Difficult conversations are uncomfortable, especially when you care about the person on the other side of them. But avoiding feedback rarely makes the problem disappear. Drawing on 15 years of working alongside leaders and teams, Richelle explores what “direct is kind” actually looks like in practice, and how leaders can pair clarity with genuine care.

The way leaders talk about layoffs matters. When employees are publicly characterized as low performers, the company controls the narrative while the people affected may carry that label with them. Richelle explores the accountability gap and what it means to communicate hard people decisions with integrity.