Tea with the Team: What Does It Mean to Be Mission Driven with Madeline & Jamie
In this no-holds-barred episode, Madeline Reeves and CMO Jamie Engelhardt serve up some serious truth about the difference between talking the talk and walking the walk when it comes to mission-driven business.
Introducing a bold new segment, "Tea with the Team," this conversation pulls back the curtain on what really happens when organizations claim to be mission-driven but fail in execution.Madeline and Jamie get refreshingly honest about their own business struggles and share real stories from their work with clients who've lost their way.
The episode tackles the uncomfortable reality of "fairweather allies"—organizations that champion equity and inclusion only when it's convenient.
They dive deep into how the current political climate is exposing organizations that are quietly clawing back their commitments to social justice for fear of hitting certain search terms, appeasing donors, or avoiding watchlists. As Madeline notes, it's revealing how some organizations only wanted to hold pride parades or make donations during the previous administration.
Jamie introduces the concept of "Brene washing", when organizations speak the language of vulnerability and collaboration, but ultimately "the founder gets the final say and they don't really care what you think." The conversation doesn't shy away from calling out problematic patterns, from accounting firms that preach supporting small businesses while forcing 90-day payment terms, to organizations that rebrand based on external pressures rather than internal values.
The conversation gets deeply personal as both founders share their own experiences of losing their way.
Madeline candidly discusses her 2022 crisis when she realized she was "code-switching" between different versions of herself depending on who she was talking to—clients, team members, or her newsletter audience. This disconnect between her values and her daily actions led to a complete business transformation and the birth of their current mission.
Jamie shares an equally vulnerable story about being told her grief was "too much" for a promotion, highlighting how organizations often fail their people when it matters most. These stories become powerful examples of what happens when values and actions fall out of alignment, and how the personal and professional are inextricably linked.
They reveal Fearless Foundry's practical approach to mission-driven work, centered around their guiding question: "How is this work leading to a more equitable world?"
This isn't philosophical, it's their decision-making tool. Every client, every project, every opportunity gets filtered through this lens. If it's not a "hell yes" to creating equity, it's a "hell no" from them. The duo emphasizes that true mission-driven work requires integrated entrepreneurship, showing up as the same authentic person across all contexts. They discuss the exhausting energy drain of constant code-switching and how alignment actually makes business more efficient and profitable.
As Jamie notes, "when shit hits the fan, true colors are going to show."
In an era where employees are willing to call out their employers on social media and interconnectedness makes authenticity non-negotiable, organizations can no longer afford to fake their values. The episode concludes with a challenge: stop using your mission as marketing fluff and start using it as your decision-making framework.
This episode is essential listening for any leader who wants to build something real—not just something that looks good on a website. Madeline and Jamie promise more "Tea with the Team" episodes and invite listeners to submit their burning questions about brand building, business development, and creating genuinely mission-driven organizations.
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