The Launch Box Life with Lauren Darby
At The Launch Box, we are entrepreneurs serving entrepreneurs, but we took very different journeys to get here. In this series, learn more about how we each live #thelaunchboxlife every day.
Lauren is an HR professional with nearly a decade of experience in people development for professional service firms. She manages everything from payroll and benefits to performance management. Lauren prides herself in channeling humor and relatability to recognize the personality and maximize the potential of each team member in The Launch Box portfolio.
Explain your career path. How did you get to be the Director of Human Resources at The Launch Box?
I think my holistic approach to human resources came from my degree in Health and Wellness Promotion and my leadership skills came from my involvement in different organizations throughout my time at Texas State University.
As president of Gamma Phi Beta sorority, I received the most hands-on leadership experience to kick start my career. You could say that my first “job” in human resources was managing 250+ women and their individual matters, professional development, and just generally trying to get to know each of them.
In addition to the sorority, I had two jobs, was involved in several other organizations, and studied abroad in the UK. My involvement and schedule forced me to learn to prioritize and develop time management skills early on. During school, while trying to figure out leadership and how to hold it all together, I enrolled in the Housley Principled Leadership course. That’s where I connected with Bill Poston.
Bill offered me a job at Kalypso while I was a student and I finished out my last semester of school while being his Executive Assistant. I worked closely with Bill for a year after school before transferring over to the Talent and Human Resources team. This allowed me the opportunity to explore different areas of human resources, work with great people and mentors, and quickly grow in my career. The experience gave me insight into what works and what doesn’t, how to leverage HR automation and systems, and how to work with professional services organizations.
George Young, CEO of Kalypso at the time, used to tease me that I loved doing the stuff everyone else hates, like organizing spreadsheets, scanning payroll for errors, discussing benefit renewal, working on policies and procedures, etc. He said that it’s always smart to find the areas others can’t stand and become an expert in them. So, here I am!
What are you passionate about outside of work?
I’m passionate about people, new experiences, and getting out of my comfort zone. I love understanding what makes others tick and what they are passionate about. Even if we have significantly different backgrounds and passions, there is always an avenue for connection, and I love finding that. This often leads to silly and unexpected adventures and situations that only I seem to find myself in, but I love those stories.
What are your top personal values?
Autonomy. It’s so important to recognize the independence of thought and action and how everyone is different.
Other top values for me are empathy, inclusivity, reliability, and passion. These are core values I developed in the Housley Principled Leadership program in college and have barely adjusted since. I keep them on my phone and reference them often, especially when I’m trying to find shared values with someone new.
Of course, I also value work ethic, but as my career in human resources develops more, I feel that if people are supported and feel confident in my other top values, the work ethic typically follows.
How do these values give you an edge in your work?
This is so cliché—they say this at every HR conference—but you really must put the human in human resources. To be successful in human resources, we need to value people as the individuals they are and use empathy.
I always have our firm’s strategy and business goals as a priority, but I also find it crucial and morally correct to know when to take a step back, put the employee first and build on that human connection and conversation to find mutually benefiting solutions. You must know how to keep that balance and have those hard conversations when you need to have them.
I constantly consider the fact that many of our founders and employees are leaving the corporate world for a startup environment, which can feel vulnerable with lots of ambiguity. It’s my job to apply my values to support them so they can be successful.
Why did you choose to work at The Launch Box? What about the mission resonates with you?
I am here because of the team. I respect the people who I’m building the organization with. We are friends from years of working together, and most importantly we trust each other.
Knowing that my team supports me allows me to feel comfortable taking necessary risks and feel empowered to make decisions that will directly impact our growth. These calculated risks will make our founders successful, and that’s the mission of it all.
What does a typical day at The Launch Box look like for you?
I try to work in time blocks. On an ideal day, I wake up before the sun comes up and do emails for a few hours catching up on general administrative tasks. I can have this knocked out early and already feel accomplished for the day.
Then I typically have several meetings with clients, employees, or potential employees. These meetings could consist of anything from interviews, to discussing benefit and policy strategy, or just simply listening to a founder’s next big idea for their organization and coaching on how we get there. I try to save afternoons and evenings for strategic work and big-picture projects.
Lately, this ideal day has been hard to accomplish with so many interviews, but I’m thankful for the growth!
What is a common misconception you hear about working in human resources?
Everyone thinks human resources is just hiring and firing, which simply is not the case. Recruiting is always crucial to a business, but our goal is not to quickly hire and fire employees but instead to build an environment where employees are fulfilled and contribute to the organization’s success.
I think human resources often has a negative reputation, but if you work in an organization with a healthy and progressive HR team, you should not fear them. My goal is to have open conversations with employees so I can facilitate leadership decisions that are best for both our people and the organization.
What is one thing you wish all founders understood?
We all know that there is no such thing as a perfect person or organization, so do not strive for that! Mistakes will happen, lessons will be learned, and we will be better for it. Founders must understand that by choosing to break out of the norm and build their own business, they must allow flexibility in that process. Your vision will change a few times, and that’s ok.
Founders and entrepreneurs are human and have major life events, celebrations, grief, and other personal matters that it’s important they take time for. Growing the business is important, but so is knowing when to turn off for a bit. I will never encourage someone to miss a wedding, funeral, or other milestones. The organization will not be successful if you are not taking care of yourself first.
What is the most fulfilling part of working at The Launch Box?
It’s fulfilling to me that I played a role in hiring every person throughout our portfolio. We are surrounding ourselves with fantastic people who have lots of personality and I’m not sure there is anything better than that! I’m excited to watch everyone as they grow in their careers and support them along the way.
What are you most excited about with the future of the Launch Box?
“Professional services” is broad, which has allowed me to constantly be learning more than ever before. I suddenly can have a conversation about cybersecurity that I would have been completely lost in six months ago. It’s exciting to face these new challenges with each client and rewarding to see myself grow in that way. I’m not sure what industry future clients will be in, and I can’t wait for that challenge.
