EP 325 - People Come for the Work. They Stay for the Team. – Wintress Odom, CEO The Writers for Hire
- Govindh Jayaraman
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Wintress Odom is the Founder and CEO of The Writers For Hire, a company built on clarity, discipline, and consistently high-quality work. From the outside, it’s easy to assume the success came from systems, execution, and technical excellence alone.
But on her paper napkin, Wintress wrote something deceptively simple:
“People come for the work. They stay for the team.”
That sentence didn’t come from a leadership book. It came from lived experience — from building a business, leading people, and learning (sometimes the hard way) what actually keeps a team engaged over time.
This conversation is about a shift many leaders make too late… and how everything changes when they finally make it.
The Napkin That Changed the Way She Led
Early in her journey, Wintress did what many high-performing founders do: She optimized for output.
She valued efficiency. She valued competence. She valued getting the work done — and getting it done well.
What she didn’t value (at least at first) were the things that felt inefficient:
Team time
Small talk
Recognition
Emotional check-ins
“Soft” leadership moments
In her mind, the work was the reward.
But that assumption quietly created distance.
Not because the work wasn’t good — it was. Not because people weren’t capable — they were.
But because not everyone is motivated by the same things.
And leadership breaks down the moment we assume they are.
The “Everyone Is Like Me” Trap
One of the most important moments in this conversation is Wintress’s realization that she was leading from an unspoken belief:
If the work matters to me, it should matter the same way to everyone else.
That belief is subtle. And incredibly common.
It shows up as:
Silence instead of appreciation
High standards without context
Feedback only when something goes wrong
A culture where results matter… but people don’t always feel seen
What surprised Wintress wasn’t just that the team felt disconnected — it was that she didn’t see it coming.
From her perspective, she was being fair. From theirs, she felt distant.
That gap is where disengagement begins.
Why “Doing the Work” Isn’t Enough
One of the clearest insights from this episode is this:
You can’t expect the work alone to carry the relationship.
People may join because the work is meaningful. They may start because the role fits.
But they stay because of how it feels to belong.
Wintress didn’t change her standards. She didn’t lower expectations.
What she changed was how she showed up between the work.
She learned to:
Say thank you
Offer meaningful feedback
Acknowledge effort, not just outcomes
Create space for people to enjoy working together
Those shifts didn’t slow the business down.
They accelerated it.
Culture Is Not a Perk — It’s a Multiplier
As Wintress describes it, once she stopped leading by silent example and started leading with intentional connection, something unexpected happened:
The team didn’t just feel better. They performed better.
Trust increased. Engagement increased. Ownership increased.
And the work — the very thing she had always prioritized — improved because of it.
This is the paradox many leaders miss:
When people feel respected and included, they give more — not less.
Culture isn’t the opposite of productivity. It’s what sustains it.
The Quiet Shift That Changed Everything
What makes this wisdom so powerful is that it isn’t flashy.
There’s no grand overhaul. No dramatic turnaround story.
Just a leader willing to question a long-held assumption:
What motivates me might not motivate everyone else.
That awareness created room for:
Mutual respect
Real engagement
A team people actually wanted to be part of
And that’s what turned a group of capable individuals into a cohesive, loyal team.
Five Key Takeaways from Episode 325
1. People don’t stay for the work alone. The work may attract them — the team keeps them.
2. Efficiency without connection creates distance. What feels “productive” to a leader can feel cold to a team.
3. Not everyone is motivated like you are. Assuming they are is one of leadership’s most expensive mistakes.
4. Appreciation is not inefficiency. It’s fuel.
5. Culture compounds results. When people feel respected and engaged, performance follows.
More About the Guest
Wintress Odom Founder & CEO, The Writers For Hire, Inc.
Wintress Odom is the founder and CEO of The Writers For Hire, a professional writing firm known for clarity, consistency, and high standards. Her leadership journey reflects the evolution many founders experience — from task-driven excellence to people-centered impact.
Website: www.thewritersforhire.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wintressodom/ Instagram: @thewritersforhire
One napkin. One idea. One shift.
If this episode sparked something for you, grab a napkin and write down what your team needs more of — then share it with #PaperNapkinWisdom.