Humessence

Humessence Leadership coaching and training solutions to grow the (not-so) soft skills that drive business performance and shape organizational culture.

09/04/2026

We respect leaders who share the mess - but only if they tell me what changed after.

Drop a 🔥 if you’d rather follow someone real than someone perfect.

Because “I screwed up” hits different when it comes with:
*what they learned
*what they changed
*what happened next

That kind of honesty makes people more curious, more human, and way more willing to open up too.

You do not need to share everything.

Just enough to be honest, and specific enough to be helpful.

That’s the kind of leadership people actually trust.

Want to hear what honest leadership looks like when it gets specific? Watch the full conversation with Jessica Miller-Merrell in Episode 082 of The Present Professional:
https://humessence.com/podcast/082-the-hidden-workload-of-hr-and-how-to-address-it-with-jessica-miller-merrell/

Technical skills might get someone in the door. But are they enough to help someone succeed once they’re there?In Episod...
09/03/2026

Technical skills might get someone in the door. But are they enough to help someone succeed once they’re there?

In Episode 86 of The Present Professional, we sit down with Coach Monique DeMonaco, founder of EQ Wize, to talk about a growing challenge for young professionals and the organizations hiring them: workforce readiness.

We explore why emotional intelligence, communication, critical thinking, resilience, professionalism, and self-awareness matter just as much as technical knowledge in today’s workplace.

Monique also shares why awareness is the starting point for real behavior change. We cannot change a pattern we have not learned to recognize.

The conversation goes beyond the workplace, too. We talk about how parenting, education, technology, social media, and changing expectations may be influencing confidence, accountability, resilience, and independence in the next generation.

For employers, there’s an important takeaway: readiness can be developed.

Clear expectations, meaningful feedback, real opportunities to grow, and investment in people can help turn potential into capability.

🎧 Episode 86: Building Emotional Intelligence and Workforce Readiness with Coach Monique DeMonaco

https://humessence.com/podcast/086-building-emotional-intelligence-and-workforce-readiness-with-coach-monique-demonaco/

What skill do you think young professionals need most to succeed in today’s workplace?

Culture work can sound inspiring and still leave people unclear on what is supposed to change.That is why we believe cul...
09/02/2026

Culture work can sound inspiring and still leave people unclear on what is supposed to change.

That is why we believe culture change is really behavior change.

A value statement may tell people what matters, but it does not automatically tell them what to do differently in a meeting, a feedback conversation, a handoff, a hiring decision, or a performance review.

For culture to become real, it has to move from language to behavior.

What would someone actually see or hear if this value were being lived?

Where should that behavior show up repeatedly?

Who is responsible for modeling it, coaching it, reinforcing it, and reviewing whether it is becoming normal?

This was the heart of John's recent talk at the HR Houston Gulf Coast Symposium:

Mission statements are marketing. Culture is operations.

Culture does not live in a poster.

It lives in the repeated experience of work.

And if our culture initiatives are not changing that experience, we have to ask a harder question:

Are we building culture, or are we just updating the language around it?

We’re excited to share that Humessence founder John Marshall will be speaking at the ATD Houston 2026 Talent Development...
09/01/2026

We’re excited to share that Humessence founder John Marshall will be speaking at the ATD Houston 2026 Talent Development Conference & Expo this September.

Culture isn’t what an organization says it values.

It’s what the system reinforces every day.

Organizations invest significant time and resources into leadership development, training, and culture initiatives. But too often, people leave a great learning experience only to return to systems, expectations, and ways of working that pull them right back into old behaviors.

That’s the challenge John will explore in his session:

**Culture Is Operations: Turning Learning into Behaviors Your System Reinforces**

Because learning alone doesn’t create lasting change.

The real work is connecting what we teach people to how leaders lead, how teams communicate, how decisions get made, and what gets rewarded, reinforced, or tolerated inside the organization.

During the session, John will share a practical way for talent and learning professionals to think beyond one-time programs and begin designing the conditions that help desired behaviors take hold and last.

At Humessence, this is central to how we think about culture: it isn’t separate from operations. Culture is built through the everyday systems, behaviors, and experiences that shape how work actually gets done.

đź“Ť West Houston Institute
đź“… September 17, 2026

If you’ll be attending the ATD Houston 2026 Talent Development Conference & Expo, we hope you’ll join John’s session and come say hello.

Register here:
https://tdhouston.org/event-6725739/Registration

We’re grateful to ATD Houston and the Association for Talent Development for continuing to create spaces where professionals can learn from one another and strengthen the way we develop people and organizations.

08/28/2026

“People don’t leave bad jobs. They leave systems that don’t care.”

In Episode 81 of The Present Professional, The 9 Pillars of a Win-Win Workplace, Dr. Angela Jackson breaks down what it really takes to create workplaces where both people and organizations can thrive.

They talk about why the future of work depends on trust, listening, and making a real investment in people.

If you missed this conversation the first time around, it’s well worth revisiting.

Watch or listen here: https://humessence.com/podcast/081-the-9-pillars-of-a-win-win-workplace-with-dr-angela-jackson/

Leadership training is not just about teaching people information.At its best, it helps leaders build a shared language,...
08/27/2026

Leadership training is not just about teaching people information.

At its best, it helps leaders build a shared language, strengthen practical skills, and develop more consistent ways of leading across a team or organization.

Executive coaching is often the right fit when the work is individualized, confidential, and tied to one leader’s unique context.

Leadership training is often the right fit when the development need is broader.

That might mean multiple managers need to improve feedback skills, a leadership team needs more consistent communication habits, a new manager cohort needs a common framework, or an organization wants to strengthen culture through observable day-to-day behaviors.

At Humessence, we see training as a tool for building collective capability.

It helps leaders not only understand what good leadership looks like, but also practice how to bring it to life with others.

And when deeper personal integration is needed, coaching can become a powerful complement.

How do you know when someone is actually ready for the next level of leadership?Not just because they’ve been there the ...
08/20/2026

How do you know when someone is actually ready for the next level of leadership?

Not just because they’ve been there the longest.
Not because they’re highly visible.
Not because they’re charismatic or great at their current job.

In Episode 85 of *The Present Professional*, we sit down with Logan Yonavjak, co-founder and CEO of Readiness Engine, to explore whether we can get more objective about something organizations have historically struggled to measure: **leadership readiness.**

Logan shares how adult developmental psychology, behavioral signals, linguistic analysis, and AI can help organizations better understand a leader’s capacity to handle complexity, consider multiple perspectives, adapt, build relationships, navigate stress, and create the conditions for others to succeed.

We also dig into some bigger questions:

Can better data reduce bias in promotion and succession decisions?

How should AI influence talent decisions without replacing human judgment?

And what could AI-supported leadership development and coaching eventually look like?

This is a fascinating conversation for anyone thinking about leadership development, succession planning, talent strategy, or the future of AI at work.

🎧 Episode 85: *Measuring Leadership Readiness with AI with Logan Yonavjak*

https://humessence.com/podcast/085-measuring-leadership-readiness-with-ai-with-logan-yonavjak/

What tells you someone is truly ready for greater leadership responsibility?

Effective training should never feel like it came off the shelf.Before we design a workshop, we meet with key stakeholde...
08/19/2026

Effective training should never feel like it came off the shelf.

Before we design a workshop, we meet with key stakeholders to understand the real context behind the request: what leaders are navigating, where conversations are breaking down, what skills need to shift, and what success needs to look like after the session ends.

That context matters.

Because participants engage differently when the scenarios sound like their world.

They lean in when the examples reflect the decisions, tensions, team dynamics, and communication moments they actually face at work.

Without that customization, training can become interesting but disconnected.

With it, learning becomes practical, relevant, and easier to apply.

At Humessence, we do not just deliver content.

We design experiences that help people practice the conversations and behaviors their organization actually needs.

We spend a lot of time teaching managers how to give feedback.But what about teaching people how to receive it?In the la...
08/13/2026

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 E...
07/30/2026

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?

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