Welcome to the first episode of the New Perspective Podcast, hosted by Nicole West!

Nicole West sits down with Dr. Jessica Schloemp, VP of Operations at Financial Independence Group, to unpack what actually separates a leader from a manager. Jessica leads a team of thirty four and has built her approach around what she calls the platinum rule: treat people how they want to be treated, not how you want to be treated. The conversation moves through her doctoral research in strategic leadership, the mindset shift she made after becoming a mother of two, and why she believes corporate promotion decisions often skip the one question that matters most, whether someone actually wants to lead people.

Jessica also shares how she rebuilt trust on a team that had gone without direct leadership for over a year, why she pushes back against blanket return to office mandates, and how flexibility has overtaken salary as the biggest driver of retention on her team. She talks candidly about firing someone for the first time in five years, helping employees update their resumes to leave for better opportunities, and why she believes authenticity at work isn't optional for leaders who want real buy in.

Key takeaways from this episode:

The difference between managing performance and leading people, and why one without the other eventually fails
Why the platinum rule (treat people how they want to be treated) outperforms the golden rule in practice
How asking better questions gets people to their own answers instead of just following instructions
Why flexibility has become a stronger retention tool than salary for many teams
How self awareness, not tenure, should determine who gets promoted into leadership

Guest: Dr. Jessica Schloemp, VP of Operations, Financial Independence Group. Author of The Leader Within Her. Founder of Revive and Rise Consulting.

If this conversation changed how you think about leading your own team, share it with someone navigating the same thing.

Thanks for listening to the New Perspective Podcast. If this conversation gave you a new way to think about a challenge in your own organization, subscribe and share the episode with another leader who might benefit from a different perspective.

Nicole West and the New Perspective Podcast team
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-west-npc/
Website: https://npcnh.com

#OperationsLeadership #BusinessOperations #OperationalStrategy #BusinessTransformation #OperationalExcellence #OrganizationalChange
#BusinessGrowth #Leadership
New Perspective is a podcast about what it really takes to make organizations work. Hosted by Nicole West, Founder of New Perspective Consulting, each episode goes behind the polished success stories to explore the challenges leaders actually face while growing businesses, leading teams, implementing change, and trying to make things work better.
Nicole sits down with founders, operators, executives, and other leaders to unpack the moments when something wasn't working as expected: the initiative that stalled, the process that no longer fit, the team that needed a different approach, or the growing business that suddenly became harder to manage.
The conversations aren't about having all the answers. They're about asking better questions: What was really getting in the way? What changed? What did you learn?
And what might another leader do differently because of it?
If you're responsible for leading through growth, change, or complexity - and you've ever thought, there has to be a better way to do this - New Perspective is for you.

Aaron Cruikshank, President of CTRS Market Intelligence, spent his career proving one bold truth: the companies that win are the ones brave enough to look outside their own walls for answers. In this episode he breaks down why most organisations quietly fail at due diligence research, how community of practice turns competitors into collaborators, and why business psychology quietly decides every sale long before the pitch begins.

🔹 The Blind Spot Every Company Ignores
🔹 Borrowing Brilliance Through Community Practice
🔹 The Psychology Hiding Behind Every Sale
🔹 Thinking Fifteen Years Beyond Today

From market intelligence and best practices to long term strategy and decision making, this conversation reframes how leaders should research, plan and grow globally.
You can get in touch with here on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cruikshank/
Website: https://www.ctrs.co/

We hope you enjoyed this episode!
- Nicole West and the New Perspective Podcast team

Connect with me here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-west-npc/
Website: https://npcnh.com

#OperationsLeadership #BusinessOperations #OperationalStrategy #BusinessTransformation #OperationalExcellence #OrganizationalChange
#BusinessGrowth #Leadership
New Perspective is a podcast about what it really takes to make organizations work. Hosted by Nicole West, Founder of New Perspective Consulting, each episode goes behind the polished success stories to explore the challenges leaders actually face while growing businesses, leading teams, implementing change, and trying to make things work better.
Nicole sits down with founders, operators, executives, and other leaders to unpack the moments when something wasn't working as expected: the initiative that stalled, the process that no longer fit, the team that needed a different approach, or the growing business that suddenly became harder to manage.
The conversations aren't about having all the answers. They're about asking better questions: What was really getting in the way? What changed? What did you learn?
And what might another leader do differently because of it?
If you're responsible for leading through growth, change, or complexity - and you've ever thought, there has to be a better way to do this - New Perspective is for you.

Business operations and organizational scaling have broken more companies than bad products ever will. Anthony Paterno, Senior Vice President of Operations at Echelon Payments, built his career mastering exactly what most executives never confront: transforming institutional chaos into metrics driven, scalable operational excellence that powers real business growth.

📊 The Organizational Tipping Point That Exposes Every Scaling Business
Reactive operations crumble. Strategic systems become your survival blueprint.
🔧 The Standardization Playbook Most Leaders Ignore Until It Is Too Late Documented process management is your most underrated competitive weapon.
📈 Metrics: The Most Underrated Force in Organizational Change Management Data silences resistance and forces real business transformation.
⚡ The Last 15% Rule That Reveals Everything About Your Execution Culture Elite operators finish strong. Most project management efforts quietly die here.

You can get in touch with Anthony Paterno here on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonypaterno/
Website: https://echelonpayments.com/

I hope you enjoyed this episode. If it gave you something to think about, please like, share and subscribe so more people can find these conversations.

We hope you enjoyed this episode!
- Nicole West and the New Perspective Podcast team

Connect with me here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-west-npc/
Website: https://npcnh.com

#OperationsLeadership #BusinessOperations #OperationalStrategy #BusinessTransformation #OperationalExcellence #OrganizationalChange
#BusinessGrowth #Leadership
New Perspective is a podcast about what it really takes to make organizations work. Hosted by Nicole West, Founder of New Perspective Consulting, each episode goes behind the polished success stories to explore the challenges leaders actually face while growing businesses, leading teams, implementing change, and trying to make things work better.
Nicole sits down with founders, operators, executives, and other leaders to unpack the moments when something wasn't working as expected: the initiative that stalled, the process that no longer fit, the team that needed a different approach, or the growing business that suddenly became harder to manage.
The conversations aren't about having all the answers. They're about asking better questions: What was really getting in the way? What changed? What did you learn?
And what might another leader do differently because of it?
If you're responsible for leading through growth, change, or complexity - and you've ever thought, there has to be a better way to do this - New Perspective is for you.

Nicole West is joined by John O'Brien, founder of The AI Operators, for a conversation about what it actually takes to move from experimenting with AI to operationalizing it inside a business. John works with small and mid sized businesses across the Portsmouth and Seacoast New Hampshire area, helping them figure out where AI fits, what it can safely be trusted with, and where the real risks are.

The conversation covers the difference between using AI as a chat tool versus delegating real work to autonomous agents, why vague instructions to an agent can lead to expensive surprises, and why the biggest risk with advanced AI setups isn't the technology itself but how loosely it gets supervised. John also shares where AI consistently falls short, including his own ongoing struggle to get it to write an email that actually sounds like him, and why authenticity is the hardest thing for AI to fake.

Key takeaways from this episode:

The difference between chatting with AI and delegating real operational work to an AI agent
Why unclear instructions and unsupervised autonomy create financial and security risk
How to think about the "blast radius" of what an AI agent can access before giving it access
Why AI is often worst at the tasks people try it on first, like writing in their own voice
Practical first steps for a business owner who wants to move from curiosity to real use

Guest: John O'Brien, Founder of The AI Operators (aio-us.com).

If this conversation gave you a clearer way to think about bringing AI into your own business, share it with another leader working through the same questions.

We hope you enjoyed this episode!
- Nicole West and the New Perspective Podcast team

Connect with me here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-west-npc/
Website: https://npcnh.com

#OperationsLeadership #BusinessOperations #OperationalStrategy #BusinessTransformation #OperationalExcellence #OrganizationalChange
#BusinessGrowth #Leadership
New Perspective is a podcast about what it really takes to make organizations work. Hosted by Nicole West, Founder of New Perspective Consulting, each episode goes behind the polished success stories to explore the challenges leaders actually face while growing businesses, leading teams, implementing change, and trying to make things work better.
Nicole sits down with founders, operators, executives, and other leaders to unpack the moments when something wasn't working as expected: the initiative that stalled, the process that no longer fit, the team that needed a different approach, or the growing business that suddenly became harder to manage.
The conversations aren't about having all the answers. They're about asking better questions: What was really getting in the way? What changed? What did you learn?
And what might another leader do differently because of it?
If you're responsible for leading through growth, change, or complexity - and you've ever thought, there has to be a better way to do this - New Perspective is for you.

Andy Mattingly has spent 36 years at FORUM Credit Union, the last 15 as COO. In this episode he talks about leading through constant change, why go-live dates are a starting point rather than a finish line, and how his team builds a culture where admitting mistakes is normal rather than risky.

Andy also shares a candid look at how sophisticated fraud has become, including a family rule that stops scams before they start, and why every organisation needs a trusted contact system for vulnerable members.

🔆 Why “go live” should be treated as day one, not the deadline
🔆 Building a culture where teams feel safe admitting when something’s wrong
🔆 The three-phase mindset for managing major projects and change fatigue
🔆 How fraudsters are using AI, and the simple family rule that blocks them
🔆 Why healthy boundaries and flexible working models improve staff retention

You can get in touch with here on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmattingly/
Website: https://www.forumcu.com/

A grounded, experience-based conversation for anyone leading a team through change.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. If it gave you something to think about, please like, share and subscribe so more people can find these conversations.

We hope you enjoyed this episode!
- Nicole West and the New Perspective Podcast team

Connect with me here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-west-npc/
Website: https://npcnh.com

#OperationsLeadership #BusinessOperations #OperationalStrategy #BusinessTransformation #OperationalExcellence #OrganizationalChange
#BusinessGrowth #Leadership
New Perspective is a podcast about what it really takes to make organizations work. Hosted by Nicole West, Founder of New Perspective Consulting, each episode goes behind the polished success stories to explore the challenges leaders actually face while growing businesses, leading teams, implementing change, and trying to make things work better.
Nicole sits down with founders, operators, executives, and other leaders to unpack the moments when something wasn't working as expected: the initiative that stalled, the process that no longer fit, the team that needed a different approach, or the growing business that suddenly became harder to manage.
The conversations aren't about having all the answers. They're about asking better questions: What was really getting in the way? What changed? What did you learn?
And what might another leader do differently because of it?
If you're responsible for leading through growth, change, or complexity - and you've ever thought, there has to be a better way to do this - New Perspective is for you.

Rusty Fulling spent his first ten years in business running on instinct, trading one job for another with no real vision behind it. Twenty six years later, he's built Fulling Management and Accounting into a fully remote fractional CFO firm working with clients across the country, and he credits the turnaround to a single shift: swapping the daily grind for a clear, shared vision his whole team could get behind.

In this conversation, Rusty talks openly about the burnout that pushed him to start the business in the first place, why he believes culture has to be built deliberately rather than bought with foosball tables and free coffee, and how his firm's GRACE values shape everything from hiring to weekly check ins. He also shares the practical steps any business owner can take to move from simply surviving to building something with real direction, and why he thinks no one should try to do it alone.

The hospital stay that led Rusty to start his own firm on April Fool's Day
Why the first ten years were "a job, not a business," and what changed at year ten
The GRACE framework guiding hiring, accountability and culture
How going fully remote during the pandemic made the team closer, not more distant
Why shout outs and serving events matter as much as revenue targets
Rusty's advice for anyone starting a business today

Connect with Rusty Fulling on LinkedIn or learn more at https://www.fullingmgmt.com/

I hope you enjoyed this episode. If it gave you something to think about, please like, share and subscribe so more people can find these conversations.

We hope you enjoyed this episode!
- Nicole West and the New Perspective Podcast team

Connect with me here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-west-npc/
Website: https://npcnh.com

#OperationsLeadership #BusinessOperations #OperationalStrategy #BusinessTransformation #OperationalExcellence #OrganizationalChange
#BusinessGrowth #Leadership
New Perspective is a podcast about what it really takes to make organizations work. Hosted by Nicole West, Founder of New Perspective Consulting, each episode goes behind the polished success stories to explore the challenges leaders actually face while growing businesses, leading teams, implementing change, and trying to make things work better.
Nicole sits down with founders, operators, executives, and other leaders to unpack the moments when something wasn't working as expected: the initiative that stalled, the process that no longer fit, the team that needed a different approach, or the growing business that suddenly became harder to manage.
The conversations aren't about having all the answers. They're about asking better questions: What was really getting in the way? What changed? What did you learn?
And what might another leader do differently because of it?
If you're responsible for leading through growth, change, or complexity - and you've ever thought, there has to be a better way to do this - New Perspective is for you.