The social contract between employers and workers is broken, and real leaders need to fix it.

Workplaces are facing massive trust deficits because leadership has treated corporate loyalty as a one-way street. Employees watch companies prioritize short-term shareholder equity while executing mass layoffs as a first resort instead of a last resort.

True alignment requires feedback, clear expectations, and leaders who actually protect their tribe instead of sacrificing them. Real leadership demands both high performance and basic human decency.

In this episode, Njsane Courtney breaks down how to restore workplace trust, fix broken performance management habits, and build a culture where leaders earn the right to lead every day.

Key Takeaways :

The broken social contract: Employees stopped offering unconditional loyalty after watching companies replace long-term pensions with volatile mass layoffs.

Protect the tribe: True leaders take on responsibility and shield their teams from threats rather than sacrificing workers to protect shareholder equity.

Layoffs aren't book balancers: Mass layoffs were historically reserved for business shutdowns, but modern leadership far too often pulls them as a lazy first lever.

Performance management as yard work: Maintaining consistent weekly feedback prevents massive cultural messes, much like regular lawn maintenance keeps weeds from taking over.

High performers aren't immune to standards: Tolerating toxic divas just because they hit their revenue numbers destroys team trust and ruins organizational culture.

Earn leadership daily: Titles don't command respect; executives must continuously justify why they have earned the right to lead their workforce.

This episode was recorded live at SHRM Annual 2026

The Heroes of HR podcast is a limited series sponsored by isolved. isolved is an HCM platform that modernizes HR, benefits, and payroll across Healthcare, Hospitality, Manufacturing, and more.

Learn more about isolved: ⁠https://www.isolvedhcm.com/⁠

Guest : Njsane Courtney is the VP of Human Resources at American Bureau of Shipping. A former Army veteran and seasoned HR executive advocating for authentic leadership, worker trust, and continuous performance feedback.

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

The Heroes of HR Podcast is hosted by :

Amy Miller, Product Evangelist at isolved LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycmiller/

Ryan Leary, Co-founder at WRKdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary/

William Tincup, Co-founder at WRKdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tincup/

Connect with WRKdefined :

Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined/

X: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined

Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

Stop Expecting Loyalty When You Sacrifice Your People | SHRM '26

Stop Expecting Loyalty When You Sacrifice Your People | SHRM '26

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