From Imposter to Architect

TJ Lintz: [: 00:00:00

Great people. It's just, it's still, it's a little bit of a nerve wracking experience and I, getting in there and then actually then starting to have some one-on-ones with people. You begin to really start to get to know another person and you get to see what they're motivated by, what drives 'em.

I have a, in my undergrad studies, I studied psychology. And, I never became a therapist. I never went on to do that, but I couldn't believe how well this now has come back around and helped me in my career of just having a better understanding of people and sometimes how people operate and what motivates 'em and how they tick.

of an advantage there. As I [: 00:01:00

Taking the time to really be open and. Work with those that can influence what you're doing is such a critical lesson I learned.

Alexa Beavers: The moment you start wondering if you belong in the room is often the exact moment you leadership is being shaped.

ent about being stopped cold [: 00:02:00

We'll talk about how resilience is built in the chaos of the storm and why belonging is something that leaders grow into. Not wait to feel. TJ Linz is an HR and organizational development executive with EX. Extensive experience building high performing teams and leading strategic transformation. He currently serves as a senior HR executive at doca USA, where he oversees human capital strategy, total rewards, talent acquisition and organizational development. TJ's background spans sales, leadership, talent development, and organizational change supported by a master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. His research on leadership resilience is contributing to an upcoming [00:03:00] book set to publish in 2026 where he explores how leaders navigate pressure, uncertainty, and moments that test their confidence and come out stronger on the other side.

we are so excited TJ, to have you today. We're gonna have a great conversation.

TJ Lintz: Thanks, Alexa. It's great to be with you. Excited to be here.

Alexa Beavers: we're gonna hear be here and talk about some messy moments. and TJ is about to share one of his so we can grow from to share one of his his experiences.

TJ Lintz: Yeah, sure. Messy moments, there's been a few throughout my career, like with most people. I think everybody has these experiences and really the key is what do you learn from it and then how do you apply that going forward and then also turn around and maybe help your brother or sister coming up behind you to maybe avoid that same mistake in the future.

nto a more senior management [: 00:04:00

And this was coming when we were on our way out of the recession from 2008 and 2009. And this project really took a completely different look at how we approach our customers and how we want to approach the potential and understanding potential of our greatest opportunities with the customers we served.

Alexa Beavers: That's awesome, tj. Let me jump in here and just wind back a little bit. So here you are, you're in Boston. You've been a manager, but now you're leveling up. You're getting into more of those executive ranks, and you're in charge of a pretty important project for this company. It looks like it's something that, could make all the difference in that time of a big economic downturn.

Tell me what was top of mind for you as you stepped into this new, bigger role.

TJ Lintz: Yeah, it was the [: 00:05:00

So I was then tasked with go build a implementation strategy for how do we do this all around the organization

people

Alexa Beavers: had a lot of faith in you, it sounds like.

TJ Lintz: yeah, the company really made an investment in me. They took a risk calculated risk that I would be able to rise to the opportunity which I was incredibly grateful for that.

our colleagues in the boat, [: 00:06:00

Alexa Beavers: That had to feel exciting. What, like what were you feeling about that?

TJ Lintz: It, I mean, exciting and daunting, right? So I have to move. Our headquarters was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I was living in Boston. So that's a pretty big relocation across the country. Also, a completely different. Culture moving from Massachusetts to Oklahoma. So that was pretty exciting.

And then, I had always been out in the field and, working and managing a sales team. So now I'm in the corporate headquarters settling into an office. Space in a big kind of bullpen in marketing with colleagues all around me. And that really was a huge adjustment just in the day-to-day work going from that field-based role, which many of us have had in the past to now sitting in a office, nine, 10 hours a day.

That's a completely [: 00:07:00

Alexa Beavers: Yeah, hugely different. And so you're adding a lot of color to this for me. I really appreciate it. It sounds like, you know, you've got. you've got. Excitement, a little bit daunting. And also, you've layered on two major life changes. You're moving across the country. You are shifting your whole way of operating from maybe being more independent out in the field and maybe running on your own schedule to in the office where there's rigor around meetings and how you show up.

And people can see you all the time and what was that like? What was, what were those changes like?

TJ Lintz: It was exciting. I'm a pretty social person, so I really enjoyed being around people at work. You also have your personal life that you're balancing, it's a big move for my spouse and my partner to come over to Oklahoma. And you're also trying to get your life settled in your community that we moved into.

n a wonderful community, had [: 00:08:00

A lot of us have to navigate those situations in life, and it's just, you take it a day at a time and you, for me, the big lesson in that was really just embrace the unknown, embrace change, and really make the best of it. And the way you show up every day with your attitude is really gonna dictate how the day goes.

And it's one of the things where you actually have control of that. And so for us it was exciting but it was also, it was a big change in our lives.

responsibility for. How your [: 00:09:00

Tell me a little bit more, so now we have a bigger picture of your world at that time, walk me into the office and you in the day in the life of TJ with this new project.

TJ Lintz: Yeah, so the project was pretty straightforward. It's look, we've gonna shift the way we approach our market and the way that we go after our, the customers in our segments. And we needed to also figure out, how do we train 200 sales managers that are out dispersed across the country in the US and Canada?

arts with a training program [: 00:10:00

Most importantly, how do we do it? And so I was tasked with developing a go to market. Training program for all of our sales managers across North America on this new approach and this new way of working. The big advantage I had Alexa was one, I had a lot of support from our CEO. I also had the advantage of sitting in the seat that I am now going and trying to convince others that were in the same seat, this new way of coaching and working

Alexa Beavers: Yeah, you probably had a lot of credibility with folks that were, facing customers every day 'cause you'd been there and done

TJ Lintz: Yeah, and it was a big part of that. I think it's part of the reason, or a big part of the reason why we were successful.

Alexa Beavers: So I, I hear a little messiness in just the amount of change going on. So far, everything seems blue skies.

lt like I had the wind in my [: 00:11:00

Alexa Beavers: People that are making money for the company

TJ Lintz: Oh yeah, this is the, this is where the revenue gets driven in the organization, at least on the front end.

And I've developed this training program. I thought it was great. I now have to go pitch this to our executive management team. And I walk in there with a pretty good feeling for the day. I knew I had the support of our CEO. I get not even Alexa to my second slide, and then the whole thing goes off the rails.

Alexa Beavers: Okay, let's slow it down real slow here, because I think many people, including myself, have gone in very confident and suddenly things take a turn. So how did you know things were maybe not what you had hoped they would be?

us when the one of arguably, [: 00:12:00

Alexa Beavers: You know what? I gotta tell you something. Your eyes changed right when you said that. I think that it stuck with you in some way because it, you got very serious. And I think that kind of speaks to maybe how you might've been receiving that message.

TJ Lintz: Yeah, it was, it was, you have those moments in your life where you have that proverbial get hit between the eyes. This was getting hit between the eyes completely unprepared for that question, but I instantly realized that, oh boy, I missed. A big piece of this, which is I didn't talk to any of them.

unning the organization. The [: 00:13:00

Alexa Beavers: The time.

TJ Lintz: yeah, I of course didn't know that at the time I was looking for a life vest or a lifeline something while the waves were crashing on me.

And but it didn't come. In the moment it was really disheartening. But as you get a little bit of time away from it, what an amazing learning experience and what and how grateful I am that I didn't just get thrown a lifeline.

Alexa Beavers: So we do know that there is a, you're sitting here today, you're still smiling, and you have a great, you have a great career. We'll fast forward to that in just a few minutes. As you were in that room and in this influential leader said. Who else have you talked to in here?

And you were then noticing maybe, I don't know, what did you notice in your body? What did what? What did you do next?

: It was almost that feeling [: 00:14:00

And of course he was the first one that stopped me. So I almost, in a way it felt like I let him down. In in the moment it really felt that way.

Alexa Beavers: Yeah. And coming feedback like that well, it wasn't fe it was a simple question and it exposed something that you maybe missed. And then this sounds like somebody that really you respected. Coming from him, it

TJ Lintz: to this day. To this day, to.

Alexa Beavers: Yeah. Wow. Okay. So you. We're going through all of these emotions.

Can you give us a little bit of the next steps as you walked through that?

intz: the next steps was the [: 00:15:00

Alexa Beavers: Oh.

TJ Lintz: So, the, it was, we all agreed that. Consensus building needed to be the next step. And that we get the input from this executive team around the strategy and also around this training plan because we were pulling their leaders out of the field.

Which, you know. As we established earlier there, that's the frontline of driving the revenue for the organization. So there's an investment beyond just time to do what we were proposing. So that was the, a moment where I left the room knowing that, okay, clearly I need to go set up some one-on-ones with each of these key stakeholders and make sure that their input, that their fingerprints.

t if I got them in the boat, [: 00:16:00

Alexa Beavers: Yeah,

TJ Lintz: and that was a big learning that I didn't come to realize until a little bit of time had passed.

Alexa Beavers: Oh, interesting. Because I, it sounded like you were very resilient in that moment. And you just went with it and you, it sounds like you probably still were resilient, but what you just said to me is it took me a little while to learn the important lesson that if their fingerprints are on it, they're gonna be the biggest champions.

So

TJ Lintz: Yeah.

Alexa Beavers: walk me through what. It took to allow you to see that part.

TJ Lintz: so of course I go back to my desk. I'm devastated. And I'm feeling pretty like. Not so confident anymore. Now the imposter syndrome's really coming in oh, did I make a good decision? I moved my family here. You get that negative voice going sometimes and you gotta quickly turn that off and quiet it down and have arguments against it.

Let's figure out how to move [: 00:17:00

And it was, coming from a sales background we get taught really well how to ask good open-ended questions to customers so you can take that same. Approach, just use it internally and really just try to think about, okay, what is their need? What are some of the key benefits of doing this approach?

, which it seems so obvious, [: 00:18:00

It isn't just about consensus building, it's also about building relationships with people and key people who influence not only your career, but also influence the organization. And that is a major lesson that I still hold to this day.

Alexa Beavers: You know what's surprising to me, there's two surprises in here, and one of them is that you had imposter syndrome. This is a bias on my part,

TJ Lintz: yeah,

Alexa Beavers: I feel like these, I always have been a good rule abiding citizen and respected authority. So I'm like, oh, look at TJ as VP of hr. He could have never had imposter syndrome, and now you're here saying, telling me, yeah, I had imposter syndrome.

And that is look at me having a bias that, oh, TJ could never have. So thanks for sharing that.

stretched outta your comfort [: 00:19:00

Alexa Beavers: Sounds like you had a dialogue, if you have imposter syndrome, and it's saying some things that are less kind than what you just said. You had a, another voice that was right there next to it that said, I'm, I am good enough. I'm worth being here. I'm here for a reason.

TJ Lintz: Yeah, that in a support network, that could also reinforce that too, right? Because you, of course, I go back and I talk to my boss, . Get home that night. I talk to my family, talk to my wife, and, and it's just Hey, you learn from your mistakes.

Fail forward. Don't fail backwards and just pick yourself up and keep moving forward. And it, this too shall pass as the saying goes.

Alexa Beavers: It's sometimes good to have other people around you that can say that. 'cause in the moment it's stress.

TJ Lintz: Your network is really important throughout your life, and that network changes, by the way, at the different stages you're in.

But having certain [: 00:20:00

Every now and again that can tell you also and call you out when you're acting maybe overreacting or, be maybe being a little bit too negative or too self-doubting. It's so important to have that around you.

Alexa Beavers: this brings me to the other thing I said. I had two surprises and this surprise is about your comment about building those relationships. And what surprises me is as someone in sales, I think salespeople are really great at the people you know. They understand what people need, they understand how to relate, and I really.

t at that, and then you came [: 00:21:00

TJ Lintz: I, I just think it was. It just not knowing it was just naivety. I hadn't ever prior to that really been in the big room, and I say the big room with, when you have, senior executives and you're up and coming in the organization, that can be super daunting and a little scary, even though they're just human beings and they're all.

Great people. It's just, it's still, it's a little bit of a nerve wracking experience and I, getting in there and then actually then starting to have some one-on-ones with people. You begin to really start to get to know another person and you get to see what they're motivated by, what drives 'em.

reer of just having a better [: 00:22:00

It gave me a little bit of an advantage there. As I started to now work with these individuals and that relationship building is so important. One, yes, of course you gotta deliver the project and you want to have a successful project, but you never know where the paths are gonna cross down the road and what that might look like in the future.

Taking the time to really be open and. Work with those that can influence what you're doing is such a critical lesson I learned.

Alexa Beavers: Absolutely. I think that you called your network into action when you needed them, maybe not even knowing, and then you intentionally set forth and started having these one-on-ones and maybe broke down some prior assumptions about, oh, they're in the big room. Am I allowed to be in the big room? I don't know.

But you started seeing them more as real human beings, which probably led to a different type of relating with them.

J Lintz: It does because you [: 00:23:00

We're on the same team. And we have uh, committed, shared vision for success. And once you realize that. Again, it seems obvious, right? But as a new person in, this is a new environment for me at that time it really magnified the importance of really getting to know and spend time, spending time to making sure that you've got other people's ideas built into what you're proposing.

me good intentions. However, [: 00:24:00

So some really important lessons for, growing as a person and change and also working with people to get important things done instead of going it alone. So tj, what other lessons do you wanna highlight?

TJ Lintz: when you get the chance and you're in the big room, no, you belong there. You've earned it. And that people wouldn't put you there if they didn't believe in you. So if you have that imposter syndrome at times that we all get, you have that voice that sometimes is telling a different narrative than what's real just.

et other people's input into [: 00:25:00

Great ideas come from sometimes places you don't expect and you shouldn't be worried about where great ideas come from create an environment where great ideas surface from anywhere. And, that is to me, what true inclusion looks like is that, welcome the dissenting voice or welcome the, re reinforcing voice. You want to get as many ideas to the table as possible so that you can come out with the best product as possible. So building that is critical.

Alexa Beavers: sorry to interrupt you. Can I double click on that a little bit? I just love that you said, allow ideas to come from everywhere. Don't as, don't make assumptions, good, bad, ugly, let 'em be coming up. And that's what an inclusive culture is all about. Can we explore a little bit how you. Allow the ideas to come. How do you create the space where anyone could feel safe to say something?

to now today as a, as an HR [: 00:26:00

Silence is a gift because some people they're thinking and reflecting, and if you're the leader in the room and you just jump in right away, with an opinion, that may then set the pace for the rest of that discussion, and no one's gonna maybe feel comfortable challenging the idea.

d speak up. I feel it's okay [: 00:27:00

If they're not maybe naturally inclined to just share. And, I think that also models a good, positive behavior as a leader is trying to. Make sure that everyone feels like they're in a safe space. They also can speak up and that, we don't judge someone on a bad idea. We judge 'em on the quality of their good ideas.

Alexa Beavers: I think that this power of silence as a leader is really important because we all have ideas about leaders and, oh if TJ said that, that's gotta be the one, I might not be the right, I might not be the person that would then challenge you out of respect. But I might have had another idea that just doesn't get.

, they know they're gonna be [: 00:28:00

It sounds like that's okay with you.

TJ Lintz: Yeah, I think it's, it's always situational dependent, right? But I think the more that we can model this type of openness and behavior as leaders in our organizations, I think the more great ideas are gonna come to the table and the more people are gonna feel like they're contributing. To the, maybe the greater cause of the organization.

And, there's no greater feeling than when someone in your team has a way better idea than you have, because it also reinforces that you made a great hiring decision. And having that and setting that tone is really important, in my humble opinion, to really creating a better environment.

ius maker. And when you said [: 00:29:00

TJ Lintz: I have an incredible amount of gratitude because y years ago, someone took a risk on me more than once and gave me opportunities to grow, and you can never really pay that leader back or that person back. Or maybe it was a, a coach in high school or whoever that gave you an opportunity.

You can never really pay 'em back. How you pay them back is you pay it forward. And I often think about your career, my own career journey. It's a, sometimes it's like a Spartan race, you've got the obstacles you gotta climb over, you're exhausted. But what do you do when you get to the top of that big wall?

You turn around and help your brother or sister up that wall. And that is in, in, in, in your career. That's a way in how you pay it forward is you turn around and you help the people behind you that are coming up with opportunity and taking a calculated risk on them because somebody did it for you.

And so what better [: 00:30:00

Alexa Beavers: 100% And that takes your story really full circle. I remember you saying the person that spoke up and asked you that hard question, second slide in was someone that really had your back. You looked up to, you reported to at one time and you still respect them. So tell me a little bit about how this story ended, because we got the lessons, but I wanna know, did it ever get out to the field?

Tell me a little

we shifted the direction of [: 00:31:00

Change in that company. That also is what led me into hr.

Alexa Beavers: Oh,

TJ Lintz: that was my first, I had been in the sales side of the company now in marketing, but that was my first entry into training and development because it was a training program. And that opened the door then for me to join our training team in that organization where I came in as a team leader and worked.

And from there. Opened and started to chart my career in HR from that moment. So it really was life changing and it was a transformational change in my career at that moment. And looking back on it, that's where I can easily tie back to where I shifted from being in the business to now coming in and working in HR to support the people side of the company.

y where you place that, that [: 00:32:00

TJ Lintz: I hope so. When I left that organization, I spent a long time there. I was there almost 17 years. When I left that company, he was the first person I called. When I left the organization and I had the opportunity to say thank you for the support in my career. So there I'm hopeful that that resonated for them as much as it did for me.

But again, I can never pay that person back. All I can do is try to pay it forward. And that's my responsibility. And it's the thing I take with me today.

e things that you would like [: 00:33:00

TJ Lintz: The top three, lean in to the opportunities, the discomfort, the pushing yourself a little bit outside of your comfort zone. It's where growth happens. You hear it time and time again. But as someone who's lived it I would encourage that for sure. Second. Be confident that you're in the right place.

You're in the room because you deserve to be there. You've earned it, and don't let the voice creep into your head and tell you otherwise. You need to quiet that voice down and remind yourself all the hard work that brought you to where you're at today and keep. Pushing forward. Even when it's tough, that's when growth happens.

re in, it's how you navigate [: 00:34:00

Intact and stronger is what shapes then even future opportunities for you. So take those moments as learning moments and know that it too shall pass. The third one is for me is reach out and build your network. Have good people around you. Surround yourself with the people you want to become and the people that you look up to build those networks.

Ask for mentorship, ask for coaching. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Really just put yourself surrounded by people that can take you to where you want to be professionally and personally that application is just as relevant for your life as it is for your professional life.

our world. So tj, thank you [: 00:35:00

So that's wonderful. And let me ask you if people wanna reach out to you where can they find you?

be published in the spring of: 2026

Really excited to share the work, my chapter's on leader as the architect of organizational resilience.

to TJ on LinkedIn is in our [: 00:36:00

I know that everyone that's listening. Lot of lessons from you and it's just been a fun conversation on the, it's been a treat for me, so thank you so very much for giving us your three big lessons. Growth happens in the spaces where we're not comfortable and know that you belong.

That's a big one, especially when those imposter voices come in. And then last. How you've cultivated a network and let everyone else know that's a strength that can guide you through life, personal, professional. So lean on others as much as they lean on you.

TJ Lintz: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Alexa, for having me part of your great podcast. It's

d us on any podcast platform [: 00:37:00