When Sue first stepped into the world of human resources, she was driven by a deep belief: every individual deserved respect, recognition, and the opportunity to thrive. But her idealism was shattered within her first week on the job. Instead of building people up, she was tasked with laying off 15 engineers and disciplining two employees. It was a harsh awakening—one that left her questioning not just her role, but the very system she had entered.
For eight years, Sue worked at a major aerospace contractor in Southern California, where the culture was rigid, punitive, and deeply entrenched in the belief that workers were expendable. Change seemed impossible—until Ken arrived.
Ken, the company’s new Labor and Employee Relations Director, led with an entirely different philosophy: trust, empowerment, and the belief that people genuinely wanted to succeed. Under his leadership, everything began to shift. Gone were the days of micromanagement and fear-driven policies. Instead, employees were engaged, respected, and motivated—and the results spoke for themselves. Plants operating under Ken’s “Positive Employee Philosophy” outperformed traditional ones by 200%. For Sue, it was a revelation.
Inspired by Ken’s vision, she threw herself into the work, eventually earning a promotion to corporate training, where she helped implement this groundbreaking approach. But Sue wanted to do more than transform one company—she wanted to change the way organizations everywhere treated their people. So, in 1990, she made a bold move: she left aerospace behind to start HPWP (High Performance Work Place), an organization dedicated to building workplace cultures rooted in trust, respect, and high expectations.
Over the next three decades, Sue and her team worked with thousands of leaders across industries, proving time and again that people perform at their best when they feel valued. She trained over 3,000 executives, wrote bestselling books on workplace culture, and became a sought-after expert in designing high-performance teams. But the biggest transformation wasn’t just professional—it was personal.
Eight years after meeting Ken, Sue didn’t just embrace his leadership philosophy—she married him. Together, they built more than just a company; they built a life centered around their shared passion for empowering people. Their family grew with their daughter, Jenna, and an ever-expanding pack of beloved dogs.
Despite her incredible success, Sue has always kept moving forward—both in business and in life. She finds inspiration in the phrase “relentless forward motion,” a mantra that fuels her not only in her work but also in training for marathons. Now, as a proud grandmother, she continues to shape her legacy, ensuring that the principles she has championed will carry on long after she steps back.
Sue’s story isn’t just about changing workplaces—it’s about changing lives. And as she contemplates retirement, one thing remains clear: her impact will be felt for generations to come.
