5. Career Development Systems with Stephanie Turner and Larissa Pyer

What does it actually take to build systems that support people's development – not just in theory, but in practice?In this episode, Hannah sits down with Stephanie Turner and Larissa Pyer, colleagues at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and co-founders of Better Together, to explore what human-centered career development actually looks like as a system. They get into the defaults that no longer serve people – linear pathways, under-equipped managers, programs that generate great intentions and zero follow-through – and what to build instead. That includes a case for mentorship as a constellation rather than relying on one-to-one relationships, the difference between shared language and shared understanding, and why scaffolding (not prescription) is the design principle organizations keep getting wrong.If you are interested in building systems that are truly effective at helping people grow, there’s a lot here to take back to your team. Notes, References & ResourcesBetter Together — The business Stephanie and Larissa recently co-founded, grounded in the belief that the most effective career development happens at the intersection of structure, reflection, honest conversation, and genuine connection. → Better Together on LinkedInTuck School of Business at Dartmouth — Where both guests work; one of the world's leading MBA programs, founded in 1900 as the first graduate school of management in the United States.Human-Centered Design (HCD) — The design philosophy underlying Stephanie and Larissa's approach to career systems. Emphasizes empathy, problem framing, and iterative prototyping over prescriptive solutions. Popularized by IDEO and Stanford's d.school. → https://dschool.stanford.edu/tools/human-centered-design-integrative-design-explorationSociety for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) 2024 Annual Conference session on generativity (and mentoring) → Musselman, R., Deller, J., & Hastings, L. (2025, April). Mind the gap: Generativity bridging older worker reciprocity for newer employees [Symposium]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) — Gallup's strengths-based assessment identifying 34 talent themes under four dimensions. Mentioned as an example of an assessment tool organizations can use to create shared self-awareness across teams. DISC Assessment — A widely used behavioral assessment tool based on four styles: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C). Some versions use bird archetypes (Eagle, Parrot, Dove, Owl) to make the styles more memorable. Mentioned as an example of an organizational baseline tool for shared understanding. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) — One of the most widely recognized personality inventory tools, categorizing people into 16 types based on four dimensions. Mentioned in discussion as a tool used in some organizations' for individual or culture development purposes. Editor's Note: Though a well-known tool, the MBTI can serve a purpose for self-reflection and self-awareness; however, it is widely criticized in the scientific community for lack of reliability and validity evidence - as such, the MBTI cannot be recommended for organizational decision making purposes (diagnostic or predictive). Stephanie Turner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-szkutak-turner/Larissa Pyer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larissa-pyer/Better Together on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bettertogethercoaching/Music: "Feel Good (Instrumental Version)" by PØW via Epidemic SoundLink to Show Notes with Full Transcript.