Heather McLean: Cutting Through the AI Hype—Why People and Process Matter Most

Okay.

So you spent 20 years in the Air Force leading logistics and IT operations before moving into the corporate world and eventually founding your own company.

What's the one leadership lesson from your military service that most business leaders today are getting wrong?

I feel like it just always comes back to the people and how you treat people.

And I see a lot of organizations not not prioritizing their people, right? You're hearing about massive layoffs and people not, you know, getting new opportunities.

I think it really just, it always comes back to the people and how you treat them.

And if you treat your people well, your business will be successful.

Wonderful.

So you talk about mission success, starting with people, trust and showing up for each other.

So either in a business world obsessed with metrics and quarterly results, how do you actually build that kind of culture without sacrificing performance?

Well, for us, it, I mean, it kind of starts with our core values, right? Trust, service, innovation, integrity, like those have to be part of your everyday life.

They have to be part of your decision-making.

Our motto is do the right thing and do the thing right.

And we really live by that.

We really try to always put the best interests of our clients and our people at the forefront and do the right thing and do it with excellence.

I think it also comes down to, you know, like I said, treating people well, treating them like humans, you know, somebody you care about.

And that also comes down to how we hire and who we hire.

Right.

So we're looking for people who are humble, who are hungry for, you know, just like had that motivation and drive, who are smart as far as emotional intelligence, who are flexible and So hiring the right people helps instill your culture because they're going to also live the same values that your company is promoting.

And then I think also it's about how we operate.

We believe in feedback.

We give honest feedback to each other.

We give constant coaching.

We have an approach where we value continuous improvement, right? So every time we do something, when we're done, we're going to go back and say, well, how did we do in that? And how could we have done that better? And what lesson can we carry forward? So it really just, I think it kind of comes down to those things.

And then Culture is something you need to continuously be revisiting.

Okay.

So you spent 20 years in the Air Force leading logistics and IT operations before moving into the corporate world and eventually founding your own company.

What's the one leadership lesson from your military service that most business leaders today are getting wrong?

I feel like it just always comes back to the people and how you treat people.

And I see a lot of organizations not not prioritizing their people, right? You're hearing about massive layoffs and people not, you know, getting new opportunities.

I think it really just, it always comes back to the people and how you treat them.

And if you treat your people well, your business will be successful.

Wonderful.

So you talk about mission success, starting with people, trust and showing up for each other.

So either in a business world obsessed with metrics and quarterly results, how do you actually build that kind of culture without sacrificing performance?

Well, for us, it, I mean, it kind of starts with our core values, right? Trust, service, innovation, integrity, like those have to be part of your everyday life.

They have to be part of your decision-making.

Our motto is do the right thing and do the thing right.

And we really live by that.

We really try to always put the best interests of our clients and our people at the forefront and do the right thing and do it with excellence.

I think it also comes down to, you know, like I said, treating people well, treating them like humans, you know, somebody you care about.

And that also comes down to how we hire and who we hire.

Right.

So we're looking for people who are humble, who are hungry for, you know, just like had that motivation and drive, who are smart as far as emotional intelligence, who are flexible and So hiring the right people helps instill your culture because they're going to also live the same values that your company is promoting.

And then I think also it's about how we operate.

We believe in feedback.

We give honest feedback to each other.

We give constant coaching.

We have an approach where we value continuous improvement, right? So every time we do something, when we're done, we're going to go back and say, well, how did we do in that? And how could we have done that better? And what lesson can we carry forward? So it really just, I think it kind of comes down to those things.

And then Culture is something you need to continuously be revisiting.