You’ve read the leadership books. You’ve taken the courses. But nobody hands you a manual for the version of yourself that had no idea what they were doing…and was terrified for anyone to find out.
In this episode of Highly Adaptive, Jeff Pelliccio and Erin MacKenzie turn the mic on themselves. No guest. No borrowed framework. Just two leaders being honest about the gap between who they were and who they’ve become.
Erin opens with a story that sets the tone immediately, she quit a promising corporate job to become a skydiver and bartend at a biker bar in Daytona Beach. What sounds like a detour turned out to be one of the most formative professional experiences of her career, teaching her about risk, authentic connection, and what it actually means to trust the people around you. A chance conversation with an 80-year-old skydiver named Norm (known affectionately as the Sky Fossil) put her on the path that led to everything that followed.
Jeff takes the other road. He was the one with the condo at 20, putting himself through college, checking every box in the right order. From the outside, he had it all figured out. On the inside, he was building narratives in his head that nobody else was paying attention to…and spending years performing certainty he didn’t have.
Together, they surface the lessons that only show up in hindsight: why your insecurities are louder in your head than anywhere else, why the environment doesn’t bend to you, and why the most useful thing you can do is stop running someone else’s race.
Key Takeaways
Your insecurities are a solo audience: The narratives you build in your head about what others think of you are almost entirely fiction. Stripping that layer of concern opens up more room to participate, contribute, and connect.
Authenticity isn’t vulnerability — it’s strategy: Trying to fake it in front of experienced people doesn’t work. They already know. Showing up as where you actually are builds more rapport and opens more doors than performed confidence ever will.
The environment doesn’t bend to you: Prioritizing what the environment needs before what you want isn’t a compromise. It’s the fastest path to getting what you actually want.
Empty questions cost more than no questions: Speaking up matters. But understanding what you’re asking before you ask it matters just as much. Curiosity without clarity doesn’t move the conversation forward.
You don’t compete on a global stage: you compete with yourself — Using others as benchmarks is fine. Measuring your progress against them is a trap. The only meaningful comparison is where you were yesterday versus where you are today.
You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be: Every moment is the result of a decision you made. That’s not a reason to be passive — it’s a reason to pay attention to what each moment is teaching you.
Don’t say no to the opportunity: Growth almost never comes from the comfortable path. Say yes, figure it out, and trust that you’ll learn more in motion than you ever would waiting for the right moment.
Sponsors
Allied Insight: When this episode is about running your own race, Allied Insight helps staffing and consulting firms define what that race actually looks like — and build the marketing to match. The Preferred Marketing Partner of Staffing and Consulting businesses.
All Things Staffing: The resource hub for the staffing community. Expert Resources for the Staffing Community.
