Meet Our Characters
Introducing Darnell Johnson, Jessica Mitchell, Abe Martinez, and Sue Lee (SHRM-SCP).
These are fictitious characters that reflect our most avid listeners. Many listeners are also our corporate clients, so we get to know them really well.
Some are new managers, but many are more experienced middle managers. They work in varied industries and manage teams across all corporate disciplines. They are ambitious, idealistic, and growth-minded. They also share common leadership challenges.
They’re implementing unpopular changes, engaging remote workers, and navigating their ways through matrixed organizations. And each are having to do more with less. Sound familiar?
Darnell is a Sr. Accounting Manager in the consumer packaged goods industry, and he lives in Chicago, Illinois.
He has 8 years of management experience and hopes to be a Comptroller within 18-months.
He supervises a team of 6 people supporting 3 different business units and has worked for 3 different bosses in the last 3 years.
When his current boss leaves, he wants the job! Darnell listens to the podcast on his train ride into
the city.
Jessica is a National Sales Manager for a pharmaceutical company.
She’s just changed jobs and leads a team of 30 outside sales reps reporting to 4 regional sales managers. This is her first-time managing managers. Her boss, the SVP of Sales, is also new and struggles with indecision.
In addition to managing the performance of her team, she’s leading the project to implement a new CRM system. Jessica listens to the podcast while walking her rescue dog – “Alph” or at the beginning of her daily Peloton rides.
Abe is a Software Development Manager for a SaaS company based in Austin, Texas.
He was recently promoted into his first leadership role and manages a team of 7. His team is entirely remote, and he’s now supervising friends he worked alongside for the last 3-years.
He’s also tasked with working with a new development team based in Ukraine. Abe listens to the podcast whenever he has a pressing need, usually before this team meeting or when he’s feeling stressed.
Sue is an HR Business Partner supporting customer service centers across N. America.
She’s been an HR Generalist for nearly 20 years and is an active member of SHRM. Sue’s responsible for employee relations, retention, and engagement.
She also spends a lot of time coaching less experienced managers through a wide range of leadership challenges.
She uses MentalNotes to prepare for her coaching sessions and shares many of the episodes with her managers. Sue listens to MentalNotes on Spotify whenever new episodes are released.
ANY SIMILARITY TO ACTUAL PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD, OR ACTUAL EVENTS, IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL 😆
Our artist-in-residence is Pete Whitehead. Check out
Pete’s bio below.
Pete Whitehead is an Illustrator and Designer from Cleveland, Ohio.
Pete Whitehead’s first “real job” was McDonald’s. He remembers getting in trouble for laying out the frozen patties on the grill in amusing patterns or stopping to sketch the more “interesting” customers waiting for food.
Having to give up his aspirations in the fast-food preparation industry, he followed his other dream, becoming an illustrator. Pete graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and has been a professional digital illustrator/animator for over 30 years.
He lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife, Jenny, and daughters, Bailey and Chelsea.
When Pete’s not spending time with family or working, he enjoys wood carving, fly fishing, and grilling the occasional cheeseburger.
Visit PeteWhitehead.com.