Leading with Heart: Self-Awareness, Kindness, and the Strength of Vulnerable Leadership

·50 min·4 clips

Christy Pretzinger explains how her parents' cancer diagnoses transformed her healthcare content business.

Dr. Elise Cortez hosts Christy Pretzinger, CEO of WG Content, on the Working on Purpose podcast. Christy begins by recounting how she acquired WriterGirl in 2004 after the founder exited following a client's FBI investigation for accounting fraud. She transitioned from freelance writing to building teams for large healthcare content projects, initially struggling in her hometown before landing clients like Ohio State University. A pivotal moment came when her parents were diagnosed with cancer, cementing her focus on providing trustworthy healthcare information. Christy details her company's fully remote structure, which she adopted from the start to maintain work-life integration and now extends to all employees. She describes cultural practices like monthly all-hands meetings, a 'woohoo cup' award for values recognition, and a bi-weekly internal newsletter for kudos. The core values—empowered, curious, kind, and fun—are reinforced through these systems and employee referrals. Christy discusses her fixation on self-awareness, crediting the Enneagram, therapy, and daily meditation for personal growth and radical empathy. She shares how Brené Brown's work on vulnerability transformed her leadership approach, modeling it to create psychological safety. Christy criticizes sole focus on the bottom line as 'aberrant thinking,' advocating for conscious capitalism that values human connection. She previews her upcoming book, 'Your Cultural Balance Sheet,' which frames culture through assets, liabilities, and equity. The episode concludes with Christy revealing her Enneagram type as a seven and encouraging entrepreneurs to join organizations like Entrepreneurs Organization.

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A grounded look at making kindness visible in the way teams communicate and work.

Leadership is framed as a daily practice: making people feel that they matter, and letting kindness influence how a business actually runs. Dr. Elise Cortez draws out the guest's approach to organizing work in pods, then linking similar pods so teams do not become isolated.

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Want a leadership conversation that treats kindness as something you can build into how people work together?

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