Scott Doggett spent 30 years in corporate America — first running hotels and resorts in hospitality operations, then leading learning and development teams up to vice president. He was, by every external measure, successful. Titles. Awards. Promotions. The ladder, climbed. Then came the layoff at the end of 2023. His first in 30 years.

He gave himself the six months of his severance package to figure out what came next. He tried consulting. He taught college classes. He worked with a Native American tribe in Alabama. Nothing sparked. On the exact six-month anniversary of the layoff, he had what he describes as a mini panic attack — the realization that he was no closer to his purpose than the day he was let go.

That night he prayed and surrendered. The next morning, the first email in his inbox was a LinkedIn job posting for a director role at a Christian nonprofit — a role that described, almost word for word, everything he had spent the last decade building. He applied. He got a call back the same day. He got the job. Nine months later, he was laid off again.

On Episode 237 of Fine is a 4-Letter Word, Scott Doggett tells host Lori Saitz the full story: the values from a small New England town, the 30 years of go-go-go that never left room to ask the real questions, the wilderness journey, the two layoffs, the servant leadership he witnessed at the nonprofit that changed everything, and the movement he is now building through National ALD to humanize workplaces across America.

Along the way he shares the Gallup numbers that should alarm every business leader (only 30% of your workforce is fully engaged — and 20% are actively working against you), the boat analogy that reframes where leadership energy actually belongs, the Ebenezer Scrooge workshop experience that wakes leaders up to their own future, and why he believes the leaders of tomorrow will be defined not by what they know but by how well they connect.

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Timestamps:

00:00 The water-instead-of-coffee opening and getting right into it

01:00 Values from a small New England town: every person is a priceless human being

02:00 Early leadership lessons that didn't fit: the big stick, the raised voice, the five-second experiment

03:30 How authoritarian leadership styles persist — and what is forcing them to change

05:30 Why employees today expect more: options, mobility, and the cost of turnover

06:00 The label problem: why calling people 'resources' and 'assets' changes how we treat them

07:00 The Gallup numbers: 30% engaged, 50% apathetic, 20% working against you

08:30 What that 50% actually wants — and why pizza parties aren't the answer

09:00 Scott's fine-but-not-fine moment: VP title, the layoff, and the six-month wilderness journey

10:30 Consulting, teaching college, the Alabama tribe, and nothing sparking

11:30 The panic attack on the six-month anniversary — and the prayer that night

12:00 The LinkedIn email the next morning and why he almost didn't open it

13:00 Getting the job, nine months at the nonprofit, and getting laid off again

14:00 What he saw at the nonprofit that he had never seen in 30 years of corporate life

15:00 Slowing down, morning walks, scripture, and learning to listen for answers

17:00 What to say to the leader still inside the corporate grind who thinks this doesn't apply to them

19:00 The mirror exercise: changing the label from 'resource' to 'priceless human being'

20:00 The boat analogy: three rowing hard, five barely dipping oars, two rowing backwards

22:00 Practical technique: pause, notice the label, change it to priceless — even in traffic

24:00 Great Aunt Frida in the blue Cadillac convertible, and the grace it teaches

26:00 AI, stress, and why the future of leadership is human connection

27:30 The national movement: nationalald.com, faculty across the country, public workshops

29:00 The Ebenezer Scrooge experience: past, present, future — what do you want to be known for?

30:30 Take care of your geese. The goose and the golden egg.

31:00 Eminem's Lose Yourself as the long-run pick-me-up song

Connect with Scott Doggett:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottdoggett/

Website: https://www.nationalald.com/

About the Show: Fine Is a 4-Letter Word is the show for leaders who are tired of pretending everything is okay. Host Lori Saitz brings on guests who get honest about what it really takes to lead with empathy, vulnerability, gratitude, and courage. New episodes every week.

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