Burnout-Proof Partnerships: What HR Can Learn from a Swag Vendor

How vendor conversations became burnout prevention strategy—and why it matters for your leadership capacity

What if the next vendor call on your calendar didn’t leave you drained… but restored?

If you’re an HR leader, people manager, or procurement professional in 2025, you already know the feeling: vendor fatigue is real. You step into yet another Zoom call, prep your polite smile, and brace for the pitch. It’s all business. No humanity. And by the end of the week, you’ve run a marathon of transactional conversations and lost your capacity somewhere along the way.

As a Phoenix leadership speaker and burnout prevention strategist, I’ve spent years showing leaders how burnout isn’t always caused by overwork. Sometimes, it’s caused by under-connection.

And that’s exactly what my latest Leaders Who Last guest reminded me.

Meet the Empathy-Driven Vendor Who Changed the Game

In our most recent episode, I sat down with Vera Minot—creative director at Southwest Solutions and self-proclaimed bird-loving swag wizard—to explore an unlikely truth: your vendors might be one of your biggest untapped tools for burnout prevention.

Yes, really.

Vera doesn’t just create promo products. She uses radical empathy and strategic communication to build real partnerships with her clients, many of whom are HR leaders navigating the same overload we hear about in every Latitude training session.

Together, we unpacked how moving past performance and into real connection isn’t just good for morale. It’s a leadership strategy.

From Transactional to Transformational: The L/L/S/S Exercise

At Latitude, one of our favorite tools is a burnout disruptor called Strategic Vulnerability and Vera is a longtime fan. In this episode, we kicked things off with an exercise we both use in our client meetings:

Love / Loathe / Suck At / Superpower.

It’s one sentence in each category. It’s also a moment of clarity, courage, and connection.

And it works. Every time.

Because when you stop pretending to be the perfect client or the perfect vendor, something surprising happens: you start making better decisions, faster. You communicate what actually matters. You build partnerships that feel like relief, not resistance.

What Real Partnership Sounds Like (Yes, Even in Promo Swag)

Here’s one of Vera’s favorite opening questions for vendor calls when she’s the client:

“How are you going to let me down? And how do you recover from it?”

It's funny. It's disarming. And it’s deeply strategic.

Because let’s face it: mistakes happen. Deliverables shift. Life (and supply chains) are imperfect. But when you normalize the human element from the start, you’re not blindsided by it later.

This kind of conversation is at the heart of what we teach in Latitude’s workshops:
🧡 Get real about what you need.
🧡 Say what’s true, not what sounds “professional”.
🧡 Create the kind of workplace where clarity and compassion coexist.

Whether you're working with vendors or leading a team, Strategic Vulnerability isn't fluff. It's a measurable skillset—and one that leaders can build in every Latitude burnout prevention training.

Systemic Support Is a Burnout Buffer

At Latitude, we assess burnout risk across five core areas of leadership capacity. One of the most overlooked is Systemic Support Capacity. That’s your infrastructure of people, processes, and partnerships that either drain you or support you.

When leaders identify what they suck at (Vera’s words) and align with vendors who fill those gaps, they don’t just get more done. They feel better doing it.

We say it all the time: the nervous system knows when you’re supported. And in a world of AI-generated emails, generic outreach, and half-hearted follow-ups, authentic vendor relationships can become your secret weapon for sustainable leadership.

Take This to Your Next Vendor Call

Here’s your invitation to try something different:

✅ Start your next vendor meeting with “Here’s what I love doing. Here’s what I suck at. How can you help?”
✅ Ask them what their superpower is.
✅ Or go full Vera and ask: “How are you going to let me down—and how do you recover?”

And if they don’t know how to answer? That’s data.

At Latitude, we teach leaders how to build capacity, not just cope. Whether you bring us in for a 60-minute team workshop or a full-day leadership offsite, our training blends neuroscience, burnout prevention, and real-world leadership tools, designed for teams navigating pressure, change, and too many vendor calls.

Looking for a Phoenix Leadership Speaker Who Gets It?

As a Phoenix-based leadership speaker, I’ve worked with clients across industries who are ready to lead sustainably, without burning out. From HR conferences to executive retreats, I bring warm wisdom, practical tools, and a deep understanding of what leadership actually demands in 2025.

If you’re tired of leadership-as-performance and ready for leadership with capacity, I’d love to work with you.

📩 Reach out here to bring Latitude to your team.
🎙️ And catch the full episode with Vera Minot on our Leaders Who Last series here.