Success Leaves Clues: Ep 310 - Are Your Employees Hiding Who They Are? with Roy Tran, Founder of Beyond the Title

Episode Details

How do leaders create belonging at work?

In Episode 310 of Success Leaves Clues, Robin Bailey joins Roy Tran, Founder of Beyond the Title and a global People and Culture executive, to explore inclusive leadership, cultural identity, and the everyday behaviours that shape a leader’s legacy.

Drawing on his experience arriving in Canada as a Vietnamese refugee and working across Southeast Asia, Roy shares how cultural understanding, relationships, and a willingness to adapt build trust. He encourages leaders to recognize subtle signs of exclusion, see the people behind their roles, and make room for different ways of contributing.

Roy also introduces the “human code”—the lived experiences that shape our leadership habits—and offers practical ways to create workplaces where people feel valued and free to be themselves.

You’ll hear about:

How Roy’s experience arriving in Canada as a Vietnamese refugee shaped his leadership
The personal cost of hiding your identity to fit in
What leaders can notice when employees feel invisible at work
Why organizations can lose valuable perspectives by expecting cultural assimilation
How Roy’s experience in Vietnam changed his approach to earning trust
The everyday leadership behaviours people remember and repeat
Why recognition deserves its own moment before feedback
What Roy means by the “human code” and how lived experience shapes behaviour
How honest feedback and small systems can support leadership growth
The legacy Roy is building through Beyond the Title and his work with leaders

We talk about:

00:00 Welcome and the introduction that brought Roy to the podcast

01:01 Meet Roy Tran, Founder of Beyond the Title

01:56 Growing up feeling the need to hide your identity

07:54 Finding the confidence to stop being invisible

11:33 What leaders miss about belonging at work

16:53 Why leadership approaches need to adapt across cultures

21:57 Bringing lessons about trust and culture back to Canada

24:00 The leadership breadcrumbs people carry forward

28:02 Giving recognition room before offering feedback

30:14 Understanding your human code and changing leadership habits

35:46 Building a legacy that creates belonging for others