In this concise "6 questions in 7 minutes" interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Jill Katz, founder and Chief Change Officer of Assemble HR Consulting and a devoted mother. Jill shares why working with humans in their most vulnerable moments makes her smile, highlighting the humor of doing her work with her dog by her side. She introduces her "Candor, Courage, and Care" feedback model, emphasizing that most people crave honest, actionable feedback but often hold back due to fear and excuses. Jill stresses that real growth happens when leaders step outside their comfort zones, recounting a pivotal moment when a senior leader told her, "Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone," leading to a series of mistakes that taught her valuable lessons. She recommends three fellow leaders—Meeta Malik, Claude Silver, and Tracy Avin—for future podcast episodes. Jill concludes with a nostalgic story about her first entrepreneurial venture at age four, selling weeds in Dixie cups, illustrating how belief and joy fuel long‑term success. She provides contact details (LinkedIn, Instagram, hrassemble.com) for listeners who want to connect.
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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.
I'm a mom. I am a busy, devoted, proud mom with a huge, busy, productive life. I'm also the founder and chief change officer of Assemble HR Consulting. We provide advisement and services to organizations to help with culture, communication, conflict, and change.
Well, Jill, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
The first thing that makes me smile about my industry is that now I get to do all of my work with my dog jumping in and out of my lap. Um, and I have to tell you, that makes things really different, uh, than it used to be over the past 25 years when I was doing it in a very different setting. Uh, but I think what makes me laugh is that I work with humans every single day in their most vulnerable and raw state. And what I think is beautiful is that no matter who we are, at the true foundation, we're all really people. And coming into almost any scenario, people frequently feel as though they're experiencing something truly unique, truly different. Perhaps they feel that their particular company is different or really special. The situation they're dealing with is unlike any other organization or any other culture than any other company. And what I get to enjoy is the unbelievable epiphany through my work that people are people are people are people, and we tend to go through similar challenges wherever we work whatever type of team we're working on. And so for me, it's a laughter of community and humanness that we just need to grow as individuals. And no matter where we're working, we're all actually going through a similar journey.
I love how you state that. And it was a great story. And it really reinforces the power of that individuality, but also as it is for the greater good of the organization. I love that. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Oh, people need to read the chapter on candid feedback.
Mm. Want to elaborate a little bit?
Oh, do I ever. There's a chapter in that book. It should be on page 2, right after your foreword, which I hope is dedicated to the people you love the most. And the chapter talks about candor, courage, and care. And that once we get to know people well and they open up about their challenges in their work, what we will most often hear from people is we wish that we could get more candid feedback. That every one of us just wants to do a great job. We want to know, what is it that I'm doing well so that I can do more of it and do it even better? We also want to know, what is it that I can do better? What can I tweak? What can I fix? And what can I actually stop doing because it's not working and it's not resonating? There isn't anyone actually that I've met in my journey who doesn't want to be told the truth because we're adults. The hard part is the other side, which is many of us, most of us struggle with just telling a completely candid, unfettered truth to someone else. And the reason is what we call in my organization valid excuses. In the world of work, there are so many reasons that we hold back from telling each other what we really need to say, and we're just afraid. And so the chapter in that book is called Candor, Courage, and Care, and it's a leadership and feedback model that we've developed around how we can just say what we need to say and what we all want so desperately to hear that would help us all accelerate our performance and move our teams and our organizations forward in the way that we all want to.
I love it. The passion in your voice is so great about that too. I love it. 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?
Life begins outside of your comfort zone.
I love that. So, um, you— so basically, when you get out of your comfort zone, that's where you're going to learn and grow? How would you elaborate on that?
Yeah, that someone told that to me during my career. It happened to me when I was pretty young in my career and I was just promoted to a director level. And I remember thinking, I don't think I'm ready for this job and I'm not actually quite sure why I was promoted into this job. And I summoned up the courage to walk into my boss's office and I said to her, I don't know why you promoted me into this job. I have to be really honest with you and I don't want to screw it up. And so I don't really know exactly what I'm supposed to do in this job and I don't think I should go to that meeting. And I had a whole list of things that I didn't think would be the right thing to do. And she looked me squarely in the eye and she said, "Jill, life begins at the edge of your comfort zone. Go do it." And I said, "I'm likely to screw a good amount of this up." And she said, "That's true, but you won't screw it up more than once." Oh, that's—
go ahead. Sorry to interrupt. Go ahead.
And she was right about both of those things. I screwed up a lot. I made a lot of mistakes. Really big ones, and I didn't make them twice. And it is incredible what happens when someone pushes you right into the place that is unbelievably uncomfortable. You get to challenge yourself, you get to see what you're made of, you get to step up and try things out that you probably wouldn't have if you stay sitting back with your seat belt on. And so as I had the opportunity to become a leader in my own career, I have done everything I can to push people right into that spot myself and let them know I'll always be behind them. But that's where I find most of the growth really happens.
And as you were describing that, I was thinking about times in my career as well where I was in a similar situation. And, uh, you know, I, I 100% agree with you. You really you really do learn when you do step outside of your comfort zone and you gain so much more confidence, both from the successes as well as the failures, because you learn. And as you said, you, you make that mistake once because you learn. So it's very powerful. Thank you so much for sharing that. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Your podcast is fantastic, Pete, and I love your questions.
Thank you.
I, I have so many colleagues that I, that I admire and I learn from. There, there are two people that come to mind for me, uh, there's three now, my goodness. So the first person who comes to mind for me is, is a brilliant, brilliant human being. Her name is Meeta Malik, and Meeta Malik is a changemaker. She is a marketer. She is an expert expert in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a wonderful, warm human being, and a mom, and a person who makes me laugh and keeps me on my toes every single day. So I would recommend Nita. I would recommend my colleague and friend Claude Silver, who is the chief heart officer at VaynerMedia. And I would recommend the brilliant Tracy Avin, who is the founder founder of an incredible organization called Troop HR, which is the first ever platform and virtual community that's just begun for the human resources community.
Wow, those all three sound fabulous. Thank you for those referrals. I look forward to reaching out to them. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
My very first job, my very first job I wasn't hired into. When I was 4 years old, my parents went outside and found that I had Taken Dixie cups. Now I'm aging myself. Are Dixie— can you even buy Dixie cups anymore?
No idea, but I remembered the Dixie cups from the lemonade stand days when I was a kid.
Okay, now we're on the same page. So I had taken little— for those who are much younger— paper cups. I had taken little paper cups and I had filled them with dirt from the side of my house. And I was sitting at the end of my driveway, and because I knew I was not allowed to leave the property, I was allowed to play on the front lawn. And my mom came outside and said, you know, "Joel, what are you doing?" And I said, "Mom, I've started a business and I'm making a lot of money." And she said, "What are you doing?" And I said, "I've made $4." And she said, what are you selling? And I said, I'm selling flowers. And my mom came downstairs and came down the front steps and found that I had gone to the side of our house and I had apparently pulled all the weeds from the side of our house with my hands and I'd filled up the Dixie cups with dirt and weeds, but I didn't know this and I thought that they were flowers. And I planted all the dirt and the weeds in the cups and I was standing at the edge of my driveway because I was not allowed to leave the property and waving down every car and selling these Dixie cups full of dirt and weeds for 25 cents. And lo and behold, I had made $4.
Wow. I mean, how great is that? And it shows like the, the neighborhood, how sweet they were to buy weeds from you.
And you know, there is a picture. My parents, bless their hearts, they took a picture of me. There's a picture of, of little me with my pigtails. And I'm holding this stupid Dixie cup with a weed in it and a huge smile. I was so proud. And my parents had it framed for me. And I kept it in my office for years to remind myself that success is really about what's in your heart and, and what you believe and what you want and what you go after. And that day I was 4 and I believed that I was selling roses, I guess. And I did, and I made a small fortune. Those $4 set me up for the rest of my life. And I, to this day, look back at that picture and the hope and the joy and the belief in that little girl's eyes and try to remember that when I wake up and run my business. Hopefully I'm not selling weeds, but you know, that was my first job. I was an entrepreneur.
I love it. It's such a great story and such a sweet story. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. And Jill, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
Oh, thank you for having me, Pete. You are— you're so much fun. This was terrific. And I am eminently findable. Uh, you can find me on LinkedIn at Jill Katz. You can find me on Instagram, again, Assemble HR. You can find our website. We are at hrassemble.com, um, and would be more than happy to connect at any time to help anyone that I can.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
