Gabriella Bedor and I both learned in the Big Four what it means to show up with discipline and commitment. Today she is a senior HR executive, and what struck me in our conversations is how little distance there is between who Gabby is and how she leads.
Those values started at home. Her father ran a stonemason, marble and tile business for 40 years. When she told him about a long day, he would ask, "Did you put in time, or did you work?" And he lived by one rule: you are a man of your word, or you have nothing. If he promised you a bottle of his homemade wine, it might take a month, but it came. Decades later, people who once worked for him still visit him at 85 to say thank you.
That is where Gabby's sense of integrity comes from. When someone once asked her whether she valued integrity or loyalty more, her answer was simple: "If you don't have the integrity, how can you have loyalty?"
We talk about integration too. Gabby doesn't think in terms of work-life balance. She thinks about work-life integration, and about being the same person at work that she is at home. As she sees it, it is far harder to be someone you are not than to simply be yourself, even knowing not everyone will like it.
She takes real pride in that authenticity, and she treats integrity as a discipline. Showing up in integrity with her values means doing the work: sitting down to write a handwritten note to every one of the 380 people in her organization, picking up the phone instead of sending an email, and protecting someone's dignity on their last day.
And it means living in alignment. Gabby believes too many people try to fit the mold around them instead of their own. When you live in integrity with your values, you don't fit someone else's mold. You create your own.
Your Word Is Your Word.
Gabby's story is a reminder that values are not what we write on the wall. They are who we are, at home and at work, when we keep our word.
About Gabriella Bedor
Gabriella "Gabby" Bedor is a senior HR executive and values-based leader whose approach is grounded in trust, integrity and authentic human connection. She began her career at a grocery store, joined PricewaterhouseCoopers through an internship program, and spent much of her career there before moving into HR leadership. Her leadership reflects the values she learned at home from her father, a stonemason who ran a marble and tile business for 40 years. [Confirm bio and current title with Gabby.]
Connect with Gabby
Gabriella Bedor on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriella-b-864599140/
Themes in the conversation
1. Integrity as the foundation for loyalty and trust.
2. Being the same person at work and at home.
3. Work-life integration rather than balance.
4. Small acts of humanity: handwritten notes, a phone call, a gesture of thanks.
5. Protecting dignity in restructurings and hard conversations.
6. Purpose for today rather than a five-year plan.
7. Keeping the human at the center as AI changes work.
8. Legacy: how we want to be seen, day to day.
Mentioned in the conversation
Steve Jobs (on understanding life looking backwards)
Maya Angelou
The Bhagavad Gita
Joseph Campbell
Connect with Jerry and IMPOWERU
IMPOWERU
Jerry Thompson on LinkedIn
IMPOWERU on LinkedIn
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Oct 29 202647 min