Welcome to Changemaker Stories from LOCAL, an ongoing series of personal interviews with leaders driving change across every industry and discipline. Because change shouldn’t mean going it alone.
This week, we sat down with Denise Carlin, Chief People & Operations Officer at the Wormhole Foundation. With a career that spans American Express, early-stage fintech, and the ever-evolving world of Web3, Denise brings a deeply human approach to leading people through uncertainty. In our conversation, she shares how clear communication builds psychological safety during times of change, why asynchronous leadership is a secret weapon in remote-first cultures, and how rethinking employees as “internal customers” can help companies build lasting loyalty from the inside out.
External forces have big impact internally. Politics and the economy are the hardest challenges to manage because they impact everybody differently, not just at work, but in their home lives. Like leading through the COVID pandemic, where people had to work from home, that kind of structural, personal impact is tough.
Vision is not enough. When it comes to internal company changes — reorgs, downsizing, growth — the key is having not just a clear vision for the change, but clear communication, too. It's so important to communicate to the entire organization what the changes are, why they’re happening, and what those changes mean, not just for the company but for each person’s role. Share as much as you can possibly share. Everyone from top to bottom should understand how it impacts them and feel secure.
Change is the constant. People in startups are much more willing to accept and adapt to change. It’s part of the deal — high risk, high reward. Startup employees are often deeply motivated by the product and the mission, which leads to a stronger connection. That belief fosters a change-ready mindset. For people new to startups, the amount of change can be overwhelming, but veterans usually expect it.
Culture starts with leadership. You need complete buy-in from senior leadership to create and support an inclusive culture. Then, you need to have a series of difficult conversations and decide how much transparency you want. Every organization is different — there’s no one-size-fits-all. Once you align as a leadership team on your commitment to the employee experience, that commitment must be reflected in actions, decisions, and communications.
We’re remote-first, so we’re scattered everywhere. But we have monthly all-hands meetings where we share important updates that we wouldn’t just send in Slack or email. People know these meetings are essential. We set the expectation during onboarding, and we stick to it.
You have to listen. In 2024, we heard from employees that they wanted more face time — not daily office presence, but opportunities to connect in person. So for 2025, we committed to quarterly meetups. Teams got together in Q1, the whole company will gather in Q2, we’re skipping Q3 for summer, and then two more gatherings are planned for year-end for gratitude and planning. Setting those dates and sharing them gives people something to look forward to.
Moments matter. In addition to regular town halls, the CEO of AmEx would host events for big partnerships. For example, Pharrell became an advisor, and he came in to speak. There was an auditorium, and everything was also streaming in. So yes, whether in person or virtually, you can create those moments, no matter the size of the company. Those big things really stood out to me as positive experiences.
Presence is the present. Ultimately the most important thing is to be present — and create a sense of approachability and authenticity. When you have 1:1s with your team, it’s important they feel like they’re the most important thing at that moment. No Slack distractions, no multitasking, just full focus. As a leader, showing your personality helps create that comfort. Actively listening and understanding each person’s unique needs is key. There’s no universal management style — some employees need support for wellbeing, others want autonomy. You show up in the way they need.
Routines matter. Also — consistency. I’m a big fan of weekly or biweekly 1:1s. And then once a quarter, I do development-only check-ins — separate from tactical conversations. Otherwise, it all gets lost in the day-to-day. You want people to feel they have space to talk about their growth, their challenges, and to use whatever L&D benefits are available.
I’d argue that startups have really mastered asynchronous communication — building clear hierarchies of what gets said in all-hands, what goes in email, what lives in Slack. They communicate faster — whether it’s good or bad news. In large enterprises, people sometimes spend too much time worrying about punctuation instead of urgency. Startups prioritize speed, clarity, and compassion — especially when delivering difficult messages. The goal is to improve and grow, not just to deliver bad news. Some big corporations do this well — and they’re known for it. But I don’t get why every company doesn’t do it that way.
Surveys are only valuable if you act on the feedback. Otherwise, don’t do them. You need the right team size, resources, and leadership support. But there are scrappy ways to get feedback, like quick polls in all-hands meetings. I sometimes just pop in a poll, collect the input, and then address it the next month. The key is knowing your bandwidth before you ask. I think every org does it a little differently. When you’re under 50 people, surveys can be tricky — anonymity is harder, and that’s something employees really value.
“Data is always better. If you're using NPS or any KPI for a Chief People Officer, it's an easy sell."
Your employees are also your customers. You spend money to make customers happy, so why wouldn’t you spend money on your employees? If you look at employee experience through the lens of customer experience, it changes everything. You ask, “what can we do to make this interaction net positive?” That kind of framing helps the C-suite understand the value. Because you can’t always track what moved your NPS score. Maybe it was a good interaction. Maybe it was something else. The same goes for employees. Your people team is part of the customer service you provide to employees — that’s a much easier sell.
Your employees can be your brand ambassadors — not just as workers but advocates of the company. We spend tons of money trying to create brand advocates through marketing, when often the most effective route is just creating a great employee experience. It’s a better ROI, in my opinion.
AI is the latest technology, but that’s nothing new. People who work in Web3 tend to be naturally curious and boundary-pushing, so fear around new tech is lower. But with AI, people in content or creative roles have real concerns: “Will I be replaced?” We’re at the beginning. Crypto’s been around for over a decade, but institutions are just adopting it. Same thing with AI — it’s like the early 2000s internet boom. Some use cases will stick, some won’t. But we’re all adapting constantly — dial-up, paper maps, old machines…everyone alive today has already evolved with tech. Reminding people of that helps reframe the fear.
New technologies mean new policies. We rolled out an AI use policy over a year ago: what tools are approved, how to use them, what’s restricted. Just like early internet in schools, you create guardrails, then let people explore safely. Automation helps people be more effective. This is just the beginning, and consolidation will come. But for now, it’s another tool, and one we can learn to use well.
You are the ultimate technology when you think about it. You’ve evolved your entire life. I’m a proud millennial — I remember paying $0.10 per text and using T9 to type. Now we carry full computers in our pockets. So, don’t worry too much. You’ve already adapted more than you realize.
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