Episode Overview:

In this episode of the Staffing Buzz Network, host Bob Pettke welcomes Lauren B. Jones, founder of LEAP Advisory Partners, to discuss the intersection of technology and leadership in the staffing industry. Lauren identifies the core of operational excellence as the “build, change, adopt” framework, stressing that firms must move beyond “lagging” behind technology and instead embrace it as a superpower. She outlines a strategic approach to digital transformation: rather than simply buying new tools, agencies should first optimize their existing tech stacks to ensure they aren’t ignoring powerful features already at their fingertips. Lauren also advises leaders to focus on “what gets in the way” of their team’s daily productivity, using those friction points as the roadmap for where to implement automation and process improvements.

The conversation concludes with a deep dive into the transformative role of AI and female leadership within the staffing industry. Lauren explains that AI acts as a “great equalizer,” giving boutique firms the same competitive capabilities as billion-dollar enterprises when supported by clear policy and education. She also shares the inspiring origin of the Together We Rise movement, highlighting how a collaborative “women supporting women” philosophy has replaced traditional competition. Ultimately, Lauren positions both human connection and technical innovation as the dual engines for growth, helping staffing firms scale excellently while maintaining the personal touch that defines the industry.

Listen to the Episode:

Episode Transcript:

Bob Pettke: [00:00:00] Coming to you from the Ultra-Staff Studios in Chicago. Welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network with your host Bob Pettke.

Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Staffing Buzz Network. I am Bob Pettke. I am your host. And I’ll tell you what, that intro never gets old. So hey, I’m glad that you guys are tuning in, either watching us on YouTube or listening to us on one of your favorite podcast platforms. And, if you’re listening for the first time, don’t forget to hit subscribe to the Staffing Buzz Network.

So yeah, we’re excited to continue our sessions here, specifically related to a very exciting event coming up here on April 23rd and 24th. As far as our organization, so yes, our company’s Automated Business Designs. We have a software, an ATS CRM, front office. back office solution.

Companies like yours are using [00:01:00] it right now. It’s a fully integrated system. Everything’s combined together, and as part of our commitment to the staffing community, we are part of and a contributor to the Midwest Staffing Conference and—or actually I should say—to the Illinois Search and Staffing Association, which is then in a collaborative effort, putting on and hosting the Midwest Staffing Conference, which is gonna be April 23rd

and 24th at the Drury Lane Conference Center in Oakbrook, Illinois. And what’s nice about this is the location’s great. There’s two airports in Chicago. It’s basically right in between the two. So it’s easy access to get into there. And here’s what I could tell you about it. It is, it’s a highly anticipated two-day event, and it’s designed for staffing professionals from all over the Midwest. Actually, people even outside the Midwest do come.

But they come together, they share their expertise, they collaborate, and they learn from industry leaders. I think you still can register for the early bird if you’re a member. [00:02:00] And what you would have to do if you’re an ISSA member, you would log into your membership with them.

Same for WASS and MASS members, that’s Wisconsin and Michigan. And you can email in with your discount code that you would have there. So it’s really cool, and if you want more information on it, if you’re just tuning in and you’re trying to feel it all out and you’re not a member of any of those things, you can email.

Here’s what it is: info@issaworks. This is our third installment, and we’ve got some more installments coming up where we are featuring some of the best in staffing when it comes to the people that are going to be sharing and speaking and talking and sharing that wealth of knowledge.

So I am excited today to bring to the stage Lauren B. Jones. And before we get into it, Lauren, you’re probably there. Smile and wave. Okay.

Lauren B. Jones: Hello.

Bob Pettke: Hi, Lauren.

Lauren B. Jones: Hello,

Bob Pettke: Lauren. I’m gonna talk about you a little bit so you can [00:03:00] smile and nod if you want, or you can stop me at any time if I get anything wrong.

Okay?

Lauren B. Jones: Okay. Okay.

Bob Pettke: So Lauren is a staffing industry titan. I love that word, titan. In the workspace of, innovation architect and a fierce champion of female leadership and she’s also the founder and CEO of the LEAP Advisory Partners. Earlier, I said, Oh, I almost said adversity.

Lauren B. Jones: That’s advisory.

Bob Pettke: It’s advisory and adversary. Maybe that’s part of the advisory work that you do. You’ve transformed the company into a powerhouse in digital transformation and of workforce solutions. You’ve got a team of experts that are in the business processes and automation.

And you are guiding organizations through technical evolution, and we’re gonna talk about that. I know you’re a sought-after speaker. You’ve got a tremendous presence on LinkedIn. I also know that you’ve worked with some friends of mine as a co-author on Together We Rise. Yeah.

And like I said, you’ve got that tremendous LinkedIn brand, which is [00:04:00] phenomenal. And really you are, as far as our industry goes with staffing, you are one of, if not the top or one of the top, you probably won’t say top, a woman and an influencer, which is phenomenal.

So welcome, welcome.

Lauren B. Jones: Thank you. It makes me sound so much cooler than I am, so thank you.

Bob Pettke: Awesome. And this Together We Rise was a really, there was a tremendous following in this industry, and you made a lot of headway. In really just recognizing that specific segment that the women influences and what they bring to the table, and talk to us a little bit about that, and maybe even what’s next with that powerhouse group of women?

Lauren B. Jones: Sure. Yeah, we definitely started a movement, if not just a sneakers movement. We definitely started a women’s, supporting women movement, which I think has been exceedingly meaningful.

We have book number two coming out this year. We hope to release at [00:05:00] Staffing World in the fall. And that’s what we’re working towards. We’re all working on our drafts right now. We have a big writing event in March. So we’re really excited about book number two, but book number one it was so serendipitous is the right word for it, in that Leslie Vickery had put together a dinner at SIA, it was March of 2020, and I had opened my firm on March 2nd, 2020.

I know, cue the laughter now. But she had scheduled a dinner, and if my memory serves me correctly, SIA was gonna be on March 9th, and I was getting ready to open my firm, and so she had put this, really cool table of leaders together—female leaders.

I had 18 appointments scheduled down there. I was like, nobody’s gonna see me coming. Like, this is my business, is just gonna come out like a rocket, right? And then, of course, we all know what happened, a week [00:06:00] later, SIA was canceled, 14 days later, the world shut down.

And what became of that is: Rather than going to dinner, we said, Why don’t we hop on a Zoom call. Joyce Russell had a cherry on top coming out, and we wanted to celebrate her and celebrate her book. And we all got on a Zoom call, and everybody else in the world was getting on Zoom calls.

And we had, I don’t know, it was this kind of really cool connection, and we said, oh, why don’t we come together every month like as like a book club. And the Lady Leaders book Club was born, created a logo, and everything. Just ’cause I’m a super nerd and we created a little, LinkedIn private group, and we started bringing female authors to the table.

And it, what’s funny is we’re all a bunch of high-achieving women, very competitive and not to be outdone with one another. We had Erica Keswin, Gabe Gattis, a Dr. Oh, Stephanie, I’m forgetting her last name. It just, we

started having these just [00:07:00] powerhouse all-female authors coming to the book club. And one of them was Michelle Prince, who also owns a publishing company. And Michelle Prince came, and she said, You guys have the coolest story. And I gotta tell you, you hear all of this where you can’t create cultural connection remotely.

And we did remote yoga. We did a remote cooking class. We starred guests. It wasn’t just a book club anymore. It became so much more than that. And, you had CEOs navigating a global pandemic for the first time, and nobody knew what the hell we were doing.

And when Michelle came, and we were talking about her book, it was, again, kinda a kismet conversation. She said, You guys should write a book. This is such a cool story as to how you guys have come together. And, I think we all shrugged it off, and then a couple of us got to thinking, and we were like, yeah, we should write a book.

Like we should come together and show women how [00:08:00] you know when we can come together. My first three customers were lady leaders. When I started my business, Joyce Russell, Rona Driggs, and Leslie Vickery were my first three customers.

We just knew how much we were able to achieve when the 15 of us came together. And we thought, Hey, this could be contagious. And sure enough, it very much was, you now have the eight, they’re a derivative or sort of an offshoot of the first scholarships that we were able to sponsor.

They’ve created their own book, their own little group, and they’ve had merchandise out, and so it’s just this collective. With this idea that women supporting women is far more effective than women versus women.

Bob Pettke: Yeah. It’s amazing. Yeah. That lady leader rings a bell.

I, Joanie had been on the Staffing Buzz Betwork and we had talked, if they ever do another book to have her on. Maybe we can have you both on as we get closer to the fall.

Lauren B. Jones: Heck yeah,

Bob Pettke: I could talk about that, right? That’d be phenomenal. And we could even have a whole panel.

We could have one of these Zoom call-type panels and do it. But you’re gonna have [00:09:00] to count me out of the yoga.

Lauren B. Jones: The remote yoga. Yeah.

Bob Pettke: Yeah. No, so Lauren, you’re a busy lady, right? You are. You’ve built your brand, you built your career, and it’s good to talk about it, right?

If it was easy, anybody can do it, and it’s not, and you have, and I’m just gonna recognize that right out of the gate. But let’s also talk about what got you here, right? If we look at your resume, we talk about staffing, we talk about serendipitous moments

you have to get to this point. You’ve been entrenched in staffing, and the way that I word it is, if there was a theme song for people in staffing, it would be It’s a Small World After All. You know that one, it’s a small world.

Lauren B. Jones: Yeah, of course.

Bob Pettke: Now I’ve got everybody thinking that for the rest of the day, ’cause it only takes that much.

But I know you and I, we had some overlap. I think there was a time where we overlapped with select staffing. But you worked prior to that, there was some things that kind of brought remedy in with select staffing. And one of the last jobs I had in staffing is I was a director of the franchisees for the [00:10:00] sales side.

So it’s again, serendipitous; it’s a small world after all. We all know each other, or what is it, the six degrees of separation of Lauren B. Jones.

Lauren B. Jones: Yeah. The Kevin Bacon theory of staffing, right?

Bob Pettke: So, talk to us a little bit about how your staffing career evolved over time. Eventually leading you to be the founder of LEAP Advisory Partners.

Lauren B. Jones: That’s a tale. So I was a musician by education and by profession, before I got a real job, so I was fresh outta school. I was still gigging, and I sing with the symphony at night.

And then, I had a good southern grandmother who the only job she ever did have was with Kelly Girl when it was actually called Kelly Girl.

Bob Pettke: Kelly Girl. My mom was a Kelly Girl.

Lauren B. Jones: I know. And, I was fresh outta school, and I needed a day job, and so I worked for a pharmaceutical company.

And it just so happened that one week, I wasn’t paid. [00:11:00] And it was just a clerical error. And the Kelly Services sales rep showed up, and we had an immediate connection. I’ll never forget her name, Debbie Pesos. She’s since retired, but we became kind of immediate friends.

And when the pharmaceutical company I was working for Shut Down, she offered me this opportunity to come and recruit. I had no idea what I was getting into. I was still gigging at night and working during the day, and I immediately fell in love with the industry, and I got known for the big stuff.

If you needed a thousand people, I was your girl. I was like the Pied Piper. I’m not really sure how I was able to collect thousands of people. I got really good at volume. My very first big gig was Novell BrainShare right before Y2K. I’m totally dating myself right now, 1200 people.

I got good at the big stuff, and then I transferred from Utah to California. I worked for the Office of the President for Johnson and Johnson. That was all volume [00:12:00] and which was a subsidiary of. DePuy Ortho was a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. Then I was recruited away from Kelly to go work for Remedy, and I worked for Remedy, which is now Employee Bridge today, for 11 years. Joanie Biley and I crossed paths there.

Then I was recruited away from what at the time was Select Remedy. Recruited away from there to Bolt. And then I hadn’t had, my only career, my only job in life has been in staffing, and I’ve worked my way up from temp to recruiter, to leader, to all sorts of things, and worked to every role.

And then about 12 or 13 years ago, I was running a really successful region here in Northern California. And I had already figured out some very clever ways to apply what technology was available to create efficiencies and profitability. And so when Volt went to go from a homegrown system to a software as a service platform, I was tapped on the shoulder to be a part of that decision-making, executive team.

[00:13:00] And that started my obsession with all things staffing, tech, work, tech, HR, tech, and became obsessed with the idea that this could really change the way that we do things. And that this really healthy combination of good tech, good strategy, good communication, good change management, and adoption could all be really worth something.

And I did that. I left, I went to a smaller firm, which I had no experience in kind of small firms, and which taught me so much. A small winery staffing firm here in Northern California taught me invaluable lessons about how much the small business owner or family business owner goes through, and I built their tech stack and the operation around it.

And then I went back to Vault. One thing I didn’t have on my experience or on my resume was global experience. And so went back and extended that tech stack, trying to get one line of tech across the Asia Pacific and [00:14:00] UK.

And I ended up as an early layoff casualty of the pandemic. In all reality, the first time I left Volt was when I was just very frustrated, tired of corporate bureaucracy. I went to a smaller firm, less red tape, right? It was noisy.

It was sluggish. It was frustrating. And, I don’t play politics very well ’cause I just tell you what I think and that’s not very popular in a boardroom if we’re being honest. I was already frustrated, and so when I went back, I ended up being laid off again as an early casualty of the pandemic.

And at that point, I was just done. I didn’t have the luxury of having some really great female leadership in my last position. And I just was a little disenchanted, I guess, is a good word. And I decided at that point I had the financial runway to do my own thing.

And I just decided on March 2nd, 2020, I was gonna do my own thing and. I was so excited and thought I was gonna change [00:15:00] the world. And obviously, the end of the story is we’re here today as a growing, influential firm. I did spend all of March crying, drooling on myself in the corner, going, What have I done?

Because a global pandemic hit, and you had, but the good news is that at that point, we’ve always been a lagging industry. When it pertains to technology. And so at that point, you had light industrial firms that hadn’t digitized. You had IT and engineering firms that never done an online interview.

So there’s just so much need at that point for these little transformative changes. And that’s where it all began. And we started helping firms get current, and then started doing more and more. And now we do the one thing I did right, I did a lot of things wrong.

There’s a whole podcast episode for that. But the one thing I did was I knew what our three pillars were gonna be from the very beginning: build, change, adopt. We were gonna help agencies build their tech stacks from an agnostic neutral point of view. We were gonna help them [00:16:00] with business process and change.

And then we were gonna help them with training and adoption. So build, change, adapt. Those are the three things that we do. We still stay super focused on that, and we try and help businesses scale excellently with the technology that supports their business. And so yeah, that’s the one thing I did right was build, like from the beginning it’s been build, change, adopt.

Bob Pettke: So we’ll talk more about that here in a second. So I, two takeaways from me, besides the tremendous content as far as build, change, adopt. We’re gonna talk a little bit about AI, but two takeaways from me from that. Jennifer’s my producer. She sits across from me. Just about every call or every podcast I do, I talk about.

Did you choose staffing, or did staffing choose you? You’re just one more example of somehow, somebody grabbed you…

Lauren B. Jones: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: …and chose you. Like I always say, you weren’t a little girl, putting your brothers and sisters and friends and neighbors on assignments only for them not to show up. You didn’t study it in high school or college, and here you are.

And my other [00:17:00] question for you is, you said this is the end, the end of the story. We know that’s not the case. Who’s gonna play you in the movie?

Lauren B. Jones: Nah, I don’t know. That’s a good question.

Bob Pettke: We’ll collaborate more when I see you, in March, on that at the executive forum.

Lauren B. Jones: Yeah. I don’t know. I get the only lookalikes I ever get are Sarah Ruhl and Drew Barrymore. So maybe one of those.

Bob Pettke: I say let’s send make sure they get a link to this, and well, they already know the story if they watch it, yeah.

Lauren B. Jones: For sure.

Bob Pettke: That’s awesome.

We’re excited as part of the ISSA in the Midwest Staffing Conference to have you there again, April 23rd, 24th. And you’re gonna come in, and you’re gonna bring in, and I believe you have two sessions. And the first session that you have is Supercharge Your Agency With AI.

And just to kinda give a brief, maybe one or two sentences from what the description is. And I’d like you to talk more about it, unlocking the transformative potential of AI in this dynamic and highly rated workshop. And it’s gonna be [00:18:00] designed specifically for staffing professionals.

People are gonna be able to discover real-world applications of AI and how it can revolutionize the agency operations. Let’s talk about that. And again, and I’ve seen it as well, like sometimes, people think staffing is, it’s been around Kelly Girl, Western Girls, which became West Staff at some point.

This has been going on forever, and people think, Hey, apply job, find them a job, have ’em go to work and show up. But there are things now that exist that we never could have even fathomed. And AI being a big part of that. Talk about your session and maybe even a little bit about what people might be able to get out of it, and why they wanna come.

Lauren B. Jones: First of all, I love the team that’s put together this conference. Laura and the entire group has been awesome. I’m so honored to come back. And this will be my third year keynoting on AI. And what I continue to be amazed by is that, [00:19:00] how slow we are to adopt this and, I don’t know if your listeners follow politics or anything like that, but if, you listen to Vice President JD Vance’s, speech in France about AI and the job creation and the essentially superpowers that we can enable human beings with, This is not a replacement.

This is an enhancement. And when applied appropriately and correctly can be exceedingly life-changing and agency-changing, and never in my career has there been this inflection point where the million-dollar firm and the billion-dollar firm have access to the same technology at the same price.

This is the great equalizer, and so what I want people to do and what I’m finding challenging is get started. There are three steps to getting started. Policy. Education. Enablement. Like start there, put a policy together, empower and educate your people properly on the [00:20:00] responsible usage of these tools.

And then empower them to go forth and conquer. But to just ignore what I am telling you is the inevitable will be to the detriment and the downfall of your business. And I don’t say that to be a doomsdayer. At all. I say that to say, get on board because it’s not slowing down. As a matter of fact, it’s accelerating.

And it can be a very powerful tool to scale your organization much faster than you ever anticipated.

Bob Pettke: Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. And it’s funny, we talk about tech, and again. This isn’t about us as an organization, but I think it’s a good, our software is Ultra-Staff EDGE, and we have, ai, it’s part of what we do, from the simple things of building resumes to building job descriptions, eventually being able to take orders from an email and putting ’em through AI and using, chat GBT and getting that stuff in.

What it does, and I love that you said it, Lauren, is it’s not going to eliminate people’s positions. It’s going to enhance their [00:21:00] ability to do some things. And there’s an old term that they used to use. This guy, Ron Popeil, used to have these infomercials set it and forget a technology.

And I think in part, with some of the automations that are in place, but in addition to just basic utilization of AI people in the staffing world are gonna have the ability to spend more time with their candidates, their people on assignment with their existing customers, qbr in meetings and even more important, or equally important, it all depends, out and driving new business.

And so it’s about efficient, right? And to your point, have the policy, enable the people, empower them, let them go and do their thing. Your next session is gonna be talking about, and again, maybe a segue to it, but making sure that you’re optimizing your technology investments, maximizing the value of your technology.

Talk to us about that and what people are gonna be able to take home from that.

Lauren B. Jones: Yeah. I’ll give you just a little bit of a story. We have a lot of service packages, but two primary [00:22:00] ones that we offer.

One is an optimization package, and one is a transformation package. One is I’m ready to blow up the world and move beyond this technology, or I’ve grown out of it, or it’s not working, whatever the situation might be, or no, I know I’m not using the technology to its fullest extent, and help us come in and optimize.

And we had five customers the beginning of last year that came to us, all five of them saying, We want a transformation. Three out of five of those ended up being optimization exercises. They didn’t need new technology. They needed to use what they had effectively.

For example, one of them was in Job Diva. They weren’t using Diva Reach, diva match the diva bot. There was so much there if I’m going to support you in disrupting the business, because digital transformation is disruptive. We do everything that we can to what we call minimum financial disruption when we do a change like that. It is disruptive, but it doesn’t have to be like that, right?

We can take what you [00:23:00] already have and make it better. You have to weigh the cost of disruption. And you have to weigh the change. Remember, we’re dealing with human beings. Change, fatigue is real, right?

And so if you. Don’t have to change. ‘Cause it is an expensive decision. It stands to reason that we can re-look at where you are and make a determination. Do you actually need to make that investment, or do you just need to invest the time and effort into using what you already have?

I want you blowing the wheels off of what you got before we’re considering a transformation exercise.

Bob Pettke: And again, on point 100%. We see it all the time it being in that tech stack world. But as we go through this process, and you’re gonna have these two sessions, maybe you could summarize what your ultimate message is.

When people walk away, they’re gonna have something they didn’t have before. Although people say it’s all been said and done, and maybe it’s the way you present it, what are the one or two [00:24:00] big takeaways that people should expect? And if we’re gonna back into it, why do people wanna come and listen to you?

Lauren B. Jones: So on the AI front, if you’re not sure where to start, come see me. You’re gonna walk away from that masterclass with core competencies in AI. And that’s exactly what we want. And then on the optimization, I am interrogating and sending you off with a list of things to again interrogate the idea that I need something new.

Do you, or do you really need to look at your business process because that’s what’s broken? Not actually your ATS or CRM. Do you need a brand new system, or let’s challenge that idea, and do you need to re-roll out the technology you already have because it’s just not being leveraged? Or a gap analysis, a walk away with a potential gap analysis.

Because it’s one of four things only ever, and I will make [00:25:00] that profound like finality statement is that one of four things. It is either a process gap. It is an optimization gap, it’s a training gap, or it’s an actual technology gap, right? And so we like to do things, here’s your quick wins.

Here’s what you could do for free tomorrow and make an impact that would impact the bottom line. Here’s the short-term gains, here’s a little bit of investment and a little bit of time to get x gain, and then long-term strategy. You need to have three things every year. And so this is the optimization exercise is that three things every year you need, you put your financial forecast together, right?

You put your budget together for the year. Why isn’t that aligned to an operational roadmap, right? How do you want to grow the organization operationally? And then in line with that should be your technology roadmap, right? Those two things are connected. If you’re gonna change something operationally, are you digitizing [00:26:00] something, or are you taking a manual process and applying a digital worker to it? What does that look like?

And then you need a change roadmap aligned to that, right? So it’s no longer are we in a space in time where just a financial forecast is going to keep you competitive throughout the year.

Bob Pettke: I think people are gonna really benefit from it. So relevant, so on point, your message, the timing is perfect.

And we are in an ever-changing, ever-evolving. Who would’ve thought five, let alone 10 years ago, that we would see a world with the technology power that we have today?

Lauren B. Jones: I know.

Bob Pettke: Let me ask you this. So the last kind of question for you. You’ve got all the staffing experience, you’ve put yourself in this space in place where you’re now taking all of that knowledge gained, and you’re taking new things, and you’re staying up on relevant topics.

If I gave you a crystal ball. And instead I’ve got, [00:27:00] these are our little mascots, these are edgy. If I gave you a crystal edgy that can help you look at the future and watch this guy, his eyes come out here. Oh, you can get this at the Midwest Staffing Conference. We’ll have these available.

What is maybe one thing, and if you got more, I’m not gonna stop you, but what is one thing that you can share today that you would wanna make sure that the staffing community is aware of? They can even start to implement it now, and a year from now, this change is going to have a positive impact.

In other words, they might be listening to this podcast in addition to coming to the Midwest Staffing Conference, and there’s something there. We may have hit on it, and that’s okay. Or maybe it’s something not part of the general conversation. What is something if you can offer some advice to somebody, that if they can tweak their business, that a year from now they’re gonna be like, yeah, man, I remember when Lauren B. Jones and the B [00:28:00] stands for B at the Midwest Staffing Conference.

Lauren B. Jones: Yes, certainly does.

Bob Pettke: What is one thing that you think you could share with somebody, and again, if you got more, have at it.

Lauren B. Jones: So I always say there’s one statement that will fundamentally or one question that will fundamentally change your organization, if you can ingrain it in your people.

And I’m gonna give you two just simple ones. I’m not even gonna go down the it’s AI adjacent, right? So the first one is, who else do you know? We’re not very good at that. We just aren’t. And when you’re a recruiter talking to a candidate, who else do you know that’s amazing like you?

When you’re a salesperson and talking to a customer, who else do you know within your organization that might be able to benefit from our services? If it’s a prospect, who else do you know that I should be talking to that’s just like you? It’s who else do you know?

And we just don’t do that really well. We just don’t. We close the loop on the conversation, and we hang up, and we move on to, next agenda item. And that’s just not how this [00:29:00] business has grown. So if there’s one question I would have you just ingrain in the lifeblood of your people, it’s who else do you know in every capacity?

And if you can, do that for 365 days religiously, I promise you it’ll make a difference. And then the other one is what gets in your way. And that’s exactly how I am rallying firms to embrace AI is what gets in your way every day. That is the perfect thing to apply a digital worker or an AI agent, or automation. That is the perfect thing to apply those tools to.

And if you can start again, asking yourself that question every single day, what gets in my way? That will help you figure out where AI will be closest to the dollar for you. If you’re always asking that question, what gets in your way? Is it a process getting in your way? Is it people getting in your way?

Is it, [00:30:00] what is that thing? And once we break down that thing, and we figure out how to either apply technology or good process or training, or optimization to it. Then you are on the road to continual excellence.

Bob Pettke: No, that’s great things in your way. I think about on my way home from work, if the bridge is out, I’ve gotta figure out a way to get around it.

I’ve gotta figure out a solution, and I do use technology in the form of my GPS to get me there. Same rules apply. Something’s in your way. There’s gonna be technology tools and different things like that. AI for sure that can help you navigate that. And then you’re just gonna come over the next one that’s gonna get in your way, right?

Because we live in that world where there’s always something. Lauren, it’s been a pleasure. We are so excited to have you at the Midwest Staffing Conference. I know you’ll also be at the executive forum, so if people are listening to that and going to both, make sure that they get a chance to see you as well.

It’s been a pleasure having you on. This is your first, hopefully you have other visits here on the Staffing Buzz Network, and we [00:31:00] look forward to seeing you really soon.

Lauren B. Jones: Thank you, Bob. It was a ball. Thank you so much for having me.

Bob Pettke: Absolutely. Thank you. Likewise. All right, Lauren B. Jones. Like I said, the B stands for B at the Midwest Staffing Conference.

April 23rd. April 24th. Email info@issaworks.com to go ahead and find out information if you’re a member of ISSA, WASS, or MASS. Go ahead, and you can talk to your organizations about that. You can log into your systems to do that. You can simply do a search on Midwest Staffing Conference 2025 and pull up some information there.

Great to have Lauren on. Really, she has a strong presence in this industry. And she’s somebody who’s relevant. Her message is gonna be relevant to staffing people, even though she’s not in staffing. The blood, sweat, and tears is there.

And I think that often gives instant credibility for people because we like to talk to people that are like-minded people that we like, and people [00:32:00] that we trust. With that said, I am Bob Pettke. Remember, we are Automated Business Designs. Our software is called Ultra-Staff EDGE.

It’s a great tech stack solution. Maybe one day Lauren will talk to you about that as well. But until next time, we look forward to seeing you here on the Staffing Buzz Network.