All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 20 of 58 in total
EP 56 Where's My Ashtray, Hire Right Fire Fast, and the OceanGate Culture Collapse with Bryan McCurdy
What does a foreman burning a coworker with a cigarette have to do with a submarine imploding two and a half miles under the Atlantic? On this episode, Tony and Steve ...
EP 55 Disrupting Benefit Management with Rhonda Nerenberg and Jacob Davis
The guys sit down with Rhonda and Jacob from Weltrio and talk maximizing effective use of benefits. Rhonda and Jacob give the history of Weltrio and how they are help...
EP 54 HR's Opportunity to Drive the AI Bus with Ryan Kohler and Fragments of Tony's Skull
Ryan Kohler, founder of Applicant Pro, joins the guys and blows Tony's mind in the first minute of the podcast. As Tony picks up pieces of his skull, Ryan unfolds the...
EP 53 Joe Tate Music, Japan, and the Power of Presentations
Joe Tate got into HR because his handwriting was better than the other guy's. He left one of his biggest roles because he refused to let his HRIS manager take the fall...
EP 52 Turns Out Smiling Is Free: Aric Bostick on Attachment Theory and Why Your Face Is an HR Problem
Tony and Steve welcome Aric Bostick, keynote speaker, former classroom teacher, professional crowd-energizer, and the man Steve publicly credits for telling him to get...
EP 51 Fueling HR with the NY Times at Central Utah SHRM
Steve and Tony attended the Fuel HR conference on May 14, 2026. They talked the EEOC's case against the NY Times, diversity, and interviewed several attendees. The mo...
EP 50 The Empty Bolt Seat: The CEO Who Thinks He Doesn't Need HR, Grogu, and Reddit
A CEO returns to his struggling startup, looks around at the wreckage, and decides the HR team is the problem. He fires them. All of them. Then tells the world about i...
EP 49 - HEED This: Reading Body Language, Running Investigations, and What Counterintelligence Teaches HR with Derik Clark
Tony and Steve welcome Derik Clark — Army counterintelligence veteran, body language expert, and apparently a crowd favorite on par with Steve (high praise). Derik bre...
EP 48 May the Fourth, Socks, and Why Performance Reviews Are Stuck in 1955 with Albert Foster
Tony and Steve kick off the show in full Star Wars mode — it's May the Fourth, Steve spent $19.77 on themed donuts from Lehi Bakery, and the great AT-AT pronunciation ...
EP 47 Pure Inspiration at JAG (Jobs for America's Graduates)
We're not choked up, you're choked up. Wow! The guys spend an afternoon interviewing students at JAG's (Jobs for America's Graduates) National Career Development Con...
EP 46 Retention, Troy Blanchard's Connections, and Ken Miles Got Jacked
Steve and Tony talk international remote workers and retention methods with Troy Blanchard from ZConnect. Steve talks about implementing COVID early and often. Tony ...
EP 45 The State of the Hot Tub Workplace in the Empty Red Seat
Tony and Steve break down parts of SHRM's annual State of the Workplace report, but only after venturing into stories of strange women playing footsies with Steve on a...
EP 44 The Dichotomous State of HR, AI, and a Huge Announcement At The Very End of The Empty Red Seat
Tony and Steve talk about the state of HR, AI, eating catnip, and the fact that HR is both doing well and in trouble. Tony's cynicism is both peaking and ebbing as he...
EP 43 The Toxic Environment of the Empty Red Seat - and How to Cure It
In this episode Tony and Steve tackle toxic work environments and Tony's fantastic ability to kill wasps from more than 10 feet away. What is a toxic work environment...
EP 42 Why Can't I ask Follow Up Questions in Interviews on the Empty Red Seat?
In this episode Tony and Steve expose some insights into how to train your managers to interview. What are they interviewing for? The guys debunk the myth that you ca...
EP 41 Definning Strategic, The Four Myths of HR, and He-Man in the The Empty Red Seat
In this episode Steve and Tony discuss Steve’s Four Myths of HR and define the difference between administrative and strategic HR. For HR professionals looking to con...
EP 40 The SAFE Framework and Gamified Confetti with Andrea Hollingsworth
Listen as Tony and Steve are once again joined by Andrea Hollingsworth. In this fantastic episode Andrea lays out the SAFE Framework that helps HR and leaders cope wi...
EP 39 Rachel Child and HR Education in Iambic Pentameter
In this episode Tony and Steve welcome back Rachel Child in iambic pentameter and great hazas to talk about the intersection of HR education and real-world practice. R...
EP 38 Return of Shaina Burgoyne And Yoda is Still Missing
In this episode of The HR Life Podcast, Tony and Steve sit down with Shaina Burgoyne to talk about something many HR professionals quietly wrestle with: stepping away ...
EP 37 AI, the EEOC, the Eightfold Case, and an Empty Red Dog Couch
In this episode of The HR Life Podcast, Tony and Steve go from red couches and movie plot twists to one of the most important HR conversations happening right now: AI ...