely new trust problem?The answer, Fred argues, starts with something much simpler: honest conversations, delivered consistently.In this episode:• Why traditional performance management is structurally broken• Transparency vs. honesty in employee conversations• How delayed feedback erodes trust• Why managers avoid difficult conversations• Generational differences in how employees experience performance reviews• Where AI can help, and where humans still matter most• What a more continuous, personalized approach could look like

For years, we've been told that if we work hard enough, recognition will come. But what happens when it doesn't?In this episode of Trust Stories, Tom Keenan sits down with Gretchen Grottenthaler—executive coach, speaker, and founder of Energy Inspire—to explore why so many talented people, especially women, find themselves stuck in what she calls "the very good trap." Together, they unpack how burnout often begins with feeling unseen, why trust erodes long before someone resigns, and what leaders can do to build workplaces where people genuinely thrive. The conversation also explores authenticity at work, return-to-office mandates, the changing expectations employees have of leaders, and why AI may ultimately make human skills more valuable, not less.