The People Playbook with Coach Cora

In this episode of The People Playbook, host Coach Cora Lonning sits down with Tia Adaba (RN, BSN), Vice President of Operations for At-Home Services with ML Healthcare. Drawing from her 17+ years of nursing leadership and her book, Me First, Tia breaks down the critical balance between driving operational results and sustaining employee wellness in deeply human industries.

In this episode of The People Playbook, host Coach Cora sits down with Consuella "Connie" Roberts, a former elite track-and-field athlete, record-breaking powerlifter, and the founder and executive director of the Pretty Strong Movement. Connie shares her journey of breaking into the elite "1,000-Pound Club" with a massive 475-pound lift and explains how the exact same principles used on the lifting platform apply to leaders building high-performing corporate teams.

Behind every phenomenal career path is a network of leaders who extended trust, created opportunity, and recognized potential before we saw it in ourselves. In this episode of The People Playbook, Coach Cora sits down with banking executive Jacob Cavazos to discuss his inspiring journey and how formal and informal mentors shaped his rise to becoming a community leader.

Organizations don’t struggle because people are different—they struggle because they don’t understand what those differences mean. In this episode of The People Playbook, host Coach Cora sits down with Michael Segovia, a Principal Consultant and leading expert from The Myers-Briggs Company, to pull back the curtain on the world's most famous—and most misunderstood—personality assessment.

Ever wonder why a perfectly designed organizational strategy, flawless org chart, or shiny new software system still fails to deliver results? In this episode, Coach Cora kicks off a brand-new series breaking down the mechanics of organizational design and development.

While leaders spend massive amounts of time and capital building the visible parts of a business—Structure, Systems, Strategy, and Frameworks—organizations rarely fail from a lack of design. They fail from an under-investment in delivery.

In this episode of The People Playbook, host Coach Cora sits down with beloved San Antonio radio personality, motivational speaker, and intentional enthusiasm champion, Sonny Melendrez. Drawing from five decades of inspiring audiences, Sonny shares his powerful framework for leading with impactful positivity.

In this deeply personal episode of The People Playbook, Coach Cora is joined by a very special guest: her brother, Dean Jenkins. Dean brings a unique perspective to the table, bridging two worlds that many believe are at odds: high-level corporate business and spiritual leadership.

Coach Cora is joined by Wendii Lord for a practical conversation on feedback and why the language leaders use matters. This episode explores how clarity, consistency, and intentional communication can build trust, strengthen performance, and prevent unnecessary resistance.  

Wendii Lord joins Coach Cora on The People Playbook for a meaningful conversation about the power of the support role in leadership and organizational success. This episode highlights why the people who help leaders stay focused, prepared, and effective are essential to making big things happen.  

This weekend on The People Playbook, Deric Zies shares the leadership lessons that most shaped his journey as a leader in the workplace, at home, and in the community. In this conversation, we explore the weight of leadership, the shift from directing to serving, and how transparency, confidence, and responsiveness create meaningful influence.  

This week on The People Playbook, Coach Cora sits down with San Antonio leader Leo Gomez, CEO of Brooks City Base and San Antonio Legend Award winner, to discuss how great partnerships create momentum, belief, and shared success. Their conversation explores how leaders can build support for their vision by creating value for others, bringing in fresh perspectives, and aligning partners around the audiences they serve.

Behavioral assessments aren’t meant to label people—they’re meant to guide how leaders develop them. In this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora sits down with Tony Alessandra, Founder of  Assessments 24x7, to explore how tools like DISC are often misused—and how to apply them more effectively.

Drawing on decades of experience, Tony explains how assessments create a shared language for understanding behavior—especially under pressure—and where leaders go wrong by oversimplifying results. When used well, these tools improve communication, increase self-awareness, and drive stronger performance across teams.

Values aren’t defined by what leaders say—they’re revealed in the decisions they make when the stakes are high. In this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora sits down with Preston Atkinson, President and CEO of Trestleworks and former CEO of Whataburger, to explore what it really means to lead through values.

Drawing on decades of leadership in legacy, community-rooted organizations, Preston shares how leaders drift when they prioritize being right over being aligned—and how that erodes trust inside teams. When values are consistently modeled, people stay engaged, extend grace, and remain committed to the organization’s long-term success.

Leadership is not defined by what you say—it’s proven by the decisions you make when it matters most.

In this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora is joined by Col Edward Irick, Deputy Commander of the Air Force Special Warfare Training Wing, to explore what it truly means to lead with purpose, trust, and care in high-stakes environments.

Drawing on 27 years of leadership experience, Col Irick shares how trust is built—or broken—through decisions under pressure, and why leaders often misunderstand the balance between caring for people and holding high standards. The conversation highlights how purposeful leadership shows up in real time and what it takes to rebuild credibility with teams that are tired or skeptical.

Strong hiring isn’t about offering more—it’s about offering what actually aligns with the people you want to lead and keep. In this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora is joined by Blanca Abbud, Vice President of Sales at Engage PEO, to explore how leaders can use benefits strategically rather than reactively when attracting talent.
Drawing from her work with organizations across industries, Blanca shares what candidates are really responding to in today’s market and where leaders often miss the mark with benefits design and communication. The conversation unpacks how life stage, flexibility, wellbeing, and clarity around total compensation influence candidate decisions, and why copy-and-paste benefits often attract the wrong fit. 
If you’re a small business owner, executive, or people leader trying to attract the right talent without entering a costly perk arms race, this episode offers timely insight into how benefits can work for your business instead of against it.

Leadership teams don’t develop talent through instinct alone—they develop it through shared clarity about performance, readiness, and potential. In this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora speaks with the Senior Director of Field Enhancements at Whataburger about what leaders actually learn when they begin using a talent matrix in a complex, field-based organization.

Drawing from real operational experience, the conversation explores how a structured talent framework changes the way leaders discuss high performers, identify potential, and challenge assumptions about their teams. The matrix itself isn’t the value—the value is the clarity it creates about development priorities, succession readiness, and where leaders may be overlooking or misjudging talent across the organization.

Retention isn’t driven by rewards alone — it’s driven by clarity around what success actually looks like. On this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora sits down with Gerry Bower, President of TLC Total Lawn Care, to explore why onboarding and retention succeed only when expectations, hiring, and rewards are intentionally aligned.

Drawing from decades of experience in a labor-intensive, seasonal industry, Gerry shares what leaders often miss when teams struggle to stay engaged and committed. The conversation unpacks how unclear KRAs, inconsistent rewards, and misaligned hiring practices quietly erode trust; and how defining real contributions creates focus, fairness, and accountability across the organization.

If you’re a small business owner, executive, or people leader navigating retention challenges and wondering why good employees keep leaving, this episode will help you rethink how clarity (not perks) keeps teams together right now.

Hiring decisions don’t improve by removing judgment — they improve when leaders understand how to apply it more responsibly.  On this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora is joined by Amy Leslie, CEO of Perspective Inc., to explore how leaders can use data-driven hiring tools without losing the human insight that makes good decisions possible.

Drawing from her work with organizations implementing assessments and selection tools, Amy shares where leaders often misunderstand what hiring data is meant to do, how tools can clarify fit rather than create certainty, and why role definition and context matter more than the tool itself.

If you’re a business owner, executive, or people leader trying to hire more confidently without outsourcing judgment to a tool, this episode will help you make smarter, more accountable hiring decisions right now.

Hiring isn’t about convincing candidates to say yes — it’s about demonstrating that your leadership is worth committing to.  On this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora is joined by Katy Barger, Senior Technical Recruiter at Beacon Hill Recruiting, to explore what candidates are really saying.  

Katy shares how top talent is evaluating roles through the lens of flexibility, salary transparency, and values alignment, and why outdated job descriptions and rushed decisions quietly undermine hiring success.   

If you’re a small business owner, executive, or people leader who wants to attract capable talent — and keep them — this episode will help you rethink how your hiring process speaks before you ever make an offer.

Hiring gets harder when the talent pool doesn’t match the work that needs to be done. In this episode of The People Playbook with Coach Cora, Coach Cora uses a live-coaching conversation to explore how strong specialty retail leaders adapt when the challenge isn’t leadership quality — it’s labor market reality.

Together with a seasoned retail owner, she works through real hiring constraints in real time, focusing on how redefining the work, adjusting role design, and making intentional tradeoffs can protect both the business and the customer experience. This episode offers a grounded look at how to make smart, sustainable people decisions without lowering standards or burning yourself out.