224: Leaders with Heart Are Honest

steve baines
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In this episode, Heather sits down with Steve Baines, Vice President of Apps Associates—an enterprise application services leader with a customer-first focus. With 20 years of experience leading strategic and operational technology endeavors, he most recently served as President and Chief Growth Officer of Forcivity before it was acquired by Apps Associates in March 2022. His leadership style is definitely unique – take a listen.

Key Takeaways

  • Being honest is always the best policy
  • The people part of the business is always more complicated
  • Getting the human aspect of the business correct is the priority
  • Leaders set the direction and provide stability for the rest of the organization
  • Acquisition and mergers are always complex, but they can be made easier for employees with the right leadership

Steve Baines’ Bio

Steve Baines is Vice President of Apps Associates—an enterprise application services leader with a customer-first focus. With 20 years of experience leading strategic and operational technology endeavors, he most recently served as President and Chief Growth Officer of Forcivity before it was acquired by Apps Associates in March 2022. Baines is a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect (CTA) and instructor, and a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University, where he received his master’s in Business Administration and bachelor’s in Information Technology. Steve is also a proud veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

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Becoming Unshakable is the podcast for leaders, creators, and changemakers who know TRUE LEADERSHIP starts from within.

Each episode explores what it takes to lead with resilience, compassion, and purpose while staying human through it all.

Through candid conversations with executives, frontline leaders, coaches, and everyday heroes, Heather uncovers the real stories behind growth, compassion, setbacks, and transformation.

From navigating change to creating emotionally safe cultures, Becoming Unshakable reveals what it really takes to create leaders—and organizations—that can’t be shaken.

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I've been through every type of
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
you can think of.

Layoffs, reorgs, mergers, acquisitions and major technology shifts. More than 20 years leading teams through high-stakes situations where results mattered, people depended on me, and decisions couldn't wait.

Those years taught me how to lead. But they also showed me the hidden cost of always being the one who holds it all together.

During our second reorg in less than a year, I walked out of a meeting with no say in what was happening, just marching orders. When my team asked how the meeting went, I should have said, “Give me 15 minutes to process this.” But I didn't. Instead, I let them absorb every ounce of my frustration.

Then I saw their faces.

The people who looked to me for stability had just watched me unravel. What was that teaching them about their ability to handle the pressure?

That moment changed how I saw my role as a leader. Leading teams isn't only about grit or resilience. It's about how your presence builds the trust your team needs to function when things get hard.

Today, I help organizations build unshakable leaders, teams, and cultures. Because when leaders become the calm teams can count on, organizations don't just survive change, they come out strong enough to handle what’s next.

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Contact Heather Today!
+1 403-398-8488

Contact
Contact

I'm really interested in...

(select all that apply)*

I can be reached at...

Additional Comments