Podcasts about chro

For a lot of people, work feels especially chaotic right now.. Projects start and don't finish. Layoffs happen, then reorgs, then new strategies, and through all of it, managers are expected to have the answers. Caroline Webb spent 25 years coaching leaders through exactly this kind of turbulence. She's a behavioral scientist, a former economist and the author of the new book Leadership Intelligence: Science-Backed Strategies for Mastering 21 Everyday Management Challenges. This week she joins Jessi to talk about what the science of the human brain tells us about leading through uncertainty. In this episode, Jessi and Caroline discuss: Why the current moment hits a stress trifecta — demanding, uncontrollable and unpleasant — and what that does to your team's brains The "know-be-do" framework: how to lead people through uncertainty when facts are in short supply Why naming how you feel is one of the most powerful things a leader can do and what affect labeling actually does in the brain What "measured authenticity" means, and why "terrified" is not a word you want your manager to use How to be honest with your team when you know more than you can say Why letting projects die quietly is one of the most demoralizing things a manager can do, and what to do instead What Astro (Google X's moonshot factory) does when it kills a project, and why it works The "when-then" method for taking the sting out of worst-case scenarios before they happen "Compassionate clarity": what it means in practice when layoff season arrives Why walking people out of the building immediately is almost never necessary and what a seasoned CHRO said about it Follow Caroline Webb and Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn Join us for Hello Monday Office Hours, Wednesday at 3pm EST Listen to Caroline's previous Hello Monday episode on how to have a good day at a bad job

This week we talk to Suzanne from Galway about her baby's diagnosis of T21 and high drops. Suzanne had to have additional scans during her pregnancy because medical professionals ‘hoped' her baby would die naturally, to prevent her from travelling to England for a termination for medical reasons. This was not the case & the day before she was due to fly, the hospital cancelled her appointment because a lift was broken and then, when she arrived in Liverpool, she was told that they didn't have a surgeon and would need to be transferred to Middlesborough. All this while trying to navigate the devastation of knowing that she wouldn't be bringing home her baby. During the transfer, she was asked to take a box with her and later discovered that inside the box were the instruments that were needed to carry out her termination. This is a devastating story and a clear demonstration of the pain caused by current abortion laws. Taboo exists, and Suzanne highlights this bravely and articulately. During the episode we speak about a support group that Suzanne has found huge comfort in, "Let Me Choose" or Leanbh mo Chroí - they can be found at https://lmcsupport.ie/aboutWe are The Worst Girl Gang Ever Foundation. We're all about bringing people together who are going through the tough stuff — baby loss, infertility, and everything in between — and making sure no one has to face it alone. Our community is full of honesty, compassion, and real talk, offering support, understanding, and hope when it's needed most. You can find out more and connect with us over at www.theworstgirlgangever.co.uk

The gap between claiming to be strategic and actually operating strategically has real consequences, and nowhere are they clearer than at the top of HR. CHRO turnover is unusually high at the moment, and it also spikes sharply in the first year under a new CEO. A change at the top usually brings a new thesis about what the business needs, and what the CEO needs from HR shifts with it. Many CHROs find themselves running a system built for the previous mandate, and by the time the gap becomes visible, trust has already eroded. The problem is structural rather than personal, which means it can be fixed. So what separates the HR leaders who thrive in the role from those who don't? My guest this week is Jackson O. Lynch, founder of Talent Sherpa and a former CHRO who works with CEOs, CHROs, and boards on connecting talent systems to business strategy. In our conversation, Jackson shares why mandate misalignment drives so much churn at the top of HR, what operating at the top level means in practice, and why AI is making the redesign of work urgent. In the interview, we discuss: Why is CHRO turnover so high? Mandate misalignment and the conversation that rarely happens What does strategic HR look like in practice? Systems for transformation versus systems for stability Looking at business strategy through the talent lens Business logic versus compliance logic in the C-suite The trust issue Why AI is forcing a rethink of how work is designed Can HR take this opportunity for reinvention, and what does the future look like? https://www.linkedin.com/in/jxnlynch/ Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts. Follow this podcast on Spotify.

What if AI isn't replacing jobs, but quietly redesigning the tasks inside them?In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an important conversation with Sultan Murad Saidov, Former CEO / Founder and Investor at Beamery. He explains why task intelligence could become critical to workforce planning, how AI is changing the work inside existing roles, and why deciding what gets automated should become an HR question, not just a technology question.Drawing on more than a decade of building Beamery and working at the intersection of AI, skills and workforce data, Sultan explains why skills alone are no longer enough to understand where work is heading.5 things you'll learn from this episode:Why looking at tasks instead of job titles changes how leaders understand AI's impact on workThe research Sultan references suggesting 75% of jobs may need redesign because of AI augmentationHow digital twin teams could help leaders model workforce decisions before making themWhy reducing junior roles may create a long-term talent and career pipeline problemWhy Sultan believes HR and technology teams should jointly lead the redesign of work

A company's true value isn't locked in a spreadsheet; it is built or destroyed at the intersection of strategy, leadership, and execution. On this episode of Behind the Numbers, host Dave Bookbinder sits down with Jay Weiser, founder of Jay Weiser Consulting, to unpack what it truly means to build a future fit organization. Together, they examine how hidden structural drag and subtle misalignments between strategy, organizational capability, and operations quietly erode enterprise worth long before the damage hits the balance sheet. Jay shares actionable insights for navigating market disruption, detailing his Five Leadership Superpowers framework: present futurist, experienced learner, accountable collaborator, prepared risk-taker, and strategic executor. He highlights why human capital must be treated as a core business driver, emphasizing the strategic alignment needed between the Board, CEO, and CHRO, while offering private equity investors tools to stress-test assumptions in a non-linear world. Listeners walk away with practical strategies to sense market signals early, make faster decisions under uncertainty, and eliminate executive friction. Jay also outlines three diagnostic questions leaders can use immediately to uncover hidden capability gaps, align team execution with long-term strategy, and safeguard enterprise value. Equip your leadership team with the vision and execution capabilities required to build an organization that thrives through disruption. About Our Guest: Jay R. Weiser is the Chief Catalyst & Navigator of Jay Weiser Consulting and a strategy and leadership advisor with more than 30 years of experience guiding and enabling boards and executive teams improve performance, navigate uncertainty and translate strategic potential into realized enterprise value. His work focuses on what lies behind business results: the capabilities and organizational conditions through which governance, leadership, culture and the external environment strengthen - or erode - adaptability, performance and long-term value. A LinkedIn Top Voice, Jay has advised organizations across multiple industries from financial services to luxury retail and life sciences ranging. They have ranged from Global Fortune 500 to PE-backed companies and midsize family-owned businesses. His articles and insights have appeared in Chief Learning Officer, Corporate Board Member, Reworked, The National CIO Review and CIGRE's Electra. He has spoken to international business, governance, and leadership audiences through organizations including the Good Governance Academy, the Private Directors Association, and the Virtual Advisory Board as well as industry and functional conferences. Jay holds a degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School. Jay is the creator of the Multiplicative Value Model™ and The Five Leadership Superpowers®. His current work examines why organizations with strong strategies, talented people and substantial resources still fail to convert their potential into realized enterprise value—and what capabilities make an organization genuinely future-ready. Connect with Jay at https://linkedin.com/in/jayrweiser. Email him at jay@jayweiser.com Learn more about Jay Weiser Consulting at https://www.jayweiser.com. About the Host: Dave Bookbinder is known as a trusted provider for independent business valuations, corporate asset appraisals, and exit planning advisory and he is the person that business owners and their advisors reach out to when they need to know what their most important assets are worth. Known as a collaborative adviser, Dave has served thousands of client companies of all sizes and industries.  Dave is the author of two #1 best-selling books about the impact of human capital (PEOPLE!) on the valuation of a business enterprise called The NEW ROI: Return On Individuals & The NEW ROI: Going Behind The Numbers.  He's on a mission to change the conversation about how the accounting world recognizes the value of people's contributions to a business enterprise, and to quantify what every CEO on the planet claims: “Our people are this company's most valuable asset.” Dave's book, A Valuation Toolbox for Business Owners and Their Advisors: Things Every Business Owner Should Know, was recognized as a top new release in Business and Valuation and is designed to provide practical insights and tools to help understand what really drives business value, how to prepare for an exit, and just make better decisions. He's also the host of the highly rated Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder business podcast which is enjoyed in more than 100 countries.  

Katy Redmond, MCR is Senior Managing Director, Integrated Portfolio Services (IPS) Lead, Americas East at JLL where she is passionate about corporate real estate, innovation and leadership while also serving as a Global Board Member at CoreNet. Mike Petrusky welcomes Katy back to the show to hear her latest insights and perspectives on FM, CRE and expectations for upcoming industry events like the CoreNet Global Summit and IFMA's World Workplace. Katy says that speed and efficiency are now critical demands in the real estate industry, with clients seeking faster execution, streamlined processes, and better uses of technology. So, she and Mike explore how AI and worktech tools are reshaping CRE, offering new insights into decision-making and efficiency while also requiring careful governance and strategic implementation. Katy predicts that the industry is experiencing an elevation of the real estate function, with greater organizational visibility and potential pathways to C-suite roles such as CFO, COO, or CHRO and she encourages mentorship and exposure to diverse experiences for developing well-rounded future leaders. Tune in as Mike and Katy offer practical advice and the inspiration you will need to be a Workplace Innovator in your organization! Connect with Katy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katy-redmond-mcr-045a302/ Learn more about JLL: https://www.jll.com/en-us/ Find out about CoreNet Global North America Summit: https://www.corenetglobal.org/attend-summits-events/2026-corenet-global---north-america-summit Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSkmmkVFvM4H3pwnlU2AuqynuRDpvnh4J Discover free resources and explore past interviews at: https://eptura.com/discover-more/podcasts/workplace-innovator/ Learn more about Eptura™: https://eptura.com/ Connect with Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikepetrusky/  

For decades, the standard HR playbook has been attract, retain, develop. Jason Desentz thinks the order is wrong.As Chief Human Resources Officer of Toshiba America, Desentz starts with the people already inside the business. In technical fields where experienced employees can take a year or more to train, retention is not simply an HR metric. It affects how quickly a company can grow, respond to new demand and capitalize on emerging markets. That equation is becoming even more important as AI infrastructure drives investment in energy and advanced technology while manufacturers compete for a limited pool of skilled technical talent. Desentz brings an unusually business-first perspective to HR. He evaluates people decisions against ROI, challenges his team to experiment with AI, and argues that HR leaders need to understand the technology, operations and economics of the companies they serve. At the same time, his approach is deeply human: listen to employees, get creative about the employee experience, invest in development and give people opportunities to try something new. From rebuilding pathways into manufacturing to preparing 6,000 Toshiba employees across the Americas for AI, this conversation explores what changes when people strategy becomes business strategy. In this episode:Why the return of U.S. manufacturing is colliding with a technical talent pipeline weakened by decades of offshoringHow AI-driven data centers are creating new workforce demand across energy, infrastructure and field serviceWhy Desentz puts retention before attraction when thinking about talent strategyHow Toshiba evaluates the ROI of retaining highly specialized employees who can take more than a year to trainWhy CHROs need to understand the CEO, operations, technology and business economics, not just HRHow high-school co-ops, technical education and experiential learning can rebuild pathways into manufacturing careers3 Big Takeaways1. Your workforce strategy is part of your growth strategy. Toshiba sees significant opportunity as AI and data-center investment drives demand for energy generation, storage and infrastructure. But capturing that opportunity requires having specialized technical talent available when demand arrives. For a CHRO, workforce capacity becomes a strategic constraint that has to be planned alongside growth.2. Calculate the business value of retaining technical expertise. Some Toshiba field-service employees require more than a year of training to service complex equipment. Desentz estimates losing one could cost roughly $100,000, before accounting for the time required to rebuild that expertise. That changes the economics of retention: spending creatively to improve an employee's experience can be far less expensive than replacing specialized capability.3. Build AI capability by giving employees real problems to solve. Toshiba launched a six-course AI-readiness curriculum through Toshiba University, but Desentz didn't stop at instruction. His HR organization formed teams to build AI agents around actual business needs, including payroll, attendance and recruiting. Employees learned the technology by applying it, while Toshiba surfaced tools it could potentially deploy in the business.We want to hear from you! Send us a text.Instagram - Facebook - YouTube - TikTok - Twitter - LinkedIn

Constant tech shifts and viral noise are quietly exhausting your workforce and killing critical thinking.In the latest HR Leaders Podcast episode, I spoke with Laura Maffucci, Head of HR at Globalization Partners. She explains why HR cannot rely on corporate spin, unvetted AI add-ons, or forced office returns during times of rapid change.Most organizations do not lack technology tools. They lack transparent communication, psychological safety, and a clear process for building learning agility. And even when tools are enabled, a harder question remains:Are you actually solving an operational problem, or just adding tool overload?5 things you'll learn from this episode:The unconventional quarterly award designed to celebrate smart operational failuresThe quiet credibility trap behind performative return-to-office mandatesThe hidden data flaw causing 70–80% of enterprise AI bots to give bad adviceThe three core human traits rendering static technical skills obsoleteA simple peer-led initiative driving AI adoption far better than formal trainingSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us Fan MailGuest: Jason HenneberryLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonhenneberry/Website: dependencydesign.comYour Business Shouldn't Depend on You: How to Scale Without Becoming the BottleneckGrowth is supposed to make your business stronger—but what happens when every new client, employee, decision, and problem makes the business feel heavier?In this episode of Scaling with People, Gwenevere Crary sits down with Jason Henneberry, entrepreneur and author of Dependency Design, to unpack one of the most common—and often invisible—problems facing growing businesses:Founder dependency.You may think you're leading by stepping in to solve problems. But every time you become the person who fixes what goes wrong, your business can learn that it can't operate without you.Jason shares how to recognize that pattern, why it can damage both your business and your culture, and what founders and leaders can do to build organizations that don't depend on heroic intervention.In this episode, you'll learn:Why successful growth can actually make a business feel heavierThe difference between handing off tasks and handing off responsibilityHow founders accidentally become the "system" their business depends onWhy stepping in to save the day can undermine employee confidence, innovation, and moraleThe four areas where dependency commonly appears: revenue, fulfillment, operations/process, and decision-makingThe different types of dependency that can exist within each areaHow to recognize accidental dependency versus intentionally designed dependencyWhy frustration is one of the best signals that a dependency problem existsHow to identify where a problem belongs within your businessWhy SOPs and processes matter before you hireThe difference between progress and transition—and why true accountability is harder to delegateHow leaders can stop solving every problem and instead help their teams develop judgmentHow AI can help founders think through problems, ask better questions, and identify hidden dependenciesThe biggest belief about scaling that Jason thinks founders have completely wrongA powerful question for foundersWhen something lands on your desk and your first reaction is:"Why is this back on me?"Don't just solve it.Look at it.That frustration may be a signal that your business has developed a dependency on you.The goal isn't to eliminate dependency. Every business depends on people, processes, systems, and outside relationships.The goal is to make those dependencies intentional by design rather than accidental by default.About Jason HenneberryJason Henneberry is an entrepreneur in the residential real estate finance industry who has experienced the journey from solo operator to building a substantial organization supporting approximately 600 mortgage agents and teams across Canada.His book, Dependency Design, explores how businesses can identify and intentionally design the dependencies that allow them to scale without becoming overly reliant on their founder or individual leaders.Learn more and download the book at dependencydesign.com.About Scaling with PeopleScaling with People is your weekly playbook for turning chaos into compounding growth.Host Gwenevere Crary, executive advisor and fractional CHRO at Guide to HR, goes under the hood with founders and battle-tested experts across people, leadership, sales, marketing, operations, finance, product, and technology.No fluff. Just practical strategies, systems, and lessons you can put to work as you scale.Scale isn't just about speed. It's about people.Learn more at guide2hr.com.Support the show

What if the self-doubt holding you back isn't proof of failure, but evidence of growth?In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an important conversation with Maharukh Dalal, founder of The Career Accelerator for Women by Maharukh Dalal. She explains how senior leaders can overcome imposter syndrome by closing the internal identity gap, reframing self-doubt into a signal of growth, and shifting self-perception to drive executive execution.Drawing on two decades of corporate leadership across finance and hospitality, Dalal explains how mindset precedes execution. This conversation offers senior HR and business leaders a clear playbook for mastering the mental side of executive performance.5 things you'll learn from this episode:The psychological gap that stops capable leaders from taking actionA simple two-word shift that instantly turns daily dread into agency What a 1980 university experiment reveals about how people actually perceive you The advice Rafael Nadal's coach gave him during his worst slump that applies to executives Why relying purely on willpower and discipline eventually fails even top performers

How can you build business acumen without owning a P&L? Why is developing your business acumen within your control?My guest on this episode is Rose Velez-Smith, CHRO, DoubleVerifyDuring our conversation Rose and I discuss:Why stepping out of HR to be in the business can be the single best thing you do for your career. How to start every executive conversation with business priorities first, then ask what talent outcomes are needed to enable them.Why talent doesn't exist separate from business strategy.How to choose your next role by evaluating who you'll become because of it.Why AI reshapes work rather than replacing it, and why in the future we will design jobs around judgment, creativity, and relationships.Connecting with Rose Velez-Smith Connect with Rose Velez-Smith on LinkedInEpisode Sponsor: Next-Gen HR Accelerator - Learn more about this best-in-class leadership development program for next-gen HR leadersHR Leader's Blueprint - 18 pages of real-world advice from 100+ HR thought leaders. Simple, actionable, and proven strategies to advance your career.Succession Planning Playbook: In this focused 1-page resource, I cut through the noise to give you the vital elements that define what “great” succession planning looks like.

AI could influence 90% of jobs. David Lloyd says AI literacy is still only around 38%.That gap is where many enterprise AI strategies begin to break.In the latest HR Leaders Podcast episode, I spoke with David Lloyd, SVP Platform Engineering & Chief AI Officer at Dayforce. He explains why HR cannot wait until the end of an AI transformation to address skills, trust and organisational change.Most organisations do not lack AI ideas. They lack trusted data, safe environments and a clear process for deciding which ideas deserve to scale.And even when an experiment works, a harder question remains:Can it scale from one employee to 5,000?5 things you'll learn from this episode:Why three to six months is too long to judge an AI pilotThe three questions that decide whether an AI idea moves forwardWhat is really driving the rise of shadow AIWhy adding AI across a fragmented HR stack creates more chaosHow a three-person governance team can approve ideas in under five days

L'intelligence artificielle bouscule les équilibres internes et impose une transformation du management à grande échelle. L'automatisation des tâches pose une urgence immédiate. Il faut réinventer les compétences avant la disparition des emplois.Dans cet épisode, Delphine Zanelli reçoit Maryjo Charbonnier, Chief Human Resource Officer de Kyndryl.L'introduction de nouvelles technologies génère systématiquement de l'anxiété au sein des équipes. Chez Kyndryl, l'automatisation transforme radicalement les emplois puisque, comme l'explique la dirigeante, "nous avons déjà libéré 15 000 personnes à cause de l'utilisation de l'IA". Cette transformation du management exige une réponse organisationnelle précise pour maintenir la confiance. La fonction ressources humaines se retrouve en première ligne pour anticiper les suppressions de tâches, inventorier les expertises existantes et redéployer les individus vers des missions à plus forte valeur ajoutée.Ce défi management repose sur une anticipation minutieuse. Face aux ruptures, l'entreprise intervient en amont. Maryjo Charbonnier précise cette méthode en affirmant que "nous pouvons commencer à vous reskiller avant que votre travail de client s'arrête". La transformation du management s'opère par des outils de mesure continue et une acculturation globale. Les encadrants intègrent l'intelligence artificielle dans leurs objectifs avec la responsabilité de guider leurs collaborateurs vers de nouveaux apprentissages.L'organisation s'appuie également sur des mécanismes transparents d'évaluation. L'entreprise déploie des plateformes numériques qui génèrent automatiquement les questions d'évaluation pour libérer les managers de la charge cognitive. La pratique managériale évolue pour systématiser les retours constructifs à tous les niveaux car "le feedback est le moteur de notre progrès", rappelle la dirigeante. En parallèle, la reconnaissance devient un processus social et visible par tous pour nourrir l'engagement des collaborateurs.Membre du board du SHRM et rodée aux scissions d'entreprises mondiales, Maryjo Charbonnier conçoit son métier de manager depuis le terrain des crises. Elle aborde la transformation DRH avec un prisme ultra pragmatique en encourageant les équipes à se positionner là où l'entreprise souffre, car "les exécutifs tendent disproportionnellement à passer leur temps sur des choses qui ne fonctionnent pas". Face à l'incertitude technologique, elle rappelle une vérité individuelle. "La seule chose qui est dans votre contrôle, c'est votre rythme d'apprentissage".Cet épisode donne des éléments concrets pour anticiper l'impact de l'intelligence artificielle sur les compétences, déployer une culture du retour d'information continu et structurer la requalification des collaborateurs.CHAPITRAGE :(00:00) Le grand spin-off d'IBM et l'ère de l'IA (02:26) La méthode pour anticiper et inventorier (07:22) Auto-évaluation et confiance des équipes (12:13) Les quatre nouvelles missions du manager (19:16) Rendre le feedback simple et social (31:52) Pourquoi chercher la chaleur et la crise

Why do enterprise skills programs always look great on paper, but break down the moment real work happens?In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an inspiring conversation with Josh Newman, VP of Skills and Talent Readiness at ServiceNow.He explains why organisations must shift away from perfectionist data collection and embrace good-enough skills capture paired with real-world talent readiness.By moving training out of LMS silos and leveraging ambient data signals alongside AI simulation playgrounds, ServiceNow tracks true human capabilities in real time while keeping human judgment at the centre of workforce strategy.5 things you'll learn from this episode:Why traditional skills-based models fail and how to move past perfectionist data gatheringHow Talent Signature captures ambient data signals from daily work to track capability growthHow SimStudio simulation playgrounds replace course completion certificates with real-time practiceThe key difference between basic AI adoption and true behaviour absorption that drives business ROIHow building psychological safety around AI tools directly boosts employee performance and sales quota attainmentSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sharon Doherty doesn't think HR's job ends at the office door. Across a career spanning Heathrow Terminal 5, Vodafone and now Lloyds Banking Group, she has consistently pushed the boundaries of what people strategy can do - for business and for society. For our milestone 250th episode, Sharon makes a compelling case that this is the defining opportunity of the HR profession. She shares how she has improved safety at scale, shaped industry-leading family policy, and helped organisations become forces for good in society. At Lloyds, that includes tackling social mobility head on: opening doors for young people through employment, work experience and practical support, and showing why small acts of support can change the course of someone's future. She also shares her belief that HR's greatest responsibility right now is helping people navigate the age of AI with confidence and agency - not as a threat to manage, but as a moment for the profession to lead. If you've ever wondered how much influence an HR leader can really have, this episode is your answer. Thank you to Unleash for sponsoring this episode Unleash World returns to Paris from 20th – 22nd October 2026, bringing together the global HR community to explore what's next for the future of work. With more than 8,500 attendees, 300 speakers and representatives from 140 countries, it's one of the world's leading gatherings for HR leaders shaping workforce strategy, AI and organisational transformation. Alongside Sharon Doherty, you'll hear from many familiar voices from the How HR Leaders Change the World podcast, including Natalia Wallenberg, CHRO at Ahold Delhaize, Katarina Berg, CHRO at On, and Stephen Childs, CHRO at Panasonic Automotive. Other speakers include Louis Theroux, Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO at L'Oréal, and Eddie Wilson, CEO at Ryanair. If you'd like to join us in Paris, Unleash has kindly offered our community an exclusive 15% discount on attendee passes. Register here:https://events.unleash.ai/e/unleash-world-2026/content/registration-general-attendee-pass/?discount=upliftingpeople-15att-sh-ps We hope to see you there!

Every company wants to become AI-native. But who is preparing the workforce for what comes next?In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an important conversation with Bijal Shah, CEO & Board Director at Guild.She explains why becoming AI-native is not simply a technology upgrade. It requires employers, governments and learning institutions to rethink how people gain skills, build careers and participate in the future economy.5 things you'll learn from this episode:How organisations can make the AI-native transition without leaving their workforce behindWhy Bijal believes 95% of companies still need to make this leapWhat makes workforce transformation a collective action problemHow critical thinking, judgement and curiosity separate useful AI from “slop”Where automation creates an advantage, and where human connection must remainSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us Fan MailTheresita Richard is Chief People and Culture Officer at Patagonia, where she is approaching her third anniversary with the company. Before Patagonia, she built her career across some of the most recognized names in retail, including Home Depot, Target, Starbucks, and Nordstrom, after starting out as an industrial engineer leading a two-year project on how new technology was reshaping manufacturing work.At Patagonia, Theresita carries the responsibility of stewarding a culture built around a single, deceptively simple mission: to be in business to save the home planet. That means holding the tension between profit and purpose in every decision, and now, figuring out where AI fits into a company that has always insisted on doing things the harder, more human way.In this episode, Theresita draws on a career that began in manufacturing automation and has led her to guard the soul of one of the most purpose-driven companies in the world, to argue that AI will not fix a broken culture. It will only reveal it, and the responsibility to get that right has never been more real.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Patagonia evaluates potential hires based on purpose alignment rather than culture fit, and how the company builds an environment where people stay for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.How Patagonia's "pair clarity with choice" principle lets culture self-select who belongs, without anyone having to enforce it.Why AI does not create new problems inside a company, and why AI will always amplify the cracks and biases already present in our foundations.Why enlightened leadership in a rapidly shifting technological landscape requires extreme vulnerability, community building, and the courage to sit with difficult questions.How the conversation around AI in the workplace must shift from driving pure efficiency to genuinely nourishing the human soul and promoting human flourishing.How a grandfather with a third-grade education taught the one skill that no shift in technology has ever made irrelevant.Explore this conversation:00:00 Introducing Theresita Richard: From Industrial Engineer to Patagonia CHRO03:25 Inside Patagonia's Culture: Life at the Anti-Corporate Corporation04:35 The Company Has a Soul: Stewarding Patagonia's Legacy and Its Future Stories06:49 Made or Born Patagonian: Why Alignment Matters More Than Culture Fit09:36 In Business to Save Our Home Planet: Why Profit and Purpose Are Not a Trade-Off11:03 Pair Clarity With Choice: How Culture Self-Selects Without Enforcement13:26 Beyond HR as Compliance: Nourishing the Human Soul at Work15:48 The Ground Is Shaking: Why AI Cannot Be a Conversation About Efficiency Alone19:52 Ally or Adversary: Honest Conversations About What Gets Automated and Augmented22:23 Two Approaches to Leadership: Vulnerability, Community, and Sitting With the Questions25:47 Measuring AI: Why It Reveals the Cracks in Your Foundation28:27 Not What AI Can Do but What It Should: Bias, Guardrails, and Safe-to-Fail Experiments33:04 The Racist Soap Dispenser: What Meredith Broussard's Work Reveals About AI Bias36:37 Willie and Pearl: The Origin Story Behind Following the Question Resources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Theresita on LinkedInOther episodes mentioned:Meredith Broussard, NYU professor, AI ethics authority, and featured expert in Coded Bias, discusses the social implications of AILooking for a faster, more intelligent way to manage your inbox? Try Superhuman Mail and connect your favorite AI tools to email and calendar workflows—all from one place. Get started here: https://superhuman.com/mail/signup 

Let's talk about the single most important metric for your organization's long-term financial health: your leadership bench. We often get caught up in the constant cycle of external talent acquisition —scouring job boards and competitors' org charts —but the research is consistent: building from within is the highest-return move you can make. When you develop leaders at all levels, you aren't just filling roles; you're hitting top-decile financial performance over 50% of the time. It's time to stop looking outside and start seeing, developing, and preparing the talent already in your building. But here's the kicker: this isn't just an HR statistic; it's a shareholder return statistic, and it requires a true partnership between the CEO and the CHRO. In this episode, we're cutting through the noise to connect those dots. I'm also addressing how to use AI to spot high-potential talent without forgetting that machines only point—humans do the actual work of mentoring and belief. If you're tired of saying you "should" work on succession planning and want to move to actual execution, I've got a one-page, five-question guide ready for you. Reach out, send me the word "BENCH" on LinkedIn, and let's turn those good intentions into a real, actionable plan. Stacie For more episodes, visit StacieBaird.com.

For decades, HR has been asked to administer the business.Now it's being asked to transform it.In this episode of The Business of Alignment, AJ Vaughan sits down with Enrique Rubio, Founder of Hacking HR, for one of the most important conversations shaping the future of work.They unpack why most HR organizations are still operating with mindsets built for the last century, why AI is exposing leadership gaps rather than creating them, and what separates the next generation of CHROs from those who will struggle to stay relevant. This isn't a conversation about prompts or AI tools.It's about identity.It's about business acumen.It's about finance, transformation, governance, leadership, and why HR's greatest opportunity has nothing to do with becoming better at HR.If you're a CHRO, CFO, CEO, founder, HR technology leader, or someone responsible for building organizations that will thrive over the next decade, this episode is essential listening.Why HR is facing its biggest identity shift in 100 yearsThe mindset holding thousands of HR leaders backWhy AI isn't the biggest disruption—leadership isThe future relationship between the CFO and CHROHow HR leaders earn strategic influence inside the businessWhy business literacy is becoming HR's greatest competitive advantageThe skills every executive must develop to remain relevant in the AI eraWhat separates organizations that will adapt from those that won'tThe future of work won't be built by people protecting yesterday.It will be built by leaders willing to reinvent themselves before they're forced to.https://hackinghrlab.io/about

We spend all our time fixing business workflows, so why is HRs own workflow still broken?In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an inspiring conversation with Jeffrey Schmitz, Former Chief People Officer at Zebra Technologies.He explains how his team successfully restructured their entire HR operating model by separating daily tactical operations from long-term talent strategy. By replacing fragmented, manual support with a centralised service hub and self-service workflows, Zebra built a scalable foundation for digital transformation while keeping culture at the centre.5 things you'll learn from this episode:The structural model shift that allowed Zebra to transition from 60 HR Business Partners down to 8 The simple "start at the centre" rule that turned daily support tickets into an operational data goldmine The non-negotiable tech stack foundation HR teams must build before attempting to deploy AI tools The single candidate trait Zebra looks for that matters far more than rare technical AI expertise The culture stewardship strategy Zebra used to navigate a massive M&A carve-out and hybrid work shift

On this episode of the Live Greatly podcast, Kristel Bauer sits down with Denise Bober, Chief Human Resources Officer at The Breakers Palm Beach, for an inspiring conversation about leadership, workplace culture, employee well-being, and what it takes to build a culture of excellence. Denise shares the leadership philosophies and people-first strategies that have helped cultivate an exceptional workplace culture and remarkable employee retention. Kristel and Denise explore the power of servant leadership, how to create an environment where people feel valued and supported, the role of well-being in organizational success, and the behind-the-scenes approach that has helped make The Breakers a destination not only for guests, but also for employees. Tune in now! Key Takeaways From This Episode: A behind-the-scenes look at how The Breakers Palm Beach has built a culture of excellence The power of servant leadership and its impact on organizational success Strategies for creating a thriving workplace culture How leaders can foster employee well-being and engagement Leadership insights that organizations of any size can apply The importance of investing in people to create long-term success Disclosure: Kristel Bauer and her husband received a complimentary hosted media stay at The Breakers Palm Beach prior to this interview. The stay included accommodations and resort experiences. All opinions expressed in this episode are Kristel's own. ABOUT DENISE BOBER: Denise Bober serves as Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at The Breakers Palm Beach, one of America's most iconic, luxury resorts. In this role, she has established an inspired, continually evolving workplace that prioritizes the fulfillment and well-being of more than 2,500 team members. Since 1988, she has cultivated talent and achieved best-in-class retention rates, recognizing that a satisfied and engaged workforce is crucial for the long-term success of this 130-year-old, family-owned organization.  Connect with Denise and The Breakers:  Website: https://www.thebreakers.com/    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebreakers    Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-bober-88486b108/  About the Host of the Live Greatly podcast, Kristel Bauer: Kristel Bauer is a corporate wellness and performance expert, keynote speaker and TEDx speaker supporting organizations and individuals on their journeys for more happiness and success. She is the award-winning author of Work-Life Tango: Finding Happiness, Harmony, and Peak Performance Wherever You Work (John Murray Business November 19, 2024). With Kristel's healthcare background, she provides data driven actionable strategies to leverage happiness and high-power habits to drive growth mindsets, peak performance, profitability, well-being and a culture of excellence. Kristel's keynotes provide insights to "Live Greatly" while promoting leadership development and team building. Kristel is the creator and host of her global top self-improvement podcast, Live Greatly. She is a contributing writer for Entrepreneur, and she is an influencer in the business and wellness space having been recognized as a Top 10 Social Media Influencer of 2021 in Forbes. As an Integrative Medicine Fellow & Physician Assistant having practiced clinically in Integrative Psychiatry, Kristel has a unique perspective into attaining a mindset for more happiness and success. Kristel has presented to groups from the American Gas Association, Bank of America, bp, Commercial Metals Company, General Mills, Northwestern University, Santander Bank and many more. Kristel's work has been featured in Forbes and she has had multiple TV appearances including NBC News Daily, ABC News Live, FOX Weather, ABC 7 Chicago, WGN Daytime Chicago and more. Kristel lives in the Chicago, IL area and she can be booked for speaking engagements worldwide. To Book Kristel as a speaker for your next event, click here. Website: www.livegreatly.co  Follow Kristel Bauer on: Instagram: @livegreatly_co  LinkedIn: Kristel Bauer Twitter: @livegreatly_co Facebook: @livegreatly.co Youtube: Live Greatly, Kristel Bauer To Watch Kristel Bauer's TEDx talk of Redefining Work/Life Balance in a COVID-19 World click here. Click HERE to check out Kristel's corporate wellness and leadership blog Click HERE to check out Kristel's Travel and Wellness Blog Disclaimer: The contents of this podcast are intended for informational and educational purposes only. Always seek the guidance of your physician for any recommendations specific to you or for any questions regarding your specific health, your sleep patterns changes to diet and exercise, or any medical conditions.  Always consult your physician before starting any supplements or new lifestyle programs. All information, views and statements shared on the Live Greatly podcast are purely the opinions of the authors, and are not medical advice or treatment recommendations.  They have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration.  Opinions of guests are their own and Kristel Bauer & this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests.  Neither Kristel Bauer nor this podcast takes responsibility for possible health consequences of a person or persons following the information in this educational content.  Always consult your physician for recommendations specific to you.

Most CHROs have a fraud problem they didn't sign up for. Deepfakes in video interviews. Synthetic IDs at the application stage. AI-generated credentials that pass every automated screen. Only 31% of CHROs say they're confident in their ability to prevent hiring fraud, and the technology making it easier gets more sophisticated every quarter. Nik Daruwala, Vice President of Sales at Checkr, has spent 21 years in B2B technology sales, including thousands of direct conversations with HR leaders trying to protect their hiring funnels without losing speed. Checkr powers background verification for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart, and was the first API in the background check industry. In this episode, he covers: Why hiring fraud appears at every stage of the funnel, from the initial application through post-hire monitoring, and what a continuous identity verification strategy actually looks like in practice How CHROs should be thinking about partnering with their CISO to address a risk that's moved from the cyber stack into the talent pipeline https://thehrmixtape.com/episodes/trust-at-speed-hiring-fraud-deepfakes-and-the-identity-risks-chros-cant-ignore-with-nik-daruwala Why the speed-versus-safety trade-off in hiring is a false choice, and what good looks like when both coexist in the same program Timestamps [00:00:39] Context: this conversation was recorded live at the Checkr booth at SHRM 2026 [00:01:01] How enterprise hiring changed over 24 years: global sourcing, the normalization of remote hiring, and why the explosion of application volume made quality screening harder [00:02:50] The CHRO anxiety most people aren't talking about: making sure candidates throughout the funnel are actually who they claim to be [00:04:13] Only 31% of CHROs have confidence in their ability to prevent hiring fraud, and why the AI tools now available to candidates are changing that threat surface fast [00:04:39] The three identity threats CHROs weren't trained for: deepfakes in interviews, synthetic IDs at the application stage, and AI-generated credentials that pass automated screens [00:06:44] Why most organizations are reactive on hiring fraud, and the parallel to the early days of cybersecurity: you don't prioritize it until you have your first incident [00:08:42] Where fraud actually shows up across the hiring funnel: application, interview, background check, and continuously post-hire [00:09:41] The speed-versus-compliance trade-off is a false choice, and why the best hiring programs don't ask their teams to make it [00:13:27] Nik on what it actually means for trust to be a competitive advantage, and why that should be the north star for every hiring program [00:16:00] The two-to-three year horizon: AI automating talent sourcing and administrative tasks, continuous monitoring as table stakes, and why the hiring decision stays human Brought to You by Paylocity Paylocity is the fastest growing unified platform for HR, Finance, and IT. Paylocity brings your people, processes, and data together in one place so HR leaders can spend less time managing systems and more time doing the work that actually moves their organizations forward. Learn more at paylocity.com Keywords: hiring fraud, background checks, identity verification, deepfakes, synthetic IDs, AI-generated credentials, CHRO priorities, talent pipeline security, hiring at scale, continuous monitoring, background screening, hiring compliance, HR technology, Checkr, credential fraud, HR risk management, fraud prevention, remote hiring risk, AI in hiring, talent operations

En nuestro episodio 524 conversamos con Erika Zarante, CEO LATAM Airlines Colombia sobre: + Cómo liderar en una industria en crisis constante. + Llevar la innovación a una aerolínea. + Vivir la importancia de la autenticidad. + El camino y la responsabilidad de ser mujer CEO. + La meritocracia en el trabajo. + Afrontar un accidente aéreo en 2010. + La relación y las conversaciones de CEO y RR.HH. ______________________________________________________________________

What does it really take to thrive in the future of work?In this episode of the HRchat Podcast, host Bill Banham is joined by Kevin Empey, founder of Work Matters and author of Thrive in the Future of Work, to explore how AI, hybrid work, digital transformation, and changing employee expectations are reshaping organizations around the world.Together, Bill and Kevin examine how the workplace has evolved over the past decade—from hyper-digitalization and the lasting impact of COVID-19 to the rapid adoption of generative AI and the changing relationship between employers and employees. They discuss why many organizations are focusing on employee engagement when the real challenge may be a growing alignment gap between business priorities and workforce expectations.The conversation also explores the future of hybrid work, the return-to-office debate, AI's impact on job design, and why HR leaders must rethink early careers if they want to create opportunities for the next generation of talent.Whether you're a CHRO, HR leader, people manager, talent professional, or business executive, this episode offers practical insights into building more adaptable organizations and preparing employees for an increasingly uncertain future.In this episode, you'll learn about:Why AI is accelerating change faster than previous workplace transformationsThe long-term impact of hybrid work and evolving employee expectationsWhy employee engagement may be the wrong problem to solveClosing the alignment gap between organizational strategy and employee experienceRethinking the employment relationship in the age of AIPreparing graduates and early-career professionals for an AI-enabled workplaceWhy career agility and continuous learning are becoming essential workplace skillsIf you enjoy the episode, please subscribe to the HRchat Podcast, leave a review, and share it with colleagues who are shaping the future of work.Connect with Kevin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-empey-4968731b/Support the showFeature Your Brand on the HRchat PodcastThe HRchat show has had 100,000s of downloads and is frequently listed as one of the most popular global podcasts for HR pros, Talent execs and leaders. It is ranked in the top ten in the world based on traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness. The podcast is also ranked as the Best Canadian HR Podcast by FeedSpot and one of the top 10% most popular shows by Listen Score. Want to share the story of how your business is helping to shape the world of work? We offer sponsored episodes, audio adverts, email campaigns, and a host of other options. Check out packages here.Follow us on LinkedInSubscribe to our newsletterCheck out our in-person events

We just walked through the CHRO Paradox series, and I know how this usually goes: you nodded along, felt aligned, and then your calendar immediately ate the follow-through. We don't need more data or another complex framework; we need the moves. This episode is about stripping back the noise and giving you three actionable steps—one for defining your role, one for aligning your partnership, and one for building your bench—that you can actually execute before Monday hits. You don't need a massive transformation to see results; you need one clear conversation about ownership, one dimension of partnership to sharpen, and three rising leaders to stretch. I've built a one-page People Leadership Alignment Guide to help you have those exact conversations without the heavy lifting. It's the easiest way to turn your strategy into an honest, shared plan with your CEO. Comment "ALIGN" below and I'll send the guide straight to you—no cost, no catch, just the work. Clarify the Role: Have one conversation this week that defines what the CHRO role owns, advises on, and observes. Align the Partnership: Pick one of the five dimensions discussed (budget, org design, AI strategy, board engagement, or succession) and get shared clarity on that single dimension this month. Build the Bench: Look two levels down, identify three rising leaders, and give each of them one stretch experience this year. Stacie For more episodes, visit StacieBaird.com.

Laura Fuentes, CHRO at Hilton, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about Hilton's hospitality mindset, why great leaders should operate like great hosts, and how Hilton scales culture, listening, recognition, and purpose across more than 500,000 team members.----  Sponsor Links:

HR fixes everyone else's workflows, but who fixes HR's?In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an inspiring conversation with Barbara Matthews, Chief People Officer at Remote.She explains how her team successfully operates across 85 countries without traditional office mandates or endless meetings. By replacing friction with clear asynchronous documentation, Remote maintains connection and speed at scale.5 things you'll learn from this episode:Integrating AI into performance management and HR operationsBuilding trust and culture in fully remote asynchronous teamsTransitioning HR from lagging reporting to predictive indicatorsDeveloping leadership pillars and manager capabilitiesPrioritizing human power skills and process mapping in tech adoption

https://youtu.be/KUPg9BuYSaM David B. Jones, CEO and Partner of Mercer Assessments, is helping organizations attract the right A-Players by making labor markets more efficient through defensible human capital insights. By combining psychometric science, workforce analytics, and AI-enabled technology, David helps employers identify, develop, and retain the right talent while empowering people to discover careers where they can thrive and make meaningful contributions.  In this conversation, David introduces The R.E.A.P.E.R. Framework—Review the Situation, Explore Alternatives, Agree a Course of Action, Execute the Plan, and Refine the Approach. He explains why organizations should begin every challenge with a thorough situation review, how collaborative decision-making creates alignment before execution, and why continuous refinement drives long-term organizational success. David also discusses how AI is reshaping talent management, why organizations need real-time workforce insights instead of static reports, and how Mercer Assessments leverages technology while preserving the integrity and defensibility of human capital assessments. — Attract the Right A-Players with David B. Jones  Good day. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint Podcast. Today, my guest is David Jones, the CEO and partner of Mercer Assessments, focused on providing defensible human capital insights and foresight in the fields of talent acquisition, leadership development, and organizational productivity. David, welcome to the show.  Thank you, Steve. Great to be here.  Well, I’m excited to have you here, especially because you are the first guest—maybe not completely from the Middle East because we had a couple of guests from Israel—but definitely from Dubai, where you are. Maybe that is also impacting the answer that you’re going to give to my question. So here is my first question. What’s your personal ‘Why’, and how are you manifesting it in your business, Mercer Assessments?  Yeah. Well, I mean, I think obviously a lot of skills around resilience and being able to think about how you maintain your own personal well-being, but also the well-being of the workforce, is something which has come to the fore in the last couple of weeks, for sure, living in Dubai. But I think very much of my North Star—by educational background, I’m a labor market economist. Although I’ve worked in HR and talent management for pretty much all of my career, I think I’m always thinking about how to make markets more efficient.  I think the labor market, in some ways, and what it takes to become efficient, is very similar to a fish market, a stock market, or any other market that you can think of. What you need to be able to make the best decisions is really good data, really good up-to-date information, both on the supply side and on the demand side.Share on X I think a lot of what we do at Mercer Assessments, and a lot of what we do in talent management more generally, is really about trying to do that. Trying to help individuals understand what their strengths are.  Trying to match them to specific careers that will be more fulfilling for them in the long term and also help them be more productive for their employers. As well as helping employers understand what the important skills are for today and tomorrow, and how they can predict how people will perform in certain environments. So really trying to bring the supply side and demand side together. I think, notoriously, labor markets have very bad information.  Typically, most people get their career guidance from their parents or their grandparents, which can be great for aspiration but doesn’t always necessarily keep them up-to-date in terms of what’s happening in today’s workplace. So I think this is really my anchor, if you like, where a lot of what we do in our innovation, our technology, or our engagements with clients typically comes back to this point. Fundamentally, how do we make labor markets more efficient and more functional for all of the stakeholders?  Yeah, that’s fascinating. So would you say that if you are doing this well, then more people will feel fulfilled in the roles that they work in?  I mean, I think that’s definitely the aspiration, right? That’s definitely what you would hope to do. I think, as individuals, I’m sure we can all think of those really, really great days where you think that you nailed it at work, and you think that this is something where you can make a really specific contribution. It just feels good, and all those people around you have the benefit of that. It becomes something which is infectious for those around you.  I think it’s important for the economy on a macro level, right? I think if we are able to provide opportunities, provide career paths, and help people understand what their unique strengths are, then this is something which helps to promote productivity and positivity more generally, right? At the individual, team, family, and societal level, it affects all sorts of dimensions.  So maybe this is kind of a side question, but I’m really wondering, is this AI revolution, as we’re going through it, influencing your work, and is it changing the requirements of employers?  Yeah. I think we’re in a very interesting time. I mean, I’m not a futurologist. I’m not a prophet. I’m not somebody who makes these sorts of big predictions about the future. But I think the case for AI, to some extent, is still unproven in terms of what it’s actually delivered to date. I mean, I think there’s obviously a lot of investment. There’s a big impact on the environment. But I don’t think we’ve had something really groundbreaking discovered by AI at this point that’s new.  It seems to be quite backward-looking in many ways, based on ingesting data from all the novels that you have on your shelf and that I have on my shelf. Maybe they’re going to ingest this podcast in the future. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem that there’s been a unique breakthrough that humanity has not been able to, or would not be able to, achieve by itself. And yet, I think the promise and the anticipation of what AI can do is quite compelling, right?  I think the way that it is impacting the labor market especially… Ironically, it’s impacting probably software developers the most today. It’s interesting that a lot of people in white-collar fields, professionals maybe, are also feeling like it’s changing the way they’re working. So there’s a big debate, I think, about whether it’s going to be an augmentation or whether it’s going to be a replacement of some sorts of tasks. I think one thing you can say with certainty is that the concept of a job is definitely going to change. If you look at the roots of the word—the etymological roots of the word “job” in the English language—it literally means “a task” rather than a role as such. Yeah. So I think we’re going to get this greater atomization of people’s roles. What used to be bundled together as one job is now going to be much more atomized into specific skills, specific tasks.  The opportunity there is that we all get to do more of the things that we find more fulfilling and less of the repetitive, dangerous, or dull types of things that we have to do in our jobs sometimes.Share on X But I think it has some second-order impacts in terms of how people develop their careers and the competence and confidence that people, particularly when they’re junior in their jobs, need time to build—the ability to operate at a higher level. So I think we’re all going to have to be leaders in lots of ways, even leaders in our own work.  Yeah, I agree with you. That’s fascinating. So, David, let’s talk about the framework. What would be a framework? Think of something that allows you to be more effective in your job—something maybe that you personally discovered or that you and your colleagues developed. Something that helps you be more effective in creating those labor market matches, finding the right candidates, and assessing them. Something that you can describe in three, four, or five steps, or maybe three or four ways of looking at things. Anything that comes to mind?  So there are a few things. I did miss a few things because I think—I don’t know if you’ve heard the news. We’re recording this, and I think the British prime minister has just resigned today. This is, I think, our seventh prime minister in 10 years. I’m sure each one of those prime ministers had their own framework in terms of what they wanted from their political leadership and how they were going to operate in government.  So I think we’re definitely operating in a much more VUCA world, right? This mnemonic is about being volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. I think, to some extent, that means that having a framework has to be something that is constantly being amended, reviewed, and updated in many ways. A lot of what we do in assessment—we have very clear statistical frameworks where we look at particular behaviors or particular characteristics, and we try to make sure we measure them. But I thought maybe that was too detailed and too comprehensive.  So one of the things we do when engaging with our clients is that we have a sort of consulting approach. It’s like a cycle. We start by reviewing the situation, so it’s like a situation appraisal, if you like. We use this internally as well in Mercer Assessments. So we try to understand what’s happening, what’s going well, and what we’re concerned about—just trying to get any data or information that we can.  Then it's important, particularly with a team or with a client, to explore what the priorities are, what's important, and what is causing them the most thought or requiring the most energy to address.Share on X So reviewing, exploring, and then agreeing on a course of action. Making sure that there’s consensus or, if you’re in an organization, making sure you’ve got the budget and the endorsement from headquarters or senior management. Then I think you can go into a planning stage. Making sure you’ve got a focus on execution and that you know what has to happen and when.  Then I think you can go into the ability to have that as a cycle and review or evaluate the plan itself. Is it on track? Is it on time? Is it on budget? Is it achieving its objectives? You can continue on this sort of reflexive cycle. So if you were to do that, it becomes quite sinister. The mnemonic becomes R.E.A.P.E.R., like the Grim Reaper or like “reap what you sow,” because you review, explore, agree, plan, execute, and then review again.Share on X So it can become, hopefully, a virtuous cycle, but it can also become an ongoing process.  I love it. So Yeah. So if you refine, maybe the last one is refined, and then you avoid repeat— Yes. Yeah.  Yeah. Oh, great.  That’s good. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, love it. So basically, what you’re looking for is helping your customers with an initial problem and then helping them generally improve their organization by continuing to refine and add to it, making it better over time.  Yes, correct. Yeah.  So it turns into a recurring engagement.  Yes, that’s the hope. Well, yeah. I mean, hopefully, if you have that relationship with the client and also with your team, you have this ability to recognize what you’ve achieved together, but you can also plan what you want to do differently next time.  So you’re the CEO of Mercer Assessments, which is the Dubai operation. Is this just a geographic branch of the Mercer Group, or is it a separate business that operates in multiple geographies?  Yeah. So actually, it’s a new venture for Mercer globally. My background is that I was one of the founders of a company called The Talent Enterprise, which was acquired by Mercer just over two years ago. It had also made an acquisition of another company before that called Mettl. So we were more of a talent assessment type of company.  We would do talent acquisition, talent development, leadership development, things like high-potential identification, succession planning, and these types of applications. Employee engagement as well, things like employee well-being assessments and stuff like this. The psychometric assessment field. So if you or your listeners are good at Greek, you would know that “psychometric” means “measurement of the mind.”  Yeah, right. So this is really what we’re trying to do. We’re accredited by the British Psychological Society to say that the tools we have, use, or develop have validity, reliability, and are statistically stable within the sorts of bounds that you would expect when measuring human beings.  It can never be perfect, but it’s considered to be predictive. Mettl was more focused on skills assessment. That was one of their big areas of focus, along with educational assessment. So coming together as Mercer Assessments, we’re now part of this big global organization. Although we’re based in the Middle East, we’re now working in Asia, Europe, North America—we’re just starting to do more work in North America—and Australasia. So this is the sort of big, hairy, audacious plan that we have.  That must be pretty intense if you’re working around the clock, essentially working around the globe. Then Mercer is… It can be.  Yeah, it can be. Even working in the Middle East, you have different working weeks. Some of our clients work on Sundays. But we have a good team. We have a big team. We have great technology. So we have scalable ways of doing it.  So what drives growth in this business?  I think it is changing. If you were to ask me that question even two years ago, I would say it’s to do with the change, the transformation, or the aspiration of the client, of the organization. If they’ve got a new operation, or they’re expanding, or they need to develop new skills, or they need to make sure their productivity and positivity are enabling them to keep up with their competitors, then these things would often trigger the sorts of interventions that we help our clients with.  That’s still true to a large extent, but what's changing a lot is what you were talking about earlier—to do with AI and expectations from technology. So I think what we're doing a lot more of now is real-time decision support.Share on X It used to be that our deliverables would look like a PDF report. They would say, “Okay, this is Steve. We’ve assessed Steve. These are Steve’s strengths. These are his areas for development. This is the sort of team or the certain type of colleague that he would thrive working with.  These are the people or the situations that he might struggle with.” That type of static report. Then either we or the client—sometimes if you’re looking at large numbers of people—you’d have to do a lot of spreadsheet work or a lot of PowerPoint work and say, “Okay, now we need to match that with your strategic objectives.” So I think what’s happening now is we’re focusing a lot more on the data.  Our technology is providing much more of a dashboard report, so Steve can access his results straight away because that’s actually when Steve is most interested in them and they’re most relevant—not two weeks later when you schedule a coach or someone to give him feedback. You’re interested as soon as you finish the last question. You want to know, “Okay, what does this say about me?” We can add lots of AI layers to that to help you implement it or understand it. Then for the organization, we now provide much more of a dynamic dashboard-type report.  So if, I don’t know, the CFO leaves this afternoon and the CEO calls the CHRO and says, “Okay, who are the internal candidates for this role?” You can come up with an answer. It doesn’t have to be something where you say, “Let me check my filing cabinet,” or, “Let me put a PowerPoint together for you and get back to you later this week or next week.” You can actually do that type of matching within the platform that we have. We have our own platform called Lighthouse, and it really helps you match individuals or teams to certain tasks or to certain ventures or aspirations that the organization might have.Share on X  Yeah. So instead of providing individual reports for individuals, you now operate this platform for your clients, and then they can look up the people involved in changes. So how is it different to scale the business with this type of approach? What makes it more complex?  Yeah. So on the one hand, it can help us a lot as our own organization because we can be much more pervasive 24 hours a day across the different time zones that we operate in. If you’re our client, you don’t always have to rely on having a meeting or a call with us in person. You can go and find that answer yourself. It’s quite an intuitive process and platform. You can access it and get value from your own data. I think that’s the key thing that I’m trying to emphasize that’s changed.  Clients are now impatient with SaaS platforms in particular when they’re not able to access their own data directly. So there’s a little bit of disintermediation going on in the enterprise software business as a whole. That’s the key trend that I’m trying to highlight here. But it also helps us to be more scalable. Just to take a step back to the previous discussion about AI, I think when it comes to using AI in your business, the key strategic choice is what you’re not going to use AI for.  For us, we made the choice actually three or four years ago that we’re not going to use AI in the assessments themselves. Not today. Maybe in five years’ time or ten years’ time we might change our mind, and we’re constantly reviewing that. But we need these defensible assessments. We need to be able to say, “This is fair and objective, and we’re coming with an external point of view that is transparent and defensible in every sense of that word.”  Yeah. You don’t want to hallucinate assessments for clients or even run the risk of that happening, right?  Yeah, absolutely. And there are some companies that have done that, right? I mean, there are lots of cases you can find where companies have said, “Hey, we just need a five-minute video, and I can tell you everything you need to know about this person, and you can make decisions about their career and all sorts of stuff,” right? I’m not saying we won’t get there in the future, but I just don’t think that’s good enough at the moment.  And I think with a lot of things that you do with chatbots now, if you’re judicious about it, you might be able to say, “Well, actually, that’s interesting, but it’s not good enough,” right? It’s not a finished product. It’s not something that I can execute on. What we can do is add a lot of value around the assessment. So we can do things like AI-based development planning, right?  When someone wants to see their results—and people normally want to see their results almost immediately after they’ve finished their assessments—you can start to say, in the flow of work, in the client’s environment, whatever their learning partners or learning architecture may be, “Okay, here’s a development plan for you,” customized and curated within that environment for your strengths, how to emphasize them, and also for any development areas or new learnings that you want to address.  We can also do things like AI-based proctoring, right? We can give the client a risk report on an application and say, you know, how genuine is this? What other software does Steve have open on his laptop? Is there a shadow in the room? Where are his eyes going? Is he looking at someone else? Is he getting help from someone else? Is this really Steve? All these sorts of things, right? We can do that. We can also develop customized case studies for the organization around its specific tasks and challenges that the organization has.  So you can come up with very specific, job-related assessments. AI can add a lot of value to all of these things. It can provide greater scale and a greater ability to sustain our growth. But with the core of what we do today, we’re saying, “Look, you need to be able to trust us.” And we want to be able to show you the answer. If you have a question about any of our assessments, we can check. There’s an audit trail, and we can show you the answer. It’s not just, “The computer came up with this idea. We don’t know.” But that’s intellectual property, and you know that it works, and you’re sticking with it. You don’t allow AI to bastardize it, basically, yeah, which makes sort of sense. So, David, what is one thing that you’re actively trying to figure out in your business right now? That’s a great question. I mean, there’s lots of things. I think a lot of them come around, you know, what is this threshold between what we do as humans and what we use AI or other technology to help us do? And I think that threshold is constantly being reviewed. A lot of it is to do with how do you make growth sustainable. We have had massive growth in the last five or six years, and that’s a great thing.  But I think it means you have to make sure the foundations of your organization are strong so that you can move from one to another. I mentioned earlier that we’re just starting to focus on North America as one of our new markets, and I was very keen that we didn’t do that until this point or even next year because we’re not the organizational equivalent of The Beatles, right? Like, we can’t just expect to turn up in a big, sophisticated, very strong, highly cultured market and be able to expect that we’re going to do things like we’ve done them everywhere else, or that we don’t need to think about how we communicate with those prospects and those clients.  So that’s a really big step for us. And how we manage data, I think, is probably the key thing. Fundamentally, if I was to come back to answer your question, I think it’s how we manage data because I think clients are becoming much more sophisticated, much more impatient with people who curate their data. They say, “Look, you know, we know we’re generating lots of data inside the organization,” right? Which is typically what we do, right? It’s people data.  Normally in most work environments, you can tell when somebody opens their laptop, or you can tell when they walk in the office door, or you can tell sometimes even what they’re doing inside the working space, right? Their ID has got an RFID in it or something like that. So there’s lots of data that’s constantly being generated inside the organization, and clients want to get value from that data. And having a sort of third-party proxy come in and say, “Hey, we can do your payroll for you,” or “We can send a questionnaire to people once a year, and that can let you know whether they understand health and safety or they’re engaged in their workplace,” it’s not really satisfactory anymore, right?  The clients are saying, “Okay. I want to be able to get value from my data, and I want to be able to see that. I want the analytics. I want to ask questions that are not able to be prescribed at the beginning.” “And I want to be able to do these queries in real time.”  So essentially, would that require you to get integrated with your clients to some degree so that you can process the data in real time as it emerges? It’s really interesting because I think what I’m hearing from my clients is they’re actually frustrated with that. In the sort of classic SaaS world, which we’ve had in organizations now for 20, 30, maybe even 40 years, you integrate the big internal ERP systems or CRM systems, and you integrate them, and then you have to sort of work within their framework, right? And you might see a report that’s already pre-programmed, but you don’t necessarily see the data, right? If you wanted to say, “Okay, what’s the trend today over the 24-hour clock?” or “How is it changing in June compared to May?” or “How does it relate to the temperature?” or whatever, right?  You can come up with all these questions that you might not be able to predict and then plan and have a sort of pull-down standard report. So to do that, you need access to the data. And I think clients are saying, “This is our data.” This data belongs to us. We want to be able to see that directly, and we want to be able to use that as a decision-support tool, and not necessarily just have a report.”  Yeah. So they’d rather own the data and apply your tools to their data without you necessarily having access to the data or something like that?  Yeah. It’s also a source of differentiation for them, right? Because they know that if… I’m not going to mention these companies. I’m sure you and all your viewers know the big brands. It’s interesting what’s happening with their share prices recently, right? They’re all maybe suffering a little bit from a decline in their share prices, on average. It’s basically a standardized way of doing things, right?  There’s pretty much the same way that any corporation in any part of the world is going to do it because that’s the way you get efficiency through that software. But if an organization says, “Actually, we’ve got an insight into something that we think is unique and differentiated, and we want to make decisions in a slightly different way, or make them faster,” that’s a point of competitive advantage.  Does that mean they wouldn’t want you to apply their idea to other customers because it’s their unique property? They’d just want your tools to help them process their data. They don’t want to share it with you.  Yeah. There are clients like that. We do deal with very sensitive industries, and sometimes government departments, where we have to be able to certify that type of approach. I think that’s likely to become more common in the future as people become more sensitive and more aware of the value, the opportunity, and the threat of what can happen with their data.  Yeah. I mean, some people say that information is now ubiquitous. It’s the questions that are really important because that’s how you communicate with AI. Maybe the question itself can be proprietary know-how—knowing how to ask the right kind of question. They don’t want…  No. I mean… Yeah, I agree. Completely. Yeah. You’re absolutely right. Again, to go back to assessments, we’ve recently released a whole bunch of assessments that measure skills in AI as a domain. We’ve got all sorts of technical and non-technical AI assessments. Obviously, one of the skills that we look at is prompt engineering. If you’ve used some of the generative AI platforms, you’ll always get an answer.  They’re pre-programmed to give you an answer, and most of them are also pretty polite. They fluff up your ego a little bit and say, “Hey, great question.” “That was really interesting.” Then they’ll give you an answer. You need to be aware of that. You need to probe and make sure you’ve not just got an answer—you’ve got the answer. Or at least the best answer that makes sense for you. Then you’ve quality-checked it.  You’ve taken it from one platform, put it into another platform, and then into a third platform. Whatever you’ve done, you need to have that awareness and those specific skills to get the most value out of it. It’s very dangerous, and I think we can all see it. I’m sure your inbox is like my inbox. You get emails from people and think, “Okay, well, that’s not an email from a person.” It’s a bulleted email. It’s not personal. It’s not directed at you. Sometimes it’s hard to understand what it even means.  Yeah. You’re right. So David, who is the ideal customer for you that can most benefit from your solution?  That’s a good question. Personally and professionally, I like clients who challenge us. I like clients who ask questions that make us think in a different way, so we can hopefully give them value and really answer those questions. I think that’s important for us to develop. Clients who are looking for new insights or different foresights that help them in their business—those are the kinds of clients we’re looking for. Definitely the ones who are pushing the envelope and helping take us forward in terms of quality.  So if those types of people are listening to this show and would like to learn more about what you do and how you might be able to help them, where should they go? Where can they find out more?  Yeah, absolutely. You can find me on LinkedIn. I’m David B. Jones on LinkedIn. There are a lot of David Joneses. I think David Jones is the most common name for a British man—even more common than John Smith—so there are a lot of us around. But you’ll be able to find me as David B. Jones. You can also find Mercer Assessments. You can find out more about us through those channels. I’ll be happy to answer any questions or provide more information.  Is there a website people should check out? Do you have a separate website for Mercer Assessments?  We do. Mercer Assessments is part of the mercer.com website. That’s where you’ll find more information. There are also a number of books we’ve published on particular subjects to do with assessment, talent, and leadership development more generally. Those are all available on Amazon as well.  Okay. So if you’re out there and you’re looking to have a more sophisticated view of your people and their aspirations and how they fit the type of work that you want them to do, and you’d like to understand more deeply, then check out Mercer Assessments, David B. Jones. Actually, it’s easy to just put in “David Jones Mercer,” and David will pop up that way.  Check out the books that David and his colleagues have published. And if you enjoyed this conversation, then make sure you follow us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. And David, thanks for coming to the show and sharing your experience and insights. I mean, it seems to me that you have a much more nuanced approach than most talent assessment or performance assessment organizations, and you have a lot more tools at your disposal. It’s a combination of technology and professional expertise. So that’s fascinating. Thanks for coming on the show. And if you enjoyed this conversation, make sure you follow us because we come out every week with exciting entrepreneurs like David. I will. I will. Thank you, Steve. Important Links: Davidi's LinkedIn David's  website

In this solo episode, AJ Vaughan tackles a real-world scenario from the E1B2 Collective community:Your executive team has approved relocating 40 engineers to Europe. The business case is solid. The strategy is complete. Then you discover only 12 employees actually want to move.Now what?AJ argues that this isn't a relocation problem—it's an alignment problem.Drawing from conversations with global mobility leaders, HR executives, and workforce strategists, he explores why the most successful mobility programs begin long before immigration paperwork, tax planning, or compliance. They begin with better communication, stronger psychological safety, and a deeper understanding of the people behind the plan.In this episode:Why global mobility failures often start with internal communication gapsThe role hiring managers should play before relocation decisions are madeHow psychological safety creates better workforce planningWhy employee context is just as valuable as business dataA practical framework for aligning business strategy with human realityIf you're a CHRO, Global Mobility leader, HR executive, or business leader responsible for workforce planning, this episode offers a different lens on what alignment really looks like.Because the best mobility strategy isn't the one that moves the most people.It's the one built on the truth before the plan is finalized.

What does it actually take to build the people function at a company that went from a design tool to a global platform of 5,500 people?Jennie Rogerson, Chief People Officer at Canva, joins Jessica Neal and co-host Peter Clarke on Truth Works for a conversation about culture as an operating system, not a perk.Jennie's path into the role is one of the more unlikely ones in tech. She came up through hospitality, running restaurant floors where 220 covers a night meant 220 individual experiences to manage. She moved into hospitality tech, then got dragged to an after-work Canva workshop on making better presentations — and walked out convinced she had to work there.She applied. She didn't get the jobs. A colleague told her to look elsewhere. She ignored the advice.When the executive assistant role for co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht opened up, thousands of people applied, and Jennie had no experience in the domain. So instead of a resume, she built a website. Canva launched Canva Websites the night before she planned to send it, so she rebuilt the entire thing on the product overnight. Then she spotted a line in Cliff's LinkedIn bio — "you're great, we're hiring" — and sent it to him directly.The interview process was two live challenges and a lot of real-time pushback. By the end of it, the role had been rewritten into something new: Leadership Operations, a chief-of-staff seat between the founders and the leadership team. Eighteen months later, Cliff called on a Sunday to offer her the top people job. Her first response was to ask if he'd lost his mind. She took it as an interim role. It's been years.Jennie is refreshingly clear that Canva hasn't figured everything out,  especially around parental leave re-onboarding, which she says most companies get wrong and hers is still actively learning. But what they have built is worth studying: managers are called coaches, performance reviews are called Growth and Impact, and every employee can anonymously submit to the Fix It Form, which has been running for roughly eight years and asks two questions — what's broken, and what's your solution.The conversation also gets into the support playbooks Canva built for grief and loss, family and domestic violence, and cancer and long illness — written with the employees who lived through those moments, and then open-sourced so any company can use them. One of them started as a single Fix It Form submission from someone who had lost their wife.And on hiring: Canva's CMO started as a communications intern. One of their AI researchers was found on a Discord community while he was stocking supermarket shelves. Those sit alongside senior hires from Zoom, Uber and Google — because the blend is where the value is.TOPICS COVERED:- Why hospitality is underrated training for building a people function- Getting hired with a website instead of a resume- The interview challenge that turned into a brand new role- Being offered the top people job with no HR background- Why culture is everyone's accountability, not the people team's- The Fix It Form — anonymous, always on, and it requires a solution- Why Canva calls managers "coaches" and reviews "Growth and Impact"- What a performance cycle looks like when it isn't a box-ticking exercise- Season openers and building public accountability into the calendar- Parental leave re-onboarding and why nobody has solved it yet- Building and open-sourcing the Grief and Loss guide- Talking about family and domestic violence at work- The risk of not talking about hard things- Finding talent internally and hiring for curiosity over pedigree- Using AI to draft the process, then keeping humans in the loopMost of this episode comes back to one idea. Jennie was hired into a role she was unqualified for on paper, by people who were looking for something other than a track record. Everything she has built since runs on the same logic — the AI researcher on Discord, the intern who became CMO, the engineers she invites to tear apart her own processes because they're the ones actually living inside them.Her closing challenge cuts both ways. If you're running an organization, the person who could take the next big step is probably already inside it, waiting for someone to bet on them. And if you're the one looking for what's next, the most interesting move might not be the logical one on paper — it might be the thing you're genuinely curious about.Which is why the line she keeps returning to isn't really about Canva at all:You don't join Canva to experience the culture. You join Canva to be the culture.Truth Works is hosted by Jessica Neal,  former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix, now in the business of telling the truth about how work really works.

In this episode, Pete and Julie welcome Karen Kaplan, CHRO at People Incorporated, for a real-world look at what it takes to lead HR transformation inside a complex, mission-driven healthcare nonprofit. Karen shares her journey from operations and administration into HR leadership, and why the mission of supporting mental health care professionals has kept her in the field for more than two decades. The conversation explores the unique workforce challenges of a highly regulated nonprofit healthcare environment, including 24/7 residential programs, community-based care, mobile workers, shift differentials, scheduling complexity, credential tracking, and the need to equip frontline managers with tools that work.   The group unpacks People Incorporated's HR and payroll systems transformation journey, from persistent friction, manual workarounds, data reliability issues, and trust gaps to a more structured assessment, RFP, and implementation process. Karen offers a candid view into the hard decisions leaders must make before replacing technology, including where to change policy, where to adapt process, where to preserve requirements, and why stakeholder engagement is essential to rebuilding trust.   The episode also highlights what happens after go-live, including phased implementation, benefits enrollment, talent acquisition, communications planning, employee paycheck previews, reduced manual checks, and the growing role of analytics and AI in supporting workforce planning and care delivery.  Connect with Karen:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-kaplan-sphr/  Connect with the show: LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0 X: @HRPayroll2_0  X: @PeteTiliakos  X: @JulieFer_HR BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0  WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20  Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward!  G-P ‘Globalization Partners': https://www.globalization-partners.com/  OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90 Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain' and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/

Uno de los caminos más efectivos para alcanzar resultados extraordinarios y sostenibles en el tiempo es un factor que muchas organizaciones aún subestiman: la felicidad. La felicidad de las personas no debe entenderse como un beneficio adicional, sino como una auténtica estrategia de negocio capaz de impulsar el compromiso, la innovación y la retención del talento. En nuestro episodio 523 conversamos con Anggy Corchuelo, Directora General de Contento Cultness y ex presidente de Contento BPS sobre: + La historia de su papá y Contento + Crear un modelo de felicidad en las empresa. + Liderar una empresa de 1200 familias con 25 años. + Los retos de ser líder por primera vez. + Usar la felicidad como estrategia de negocio + Vivir el proceso de venta de Contento. + Convertir un call center en un centro de transformación personal. ______________________________________________________________________

Following the merger of Invacare and Direct Healthcare Group to form DHCare, Tiffany has been helping shape a new organisation across Europe and APAC. She reflects on the realities of leading transformation, acknowledging that while change can involve difficult decisions, creating a sustainable business is what ultimately protects opportunities for people to develop and build long-term careers. Discussing HR in the age of AI, Tiffany advocates that HR's role is to ask better questions and never lose sight of human judgement, and that continuous improvement matters far more than chasing perfection. Growing up in Australia and with a career across mining, manufacturing and healthcare, Tiffany has long championed inclusion. Today, she sees diversity through a wide lens, describing it as a kaleidoscope of experiences, backgrounds, identities and ways of thinking. Throughout the conversation, one idea shines through: be more you, because that's what the people around you need most. Thank you to Kin&Co for sponsoring this episode What makes or breaks large-scale transformation? Rarely the strategy - almost always the culture. Kin&Co is a certified B-Corp and female-owned consultancy on a mission to make work better for 10 million people by 2030. Using cutting-edge behavioural science, they help global organisations transform cultures and drive measurable impact on strategy, people and performance. They've developed a new behavioural blueprint for transformation, drawn from their experience at some of the UK's most iconic organisations. If you're curious, read their latest thought piece on transformation and assess your cultural readiness. Ready to build a culture that measurably drives performance? Read their thought piece at The Transformation Blueprint to learn more.

Many HR teams struggle to move beyond transactional order-taking. Ty Beasley, Chief Talent Officer at RSM US LLP, shares how grounding HR in financial realities transformed his team into trusted strategic advisors. Through the Drive Peak Performance framework, RSM redesigned performance advisor training and held partners directly accountable for the talent experience. This strategy replaces rigid office mandates with physical agility to support individual employee growth. This episode provides a concise roadmap for connecting talent strategy directly to business growth. It shows leaders how to build a stronger HR function that drives measurable business outcomes.

SharkNinja is one of the most fascinating, innovative, high-performing companies I've seen. Elizabeth Norberg, the People and Culture leader, is also one of the most interesting CHROs I've met. So with that introduction, I urge you to take some time to listen. There's a lot to learn here, but overall this is a story about a company and set of people strategies that work together to accelerate growth, with a strong and vital focus on individual performance, innovation, problem-solving, and carefully designed organizational support. Think about brands like Nike, L'Oreal, Apple, or others you love. It's very difficult for a consumer products company to grow quickly and stay relevant as market, trends, and technologies change. Well as you'll hear, SharkNinja is both a marketing, problem-solving, and engineering company, and the people and culture strategy accelerates this formula. I know everyone will learn a lot from Elizabeth's narrative, and please stay to the end – in the last five minutes Elizabeth details the company's AI innovation process, which every company is facing. Finally, as you'll hear, Elizabeth is a seasoned HR leader but she is still learning and demonstrates humility and creativity in her challenge to accelerate growth in a rocket-ship company with over $5 billion in revenue and very ambitious plans for the future. Additional Information SharkNinja YouTube Page – you'll see what they do. CEO Mark Barrocas Describes SharkNinja's Strategy Why Are Some Companies More Dynamic Than Others? Irresistible: The Seven Secrets To The World's Most Enduring Companies Chapters (00:00:00) - Meet Elizabeth Norberg, Head of HR at Shark Ninja(00:04:55) - What Is the People Strategy at Honeywell?(00:06:20) - Describing the Company's outrageously extraordinary culture(00:13:29) - The People Strategy(00:14:59) - The culture of speed(00:21:40) - Exploring the culture at Sharknage(00:26:54) - In the Elevator With Mark Cuban(00:30:52) - Top Executives: The Culture of Microsoft(00:34:42) - A Few Words from Shark Ninja's CHRO(00:37:14) - A Masterclass in Partnership with Shark Ninja(00:38:25) - Shark Ninja's 5 Key Priorities for AI Transformation

Employee benefits can be the second-biggest people cost, yet many global organisations cannot clearly see what they offer, what they spend, or what value each provider delivers.In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, I had an inspiring conversation with Chris Bruce, CEO and Co-Founder at Origin. He explains why fragmented policies, spreadsheets, and local systems have kept benefits out of strategic business conversations.

When IBM spun off its infrastructure services business into Kyndryl, it created the largest public company spin in New York Stock Exchange history—launching with 90,000 employees and a daunting reality: 60% of customer accounts were unprofitable, and revenues were shrinking. Amid intense pressure to reset the trajectory, Kyndryl's then-CHRO Maryjo Charbonnier architected a workforce strategy that prioritized people, data, and adaptability. On the podcast this week, Maryjo shares her expertise on how to build a skills-centric enterprise ready for an AI-powered future. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...[04:22] Overcoming workforce skill challenges at Kyndryl[13:51] Defining company culture and values[16:45] Reducing and restructuring the workforce[24:58] Improving employee redeployment rates[31:05] Tackling vended labor challenges[38:21] Managing skills across job families[42:49] Finding allies in unexpected departments[52:10] Improving Kyndryl resource planning[53:02] Future workforce tracking challengesBuilding a Culture First, Systems SecondWhile it may be tempting for HR to leap into systems and processes, Maryjo insists that everything should begin with culture and purpose. Kyndryl first articulated the culture they wanted to be by conducting research with customers and employees to distill the company's values. These values of kinship, growth, restlessness, empathy, and devotion to shared success shaped the Kyndryl way and anchored every subsequent transformation, from talent architecture to performance management.Shaping the Workforce with Skills Data—Not Just HeadcountMaryjo describes her central CHRO responsibility as keeping as many people employed as possible through responsible enterprise stewardship. That means managing the direct workforce and aggressively addressing contractor and vended labor. Instead of allowing easy backdoor entry for outsourced services when headcount was reduced, Kyndryl prioritized retraining and reallocating internal employees—a strategy that cut the vended workforce by 50% and drove up redeployment to nearly 80%.Critical to this approach was creating a unifying global job architecture and skills taxonomy, merging inventory across employees, contractors, and service vendors. This required overcoming system fragmentation and forging new alliances with procurement, IT, and legal to track all labor, however it came in, and create transparency across all workstreams.From Data Layers to Business ImpactWhile a single-pane-of-glass HR system was the dream for Maryjo, the reality meant integrating financial, HR, procurement, and vendor management systems and building semantic layers that could track, reconcile, and translate skill data at scale. No single software suite could do it all, so success depended on building partnerships with IT and developing custom layers, predictive tools, and AI agents for matching talent to customer needs.Kyndryl anchored its use of AI in solving real business and customer problems rather than tracking individual productivity. The most important thing is to have someone ready to go with the skills that the customer needs to do that piece of work. Resources & People MentionedEightfoldSkyHiveTechWolfWorkdayDave Ulrich Connect with Guest NameMaryjo Charbonnier on LinkedIn Connect With RedThread ResearchWebsite: RedThread ResearchOn LinkedInSubscribe to WORKPLACE STORIES

I am bringing to you such a special, beautiful, heartfelt, and powerful conversation with Joseph Machicote. He is an HR and organizational development executive consultant, keynote speaker, certified executive coach, and now an author of the book ‘Own Thy Stuff'. We talk about humanity, humility, and how humility is the power move. He also shares incredible stories and wisdom from his personal and professional career .  He helps us discover how to create the most extraordinary version of ourselves, our teams and organizations.  Joe Machicote is Founder & CEO, Organizational Culture Engineer, retired CHRO, and #1 bestselling author of “Own Thy Stuff!”, a practical framework that transforms self-awareness and accountability into visible leadership behavior. He has helped CEOs, executive teams, and organizations turn culture into an operating system that strengthens execution, retention, and trust.  Across multiple industries, he has led culture and HR transformation for 15,000 to 150,000 employees; rebuilt trust after transformational organizational change of all types; shaped enterprise workplace strategy; created corporate universities; guided major M&A integrations; and managed HR and other budgets up to $50M. He understands what high-performing cultures require because he has built them at scale.  (2:50) Who is our guest, Joseph Machicote?  (4:47) Joseph explains what it means to be a “humanity fanatic”.  (6:20) Making the commitment to owning who you are, what does it look like to do this?  (9:45) Why is there a gap between words and behaviors, and what does Joseph think “alignment” of both looks like?   14:36) We discuss why organizations are not holding people accountable, for their words or actions.  (20:21) We discuss the importance of humility and owning our mistakes.   25:20) We talk about Joseph's book, and the catalyst that sparked him to write it.  (34:55) What mantra(s) challenged Joseph the most throughout his journey?  (38:57) Joseph shares what his calling is in this chapter of his life?  (41:42) What does Joseph see, as he looks out into the future, in the workplace and how is he having an impact?    Connect with Joseph Machicotehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-machicote-a3858a5/  Subscribe: Warriors At Work PodcastsWebsite: https://jeaniecoomber.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/986666321719033/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeanie_coomber/Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeanie_coomberLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanie-coomber-90973b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbMZ2HyNNyPoeCSqKClBC_w

I talk with Mark Paulek, Chief Human Resources Officer at Kyndryl, about how leaders should approach AI transformation without losing employee trust. We get into Kyndryl's People Readiness Report, the company's AIR framework for anticipating demand, inventorying skills, and redeploying talent, plus how they think about AI governance, human-in-the-loop decisions, ROI, reskilling, and why AI adoption is ultimately a people challenge before it is a technology challenge.

AI is changing work faster than most people expect.The real question isn't whether jobs will change, but whether employees and leaders are prepared to adapt. In this episode, Jacob Morgan, Best-Selling Author, Keynote Speaker and Founder of Future Of Work Leaders, explains why employee experience must evolve and what organisations can do to stay ahead.Jacob introduces the Eight Laws of Employee Experience, showing how organisations can return to the fundamentals while adapting for an AI-driven future. He explores why leaders must balance empathy with accountability, create cultures where difficult conversations drive innovation, and invest in internal mobility rather than leaving employees uncertain about what's next.For HR and business leaders, this conversation is a reminder that AI doesn't remove the need for great leadership, it raises the standard. Whether you're redesigning employee experience, preparing your workforce for AI, or helping people take ownership of their careers, this episode offers practical ideas for building organisations that are ready for what's next.

Why are talented HR leaders are walking away from their jobs? It's not because they hate their jobs, but perhaps they hate what their jobs have become. Listen as Gina & Turiya talk to Cheryl Baptiste about her recent Substack article about this very topic. They discuss CHRO turnover trends, the invisible scope creep that turns strategic partners into organizational catch-alls, and what it actually feels like to care deeply about your work while watching it become unrecognizable. We also talk about what comes next: Is the HR profession deteriorating or transforming? And what would it take to bring joy back to this work? Check out the article and subscribe to Cheryl's Substack! Connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn Tickets are on sale now for our 100th episode in-person celebration! The celebration will take place Tuesday, August 25, 2026, 5:30-8PM in Chicago. Be sure to leave us a review and rating wherever you listen to your podcasts. Also, connect with us via our LinkedIn group or email at info@hrunconfidential.com.

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, Mechelle Monroe, former Global Chief People Officer for WPP Open X, Team Coca-Cola at WPP, explores how people leaders can support others without losing touch with what they need themselves.Mechelle breaks emotional resilience into practical habits, including scheduled emotional maintenance, conscious breathing, honest self-talk, protected meals, movement, reflection, and knowing when to say no. She also explains how naming an emotion, questioning the story behind it, and creating a clear end to the working day can stop difficult moments from following leaders home.As work becomes faster and more technical, emotional intelligence and emotional resilience become more valuable, not less. For leaders carrying other people's stress, the real question is not how much more they can absorb, but whether they have built the capacity to pause, recover, and keep showing up well.

How does human capital create value in private equity?What does it take to be a successful HR leader in private equity?My guest on this episode is David Cohen, Partner, Human Capital at KelsoDuring our conversation David and I discuss:Why the role of the human capital partner in private equity is to unlock value through people, not to run HR for the firm itself.What is takes to be successful as a CHRO in a private equity backed company.Why human capital value creation comes down to org design, the right people in the right seats, and senior team performance.How the "bullseye" model helps identify the right senior leader for a PE-backed company.Why breadth of experience matters more than titles in your 20s and 30s.Connecting with David Cohen: Connect with David Cohen on LinkedInEpisode Sponsor: Next-Gen HR Accelerator - Learn more about this best-in-class leadership development program for next-gen HR leadersHR Leader's Blueprint - 18 pages of real-world advice from 100+ HR thought leaders. Simple, actionable, and proven strategies to advance your career.Succession Planning Playbook: In this focused 1-page resource, I cut through the noise to give you the vital elements that define what “great” succession planning looks like.

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, I had an inspiring conversation with Jennifer M. Bales, Chief Human Resources Officer at Shearwater Health, to unpack how HR leaders can build culture, scale talent, and use AI without losing the human behind the work.Jennifer shares how Shearwater Health is connecting values, frontline employees, clinical talent, leadership development, engagement data, and employee storytelling across the US, India, and the Philippines. With more than 5,000 employees in the Philippines alone, she explains why building one shared culture takes more than posters, surveys, or slogans.Most importantly, Jennifer explains why the future of healthcare work is not about replacing people with technology. It is about helping clinicians work at the top of their license, reducing administrative burden, strengthening leadership capability, and remembering that behind every metric is a real person.

Send us Fan MailMaryjo Charbonnier is the former CHRO and Executive Advisor at Kyndryl, the world's largest provider of IT infrastructure services , with more than 70,000 employees across roughly 60 countries. When Kyndryl was spun out of IBM in 2021 as one of the largest public company spin-offs in history, Maryjo helped build its culture and people strategy from the ground up, which is why she and others have called it the world's largest startup.She has spent nearly two decades as a public company CHRO on both sides of the Atlantic, including Wolters Kluwer (traded on the Dutch exchange) and Broadridge Financial Solutions, after a formative run at PepsiCo where she led change management for Frito-Lay. She was named CHRO of the Year in the Netherlands and earned her MBA at Southern Methodist University.In this episode, Maryjo draws on a career spent leading messy transformations and building a 70,000-person workforce to argue that as AI automates tasks and chunks of jobs, the work that defines a career is moving from what you know to how you judge, lead, and decide, and most organizations are not teaching for it yet.In this conversation, we discuss:Why Maryjo “seeks the heat” in messy transformations and what she learned leading HR through turnarounds, spin‑offs, and large‑scale change.How Kyndryl defined the “Kyndryl way” with six core behaviors and uses culture as an operating plan in the world's largest startup.Why HR must focus on which skills are rare and most valuable, and how Kyndryl's Make Yourself Discoverable campaign turned skills into a strategic asset.How AI-powered career profiles, skills-based redeployment, and role-specific AI curricula were intentionally designed to show Kyndryls that AI is an asset to their career, not a threat to it.Why Maryjo believes HR has three roles in AI, including reshaping commercial work and building an AI governance council that balances speed with risk.How leadership “ORE” (organizational design, risk management, empathy) and human skills like change management and people leadership will define careers in an AI‑enabled workplaceResources:Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work NewsletterConnect with Maryjo on LinkedInAI fun fact articleOn How Rory O'Driscoll Explains Success Modes for AI Companies and Three Essential Startup StrategiesEpisode with Keith Sonderling, then an EEOC Commissioner and now the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor

The best leadership benches aren't bought — they're built, and they're built together.   In the finale of The CHRO Paradox series, Stacie makes the data-led case that developing the next generation of leaders is the most rewarding work a CEO and CHRO ever share.   From the "founder returns" headlines to the 54% financial-performance edge of companies that develop leaders at every level, this episode reframes succession from a risk to manage into a partnership to build. Stacie For more episodes, visit StacieBaird.com.

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, I had an inspiring conversation with Lisa Yankie, Chief HR Officer at Odyssey Logistics, to unpack why the future of HR is not just about AI, technology, or transformation. It is about solving the right problems with the right people in the room.Lisa shares how her own journey, from humble beginnings to leadership across manufacturing, financial services, and mid-sized companies, shaped the way she leads today. Her experience gave her a broader lens on business, resilience, empathy, courage, and the value of taking chances when others open the door.Most importantly, Lisa explains why HR must stop acting like an afterthought. In her words, human capital is the business. As AI changes work, HR has a bigger role to play as the glue across functions, the challenger of old assumptions, and the function that helps organizations stay human while moving faster.

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, I had an inspiring conversation with Ciara Harrington (Barry), Chief People Officer at Skillsoft, to unpack why the shift from jobs to skills is finally becoming real.Ciara explains why HR can no longer rely only on job architecture, job descriptions, and traditional role design. As AI agents enter the workforce, leaders need to think differently about the unit of work, what skills are needed, and whether that work should be done by a human, an agent, or a combination of both.Most importantly, Ciara shares how Skillsoft is making skills practical inside the business, from leadership skills and hiring decisions, to nine-box talent reviews, performance conversations, AI adoption, and helping leaders move faster without waiting for the perfect system.

We are diving back into one of my favorite topics—values—but from a perspective that is as refreshing as it is necessary for the current state of our industry. I'm thrilled to welcome Marc Robertz-Schwartz, founder of Red Apples Media and author of The Red Apples Way, for a deep dive into the foundational DNA of leadership. We explore the "CHRO paradox," addressing the critical gap between the stated values on a company's wall and the lived reality of the people in the seats. Marc shares his powerful "Red Apples" framework, starting with the unexpected anchor of "respecting the universe," and explains why surrender is often a leader's most effective tool.   This conversation is a must-listen for anyone navigating the high-stakes intersection of technology and human systems. We break down Marc's five-step diagnostic for organizational health and discuss the "black flags" that signal when a company's culture is out of alignment. Whether you are leading a massive restructuring or trying to supercharge your team's engagement, Marc's insights on authenticity, accountability, and the "human behind the automation" offer a clear roadmap for building an organization that doesn't just survive, but truly thrives. Stacie For more episodes, visit StacieBaird.com.