Our Story
Before founding On This Topic, Karen and Michelle built careers in the corporate world, with extensive experience in marketing, strategy and global branding with brands like Apple and Condé Nast. Their work gave them first-hand understanding of the challenges organizations face in developing people, strengthening teams, communicating effectively, and turning leadership principles into everyday behavior.
At the same time, their lives gave them an unusual window into another world of performance.
Through their husbands, longtime sports executives Paul DePodesta and Mike Tannenbaum, Karen and Michelle spent decades around elite athletes, coaches, executives, and organizations. They saw up close what high performance actually demands: how people lead under pressure, build trust, navigate setbacks, make difficult decisions, sustain standards, and bring teams together when the stakes are highest.
They also recognized something important: the most valuable lessons from those experiences had relevance far beyond sports.
That realization became On This Topic.
Karen and Michelle created the company to capture those lessons in the words of the people who lived them—and translate them into short, story-based learning designed for the workplace.
Today, On This Topic brings together lessons from accomplished athletes, coaches, executives, and performance experts across leadership, teamwork, communication, resilience, decision-making, culture, and more.
Sports is where the lessons were earned. The workplace is where they can be applied.
Doing Good
On This Topic is committed to giving back.
In appreciation of each featured talent's time, we make a charitable donation in their name to a cause of their choice. We also provide our story-based courses to underserved communities through organizations like the YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs of America—helping make personal and professional development accessible to more people.