# Are middle managers being set up to fail?

- **Episode:** [311](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/311.md) (2026-06-18)
- **Type:** interview
- **Tags:** middle-managers, leadership, pressure
- **Time:** 0:00–3:30 (start 0s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/311?t=0](https://truthliesandwork.com/311?t=0)

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[0:00] Al Elliott: You know that feeling when you meet someone and within about 90 seconds you're just nodding along and thinking, yes, yes, yes, this person gets it. Every single thing they say you agree with. Well, today's guest is exactly that person
[0:13] Leanne Elliott: Kristien Turner is the founder and CEO of TK Talent Group, and he works with brands across the Americas and Europe to solve what he calls the talent crisis—
[0:23] Al Elliott: finding great people, keeping them, We asked him one question right at the top. Are middle managers being set up to fail?
[0:33] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, 100%
[0:34] Kristien Turner: Don't need to think about that for one second. And let's get into it, right? Like, those middle managers, many of them didn't want to be managers to start with. They didn't want the drama of managing others. They don't feel prepared to manage others. They haven't been skilled and equipped to manage others
[0:49] Al Elliott: You could stop listening now. You've got your answer, but you'd be missing out on one of the best conversations we've had on this show and some of the most practical advice ever given to anyone who wants to be a leader. navigating the chaos of managing people right now
[1:03] Leanne Elliott: Hello and welcome to Truth, Lies and Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. My name is Leanne, I'm a chartered occupational psychologist
[1:16] Al Elliott: My name is Al, I'm a business owner, and we are here to help you simplify the science of work. So let's go and join Leanne and Kristien right after this short message from our lovely Sponsors
[1:58] Al Elliott: Nice. Check out hopspot.com, the agentic customer platform for growing businesses
[2:02] Leanne Elliott: Kristien, welcome back to Truth, Lies and Work. For any of our listeners who didn't catch the incredible panel that you were a part of on our LinkedIn Live series, can you introduce Introduce yourself. Tell us who you are, what you do, and what you're famous for
[2:19] Kristien Turner: Yes, I'm Kristien Turner from the UK originally, but now spent 18 years outside of the UK between Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, spent a stint in New York City in my 20s, Miami. And I'm the founder and CEO of TK Talent Group. So we are helping brands the world over, but with a big focus on the Americas and on Europe, to be fair, solve for the crisis of talent, the talent crisis, the war on talent. And what does that really mean? It means they can't find the technologists, they're grappling with with how do they refresh their company and their brands to be more appealing to the younger generation? How do they retain staff? What are they doing around coaching, coaching their middle managers, again, with this view of retaining sticky talent? So, we really do operate at the intersection, I call it, of marketing and HR, and really helping both the company, but also the individuals. And I think we're going to get into that today, the individuals behind these companies that are struggling. They're saying, do I stay? Do I go? Do I get, you know, do I take on a side hustle? Do I get involved with the gig economy? Like, what do I do? Do I see myself here for another 10 years? And so we're kind of the talent gurus is kind of, you know, what I would say that we do