SHRM26 Debrief · Leadership & Development · #3736
Actor James Marsden on Career, Craft, and Experience
with Jason Bodin
& James Marsden
& James Marsden"In Hollywood, there's five or 50 guys that can do kind of what you can do... you build a reputation, and you get the job sometimes because you're pleasant to work with."
What it was about
Career longevity and great leadership both come from the same simple ingredients: kindness, humility, generosity toward collaborators, and a positive, risk-embracing mindset, rather than titles, ego, or talent alone.
Key notes
- Be easy to work with and treat everyone as equals; in competitive fields where many people can do the same job, reputation and kindness are often the deciding factor in who gets hired.
- Give feedback by starting with what's working and asking questions like 'what do you think?' or 'should we try this?' rather than leading with criticism, which makes people defensive and shuts down growth.
- Small, seemingly forgettable gestures of kindness toward others can have an outsized, lasting impact on someone's life or career, even if you don't realize it at the time.
The contrarian takeMarsden suggests it's healthy and productive for work to be hard and for creative risk-taking to sometimes fail — arguing that avoiding all risk, which he links to HR and compliance culture, can be more costly than embracing occasional failure.
Take this back Monday
Do this for your team
In your next 1:1s, open feedback with what's working and ask 'what do you think?' before naming anything to fix.
Say this in your next leadership meeting
Reputation and kindness, not just talent, decide who gets hired and promoted: a 'best idea wins' culture beats an ego-driven one.
Watch out for
- Giving negative feedback that starts with shame or criticism ('here's what you're doing wrong'), which causes people to stiffen up and shut down.
- Leading with ego or an insecure need to be the loudest voice in the room instead of lifting up collaborators.
- Being risk-averse to the point of never seeking out new or challenging opportunities.
Fun fact · James Marsden
The Floor Manager speaker earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his comedic turn in Jury Duty.
If this landed, see these
↳ Go deeperHR Without Boundaries - Deconstructing How We Practice to Move Organizations ForwardTurns "treat everyone as equals" into practice: deconstructing HR's rigid roles and hierarchies.⇄ The counterpointAfter The Complaint: The Decisions That Create Retaliation LiabilityExplains why HR's risk-averse compliance culture exists: juries judge decisions made after complaints.✦ The unexpected oneBurnout to Breakthrough: Building Boundaries, Energy, and Resilience That LastThe martial-arts voice-and-boundaries training behind Marsden's non-defensive way of giving feedback.