385: The Behavior You're Willing to Tolerate

385: The Behavior You're Willing to Tolerate

What if your culture isn't defined by your values, but by the behavior you're willing to tolerate? Steve Harris has spent decades helping organizations create environments where employees feel safe speaking up, leaders model the right behaviors, and ethics become part of everyday decision-making. As Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Lincoln Financial, Steve shares practical examples of how organizations can build trust, strengthen accountability, and help managers create psychological safety within their teams.   You'll hear how Lincoln reframed speaking up from a compliance obligation to a business imperative, why frontline managers have such a powerful influence on culture, and how one difficult experience early in Steve's career shaped his view of the difference between what is legal and what is ethical. His stories offer valuable lessons for any leader who wants values to guide behavior when decisions become difficult.   In his role as Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer at Lincoln Financial, Steve leads the company's enterprise compliance and sustainability programs and helps shape a culture of ethical decision-making across more than 11,000 employees. Under Steve’s leadership, Lincoln Financial has been recognized five times as one of Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies. Before joining Lincoln, Steve spent more than a decade at The Hartford, another long-time Ethisphere honoree, and he’s built a reputation for helping organizations integrate ethics into business strategy, leadership, and culture. He's also a frequent speaker on ethics and compliance and serves on several industry and academic advisory boards.   You'll discover: * Why speaking up drives business success  * How managers create psychological safety  * What trust looks like in practice  * Why listening builds stronger cultures  * The difference between law and ethics Connect with Steve Harris on Social Media LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-harris-bb997247/]  Website  Lincoln Financial [http://www.lincolnfinancial.com/]  Check out all the episodes [https://growstrongleaders.com/podcasts/] Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grow-strong-leaders-podcast/id1469099549] Connect with Meredith on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell/]

384: Helping Isn’t Always Helping

What if your desire to help is actually getting in someone else's way? You may think you're supporting, protecting, or guiding others, but sometimes your good intentions can unintentionally limit their growth, confidence, and sense of purpose.  Drawing from a deeply personal experience with my father, I explore how helping can cross the line into rescuing, controlling, or satisfying our own need to be right. You'll discover why this lesson matters not only in your personal relationships but also in your role as a leader, where the urge to solve problems can prevent others from developing their own capabilities and strengths.  I’m the co-founder and president of Grow Strong Leaders. We provide assessment and development systems that help leaders strengthen their character and communication skills so they can consistently live their values and sustain strong, high-trust cultures—especially under pressure.  You'll discover: * Why helping can sometimes feel controlling  * How rescuing prevents growth and confidence  * What your need to be right costs  * Why leaders should ask more questions  * The difference between support and interference Connect with Meredith on Social Media LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell [https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell] Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/MeredithMBell [https://www.facebook.com/MeredithMBell] Twitter  https://x.com/meredithmbell [https://twitter.com/meredithmbell]  Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/meredithmbell/ [https://www.instagram.com/meredithmbell/] Website  Grow Strong Leaders  https://growstrongleaders.com/ [https://growstrongleaders.com/]  Books Connect with Your Team: Mastering the Top 10 Communication Skills: https://amzn.to/3jL0pEI [https://amzn.to/3jL0pEI]   Grow Strong Character  https://tinyurl.com/3zwcanxa [https://tinyurl.com/3zwcanxa]  Check out all the episodes [https://growstrongleaders.com/podcasts/] Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grow-strong-leaders-podcast/id1469099549] Connect with Meredith on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell/]

383: How JLL Practices Integrity Every Day

How do you sustain an ethical culture across 113,000 employees in more than 80 countries with a team of just four ethics professionals? Kendall Mills shares how JLL has built one of the world's most enduring ethics programs, earning recognition from Ethisphere 19 times as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. She explains how ethics becomes more than a policy or annual training requirement when leaders consistently reinforce trust, transparency, accountability, and speaking up.  Kendall also shares a defining moment early in her career when she was pressured to alter an investigation report, and the decision she made that shaped her approach to leadership. Throughout our conversation, she reveals how organizations can operationalize integrity, create psychological safety, build trust at scale, and help employees make the right decisions even when nobody is watching.  Kendall is a licensed attorney and Certified Information Privacy Professional. She started her career at a Fortune 100 insurance company where she led more than 250 internal investigations, including matters involving C-suite executives. Today, she serves as Executive Director of Ethics & Compliance for the Americas at JLL, a Fortune 200 commercial real estate firm, where she also has global oversight for the ethics program spanning the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.    Kendall is known for translating complex regulatory issues into practical guidance, implementing compliance programs that work in the real world, and partnering with leadership to strengthen cultures of integrity and accountability. Her team develops the investigation trends and risk insights that go directly to JLL's Board, giving senior leadership clear visibility into where the risks are and what's being done about them. A Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Kendall is passionate about elevating compliance as a strategic function and developing a high-performing, globally aligned team.  You’ll discover:  * How JLL scales ethics across 80+ countries * Why integrity starts with small decisions  * What builds trust in speaking-up cultures * How leaders create psychological safety * Why accountability strengthens organizational trust Connect with Kendall on Social Media LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendall-mills-cipp-us-7568b171/]   Resources JLL Ethics Everywhere Annual Report [https://www.jll.com/content/dam/legacy/jll-com/documents/pdf/company-information/ethics-everywhere-annual-report.pdf]  Check out all the episodes [https://growstrongleaders.com/podcasts/] Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grow-strong-leaders-podcast/id1469099549] Connect with Meredith on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell/]

382: Leading with a Viewpoint and Grace

Do you need to know more than everyone else to be an effective leader? Chris Ware believes the answer is no. Throughout his career, he has repeatedly stepped into leadership roles where others had deeper expertise, yet he learned how to build trust, credibility, and engagement without relying on authority or having all the answers.  As Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at Itron, Chris shares lessons from his experiences as a federal prosecutor, business leader, and legal executive. You'll hear memorable stories about learning from failure, making ethical decisions under pressure, understanding the "why" behind people's actions, and creating cultures where communication, trust, and speaking up are part of everyday leadership.  You’ll discover:  * Why leaders need a viewpoint early * How grace strengthens trust and credibility * What failure taught Chris about listening * Why ethical decisions rarely require speed * How simple habits build strong cultures Connect with Chris Ware on Social Media LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-e-ware-/] Website  Chris’s employer Itron [https://na.itron.com/] Check out all the episodes [https://growstrongleaders.com/podcasts/] Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grow-strong-leaders-podcast/id1469099549] Connect with Meredith on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell/]

381: Why Marvell Employees Actually Speak Up

What makes employees feel safe enough to speak up when something feels wrong? Eva Lehman shares how ethical cultures are built through leadership behaviors, trust, consistency, and systems that reinforce integrity every day. As Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Marvell Technology, Eva offers a behind-the-scenes look at how their culture shapes employee behavior far beyond policies and compliance training.  You’ll hear how Marvell’s leadership team reinforces ethical decision-making across a global organization, why middle managers are critical to sustaining trust, and how employees are empowered to raise concerns without fear. Eva also shares personal reflections about the difficult moments leaders face when values are tested, and why courage, empathy, and support from leadership matter so much in those situations.  You’ll discover:  * Why employees hesitate to speak up * How leaders reinforce ethical culture daily * What builds trust across global organizations * Why managers are the ones shaping workplace microcultures * How Marvell approaches responsible AI governance  Connect with Eva Lehman on Social Media LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/evalehman/]  Website  Eva’s employer, Marvell Technology [https://www.marvell.com/]   Check out all the episodes [https://growstrongleaders.com/podcasts/] Leave a review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grow-strong-leaders-podcast/id1469099549] Connect with Meredith on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell/]