In Episode 51 of The Gen Mess with Tess, Tess is joined by Corrine Ishio, founder of My Working Soul, to explore a challenge many fast-growing companies face but rarely talk about: scaling the business faster than the culture can keep up.

When organizations grow quickly, hiring often becomes reactive. Leaders focus on roles and results, while the human side of the company quietly gets lost. The result? Misalignment, disengagement, and teams that no longer feel connected to the mission that once energized them.

Corrine shares her perspective from years working in talent, recruiting, and HR; helping founders and leadership teams rethink how they hire, communicate, and define culture during periods of rapid growth.

In this conversation, Tess and Corrine explore:

• Why companies struggle to maintain culture as they scale
• The complicated role HR plays between employees and leadership
• How generational misunderstandings shape today’s workplace
• Why Gen Z communication patterns are confusing many managers
• The influence of social media on workplace behavior and identity
• Why purpose is becoming central to work in the AI era

They also discuss how leaders can create healthier workplaces by focusing less on rigid definitions of culture and more on communication, self-awareness, and intentional hiring. Because when companies grow quickly, it’s easy to forget the most important part of any organization: the humans building it.

00:00 – Introduction to Corrine Ishio & My Working Soul

01:05 – Corrine’s Path Into HR & Human-Centered Work

04:00 – What HR Actually Does (vs. what people think it does)

07:00 – Why HR Often Feels Stuck Between Employees & Companies

11:00 – The “Human” Lens Inside Business Operations

13:00 – The Meaning Behind “My Working Soul”

17:00 – Why Culture Breaks When Companies Grow Quickly

20:30 – What a Healthy Workplace Actually Looks Like

23:00 – Communication Differences Across Generations

29:30 – Why Younger Workers Are Often Misunderstood

34:30 – Purpose, Work, and the AI Era

38:30 – Are Younger Employees Harder to Manage?

43:00 – Millennials, Social Media, and Cultural Fragmentation

49:00 – Safety, Identity, and the Digital Workplace

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