# Janet McDonald: You Become a Better Leader by Becoming a Better Human Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/human-school-7543113/janet-mcdonald-you-become-a-better-leader-by-becoming-a-better-human Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/human-school-7543113/janet-mcdonald-you-become-a-better-leader-by-becoming-a-better-human.md Podcast: [Human School](https://stenobird.com/podcast/human-school-7543113) Published: 2025-12-31T15:35:49+00:00 Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/human-school/episodes/Janet-McDonald-You-Become-a-Better-Leader-by-Becoming-a-Better-Human-e3d177q Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/10b384b70/podcast/play/113334970/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-11-31%2F415279678-44100-2-10a6159709bef.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/human-school-7543113/episodes/janet-mcdonald-you-become-a-better-leader-by-becoming-a-better-human Duration seconds: 4330 ## Resource What if the loneliest position you'll ever hold is the one you worked your whole life to achieve? What if everything you learned about leadership left out the most important part? Janet McDonald, CEO of Onsite, didn't start her career planning to lead with vulnerability. She started at 14, running a ladies boutique in downtown Franklin, TN while her friends worked as her employees. At nine years old, she was already holding her family together after her parents' divorce, learning early that "if it is to be, it's up to me." That message drove her through a successful career in management consulting, always climbing and achieving, until she realized something was missing. Janet first heard about Onsite the way many do: someone told her, "It changed my life." Then another person said it. Then another. Her curiosity piqued, but she was skeptical. Either they had a really good marketing campaign, or something real was happening an hour outside Nashville, TN. When she applied to be Chief Operating Officer, she thought, "Who in their right mind is going to drive an hour every day out here?" But as she drove up the hill to the campus, something shifted immediately. What makes Janet's leadership distinctive is that she bridges two worlds that rarely meet: strategic clarity and courageous vulnerability. In this conversation, Janet opens up about the cost of leadership, including the loneliness and isolation, and reveals how her pre-teen self still shows up in boardrooms. She shares why curiosity is the number one skill of any leader, and why the 18-inch journey from head to heart is the hardest one you'll ever make. In this conversation, you'll learn: How to Lead from Behind Instead of in Front How Your Nine-to-Fourteen-Year-Old Self Still Shows Up… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/human-school-7543113/episodes/janet-mcdonald-you-become-a-better-leader-by-becoming-a-better-human/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/human-school-7543113/janet-mcdonald-you-become-a-better-leader-by-becoming-a-better-human.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.