Dr. Amy Campbell
Chief People Officer
Overhaul
Episode 61
Stop chasing revenue: Human psychology fuels lasting business success.
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleSeptember 4, 2025 · 11:08
Thesis
“Business success is fundamentally dependent on a solid foundation of understanding human psychology, motivation, and ensuring employees are engaged, aligned, and feel truly supported, rather than solely relying on product or revenue strategies.”
Show notes
Episode Summary
What happens when a mental health expert leads your people strategy? In this episode of Built by People, host Dave D’Angelo sits down with Dr. Amy Campbell, Chief People Officer with a PhD in Counseling and Clinical Supervision, to explore how psychology—not business buzzwords—can be the foundation for thriving, resilient workplaces.
Amy shares her unique journey from clinician and educator to CPO in the tech world, and how her background in human development helped her build a cultural framework that supports engagement, growth, and well-being at scale. She discusses the importance of values-based leadership, strength-based team building, and the hard lessons she learned from burnout while scaling a company through rapid growth, geopolitical upheaval, and a global pandemic.
Whether you're in HR, leadership, or simply trying to lead yourself better—this episode will leave you rethinking what truly powers high-performing companies.
Key Timestamps
[00:46] – Amy’s career journey from clinical psychology to corporate leadership
[02:03] – Why building a people-first culture was a defining moment
[03:47] – How positive psychology drives engagement and profitability
[06:28] – The reality of burnout—even for mental health professionals
[08:58] – Amy’s legacy: Making psychology a business imperative
[09:59] – The most important leadership role: leading your own life
Takeaways
Ground your people strategy in real psychology, not just corporate speak
Use strength-based frameworks to improve performance and well-being
Burnout can hit even the experts—prioritize self-leadership daily
Company culture is lived, not laminated—embed values into actions
Pause before reacting: micro-moments of mindfulness build resilience
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What you'll take away
- 1Root cultural statements in evidence-based psychological principles rather than business jargon to foster genuine engagement and alignment.
- 2Implement strength-based approaches and positive psychology within teams to enhance well-being, resilience, and improve profitability.
- 3Prioritize self-care, boundaries, and recharging as a leader ('CEO of yourself') to maintain effectiveness and prevent burnout.
- 4Advocate for people sciences to become a foundational element in the corporate world, integrating psychology and human behavior understanding into business strategy.
What most organizations get wrong
- •"I am definitely a mental health professional at heart... who quote unquote knows all about stress management and burnout. And man, oh man, did I burn myself out and had to really relearn some things." - Challenges the perception that experts are immune to the issues they advise on, emphasizing the universal struggle with burnout.
- •"you can have the best like product and even revenue strategy in the world, but if you do not have people that are gonna be engaged, are aligned and feel truly supported, you won't succeed as a company." - Pushes back against a purely product or revenue-driven business strategy, arguing that people are the ultimate foundation for success.
In Dr.'s words
“I built a cultural statement that was really truly rooted in evidence ideas about people and not just business jargon or catchy phrases.”
Highlights the intentional and evidence-based approach to defining company culture, moving beyond superficial statements.
“Positive psychology and strength-based approaches... really do share a common goal, and it's to foster like wellbeing and resilience by focusing on strengths.”
Explains the core benefit of these people-centric methodologies for individual and organizational well-being.
“I am definitely, I think what I really had to kind of relearn is, of course, I'm the CPO of my company, but I am also the CEO of myself.”
Emphasizes the critical importance of self-leadership and personal well-being for executive effectiveness and preventing burnout.
“I firmly believe in this people sciences becoming more of the foundation of the corporate world.”
States her vision for integrating psychological principles and human behavior understanding more deeply into business strategy.
“your own grounding and mental health has obviously a significant impact on you, but it also impacts your leadership ability. It's directly correlated.”
Connects personal well-being directly to professional leadership effectiveness, highlighting its foundational role.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Companies struggling with employee disengagement and lack of alignment, leading to failure despite strong product/revenue strategies.
- •Leaders experiencing burnout despite knowledge of stress management, impacting their effectiveness and personal well-being.
- •Challenges of rapidly scaling organizations, including managing global teams (Ukraine), standing up new offices, and navigating complex M&A.
- •Corporate environments often lacking a foundational understanding of human psychology, motivation, and group dynamics in their core strategies.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
As a starting question, I always love to ask about your career journey
How to Get Out There in the Workplace
I want to ask you about any career-defining moments that you've had
WSJD Live: Career-Defining Moments
Amy says positive psychology and strength-based approaches foster wellbeing and resilience
The Positive Psychology Movement at Work
Amy, can you talk about a challenge that you faced in your career
The Challenge of Managing Stress in Career
Amy, what's a legacy you hope to leave as an HR leader and why
Legacy of Psychology in the Workplace
Amy, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
Amy Grant on Recharging Your Brain
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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