Kaleen Love
Chief People & Culture Officer, U.S.
Philip Morris International
Episode 306
Beyond Strategy: How Leaders Unleash Discretionary Energy by Mastering Human Connection
Current chapter: Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built By PeopleFebruary 11, 2025 · 22:25
Thesis
“Effective leadership hinges on understanding human behavior first, fostering a deep sense of belonging and shared purpose, and continuously enabling individual growth to unlock discretionary energy and drive organizational change.”
Show notes
Dr. Kaleen Love has a phrase for the failure mode of ambitious leaders: they're so focused on navigating by the stars that they forget to look at the rocks. It sounds like a navigation metaphor. It's actually a leadership diagnosis — and she's used it to reframe how she approaches change in organizations where the long-term vision is clear but the short-term terrain is complicated.
With a background spanning social sciences, McKinsey, Capital One, and now Philip Morris International — a company in the middle of one of the more dramatic corporate transformations in recent business history — Dr. Love brings unusual range to questions of culture and belonging. Her foundational belief: "We're humans first and we're employees second." That ordering isn't sentimental. It's strategic. Organizations that treat the human elements as secondary inevitably find that the business elements suffer for it. Psychological safety, she argues, isn't a workplace benefit. It's a causal factor in high performance — it's what creates the conditions where better ideas surface faster and decisions are made with less defensiveness and more candor.
She's also refreshingly direct about personal and professional evolution: what got you to one point in your career may actively work against you at the next stage. The leadership behaviors that made you effective at 35 may need to be unlearned at 45. Dr. Love talks about her experience in competitive rowing and boxing as laboratories for this insight — environments where technical skill degrades without sustained practice, and where ego is the most predictable obstacle to improvement. The same dynamic plays out in organizations: leaders who stop evolving become the ceiling their teams can't grow beyond.
- Navigating by stars vs. seeing the rocks — balancing long-term vision with the immediate practical realities that determine execution
- Psychological safety as a performance driver — why it's not a cultural amenity but a causal factor in organizational speed and quality
- Unlocking discretionary energy — how belonging, purpose, and growth opportunities release the engagement reserves most organizations never tap
- Personal and professional evolution — why the skills that built your career may need to be deliberately unlearned as you advance
- Human behavior as leadership's foundation — social science as a more durable source of organizational insight than management frameworks
- Adaptable leadership strategies — adjusting your approach to what individuals need, not just what the org chart prescribes
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What you'll take away
- 1Leaders must balance a long-term vision (navigating by the stars) with immediate practical realities (seeing around the corner of the river).
- 2Embrace personal and professional evolution: recognize that what got you to one point in your career may not serve you for the next, and be willing to 'lay down the raft'.
- 3Unlock discretionary employee energy by cultivating a 'joy of belonging', clearly communicating purpose, and providing opportunities for growth.
- 4Psychological safety is not just beneficial, it is a causal factor for high performance, inviting better ideas and faster progress.
- 5Lead by role-modeling kindness, decency, respect, civility, and vulnerability, proactively inviting challenge and dissent from your team.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Psychological safety is not antithetical to high performance; it is, in fact, a causal reason for it, enabling teams to invite and act on the best ideas.
In Kaleen's words
“I've always said we're humans first and we're employees second.”
This quote encapsulates her human-first leadership philosophy, emphasizing empathy and understanding.
“The thing that got me to one point in my career is not the thing that's gonna take me to the next. And so there was a moment in my growing up where what took me to a portion of my career was, uh, I mean, I was driven and ambitious and I worked my, you know what off. I mean, I worked around the clock. And was, was smart and hard-driven. And I got to a point where I softened through a series of really difficult moments in my personal life... And I realized that the thing that carried me to that point in my career was not gonna be the thing that carried me further.”
This illustrates her 'Buddha and the raft' metaphor, highlighting the need for leaders to evolve and adapt their approach as they advance.
“People give their discretionary energy when they're committed to the people around them. ...People need purpose, people need meaning, and they need to know how what they do contributes to that purpose and connects to the mission and purpose. ...I still think there's this piece around growth. I need to know there's room. I need to know that I'm not stuck in this.”
This quote outlines the three critical drivers for motivating employees to invest their 'discretionary energy': belonging, purpose, and growth opportunities.
“Psychological safety was an actual causal reason for high performance. And why is that? It's because when you have psychological safety, you invite the best ideas to be heard and acted upon, and you're going to move forward with more speed, more, better ideas, all of the above.”
She clearly states the direct, causal relationship between psychological safety and high performance, backed by research.
“To thine own self be true. And I don't think that saying to thine own self be true in today's day and age should be a selfish thing. I think it's about... know your values, know what matters to you. Know who you are as a person. Hopefully choose kindness, civility, respect, inclusion. But again, know yourself, know what matters. Be that leader who continues to live by your values, to role model what you believe for those around you, and to create space for others to bring their best selves, their best ideas, um, to the workplace and to their fellow humans.”
Her parting advice emphasizes authentic, values-driven leadership that extends beyond personal gain to create an inclusive environment for others.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Organizations struggle with effective systemic change and transformation, as human resistance and the inherent difficulty of change often delay progress.
- •Companies face challenges in fully prescribing human activity for productivity, leading to 'work-to-rule' scenarios where employees only do the bare minimum, hindering innovation and efficiency.
- •Leaders need strategies to consistently unlock employees' 'discretionary energy,' passion, and commitment beyond formal job descriptions, especially in complex, modern workplaces.
- •Fostering psychological safety within teams can be difficult, preventing the free flow of ideas and hindering high-performance outcomes.
- •Many organizations fail to integrate clear purpose, a sense of belonging, and opportunities for individual growth into their employee experience, leading to disengagement.
In this episode
Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built by People
Dave Love shares a little bit about his career journey
Timothy Green on His Career Journey
Dr. Love says understanding of human behavior has shaped his approach as chief people officer
Dr. Love: Chief People Officer's
Given your background with competitive boxing and rowing, how has that helped your career development
How boxing and rowing helped me develop my career
Dr. Love shares three stories about effective people leadership
Dr. Amy Love on Effective People Leadership
Dr. Love discusses the concept of discretionary energy in the workplace
Dr. Love: Discretionary Energy at the Work
How can organizations foster psychological safety while maintaining high performance within their organization
How to Better Foster Psychological Safety
Dr. Love, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
Dr. Ilana Urla
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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