Bloomin' Brands leader builds better workplaces through trust, authenticity

Cord McLean has built his career on understanding the inner workings of the business world’s most volatile, complicated and rewarding commodity: people. 

“The best part of my job is the people,” says McLean, director of inclusive leadership and organizational development at Tampa-based Bloomin’ Brands. 

Photo by Mark Wemple

“The toughest part of my job," he quickly adds, is also "the people."

McLean oversees leadership development, learning, change management, inclusion and employee experience for the Tampa-based casual dining restaurant giant. (Bloomin' had $3.95 billion in revenue in 2025.) His goal, he says, is to help individuals, teams and the broader organization “be better every day.”

A native of Chapel Hill, Tennessee, McLean earned a bachelor’s from Rhodes College and a master’s in education from the University of Georgia. His career has spanned higher education and hospitality, with more than a decade focused on developing talent and creating inclusive workplaces.

Since joining Bloomin’ Brands in July 2019, McLean has helped establish five employee resource groups and launched the company’s “Courageous Conversations” series, among other work focused on providing more opportunities for employees.

McLean credits his mentor, President of Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar Sheilina Henry, with showing him how authenticity can become a leadership advantage.

“Sheilina has really modeled what that means and looks like, and uses that as a superpower to make decisions, to build relationships and to drive results,” McLean says.

Henry says McLean’s ability to make people feel seen and safe is central to his effectiveness.

“Cord is one of my favorite humans because he sees people for who they are, not who others want them to be,” she says. “People trust him because of that.”

McLean carries that same, people-focused approach to leadership in his role as a board member of the Ryan Nece Foundation, he says. And when he’s not developing leaders, he exercises a different creative muscle: writing R&B and soul songs for local artists.

Whether he’s leading staff meetings or song writing, McLean has an innate gift for drawing something meaningful out of others, his mentor says — a quality she reinforces by routinely turning the tables back to him, asking “What do you think?” 

That simple prompt, McLean says, taught him to trust his own perspective and voice.

“It kind of allows me to really challenge myself to think about, ‘Okay, you do have a perspective and you do have an idea of where we should go,’” McLean says.