In this rapid‑fire interview, Professor Pete Alexander asks six concise questions of Laurie Ruderman (also known as Laurie Reuttimann), a writer, speaker, former HR professional, and author of the upcoming book Betting on You: How to Put Yourself First and Finally Take Control of Your Career (release Jan 12). Laurie shares her view that HR sits at the crossroads of work, power, politics, and money, allowing practitioners to impact lives daily. She promotes her book’s core philosophy: fix yourself to fix work, emphasizing human well‑being, learning, and risk‑taking over merely fixing a job. She advises leaders to see employees as whole humans, valuing humanities backgrounds and encouraging people to bring multiple facets of themselves to work, rather than tying worth solely to performance. Laurie highlights the importance of personal rapport in sales, citing her colleague Ryan Estis as an example of sales as a force for good. She recounts her first job at a Baskin‑Robbins ice‑cream store, the low wages she earned, a later Department of Labor audit that compensated her, and the lesson that work can teach character beyond money. The episode closes with contact details: her podcast punkrockhr.com, a Google search for “Lori Ruderman,” and LinkedIn.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Well, thank you for having me. My name is Laurie Ruderman. I'm a writer, speaker, and former HR lady who hated that job and decided to do something different. And my career now includes writing and consulting, and I'm about to publish my debut book.
Laurie, it's so great to have you on the show, and congratulations on your upcoming book. Question number 2, what's the best thing about working in your industry?
The best thing about working in my industry is that HR sits at the intersection of work, power, politics, and money. So if you're in this industry, you touch lives, you change lives, and you give people an opportunity to be happy every single day. I love it.
Mm, I love that too. And I can hear the passion in your voice. It's so great. And speaking of books, I have a fictitious book for question number 3, and it has all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I think most companies should put down your book and read my book, which is coming out January 12th, called Betting on You: How to Put Yourself First and Finally Take Control of Your Career. It's really not about what companies should read. It's about what you read, what you value, and what you bring to an organization. That's my philosophy. Fix yourself and you'll fix work.
Oh, I like that. Is that a slogan in the book? Because that's pretty powerful.
It is. It is. I believe there's great carryover effect. A lot of times we try to fix our jobs and that is a failed Safiyan attempt at happiness. We really need to work on the things that make us human, our well-being, our passion for learning, our risk-taking. And if we get those aligned, work takes care of itself. I know this not just because I teach it, but because I live it. Mm-hmm.
That's really wise. Thank you so much. Question number 4. Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
Well, I definitely think businesses need to do all of that, but I would love for businesses to stop thinking that employees' worth is all tied up in their work. I would like them to actually be interested in people as human beings. You know, there are so many studies out there that say that individuals who studied humanities do well in technology positions. Mm-hmm. I just think there's such a corollary to that in the way we can really rethink the world of work. If we give people an opportunity to be more than one thing, they can bring more than one thing to their job. So don't focus on L&D and training just for a job and the job's sake. Try to let people be their ultimate human self.
I like that a lot. And it's interesting that you say about the technology side and someone who may not have a technical college degree, because I remember the same thing when it came to supporting sales groups in my past. The thing is, is that most of the successful sales managers always wanted to hire a good salesperson. It didn't matter what the technology was because you could teach the technology, but the, the personal skills of having that rapport building, etc., that is critical. And if you don't have that, it's hard to train that.
Absolutely, absolutely. I love that take.
Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Well, I mean, this is weird, but you were just talking about sales. And the one person that comes to mind when I think of sales is my colleague Ryan Estis. And he's someone I've known for over a decade and has really taught me that sales can be a force for good and not just this thing I grew up with thinking that it's all about just making a deal and chasing the buck. Good salespeople change lives. So I think he would be a good fit for your show.
Perfect. I'll reach out to him.
Yeah.
Thank you so much. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
Well, my first job ever was working in an ice cream store, Baskin-Robbins, in Palatine, Illinois. I was 14 years old and lied and said I was 16. He didn't believe me and paid me $2.35 an hour. So I worked hard. I learned a lot. You know, Barack Obama, his first job was at an ice cream store. I think it builds character. Years later, I got a check from the Department of Labor for all the unpaid earnings that I wasn't paid for. Apparently, they audited him and they wrote me a check. And so I think it really taught me that you can have a good work experience. It's not all about money. But ultimately, government can be a force for good. I got paid what I deserved eventually.
What a great story. Absolutely love that. And it's interesting because one of my first jobs was at an ice cream parlor as well. And I got paid less than minimum wage, which back then was $3.35 I think it was, and they paid me $2.50 because training, you didn't get paid.
Oh yeah, yeah. I think my minimum wage was $4.25, and so the differential was not a huge check that I got, but boy, it made me happy, and it's a nice little surprise.
Yeah, that is great. It's glad that the government did something for the good for you.
For once, I was thrilled.
Oh my goodness. Well, Lori, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
Sure, they can head on over to punkrockhr.com, which is my podcast, or find me just by Googling me at Lori Ruderman. And I would love to connect. I'm available on LinkedIn to connect with everybody.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
