94. Breakdown to Breakthrough: Rewriting the Rules of Workplaces - Lauren McGee & Jason Marshall

Join us for an energizing and important conversation with Lauren McGee and Jason Marshall—founders of Workplace Wellbeing Intelligence (PWI)—as they unpack how true culture change starts with honest data and human-first leadership. From uncovering the hidden cost of burnout to helping organizations build emotionally intelligent teams, Lauren and Jason are redefining what workplace wellbeing really means.In this episode, they share the personal and professional journeys that led them to co-create PWI, how they collect and interpret real-time wellbeing insights from employees, and why the future of work depends on psychological safety, adaptability, and transparency. If you're a leader, HR professional, or entrepreneur seeking to create a thriving culture—this episode is packed with tools, stories, and proven frameworks to help you get there.About our guests:Lauren McGee and Jason Marshall are the co-founders of Workplace Wellbeing Intelligence (PWI), a next-gen employee insight platform helping organizations capture and act on real-time wellbeing data. With backgrounds in education, coaching, and leadership development, they bring a human-centric approach to data, empowering teams to become more emotionally aware, collaborative, and high-performing. Their mission is to shift company culture from reactive to responsive—one honest check-in at a time.Follow Our Guests:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workplacepwi/Website: https://wpwi.thrivecart.com/nwwc25/Follow Us On:Host Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestevehodgson/Show Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharewithsteve/Episode Highlights:00:00 - Episode Trailer01:19 - Why workplace wellbeing needs a serious rethink03:45 - The burnout story behind launching PWI06:18 - Why traditional HR surveys don’t drive real change08:42 - The power of live data and psychological safety12:04 - Leadership blind spots that hurt team culture14:20 - The emotional truth behind performance metrics18:03 - From reactive to proactive: shifting workplace culture21:07 - Why most wellbeing initiatives fail to stick23:14 - The 7 core areas of wellbeing inside organizations26:00 - Building a leadership toolkit based on self-awareness29:15 - How Lauren & Jason built trust as co-founders32:01 - Emotional fatigue and the hidden cost of overfunctioning35:12 - What employees really want (and aren’t saying)38:00 - Adaptive leadership in a post-COVID world41:24 - Language that empowers vs. language that isolates44:39 - Helping men access emotional language at work48:22 - Why good culture isn’t pizza and ping-pong50:37 - Performance, purpose, and personal connection53:18 - Lauren’s and Jason’s current wellbeing practices56:09 - How PWI is creating culture change at scale58:45 - The message every leader needs to hear right now