Linda Carlisle: Your Turnover Rate is Secretly Killing Your Margins | Ready Set Exec

Only 31% of US employees are engaged at work, an 11-year low. The other 70%? Checked out, actively disengaged, or job-hugging while waiting for something better. It's costing the global economy $8.9 trillion a year. And the root cause almost always traces back to leadership and communication.

Linda Carlisle is a seasoned communications strategist and founder of Comm.Ext, where she helps organizations navigate their most critical moments from shaping culture and employer brand to guiding teams through M&A integrations, reorgs, and high-impact change. With decades of experience leading internal and external comms, Linda specializes in turning strategy into clear, human-centred messaging that keeps employees informed, aligned, and engaged.

In this episode, Linda breaks down why most companies are getting communication completely wrong, why the trend back to command-and-control leadership is going to cost companies dearly, and what the real difference is between a culture problem and a communication problem.

About Ready Set Exec: Founded by Managing Partners Patrick Shea and John Pezoulas, Ready Set Exec is a premier North American executive leadership recruitment firm specializing in Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Operations. We replace hiring chaos with a repeatable process, boasting an average time-to-hire of 39 days and a 100% placement success rate.

Chapters:

01:32 The Full Employee Lifecycle

05:22 Why Command-and-Control Leadership Fails

08:50 AI's Impact on the Talent War

13:29 Intentionally Designing Company Culture

21:53 Empathy During Crisis and Layoffs

39:48 Fixing the 70% Disengagement Epidemic

Connect with Ready Set Exec:

• John Pezoulas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpezoulas/
• Patrick Shea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-jm-shea/
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadySetExec
• Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6clqPWbF2yFRlsFUOXY0CO?si=UuOAbZeiQMKpgSjV5Od5_g
• Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-set-exec-the-podcast/id1837951413

Connect with Linda Carlisle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindakcarlisle/

#employeeengagement #companyculture #internalcomms #HRleadership #leader