Payroll Congress attendees leveled up their leadership stats while attending an all-star series of exhilarating sessions this week. Award-winning motivational speakers Pegine and Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE, were joined by podcast host and JGA Recruitment founder Nick Day to bring their hard-won insights to payroll professionals during the Leadership Excellence Series at the 43rd Annual Payroll Congress.

“It's a real honor to be included among such inspiring speakers and to have the chance to represent the payroll profession on this platform,” Day said. “Because I believe true leadership starts from within, I believe that everyone has leadership potential. However, sometimes we just need a framework to help uncover it. Hence, my hope is the practical tools and leadership principles I share during the talk will leave a lasting impact well beyond the session itself.”

The series began on Tuesday, May 13, with Day teaching how to “Attract, Recruit, and Retain Top Payroll Talent.” Later, Pegine joined in with “Leadership Aura: Your Presence Is Your Power.”

“Learning how to optimize our job descriptions was something I can implement immediately," said Debra Brockman, CPP, about Day's session. "It made me rethink how to write our job descriptions. That was an eye-opener right from the start.”

On Wednesday, May 14, the series continued with Fripp presenting “Learn How Storytelling Matters for Payroll Professionals.” Later, Day returned to the stage with “Payroll Transformation Mastery—Leadership Starts With You.”

“I learned to start at the action and to leave out the boring details.," said Kathleen Piggford, CPP, about Fripp's presentation. "In talking to my managers, who don’t know payroll as well as I do, I can use what they know in finance and accounting and HR and draw on those details to help them understand what’s going on in payroll.”

The series concluded on Thursday, May 15, with Fripp’s “How to Build Confidence and Credibility” and Pegine’s “Unlocking Clarity: I Can’t Read Your Mind.”

“I appreciated the reminder about not making assumptions and overthinking without evidence of what is reality," said attendee Kimberley Walker about Pegine's advice. "I can get stuck in a feedback loop and start spiraling, so it was a great reminder to stick to the facts.”

Leadership Excellence Series attendees walked away with valuable insights they will be able to implement right away. As Fripp said, “When you invest your time attending a [Leadership Excellence Series] session ... you deserve content that is practical, proven, and immediately actionable.”

Sean Tait Bircher is Writer and Editor of Membership Publications for PayrollOrg. Holly V. Kapherr is a freelance writer based in Orlando, Florida.