Kathy brings over two decades of experience in managing large-scale organizational change initiatives, cultivating strong teams, and building cultures of continuous learning. Recognizing that employees often lack the necessary context and resources to excel, especially in the virtual world, Kathy is passionate about empowering managers to set their teams up for success when leading change, delegating work, and providing clear, actionable feedback.
Specializing in areas such as feedback, inclusive leadership, and coaching skills, Kathy emphasizes the small yet impactful moments that lead to sustained behavior change. She takes pride in helping participants identify and celebrate the habit shifts that drive lasting impact.
When not facilitating, Kathy can be found exploring the outdoors or working on her latest sewing project.
Melanie Naranjo is the Chief People Officer at Ethena, a scalable, all-inclusive compliance platform featuring a customizable training library, HR case manager, and phishing simulator.
With more than a decade of experience in HR, she’s been interviewed by FastCompany, NBC, the Wall Street Journal, and more for her unique insights and strategies. She runs a monthly virtual workshop geared towards educating HR professionals on low lift, practical strategies that work, with an emphasis on creating People strategies that prioritize the success of the Business first, and enjoys sharing her learnings with others while leading custom in-person trainings and participating in speaking engagements.
Her expertise spans a broad spectrum of HR fields, including performance management, training and development, executive coaching, and more.
She’s a graduate of Harvard University and a self proclaimed cat lady.
On-Demand
• Change & Alignment
The Certainty Gap: What Employees Need Most From Leaders Right Now
Originally recorded on June 24, 2026
58 Minutes
About this Event
New research from Perceptyx and Gallup shows that in moments of rapid change and ambiguity, trust in leadership, clear communication, and transparency have become some of the biggest drivers of engagement at work. At the same time, the accelerating impact of AI is creating both excitement and fear for employees who are wondering what these changes mean for their roles, careers, and future at work. When people do not know what is happening, their brains fill in the gaps, often with anxiety and worst-case assumptions.
Join LifeLabs facilitator Kathy Pearce and Ethena Chief People Officer Melanie Naranjo for a practical conversation on what today’s engagement data is telling us, why it matters, and how leaders can create more clarity, trust, and steadiness for their teams, even when answers are incomplete.
We’ll explore:
What the latest engagement research reveals about uncertainty, trust, and AI-related fear at work
Why certainty has become one of the most important leadership skills today
Simple ways leaders can create more clarity, calm, and connection on their teams
Kathy brings over two decades of experience in managing large-scale organizational change initiatives, cultivating strong teams, and building cultures of continuous learning. Recognizing that employees often lack the necessary context and resources to excel, especially in the virtual world, Kathy is passionate about empowering managers to set their teams up for success when leading change, delegating work, and providing clear, actionable feedback.
Specializing in areas such as feedback, inclusive leadership, and coaching skills, Kathy emphasizes the small yet impactful moments that lead to sustained behavior change. She takes pride in helping participants identify and celebrate the habit shifts that drive lasting impact.
When not facilitating, Kathy can be found exploring the outdoors or working on her latest sewing project.
Melanie Naranjo is the Chief People Officer at Ethena, a scalable, all-inclusive compliance platform featuring a customizable training library, HR case manager, and phishing simulator.
With more than a decade of experience in HR, she’s been interviewed by FastCompany, NBC, the Wall Street Journal, and more for her unique insights and strategies. She runs a monthly virtual workshop geared towards educating HR professionals on low lift, practical strategies that work, with an emphasis on creating People strategies that prioritize the success of the Business first, and enjoys sharing her learnings with others while leading custom in-person trainings and participating in speaking engagements.
Her expertise spans a broad spectrum of HR fields, including performance management, training and development, executive coaching, and more.
She’s a graduate of Harvard University and a self proclaimed cat lady.
