We recently connected with Laura Martin and have shared our conversation below.

Laura, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I am a pretty adventurous person, and am quick to say yes to new opportunities or experiences, especially as it relates to travel or cuisine! In my work, however, I haven’t always lived with the same spirit of adventure. In fact, I’m living out the biggest professional risk I’ve ever taken right now!

To go way, way back for a moment, if you asked six year old me “what do you want to be when you grow up?” you would hear a definitive “I’m going to be an entrepreneur!” (Seriously. What a weird kid!) That conviction stayed with me right up to my junior year of college, when I had the terrifying realization that for all the classes I’d taken and the knowledge I’d gained, I didn’t really know how to actually DO anything. Suddenly the idea of a steady paycheck, health benefits, and a 401k sounded pretty good.

So that’s what I did. I started my corporate career, and it was wonderful. I had the opportunity to do so many different roles across companies of varying sizes and stages, and I learned how to actually DO a lot of things! And twenty-five years on, I was sitting pretty comfortably in a really big job that I had worked very hard for.

And then a former-colleague-turned-friend reached out with this audacious proposal: quit my day job, join forces with him and his growing consultancy, and build a company together. He’ll tell you it was the easiest sale he ever made, but I did take several weeks to consider. But as the idea took hold, it grew deeps roots really quickly. The prospect of building a company around shared vision and values, committed to using our expertise as a force for good in a world of work that desperately needs it, was an opportunity that demanded to be explored.

So I gave notice. I worked my ass off for three months transitioning work to make sure I didn’t leave my former team in the lurch. I took zero days off in between, and in 2024, we launched The Glinda Group. How quickly will I be able to replace the big paychecks I was earning? No idea. Not the point. I love the work we’re doing. I love our clients. I love watching people’s eyes light up when an idea lands and I can see them thinking about ways to incorporate what they’ve just learned with their own teams. I love using my brain every single day; listening, learning, distilling the wisdom that can be mined from decades of research in behavioral science into simple, practical, repeatable actions every leader can take to make their workplaces stronger.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

At The Glinda Group, we solve people challenges. We partner with leaders to help them make the best decisions possible by avoiding the most common errors in judgment, and we partner with companies to drive meaningful change from the inside out, using our unique blend of behavioral science and real-world business experience. Our work spans leadership development, employee engagement, organizational culture, and behavior-driven product adoption. Whether we’re providing tools, workshops, or hands on consulting, everything we do is grounded in science and designed to be immediately useful in the real world.

We specialize in translating the “why” behind behavior into practical strategies that help companies perform better. For example, if a company’s struggling with employee retention, we don’t just tweak policies—we look at the emotional, environmental, and social drivers that influence why people stay or leave. If leaders aren’t getting buy-in, we uncover the hidden friction blocking trust and momentum. Our clients often come to us when the usual playbook isn’t working, and they need a fresh, evidence-based approach that meets people where they are.

What sets us apart is our blend of heart and rigor. We’re nerds about the science—but we’re also deeply human-centered in how we apply it. We believe people are capable of extraordinary things when you create the right conditions for them to show up fully, think creatively, and feel a sense of ownership. We help our clients do that at scale.

I co-founded The Glinda Group after 25+ years leading in-house teams, including 17 years at Target and several years as a Chief Human Resources Officer. I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of business strategy and people strategy, and that’s exactly where my work lives today.

What I want people to know most is this: we’re not here to sell fluff. We’re here to help you build something that works. And we’ll do it in a way that feels inspiring, grounded, and a little bit magical.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

It’s a pretty unlikely co-founder story! In fact it’s on the “about us” on our website: “Jordan and Laura should not have been friends.” We first met as a result of an acquisition, and through no doing of our own, we found that our respective products had been set up to compete with each other. However, we recognized that the market was vast, and that our products were both amazing, so we refused to play a zero sum game. Instead, we worked together to allow each product to find its place. It was a wonderful collaboration in a difficult environment, and through it we discovered shared values, and forged a working relationship grounded in deep trust.

Years later, reflecting on that experience gave us confidence that a co-founder model was the right approach for The Glinda Group. I lead the team and run the day to day as the CEO, and Jordan infuses his expertise into everything we make and do as our official “Thinker/Doer.” There are many aspects of our business that make me feel very proud, but maybe none more than the degree to which Jordan and I strive to practice what we preach.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think that life is a constant journey of learning and unlearning. When we stop being willing to change our minds in the face of new knowledge, we head down a very problematic path. You don’t have to look far to see that.

Looking back over a decades-long career, there are a few key transitions where I experienced the most growth by unlearning old ways and leveling up my leadership with new lessons:

In my 20’s (right out of college) I landed at Target, and I LOVED it! I rose quickly through the ranks, and at one time I was the youngest manager in my division. I thought I needed to be so tough – while I cared deeply about my team, and we had a LOT of laughs and fun together (that’s too core to my being to completely quell!) I was very tough on them and I had an edge at all times. I felt like I couldn’t show any vulnerability and needed to be “on” at all times.

Thank goodness, in my 30’s I moved to a different division within Target, where I had the incredible fortune to work for a VP who became a mentor and remains a dear friend to this day. She had a huge job and deep respect from others, and no one would ever say she wasn’t tough. But, she was also warm, and funny, and vulnerable, and sometimes shockingly informal. She was herself, through and through, while still doing the big job. I hadn’t heard the definition of charisma as “warmth plus competence” back then, but that describes her perfectly. In the time I worked for her, I kept my edge when I needed it, but in so many ways I learned to soften my approach and to be more human and vulnerable with my team and my peers. I felt like I discovered my own true leadership style in those days, vs. trying to fit some preconceived “leader” definition.

My 40’s took me out of Target and into the start-up world, where I fell even more in love with my work. Building tools and programs to help people discover their strengths and do more of their best work? Yes please! I realized that for all the wonderful things I learned at Target, I left there far more articulate about my weaknesses – excuse me, developmental opportunities – than I was about my strengths. Six years of working at The Marcus Buckingham Company utterly cured me of that, and unleashed skills I never knew I had. I can’t overstate how much I loved that work and the team we built there, and my experiences there gave me the confidence to take another leap and spend the next few years as a Chief Human Resources Officer.

Now, as a freshman CEO staring at the number 50 on my next birthday, I’m still unlearning and learning. While I’ll always be a believer in focusing more on your strengths than your weaknesses, I’m also re-learning what it’s like to wrestle with something that doesn’t come naturally, and the satisfaction of finding my learning edge and accomplishing something that felt insurmountable. I don’t know what the next lesson will be, but I am always keeping my mind and eyes open for it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://glindagroup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurae.martin/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraemartin1