Terry is the Owner/CEO of Jaffe, a full-service marketing, branding and public relations agency for the legal industry. As you will hear in this conversation though, Terry believes we are so much more than just our jobs/titles; and it is critical for businesses to realize that allowing their employees to be their “whole selves” is a must have in the work place. At first glance this sounds like a nice concept, but could also seem a bit generic (maybe even idealistic), as these words are thrown around a lot these days. What I found super interesting about this discussion though, was how thoughtful and pragmatic Terry was in thinking about this shift.

There is a strong theme throughout this conversation around evolution and transformation. Terry sees a world where we have the opportunity to actually get it “right.” And by right he means actually caring about people above profits. Actually doing the work to ensure diversity and inclusion aren’t just social justice buzzwords, but are ingrained deep into the culture of every successful organization. Actually allowing empathy into the work place so that people can feel empowered to show up as who they really are. The kicker to all of this, is that Terry believes this transformation will actually increase productivity, morale, and profit.

For many people reading this, that sounds amazing. You might even say too good to be true. So we spent a lot of time exploring these ideas and trying to understand how realistic they are. If it is true that we are evolving to an objectively better approach to society/business, then why has it been such a struggle to get here? Can businesses actually deliver results without forced conformity? What happens when my “whole self” runs into conflict with someone else’s “whole self”? 

My cynical side wonders if human nature would ever actually allow this evolution to occur. But hearing Terry explain why he thinks now is actually the time did leave me more optimistic than usual. There was a deep logic paired with the humanity/empathy/kindness that Terry spoke of, which made me think maybe we have a chance.

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Terry McMullen Podcast Host

I spent much of my career trying to consult companies on how to better achieve their goals. I was a Finance major, a Harvard Business School graduate, and a business strategist. I've always been curious and I've always loved trying to solve problems. It was a really good fit for a while, but then life happened.

Within the span of a couple of years I had a son, my sister tragically passed away, and my wife became severely ill with Multiple Sclerosis. All of a sudden everything I thought I knew about life didn't seem to make sense anymore. I needed to raise my son and teach him how to be a good person but I realized I didn't even know what it meant to be a good person, let alone know how to teach him to be one. I also realized that I wasn't capable of being the person my wife needed me to be to help care for her. Simply put, I wasn't good enough.