EP # 3 Penn Lat: People-First Leadership Even in the Difficult Moments

I sat down with Penny, Co-CEO of Virtua Solutions, a remote staffing company that's been quietly doing something most companies just talk about — keeping people. At 95% employee retention, some team members still around from 2014, Penny's built something rare: a team that actually wants to stay.But this conversation isn't a highlight reel. Penny gets honest about the moments that humbled her — including a hard lesson about communicating change to her team the wrong way, one that cost Virtua a client. That story alone is worth the listen.We go deep on what "people first" actually looks like when performance is slipping and a client is frustrated. We talk about why slowing down isn't weakness — it's leadership. And we get into something I think we don't talk about enough: emotional regulation as a core leadership skill. Not a wellness trend. A real, practical requirement if you want to show up steady for your team.Penny also shares how she and her co-founder Francis model the culture they want — not through leadership manuals, but through how they show up in every meeting, every check-in, every joke. And we get into something close to my heart: the deference culture in the Philippines, why it holds our leaders back, and what it's going to take to move past it.If you're a people manager, HR leader, or founder trying to figure out how to build a team worth staying on — this one's for you.WHAT WE TALKED ABOUTHow Penny's early experience as a remote worker for a US-based SaaS startup gave her the blueprint for the kind of leader and culture she wanted to buildThe founding of Virtua Solutions in 2017 — and how the company has held a 95% employee retention rate, with some team members still around since 2014The costly mistake of communicating a major change to her team using business logic instead of leading with what it meant for the people — and losing a client because of itWhy slowing down is one of the most underrated leadership skills, especially for fast-moving, systems-oriented leadersEmotional regulation as a real leadership practice — not a buzzword — and Penny's honest account of learning to regulate her own state before bringing hard news to the teamThe breathwork and mindfulness techniques Penny actually uses, and why she's still figuring out what sticks for her personalityWhat "people first" looks like in practice when someone is underperforming — understanding the full story before jumping to solutions, and using trusted peers as a bridge when direct conversations shut people downThe skill vs. will distinction in performance conversations — and why you can't coach your way out of what you don't understand firstHow Penny and Francis model the leadership culture they want, rather than prescribing it — and why that approach produces leaders who put their own spin on it, which is the pointThe role of humor and lightness in building psychological safety — and why breaking the ice (or "breaking" someone, in Penny's words) is actually a signal that trust has been builtHierarchy in the Filipino workplace — where it comes from, why it's largely subconscious, and the quiet cost it has on how teams communicate and performThe deference Filipinos can show toward Western or foreign leaders, and why Penny frames it as a shared human experience rather than a culture problemWhat's shifting (and what isn't) as Gen Z enters the workforce with more international exposure and fewer ingrained sir/ma'am habitsWhat Virtua is still building toward: a culture-specific leadership training program that defines what it means to lead a team the Virtua wayThe one thing Penny would tell every new leader: understand yourself first — your emotions, your triggers, your communication patterns — because how you manage yourself is how you'll manage othersEPISODE QUOTE"If you don't understand your own complexities as a person, how would you understand that the people on your team also have complexities?" — Penny, Co-CEO, Virtua Solutions