WORK
THE PARADOX OF "BUSYNESS"
I hate the word "busy." I try not to use it that often
But there’s a badge of honor in busyness in business. You know the one.
“How are you?” “Busy!” everyone says with a mix of exhaustion and pride.
I wore that badge for decades in corporate HR. I said those words. I was the person who answered emails at 10pm, who “pushed through,” who confused motion with progress. I told myself I was committed. I was available. I was indispensable.
Actually I was burning out. Slowly, and then all at once. And I was also hurting my team. I was lucky because I was able to correct and recover. But not everyone is so lucky.
When I left corporate and launched my own business, I promised myself I would not recreate that culture in a company of one. I would not glorify busyness. I would not let my calendar become my identity.
That promise has been harder to keep than I expected.
The busier you are, the less effective you are: Research consistently shows that cognitive performance, decision quality, and creative thinking decline sharply when we’re overloaded. But those are often the moments we push harder, not smarter. I know I certainly am guilty of that.
For leaders in distribution and manufacturing especially, this is dangerous. Your workforce is watching. When you model frantic, reactive, always-on behavior, it ripples through your entire organization. Burnout can go far beyond an individual issue and become something that's embedded in your culture. Tolerated. Expected.
The busiest leaders I’ve seen are often the ones making the most expensive mistakes.
So what actually works?
I've definitely learned this the hard way, after my own burnout. But with the addition of my husband Dave as my COO, I took on more clients. So I had to make sure I wasn't falling into the old traps when there was simply more work to do. So here's what I suggest, after learning the hard way:
Protect your thinking time like a client meeting. Unscheduled space on your calendar is where your best work happens. Block it. Defend it. I sometimes block whole days. Sometimes half days. Sometimes a half hour between meetings and sometimes, like this past week, none. And I felt it. It was a wakeup call to listen to myself!
Do a weekly “stop doing” audit. Not everything on your plate deserves to be there. Ask yourself: What am I doing out of habit or guilt that someone else could own, or that doesn’t need to happen at all? For me, I used to spend hours a week talking to people looking to go out on their own, those looking to break into HR. And I loved it, and did it for free. And I still do. I just have moved from several hours a week to one to two spots, which allows me to still meet with people, but protects my time as well.
Notice the early warning signs in yourself. For me, it's microwaving lunch instead of making it myself if I'm working from home. Or skipping that ten minute walk in the middle of the day to keep going. When I notice that, again, like this past week, I pay attention.
Separate urgency from importance. They aren't always the same thing. Most things that feel urgent aren’t. Many things that are important are a bit quieter. I've learned what's urgent and what's not, and when I need to push through and when I can push something forward. That's not easy. But I'm getting better at it.
Rest is not a reward. Rest is an absolute requirement. For me, for you, for everyone. Even nearly two and a half years in to working for myself, I mostly keep traditional business hours out of habit. But (most of the time) I build in rest and relaxation. And I always, always jealously protect my sleep. Sleep-deprived, chronically stressed leaders do not lead well.
I won’t pretend I’ve solved this. Some weeks the calendar gets the best of me. But the difference between my life now and before? I notice sooner. I course-correct faster. And I don’t mistake busyness for worth.
Your value isn’t measured in how packed your day is. It’s measured in what you actually create, decide, and lead.
COMMUNITY
I get asked a LOT why I focus on clients in Distribution, Manufacturing. Logistics and Construction.
Simple answer? I love these industries. I've spent much of my career in these industries.
More complicated answer? I can have a huge impact across a variety of companies in a way I couldn't working for just one company. My goal was to become the go-to Advisory Chief People Officer in these industries. (I really want to keep hearing - "You've got a People issue? You need to talk to Tracie!) My Advisory CPO engagements are long, because change takes time. And these industries not only need, but want change. I find I get up every day not stressed, but excited to dive in. And the variety of clients and projects always keeps me on my toes.
Not all of my clients are in frontline industries - I do HR Tech, AI or short projects for others - but all of my advisory clients are.
So many people assume HR in these industries is simpler. Fewer policies to navigate. Less complex talent needs. "Old school" HR.
Historically, HR in these industries has been transactional. Process-heavy. Reactive. Built around compliance and paperwork more than people.
That's exactly the problem I'm here to solve.
When most of your workforce doesn't sit at a desk, traditional HR doesn't work. You can't communicate through company-wide emails when half your people don't have a company email address. You can't build culture through all-hands Zoom calls when your second shift ends at midnight. You can't create trust through a polished intranet when the person you need to reach is on a forklift or a job site.
Good HR in these industries means meeting people where they are — physically, culturally, and linguistically. It means thinking hard about how information travels, how recognition lands, how feedback gets heard. It means building systems that work for someone who's on their feet all day, not only someone who's at a desk.
It also means tackling things head-on that many organizations would rather avoid: wage compression, safety culture, the gap between front office and frontline, the reality that your longest-tenured employees may have never once been asked for their opinion.
These aren't easy problems. But they're solvable. And solving them creates a competitive advantage that is very hard to copy.
The companies that get this right will have lower turnover. And they will also have workplaces where people actually want to show up. And that shows up in productivity, quality, and customer relationships too.
That's the work I'm here to do. I absolutely love it. I can't imagine doing anything else.
If you lead a team in distribution, manufacturing, construction or another frontline industry and you're starting to think about the connection between HR and your business, I'd love to talk. (Remember those free calls I mentioned earlier? They are for you too!)
COFFEE
I have been terrible about taking pictures over the past few weeks. I'll make that up this week at Transform.
And speaking of Transform, if you are headed there, you can find me at the expo most of the time, or at probably all of the coffee happy hours (FPP, Phoenix Collective, Safe Space, and I am probably missing a few!)
Want to meet up for coffee? Reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn!
See you next week!
One more thing!
I mentioned AI at the very top of this newsletter. Last summer, I gave my first AI in HR keynote. Last fall, I taught my first AI in HR workshop, quickly followed by a surprise AI in HR keynote.
Almost none of that information is the same today. '
And I'm getting an increasing number of requests to add AI into HR teams. I'll be writing a lot more about what that looks like in the future, because it's about so much more than AI.
For now I'll leave you with this. If you haven't started to learn about how AI can help you, your business and your people (and there are many, many of you), please start now. Like it or not, it is changing the world of work.
Last week I sent an AI in HR quick readiness assessment to distribution and manufacturing leaders on my frontline list. If you want that, reply to this or message me! It's simple, and one of the many free resources this list receives.
Until next time....... thanks for reading!
Any questions, thoughts, or things you want to see in the next newsletter? Just reply to this one!
