HR BESTIES - HR Besties: Private Jets, Silhouettes and an Update on SHRM

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

Welcome back, Besties. We missed you!   Today's agenda:  The PJ dilemma Guess the silhouette It's not an HR Besties episode without a SHRM update... The latest on us Your To-Do List: Grab merch, submit Questions & Comments, and make sure that you're the first to know about our In-Person Meetings (events!) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hrbesties.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.   Follow your Besties across the socials and check out our resumes here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hrbesties.com/about⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.    Subscribe to the HR Besties Newsletter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hr-besties.beehiiv.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   We look forward to seeing you in our next meeting - don't worry, we'll have a hard stop!   Yours in Business + Bullsh*t,  Leigh, Jamie & Ashley   Follow Bestie Leigh! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@hrmanifesto⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/hrmanifesto⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hrmanifesto.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   Follow Bestie Ashley! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@managermethod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/managermethod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://managermethod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   Follow Bestie Jamie! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.millennialmisery.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Humorous Resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Millennial Misery: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Horrendous HR: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   Tune in to "HR Besties," a business, work and management podcast hosted by Leigh Elena Henderson (HRManifesto), Ashley Herd (ManagerMethod) and Jamie Jackson (Humorous_Resources), where we navigate the labyrinth of corporate culture, from cringe corporate speak to toxic leadership. Whether you're in Human Resources or not, corporate or small business, we offer sneak peeks into surviving work, hiring strategies, and making the employee experience better for all. Tune in for real talk on employee engagement, green flags in the workplace, and how to turn red flags into real change. Don't miss our chats about leadership, career coaching, and takes from work travel and watercooler gossip. Get new episodes every month, follow us on socials for the latest updates, and join us at our virtual happy hours to share your HR stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are starting off this episode with a question from a bestie. Now, ladies, this bestie has given a caveat that this question is a first world problem question. Okay. Should be good? Yeah, personally, I'm, you know what? I'm fine. It's why at the end of the day I'm not watching super informational TV. Just give me some, you know, give me some mental palate cleansers.

So she says, hey, besties, not sure if you'll read this. We are reading it literally right now. but I have a dilemma, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but I didn't know who I could possibly ask, and I was hoping you'd have some input. I started a new job, and I've had imposter syndrome, because this is a higher title than I've ever had. And most notably, it comes with something I've never done.

I get to fly on our corporate jet. Ooh. And I have three questions for the besties. One is, can I take a selfie on the jet? Two is, we're flying on a long flight that's a red I? How the F am I supposed to sleep around my colleagues who are executives? And three, what if I need to go number two on the corporate jet? Yeah, we know a lot of like real dilemmas and we'll get into some of that episode. But that's

done to me because I have, I've never flown on a private jet. Have you all? No. Are you kidding me? I'd love to take a PJ. Lee? No. Thomas J. Henry is supposed to to let us on his PJ. I know. Yeah, totally. Someone tag him. I think number one's like a selfie. Yes, just don't be obvious about it. Absolutely. Exactly. I would do it on the sly and I wouldn't post it. I would just send X to people, you know. Yeah. Don't post it because you don't want someone at work to somehow see it and then be like this heifer. Definitely don't post it on LinkedIn, please. I think you need to eat a melatonin gummy and take an emodium. That answers to and three. Yeah, I would definitely sleep. Your colleagues are going to sleep. You know, do the eye mask and the white noise in the ear, whatever, you know, but they're going to, they're going to lay down and sleep because

probably wherever you land, you're going to just get up and go. That's how my, that's how my corporate travel has been on red eyes, you know, so that sucks getting off a plane and going right into the office, you know? What if you snore? What if somebody else snores? I'd have a real problem. It's so loud. I don't know. I wouldn't know. But I mean, I thought about these very real questions. And I laughed because I thought those are questions I would have getting on a private jet, like sleeping around my colleagues.

I mean, do you guys shake? Like, if I'm sitting up, I shake on a plane, like shake awake. I mean, I don't know if private jet planes like recline or whatever. But like I physically shake. And so I get so embarrassed to ever sleep on a flight. Yeah, I was like, I don't give a fuck. No one cares. I'm like, who cares?

No one's watching you. You know? no one cares. And people, you know, they're probably spacing out. Maybe it's a, it's a big plane. You know what I mean? So it'll be dark. They'll turn the cabin lights on. Three, which is number two. I was like, oh my gosh, questions. That is the question. People just take an emotium, girl. Take a modium. I get so dehydrated, flying, even if I'm chugging water. I mean, I don't think I've ever shit on a plane. You can say I have either, yeah. You know, but it's loud.

It's loud and it's got that, you know, that jet propulsion in the toilet. It ain't going to, the sin's not going to linger. You know what I mean? It's super loud. No one can hear it. Well, I can tell you this. Having been a former FAA legal intern, don't lie to match. Don't do that because it's a very specific fine, like $26,734.

It's something crazy like that. I'm sure Poo-Pri is, like, that's allowed. right so if you're that worried just do a little spritz there'll be stuff in that bathroom most likely yeah it's it's a PJ like in you know first class whatever there's always stuff you know what I mean so well all I say is this is two things this one this bestie needs to keep us updated on how this how this all goes and also this is a silver lining to always flying commercial let us know if you poop bestie on that plane but here's the here's the crazy thing is that guess what those other executives you're flying with, they poop too.

Everyone's pooping, you know, so it's okay. Just enjoy it, you know? I mean, hell yeah, you're on a private jet. I know, but I'd be like, what's the snacks? I mean, I have so many questions. Like, do they serve fun snacks? Like, what do they? Yeah, food.

And the stockholders are all paying for that. That's right. That's where your increases and bonuses are going, you know, to supply the private jet. Jamie would be like, let's all fly commercial. Let's save some jobs. Can we not all just fly commercial? And we'd be like, here, here, bestie's air.

There we go. Look, I fly southwest everywhere I go. Even now if your bags aren't free? Or whatever, all their controversy? Yeah, and I have to pick my seat, which is so annoying. Would you like going in and being like, which is it going to be? No, thank you. I like having full certainty.

Thank you, Delta. You can put me in the back row in right now. the middle and I can mentally prepare for it. I'd rather have that than walk on and be like, like, Forrest Gump, glance in aisle to aisle. Like, who's it going to be? No, not you. Okay, okay. Sorry. Are you an HR? Yeah, don't say like me. You look talking to him. I'm going to keep going. That's funny. Man, but I hope they do follow up. Now I'm curious. Oh, gosh, what a cool job. So what is going on, Basties? We got all sorts of updates in the world of HR, don't we? I know Ashley has, though.

We have some, but we have a recent one I was laughing about with Jamie. Jamie had quite the contacts going on on her Instagram story over the weekend about guests the silhouette. Jamie, you want to kick that off? Because I have something kind of related. Yeah, so Shirm on Friday, I believe, posted the silhouette of who their entertainment's going to be, or in this case, musical guests. So I thought, you know what? This is a fun game. Let's throw it up there on my stories

and give me your most outrageous guess. And it was hilarious. And I had so much fun all weekend long. Matter of fact, when the story expired on a Saturday, I was like, I'm putting this back up because we were having so much fun. And actually, someone figured it out. The true silhouette of the person,

they sent me the photo. And they were like, this is who it has to be. And it is. And they were right. Christina Aguilera. The guru of HR entertainment. Christina. Like, okay, put everything else from Shirm aside.

If you were going to a conference, who would be your person you'd really want to see? And is it, is it Christina? Adele. They can't afford her, though. Oh, gosh. Yeah, Megan the Stallion, duh. I don't think she'd be welcome. Can you imagine?

That would be. But that would be my, like, you know, actually. put everything Sherm has done on the table and then have Meg, I would be like, here's my credit card. You're like you're going. I'd like pink, you know, with the acrobatics and all of those things, flipping all, you know, doing a Johnny Taylor acrobat through the sky on a trampoline and like bounce onto the stage. I mean, I'd tell you what, I'd like to see them.

No shade to no shade to Christina. No, I mean, I think she'll actually probably put on one hell of a show and all the millennials there will love it. Make up for last year, no offense. Who was it? Josh Grobin. See, yeah. So, like, I'm actually, I actually, and I don't want to give kudos to Shirm,

but I think it's actually a nice choice. A lot of people are saying, like, what does this have to do with HR? But it's the entertainment, so it doesn't actually have to do anything with HR. I would love her to give a speech. I'd be like, okay, Christina, I mean, come on over, obviously, seeing that, seeing that two or three times in a row. I get like, I can't, don't just sing at once. But then, like, give your thoughts.

Give your thoughts on the workplace. Like, I'd be interested to, I'd be interested to hear those. Like, Mickey, because wasn't she on Mickey Mouse Club? Yeah, with Justin Timberlake and Bertie Spears. Oh, and Ryan Gosling. Yeah. Yes. I mean, that could have some potential toxic workplace environment.

If it's like the rest of Hollywood, I'd love to hear some about that. What was it? Was their HR on the Mickey Mouse Club? Tell us, I mean, submit your questions. Make it, make it edutainment. I totally missed that announcement, but I think that's good. And I think that's dumb when people are like, what's that I'll do with HR? It's after-party music.

Exactly. It's for funsies. Oh, gosh. My tech companies will have like literally like Sir Mixalotcom. Like that has nothing to do with your SaaS AI product. But, you know, it gets people out there and forgets that they're getting a 1% race. What's I got to do with tech? I'm like, no, it's just for fun.

Now, having Oprah being the main stage speaker, I could see how people would be like, what does she have to do with HR? But I don't think it necessarily has to. I think she has such a broad experience of how she, like, built her herself, her brand and her business. I think it'd be interesting to also hear Oprah speak. And this is not me clapping for sure, okay? Yeah. I think that actually that is a good one. And I haven't heard of her being at any other conference.

Yeah. Me neither. Personally. Personally. I mean, you know, but I don't know every conference in the world that's happening. Yeah. I would love to hear her speak. I'm not going.

I mean, again, HR, our teams are getting leaner, our workloads are getting bigger. Some of the hate is not stopping about HR. Just give us, give me an afternoon with Oprah. Give me a, you know, a selfie far from the, you know, from the audience. Just give some entertainment. I hope it goes well. Yeah. Then I'm like, man, how much do they cost?

And then you get a box lunch. Oh, yeah, for sure. A very cold, nasty box lunch. Well, are you even going to get a box lunch? Because we've heard. They always run out. They run out of food. Well, that ties into another Shirm update, which if you'll remember, and if this is new news,

I think if you look up Shirm H.R. Besties, you can actually see some of our, you know, prior reporting on this. But more notably, you know, Shirm last year after a five-year-ish lawsuit had gotten its jury verdict of $11.5 million against Shirm in federal court in Colorado for racial discrimination. And as I mentioned in our episode in February, that's especially in American court system. That's not the end of the road. That's kind of like a boys to men, which would also be, I would love to see boys to men, right? But all of them together.

Don't leave a single person out, please. But so now what happens is all sorts of things. So what is happening in that trial is Shirm, you know, can ask for a new trial they have, basically like, hey, judge, your rulings are wrong. That's not a fun, not a fun one to have to make. And so there's, you know, what you would think of as an appeals process. So that's going on. And what tends to happen with that is in the U.S., so this is federal court.

So the district court has the judgment. Judge will decide whether we'll have a new trial or not. I'd be very surprised if that happened. What's probably more likely to happen is things start going to the courts of appeal. So it's like this, you know, panel of judges, here you, hear you, they listen to it, takes a while. And then ultimately potentially appeal to the U.S. court, which is really, really rare that the Supreme Court takes cases. But I can't remember if I

mentioned this, but I have done Supreme Court appeals in my lawyer life and an employment case. And what that meant for me was going to FedEx Kinko's or whatever it's called now is in making all of these color copies, like dozens of color copies of a very specific color. And so not only is it stressful legally, it's also very stressful to get the colors and numbers and the stapling right. But while that all goes on, the question is, okay, well, they have an 11.5 million. judgment. So does Sherm pay that? And then the plaintiff has to pay it back if, you know, it's reversed. Well, what tends to happen is Sherm can be ordered to pay a bond. And technically, you know, the default would be you pay the full thing. So $11.5 million that like sit in a bank account,

get interest in all of these things while it goes through the appeals process. But also what can happen is the defendant that like lost the judgment here can say, well, we shouldn't have to do that because we can afford it. And that's what Sherm's done. Scherm has said, you know, listen, we have plenty of money to have this judgment. We shouldn't need to put $11.5 million in a bank account. But what happens is, Scherm has to say that, not just in person to a judge, but they put it in filings. And so here I am again, while I thought 2025 would end my 10 cents a page pacer filings, I'm back. And so Scherm had filed its motion to like not have or reduce a bond. And then the plaintiff gets to respond. And it really is kind of funny because it's kind of like reading an email chain

of colleagues that don't like each other back and forth. Because the plaintiff had filed their response and they're like, okay, Sherm, you say you're rich, but prove it. Show us, tell us why you have given us no receipts. Like, show me your bank account, you know, show me screenshots of whatever, all of these, all of these things. And so what they want is for Sherm to publicly, like to a judge, but also us and anybody else who wants to pay 10 cents a page to show what are your financials actually look like. Well, I laughed because your Sherms come back and they're like, well, in the trial, you'll pull out some of our, you know, revenue filings and things like that. So to make the judgment, to like tell the jury what you thought they should award you. So that should suffice.

And they're like, we have plenty of money. Basically, is they're saying. But I was kind of laughing because they filed this like a couple weeks. The filings went back and forth like last, like a week ago or a couple weeks ago. But how funny my friend of been if Sherm is like, we have plenty of money, Exhibit A. Boom, Christina Aguilera is performing at our contract. Well, you know what else? Oprah's talking. Yeah, Oprah. Oprah. We have Oprah and Christina Aguilera. So I show you the money. And one night, I think with Paycom, they're closing off a Disney World or one of the studios for a night during the conference. Maybe Universal Studios? Lee is all the sudden getting Disney. Lee is. all of a sudden getting peaked. Hold on just a second now. I know. I can't wait. Here we go. Here we go.

I'm going to find it. I'm like, wait, what? There's a private party at a park. Yeah, I couldn't believe it. And I literally thought the exact same thing. Ashley, I was like, dang, they're spending a whole lot of money when they owe someone 11. They're going to be like three selfies. It's going to be like Johnny C. Taylor, we closed Disney. Johnny C. Taylor with Oprah. Johnny C. Taylor with Christina Aguilera, and he'll be like, it is what it is. We have plenty of money to pay that judgment, which we will never have to pay because we think we're going to ultimately win. So, yeah, so it's in partnership with Paycom, you can spend your Thursday evening during the conference at Hollywood Studios. Now, I have a question. Lee, as our Disney aficionado, where do you rank the parks in order of like where you'd want to attend? Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Studios, and then Animal Kingdom. Oh, I love Animal Kingdom. Is Studios the one with the Star Wars stuff? Yes.

Yeah. Okay, see, like, I'd want to go there. The tower and the tower of, you know, the dropping tower. Guardians at Disneyland and Tower at Terror at Disney World. Let's see, expert. Like, I wonder if they priced out. Like, okay, what would it be at Magic Kingdom, which is probably not an option at all? Yeah, they probably are like, no, we're not closing the park room.

You can't do that. would really hate HR. If they're like, here I am with my family. We want to come to a Disney park. No, no, HR has it blocked out. A freaking course they do. HR's not your friend. Yeah. I know. I wish they hadn't done that. I wish they just kept it under wraps and been like, oh, this is, this is sales conference. Like, hide the brand new. Yeah, it's B to B. That's wild, though, because it's summer.

Yes, I know. I am surprised. Yeah. It's going to be hot as bald. Hot as balls. Yeah, but I wonder what time that starts. I mean, that is so expensive. You know, typically they only allow private events, like, after like 11 or something. I mean, something late, right? Like, once the park kind of closes.

Like, people will get married at midnight, like at Cinderella's castle and stuff, you know? Oh, wow. Like, you have to, the park has to close and whatever, you know, to be able to rent it. I'm sure there's different tiers. I don't know. I don't sell those packages. Add this to the list of information. I have no personal need nor right to this information.

But I'd be so curious. And I feel like, I feel like somehow in those legal filings back and forth, there's got to be some way to that's like questionnaire. Please respond to how much you're paying for, you know, you're paying for this event. Just, you know, just ballpark it. Well, they did.

Always are lessons as takeaways for those listening to HR, those managers, anybody at work of how it's very expensive when these things happen. And ultimately they get to try. which doesn't happen that often, but when it does, it can be notable. Not only is it $11.5 million, but also there were the costs. I talked about, you know, pay-ster fees, which are a lot lower for plaintiff's counsel because they are part of the trial. So it's not like me who's like a looky-loo, who has to pay the looky-loo tax. But they also get their attorney's fees paid. So the plaintiff,

because because Sherm lost, they get right to attorney's fees. And so they have just filed this motion for attorney's fees. And so we'll play the guessing game. Again, how much you think the plaintiff's attorney's fees bill is that they are, they have told the court, hey, Shirm needs to pay these and Shirm will have to respond. Ooh, over the last five years? It's, well, look, like the trial itself started 2022. I don't want to go too low. I Googled it.

I Googled it real quick. Estimated around half a million. Oh, wow. For a large-scale park buyout. Oh. Oh, wait, what? But then you want to, you know, have specific rides open. that like, you know what I mean?

They piece meant like it's more and more and more and more and more. I can imagine that we go back and forth. Here's our specificity. 1A, the rides are up. Well, I thought you meant, this is fascinating because I thought you meant plaintiff's fees for the trial and they like the attorney's fees. And they actually, what she's seeking in attorney's fees are $536,000. And that's made up of, you know, attorney, paralegal.

And actually. So half a million. Half a million. But of those rates, the rates that the plaintiffs attorneys are charging, they, ranged between like per hourly rate. They're like a few hundred, like five, 500 to 550 an hour for the attorneys, 180 for the paralegal. And that seems like a lot for attorneys.

I have to imagine knowing the law firm that represented Shirm. Sharm's lawyers, my guess is their rates are easily twice that, if not more, like over a thousand an hour. But so have this be the lesson in HR as a company as we're doing things like training people, doing things the right way, would you rather pay a plaintiff's law firm $500,000 or open up Disney for our employees a specific park for a night? And that's roughly, sounds like your choice. Or be like Sherman, do both. And so I'll be very, I will be watching this docket for how Sherman responds to this, because

if they're going to say, like, this is too many hours or this is too right, like, as I look at this and objectively, having been on Sherm's side at times to be like, no, these, hours aren't fair. Like as I read it, like, I actually probably was surprised it wasn't more. But it just goes to show this stuff is, you put all the very real human emotion that came out at trial. But just these things are so expensive. And so when someone's like, can you, can we train our managers? Like, no, we can't make the business case. Like, okay, you may be making a very expensive business case. Can't afford not to. Yeah. And I can say in my 22 years and having to have gone to court before and having to deal with lawsuits from the HR standpoint. It is so much easier,

for instance, if they're asking for more severance, if they're asking to have their bonus paid out, it is so much easier to just go, you know what, yeah, we're going to pay this employee, this, you know, the two more extra week severance they want, the, you know, their bonus from 24 because they worked it, but they, we fired them before the payout day. It is so much easier to pay that small lump of money, then get your ass taken to court and not only have to pay a hefty legal fees, but then possibly a settlement, like the $11.5 million. I'm right. So, well, Sherm is, as we know, as we know Sherm is also in court for its service dog lawsuit. But we actually will know about that more quickly, likely than we knew about this Colorado

one because where that one is is the Eastern District of Virginia. So still federal court, but it's closer to Sherm's headquarters, which are right in Alexandria, Virginia. Anyone who's a lawyer listening may know, that is called the Rocket Docket. And so the judges in that district, they do not F around. They are like, we're going to go, we're going to go quickly. And so that case is cruising right along. When that first came out, like I forgotten from my law school days that that was called the Rocket Docket. So I saw the scheduling order and I was like, oh my goodness, this is rapid.

And so we'll see about that one. But again, that's all about accommodations and not only whether to give accommodations like service dog, in this case, hypoglycemia, but the conversations and communications about, you know, what the problems would be if you granted that, the ultimate decision and that people walk away feeling like it's, it's fair or not. So we'll see that one. I used to date a guy nickname Rocket Docket. Anyway, that's a different story. Did you date? Did you date him for? Not very long. Neither was he. That's what she said. Oh my gosh. Oh, I've missed you too. That is for sure. State school. I went to a state school.

But Ashley, real talk, though. Do you think that that lady will actually see $11.5 million? If Sherman wanted to end this, they would do what so many employers do is they'll say after this verdict, okay, look, we're all going to go through the appeals process or not. We don't think we should pay $11.5 million, but let's come to a compromise. I have no idea what anyone would say on these sides, but that does happen is you can settle after trial to forego keeping you in the news, having podcasts and legal trades and all of these things talk about you and just having everything out there. And so, like, you know, I don't know if there's statistics on the percentage of time, but it is not infrequent that parties will settle.

But the messages coming from terms seem pretty steadfast of like, we will appeal and appeal and appeal this. And so now they're at the point where it's, you know, they're asking like, well, this wasn't, you know, the jury instructions and the legal standard and in all of these things. And so just, you know, I'm certainly not an expert in the federal statutes on jury instructions, unfortunately. But what I can tell you is this just all keeps it alive. And like we've said, even objectively, going through the things of like Shirm, who they chose to investigate a racial discrimination complaint, the experience, or lack thereof he had in those things. The fact that there was a team of four colleagues, two white, two black, he talked to the black colleague that complained, two white colleagues, not the other black colleague, who was also terminated from employment just a couple weeks or so before the planet. You look at these things, and these are real things that happen in workplaces. And they often happen because people don't have the training, or they make decisions that in the moment felt like

the right decision afterwards. Like, yeah, that wasn't. And so I just, we kind of joked about this of, I don't know, a couple months ago on stories of like, you know, Shirm should have the HR besties and do a point of talking real talk about that lawsuit, which no lawyer would ever let their client do. And especially when you have millions at play, but I just think there is no lesson like recognizing like things happen and people make mistakes. I just wish Shirm because I've seen, I've seen local chapters really grappling about how to handle this. How do we talk about this with because they're doing really, some really, really great work. I just think when you have a hesitancy to talk real about some of the things

that you would have done differently, you are missing out on probably the best lesson of all for the people who need it most in HR and otherwise at work. Oh, freaking Sharm. I mean, look, we don't want to talk about Shirm. We'd love to talk about, well, Rock a docket, I guess. Liesel, find more about Liesel. Oh, Shirm. You get a car. You get a car. Well, you know, I feel like we, you know, during our hiatus being gone, we had a million DMs like, what's happening? Where are you guys? When are you coming back? And I tried to do a voice note back to every DM we received.

Sure, Jamie's like, damn it, this didn't record. Damn it. Yeah, motherfucker. Why are you fucking asking? No, I would, no. I really, I tried to because I'm like, hey, we love y'all. They've been busy. I haven't.

But we're coming back, I promise. So we're back, guys. Lee, how's everything with your book? So your book comes out in January. So what are you doing right now? It does. Yeah. So what is it?

All the copy editing? You remember this, you know? So I'm waiting to see like the book layout and approving everything and the cover and having launched strategy meetings. So kick those off this week, all the things, you know? So it is exciting. And then, you know, booking events. for next year, this year, you know, like pre-launch stuff, post-launch stuff. I mean, it's just,

it's a lot. Like, my head's spinning, but it's fun, you know, so it's one of those, you know, it's a lot. It's a lot. And then, of course, I started writing my second book. You are a masochist. Yeah, I just started to write, I've got a couple thousand words there, you know, so I'm dumb, insane. I'm insane. No, you've got stuff to say. I think that's awesome. do yeah so no it's good yeah it's it's been good everything's moving right along you know so i think pre-sell we'll start in july late june something yeah crazy we'll be sure to share the link on our stories don't no worry all the things all the things you know all the things and ashley you've been busy with your book touring and all of that i did i did a uh i did a book event local to me

in Dunwoody, Georgia at our local bookstore. And that was my only, like, bookstore event because, I mean, you know, sometimes we hear from people that are like, wow, like, how do you all do what you do? I'm like, I'm in a very normal person that's like, I have no idea if anyone's going to come or things like that. And it was family friends, HR Besties listeners. It was really exciting. It's been, it's been great.

So I traveled around. I went to California a bunch of times to do some different speaking things, women's conference, legal conference, HR conference, have some of those more coming up on those. But it's been, it's been great. I have in my book, I talk about, again, the tight jeans leadership. Don't be a tight jeans leader or a oversized sweatpants leader. Be a cozy joggers leader. And so talked about that in person or on a bunch of podcasts. But yeah, I was going to ask you how many podcasts. Like what's the total you were up to? So I've recorded, I think, like 50, 50 podcasts. I believe on other people's podcast.

And it's great. I mean, it's amazing to be on other people's. But the thing I kept hearing was people like, oh, we love HR besties. We talk about HR besties. And so I missed it. I missed, you know, recording. I felt like I was, you know,

I felt like I couldn't literally couldn't speak some days talking about it or writing articles. But, you know, I also remember I am, I feel so thankful every day to have the opportunity to have these words that I write come out there, a lot of which happened because of this podcast or those listening or now I'm really focused back at Manager Method, which I have been. But, you know, I have a team of, we have a team of four. And so a lot of it was delegating a lot of the work or people taking over the work. And it's

exciting. We've grown. We're working with some really cool organizations. And I love getting on the call with HR contacts. We listen to the podcast. You know, how are Jamie and Lee? I call. I'll tell you. No, just kidding. Like, we're good. So it's fun to be back. What about you, Jamie? I fear I have girl bossed a little too close to the sun, and I will be becoming the president of our PTO. I haven't even told you all this yet. Oh, my God. Yeah. So our PTO, our parent-teacher organization, like I said, I unfortunately, I have, what do you, like, I got, I don't know.

You know, y'all know, I think the three of us can equally, like, walk into a room and we just start leading. It's not even on purpose. It's just kind of what we do. So yeah, I'm taking that over. And one thing I alluded to the last time, the last Hopi hour we had last year is that I had some personal stuff going on. But to kind of just give you a little bit more, because people have been asking me, like, is everything okay? People think me and my husband are getting divorced. No, I've been taking care of my mother essentially full time. So that my life has just kind of shifted. I'm still doing my memes, still doing keynotes. I have one that I'm going to in two weeks. I'm super excited, still doing virtual things. And my schedule just looks different now that I'm, quote unquote, unemployed from the corporate world. But yeah, apparently I will soon be wearing the PTO president hat. Was there an election for that? Yeah. Yeah, there is. Yeah, it's like that thing. Yeah, it was like a whole thing. We have like a whole board, but no one wanted to step up, to be honest. And so I think people just were like, will you, will you do it? I'm like, yeah, sure. I will tell you. Did you have a campaign slogan? No, I didn't go that. You know me. I'm just like,

if you need my help, I'll help. And that's kind of how this all happened. Like, I just started volunteering. Amy, my name's Jamie. I just started volunteering to like get out of the house because I was like in a big funk after I got laid off. It felt weird not to be needed. So that was my way of being needed. And I got to see my youngest, right? But then it was like, hey, why don't you? come to the meetings and like, hey, now you're on the board. And now it's like, hey, will you be the president? Room parent to PTO president is a slippery slope. Yes. It was an accident. But I will say that the current president, she's pregnant. And I begged her, she's going to stay on as vice president. And then when she's done next year, she can have her reins back because I don't want it. I'm just helping.

Oh my gosh. That's quite the tenure. She's actually really good at it and better than I will ever be at it, but I'm happy to fill the seat for her while she has a bitty baby. You let us know how that goes. Opening up your inbox to the opinions and questions and criticisms, I mean, I don't know whether it's TTO, HOA, any type of, I mean, the SHRM, those that are listening that are the SHRM regional, you know, boards and things like that that are generally volunteers. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's like having a second job, Jamie. I am, kudos to you. Y'all know who I am.

I'm not sane if I'm not busy. I can't function if I'm not, like, too busy. I mean, I made a video once that was like someone asked me to be a room parent. I did do the room parent thing. It is not for me. And I'm happy to help in isolated events. And so one thing I did at the end of last year, I'd done into our local high school to do some mock interviewing. And it was amazing.

I've done that too. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Like some of these people, I'm like, oh, I wish I had a position to hire you for. It's super, super impressive. But then also, you know, same. You say yes to one thing and there's more coming. But I ended up poaching a team of seniors in high school in this competition.

It's a local public high school, but they have this what's called Finance Academy, where they do a business competition. And so they get in groups of five. And our team did a business. And they have to take, it's called brand extension. So they take a regular, like any brand, and you add on a new business to it. So it can't be like Nike, like, I don't know, sneaks shoes or whatever, you know, whatever. It's, so our group did Land Rover golf carts.

And I say this, I promise, we are very much, you know, women of the people, we started the episode with a question about private jets. We are wrapping up with a question around Land Rover golf carts. But I've been obsessed with this idea because now, like every now, I will see Land Rover all over the suburbs of people that are not, you know, traversing on hills. Same with golf carts. Like, I play golf, but more often now you see golf carts, again, traips in all over the suburbs.

And so I think it's, I, our team loved our team. I loved going in and their presentation. It was so impressive. We didn't win, but I'm sure they got second. It was, it was cool. I do. It is, it is good to kind of see what people are up to. But I prefer working with probably students than I would,

some of the other parents, Joey. That's wild. I know, right? A bit masochistic. I know. I knew y'all would get a kick onto that, though. I was like, I can't wait to tell them.

I hope those parents treat you will. I hope so, too. I'm sure they will because you'll let them know. Yeah, I was back exactly. I was like, y'all know, I will let them know. You got to tell them, I mean, I assume people know your handle, but being a meme, people may not always know, but you can say, you don't want me to blast you to one point,

seven million of followers on one page or another. I don't think anyone knows. So that's going to be interesting when they start finding. And so we can start having a new segment on the podcast. When they start seeing screenshots of their nasty emails in your stories with their names blacked out. We're not full on name there, tomato icons. You know, that's Miss Jackson coming. in full force. So we'll be back for monthly. We'll be doing monthly episodes. So we just with some of the

things we have going on weekly is just hard to give out quality episodes. But we have some, some good things coming on tab. We may drop some other ones in there as things come out or we'll do a live broadcast from Universal, what studios? Hollywood studio. Sorry, I cross, cross, they'll do it from outside. See, we're going to do, we're going to interview people for their reactions. when they're turned away from the park due to HR closing their destination. We're going to set up a booth outside Hollywood Studios. I'll report live with Oprah and X.D.N.A. With the Hollywood Studios fireworks going off.

Oh, man. We miss you, besties. Miss you. Love you.