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STRATIVIS Gets Stronger: Enter Jenna Ferrua
4 Plays20 days ago
After leading HR at scale, Jenna Ferrua made a deliberate move away from the corporate model to join STRATIVIS as a Principal Consultant and Fractional CHRO.
In this episode, we unpack that decision. What she saw from inside large organizations, why she believes the future of HR is more agile and outcome-driven, and how she’s now ready to help companies solve real business challenges without the overhead.
A grounded, honest conversation on leadership, timing, and building where you can have the greatest impact.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Jenna Ferrua
00:00:02
Speaker
Hi everybody and welcome to a special edition of Fractional Frequency.
00:00:06
Speaker
We're doing an extra episode this week because we are thrilled to introduce you to our brand new Principal Consultant and Fractional CHRO, Jenna Ferrua.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hi Jenna.
00:00:20
Speaker
So this episode is focused on getting to know you, introducing you to our clients and our network,
00:00:27
Speaker
and just sharing a little bit about your journey and what's next.
00:00:32
Speaker
Let's get started.
Jenna's HR Experience and Business Insight
00:00:34
Speaker
Tell us a bit about your professional journey.
00:00:37
Speaker
What experiences have most shaped who you are as a professional today?
00:00:44
Speaker
Well, I have spent the last 12 years in HR, but what
00:00:51
Speaker
that really gave me was a deep understanding of how businesses actually run and how pivotal people are to that.
00:01:02
Speaker
I've had the opportunity to work in very different environments.
00:01:07
Speaker
One was incredibly intense and fast paced, which pushed decision making and performance in a real way.
00:01:16
Speaker
And there were things that were done really well
00:01:21
Speaker
And definitely things that, you know, I would do differently.
00:01:25
Speaker
But that's where a lot of, you know, the learnings come from as you grow.
00:01:29
Speaker
I've also worked, you know, a much larger organizations where it's about, you know, 40,000 people plus.
00:01:37
Speaker
And there was such a strong emphasis on individual ownership, but individual impact as well.
00:01:46
Speaker
And that's not easy to scale.
00:01:49
Speaker
So it gave me a different perspective on, you know, leadership and accountability at size.
00:01:55
Speaker
Right.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:58
Speaker
But I think what shaped me the most was that being in an environment where there there's nowhere to hide.
00:02:06
Speaker
And you quickly see what works, what doesn't, whether it's leadership or org design.
00:02:11
Speaker
And, you know, you feel the impact of those decisions, you
Why Fractional Consultancy?
00:02:16
Speaker
know, in real time.
00:02:16
Speaker
Right.
00:02:18
Speaker
And so I would just say that I basically learned to understand what the business is trying to achieve and then apply a people lens to drive outcomes and not just the useless fluffy stuff.
00:02:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:34
Speaker
The, the process and compliance, like some of it has to be done, but it's so much more than that if you're going to have an effective people, uh, people organization.
00:02:44
Speaker
So you've chosen now to step away from a very successful career within some great companies and, uh, decided to go into fractional consultancy.
00:02:54
Speaker
So why?
00:02:58
Speaker
So this was a very intentional decision for me.
00:03:03
Speaker
And honestly, I didn't really understand the fractional piece of it until I looked into it and, you know, spoke to you and to get a better idea.
00:03:14
Speaker
I love my time in house.
00:03:16
Speaker
I learned a lot from being, you know, embedded in one organization, but I realized that I wanted to extend my impact, you know, beyond a single company.
00:03:29
Speaker
What I enjoy the most is, you know, basically stepping into really complex situations and, you know, working closely with leadership and solving problems through, you know, real people.
00:03:42
Speaker
And I think that fractional consulting allows me to do that across multiple organizations and,
00:03:48
Speaker
Honestly, I love shit shows.
Joining Strativus
00:03:51
Speaker
Am I allowed to say that?
00:03:53
Speaker
Yes.
00:03:54
Speaker
I'll call it something else, but it's just, it is what it is.
00:03:58
Speaker
And I love coming into those situations that aren't perfect, you know, perfectly figured out and being a part of that solution.
00:04:04
Speaker
And I think that fractional consulting allows me to still be, you know, very hands-on roll up my sleeves and get in there and, you know, help the business to move things forward.
00:04:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:15
Speaker
Now, it's so true.
00:04:17
Speaker
And I think that's a common thread in a lot of people that I know that go into starting up their own business is that they're so easily bored when things are running smoothly.
00:04:29
Speaker
Like, it's just where's the challenge?
00:04:31
Speaker
Me and Erin had this exact same conversation when we decided to set up Strativist.
00:04:35
Speaker
We were like,
00:04:38
Speaker
I just, I get into somewhere and it's a total mess and I fix it all.
00:04:42
Speaker
And, you know, I just get a couple of promotions and then I sit back and I'm like, Hmm, now what?
00:04:48
Speaker
And so we're just, you know, after doing that a few times, they're like, maybe we need to think about something else.
00:04:54
Speaker
Um, so can relate to that so much.
00:04:57
Speaker
Um, so as you step into this next chapter, what excites you the most?
00:05:05
Speaker
I guess I kind of answered that obviously not saying that everything's a show, but, um, I'm most excited to truly work with different teams and, you know, help them at really critical or pivotal moments that they're at in, you know, the stage of the company that they're at, you know, bringing clarity, a sense of calm, some, you know, laughter when needed and help leaders like build the organizations that are high performing yet sustainable.
00:05:31
Speaker
And I'm really excited to work alongside, you know, the team at Strativus in all caps.
00:05:39
Speaker
That's focused on real outcomes.
00:05:41
Speaker
And I just really resonate, you know, with the brand that you two have created.
00:05:45
Speaker
So.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah.
Leadership Values and Priorities
00:05:48
Speaker
We couldn't be more excited to have you.
00:05:50
Speaker
And I think that's a great jumping off point for one of the things I wanted to get into around around brand.
00:05:56
Speaker
And I hope this won't feel like an interview since I interview half of my day every day.
00:06:01
Speaker
I really got to check myself on how I had to flow through.
00:06:05
Speaker
But I would love to talk a little bit about just sort of the red thread in how you lead and advise.
00:06:13
Speaker
What does that feel like?
00:06:14
Speaker
with your clients and partners?
00:06:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good question.
00:06:20
Speaker
I would describe my brand as transparent, accountable, empathetic, and grounded.
00:06:34
Speaker
very much align, um, with leadership, uh, that value the company's purpose and people ahead of ego.
00:06:45
Speaker
Um, that's really important to me and, you know, ensuring that we are, you know, we're obviously, let me step back, a company can't fix everything, right.
00:06:58
Speaker
But a company obviously has its goals and we're
00:07:01
Speaker
we're ultimately there, HR, right, to be able to help them achieve that.
00:07:05
Speaker
But you also have to have your, you have to be driving the performance, but having that empathetic side associated with it, right, to help the people.
00:07:13
Speaker
And at the end of the day, you can't do business without people.
00:07:17
Speaker
So they shouldn't be viewed as two separate things.
00:07:18
Speaker
They should be viewed as one and how they complement each other.
00:07:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:25
Speaker
I agree.
00:07:26
Speaker
We're so similar in that.
00:07:27
Speaker
And that's why we did a podcast a while back, just really deep diving into the values of strategists and, you know, why people first always was like the first one that we came up with, because you can be business focused and you can be very, have very high standards and still do right by people.
00:07:48
Speaker
You don't have to pick like you can do all of those things.
00:07:52
Speaker
in all aspects to their entire like employee life cycle.
00:07:55
Speaker
Right.
00:07:55
Speaker
I think that's the part that is really important to hit on is from, you know, the pre-hire process, obviously, Aaron, you know that really well.
00:08:05
Speaker
And then to sometimes the termination piece of it, right.
00:08:08
Speaker
But ensuring that employee experience is well-received on their end.
00:08:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:14
Speaker
No, that makes a ton of sense.
00:08:15
Speaker
And I think there's, there's so much alignment with, to Amy's point, our core values and how we love to do business, the types of,
00:08:22
Speaker
customers that we prefer to do business with.
Success Story: Reducing Attrition
00:08:25
Speaker
You talked earlier to Jedha about being really results focused.
00:08:29
Speaker
And I think that's, you know, a really critical, but sometimes rare quality to find in the HR community.
00:08:36
Speaker
And I'd love to maybe learn about an example, right?
00:08:41
Speaker
Like a people bet maybe that you've made in the past that paid off commercially or for the organization.
00:08:49
Speaker
Yes.
00:08:50
Speaker
So
00:08:52
Speaker
You know, one that stands out to me the most and one that I'm most, not most, there are many, but I'm really proud of, was improving voluntary attrition by linking performance to compensation.
00:09:10
Speaker
And it was something that there was a process in place, but it was something that needed to be, you know, undone and evaluated.
00:09:22
Speaker
So what I did was there was no clear understanding of why people were leaving.
00:09:29
Speaker
There were a lot of assumptions, right, naturally, but not, you know, any real data to act upon.
00:09:35
Speaker
And so the first step is getting clarity and understanding or getting feedback from the people, right, of what was happening and having forums that allowed that and being able to capture the insights
00:09:51
Speaker
But additionally, having it in a system where HR and the managers were also held accountable to take action, right?
00:10:02
Speaker
Because I mean, something I live by is like actions speak louder than words.
00:10:05
Speaker
And what's the point of giving feedback if you're not going to actually make any changes to it?
00:10:09
Speaker
And at the same time, we updated the compensation bands to be market competitive and increased
00:10:19
Speaker
transparency and engagement through all hands and provided just communication.
00:10:25
Speaker
And, you know, so people understood just how, you know, performance connected to awards.
00:10:32
Speaker
And over the course of a year, we reduced voluntary attrition from 28% to 9%, which was the lowest that had happened for that company.
00:10:44
Speaker
So that was something I'm really proud of.
00:10:47
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:10:48
Speaker
I don't know about you, Amy, but that work is something that's been talked about at nearly every environment that I've been a part of and never actually achieved.
00:10:57
Speaker
No.
00:10:58
Speaker
Well, yeah, because it's like sometimes some hoods are too expensive to look under.
00:11:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:11:05
Speaker
So good for you for influencing it in the right direction.
00:11:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:11
Speaker
Seriously.
Readiness for Leadership Change
00:11:14
Speaker
I also, maybe this is sort of the talent side of me talking, but I'd love to talk a little bit about people in leadership positions and your sort of assessment of that.
00:11:24
Speaker
That's such a big piece of a company's journey, especially when they're early stage.
00:11:29
Speaker
And so how do you spot when a company is ready for its next phase of people leadership?
00:11:37
Speaker
Oh my God.
00:11:38
Speaker
I feel like there's so many things, but the obvious one that stands out to me is
00:11:43
Speaker
is inconsistency where different parts of the business are operating in silos or completely different ways depending upon the leader.
00:11:56
Speaker
You know, I think while leaders are also responsible for their employees' performance and having those conversations, right,
00:12:08
Speaker
I think that if leaders are spending too much time on people issues, then driving the business, I think that that could be a red flag for just the foundation is off and it needs to be relooked at, right?
00:12:23
Speaker
There's friction, there's unclear communication, unclear expectations, and, you know, decisions basically slow down and then you could see attrition, you know, have an uptick, right?
00:12:36
Speaker
So I think
00:12:37
Speaker
Ultimately, it's something that needs to change.
00:12:41
Speaker
And essentially what was working, you know, when first started isn't working now and there needs to be a course correct.
00:12:48
Speaker
Right.
00:12:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:50
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:12:52
Speaker
And what have you seen?
00:12:53
Speaker
I'm just sort of curious as you think about, you know, teams that you've supported in the past, where, where there's an inflection point, where do leaders either tend to overcomplicate or underinvest when it comes to people's strategy?
00:13:08
Speaker
This is a really good question.
00:13:12
Speaker
I think leaders tend to overcomplicate the programs and underinvest in the fundamentals, AKA the people.
Challenges in Leadership Programs
00:13:20
Speaker
And you don't need 50 initiatives.
00:13:22
Speaker
You need clarity.
00:13:24
Speaker
So you need to just take a paper or something and just scratch out all the things that, you know, doesn't make sense.
00:13:31
Speaker
No one even knows why you're doing it.
00:13:32
Speaker
And you just have, you know, an organization where it's like chickens running around with their heads cut off.
00:13:37
Speaker
Right.
00:13:37
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:13:38
Speaker
And it's just not productive.
00:13:41
Speaker
And so there needs to be clear expectations.
00:13:47
Speaker
I think at the same time, companies underinvest in leadership capability.
00:13:53
Speaker
We throw people into positions that they are not set up for.
00:13:57
Speaker
you know, when you wonder why this manager is failing, it's like, well, actually the company put them in that position to not set them up for success.
00:14:03
Speaker
Right.
00:14:04
Speaker
So there just needs to be, leaders need to know what they're being held accountable to.
00:14:08
Speaker
So then that can trickle down as well.
00:14:13
Speaker
Additionally, and I know this is going to, this might be controversial
AI vs. Human Elements in Business
00:14:17
Speaker
and.
00:14:17
Speaker
I love controversial.
00:14:19
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:14:20
Speaker
Is AI, and I'm probably of the unpopular opinion, but I think leaders, you know,
00:14:25
Speaker
are sometimes focusing on the wrong things, expecting it to solve everything and over-indexing on that.
00:14:33
Speaker
And while AI is an incredibly powerful tool or just powerful in general for efficiency and modernization, it can't replace the foundation or the people.
00:14:45
Speaker
No.
00:14:46
Speaker
you can't have you can't have ai build your culture unfortunately not yet not yet maybe one day we're just not there yet yes there's many iterations that need to happen yeah oh i agree so much with everything that you just said uh how many times have we felt so sorry for the part uh for our like partners and peers in the business that are like why are you guys doing another initiative and it's like
00:15:13
Speaker
I don't, I couldn't tell you.
00:15:14
Speaker
I don't know.
00:15:17
Speaker
I don't know what happens sometimes that, you know, that is so important that you've got something to write on a slide or
00:15:26
Speaker
it becomes more important than creating the space for the people in the business to be productive.
00:15:33
Speaker
It's yeah, it's do not support.
00:15:37
Speaker
And then, yeah, I agree.
00:15:38
Speaker
Leadership training.
00:15:39
Speaker
It's always the thing that comes up.
00:15:41
Speaker
It's, you know, our leaders aren't having difficult conversations.
00:15:45
Speaker
I feel like I've been hearing that for 20 years.
00:15:48
Speaker
Like our leaders don't know how to have difficult conversations.
00:15:51
Speaker
Maybe you don't have the right leaders.
00:15:52
Speaker
I'm like,
00:15:54
Speaker
You know, maybe you need to think about that before you make the promotion.
00:15:59
Speaker
Like, I get it.
00:15:59
Speaker
They're a great IC.
00:16:01
Speaker
They've done really well.
00:16:03
Speaker
But, you know, that's not necessarily going to be your person that can deliver that work at scale.
00:16:09
Speaker
That's a different skill set.
00:16:12
Speaker
But, yeah, it's a fascinating continuous cycle.
00:16:18
Speaker
um ai yeah i i love this topic i loved it i loved it two years ago when everybody was going crazy and had to implement it immediately on everything even though they had no idea why or what they were doing i love it this year when we're starting to finally think about ethics which is which is nice um but still you know there's a lot of over expectation under delivery from a lot of the tooling that's out there and a lot of
00:16:46
Speaker
the realities of when you're dealing with complex, complex things like people's personal data.
00:16:53
Speaker
You know, you want to be thoughtful from like a security and compliance perspective.
00:16:58
Speaker
But yeah, I'm excited to see how this how this keeps going.
00:17:02
Speaker
Like I, I have it on good authority that like, you know, we're all going to be millionaires, and we're not going to have to work.
00:17:10
Speaker
So I'm ready for that day.
00:17:12
Speaker
I'm ready for that day to come.
Effective Leadership Practices
00:17:14
Speaker
Um, I, I, my husband tells me all the time, he's like, it's just, you know, he's an investigator by the way.
00:17:20
Speaker
Like he has no, he doesn't use AI ever.
00:17:22
Speaker
Um, so, but he's like, you know, it's, it's gonna, it's gonna take over everything.
00:17:27
Speaker
I'm like, while we are still creating products and services for humans, there might need to be a little bit of a human involvement in there.
00:17:39
Speaker
A buffer at some, in some capacity for a bit.
00:17:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:45
Speaker
And even we were talking to another founder, was it yesterday or a couple of days ago?
00:17:51
Speaker
I don't know, I'll lose track.
00:17:52
Speaker
Are you asking me?
00:17:53
Speaker
Talking about founders a day.
00:17:57
Speaker
But I'm thinking about this specific one.
00:17:58
Speaker
You've got to give us more.
00:18:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:05
Speaker
The legal and compliance gal.
00:18:08
Speaker
Yes.
00:18:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:10
Speaker
And we asked her if she'd considered like any automation for her role.
00:18:15
Speaker
She's like, globally, privacy laws and regulations change so frequently.
00:18:21
Speaker
It's just not worth your effort to get it.
00:18:26
Speaker
all hard coded so that you can just click it in there.
00:18:29
Speaker
And it's like, Oh, here it pops up because it changes all the time.
00:18:31
Speaker
And you, if somebody is like paying you to make sure that they stay compliant, you can't make a mistake.
00:18:38
Speaker
And so she was like, there's no replacement for me as a, like as a professional to check and make sure that I'm up to date with information and that I'm sharing that with my clients.
00:18:50
Speaker
And I was like,
00:18:52
Speaker
It's true.
00:18:53
Speaker
It's true.
00:18:54
Speaker
My favorite thing, I'm going to peel us out of the AI spiral for a second about what you just said, Jenna, is the back to basics, just 101 of things.
00:19:05
Speaker
All these examples are flooding my mind, but I'm thinking about...
00:19:10
Speaker
An experience in particular of joining a company and, you know, I'm in a leadership position and they put me through a three day leadership academy right when I joined and I'm like, you know, maybe I'm going to learn about kind of their leadership culture.
00:19:23
Speaker
It would be great.
00:19:25
Speaker
And it was, you know, all kinds of like abstract concepts and just really bizarre.
00:19:31
Speaker
And then I find that I'm reporting to someone who like doesn't really know how to give me feedback in the moment or has more time like having, you know, just, you know, passing on a piece of feedback that someone gave her and having a conversation about it.
00:19:42
Speaker
And it's like,
00:19:43
Speaker
just striking how over-indexing on the big, heavy programs and struggling with the little things day to day, it is so real.
00:19:55
Speaker
So real.
00:19:56
Speaker
So real.
00:19:57
Speaker
I couldn't agree more.
Goals at Strativus
00:19:59
Speaker
So let's talk about your practice.
00:20:01
Speaker
I am so excited to see where you take this.
00:20:05
Speaker
What are some of your aspirations for your practice within Stratomus?
00:20:11
Speaker
You know, they might sound...
00:20:13
Speaker
really basic, but I think they're really important, you know, and mean something in terms of impact, but to build a practice, you know, that's known for driving the real business outcomes through people.
00:20:26
Speaker
Right.
00:20:27
Speaker
And,
00:20:27
Speaker
like I've said already, I know, um, was that being, you know, partnering closely with leadership teams through like critical inflection points, right.
00:20:37
Speaker
Whether that's scaling, restructuring, or trying to unlock like the next level of performance, um, and to help them make real, you know, changes that actually stick, um, and not just presenting them with a deck that has 5,000 words and means nothing.
00:20:56
Speaker
And,
00:20:57
Speaker
They're like, what do you want me to do with this now?
00:20:59
Speaker
You just wrote, you know, gave me a dissertation on what to do, but how do you actually apply it in real life?
00:21:05
Speaker
And so I just want to be known, you know, as someone that actually can, you know, come in when stakes are high and make an impact that actually, you know, matters.
00:21:18
Speaker
I love that.
00:21:19
Speaker
I love that.
00:21:21
Speaker
And you talked about inflection points.
00:21:23
Speaker
Tell us more about that.
00:21:24
Speaker
What types of companies or moments are you most energized to support?
00:21:31
Speaker
Well, it's not just, you know, shit shows.
00:21:35
Speaker
I love everything.
00:21:36
Speaker
But I did touch on that earlier.
00:21:38
Speaker
But I would say it's the companies that are in, you know, the in-between, you know, stages where they had success, you know, they had success, you
00:21:48
Speaker
But what got them there isn't getting to the next level, perhaps that, you know, rapid growth or something with, you know, leadership and performance just plateaus.
00:21:56
Speaker
So, you know, I want to step into, or the companies that energize me is like the real space, right?
00:22:02
Speaker
Being able to work with people that want to be challenged or open-minded and are also, you know,
00:22:10
Speaker
adaptable right because I think oftentimes you can be very set in your ways and not want to understand the reality um so companies that are you know wanting to accelerate right and I think under companies that also understand that you know people strategy is at the center of it right and being able to have that um that culture felt throughout everyone if that makes sense
00:22:34
Speaker
Yes, it does.
00:22:35
Speaker
Companies ready to accelerate.
00:22:37
Speaker
I think that is, I love the way that you just sort of package that.
00:22:43
Speaker
And there's so much opportunity.
00:22:45
Speaker
And I think so many companies that are finding themselves at those points, I think it's, you know, not only the moment in time for them in their growth, but the pressure of the AI evolution, the pressure of the macroeconomic environment that we're in, it's all just converging.
00:23:03
Speaker
And there's
00:23:04
Speaker
an incredible amount of opportunity to go around this community.
00:23:07
Speaker
So thanks for walking us through that.
00:23:12
Speaker
I think we're gonna dive into some like fun personal questions.
00:23:16
Speaker
So Amy, take it away.
00:23:18
Speaker
Yeah, the fun questions are me.
00:23:21
Speaker
So I will go ahead.
00:23:23
Speaker
So outside of work, what helps keep you grounded and recharges your batteries?
00:23:32
Speaker
Yes.
00:23:33
Speaker
My family, 100%.
00:23:35
Speaker
My children who keep me on my toes and, you know, keep me grounded and humble me real quick.
00:23:44
Speaker
You know, my friends are also my world.
00:23:47
Speaker
And believe it or not, breathing exercises, you know, it's truly incredible what breathing can do for you.
00:23:54
Speaker
And it's just been a game changer in keeping me grounded and bringing me back to, you know,
00:24:02
Speaker
chill.
00:24:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:04
Speaker
I have a friend who's a breath works consultant and she like those sessions.
00:24:10
Speaker
Pretty good.
00:24:11
Speaker
Yeah, they are pretty good.
00:24:12
Speaker
Yes.
00:24:13
Speaker
But you have to really be in it.
00:24:14
Speaker
So it's like phone on, you know, do not disturb.
00:24:17
Speaker
Like catch yourself.
00:24:18
Speaker
You have to just do it.
00:24:19
Speaker
And it's, you know, it's 10 minutes and you just think like, I can do 10 minutes of just focusing on this.
00:24:25
Speaker
Um, and it helps you just kind of get through the day better.
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:28
Speaker
I should have her like do us a little virtual session.
00:24:31
Speaker
Oh, I would love that.
00:24:32
Speaker
It's pretty cool.
00:24:33
Speaker
Have you ever done it, Erin?
00:24:35
Speaker
No, I'm just, I'm in awe, but it sounds great.
00:24:38
Speaker
You would be so uncomfortable because there's some of it where you have to breathe really weird.
00:24:43
Speaker
Yes.
00:24:44
Speaker
And so I can just, I know you so well.
00:24:47
Speaker
I know you'd be like,
00:24:49
Speaker
I don't want to do this with people.
00:24:51
Speaker
It's like body breathing where you're like, you're instructing you to, to breathe through your body in certain ways.
00:24:58
Speaker
Like I'm breathing.
00:24:59
Speaker
What do you do?
00:25:02
Speaker
Like I'm breathing.
00:25:03
Speaker
And so it just takes a minute to, it takes a little bit to figure it out.
00:25:06
Speaker
And you're like, okay, I feel something now, but it takes a minute.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:25:10
Speaker
I trust no one.
00:25:11
Speaker
So this is why you're just, you're picturing me in discomfort.
00:25:16
Speaker
I'm picturing myself there.
00:25:17
Speaker
But it still sounds fun.
00:25:19
Speaker
I'd be so game.
Jenna's Personal Interests
00:25:20
Speaker
It'd be one of those things you'd have to do with the camera off, I think.
00:25:23
Speaker
That's for sure.
00:25:24
Speaker
Probably.
00:25:24
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:27
Speaker
Next question.
00:25:28
Speaker
What's something people might not expect when it comes to, you know, something about you?
00:25:36
Speaker
These questions are always hard because you never know what's the reaction.
00:25:42
Speaker
I would say...
00:25:50
Speaker
that I horseback ride and I'm unbelievably good at ping pong.
00:25:58
Speaker
Really?
00:25:59
Speaker
Yes.
00:26:00
Speaker
Some may call it table tennis, but I am really good at that.
00:26:04
Speaker
That is a good fun fact.
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:07
Speaker
I mean, again, this is, this is, uh, you know, self-review here.
00:26:11
Speaker
I don't know if someone else would say that I was good at either of these two things, but, um, this is my opinion of myself.
00:26:18
Speaker
As rated by myself, I am top skier at ping pong.
00:26:22
Speaker
I don't know if anyone else would agree, but that is me.
00:26:25
Speaker
Horseback riding, I feel like in Texas, like that.
00:26:28
Speaker
Oh, no, that tracks.
00:26:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:32
Speaker
Okay, now we've got some interesting ones here.
00:26:36
Speaker
Who makes the best breakfast taco in Austin?
00:26:41
Speaker
I feel like this is going to be a very contentious topic between Erin and I because she lived...
00:26:48
Speaker
here too.
00:26:49
Speaker
Yeah, I put that one in.
00:26:51
Speaker
Yes, yes.
00:26:53
Speaker
I'm curious what you may think.
00:26:55
Speaker
But I actually would say Veracruz, the Mija tacos.
00:26:58
Speaker
I mean, I also love taco deli.
00:26:59
Speaker
I guess I just the simplicity of it I like.
00:27:03
Speaker
So that's, that's my choice.
00:27:06
Speaker
What was your choice?
00:27:09
Speaker
I think I'm a one taco fan, but there was also like a really small stand.
00:27:15
Speaker
I lived southeast of the city, like deep southeast, south of Bastrop.
00:27:20
Speaker
And there was this little family owned stand that made the best tacos ever, like homemade tortillas, carnegie sada.
00:27:29
Speaker
Oh, my.
00:27:29
Speaker
It was incredible.
00:27:32
Speaker
Just so good.
00:27:34
Speaker
The food trucks that I didn't realize was such like a phenomenon in Austin, they definitely have the best.
00:27:39
Speaker
Well, it's ruined me.
00:27:40
Speaker
I can't go to a Mexican restaurant in Raleigh.
00:27:43
Speaker
I can't eat like a tortilla you buy at the grocery store because the H-E-B tortillas are phenomenal.
00:27:49
Speaker
The butter tortillas.
00:27:50
Speaker
You can buy a candle, Amy.
00:27:51
Speaker
You can buy a candle that smells like the H-E-B butter tortillas that they make.
00:27:57
Speaker
Nothing compares.
00:27:59
Speaker
Nothing compares.
00:28:00
Speaker
You know, coming from the other side of the pond, the obsession with tacos just is so strange to me.
00:28:07
Speaker
Like, it's so interesting.
00:28:10
Speaker
But this next question I can really get behind because I am a huge fan.
Austin's Breakfast Tacos and Buc-ee's
00:28:17
Speaker
What is the best product that you can get at Bucky's?
00:28:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:25
Speaker
Okay, you think that obsession with tacos are interesting?
00:28:28
Speaker
I think the obsession with Buc-ee's is so fascinating to me.
00:28:33
Speaker
And mind you, I have been there, I have been twice.
00:28:37
Speaker
And I will say it is a personal experience.
00:28:40
Speaker
I know, but I, so there was one in Bastrop, which Erin, you, right?
00:28:44
Speaker
It was closer to you.
00:28:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:28:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:49
Speaker
And then the other one, which I can't think of, it's like on the way to Houston, perhaps.
00:28:54
Speaker
So anyways, I've only been to twice, but I have to say without a doubt, it's the Beaver Nuggets, which is that caramel corn snack thing.
00:29:06
Speaker
I mean, that's the best thing I've had there.
00:29:10
Speaker
And okay.
00:29:10
Speaker
Also, I think they probably have the best restrooms I've seen in any.
00:29:15
Speaker
Oh, hand it down.
00:29:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:16
Speaker
I mean, all of the artwork.
00:29:18
Speaker
Like it's, it's just one of the best.
00:29:20
Speaker
That is probably.
00:29:22
Speaker
Who's buying that artwork?
00:29:23
Speaker
I've asked that.
00:29:25
Speaker
I'm like, who, I don't understand.
00:29:27
Speaker
And it's, it's great.
00:29:28
Speaker
It's so interesting.
00:29:30
Speaker
The little price tags on them.
00:29:32
Speaker
I'm like, who's come to a gas station and gone to the bathroom and gone.
00:29:36
Speaker
I need that.
00:29:37
Speaker
That one.
00:29:38
Speaker
Yes.
00:29:39
Speaker
And do they just take it off the wall or like, how does that.
00:29:42
Speaker
And then do they replace it?
00:29:43
Speaker
It's like such a.
00:29:46
Speaker
Yeah, like where is their inventory from?
00:29:47
Speaker
You know, is it all different?
00:29:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'm so curious.
00:29:50
Speaker
Me too.
00:29:51
Speaker
I've been to bookies more than you, Jenna.
00:29:53
Speaker
And I live where there is no bookies.
00:29:55
Speaker
How?
00:29:56
Speaker
How have you done that?
00:29:57
Speaker
The good old American road trip that I've been subject to multiple times.
00:30:07
Speaker
It's a whole experience, though.
00:30:09
Speaker
My husband and I joke that we're going to tell our kids that Bucky's is Disney World so that we don't have to go to Disney World because it really practically is.
00:30:16
Speaker
I mean, you can spend several hours in there.
00:30:19
Speaker
Yes.
00:30:20
Speaker
And all I mean, all the stuff to buy, like the food and non-food.
00:30:23
Speaker
Right.
00:30:23
Speaker
It's pretty it's pretty cool.
00:30:25
Speaker
It's a very eclectic range of things that you didn't know about.
00:30:31
Speaker
and still not sure that you need there's like an interest it's just a we it's like a very there's like an it's like an overpriced home goods in a gas station yes yes that situation but I love the I love the little bookie fella you know all the novelty items and the bathrooms are absolutely clutch when you're on a on a road trip
00:30:59
Speaker
All right.
00:31:00
Speaker
Well, I guess, I guess it looks like that's our last, last bit of fun questions.
00:31:04
Speaker
We're going back into some serious questions, but rapid fire.
00:31:08
Speaker
Does that mean like one word rapid fire?
00:31:12
Speaker
Is that how rapid one sentence?
00:31:14
Speaker
I think, I mean, you might struggle with one word, just looking at a couple of these to like,
00:31:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's just the question, I don't know.
00:31:24
Speaker
Whatever you feel like, it's late, it's Thursday.
00:31:28
Speaker
I know it's not coming out on Thursday, but feel for us that this is what we're doing on our Thursday nights.
00:31:36
Speaker
One thing that every founder should prioritize in their people strategy.
Advice for Founders
00:31:44
Speaker
Clarity.
00:31:47
Speaker
I would say clarity as it pertains to their, their not strategy that just what, what they're trying to achieve and make it simple.
00:31:59
Speaker
And also then what are the expectations for the employees in order to reach the company's goals?
00:32:06
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:32:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:09
Speaker
One signal that it's time to bring on a fractional HR leader.
00:32:14
Speaker
sure there's more than one, but, um, I would say, uh, you know, the people issues again are consuming the time of leadership and running the business, you know, in perhaps a different direction than what the business is trying to do.
00:32:31
Speaker
And it's derailing them from focusing on what the business is trying to achieve.
00:32:36
Speaker
Yep.
00:32:37
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:32:38
Speaker
And then finally, one habit that you've observed thematically in great leaders that you've worked with.
00:32:47
Speaker
It's funny because Aaron kind of.
00:32:49
Speaker
What is it you gave you hit on it, but I gave like the foreshadowing of what I was going to say, but it's that leaders address things quickly early.
Decisive Leadership
00:33:02
Speaker
Right.
00:33:02
Speaker
Or on time, if you will.
00:33:04
Speaker
And leaders, you know, make decisions because I think people also can get in decision paralyzed, right?
00:33:13
Speaker
Like they just don't paralysis.
00:33:15
Speaker
I'm so bad at that decision paralysis.
00:33:19
Speaker
And that will impact more than, you know, that impacts everything there or the business and just having things move forward.
00:33:28
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:33:30
Speaker
Well, Jenna, thank you so much for your time and letting everybody get to know you a little bit more.
00:33:37
Speaker
How can the audience connect with you?
Connecting with Jenna Ferrua
00:33:41
Speaker
They can connect with me on LinkedIn and they can, and then the Strativist in all caps, and they can connect with me via my email.
00:33:55
Speaker
that I am happy to provide whenever.
00:33:59
Speaker
Yes.
00:34:01
Speaker
Send a, send a little message.
00:34:02
Speaker
Send a pigeon.
00:34:05
Speaker
She'll let me know what it is.
00:34:07
Speaker
Um, I can, who should consider fractional HR support and when?
00:34:15
Speaker
Who should consider HR support?
00:34:19
Speaker
Fractional HR support.
00:34:20
Speaker
Um,
00:34:21
Speaker
I think this is open to anyone that is needing, you know, HR support, whether it be small, large, you know, a startup or something that has grown larger.
00:34:32
Speaker
We're here for anyone and everything.
00:34:35
Speaker
Right.
00:34:36
Speaker
I think that there's, there's not one time.
00:34:39
Speaker
It's always nice to either be in the beginning when shit gets hard and also just any closing that needs to happen.
00:34:46
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:34:47
Speaker
When we got into this, we really were 100% convinced we'd only be working with startups.
00:34:54
Speaker
Like we were just really sure that, you know, they don't have their people teams established.
00:34:59
Speaker
But what has transpired to Erin's point earlier through the economy, through teams being downsized in favor of kind of new technology implementations,
00:35:15
Speaker
that the the small to medium companies and you know even slightly larger can get themselves in a position where they need help navigating through and sometimes it's like okay this is a great solution for us on a long-term basis or sometimes it's hey i need you for six months to come and undo some of this uh some of this disaster zone that we're in um so yeah
00:35:41
Speaker
it really does feel like it's a variety of people that need to lean on us.
00:35:48
Speaker
Yeah, I agree.
00:35:49
Speaker
Okay, but we always wanna put out an invitation to founders and leaders that if they want to get greater clarity on what we do, how we can support,
00:36:02
Speaker
and why Jenna would be the perfect addition to your team.
00:36:07
Speaker
Reach out, let us know.
00:36:09
Speaker
We'll be happy to set up some time with you.
00:36:10
Speaker
But thanks, Jenna.
00:36:12
Speaker
Thanks, Erin.
00:36:14
Speaker
Thanks, everybody.