The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

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204 - Tracy Avin (Founder, TroopHR) Oct 23, 2024

Tracy Avin, Founder of TroopHR, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how TroopHR was born, the importance of community in HR, the challenges HR professionals face in today’s business climate, and the need for support networks.

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Use code MPL-LIVE-50 to get 50% off your ticket for MPL Live Miami on December 10th. Buy Tickets Here.

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Timestamps:

(6:57) Tracy’s journey to founding TroopHR

(10:57) What a day in Tracy’s life looks like

(12:59) The meaning of community for HR leaders

(16:33) How the needs of the HR community have evolved

(18:36) Challenges and conflicts faced by HR professionals

(25:47) Handling difficult conversations in a professional setting

(28:44) Why boundaries are crucial in discussions

(30:06) Politicization of HR topics in the workplace

(36:00) Doing more with less: The pressures of shrinking HR teams

(42:06) HR burnout and its impact

(44:56) The influence of economic situations on HR strategy

(47:37) The importance of community in challenging times

(51:23) Open sourcing HR ideas: A positive shift post-COVID

(52:49) Rapid fire questions

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203 - The inverted org chart, CEO Alignment & the art & science of compensation: Ray Martinelli (Chief People Officer, Contentful) Oct 15, 2024

Ray Martinelli, Chief People Officer at Contentful, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about his career journey, the art & science that goes into compensation, and aligning HR goals with business strategy.

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Timestamps:

(5:05) Ray's career story: From finance to Chief People Officer

(7:44) Why Ray joined Contentful and key takeaways

(10:32) AI’s impact on content management and HR

(12:44) The state of HR in 2024: Leadership and navigating change

(18:40) Addressing politics in the workplace and leadership responsibilities

(22:13) What Ray had to unlearn as an HR leader

(26:25) Ray’s approach to building a people strategy at Contentful

(32:09) Aligning HR strategy with CEO vision and business goals

(36:41) Ray’s vision for his first year at Contentful

(42:38) Ray’s CPO dashboard: Key metrics on engagement, rewards, and promotions

(46:39) Differentiating rewards and compensation strategies

(52:52) The importance of transparent conversations in performance management

(57:50) Rapid fire questions

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202 - VC on helping founders with talent strategy, exec searches, & people challenges (Sandra Schwarzer, Index Ventures) Oct 09, 2024

Sandra Schwarzer, Board & Talent Insights leader at Index Ventures, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Index Ventures’ experience helping founders “scale through chaos”, how much time founders spend on HR-related tasks, their 14-point framework for running executive searches, and how investors evaluate founders’ view on talent.

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Timestamps:

(3:54) Sandra's career story: From East Germany to Index Ventures

(10:42) Defining 'Scaling through Chaos' and key takeaways

(13:56) Founders spending 50% of their time on HR-related tasks

(17:44) Challenges in hiring engineering talent and how Index Ventures supports founders

(20:07) Structuring time for hiring and talent-related tasks

(27:05) AI adoption in the people function: Early challenges and insights

(38:48) The 14-point executive search framework for successful hires

(44:06) How to balance speed and cultural fit when hiring

(50:26) Common mistakes in executive hiring and learning from them

(54:11) The importance of organizational design and a CEO's view of the people function

(56:53) Index Ventures' tool for optimizing team planning and scaling

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201 - Live: Rethinking Performance & Compensation (David Hanrahan, Chief People Officer at Flare & Jessica Zwaan, Author of Built for People) Oct 05, 2024

David Hanrahan, Chief People Officer at Flare, and Jessica Zwaan, Author of Built for People & COO at Talentful, joined us live in Austin, Texas.

We talked about how performance management is stuck in the past, the idea of team-based assessments, how to run a data-driven performance calibration, and the evolving role of compensation in driving performance.

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3:11: Reflections on outdated performance management practices

5:07: Thoughts on why companies are holding onto legacy review systems

6:46: The impact of AI on performance management and synthesizing feedback

9:40: Team dynamics in performance management and HR’s evolving role

12:24: Real-time tools for performance feedback and privacy concerns

14:27: Shifts in company values post-pandemic and how that affects performance reviews

17:09: Measuring team performance over individual performance

20:12: Calibration, feedback, and team assessments

23:02: Linking performance management and compensation strategies

29:03: The role of procedural and distributive fairness in compensation

32:11: Challenges of tying performance to compensation

36:02: Discussion on bonus allocation based on performance

40:12: Team performance assessments and executive decision-making

44:48: Questions from the audience on coaching and team dynamics

50:22: Closing thoughts on changing traditional HR practices

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200 - MPL Live Austin: AI in HR & Election Year (Katie Burke, Former CPO at HubSpot & Gianna Driver, CPO at Lattice) Sep 26, 2024

Katie Burke, CPO & Board Member at Paycor, and Gianna Driver, Chief People Officer at Lattice, joined us for our inaugural MPL Live in Austin, Texas.

We talked about the current state of HR, generational differences in the workforce, and how AI is impacting organizations.

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2:58: Good news stories from Gianna and Katie

5:05: Celebrating episode 200

6:46: State of HR and workplace changes in 2024

8:14: Katie and Gianna's insights on doing more with less and AI adoption

9:28: Greater focus on how HR supports the business

10:42: The impact of AI on HR functions

14:25: How Lattice integrates AI into their HR processes

17:19: Challenges of managing AI adoption and workforce expectations

22:12: Strategies for managing cross-generational workforce

31:02: Balancing DEI efforts with workforce realities

35:22: Handling politics in the workplace during election years

49:00: Audience Q&A on navigating difficult topics in HR

54:46: Closing thoughts and one-word reflections

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199 - OKRs, Pancake Sprints, & The Power of a 30-60-90 Day Plan: Vanessa Monsequeira (VP of People, Gorilla) Sep 17, 2024

Vanessa Monsequeira, VP of People at Gorilla, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We discussed Vanessa’s path to leadership, how to navigate hyper-growth in organizations, and the importance of mindset and unlearning for today’s people leaders.

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(0:02) Introduction and good news stories

(5:28) Vanessa’s career journey and lessons from hyper-growth

(10:21) The role of mindset and resilience in leadership

(14:32) Navigating fast vs. slow decision-making during hyper-growth

(18:47) Gorilla’s core business and the impact of real-time data in energy utilities

(27:53) The challenges of scaling people operations in a tech company

(32:30) Identifying and addressing blind spots in HR leadership

(40:48) The role of unlearning and relearning in leadership transitions

(46:31) OKRs and the process of aligning with business goals

(49:06) Advice for people leaders navigating today’s tough job market

(57:42) Rapid fire questions and career advice

(1:02:17) One word close

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198 - Jeff Schmitz (Chief People Officer, Zebra Technologies) on launching new purpose statement & values Sep 10, 2024

Jeff Schmitz, Chief People Officer at Zebra Technologies, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Jeff’s transition from marketing to HR, why Zebra is reinventing their purpose statement and values, and their cultural training programs.

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(0:39) Good news stories

(5:12) Jeff’s career journey

(6:15) Jeff’s background from engineering to CMO and CPO

(9:48) Biggest surprises transitioning from marketing to HR

(12:16) Explanation of Zebra Technologies’ core business

(14:41) Why Jeff loves working at Zebra

(16:28) Launching Zebra’s new purpose statement and values

(22:48) How Zebra involves employees in cultural transformation

(24:31) Impact of culture on smaller acquisitions

(27:01) Cultural integration from Zebra’s acquisition of Motorola

(34:33) Cultural training programs at Zebra

(38:13) Advice for HR leaders about getting buy-in for cultural transformations

(42:15) Rapid-fire questions

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197 - Nicole Hughey (Former SVP, DEI at SiriusXM) on the shifting language of DEIB, the SHRM debate, & the heart of inclusion Sep 03, 2024

Nicole Hughey, the former DEIB leader at SiriusXM, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the evolution of DEIB language, the recent SHRM debate on equity, and the critical importance of heart in driving meaningful change within organizations.

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Go get your tickets for MPL Live using our 50% off discount code, MPL-LIVE-50. Don't miss out—⁠⁠get your ⁠⁠ticket⁠⁠ now⁠⁠!

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(0:44) Good news stories

(9:57) Big update on the September 17th event in Austin, Texas

(11:04) Nicole’s career journey and transition into DEI

(21:07) Moments that shaped Nicole’s approach to DEI

(26:00) State of the Union for DEI

(27:18) Nicole on the misconception that DEI is going away

(29:33) Discussion on SHRM’s decision to remove the “E” from DEI

(34:19) The importance of maintaining rigor and responsibility in DEI work

(39:00) Courage and accountability in DEI efforts

(49:41) Courage as a key element in the evolution of DEI

(53:22) What’s next for Nicole’s career in DEI

(54:38) Rapid fire questions: Career advice, HR challenges, and future guests

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196 - Why DEIB is the Key to Making Octillions: Michael C. Bush, CEO at Great Place To Work® Aug 27, 2024

Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work®, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We discussed what the data reveals about the best leaders, why DEIB is the key to achieving massive success, and why Gen Z will choose jobs based on leaders rather than companies.

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Go get your tickets for MPL Live using our 50% off discount code, MPL-LIVE-50. Don't miss out—⁠get your ⁠⁠ticket⁠⁠ now⁠!

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work. Download their latest research on ⁠Employee Retention here.

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Timestamps:

(0:53) Good news stories

(7:44) Michael’s career journey and his path to Great Place to Work

(21:19) The importance of DEIB for business success

(29:32) The impact of leadership on employee experience

(32:06) Challenges and opportunities in enhancing leadership quality

(41:07) Examples of companies successfully implementing DEIB initiatives

(51:00) Discussion on DEIB and its connection to making “octillions”

(59:45) The role of AI in the future of work and DEIB

(1:19:57) Rapid fire questions

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195 - Qualities of high-performing founders: Polly Barnes (Operating Partner, Talent at EQT Ventures) Aug 20, 2024

Polly Barnes, Operating Partner, Talent at EQT Ventures, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the qualities of high-performing founders, the emerging founder profile, and why HR leaders need to have more focus than ever right now.

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Go get your tickets for MPL Live using our 50% off discount code, MPL-LIVE-50. Don't miss out—get your ⁠⁠ticket⁠⁠ now!

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work®. Download their latest research on ⁠⁠Return-to-Office Mandates here⁠⁠.

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(0:48) Good news stories

(7:23) Announcement: First ever live podcast event in Austin, Texas

(7:25) Polly’s career journey from marketing to VC

(13:53) Discussing EQT’s 20 unique indicators of high-performing founders

(16:04) The importance of resilience in founders

(19:00) Balancing resilience with self-reflection

(21:05) Leadership and decision-making in founders

(26:32) The evolving profile of tech founders with AI advancements

(29:59) The role of psychological support in founder success

(34:53) Operating systems and frameworks for startup success

(40:09) The importance of prioritization in HR leadership

(45:05) Challenges and future of DEI initiatives in startups

(49:18) Opportunities and advice for modern HR leaders in VC-backed startups

(52:01) Building personal brands and communities within HR

(54:19) Rapid fire questions

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194 - Melanie Rosenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox): How Dropbox is setting employees up for success in a virtual first model Aug 13, 2024

Melanie Rosenwasser, Chief People Officer at Dropbox, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We discussed Dropbox’s virtual-first model, how they measure its success, and the three types of in-person gatherings they organize.

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Go get your tickets for MPL Live using our 50% off discount code, MPL-LIVE-50. Don't miss out—get your ⁠ticket⁠ now!

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work®. Learn more at http://greatplacetowork.com/mpl.

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(0:41) Good news stories

(6:00) Melanie's career journey

(9:18) What Dropbox does and why it's a great place to work

(12:04) The importance of flexibility in Dropbox's virtual-first model

(13:11) Key elements for success in a virtual first environment

(19:39) The role of data and research in shaping Dropbox's work model

(23:05) Insights from Dropbox's research on remote work

(24:00) Building trust and culture in a remote-first environment

(27:01) Challenges and learnings from remote work at Dropbox

(30:30) The importance of in-person gatherings for remote teams

(37:52) Offsite modalities and their impact on team collaboration

(41:02) Experimenting with AI and its impact on the future of work

(46:15) Predictions for the future of work

(52:01) Rapid fire questions

(55:11) One word or phrase close

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193 - Brené Brown: Every day is leg day as a leader Aug 06, 2024

Brené Brown, professor, author, and podcast host, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We discussed her experience as a leader, the concept of metacognition, and the leadership skill of creating space between stimulus and response.

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Go get your tickets for MPL Live using our 50% off discount code, MPL-LIVE-50. Don't miss out—get your ticket now!

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work®. Learn more at http://greatplacetowork.com/mpl.

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(1:35) Good news stories

(3:45) Brené’s story

(19:49) Every day is leg day as a leader

(25:47) Metacognition

(28:25) Creating the space between stimulus and response

(44:08) The challenges of implementing a four-day workweek

(47:00) Rapid fire questions exploring leadership and the future of work

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192 - The Employee Feedback Journal: Tracy Letzerich (VP of People, Wheel) Jul 30, 2024

Tracy Letzerich, Vice President of People at Wheel, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We discussed why feedback is the lifeblood of organizational progress, why Wheel is ditching the annual performance review, and why every manager should start keeping feedback journals with their team.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work®. Download their Employee Retention Report here.

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(0:45) Good news stories

(3:52) Great Place to Work’s research on RTO mandates.

(5:05) Tracy’s story: Nontraditional HR path and becoming VP of People at Wheel.

(9:00) Why do some business solutions work and others fail? It boils down to the people.

(13:42) What does Wheel do?

(15:39) Tracy’s passion for feedback in organizations.

(17:23) What does it mean to have a culture of feedback?

(18:29) Was there something in the data or personal observation that led to the focus on feedback?

(19:52) Tracy's journey at Wheel and the need for a new feedback model.

(21:59) Feedback culture is an ongoing journey.

(24:16) Balancing informal and formal feedback.

(25:16) Building relationships in a remote world.

(27:48) Role modeling feedback behaviors.

(29:23) Rethinking the one on one: The Feedback journal.

(31:32) Direct reports should own the one on one.

(33:01) The challenges of being a manager today.

(35:57) The journey to pay transparency at Wheel.

(38:18) Resistance to change around the annual review.

(39:30) Replacing the annual review with continuous feedback.

(41:04) The importance of training and ongoing support for feedback.

(43:09) Accountability in feedback culture.

(44:22) Performance map as an alternative to the annual review.

(45:01) Integrating feedback and compensation.

(47:45) Rapid fire questions.

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191 - Exos & Adam Grant's Team Explore the Four-Day Workweek: Greg Hill (Chief People Officer, Exos) Jul 23, 2024

Greg Hill, Chief People Officer at Exos, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We discussed Exos' Readiness Culture Code, how they measured the success of their four-day workweek experiment, and the difference between productivity and effectiveness.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work®. Learn more at http://greatplacetowork.com/mpl.

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(7:32) From Upstate New York to Chief People Officer at Exos

(11:44) The Readiness Culture Code Explained

(16:13) Flexibility and Recovery: The Four-Day Work Week

(24:45) Discussing CEO Meetings and Competitive Talent Challenges

(25:01) Tech Industry Challenges Post-COVID

(25:41) Discussion with Nick Bloom on the Four-Day Work Week

(27:24) Sales Performance and Net Promoter Scores (NPS) During the Pilot

(29:13) Positive Outcomes of the Pilot

(32:05) Tailoring Hybrid Work Solutions to Different Organizations

(34:03) Tie-Ins with Return-to-Office or Hybrid Programs

(36:19) Advice for Smaller Companies and Designing Structured Experiments

(43:17) Future Study on Quiet Quitting

(45:00) Measuring Performance and Productivity

(47:24) Talent Management in a Changing World

(51:36) Regional Directors and Cultural Norms

(52:26) Accountability at the Peer Level

(53:15) High-Performance Culture and Its Articulation

(56:00) Output Expectations Across Teams

(57:04) Generative AI: Enhancing vs. Replacing Human Input

(1:01:02) Call to Action for HR Leaders

(1:03:07) Personal Engagement in Workplace Transformation

(1:05:01) Magic Wand Fix for HR Problems

(1:06:33) Guest Recommendation: Todd McCarty

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190 - Melanie Naranjo (VP, People, Ethena) & Vanesa Cotlar (VP, People & Culture, PolicyMe) on Performance Management Jul 16, 2024

Vanesa Cotlar (VP, People & Culture, PolicyMe) and Melanie Naranjo (VP, People, Ethena) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We discussed the three questions every manager should be asking themselves about their direct reports, why setting expectations with new hires can go a long way in improving performance, and how to create a common language for employees around performance.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work®. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com/mpl.

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(1:29) Good news stories

(8:43) What’s new with Vanesa and Melanie

(12:55) Why performance management is a hot topic right now

(19:43) The 3 questions Ethena managers ask themselves about direct reports

(21:40) Expectation setting with new hires during the first 90 days

(31:47) Handling performance conversations

(36:18) Create a common language for employees around performance

(39:30) The percentage of managers effectively managing performance

(45:39) What happens when your current team isn’t the right team to get you to the next level

(51:18) Great Place To Work’s research on RTO mandates

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189 - Tinkering versus true transformation: Larry McAlister, (Head of Digital Transformation, Nutanix) Jul 09, 2024

Larry McAlister, Head of Digital Transformation at Nutanix, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We discussed what transformation looks like, the importance of defining it for your organization, and the difference between mere tinkering and true transformation.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work®. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com/mpl.

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(1:22) Good news stories

(4:03) Great Place To Work’s research on RTO mandates

(5:41) Going from CHRO roles to the Head of Digital Transformation

(9:02) What he does as a Head of Digital Transformation

(10:20) What Nutanix does

(10:59) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at Nutanix

(13:45) What is transformation?

(16:04) You need an enablement strategy for new HR tech

(18:00) Get very specific about what transformation means to your company

(20:00) Tinkering versus transformation

(23:07) Tell people the truth about the change that’s coming

(27:20) Generative AI & Microsoft Co-Pilot

(38:55) The only reason there's still humans in Talent Acquisition

(42:50) Why he wrote The Power to Transform

(45:13) You are a technologist

(46:56) Rapid fire questions

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188 - “Future of HR + Modern People Leader” with JP Elliott, Stephen Huerta, & Daniel Huerta Jul 02, 2024

What happens when you combine two of the best HR podcasts? You are about to find out as the Modern People Leader podcast and the Future of HR podcast have come together for a special episode to share their insights from over 270 interviews. ---- This episode was brought to you by Great Place To Work®. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com/mpl. ---- We interviewed JP on The Modern People Leader: (1:08) Good news stories (3:25) Curious whether you’re a Great Place to Work? (4:53) JP’s story (9:03) JP’s biggest surprise since starting a podcast (11:30) Elevating the next generation of HR (13:50) What a next generation HR leader looks like (16:13) The limiting beliefs holding HR leaders back (18:02) The guests JP has learned the most from ---- JP interviewed us on The Future of HR: (22:00) What inspired us to start The Modern People Leader (29:55) What it means to be a Modern People Leader (35:58) What it’s like to be a Chief People Officer at a startup versus a Fortune 500 company (41:24) What we would put in an HR time capsule to be opened in 2050. (43:50) Team performance reviews ---- Connecting with Future of HR: Connect with JP Elliott on LinkedIn. Visit the Future of HR website. ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn

187 - WFH data & the 4-day workweek: Nick Bloom (Stanford Economist & Co-Founder of wfhresearch.com) Jun 25, 2024

Nick Bloom, Stanford Economist & Co-Founder of wfhresearch.com, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the state of WFH, managing in a hybrid environment, the four versions of the 4-day workweek, and what’s coming next for Nick.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place to Work®. Download their latest research on ⁠Return-to-Office Mandates here⁠.

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(1:13) Good news stories

(3:47) Great Place To Work’s research on RTO mandates

(5:05) Nick’s story

(7:24) HR is now the center of action

(10:15) Work from home data points

(16:48) The benefits of being in office

(21:04) Is it career limiting to be fully remote when the rest of your team is hybrid?

(24:24) Managing in a hybrid environment

(29:03) The four versions of the 4-day workweek

(31:24) How far away are we from the magic version of the 4-day workweek?

(39:30) Nick’s predictions for the next 10-15 years

(44:40) The weird and wonderful things Nick is researching next

(48:16) Rapid fire questions

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186 - Hebba Youssef (Founder & creator of I Hate it Here & Chief People Officer at Workweek) Jun 18, 2024

Hebba Youssef, Founder & Creator of I Hate it Here & Chief People Officer at Workweek, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the work they're doing to elevate their managers to the next level, why the CEO and Chief People Officer dynamic is challenging, and whether there has been scope creep for the CPO role.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place to Work®. Download their latest research on Return-to-Office Mandates here.

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2:36 Good news stories

10:26 Your thirties

14:04 Hebba’s story

21:49 Balancing Dual Roles: CPO and Content Creator

25:42 What Hebba dislikes most about being a creator

27:30 Maturing as a company is painful

31:09 Getting managers to the next level

33:14 Friday manager trainings at Workweek

39:20 Changing the mindset of leaders to want to change

45:45 Why the CEO and Chief People Officer dynamic is difficult

48:53 Your CEO needs a professional coach and a therapist

54:24 Is the scope of the CPO role getting too big?

57:56 The piece of HR that Hebba would give away

59:11 Rapid fire questions

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185 - DIBs 2.0—The Key Ingredients: Erin Thomas (VP, Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, Upwork) Jun 14, 2024

Erin Thomas, VP, Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Upwork, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how her team is leveraging data in their DEI work, why you need high utility DEI programs, and she shared a couple examples from the last year at Upwork.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place to Work. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com/mpl.

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1:11 Good news stories

05:22 Erin’s Journey to becoming the VP of DIB at Upwork

07:32 Where DEI efforts can go wrong

14:11 The polarization of DEI

16:50 Key ingredients of DEIB work in 2024

19:09 The Importance of Data in DEI

25:10 The GlowUp community at Upwork

30:00 DIBs programs VS the DEI work that has to be deeply integrated into the business

35:04 Using AI to improve feedback quality for people of color

41:13 Exploring Generative AI in DEI

46:12 Making DEI work fun

51:31 Rapid Fire Questions

55:03 Future of Work and DEI

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184 - From Job Titles to Skills—A Vision for Future HR Leaders: Don Robertson (EVP & CHRO, Northwestern Mutual) Jun 11, 2024

Don Robertson, EVP & CHRO at Northwestern Mutual, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about prioritizing company values over star performers, why the future of work is more about skills and less about job titles, and the real reason change takes so long in the workplace.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place to Work. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com/mpl.

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(0:55) Good news stories

(5:05) Don’s story: Shifting from finance to HR

(9:07) Turning HR discussions with your CEO into business outcome discussions

(12:07) How working in sales has helped him as a people leader

(14:04) Northwestern Mutual

(19:40) Managers need to become career coaches and guides

(22:33) You can’t town hall your way to change

(23:46) Incentivizing managers to develop the next generation of talent

(27:55) Holding managers accountable

(34:03) How Northwestern Mutual thinks about moving people around to different teams throughout the company

(39:20) CHROs will need to help design a system that’s less about your title and more about what you know

(43:20) Change is needed but there's no incentive for those involved in the system to change

(46:20) Rapid fire questions

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183 - Soft skills are POWER skills: Erica Spitale Jun 07, 2024

Erica Spitale joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the current HR job market, why soft skills should be called power skills instead, and the work-life smoothie.

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This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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(2:41) Good news stories

(7:28) Erica’s journey and what’s next for her

(11:20) The current job market for HR leaders

(14:33) How she’s approaching her job search

(18:48) Erica’s obsession with leadership

(22:54) What it means to be a manager versus a leader

(24:30) The hardest things in leadership are the things that make us human

(27:12) To be a leader requires you to think of yourself less and others more

(30:21) Building an inclusive leadership series

(33:15) What great leadership looks like

(36:12) Soft skills should be rebranded to “power skills”

(39:00) We need to find metrics to measure “power skills”

(41:00) Erica’s superpower skill

(43:30) Making leadership a choice, not a requirement

(45:37) The work-life smoothie

(48:21) Rapid fire questions

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182 - Lessons from Chief's CPO on building communities & companies: Trey Boynton (Chief Diversity & People Officer, Chief) Jun 03, 2024

Trey Boynton, Chief Diversity & People Officer at Chief, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why running a community is similar to HR work, where communities and companies tend to stumble, and the metric we wish existed for managers.

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This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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(2:35) Good news stories

(10:50) Trey’s journey from academia to CPO

(17:45) What Chief does

(21:46) The myth around the divestment of DEI

(24:50) Why running a community is a lot like HR

(29:57) Intentionality is everything with community building

(34:19) Things are constantly changing in the world and in HR—you have to evolve with your people

(37:59) Onboarding community members versus employees

(45:50) The leadership crisis

(51:25) The best leaders know they don’t know

(56:30) Rapid fire questions

(1:02:27) One word or phrase close

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181 - Performance Culture, HR Tech, & more: Sam Baber (SVP, People, Kalkomey Enterprises) May 30, 2024

Sam Baber, SVP of People at Kalkomey Enterprises, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the work his company is doing to build a high performance culture, why he’s consolidating their HR tech stack, and why it’s important to maintain the perspective that HR is just a job.

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This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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(2:35) Good news stories

(10:50) Sam’s story

(17:35) Pivotal moments of his career

(21:15) A career in HR is a journey and discovery of the human condition

(24:21) What Kalkomey does

(27:40) Developing conscious leaders

(31:34) Building a performance culture

(38:42) They’re working on their values

(41:43) Thinking about the future generations

(51:12) Consolidating the HR tech stack

(56:58) Maintaining the perspective that HR is just a job

(1:04:24) Rapid fire questions

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180 - What happens when 3 HR leaders start a business together: PeakHR Team May 24, 2024

The PeakHR team (Morgan Williams, Catalina Colman, and Kim Rohrer) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about what happens when three HR leaders start a business together.

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This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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(2:18) Good news stories

(11:05) The PeakHR origin story

(20:00) They’ve translated their values into how they make business decisions

(21:33) How they got to role clarity & shared values very fast

(25:48) They work in their own zones of genius

(28:32) PeakHR’s mission to elevate the next generation of HR leaders

(34:12) Giving HR folks access to people from other areas of the business

(35:46) Gaining influence as an HR leader

(38:00) The confidence and empowerment gap

(41:13) They all have very different fractional backgrounds

(54:03) What the future looks like for PeakHR

(59:56) Rapid fire questions

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179 - Rethinking our relationship with technology: Steve Cadigan (Former LinkedIn CHRO, Author & Professor) May 20, 2024

Steve Cadigan, former CHRO at LinkedIn, author, and professor, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about rebuilding our relationship with technology, why every company should have an AI ethics advisory board, and where he’d start with AI if he had a blank check.

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This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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(2:27) Good news stories

(7:50) Steve is helping build talent strategies for Portugal’s government

(10:45) On his time at EA

(16:30) This is our moment to rebuild our relationship with technology

(27:58) AI can help us identify skills and talent

(31:42) Every company needs an AI ethics advisory board

(38:21) Let’s go after the big things like eliminating distraction

(41:37) Where he’d start with AI if given a blank slate

(47:23) Rapid fire questions

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178 - Finding a More Human-Centered Approach: Dom Boon (VP People, Liberty Latin America) May 15, 2024

Dom Boon, VP of People at Liberty Latin America, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why you should aspire to be a people leader, how their people team is impacting public policy in the markets they operate in, and how the small tweaks they’ve made to the EX have made an impact on their 10k+ employees.

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This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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(3:11) Good news stories

(10:21) What’s new with Dom since he last joined MPL on Episode 43

(12:18) What Dom loves about working at LLA

(15:19) How he describes the work he does in HR to family

(16:16) Why people should aspire to go into HR

(17:30) Why Dom keeps coming back to MPL

(19:37) Dom’s challenge for MPL

(26:20) Biggest changes to LLA’s people strategy the last 2 years

(29:00) Being a purpose driven organization

(30:59) Progressive People Policies at LLA

(34:16) Enhancements to their employee experience

(38:42) How they structure ‘tiger teams’ at LLA

(40:38) Dom is proud of the changes on the parental leave front

(46:58) Rapid fire questions

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177 - Moving to “People Ops as a Product”: Matt Bradburn (Founder, The People Collective) May 10, 2024

Matt Bradburn, Founder of The People Collective, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why the People Ops as a Product movement is picking up steam, how to pilot this approach, and the biggest pitfalls when making the change.

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This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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(2:04) Good news stories

(6:36) Matt’s career journey

(10:56) What The People Collective does

(14:00) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at The People Collective

(15:35) The possibility of humans and technology working together

(19:47) The challenges we’re going to face with AI

(24:15) The skills junior employees should be focusing on

(29:10) The best CPOs are data-driven, great storytellers, and know how and when to use empathy

(34:50) The “People Ops as a Product” movement

(45:08) Piloting People Ops as a Product

(46:08) How to identify areas to pilot People Ops as a Product

(49:05) Biggest pitfalls when moving to People Ops as a Product

(55:09) Rapid fire questions

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176 - Building an AI roadmap for HR & 6 use cases for AI in HR: Gianna Driver (CHRO, Exabeam) May 06, 2024

Gianna Driver, CHRO at Exabeam, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how Exabeam’s HR team built their AI roadmap and which AI for HR use cases have been the most successful for them.

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[02:00] - Good news stories

[06:00] - Gianna's career journey and her unexpected path into HR

[10:00] - Discussion on pivotal career moments and the importance of supportive leadership

[13:00] - Learning from failures

[17:00] - Gianna talks about the integration and challenges of implementing AI within HR at Exabeam

[21:00] - Initial failures and subsequent successes in adopting AI for HR at Exabeam

[25:00] - Practical applications of AI in writing job descriptions and updating employee handbooks

[30:00] - The potential and limitations of AI in handling complex HR tasks and strategic decision-making

[34:00] - Gianna offers her perspectives on the future roles of AI in enhancing employee experience and development

[40:00] - Discussing the ethical considerations and policy frameworks necessary for AI deployment in HR

[45:00] - Closing thoughts on the importance of courage and innovation in HR

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175 - Create mini “blue zones” in your company: Laura Putnam (CEO & Founder, Motion Infusion) May 01, 2024

Laura Putnam, CEO & Founder of Motion Infusion, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the state of wellbeing, why managers are our greatest hope in getting workplace wellness to work, and the 3 simple actions every manager can take to promote wellbeing on their team.

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Want to be one of the 10 founding members of MPL? Apply here.

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(1:10) Good news stories

(9:14) Laura’s journey and how that led her to found Motion Infusion

(13:14) Getting every person and team in motion

(15:00) Laura’s daily wellness practice

(16:10) We’re creatures of culture and environment

(18:09) The current state of wellbeing & the massive “knowing and doing” gap

(23:28) Creating mini “blue zones” in your company

(24:57) The biggest blocker to promoting wellbeing in the workplace

(30:22) Managers are our greatest hope in getting workplace wellness to work

(37:44) The 3 key calls action for managers

(40:00) Using nudges and cues to promote wellbeing

(48:46) Rapid fire questions

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174 - How the Spurs are redefining their EVP: Samantha Simmons (SVP, People & Culture at Spurs Sports & Entertainment) Apr 26, 2024

Samantha Simmons, SVP, People & Culture at Spurs Sports & Entertainment, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how the Spurs are redefining their Employee Value Proposition, the work they're doing to move towards a more unified culture, and what the phrase "pounding the rock" means for their organization.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(2:38) Good news stories

(8:15) Samantha’s story

(16:40) Spurs Sports & Entertainment is more than just the San Antonio Spurs

(19:20) Why we should be jealous that she gets to work for the Spurs

(21:25) Change management is all about prioritization, transparency, communication, and connection

(23:06) Even the sports industry is having to change for it’s people

(25:50) The culture of change and innovation within the Spurs organization

(28:07) How Samantha prioritized the work when she joined the Spurs

(29:44) Her style of play in HR

(31:00) The design of their people team

(33:47) Defining the employee value proposition for the Spurs

(37:24) Aligning the culture of the separate entities (San Antonio Spurs, Austin Spurs, and San Antonio FC) to the overarching Spurs organization

(40:50) Working towards a unified culture

(43:00) What “pounding the rock” looks like at the Spurs

(46:50) Rapid fire questions

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173 - Throwing the career path away & getting back to the basics in HR: AJ Thomas (People Leader, Board Member, & Award-Winning Author) Apr 24, 2024

AJ Thomas, Global People Leader, Board Member, & Award-Winning Children’s Book Author, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared a framework for getting back to the basics in HR, why we need to “throw away the career path”, and the 1 lesson every adult would take away from AJ’s children’s book about teams.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Go check out Pyn’s list of 50 over 50 Women in Tech.

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(2:08) Good news stories

(7:02) AJ’s story

(14:00 What pulled AJ into the HR world

(18:03) AJ is a “Chaos Pilot”

(22:12) Everyone is actually an HR leader

(26:40) A framework for getting back to the basics: Philosophy, Process, & Practice

(31:30) “Unrecruiting” at X

(37:45) AJ says we need to throw away the career path

(44:54) The Four immutable laws of the spirit

(50:00) AJ wrote a book for kids about teams

(51:08) The 1 lesson every adult would take away from AJ’s children’s book about teams

(53:30) Rapid fire questions

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172 - All-things AI in HR with 2 Chief People Officers: David Hanrahan (Chief People Officer, Flare) & Q Hamirani (Chief People Officer, Paper) Apr 18, 2024

Q Hamirani (Chief People Officer, Paper) and David Hanrahan (Chief People Officer, Flare) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about HR’s role in driving your company’s AI strategy, the best use cases for AI in HR, and why you need a solid data strategy first.

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This episode was brought to you by Deloitte. Download their FREE Generative AI and the Future of Work report.

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(1:17) Good news stories

(8:12) How the SXSW AIHR event came to fruition

(16:22) You need a data strategy before you can have a real AI strategy

(23:37) Whose responsibility is it to drive AI in the company

(25:51) How HR leaders can identify where to invest in AI efforts

(31:33) We’re still very much in the innovation cycle of AI in HR

(36:00) Using AI for Talent Development

(38:56) There’s a lot of noise in the AI HR space right now

(40:06) The best use cases for AI in HR that came out of the workshop

(43:00) The one thing all people leaders need to hear about Generative AI in the workplace

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171 - HR Leaders wanting to work at people-first orgs - ask these questions in your interview: Stacey Nordwall (VP of People Strategy, Pyn) Apr 11, 2024

Stacey Nordwall, VP of People Strategy at Pyn, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the burnout cycle in HR and where it stems from, her advice for all of the exhausted people leaders out there, and the questions you should ask during the interview process to vet out whether it’s a people-first org or not.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(1:28) Good news stories

(5:45) Stacey’s career journey and what led her to Pyn

(11:39) How she explains what Pyn does

(12:20) Why we should be jealous that she gets to work there

(14:13) The burnout cycle in HR and where it stems from

(17:35) On the narrative that HR leaders don’t have business acumen

(27:18) Stacey’s thankful for the new thought leaders in HR stepping into the space

(28:45) Her advice to all of the exhausted people leaders out there

(34:30) Red flags in the interview process while looking for a People Leader role

(40:00) Ask to meet with a board member and a junior employee to get the full picture of what it's like to work at the organization

(42:15) The one question you should ask during the interview process for a People Leader role

(44:18) What’s up with fractional HR

(50:00) Rapid fire questions

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170 - The path to profitability & Dena’s value framework for evaluating career moves: Dena Upton (Head of People, Dandy) Apr 04, 2024

Dena Upton, Head of People at Dandy, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the value framework that she uses to evaluate big career moves, building out the employee value proposition at Dandy, and how their path to profitability is providing employees with more career equity.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(1:02) Good news stories

(5:52) What’s changed since she joined MPL the first time in March 2021

(8:30) Dena’s personal value framework that she uses when considering a new role

(14:08) People decisions can topple an organization
(16:17) What Dandy does

(18:25) Why we should be jealous that Dena gets to work at Dandy

(22:10) Building the employment brand muscle at Dandy

(28:15) Skills meritocracy

(31:40) Building out the employee value proposition

(34:48) Being open about why your company might not be a good fit for people

(37:30) How they’re connecting corporate and manufacturing employees with one another

(40:32) Dena is always looking for more feedback from employees

(44:15) Their path to profitability

(47:47) Career equity at Dandy

(50:37) “Learning big” with your employees

(54:00) Rapid fire questions

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169 - Everything a Spreadsheet WON’T Tell You: Colleen McCreary, 6x CPO (Credit Karma, Zynga, Twilio, & more) turned VC Mar 29, 2024

Colleen McCreary, a 6x Chief People Officer turned VC, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how her superpower as a VC is being able to look beyond just the spreadsheet, the lesson she learned early on about profitability giving you freedom, and why the VC world should be bringing in more people from HR.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(1:42) Good news stories

(9:52) Colleen’s story and how she ended up in the VC world

(22:14) People from her Microsoft days that went on to do big things

(25:28) What she does at Ribbit Capital and why we should be jealous she gets to work there

(28:49) All of the things the spreadsheet WON’T tell you

(33:14) Learning to think like an investor

(36:37) The steps to bringing in a new deal is very similar to recruiting

(41:30) Colleen’s view on the state of HR

(46:38) The lesson she learned early on about profitability giving you freedom

(49:14) What would be keeping her up as a CPO right now

(54:25) Rapid Fire Questions

(55:44) Why the VC world should be taking more people from HR

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168 - It’s hard to move the needle in HR because it’s set up that way: Anessa Fike (Author, 14x Chief People Officer, & Founder of Fike+Co) Mar 27, 2024

Anessa Fike, Author & “Queen of Fractional HR”, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about what’s contributed to her success as a fractional people leader, why it’s hard to move the needle in HR, and why we need to stop going through motions in HR.

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If you’re an HR leader that’s trying to uplevel your managers’ 1x1 meetings, check out Leapsome’s FREE Meeting’s Module.

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(1:33) Good news stories

(8:54) Anessa’s story

(17:44) The more open you are to the universe, the more opportunities you will see

(19:47) What’s contributed to her success as a fractional people leader

(23:00) The state of the union for HR

(25:50) It’s hard to move the needle in HR because it’s set up that way

(29:06) The Revolution of Work: Fuck the patriarchy and the workplace it built

(31:41) Stop going through the motions as an HR leader

(38:40) Why CEOs are more prone to listening to a fractional executive over their people leader

(40:55) You’re allowed to be way bolder as a fractional HR leader

(44:20) The real reason she thinks there’s a disconnect between CPOs and CEOs

(50:27) We need to step away from fear based leadership

(52:40) Where to get her new book

(53:47) Rapid fire questions

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167 - Testing team performance reviews & insights from survey sent to 61 first-time CPOs: David Hanrahan (Chief People Officer, Flare) Mar 22, 2024

David Hanrahan, Chief People Officer at Flare, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how he’s testing team performance reviews at Flare, the learnings from a survey that he sent out to 61 first-time CPOs, and why you should seek out mentorship from executives outside of HR.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(1:45) Good news stories

(5:30) What David’s been up to since we had him on in 2021

(11:02) What Flare does

(13:11) Why we should be jealous that David gets to work at Flare

(16:11) Rebuilding culture after a great period of change

(22:16) The emergence of AI & how constant change is the new reality

(25:20) Advice for People Leaders out there that are going through layoffs

(29:50) Sharing the plan coming out of layoffs

(31:30) Team performance reviews

(37:03) The actionable feedback that’s come out of team performance reviews

(43:00) Learnings from the survey that David sent out to first-time Chief People Officers

(47:30) Seeking mentorship from leaders outside of the HR world

(48:50) Rapid fire questions

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166 - Having a common management language & the “no-drama feedback model”: Lindsey Nehls (Elevate Leadership) Mar 19, 2024

Lindsey Nehls, Co-Founder at Elevate Leadership, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the importance of having a common management language, the 70:20:10 rule for learning, changing behaviors in your company, and the “no drama feedback model”.

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Learn more about the “No-Drama Feedback Model”: https://www.elevateleadership.com/modernpeopleleader

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(1:08) Good news stories

(5:51) Lindsey’s “full life story”

(13:30) How she looks at manager effectiveness

(14:50) The 3 traits of an effective manager

(17:22) On whether it’s harder to be a manager today

(18:42) What’s holding managers back from being effective

(20:17) The difference between good and bad manager training

(25:18) Building a business case for manager training

(30:44) Bringing people together to learn

(33:51) Having a common management language

(38:00) Training on skills that are specific to your company

(39:14) The 70:20:10 model

(42:30) Changing behaviors in your company

(48:30) The no-drama feedback model

(54:08) Rapid fire questions

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165 - Zapier's CEO & Chief People Officer: Pre-vetting their match, Zapier’s AI Hackathon, & how the people team is building with AI Mar 15, 2024

Zapier’s Wade Foster (Co-Founder & CEO) and Brandon Sammut (Chief People Officer) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how they pre-vetted their match in the interview process, why they did a company-wide AI hackathon, and how Zapier’s people team is building with AI.

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If you’re an HR leader that’s trying to uplevel your managers’ 1x1 meetings, check out Leapsome’s FREE Meeting’s Module:

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(1:23) Good news stories

(7:29) How Zapier found their dream Chief People Officer

(12:14) How this CPO pre-vetted the match with his CEO before accepting the offer

(15:49) Zapier CEO put all the cards on the table for their Chief People Officer before he took the job

(25:04) They swapped their 360 feedback in the interview process

(30:33) How they shaped the prioritization of the people team

(34:40) Zapier did a company-wide AI hackathon

(41:41) What Zapier's People Team is building with AI

(44:52) Rapid Fire Questions

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164 - Navigating big life moments at work: Jennifer Henderson (Founder & CEO, Tilt) Mar 13, 2024

Jennifer Henderson, Founder & CEO at Tilt, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her disappointing experiences in corporate America that led her to building Tilt, the history of leave, the #1 way to create gender parity in the workforce, and what it looks like to successfully help people navigate these big life moments.

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Learn more about Tilt at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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(0:50) Good news stories

(6:33) Jen’s disappointing experience in corporate America led her to building Tilt

(12:00) What Tilt does

(15:14) The history of leave

(18:06) Why leave is here to stay

(26:09) How AI is impacting the leave management space

(32:42) The #1 way to create gender parity in the workforce

(34:25) What a successful leave looks like

(39:17) How Tilt is drinking their own champagne

(41:08) Rapid fire questions

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163 - The job market is more broken than ever: James Hudson (former TA leader @ Nike & Levi’s) Mar 08, 2024

James Hudson, former TA leader at Nike and Levi’s, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why the job market is more broken than ever before, why you should be more customer-centric in how you’re building talent pipelines, and how to make yourself more discoverable to recruiters on LinkedIn.

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If you’re an HR leader that’s trying to uplevel your managers’ 1x1 meetings, check out Leapsome’s FREE Meeting’s Module.

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(1:58) Good news stories

(8:43) His career journey

(32:30) The job market is more broken than ever

(39:30) Remote jobs are getting 8x the volume of applications

(42:24) Build long term talent pipelines by being more customer centric

(46:27) How to make yourself more discoverable to recruiters on LinkedIn

(52:03) Building a tech stack for the future in recruiting

(55:00) Rapid fire questions

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162 - How Expedia's disability inclusion leader is using her superpowers to bring about change to work & travel Mar 06, 2024

Kathy Martinez, VP, Global Disability Inclusion at Expedia Group, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her journey to becoming the VP of Disability Inclusion at Expedia, how everyone is accommodated, and why you should hire more people with disabilities.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(2:02) Good news stories

(6:10) Kathy’s story

(13:37) What Kathy does as the VP, Global Disability Inclusion

(19:45) Everyone in the workplace is accommodated

(36:25) Why you should hire more people with disabilities

(41:56) Rapid fire questions

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161 - HR will help shape the future of human identity: The Disrupted Workforce Mar 01, 2024

The Disrupted Workforce’s Nate Thompson and Alex Schwartz joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why the future of work is the future of human identity, how HR can lead the change on the AI front, and why everyone needs to have a “Future of Work mindset”.

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If you’re an HR leader that’s trying to uplevel your managers’ 1x1 meetings, check out Leapsome’s FREE Meeting’s Module.

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(1:57) Good news stories

(10:30) The story behind “The Disrupted Workforce”

(26:20) The Future of Work is the Future of Human Identity

(31:17) What a "future of work mindset" is

(39:01) HR can lead the change on the AI front

(45:10) HR can shape the new identity of work

(48:55) Rapid fire questions

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160 - Dave Ulrich: The ROI of HR is "Return on Intangibles" Feb 26, 2024

Dave Ulrich, Author & Professor, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about HR’s role adding value to customers and investors, why the ROI of HR is the “Return on Intangibles”, and the four questions every HR leader should be asking themselves.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(5:03) Good news stories

(13:09) Dave’s story

(24:44) HR's role: Adding value to customers & investors

(30:59) The ROI of HR is "Return on Intangibles"

(40:03) Figure out the KPIs of fellow execs

(52:28) 4 questions every HR Leader should ask themselves

(54:47) Rapid Fire Questions

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159 - Huertanomics: Does going fractional in HR solve the burnout issue? Feb 23, 2024

Here’s what we talked about in our first ever edition of “Huertanomics”:

(0:17) We explain “Huertanomics”

(2:12) Good news stories

(22:25) Top MPL highlight from the first 50 days of 2024

(33:50) Does going fractional in HR solve the burnout issue?

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If you’re an HR leader that’s trying to uplevel your managers’ 1x1 meetings, check out Leapsome’s FREE Meeting’s Module.

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158 - Managers will make or break your company: Luck Dookchitra (VP of People, Leapsome) & Jenny von Podewils (Co-CEO, Leapsome) Feb 19, 2024

Leapsome’s Luck Dookchitra, VP of People, and Jenny von Podewils, Co-founder & Co-CEO, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the evolution of the manager role over the last 5-10 years, “Review Jams” at Leapsome, and how to make manager 1x1s better.

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If you’re an HR leader that’s trying to uplevel your managers’ 1x1 meetings, use Leapsome’s FREE Meeting’s Module.

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(1:47) Good news stories

(6:55) The story behind what brought Luck to Leapsome

(11:58) What Leapsome does

(19:23) Defining the Chief People Officer role

(26:30) The 3 most important objectives they’re working on together as CEO and VP of People

(28:37) How Luck has approached her first 4 months as VP of People

(30:00) “Review Jams” at Leapsome and where the idea came from

(34:56) Going to slow to accelerate

(37:00) The product thinking and constant iteration at Leapsome

(43:19) The evolution of the manager role

(46:50) Commonalities of the best managers

(57:06) HR’s role in manager effectiveness

(59:15) Manager enablement days at Leapsome

(1:04:28) The 3 components of meaningful 1x1 meetings

(1:09:04) How to make 1x1s better

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157 - Norton Healthcare’s Alumni Network Feb 16, 2024

This episode was recorded live at O.C. Tanner's Influence Greatness back in late 2023.

Jason Coffey (Director of Employee Experience) and Emily Abner (Program Coordinator, Employee Experience), joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how they’re overlaying engagement data with patient experience data, their alumni network, and then they showered each other with love.

(7:33) The employee experience team at Norton Healthcare

(10:00) Finding the moments that matter for their 20k employees

(14:07) Overlaying employee engagement data with patient experience data **

(17:05) The alumni network at Norton Healthcare **

(22:08) The “Insights Manager” at Norton

(24:30) Jason and Emily shower each other with love **

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This episode was brought to you by Leapsome. Learn more at leapsome.com/explore/mpl.

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If you're interested in going to Transform, here's our partner link which gets you $200 off: https://transform.us/partners/the-modern-people-leader/

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156 - How to identify (and keep) your top talent: Jess Johannson (CHRO, Canada Goose) Feb 13, 2024

Jess Johannson, CHRO at Canada Goose, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about what’s wrong with the performance review process, what Organizational Network Analysis is, and how to find and recognize the key contributors at your company.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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[00:01:41] Good news stories

[00:08:00] Jess’s career journey and her role at Canada Goose

[00:14:16] Trends and outlook for 2024

[00:22:31] Exploring generative AI's impact on HR and inclusivity

[00:33:28] Innovating the performance review process with organizational network analysis (ONA)

[00:42:20] Linking performance reviews to compensation

[00:45:34] Goals and transformation at Canada Goose

[00:49:00] Rapid-fire questions

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155 - Advice for Burnt Out Leaders: Kenneth Ceaser (Chief People & Culture Officer, Mothers Against Drunk Driving) Feb 09, 2024

Kenneth Ceaser, Chief People & Culture Officer at Mothers Against Drunk Driving, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the impact of his HR experience in the military, MADD’s people and culture strategy, and his advice for leaders that are burnt out.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(1:02) Good news stories

(07:28) Kenneth's career journey, starting from his upbringing, joining the Air Force, and transitioning to HR roles in the civilian sector.

(14:40) Insights into the transformation and challenges faced by MAD and HR's role in driving change.

(19:13) The impact of military experience on Kenneth's leadership and HR practices.

(26:27) Kenneth discusses prioritizing strategic objectives and the importance of workforce planning for MAD's goals.

(32:59) Exploring the future of HR technology and the balance between automation and personal touch in HR practices.

(36:26) Advice for burnt out leaders

(47:59) Rapid fire questions

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154 - Embracing a Culture of Healthy Conflict: Katya Laviolette (Chief People Officer, 1Password) Feb 06, 2024

Katya Laviolette, Chief People Officer at 1Password, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the art of saying “no” in HR, why healthy conflict leads to better business outcomes, and tips for having tough talks.

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This episode was brought to you by Leapsome. Join their community of 7,500+ HR folks today: People Over Perks

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(0:54) Good news stories

(6:22) Katya's career journey and her role at 1Password

(11:06) Comparing large organization and startup experiences in HR

(13:46) Discussing the importance of having experience in both large and small companies for HR professionals

(20:57) State of the union for HR

(32:21) Embracing a culture of healthy conflict within organizations

(42:49) The transition to remote work and the impact of the pandemic on 1Password's operations

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153 - Reverse integrating a 10k employee company into a startup: Holly May (Former Chief People Officer at Datavant) Feb 02, 2024

Holly May, former Chief People Officer at Datavant, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Datavant’s reverse integration: how they unified the two people teams, how they used real-life stories to illustrate their new values, and how they’ve made the company more agile.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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Read Holly's leadership lessons from her time at Datavant.

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(1:00) Good news stories

(6:18) Her journey to becoming Chief People Officer at Datavant

(11:08) Going from being the CPO at a 100 person company to a 9,000 person company overnight

(14:20) Her approach to job searching and the value of targeting companies for their culture and potential for growth.

(17:08) The concept of 'done is better than perfect

(19:52) Reflections on the challenges and opportunities of integrating and leading a significantly larger HR team post-merger.

(22:00) The cultural integration and value alignment efforts post-merger

(22:00) Holly expresses her initial reaction to being asked to lead a much larger people team post-merger and discusses the challenges of integrating different organizational cultures.

(24:00) How Holly approached transforming the HR function to align with the new, larger organization's goals and culture.

(26:00) The importance of building a strong team culture and ensuring the HR team's alignment with the company's strategic objectives.

(35:30) Challenges and successes of implementing a new employee engagement and feedback system.

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152 - Southwest Airlines' Culture Team, Onboarding, & Moments that Matter: Whitney Eichinger (SVP & Chief Communications Officer) & Lori Winters (VP Total Rewards) Jan 31, 2024

Whitney Eichinger (SVP & Chief Communications Officer) and Lori Winters (VP Total Rewards), joined us on The Modern People Leader. This episode was recorded at O.C. Tanner's Influence Greatness.

We talked about what their Culture & Communications team does, the continuous focus on the 27 moments that matter in Southwest’s employee journey, and their revamped onboarding process.

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This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl.

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151 - Becoming a more Transparent Organization: Adam Horne (Co-Founder, Open Org) Jan 29, 2024

Adam Horne, Co-Founder at Open Org, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

He shared examples of the most transparent organizations, how to build a business case for more transparency, how to avoid giving employees mixed messages on things like flexible work, and unique ways of becoming more transparent.

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This episode was brought to you by Leapsome. Explore their intelligent HR platform here.

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(01:00) Good news stories

(08:00) Adam Horne's career journey and entrepreneurship.

(16:00) Open Org: Concept and impact.

(21:00) Transparency challenges in HR.

(34:00) Strategies for HR leaders: Approaching CEOs.

(38:00) Diversity and transparency in organizations.

(44:00) Decision making and internal transparency.

(49:00) Benchmarking companies in transparency.

(52:30) Open Org's free resources.

(53:00) Reflections from Open Org's cohorts.

(55:00) Rapid fire questions

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150 - How Top Companies Build Winning Cultures: Simon Taylor (Head of Organization Effectiveness, Gap) Jan 26, 2024

Simon Taylor, Head of Organizational Effectiveness at Gap, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

He shared the three steps to building a high performance culture, the three things all leaders need to do really well, and the commonalities that he’s noticed among the top performing companies.

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This episode was brought to you by Leapsome. Explore their intelligent HR platform here.

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Pre-order his book Build Smart: A Blueprint for Building a High-Performing Organization

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Timestamps:

(1:55) Good news stories

(7:50) Chasing his childhood dream of moving to America

(11:29) What you do in Organizational Effectiveness

(13:12) Why we should be jealous Simon gets to work for the Gap

(14:30) Culture change is the number two priority for Global HR leaders right now

(18:43) The conflation between values and culture

(22:17) The 3 steps to building a high performance culture

(27:35) Shoring up sponsorship for culture initiatives with your leaders first

(33:30) His experience writing his first book

(35:03) Commonalities among the top performing companies

(37:52) The three things all leaders need to do really well

(49:04) How Simon identified his playbook for building a high performance organization

(50:37) The four pillars of building and managing a high performance organization

(53:46) Biohacking

(1:03:40) Rapid fire questions

(1:07:44) Build Smart: A blueprint for building a high performing organization

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149 - 1,000 Days of Distributed at Atlassian (Annie Dean, VP of Team Anywhere at Atlassian) Jan 22, 2024

Annie Dean, VP of Team Anywhere at Atlassian, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared Atlassian’s learnings after 1,000 days of distributed work: their calendar redesign experiment, the impact of in-person gatherings on team connection levels, and the ROI of real estate at Atlassian.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer ⁠here⁠.

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(4:03) Good news stories

(9:17) Annie's journey from practicing law to becoming a leader in workplace innovation.

(14:22) Transition to Atlassian and the philosophy of 'Team Anywhere'.

(20:59) Discussion about Atlassian's core values and its unique Australian influence.

(24:53) Launching the '1000 days of distributed Atlassian' report and its insights.

(27:06) The significance of data-driven decision-making in a distributed work environment.

(31:15) The importance of setting priorities and how it shapes Atlassian's work culture.

(37:09) Exploration of time zone impacts on team effectiveness.

(39:18) Addressing challenges in distributed work environments and measuring team connection.

(43:33) The role of real estate and office space in Atlassian’s distributed model.

(47:25) Annie's thoughts on building a strong company culture in a distributed setup.

(52:00) Closing thoughts and takeaways from the discussion.

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148 - The CHRO & CEO Relationship: Hannah Yardley (Chief People & Culture Officer, Achievers) Jan 18, 2024

Hannah Yardley, Chief People & Culture Officer at Achievers, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared how only 1/3 of CHROs feel a strong connection to their exec team, a framework for making big CPO<>CEO decisions, and how to work on your relationship with your CEO.

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(0:20) Good news stories

(5:40) Coming from a family of medical professionals

(7:34) What Achievers does

(10:03) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Achievers

(12:20) HR needs a period of recovery to heal

(19:05) Only a 1/3 of CHROs feel a strong connection to their exec team & board

(27:43) A framework for making big CPO<> CEO decisions

(29:03) Working on your CHRO<>CEO relationship

(38:10) Their manager empowerment research report

(48:24) Rapid fire questions

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147 - Help employees find their higher purpose: Sunny Grosso (Workplace Wellbeing Igniter & Culture Maven) Jan 16, 2024

Sunny Grosso, Workplace Wellbeing Igniter & Culture Maven, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the current state of happiness at work, why wellbeing starts with your leadership team, transcendence and its role in the workplace, and helping employees find their higher purpose.

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This episode was brought to you by Leapsome. Explore their intelligent HR platform here.

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(0:55) Good news stories (04:50) Sunny shares her background, experiences, and how she became a happiness consultant (12:31) A deep dive into yoga's impact on Sunny’s personal and professional life (23:22) Sunny discusses her insights into the science of happiness and its relevance in the workplace (30:00) The employer’s role in the personal happiness of their employees (35:58) Strategies for embedding higher purpose in organizations for better culture and employee engagement (41:05) Practical advice for leaders to understand and implement concepts for a happier workplace (54:24) Discussing the concept of transcendence and its role in the workplace

(57:38) Rapid Fire Questions

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146 - The first 6 months as a Chief People Officer: Q Hamirani (Chief People Officer, Paper) Jan 09, 2024

Q Hamirani, Chief People Officer at Paper, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about his first 6 months as a Chief People Officer, why your company should have well-defined focus areas, advice to other first-time CPOs, and tying your HR KPIs to actual business outcomes.

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This episode was brought to you by Leapsome. Explore Leapsome's intelligent HR platform here.

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Go check out The PeopleGPT Community.

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(1:26) How Q’s first 6 months as Chief People Officer went

(7:45) Good news stories

(13:42) What Q’s journey as a first-time Chief People Officer has looked like so far

(18:45) Setting rigor on backfilling and workforce planning process

(21:30) How he describes the role of Chief People Officer

(23:08) Why people should aspire to be a Chief People Officer

(24:30) Rebuilding trust at Paper

(27:30) Why they moved comms under the People Team

(30:29) Defining the three areas of focus for the business

(39:06) Advice to other first-time CPOs

(42:45) Tying HR KPIs to actual business outcomes

(46:05) Changing his views on AI in HR

(51:47) Why he built the PeopleGPT community

(1:03:42) Rapid Fire Questions

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145 - Broken Systems & Shifting from Pay to Performance Convos: Haris Ikram (Co-Founder at CandorIQ) Dec 18, 2023

Haris Ikram, Co-Founder at CandorIQ, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

First, he interviewed us about how we got into the HR space and times we’ve noticed “the system” to be broken. Then, he shared how we can empower managers to have pay conversations, the insights they need to turn those talks into performance conversations, and how you can be more proactive about pay increases.

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Get the Pay Transparency Playbook: https://www.candoriq.com/resources/pay-transparency-playbook

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(1:45) Good news stories

(7:07) Haris interviews us

(8:07) How we got into the HR & People space

(14:50) Examples of times where we’ve noticed “the system” is broken

(23:16) Examples of times when the system has worked

(30:00) Stephen’s biggest learnings from interviewing over 100+ people leaders

(33:00) How Haris got into the HR Tech world

(35:30) The products need to work for the people team versus the other way around

(36:20) The most difficult thing about being a founder

(37:30) What CandorIQ does and why we should be jealous he gets to work there

(41:02) Equipping managers to have conversations about pay

(43:22) What makes talking about comp so hard

(46:47) The insights you need to turn pay conversations into performance conversations

(50:00) Understanding churn risks within your team

(54:05) How to be more proactive with pay increases

(56:40) How remote and global work has changed pay over the last 3 or 4 years

(59:00) Moving pay data out of spreadsheets

(1:01:06) Rapid fire questions

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144 - An HR Leader’s Journey with Workplace Accommodations: Jodie Cenci (HR Director, Primary.com) Dec 13, 2023

Jodie Cenci, HR Director at Primary.com, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared her journey navigating workplace accommodations since her fibromyalgia diagnosis, the surprising number of people in the U.S. with disabilities, and creative ways companies can be more inclusive of employees with disabilities.

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(3:10) Good news stories

(8:35) Jodie’s story: from selling Cutco knives to HR

(14:48) What Primary does

(16:02) Supporting employees with disabilities

(17:59) Flexibility is a huge win for people with disabilities

(21:02) The distrust of employees is problematic

(23:35) More than 25% of employees have some form of disability

(27:00) Disability is an inclusion issue

(29:10) Accommodation policies need to be more visible

(35:17) How fibromyalgia has impacted Jodie’s ability to work

(39:23) What Jodie learned from going through the accommodation process herself

(42:33) Making it easier for employees to disclose their disabilities

(46:33) Fibromyalgia is still widely misunderstood

(48:40) DISCLO

(50:11) Operating as an HR team of one

(55:25) What she has lined up for 2024

(58:30) Rapid Fire Questions

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143 - The Science of High Performing Teams: Josh Siegal (VP People, 7Shifts) Dec 05, 2023

Josh Siegal, VP of People at 7Shifts, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about navigating complexity and conflict at work, the biggest misconceptions about high performing teams, and what the science says about the highest performing teams.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(2:40) Good news stories

(6:46) Josh’s non traditional path to becoming a VP of People

(8:22) What 7Shifts does

(13:28) The current state of HR: Complexity & Conflict

(15:45) Navigating complexity and burnout in the world we’re in

(18:17) Getting laser focused

(21:30) Creating a safe environment for people during tough times

(30:40) Biggest misconceptions about having a high performing team

(35:35) Renewal rituals and speedy meetings

(37:14) Listening to the rhythms in your body

(40:00) Take a hard look at your daily activities to prioritize focus work

(42:40) Rapid fire questions

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142 - The Retention Revolution: Erica Keswin (Author, Speaker, & Workplace Strategist) Nov 28, 2023

Erica Keswin, author of three WSJ best-sellers, workplace strategist, and podcast host, joined us on The Modern People Leader. This episode was recorded at O.C. Tanner's Influence Greatness.

She shared why we should be elevating and celebrating managers, examples of companies that are nailing onboarding, how to connect new hires to purpose as quickly as possible, and why talent mobility is so important.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their FREE Employee Journey Designer ⁠here⁠.

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(0:40) Good news stories

(3:43) Where the idea for Retention Revolution came from

(6:23) Erica’s writing process

(10:19) The science and stories of connection at work

(12:43) Managers are having a moment so we need to elevate and celebrate them

(14:55) Onboarding, onboarding, onboarding: start as you mean to go on

(19:56) Managers are overburdened and undertrained

(23:47) Being a human professional is not an oxymoron

(27:34) Examples of how to connect new hires to purpose as quickly as possible

(29:39) Talent Mobility: from ladders to lily pads

(35:09) Higher “Churnover” is good

(37:06) Smart companies know how to get positive return out of employee churn

(40:20) Say goodbye to the lifestyles of the rich and flexible and hello to the flex for all

(42:55) The single biggest challenge Modern People Leaders are facing today

(43:30) Finding the sweet spot between tech and connect

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141 - Understanding the EX across 140k employees: Johanna Söderström (EVP, Chief People Officer, Tyson Foods) Nov 20, 2023

Johanna Söderström, EVP & Chief People Officer at Tyson Foods, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how she’s gotten a better understanding of the EX across Tyson’s 140k employees, how they've trained up the executive team on digitalization and building a learning organization, and how her non HR experience has shaped her approach as an HR leader.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their FREE Employee Journey Designer here.

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(3:33) Good news stories

(9:45) Johanna’s story: Born in Helsinki —> having “Sisu” —> handball champion —> Ericsson —> finance & marketing experience —> pivot to HR —> moving to Germany for Dow Chemical —> using the internet for recruiting —> Today

(22:20) 90k of Tyson Food’s 140k employees are frontline employees

(24:45) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Tyson Foods

(27:31) Understanding the different cohorts of employees that work at Tyson

(31:08) Running Tyson Food’s first ever engagement survey

(35:05) More firsts at Tyson Foods

(38:38) Johanna loves to create, build, & transform

(40:20) The momentum that has built since beginning their transformation

(43:00) HR needs to be hungrier for new skills

(49:17) Her thoughts on what’s to come with AI

(51:13) Tyson brought in an external expert to train the executive team on Digitalization and becoming a Learning Organization

(54:13) How her non HR experience has helped shape her approach as an HR leader

(58:00) Where future people leaders should be investing time to develop themselves

(1:01:37) The level of stress in society

(1:04:24) Rapid Fire Questions

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140 - Designing the Employee Journey & Going from CPO to HR Tech CEO: Joris Luijke (CEO of Pyn | Former CPO @ Typeform) Nov 13, 2023

Joris Luijke, CEO at Pyn, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why “Employee Experience Design” has been getting more attention this last decade, how hard it is to be a Chief People Officer right now, and two ways information management is becoming easier to handle.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their FREE Employee Journey Designer here.

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(2:11) Good news stories

(6:56) Joris is a Chief People Officer turned HR Tech CEO

(9:37) He didn’t intend on being an entrepreneur

(12:39) One of his ideas as an HR leader that totally flopped

(14:43) What Pyn does

(17:21) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at Pyn

(20:55) The focus on “Employee Experience Design” is getting way more serious

(25:34) The advancements of AI in the workplace

(36:09) How hard it is to be a Chief People Officer right now

(39:31) The information management is a big challenge for People Leaders

(42:47) Targeted communications is about sending less communications and not more

(46:56) Two ways information management is getting a little bit easier

(50:56) How to selling something like Pyn to your CFO

(55:33) The Employee Journey Mapper

(58:46) Rapid Fire Questions

(1:04:53) A message from Pyn

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139 - Pat Wadors (Chief People Officer, UKG): Creating a Personal Scorecard, Coining “DIBs”, & The Agile Leader Nov 06, 2023

Pat Wadors, Chief People Officer at UKG, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared the story of coining the term “DIBs”, what’s on her personal scorecard and “Goldilocks Spreadsheet”, and why it’s important to be an “Agile Leader”.

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This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get early access to their Employee Journey Designer here.

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(3:13) Good news stories

(8:03) Pat’s story

(11:45) What Pat learned about HR from her uncle

(15:03) Learning to ask for help & building muscle in areas she didn’t feel as comfortable in

(16:38) What UKG does and why we should be jealous she gets to work there

(18:14) The state of the union for HR

(21:06) How Pat created the B in DIB

(28:40) Putting the scaffolding around managers and leaders so they can be leaders for all

(30:38) Why she recommends creating a personal scorecard

(37:20) What’s on her Goldilock’s Spreadsheet

(41:00) Pat’s purpose statement

(45:05) Asking for feedback to “Polish The Apple”

(46:49) Why it’s important to be an “Agile Leader”

(52:40) Characteristics of an “Agile Leader”

(55:51) Rapid fire questions

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138 - Building culture in a remote-first environment: Vanesa Cotlar (VP People & Culture, PolicyMe) Oct 30, 2023

Vanesa Cotlar, VP of People & Culture at PolicyMe, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared how to get executive buy-in on people team hires you plan to make, what goes into building culture in a remote-first environment, and how to build trust remotely.

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This episode was brought to you by CandorIQ. Learn more here.

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(2:25) Good news stories

(7:52) Vanesa’s career journey

(12:54) How being a founder has helped her as a People Leader

(15:26) What PolicyMe does

(17:25) Employee choice & AI in HR

(21:12) Experimenting with ChatGPT

(29:35) What’s keeping her up at night

(31:05) Getting executive buy-in on hires you plan to make for the people team (see original post)

(32:35) Her “if I had time, I’d do it” list

(38:16) Building a good culture in a remote-first environment

(41:55) The 12 events PolicyMe has per year

(47:48) The importance of collecting feedback on a regular cadence

(50:35) Building trust in a remote-first environment

(56:15) Her advice to the one-person HR teams out there

(59:30) Rapid fire questions

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137 - Handling No’s from your CEO & Reminding fellow execs what HR is optimizing for: Melanie Naranjo (VP People, Ethena) Oct 23, 2023

Melanie Naranjo, VP of People at Ethena, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how to handle no’s from your CEO, the questions to ask leadership when you’re interviewing for the top HR role, and why you need to remind fellow execs what you’re optimizing for on the people side.

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This episode was brought to you by People Leader Accelerator. Learn more here.

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(3:22) Good news stories

(14:50) Melanie’s story

(20:38) Melanie was too rigid in her approach early on in her career

(23:33) CEOs need to invest time into their HR leaders

(27:05) How to handle no’s from your CEO

(31:26) Using an agile approach for rolling out manager training

(33:57) The power dynamics at play between CEOs and the women of color in HR

(36:50) Remove all assumptions and lead with curiosity

(39:15) The questions to ask the leadership team when you’re interviewing for the Chief People Officer role

(43:30) Reminding leadership what you’re optimizing for on the people side

(47:48) Rapid fire questions

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136 - Understanding Pain Points & Using Metrics to build credibility as a People Leader: Joanna Kmiec (VP, People & Culture, Elastic Path) Oct 17, 2023

Joanna Kmiec, Vice President of People & Culture at Elastic Path, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about using metrics to drive your people strategy, understanding the pain points of other execs, and creating an employee experience that allows for flexibility and scale.

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This episode was brought to you by CandorIQ. Learn more here.

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(3:03) Good news stories

(8:00) The two things important to her in her career: thinking strategically & HR being viewed as a partner

(13:38) What Elastic Path does

(15:01) Why we should be jealous she gets to work there

(16:48) State of the union for talent in Canada

(20:25) Rebuilding trust and doing more with less

(22:00) You can’t wait to put emphasis on your Employee Experience

(24:30) Ways people teams can save money and do more with less

(28:13) Using metrics to drive your people strategy gives you credibility

(31:43) Asking the “odd question”: Figuring out the pain points of other execs

(35:00) Having a leadership team first approach

(37:30) The rest of the C-Suite need to understand the strategic nature of HR

(42:23) “Full elastic approach”: Remote-first, their asynchronous charter, and having a flexible approach to all of their programs

(47:55) Rapid fire questions

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135 - Rivian CPO on scaling culture from 9 to 15,000 employees & changing the face of factory workers: Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, Rivian) Oct 09, 2023

Helen Russell, Chief People Officer at Rivian, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about scaling the culture as they’ve grown to 15k employees in the last few years, how Rivian is changing the face of what it looks like to be a manufacturing employee, and how they improved decision making throughout the company.

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This episode was brought to you by People Leader Accelerator. Learn more here.

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(3:22) Good news stories

(9:30) Helen’s career journey to becoming Chief People Officer at Rivian: Sonos, Atlassian, Rivian

(16:38) How she’s approached picking the right role

(19:57) Her hypothesis on why there’s a shortage of people leaders right now

(23:43) Why we should be jealous that she gets to work at Rivian

(27:10) Capturing the essence and scaling what it felt like to work at Rivian in the early days

(31:00) Their quarterly recharge conversations

(34:04) Measuring culture at Rivian

(37:40) The onboarding process at Rivian

(40:57) Changing the face of what it looks like to be a manufacturing employee

(50:46) How Rivian involved their frontline employees in their IPO

(54:48) The difference between scaling a company and operating at scale

(1:00:53) Spotting which leaders are going to be able to succeed in the next phase of growth

(1:04:20) How Rivian improved decision making throughout the organization

(1:12:08) Rapid fire questions

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134 - How CHROs can align themselves closer to revenue: Jessica Zwaan (Author, Built for People) & Ryan Bonnici (CMO, Gympass) Oct 06, 2023

Jessica Zwaan (Author, Built for People) and Ryan Bonnici (CMO, Gympass), joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why HR should be considered a revenue generating function, how to align yourself closer to revenue as an HR leader, and why you don’t need to get the metrics perfect for every single people program.

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(2:17) Good news stories

(7:14) How Ryan and Jessica became Aussie besties

(10:15) Ryan’s career journey: flight attendant —> Salesforce —> HubSpot —> CMO at G2 —> CMO at Gympass

(15:40) Built for People is out

(22:05) How HR leaders can align themselves closer to revenue

(29:06) The CHRO role is the hardest role in the C-Suite

(31:15) HR is a revenue generating function

(32:32) Looking at things like the CAC to LTV ratio for employees

(37:06) You don’t need to get the ROI or the metrics perfect

(41:26) The waterfall style that HR has traditionally operated within

(47:40) Crawl, walk, run approach to marketing HR programs

(49:31) Rapid fire questions

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We're gifting free copies of Jessica's book, Built for People. The first 5 people to shoot me (⁠Daniel⁠) a LinkedIn DM get one.

133 - The 3 qualities of the smartest teams, letting AI replace routine work & fostering collective intelligence: Dr. Vivienne Ming (Professional Mad Scientist) Oct 02, 2023

Dr. Vivienne Ming (Professional Mad Scientist), joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about letting AI replace the routine work, the qualities of the smartest teams, and how to foster collective intelligence.

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(2:00) Good news stories

(6:00) Digging under the surface to get to the root of problems

(20:45) Her career journey as an entrepreneur and scientist

(33:00) History of AI over the last 25 years

(41:56) Three definitions of AI

(48:39) The non routine is what’s left of our jobs after AI

(56:30) Building AI to augment people

(58:12) Teaching future generations how to learn

(1:01:06) What separates the most elite performers from everyone else

(1:09:54) The 3 qualities of the “smartest teams”

(1:17:10) Psychological safety isn’t just a squishy idea about not hurting people’s feelings

(1:23:20) How to foster collective intelligence at your company

(1:34:45) Identifying pockets of low psychological safety

(1:43:30) Rapid fire questions

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132 - Navigating major life & career changes: Alex Seiler (Former GHJ Chief People Officer, ex WeWork & NBC, and Advisor) Sep 25, 2023

Alex Seiler (Former GHJ Chief People Officer, ex WeWork & NBC, and Advisor), joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about navigating major life and career changes, the impact of indecisive leadership on Chief People Officers, and the 3 intangibles he’s looking for in his next CPO role.

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(2:51) Good news stories

(9:23) Alex’s career journey

(12:58) Navigating major life and career changes

(17:40) Seeking out help for whatever is on the horizon

(21:40) The indecisiveness amongst leadership teams & the impact that’s having on CPOs

(24:33) It’s not about winning every battle as a people leader

(26:18) What’s keeping Alex up at night: AI and DEI

(29:08) The ‘AI Operations Engineer’ role

(34:01) Alex’s biggest accomplishments at GHJ

(35:25) The ‘Team within a Team” concept

(36:53) What he would have done differently at GHJ

(38:11) Plotting out his next career move & his career vision board

(43:18) Rapid fire questions

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131 - Key Pillars of Internal Marketing (Kerry-Ann Stimpson, The Internal Marketing Podcast) Sep 21, 2023

Kerry-Ann Stimpson, host of The Internal Marketing Podcast, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the key pillars of internal marketing, why her company started an internal podcast, and how to use employee surveys to do internal marketing research.

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(1:23) Good news stories

(4:27) Kerry-Ann’s career in marketing and how that led to her passion in the people space

(7:05) Why she started The Internal Marketing Podcast

(8:40) What JMMB does

(10:50) The types of guests she’s had on her podcast

(12:30) What good internal marketing looks like

(15:05) Why internal marketing still isn’t getting the attention it deserves

(19:20) The different between internal communications and internal marketing

(20:58) The key pillars of internal marketing

(23:02) Giving employees the tools and skills to build their personal brands

(28:18) Starting your own internal podcast for your company

(29:40) You don’t need a fancy set up for your internal podcast

(30:50) Using employee surveys to test the affinity for your brand

(36:17) Auditing your recruitment process to identify people who are aligned with your mission, vision, and purpose of your brand

(40:40) The CMO <> CPO partnership

(45:15) Rapid fire questions

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130 - HR 3.0 & how boards are looking at HR (L. David Kingsley, Chief People Officer at Illumio) Sep 18, 2023

L. David Kingsley, Chief People Leader at Illumio, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how boards are looking at HR, the evolution from HR 1.0 to 3.0 in the last few years, and having the numeracy required for the CHRO role.

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(1:17) Good news stories

(8:50) David’s career journey

(19:47) How boards are looking at HR

(24:30) CFOs on how much HR should cost your company

(28:40) What people leaders should be prioritizing right now

(33:20) HR 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0

(40:50) The reinvigoration of HR and running profit driven companies

(42:40) How many CPOs have the numeracy required for The Modern People Leader job

(44:28) The four legs of the chair have to be the same length: CEO, Chief People Officer, Chief Legal Officer, and CFO

(48:18) Leadership team first

(52:26) Rapid fire questions

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129 - The Year of Productivity: Andrew Bartlow (People Leader Accelerator) Sep 11, 2023

Andrew Bartlow, Co-Founder of the People Leader Accelerator, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why this is the year of productivity, the data you should be looking at when making decisions on remote vs. in-office, and getting brilliant at the basics of HR.

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(1:56) Good news stories

(6:15) Andrew went to school for HR

(13:02) Being a Head of HR at age 23

(14:30) People Leader Accelerator

(21:38) How challenging the work of the people leader is

(25:30) Layoffs and RIFs

(29:09) This is the year of productivity

(32:00) Data points you should be looking at when thinking about hybrid, in office, or remote

(37:10) Remote productivity

(43:56) What’s expected of a people leader today that wasn’t a few years ago

(46:00) There's a risk of chasing the shiny new things and not being brilliant at the basics in HR first

(49:06) Getting brilliant at the basics

(51:12) Getting clarity on what’s important

(53:46) Most CEOs don’t know what a good CPO looks like

(57:35) Rapid fire questions

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128 - Now is the time to double down on DEIB: Roshan Kindred (Chief Diversity Officer, PagerDuty) Sep 05, 2023

Roshan Kindred, Chief Diversity Officer at PagerDuty, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why now is the time to double down on DEI, holding leaders accountable for diverse representation, and why PagerDuty leads with inclusion.

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(2:40) Good news stories

(6:48) Her career journey

(13:40) What PagerDuty does

(14:08) Why we should be jealous Roshan gets to work at PagerDuty

(16:53) The first DEIB program she helped create

(24:51) Are we making real progress on DEIB

(31:53) Why now is the time to double down on DEIB

(36:45) Holding leaders accountable for diverse representation

(41:50) Wellbeing of employees

(42:40) Establishing a point of view

(49:39) Why they refer to DEI as IDE

(51:50) Rapid fire questions

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127 - How Zillow made massive gains in DEI by embracing the future of work: Roz Francuz-Harris (VP of Talent Acquisition) Aug 28, 2023

Roz Francuz Harris, VP of Talent Acquisition at Zillow, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Zillow’s ‘CloudHQ’, the massive impact that CloudHQ has had on DEIB metrics, and why Talent leaders should embrace AI.

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(2:45) Good news stories

(7:50) Her career: Preparation meets opportunity

(11:33) What Zillow does

(12:56) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Zillow

(14:37) CloudHQ at Zillow

(17:00) There are brilliant people EVERYWHERE

(20:20) Giving access to the same opportunities to everyone

(22:30) Zillow’s commitment to distributed work

(25:03) The 3 core values that CloudHQ is rooted in

(27:50) The most challenging aspect of making the transition to CloudHQ

(31:34) The stats: CloudHQ’s huge impact on Zillow’s DEIB metrics

(38:30) How the TA team is using AI

(40:50) Message to other TA leaders: embrace AI

(46:20) Rapid fire questions

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126 - From People Leader to Solopreneur: Reflections at Year 3 Aug 24, 2023

Four-time people leader, Shelby Wolpa, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about making the jump from people leader to Solopreneur, her lessons learned as a consultant, and the state of remote work.

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(1:16) Good news stories

(5:24) Shelby’s 3-year journey as a Solopreneur

(12:03) The Solopreneur experience

(15:31) Solopreneurs that she looks to for inspiration

(21:00) The state of the union for talent

(24:10) HR Tech consolidation

(28:00) AI in HR: documentation, recruiting, people ops, etc.

(34:16) The state of remote work

(44:00) You don’t stop learning when you become a Solopreneur

(48:30) Lessons learned from consulting

(51:00) Shelby’s super powers: running fully distributed teams, strategy, and coaching

(55:24) What’s next for Shelby

(57:20) Defining Solopreneur

(58:03) Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs

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125 - How to be a trusted advisor as a Chief People Officer: Adam Ward (Founding Partner, Growth by Design Talent) Aug 21, 2023

Adam Ward, Founding Partner at Growth by Design Talent joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the shortage of HR leaders out there, how to be a trusted advisor to your CEO as a CPO, and how to run a structured job search.

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This episode was brought to you by Metaview – the AI assistant for interviewing. Try Metaview for free here.

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(3:06) Good news stories

(8:00) Adam’s journey in Talent Acquisition: Facebook, Qualcomm, Pinterest, and founding Growth by Design Talent

(13:00) Growth by Design Talent

(15:40) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at Growth by Design Talent

(17:25) The state of the union for talent

(21:25) Advice to people leaders right now

(25:00) The different styles of influencing

(30:00) Employees want to know what’s expected of them and where they stand with their leader

(33:58) We’re facing a huge shortage of CHROs and Chief People Officers

(36:00) The attributes of a trusted advisor

(42:34) Having a structured job search framework

(49:48) Rapid fire questions

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124 - Finding your next People Leader role: Allison Mairena (Sproul), VP People, NewGlobe Aug 14, 2023

Allison Mairena (Sproul), VP of People at NewGlobe, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her search for her next people leader role and getting your resume in front of the right people without having to apply.

(1:06) Good news stories

(6:16) Her journey from sales to teaching to HR

(16:07) What Allison is up to while looking for her next gig

(20:34) The job search

(25:03) Getting your resume in front of the hiring manager without actually applying for the role

(35:00) Crafting your elevator pitch

(39:40) Loneliness at work and hybrid work

(57:50) Rapid fire questions

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123 - Adaptive Pay Transparency: Ashley Brounstein (Head of People, OpenComp) Aug 08, 2023

Ashley Brounstein, Director of People at OpenComp, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about adaptive pay transparency, why pay transparency is here to stay, and what it looks like in twenty years.

Timestamps:

(2:22) Good news stories

(7:14) Ashley’s career journey

(15:41) What Open Comp does and why we should be jealous she gets to work there

(20:45) Building culture at a high growth startup in the early days

(23:44) Why compensation is such a hot topic

(29:15) Adaptive pay transparency

(31:50) Pay Transparency 101

(33:12) The gender pay gap

(36:44) Why pay transparency is here to stay

(38:17) What pay transparency looks like in 2040

(45:22) Rapid fire questions

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122 - The state of AI in the workplace: Siadhal Magos (Co-Founder & CEO, Metaview) Jul 31, 2023

Siadhal Magos, Co-Founder & CEO at Metaview, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about where we’re at in this AI revolution, how recruiters can augment what they’re doing with AI, and why you’re at a relative advantage if you’re adopting AI across your business.

Timestamps:

(1:50) Good news stories

(6:08) How Siadhal’s journey led him to co-founding Metaview

(10:12) The most challenging aspect of being a founder of a work tech company

(12:38) On building an AI product

(14:46) What Metaview does

(18:38) Why we should be jealous Siadhal gets to work at Metaview

(22:00) Where we are at in this AI revolution and what’s to come

(31:37) Organizations will take positions on what they choose to automate with AI depending on business goals

(36:50) Getting people more comfortable with AI

(41:58) How recruiters can augment what they’re doing with AI

(55:15) You’re at a relative advantage if you’re adopting AI across your business

(56:41) Running hiring processes that understand the candidates context & increasing productivity

(58:49) Rapid fire questions

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121 - Memeing for HR: Jamie Jackson from Humorous Resources Jul 24, 2023

Jame Jackson, from Humorous Resources, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared why she started a meme account for HR, why startups should invest in leadership development early, and how she sees managers weaponizing PIPs.

Timestamps:

(1:08) Good news stories

(4:48) Why Jamie started a meme page for HR

(7:54) The different meme accounts that Jamie runs

(10:30) A day in the life of someone running a meme account

(13:00) Bale besties

(17:00) Horrendous HR stories

(21:30) Employee relations & PIPs

(24:00) Managers weaponizing PIPs

(31:08) Using AI to help with employee relations

(34:30) Why startups should invest early in leadership development

(36:05) Rapid fire questions

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120 - Creating talent abundance for 40k employees at Goldman Sachs: David Landman (Global Head of Talent Development, Goldman Sachs) Jul 17, 2023

David Landman (Global Head of Talent Development, Goldman Sachs) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the retentive power of internal mobility, how they shifted from a mindset of talent scarcity to talent abundance, and how they're enabling the right conversations between managers and employees.

Timestamps:

(1:20) Good news stories

(7:00) David’s career at Goldman Sachs: from intern to Global Head of Talent Development

(12:15) How David cold called his way into his first internship at Goldman Sachs

(15:20) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at Goldman Sachs

(19:45) The talent development team at Goldman Sachs and what they do: L&D, Performance, & Career Paths

(21:50) State of the union for talent: “we’re in a period of patient observation”

(24:30) This is the year of talent retention

(26:04) How AI can help bring more empathy and humanity to the workplace

(30:30) The retentive power of internal mobility

(38:00) Shifting from a mindset of talent scarcity to talent abundance

(45:00) How much time Goldman requires people to be in a seat before moving roles internally

(49:25) How they’re enabling the right conversations between managers and employees

(52:00) What it means to be a good manager at Goldman Sachs

(54:30) The 3 conversations at Goldman Sachs

(1:02:22) Supporting managers to have more empathetic conversations

(1:06:07) 2 HR tools to check out

(1:09:32) Rapid fire questions

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119 - Operationalizing your values & improving asynchronous communication: Nadia Vatalidis (Head of People & Culture, TestGorilla) Jul 11, 2023

Nadia Vatalidis (Head of People & Culture, TestGorilla) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared tips for improving asynchronous work, how to operationalize your values, the types of CEOs that she likes to work for, and how to iterate your onboarding experience.

Timestamps:

(2:30) Good news stories

(9:06) Nadia’s career journey:

(14:20) Traits of the best CEOs she’s worked with

(17:48) What TestGorilla does

(20:00) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at TestGorilla

(21:39) Being the first Head of People and having the opportunity to build from scratch

(28:03) Guiding what asynchronous work looks like at TestGorilla

(31:08) 3 tips for improving asynchronous work

(37:07) Document everything, it will pay off big in the long run

(39:20) Operationalizing your values

(43:00) Your culture is going to evolve

(46:34) Onboarding starts when the person accepts the offer

(50:00) Tech stack for documentation

(52:51) Rapid fire questions

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118 - Eliminating high friction experiences for employees & leveling up your consciousness as a leader (M Valentine, Founder, Annem HR Academy) Jul 05, 2023

M Valentine (Founder of Annem HR Academy) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how HR teams can better focus on the human element, eliminating high friction experiences in the employee experience, and why leaders need to level up their consciousness.

Timestamps:

(1:01) Good news stories

(7:34) Her story: Cashier at Gap, Assistant Manager at Gap, built “Healthy, Happy University” at Gap, HR Nomad at companies like Stitch Fix and Visa, and then started her HR academy

(18:14) Teaching the core competencies of HR in a way that infuses DEIB best practices and a low friction employee experience

(24:14) What it means to be “humans working”

(28:03) How HR teams can focus on the human element

(32:50) Eliminating high friction experiences for employees

(38:59) Leveling up your consciousness

(47:49) Gene Keys

(52:16) If you want to lead, you’re going to need to do the work

(57:09) Rapid fire questions

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117 - Vimeo CPO on being intentional with culture building (Crystal Boysen, Chief People Officer, Vimeo) Jun 26, 2023

Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Vimeo) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about intentional culture building, how to bring your core values to life on your people team, and why Vimeos People Team operates like a product team.

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This episode was brought to you by Learnerbly. Get a free 7-day trial of Learnerbly here.

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Timestamps:

(3:05) Good news stories

(8:15) Crystal’s journey to becoming Chief People Officer at Vimeo

(12:32) What Vimeo does

(13:55) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Vimeo

(16:48) The foundation of business is people. Without people, you have no business

(20:00) One of the most powerful culture change models

(23:05) State of the Vimeos (SOTVs)

(25:00) Making the most out of all hands meetings: customer stories, employee panels, and mass kudos

(28:01) Bringing the core values to life within the people team

(32:04) Running Vimeo’s people team like a product team

(36:42) The Vimeo People Team’s 3 key priorities for the year

(39:20) Vimeo’s new learning experience platform

(41:40) Sourcing “the right talent” at Vimeo

(45:00) Rapid fire questions

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116 - Rethinking the ROI of learning & creating hyper-personalized learning experiences: Rajeeb Dey (Founder & CEO, Learnerbly) Jun 19, 2023

Rajeeb Dey (Founder & CEO, Learnerbly) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why we need to rethink the ROI of learning, how to create hyper-personalized learning experiences, and commonly held beliefs in L&D that we need to let go of.

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This episode was brought to you by Learnerbly. Get a free 7-day trial of Learnerbly here.

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Timestamps:

(3:05) Good news stories

(7:15) Raj’s career journey and how he became an entrepreneur

(15:35) How Learnerbly is redefining the learning tech category

(18:54) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at Learnerbly

(20:40) Moving from Talent Acquisition to Talent Activation

(22:26) What it means to have a thriving culture of learning

(26:24) Rethinking the ROI of learning

(27:37) Engagement in learning

(31:12) What a world class learning experience looks like: hyper-personalized learning, reaches people in the flow of work, and allows people to connect.

(33:35) Raj’s Learnerbly playlist

(36:04) Commonly held beliefs in L&D that we need to let go of

(38:45) How Learnerbly uses Learnerbly

(42:09) How Raj believes AI could impact learning

(46:58) The most transformative learning journey he’s seen with a client

(49:20) Rapid fire questions

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115 - People love learning together: Yael Irom (Head of Leadership & Professional Enablement, Tanium) Jun 13, 2023

Yael Irom (Head of Leadership & Professional Enablement at Tanium) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Tanium’s co-hort based leadership programs and the reception they’ve received thus far.

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This episode was brought to you by Learnerbly. Get a free 7-day trial of Learnerbly here.

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Timestamps:

(2:30) Good news stories

(7:20) Her early career was founding public schools

(15:08) What Tanium does

(19:15) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Tanium

(22:50) What she does as the Head of Leadership & Professional Enablement

(27:34) How they built the “Skills and Performance” program in a way that was scaleable and effective

(35:36) The “Leadership Accelerator Program” at Tanium

(39:27) The reception to the accelerator program

(40:49) The global enablement team at Tanium

(43:18) The language they use and how they refer to their people

(45:16) Rapid fire questions

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114 - Q Hamirani (Chief People Officer, Paper) on building Airbnb's 'Live & Work Anywhere' program & his new Chief People Officer role Jun 06, 2023

Q Hamirani (Chief People Officer, Paper) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the Live and Work Anywhere Program from his time at Airbnb, how he navigates moments of uncertainty, and how he’s approaching his first 90 days as Chief People Officer at Paper.

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This episode was brought to you by Learnerbly. Get a free 7-day trial of Learnerbly here: https://get.learnerbly.com/mpl/

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Timestamps:

(2:36) Good news stories

(6:03) Q’s journey: Engineering student —> consultant —> global strategy & ops —> HR consulting —> MBA —> People Ops —> Chief People Officer

(15:00) What Paper does

(15:49) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at Paper

(17:30) How Live and Work Anywhere came about at Airbnb

(26:56) The four pillars of the Live and Work Anywhere program

(32:30) The definition of global mobility changed during the pandemic

(38:18) How he operates in moments of uncertainty

(44:50) What attracted him to Paper

(46:55) How he’s going to approach his first 90 days as Chief People Officer

(50:30) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

113 - It’s ok to admit we don’t have all the answers: Penny Farinha (VP, Human Resources, ecobee) May 31, 2023

Penny Farinha (VP, Human Resources, ecobee) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about scaling the ecobee people team from 1 to 25, how her role has evolved, and why more companies should admit when they don’t have all the answers.

This episode was brought to you by Learnerbly. Get a free 7-day trial of Learnerbly here: https://get.learnerbly.com/mpl/

Timestamps:

(6:57) Growing the HR team from 1 to 25

(9:44) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Ecobee

(14:47) Building HR functions from scratch

(16:32) How her role has changed over the last 7 years

(20:14) Being able to leverage a larger HR team after being acquired

(23:14) Creating more pathways in tech for marginalized groups

(29:14) Conflict resolution

(32:14) Admitting when we don’t have all of the answers

(43:04) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

112 - Inclusive Processes & “Sneaky DEIB”: GoDaddy’s VP of Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging, Kristy Lilas May 22, 2023

Kristy Lilas (Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how to identify the processes at your company that aren’t inclusive or equitable and sneaky ways you can incorporate DEIB into programs that already exist.

This episode was brought to you by Learnerbly. Get a free 7-day trial of Learnerbly here: https://get.learnerbly.com/mpl/

Timestamps:

(3:25) Good news stories

(6:59) Her journey into DIB work

(12:05) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at GoDaddy

(15:30) The biggest blockers to progress in DEIB work today

(17:30) The forming, storming, norming, and performing phases that teams go through

(21:15) Hybrid work and it’s potential to undo some of the progress that we’ve made

(26:03) How to mitigate biases in a hybrid setting

(28:10) How to evaluate all of your processes to improve DEI

(32:55) Creating a heat map of all of your processes and where there are the biggest gaps related to DEI

(36:15) The great pause

(40:15) Sneaky DEIB

(47:15) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

111 - Internal mentorship programs are a cheat code: Charter’s Head of Workplace Strategy & Innovation (Massella Dukuly) & Head of Research, SVP (Emily Goligoski) May 08, 2023

Charter’s Massella Dukuly (Head of Workplace Strategy + Innovation) and Emily Goligoski (Head of Research, SVP) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about making the implicit explicit and why internal mentorship programs are a cheat code for organizations.

Timestamps:

(1:50) Good news stories

(6:20) How Charter is helping the HR community

(10:34) Why this work is important to them

(18:04) Biggest shifts in the workplace pre-COVID to today

(24:00) What progress is at risk of going away

(30:00) Backtracking and the impact on DEI

(35:21) Great talent exists all over the world

(40:50) Making the implicit knowledge explicit

(43:10) Why Internal mentorship are a cheat code for companies

(48:22) What makes a formal mentorship program successful

(52:07) The BEST companies are thoughtful about codifying things

(1:00:00) The benefits of two-way mentorship

(1:01:10) How Charter runs their off-sites

(1:09:02) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

110 - 4 CPOs on the future of work & needing more CPOs in the CEO role May 04, 2023

This week we had four 3-time guests on for an MPL Group Chat:

Lyndsay Lord, CHRO at DECA Dental Group
Dilshan Ratnayake, Leading HR Executive
Rhiana Barr, Chief People Officer at Snap Finance
Kristen Barbor, Leading HR Executive

We talked about the future of work and why we need more Chief People Officers to transition into the CEO role.

Timestamps:

(1:37) Good news stories

(8:50) Biggest reflections looking back the last couple of years

(15:50) Future or fad: Remote work

(22:34) Future or fad: DEI budgets

(28:50) Future or fad: ChatGPT

(36:09) Future or fad: The focus on mental health and wellbeing

(44:30) What the group is most concerned about for the future

(47:00) Boards need to take the people element seriously

(51:40) What’s getting the group fired up for the rest of the year

(57:00) We need more Chief People Officers transitioning to CEO

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

109 - VC needs more people from HR: Kat Steinmetz, Principal at Initialized Capital May 01, 2023

Kat Steinmetz (Principal, Initialized Capital) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the HR skills that are useful as a VC and why more people from HR should make the jump into VC.

Timestamps:

(1:12) Good news stories

(6:22) At one point Kat was a touring musician, makeup artist, and HR leader all at the same time

(16:00) Being a “multi-potentialite”

(21:20) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Initialized Capital

(24:40) Figuring out she was a good fit for VC

(31:09) The HR skills that have been useful as a VC

(33:30) Why more people from HR should go into VC

(39:00) The biggest people challenges at her portfolio companies

(40:50) Getting through the frozen budget of HR

(45:06) The hiring frenzy that led to recent layoffs

(49:07) Evaluating deals from a people lens

(53:30) The leadership team’s culture is the company’s culture

(58:28) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

108 - This Chief People Officer talks to her CEO daily (Kate Parente, Pegasystems) Apr 25, 2023

Kate Parente (Chief People Officer, Pega) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about making the office a magnet, building a strong relationship with your CEO, and the power of storytelling as a people leader.

Timestamps:

(1:22) Good news stories

(13:00) This is her first Chief People Officer role

(17:00) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Pega

(20:00) The paradigm shift that’s happening at work

(22:00) There’s no one size fits all approach to work

(25:00) How the people team is structured at Pega

(28:28) Making the office a magnet, not a mandate

(31:00) Piloting “Connection Weeks” at Pega

(32:46) What makes the Pega people team unique

(37:18) The CEO <> CHRO relationship

(40:46) Figuring out what people are thinking and feeling at this moment

(42:00) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

107 - Angela Crossman (Chief People Officer, Brex) on revamping your employee listening function & getting creative with offsites Apr 19, 2023

Angela Crossman (Chief People Officer, Brex) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her journey into HR (non profit admin, massage therapist, & consultant), bringing your internal & external listening data together, and getting creative with offsites.

Timestamps:

(2:00) Good news stories

(5:03) Her career journey

(13:17) Why we should be jealous that she gets to work at Brex

(16:30) Their fully-flexible work model

(20:00) The HR Team’s structure at Brex

(23:16) Dog fooding at Brex

(25:30) Overcoming myths around what’s “not working” with their globally distributed team

(30:12) The skills she gained from her time as a Chief of Staff for multiple executives

(33:20) Bringing all of the internal and external listening data together

(36:40) The employee listening tech stack

(39:35) Advice to HR leaders on improving their people analytics

(43:00) Why off-sites are core to Brex & how they’ve gotten creative with different formats

(48:06) How she defines a Modern People Leader

(49:20) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

106 - Caitlin Kamm (Head of People Growth, Envoy) on why it's impossible for HR to make everybody happy Apr 10, 2023

Caitlin Kamm (Head of People Growth, Envoy) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why it’s impossible for people teams to make everybody happy, Envoy’s focus on inclusion, and why organizations needs to focus on their EVP.

Timestamps:

(2:08) Good news stories

(7:20) Going from law to HR

(13:30) What Envoy does

(15:05) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Envoy

(23:10) It’s impossible for HR teams to make everybody happy

(28:22) Envoy’s EVP is around community and collaboration

(30:24) Bringing levity back to the workplace

(31:00) Figuring out how to leverage both in-person learning experiences and creative practices

(33:00) What they’re doing on the survey side of things

(36:00) Focusing on inclusion

(40:40) Tracking participation of ERGs

(42:16) What Hybrid means for Envoy

(51:37) The value of eNPS

(54:30) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

MPL Live @ Transform - Kelly Minella (Head of Recruiting, Calendly) on the hiring partner experience Apr 07, 2023

Kelly Minella (Head of Recruiting, Calendly) joined us on The Modern People Leader live from Transform.

Timestamps:

(0:30) What’s giving her energy at Transform

(1:07) Inclusive hiring practices

(2:17) Exciting recruiting tech she discovered at Transform

(3:07) Weathering the storm in Talent Acquisition

(5:45) Biggest lessons learned in the last year or two

(8:50) Future or fad TA edition

(13:10) You need to be intentional and creative

(15:36) How Calendly is using Textio (job description bias tool)

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

MPL Live @ Transform - Angela Cheng-Cimini (SVP, Talent & CHRO, Harvard Business Publishing) on pay transparency Apr 07, 2023

Angela Cheng-Cimini (CHRO, Harvard Business Publishing) joined us on The Modern People Leader live from Transform.

Timestamps:

(0:23) What’s giving her energy at Transform

(2:00) The one thing she wanted people to take away from her session at Transform

(4:20) People want hyper-personalization in their employee experience

(5:40) Why pay transparency is so near and dear to her

(7:03) Understanding the implication of AI

(8:46) What’s here to stay

(10:19) The traits of a Modern People Leader

(12:11) Middle managers are getting crunched

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

MPL Live @ Transform - Ian White (Founder & CEO, ChartHop) on compensation planning Apr 07, 2023

Ian White (Founder & CEO, ChartHop) joined us on The Modern People Leader live from Transform.

Timestamps:

(0:20) What’s giving him energy at Transform

(2:16) The pandemic was forcing function on a lot of the trends we were already seeing

(3:30) The panel he led on compensation

(4:20) Data is nothing without context

(6:00) Getting a single view of all of your people in your organization

(11:20) The next big people problem that could be solved related to data

(15:25) How he thinks about building new products

(21:33) The most compelling idea he heard at Transform

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

MPL Live @ Transform - Donald Knight (Chief People Officer, Greenhouse) on DEI progress & pitfalls Apr 07, 2023

Donald Knight (Chief People Officer, Greenhouse) joined us on The Modern People Leader live from Transform.

Timestamps:

(0:30) What’s giving him energy at Transform

(2:00) The pitfalls of DEI

(3:49) The “full house” ERG at Greenhouse

(6:30) Companies that are choosing to cut their DEI teams and initiatives are telling you exactly who they have always been

(9:30) Measuring the quality of impact

(13:00) The one thing he wanted people to take away from her session at Transform

(17:00) The most compelling idea he heard at Transform

(21:00) Shout outs to the Greenhouse team

(22:53) The traits of a Modern People Leader

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

MPL Live @ Transform - Kevin Lowell (Chief People Officer, UScellular) on the power of the peer Apr 06, 2023

Kevin Lowell (Chief People Officer, UScellular) joined us on The Modern People Leader live from Transform.

Timestamps:

(1:07) What’s giving him energy at Transform

(2:25) AI in HR

(7:40) Why the power of the peer is near and dear to Kevin

(11:40) Bringing a CIO mindset and a healthy skepticism to the Chief People Officer role

(15:40) What he’s the most excited to learn as a new Chief People Officer

(16:40) Personalizing benefit plans for people

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

MPL Live @ Transform - Maureen Calabrese (Chief People Officer, Modern Health) on being burnt out on burnout Apr 06, 2023

Maureen Calabrese (Chief People Officer, Modern Health) joined us on The Modern People Leader live from Transform.

Timestamps:

(0:57) What’s giving her energy at Transform

(1:40) Being burnt out on burnout

(5:06) Distinguishing burnout from something else

(6:20) Her journey from analytics to HR

(7:09) Her passion for the topic of mental health

(11:00) The one thing she wanted people to take away from her session at Transform

(12:35) The most compelling idea she heard at Transform

(13:45) The one key trait that Modern People Leader’s need to have for the future

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

MPL Live @ Transform - Mahima Chawla (Co-Founder & CEO, Cocoon) on caring for caregivers Apr 06, 2023

Mahima Chawla (Co-Founder & CEO, Cocoon) joined us on The Modern People Leader live from Transform.

Timestamps:

(1:00) What’s giving her energy at Transform

(2:00) Her founder story

(5:03) Caring for caregivers

(6:09) 20% of employees are caregiving in some way

(7:29) Individuals are twice as likely to stay at a company if they have a strong mentor

(12:00) The one thing she wanted people to take away from her session at Transform

(13:55) The one key trait that Modern People Leader’s need to have for the future

(14:17) Fad or future

(17:00) Clear is kind, unclear is unkind

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

MPL Live @ Transform - Jolen Anderson (Global Head of Human Resources, BNY Mellon) on making an impact Apr 06, 2023

Jolen Anderson (Global Head of People, BYN Mellon) joined us on The Modern People Leader live from Transform.

Timestamps:

(2:00) What’s giving her energy right now

(4:25) How impact, people, and purpose are coming together

(6:04) What’s going to stick from all of the change the last few years

(8:43) Navigating many competing demands as an HR leader at one time

(11:20) Giving people more choices in a way that’s structured

(13:46) The one thing she wanted people to take away from her session at Transform

(17:43) The most compelling new ideas that she heard at Transform

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

105 - Tracie Sponenberg (Chief People Officer, The Granite Group) on modernizing your people function Apr 04, 2023

Tracie Sponenberg (Chief People Officer, The Granite Group) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about what it's like working in HR for a traditional company, The Granite Group’s journey to modernizing their people function, and why the HR community is so important to her.

Timestamps:

(1:40) Good news stories

(6:11) Why Tracie wanted to be in HR ever since high school

(8:35) What The Granite Group does

(10:03) Why we should be jealous that she gets to work at The Granite Group

(14:50) Working in a traditional industry versus tech

(15:10) The biggest difference between the HR team she inherited versus the team she has now

(16:20) Shifting their mindset to become a modern people team

(19:20) The critical success factors to transforming the people function at The Granite Group

(22:57) They’ve built a dozen learning paths

(34:40) The steps you can take to build your employer brand as a traditional company

(37:00) Why the HR community is so important to her

(39:55) The unexpected benefits of being a part of different HR communities

(43:00) Finding ways to help people with mental health issues

(48:14) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

104 - Heidi Hauver (Chief People Officer, TrackTik/Trackforce Valiant) on fueling growth at the director + stage of your career, going beyond data 101, & the paralells between leadership and parenting Mar 27, 2023

Heidi Hauver (Chief People Officer, TrackTik) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the process she followed for finding her CPO role, going beyond “Data 101”, and the parallels between leadership and parenting.

Timestamps:

(1:20) Good news stories

(7:08) Getting her degree while working her way up to the director level

(13:00) Thinking outside of the box with recruiting

(16:30) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at TrackTik

(18:00) How Heidi thought about her “dream role” when looking for her next job

(19:47) How she fuels her growth at this stage of her career

(23:14) Her mentors and how she found them

(28:00) Heidi’s “lean in circle”

(30:18) How Heidi identifies where to invest in her development

(34:08) Heidi’s process for landing her Chief People Officer role at TrackTik

(40:17) Sussing out the culture of the company you’re interviewing for

(46:00) Going beyond “Data 101”

(50:10) What her people experience team dashboard looks like

(51:50) Victories, Insights, & Puzzles

(58:12) The parallels between parenting and leadership

(1:05:56) Rapid fire questions

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

103 - MPL Group Chat: Hiring in HR, the expansion of DEI, & a more transparent future Mar 23, 2023

Merary Soto-Saunders (Global Head of DEI, CVC Partners) and Ciara Lakhani (Chief People Officer, Dashlane) joined us on The Modern People Leader for a group chat.

We talked about the skills they look for when hiring, embedding DEI into everything that we do, and why the future of work is more transparent.

Timestamps:

(1:52) Good news stories

(5:22) Acknowledging that we’re going through stressful times

(11:02) On working in HR for a big company versus a small company

(16:03) How recruiting for HR roles has changed

(23:22) The skills they look for when hiring for their people teams

(32:38) Moving beyond employee experience to people sustainability

(33:52) Embedding DEI into everything that we do

(38:18) Hybrid work

(39:50) The future of work/living is more transparent

(48:24) Reliable ways of looking at how we can influence inclusion

(50:40) What excites Ciara about 2023

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

102 - Jennifer Christie (Chief People Officer, DocuSign) on the personalization of the HR function Mar 20, 2023

Jennifer Christie (Chief People Officer, DocuSign) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the personalization of the HR function, how they keep their people team of 250 employees moving in the same direction, and the spirit of their future of work strategy.

Timestamps:

(1:20) Good news stories

(4:14) Her career journey: government service, executive search @ American Express, Head of People @ Twitter, CPO @ Bolt, & now CPO @ DocuSign

(7:54) How big their people team is

(9:53) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at DocuSign

(10:55) The personalization of the HR function

(14:58) Creating a safe space for employees

(20:30) More companies focusing on growing responsibly

(22:55) Making room for more focus time

(29:30) How their people team of 250 people is structured

(31:00) The cadence the people team has in place to keep everyone rowing in the same direction

(33:36) ‘The DocuSign Leadership Group’ is thinking through what the future of work looks like for them

(35:47) The spirit that DocuSign is trying to achieve with their future of work strategy

(39:06) Focusing on the how of work instead of the where of work

(40:17) Where she thinks we’ll see some serious advancements in the world of work

(42:30) AI in HR

(46:56) What is annoying & inspiring people about coming into the office at DocuSign

(49:30) Focusing on the employee experience in the same way you focus on the customer experience

(51:53) Her definition of a Modern People Leader

(52:50) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

101 - Bernard Coleman (Chief Diversity & Engagement Officer, Gusto) on going from politics to HR, how Gusto’s Employee Engagement team is structured, & common manager missteps Mar 13, 2023

Bernard Coleman (Chief Diversity & Engagement Officer, Gusto) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about his journey from politics to HR, how Gusto’s Employee Engagement team is structured, and common manager missteps.

Timestamps:

(4:01) Bernard’s journey from politics into HR

(7:16) Learnings from politics that he’s been able to apply to HR

(11:18) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at Gusto

(14:00) Why Gusto integrated Engagement & Diversity

(16:38) How the Diversity & Engagement team is structured at Gusto

(20:59) How they’re tracking engagement

(24:48) How Gusto are tracking the membership and efficacy of their ERGs

(29:30) Gusto’s intersectional content calendar

(31:48) Where companies should start with ERGs

(34:30) Mentorship programs

(36:55) Advice to people of color on networking

(42:18) Underestimation is a huge misstep managers are making

(44:42) Providing direction as a manager

(47:01) His definition of a Modern People Leader

(48:24) The career advice he’d give his 22-year-old self

(49:36) Shout outs to the Gusto team

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

100 - SPECIAL EPISODE: The MPL interview Mar 09, 2023

Today we shook things up and interviewed each other.

We talked about the openness of the HR community, what it has been like interviewing some of the top HR leaders, the biggest challenges of starting a podcast, what MPL looks like in three years, and more.

Timestamps:

(4:50) Stephen’s biggest learnings since starting the podcast

(7:00) The world of work is fractured right now

(10:20) There is no set playbook for doing a podcast

(11:43) The most unexpected thing that’s come out of doing the podcast for Stephen

(15:40) How open the HR community has been

(17:13) What The Modern People Leader looks like in three years

(19:40) Being more than just a podcast for the HR community

(20:30) Stephen’s number one fan

(23:25) The most challenging part of growing Modern People Leader

(28:00) Daniel’s biggest area of growth since starting the podcast & finding his own genius

(32:00) What it has been like for Daniel interviewing some of the top HR leaders

(35:30) Advice to anyone looking to start a podcast

(38:39) Optimizing for the feelings we have at the end of an episode

(42:17) Daniel’s number one fan

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

99 - Tony Buffum (VP, HR Client Strategy, Upwork) on the rise of freelance talent Mar 06, 2023

Tony Buffum (VP, HR Client Strategy, Upwork) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the biggest misconceptions that employers have about freelance talent, why the rise of freelance talent isn’t a trend, and how Fortune 100 companies are integrating independent talent into their talent strategy.

Timestamps:

(5:23) Tony’s journey and unique role at Upwork

(13:57) Why we should be jealous of his job at Upwork

(19:16) The rise in independent talent

(21:05) 39% of the US workforce performed freelance work last year

(23:36) The biggest misconceptions about doing freelance work

(25:25) The biggest misconceptions that employers have about freelance talent

(31:02) Why the rise of freelance work is not a trend

(33:44) Tony’s advice to people selecting freelance talent for the first time

(37:00) The customer service mindset of freelance workers

(39:52) Benefits of tapping into global talent

(45:15) Fortune 100 companies are integrating freelance talent into their talent strategy

(49:24) Thinking about work differently

(53:00) His definition of a Modern People Leader

(53:55) The advice he’d give to his 22-year-old self

(55:30) What he’d fix in HR with a magic wand

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

98 - Brandon Sammut (Chief People Officer, Zapier) on internal mobility Feb 27, 2023

Brandon Sammut, Chief People Officer at Zapier, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Zapier’s secondment program, how they build awareness of different talent pathways, and how to build bridges with your CEO.

Timestamps:

(4:58) Wanting to find better ways of mapping people’s capabilities to opportunities that help them realize their potential

(13:28) Why we should be jealous Brandon gets to work at Zapier

(15:30) Zapier’s secondment program

(18:10) Their cultural instinct to redeploy talent & being a bootstrapped company

(21:20) How Zapier has redeployed their TA team

(24:25) Progress over perfection

(26:55) Advice Brandon would give to HR leaders trying to get their internal mobility programs started

(30:26) The talent pathways they’ve built at Zapier

(35:00) ‘Career Pathways’ at Zapier

(36:46) How they build awareness of their talent pathways

(39:25) Having a CEO that understands the importance of these programs

(42:26) Bridge building with your CEO

(47:04) Transparency without context is sometimes unhelpful

(49:21) Brandon’s definition of a Modern People Leader

(49:55) The career advice he’d give his 22-year-old self

(51:03) Shoutouts to the Zapier team

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

97 - Employee fulfillment, the disconnect between HR & the people building HR Tech, ERGs, & building a network of teams Feb 24, 2023

Today we shared our biggest learnings from MPL guests in January and February.

Timestamps:

(6:57) Mindi Cox on moving from employee engagement to employee fulfillment

(14:00) Having boomerangs is a sign of a healthy culture

(16:20) Drawing more diverse voices into the VC world

(17:52) The disconnect between the people who build HR tech and HR

(22:46) Tapping ERGs to help solve business problems

(28:10) Building a network of teams

(31:06) The pathological organization and why people don’t leave

(36:30) Moving to a curated workplace

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

96 - Rich Jacquet (Chief People Officer, Coursera) on always wanting to be in HR, Coursera's leadership academy, dedicated learning days, AI in HR, & more Feb 20, 2023

Rich Jacquet, Chief People Officer at Coursera, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how he always wanted to be in HR, dedicated learning days at Coursera, their internal leadership academy, AI in HR, and more.

Timestamps:

(5:53) Rich went to school wanting to be an HR person

(13:28) The course he took on the history of the Ukraine region

(17:35) Creating skills rubrics internally at Coursera

(20:32) Dedicated learning days & their two global weeks of rest

(23:57) The most in-demand jobs right now

(27:55) Using AI to coach leaders

(32:08) Driving alignment and effectiveness across their People Team of 75 people

(34:40) Their leadership academy

(37:30) The year of the manager at Coursera

(39:55) Helping people build personal connections at work

(42:50) Getting a heartbeat of what’s going on at your company

(48:17) How Rich defines a Modern People Leader

(49:50) The career advice he’d give his 22-year-old self

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

95 - Christine Song (Chief People Officer, Knix) on discussing the hard things at your company Feb 16, 2023

Christine Song, Chief People Officer at Knix, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her experience in HR across eight different industries, her first three months as Knix’s new Chief People Officer, and the importance of doing the ground zero work before moving into the strategic work.

Timestamps:

(9:37) Why we should be jealous that she gets to work at Knix

(12:39) The advice she recently gave to soon to be graduates

(16:56) The one skill that has served her well as an HR leader that’s worked in 8 different industries

(21:58) Knix’s ‘Aerial Tours’ discussing the hard things

(26:33) The mistake Founder CEOs often make: hiring one person to do both HR and talent acquisition

(31:21) Doing the ground zero work will help you succeed in the strategy work further down the line

(35:22) How to know when your direct report is ready for that promotion

(39:45) What her first 3 months have looked like as the new Chief People Officer

(44:44) Creating an environment for the People Team that allows for more risks

(50:20) Her definition of a Modern People Leader

(50:50) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

94 - Josh Bersin (HR Analyst) on the 7 secrets of the world's most enduring, employee-focused organizations Feb 13, 2023

Josh Bersin, HR Analyst at The Josh Bersin Company, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the most impactful events he’s seen in HR over the decades, the network of teams operating model, the highest predictor of top performing HR teams, and the two lessons he hopes everyone takes away from reading his book, Irresistible.

Timestamps:

(4:45) Do what you love and worry about the promotions and money later

(10:00) Why we should be jealous of his day job

(12:05) The most impactful events he’s seen in HR over the decades

(16:38) Irresistible: The Seven Secrets of the world’s most enduring, employee-focused organizations

(20:06) Network of teams operating model

(25:07) The symptoms of not operating as a network of teams

(30:30) The mythical man-month and the agile manifesto

(34:40) The Nestle innovation center

(36:00) Characteristics of high performing teams

(38:29) The highest predictor of top performing HR teams

(42:06) The two lessons he hopes everyone takes away from reading his book

(45:16) AI in HR

(48:47) Josh’s definition of a Modern People Leader

(49:16) The career advice he’d give his 22-year-old self

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

93 - Femily Howe (Gender/Equity Advisor) on taboo diversity questions Feb 06, 2023

Femily Howe, Gender/Equity Advisor at Femily On The Go, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her work advancing women in the workplace, leaning into the awkward conversations about diversity, and using ERGs to solve business problems.

Timestamps:

(13:24) Why we should be jealous of her day job

(15:30) Her work advancing women in the workplace

(18:12) Addressing the statement, “I want to be more gender inclusive, but I don’t want to lower the bar”

(25:38) Misgendering and microaggressions

(28:30) Explaining privilege to someone that doesn’t get it

(38:13) Focusing on actions and behaviors instead of changing hearts and minds

(43:23) How to hold recruiters and hiring managers accountable for diversity targets

(47:45) People would rather avoid awkwardness than reach out to diverse talent in their network

(49:12) Getting more out of your ERGs

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

92 - Allison Baum Gates (General Partner, SemperVirens) on funding the future of work Jan 30, 2023

Allison Baum Gates, General Partner at SemperVirens, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked what led her to the intersection of VC and work tech, why the future of work is the single most important problem to solve, and her upcoming book, “Breaking into Venture”.

Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/

Pre-order your copy of "Breaking into Venture": https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-into-Venture-Capitalist-Life-Changing/dp/1264698941/

Timestamps:

(7:51) Arriving at the intersection of VC and the future of work

(14:38) Biggest changes related to the future of work from a VC perspective

(19:08) Why making work better is so important

(21:15) The 5 D’s of the future of work

(25:46) Leaning out

(28:21) What makes SemperVirens a unique VC firm

(30:23) The 3 A’s of being successful in Venture Capital

(32:15) The difficulties of being a Work Tech founder

(34:44) Predicting what’s coming for the future of work

(39:18) Need to haves versus “vitamins” in HR tech

(44:32) Her upcoming book: "Breaking into Venture"

(52:36) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

91 - Mindi Cox (Chief Marketing & People Officer, O.C. Tanner) on moving from employee engagement to employee fulfillment Jan 23, 2023

Mindi Cox, Chief Marketing & People Officer at O.C. Tanner, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about moving from employee engagement to employee fulfillment and the work required to change culture.

Timestamps:

(17:37) Why we should be jealous Mindi gets to work at OC Tanner

(19:38) Moving from employee engagement to employee fulfillment

(25:00) Looking at the value of your work situation beyond just your salary

(33:41) The self determination theory applied to work: autonomy, mastery, and connection

(39:00) How to change your company’s culture

(42:15) The Southwest Airlines culture

(47:35) Her definition of a Modern People Leader

(48:00) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

90 - MPL's 8 biggest learnings from HR leaders in 2022 Jan 19, 2023

Today we shared MPL updates for 2023 and our 8 biggest learnings from 2022.

Timestamps:

(2:55) MPL updates for 2023

(5:40) MPL origin story

(17:08) #1 Flexibility (plus trust) is the name of the game

(24:06) #2 DEI & the future of work are connected

(31:13) #3 Everyone would benefit from therapy (especially HR)

(37:52) #4 Think of the employee experience as a product

(42:51) #5 The role of the CHRO is really f****** hard and not going to get any easier

(51:40) #6 Gen Z isn’t afraid to ask for all of the things we’ve always wanted

(1:03:15) #7 People are rethinking their purpose portfolios

(1:09:46) #8 Career advice for HR practitioners

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

89 - Julia Soffa (Principal Internal Communications Manager, Guru) on how information overload is hurting our bodies & the businesses we work for Jan 16, 2023

Julia Soffa, Principal Internal Communications Manager at Guru, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about information overload, the golden rule of communication, how to build an attention audit survey, and why we should all embrace JOMO.

Timestamps:

(10:03) When Julia started noticing digital debt in her personal life

(15:00) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Guru

(16:47) Her role as Principal Internal Communications Manager

(19:00) Information overload is hurting our bodies and the businesses that we work for

(23:41) The attention audit survey

(28:01) Going from 6% remote to 65% in just two years

(30:45) The golden rule of internal communication

(36:36) How to structure an attention audit survey and the surprising responses they’ve gotten

(39:22) Why we should all embrace JOMO

(43:22) The 4 P’s of meetings

(46:47) How she thinks about digital rituals

(50:54) Her definition of a Modern People Leader

(52:01) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self

Guru's information overload survey: https://app.getguru.com/card/TaArybBc/Information-Overload-Employee-Survey-

Guru's resources for managing information overload: https://app.getguru.com/card/cdApaoqi/Resources-for-Managing-Information-Overload

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

88 - Lars Schmidt (Founder, Amplify) on the 2 things HR pros should prioritize for their careers & ways HR will look different in 2023 Jan 09, 2023

Lars Schmidt, Founder of Amplify Talent, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about what you should know if you plan to make the jump into HR, the 2 most important things for HR practitioners to prioritize their careers around, and the ways HR will look different in 2023.

Timestamps:

(3:20) Recent launch of Amplify Academy's Diversity Council

(4:37) Lars’ career story and how he started Amplify

(9:36) What happened in 2015 for the open sourcing of HR

(15:20) Getting out of the zero-sum mindset that in order to win everyone else has to lose

(18:45) HR is now a destination function

(20:00) Where there’s room for disruption within HR

(22:20) What you should know if you’re making the jump into HR

(30:00) The 2 most important things for HR practitioners to prioritize their career around

(34:00) The importance of having peer networks

(39:36) On whether the economic uncertainty will hamper progress made over the last few years

(43:03) People moving away from the startup scene for more stability

(46:25) The current state of HR tech

(52:05) 7 ways HR will look different in the new year

(57:00) The idea of choice

(1:00) Built For People

(1:01:38) Lars’ definition of a Modern People Leader

(1:02:16) The career advice Lars would give his 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

87 - Amy Lavoie (VP People Success, Torch) on how to make DEI work Jan 03, 2023

Amy Lavoie, VP of People Success at Torch, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Torch’s people success scorecard, the importance of measuring your people programs, and what their research uncovered about how different groups perceive progress on DEI efforts.

Timestamps:

(8:48) Why we should we jealous Amy gets to work at Torch

(9:44) Torch’s people success scorecard

(15:45) The biggest surprises in 2022 from a people perspective

(18:11) The biggest challenge for people teams in 2023

(24:50) Is HR making progress in measuring the impact of their programs?

(29:27) The indirect signal that HR sends when they hold engagement data captive

(33:22) Feedback doesn’t define your company, it helps it continuously improve

(36:06) Executives think they’re doing better on DEI efforts than managers

(38:10) We can no longer rely on one-size-fits-all programs to make a meaningful impact on DEI

(48:47) The discrepancy between how men and women perceive progress on DEI initiatives

(50:30) The over reliance on benchmark data

(52:23) Amy’s definition of a Modern People Leader

(53:58) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

86 - Kelly Keegan (VP People, Built In) on building the people function of the future Dec 19, 2022

Kelly Keegan, VP of People at Built In, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how she’s thinking about building the people function of the future and why everyone in HR could use a therapist.

Timestamps:

(12:17) How she’s thinking about the future of the people function

(16:26) What companies can do to make the recruiting function more sticky during economic downturns

(22:34) Why Built In scrapped their HRBP model for something new

(28:30) What’s going to separate the best people teams from everyone else

(33:23) The strongest leaders are the ones constantly observing and looking for trends

(40:40) Everyone in HR (and everyone else) could use a therapist

(45:00) How Built In uses Modern Health for their people

(49:00) Most common fears for people going into therapy

(52:02) How she defines a Modern People Leader

(52:20) The career advice she’d give to her 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

85 - Recharge’s Michael McArthur (SVP People) & Ashley Grech (COO) on reducing toil, the 3 pillars of being a great company, & career development Dec 12, 2022

Recharge’s Michael McArthur (SVP People) & Ashley Grech (COO) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why Recharge is focused on reducing toil, the 3 pillars of what it means to work for a great company, and the work they’re doing on the career development front.

Timestamps:

(5:00) How Ashley and Michael would describe one another

(7:30) Why we should be jealous that they get to work at Recharge

(9:20) Building the people roadmap from scratch at Recharge

(12:13) Recharge’s journey from a self-funded startup to a series B startup

(15:33) How a COO and SVP of People look at the employee experience from a slightly different lens

(19:48) How Recharge has managed change these last couple of quarters

(21:13) The 3 pillars of what it means to work for a great company

(24:50) Why reducing toil is something that they’re focused on

(28:30) How Recharge is looking at career development

(34:18) What manager development looks like for Recharge in 2023

(37:20) How Ashley’s sales career has helped her become a better COO

(45:49) How Recharge is being more intentional about culture as they grow

(47:28) Michael’s definition of a Modern People Leader

(47:55) The career advice Ashley would give to her 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

84 - Sara Gorjão (Chief People Officer, tb.lx by Daimler Trucks) on the Human Energy Crisis Dec 05, 2022

Sara Gorjão, Chief People Officer at tb.lx, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the Human Energy Crisis we’re facing, tb.lx’s experiment with the 36-hour workweek, and why being a perfect people leader isn’t possible.

Timestamps:

(14:50) why we should be jealous that Sara gets to work at tb.lx

(19:50) Sara’s mission and how it’s connected to her role

(22:52) How Sara checks in with herself and manages her energy

(30:45) The flashlight system for examining ourselves

(33:51) tb.lx’s experiment with the 36-hour workweek

(41:21) How they measured productivity during the 36-hour workweek

(49:40) Being a perfect people leader isn’t possible

(52:44) How Sara defines a Modern People Leader

(56:30) The career advice she would give to her 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

83 - Amanda Ono (CHRO, Kroll Digital Services) on change leadership & 2023 planning Nov 28, 2022

Amanda Ono, CHRO at Kroll Digital Services, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about 2023 planning, her biggest learnings scaling a company from 90 to 250 employees in one year, and navigating change as a leader.

Timestamps:

(10:27)Amanda’s experience as both an operator and HR leader

(14:00) Why we should be jealous Amanda gets to work at Kroll

(16:39) Budget season and 2023 planning

(19:11) Taking the best of both cultures when integrating after an acquisition

(23:11) Lessons learned growing from 90 to 250 employees in less than a year

(24:59) Who should be on your “change council”

(27:05) The importance of a strong communication plan

(42:00) Her definition of a Modern People Leader

(42:29) The career advice she’d give to her 22-year-old self

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

82 - 2023 Planning for People teams Nov 21, 2022

Today we reflected on the last couple of episodes and then we discussed 2023 planning for People teams.

Timestamps:

(6:30) Operating your people function like it’s a product of your company

(8:30) The 3 products that every company is building

(12:17) The domino effect that led up to the layoffs

(19:20) Making the Chief People Officer role more commercial

(22:59) Using your core values as a lens for everything your people team does

(27:50) Building the employee experience like a house

(33:00) The importance of going on a listening tour as the new people leader

(36:23) 2023 planning for People teams

(43:22) The people team hiring guide

Use code "MPL10" to get 10% off of the People Team Hiring Guide from Shelby Wolpa: https://www.shelbywolpaconsulting.com/product-page/people-team-hiring-guide-1

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

81 - Jim Bartolomea (SVP, Global Head of People & Places, ClickUp) on building the employee experience like a house Nov 14, 2022

Jim Bartolomea, (SVP, Global Head of People and Places) at ClickUp, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the challenges he’s most excited to tackle as ClickUp’s new people leader, building the employee experience like a house, and getting buy-in as a new HR leader.

Timestamps:

Why we should be jealous he gets to work at ClickUp (12:49), the challenges he’s excited to tackle first as the new people leader (14:22), place being an important part of culture and connection (16:45), building the employee experience like a house (23:10), onboarding is your first chance to make a great impression (24:40), applying the core values lens to everything you do in the people function (30:45), the importance of career conversations (33:38), getting buy-in as a new HR leader (36:10), your org design and operating model create clarity (40:00), promoting managers that aren’t built to be managers is a big mistake (42:50), his definition of a Modern People Leader (50:20), and more.

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

80 - Jessica Zwaan (COO, Whereby) on people ops as a product & recent layoffs in the news Nov 07, 2022

Jessica Zwaan, COO at Whereby, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the recent layoffs in the news, how we can raise the CPO role to be looked at as more commercial, and why you should treat people ops as a product.

Timestamps: why we should be jealous she gets to work at Whereby (6:01), layoffs this week (8:35), the domino effect leading up to layoffs (17:15), outside of the CPO role, women only make up 20% of the other C-Suite roles (20:15), raising the people role to be more commercial (23:49), there are 3 products a company is building at one time (30:35), you need a unique selling point for employees to really stand out in the market (38:35), 2 biggest challenges when trying to move to this new way of working (44:07), how she defines a Modern People Leader (52:51), the advice she’d give to her 22-year-old self (53:51), and the people problem she would fix with a magic wand (56:24).

Get notified when Built for People is available for pre-order: https://form.typeform.com/to/VwL5AxNj

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Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

79 - HR Leaders: You got this Oct 31, 2022

Today we reflected on our biggest learnings from the last few months of The Modern People Leader.

Timestamps:

(8:10) Understanding what a human-centered organization is

(14:10) The language and words we use to describe work

(18:30) Employees don't want to work for a paternalistic organization

(22:09) What type of support will organizations provide their people in the future

(26:50) Merary’s advice to first-time HR leaders

(29:20) HR teams playing to win versus to not lose

(36:50) Four pillars of DEI

(39:20) Gen Z is the most entrepreneurial generation yet

(41:38) Gen Z want a diversity of experiences in their jobs

(47:20) More talent will go independent than ever before

(48:40) People are rethinking their purpose portfolio

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

78 - Kim Rohrer (Head of Employee Experience, Oyster) on creating a unified employee experience across 70 countries Oct 24, 2022

Kim Rohrer, Head of Employee Experience at Oyster, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the biggest challenges in creating a unified employee experience across 70 countries, why every company should have a Head of Employee Experience, and why your company should consider hiring in tier 2 or 3 countries.

Timestamps:

Why we should be jealous she gets to work at Oyster (18:30), when Kim knew she didn’t want the CHRO role (22:53), why Kim enjoys employee experience work so much (28:30), the types of companies that should have a Head of Employee Experience (29:40), how she’s trying to evangelize the Head of EX role (34:39), FAIL'ing (first attempt in learning) (38:28), biggest challenges in creating a unified global employee experience across 70 countries (40:28), why companies should consider hiring in tier 2 or 3 countries (44:08), incredibly smart and capable knowledge workers exist all over the world (47:48), how they’re able to collect DEIB metrics at a global level (55:20), and more.

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

77 - John Foster (4-time CHRO & Founder of Gamut Labs) on how to build a human-centered organization Oct 12, 2022

John Foster, 4-time CHRO & Founder of Gamut Labs, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the difference between a traditional and a human-centered organization, the 5 dimensions of a HCO, and why HCOs get more creative output from their people.

Timestamps:

(11:23) The difference between a traditional organization and a Human-Centered Organization

(16:28) Why a little bit of hierarchical thinking can ruin a people process

(25:25) The definition of a Human-Centered Organization

(28:25) The 5 dimensions of a Human-Centered Organization

(41:07) The best way to get creative output is by being human-centered

(44:01) Why the traditional organization is a crack in the sidewalk of humanity

(46:33) How John defines a Modern People Leader

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

76 - Merary Soto-Saunders (Global Head of DEI, CVC Partners) on impacting DEI for 500k people Sep 27, 2022

Merary Soto-Saunders, Global Head of DEI at CVC Partners, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared her advice to first-time HR leaders, CVC’s process for setting DEI goals, and how she’s able to impact DEI for over 500k people in her role.

Timestamps:

(6:32) Merary’s journey from investment banking to DEI work

(10:50) Working in different countries has shaped her perspective as an HR leader

(16:23) How CEOs view HR in other countries versus the US

(19:40) Why HR & DEI should be separate

(21:43) The 3 components of her role: internal DEI, DEI partner for portfolio companies, and external DEI brand

(26:10) Process for setting DEI goals

(31:18) DEI Dashboards

(33:08) The 4 pillars of DEI at CVC

(35:20) Having the ability to impact DEI for 500k people

(45:23) DEI/HR Think Tank

(57:17) Merary's definition of a Modern People Leader

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

75 - Group Chat: Gen Z’s impact on how we work Sep 19, 2022

This week we had three return guests for another MPL group chat:

Laura Robblee, CHRO at Zuora
Steve Cadigan, Former CHRO of LinkedIn & author
Stephanie Cramer, SVP of People at MGAC

We discussed how Generation Z is impacting the future of work.

Timestamps:

(8:30) Are we in a recession?

(16:21) Echo quitting

(21:28) There are more commonalities between generations than differences

(27:55) Employees have higher expectations for their employers than ever before

(29:20) Younger generations are far more entrepreneurial

(37:52) Everything is subscription oriented and it’s affected how people think about work

(41:58) Gen Z and in-person work

(43:50) More top talent will go independent than we’ve ever seen in the past

(49:40) Companies have an internal awareness problem, not a recruiting problem

(53:06) The one thing organizations should focus on to position themselves as an employer of choice for Gen Z

(58:00) What it means to be a Modern People Leader

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

74 - Career advice from MPL guests Sep 14, 2022

In this episode we reflected on MPL guests' responses to our three rapid-fire questions:

What career advice would you give your 22-year-old self? (1:25)
If you had a magic wand, what would you fix in HR? (16:43)
What’s coming next for the future of work? (27:05)

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

73 - Group Chat: Hybrid work’s impact on DEI Sep 05, 2022

This week we had three return guests for another MPL group chat:

Darren Murph, Head of Remote at GitLab
Hallie Bregman, The Bregman Group
Valerie Jackson, Chief Diversity Officer at Zuora

We talked about how COVID has given everyone the opportunity to take the red pill and why focusing on the HOW of work will make the biggest impact on DEI.

Timestamps:

7:46 - are concepts like quiet quitting new or have they just been rebranded

9:00 - people are rethinking how they invest in their “purpose portfolio”

12:50 - the unspoken expectations for employees

18:40 - loud retention is the antidote to quiet quitting

21:55 - COVID has given everyone the opportunity to take the red pill

29:26 - has hybrid work made DEI harder or easier in the workplace

35:17 - focusing on the HOW of work and not just the WHERE will make a bigger impact on DEI

44:15 - what the next evolution of DEI work will look like

57:32 - what it means to be a Modern People Leader

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72 - Quiet Quitting & why being a CHRO is so hard Aug 29, 2022

This episode was recorded a couple of weeks ago, so we apologize if the content from this episode is a little dated.

We talked about Malcolm Gladwell’s thoughts on remote work, quiet quitting, and our 3 biggest takeaways from our last 5 episodes.

Timestamps: Malcolm Gladwell’s thoughts on remote work (1:25), quiet quitting (11:23), layoffs in 2022 (15:30), our 3 biggest takeaways from the last couple of months on MPL (23:00), companies are recession-proofing (23:50), being a CHRO is really hard (30:50), and the next 12-months will be the year of the Modern People Leader (49:10).

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71 - Ciara Lakhani (Chief People Officer, Dashlane) on what HR can do during times of uncertainty Aug 11, 2022

Ciara Lakhani, Chief People Officer at Dashlane, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about what HR can do to weather the storm during economic downturns, employee expectations for their organizations versus investors, and Dashlane’s employee feedback strategy.

Timestamps: How Ciara ended up in HR (4:20), why we should be jealous that she gets to work at Dashlane (9:20), the most important traits for people leaders during times of economic uncertainty (12:20), what people leaders can do during economic downturns (13:28), being transparent with your people during difficult times (18:08), employee expectation being out of step with your current economic environment (21:34), the long-term tradeoff of job hopping (28:00), the gaps between how investors and employees see things (32:00), Dashlane’s employee feedback strategy (33:30), how Ciara shares engagement data with the leadership team (36:18), and the advice she’d give to her 22-year-old self (37:53).

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Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader/

70 - Valerie Jackson (Chief Diversity Officer, Zuora) & Laura Robblee (CHRO, Zuora) on their flourishing CHRO <> CDO relationship Jul 24, 2022

Zuora’s Laura Robblee, CHRO, and Valerie Jackson, Chief Diversity Officer, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why their CHRO/CDO partnership works so well and how they’re laying the foundation for a new Zuora.

Timestamps: their favorite thing about working with one another (16:40), prioritizing diversity and inclusion at Zuora (21:50), why having both the CDO & CHRO reporting to the CEO works for them (25:08), the swim lanes for Human Resources & DEI at Zuora (30:00), why diversity is a measure of organizational health (37:39), why their leadership playbook is a big focus for them right now (40:05), the summit they’re hosting for VP + folks at the company (44:00), the career advice Valerie would give her 22-year-old self (47:10), and what Laura would fix in HR with a magic wand 49:10).

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Connect with us on LinkedIn: Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta

69 - Melissa Werneck (Global Chief People Officer, Kraft Heinz) on "The Year of the Manager" at Kraft Heinz Jul 13, 2022

Melissa Werneck, Global Chief People Officer at Kraft Heinz, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the work Kraft Heinz is doing to help support and develop their managers, why it was important for the move from a “know it all” culture to a “learn it all” culture, and how they’re using new tech to turn their ambitions into reality.

Timestamps: why we should be jealous she gets to work at Kraft Heinz (9:58), moving from a "know it all" to a "learn it all" culture (14:28), the year of the manager at Kraft (22:20), only 10% of people are naturally wired to be a manager (23:00), the launch of Project WIN (24:20), how they’re using nudges to make their ambitions a reality (34:20), why the forgetting curve is real (37:43), the advantages of being an early adopter of new tech (39:00), how they've been able to scale people programs at such a large organization (42:20), and the career advice she would give her 22-year-old self (45:06).

Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Connect with us on LinkedIn: Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta

68 - Stephanie Cramer (VP Human Resources, MGAC) on applying solution selling to recruiting Jul 07, 2022

Stephanie Cramer, Vice President of Human Resources at MGAC, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how she’s incorporated solution selling into the way she recruits and what MGAC is doing to support their employees’ mental health.

Timestamps: why we should be jealous that Stephanie gets to work at MGAC (11:20), how recruiting has changed in the last 10 years (14:08), how she’s incorporated solution selling into recruiting (16:10), stacking the deck in your favor to land the dream candidate (17:58), what discovery looks like at each stage in the recruiting lifecycle (22:00), applying her empathic approach to recruiting to herself and her mental health journey (25:35), her purpose analogy for life (30:10), what MGAC is doing to support their employees’ mental health (34:57), empowering employees to get more active on social media (40:40), and the career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self (46:35).

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Connect with us on LinkedIn! Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta

67 - Beth Steinberg (SVP People & Talent, Chime) on investing in leaders early on Jun 28, 2022

Beth Steinberg, Senior Vice President of People and Talent at Chime, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why it’s so hard to find good HR leaders, what happens when you don’t invest in leaders early enough, and long-term talent planning.

Timestamps: what Beth feels was some of her best work as a people leader (7:00), why we should be jealous that Beth gets to work at Chime (12:40), the importance of #behuman in business (14:22), why it’s so hard to find a good HR leader (17:40), what happens when you don’t invest in leaders early on (23:35), how Beth builds business cases for HR investments (27:10), what the people team at Chime is up to right now (31:30), headcount has become an ego metric (35:08), putting together a recession proofing playbook (39:20), creating a framework for what your company will speak out about (41:35), the career advice she’d give to her 22-year-old self (44:00), and the HR problem she’d fix with a magic wand (47:45).

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for the top 3 takeaways and the full transcript of each new episode: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Connect with us on LinkedIn! Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta

66 - Jackson Lynch (Founder & President, 90 Consulting) on what a good HR Leader looks like Jun 21, 2022

Jackson Lynch, 3-time CHRO and Founder of 90Consulting, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why there needs to be consistency in what’s expected from a CHRO, why talent strategy should be bifurcated from talent operations, and why the job of the CHRO is so difficult.

Timestamps: how working at PepsiCo in the early 2000s shaped his career (9:57), the best and worst career advice he ever received (12:22), why Jackson thinks there isn’t consistency in what is expected of a CHRO (17:12), we haven’t defined what a CHRO needs to have to be a CHRO (20:22), why we need to bifurcate operations from talent management (27:40), getting board members to set clear expectations of what good looks like for an HR leader (31:53), the 3 biggest changes for HR leaders the past couple of years (33:25), finding the least wrong answer as an HR leader (40:40), how HR teams can think differently about investment decisions being made (46:50), and the four agreements (57:24).

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for the top 3 takeaways and the full transcript of each new episode: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8

Connect with us on LinkedIn! Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta

65 - Mai Ton (Chief People Officer at Fabric & Author) on being more than your work Jun 14, 2022

Mai Ton, Chief People Officer at Fabric and Author of Come into My Office, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why your identity shouldn’t be centered around what you do at work, how she prepped her former company for the 4-day workweek, and her book that she published last year.

Timestamps: why we should be jealous that Mai gets to work at Fabric (10:20), why your entire identity shouldn’t be centered around your job title (13:35), how companies can help their people rediscover themselves (22:58), sharing your story of the need to be more than your work (28:30), how Mai prepped her company for the four-day workweek (33:00), a couple of tools for taking control of your time (40:48), why she wrote a book full of her crazy stories as an HR leader (43:50), the advice she’d give her 22-year-old self (53:24), what she sees coming next for the future of work (55:18), and more.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

64 - Mindy Honcoop on learning how to "ride the new bicycle" of work Jun 06, 2022

Mindy Honcoop, an HR exec with 20+ years of experience, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about employee feedback, the new world of work, and what companies can do to help their people connect.

Timestamps: the best and worst advice Mindy has ever received in her career (11:20), the companies that are getting things right (15:50), what companies can do to better listen to their employees (19:00), learning how to ride the new bicycle of work (28:46), how companies can give their people opportunities to connect (42:55), the definition of connection (45:40), the career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self (50:00), and why she would fix meetings if she had magic powers (51:10).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

63 - Interconnectedness of the HR buzzwords in 2022 Apr 22, 2022

Today we talked about the interconnectedness of all of the HR buzzwords, diversity being the key to everything, and the best career advice we’ve heard from our guests.

Timestamps: the interconnectedness of the all of the buzz-words we’ve heard over the last year (4:23), the 3 P’s of Rituals in the workplace (6:22), the importance of intentionality (8:07), the common denominator to success is diversity (10:50), how Twitter has re-opened offices and zoned them (13:53), flexibility and connection are key right now (18:30), best career advice from our guests (20:34), and the magic wand question responses (28:09).

Go follow us on LinkedIn:

Podcast Page: The Modern People Leader
Co-Hosts: Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta

62 - The Starr Conspiracy on testing the metaverse at work & why they sent $500k worth of body armor to Ukraine Apr 13, 2022

The Starr Conspiracy's Bret Star (Founder & CEO) and Steve Smith (Partner & CMO) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked with the Work Tech gurus about the metaverse's place in the workplace, the difference between employee engagement and employee experience, and why they recently raised money to send body armor to Ukraine.

Timestamps: how Starr Conspiracy is testing the applications of the metaverse at work (20:55), products out there that allow employees to connect in the metaverse (26:20), why companies need to keep trying new things (32:39), employee engagement vs employee experience (38:10), and why Starr Conspiracy sent over $500,000 worth of body armor to Ukraine (44:20).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

61 - Erica Keswin (Author, Speaker, & Workplace Strategist) on the power of rituals in the workplace Apr 05, 2022

Erica Keswin, the author of two Wall Street Journal best-sellers (Bring Your Human to Work & Rituals Roadmap), workplace strategist, and podcast host, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how rituals are the human way to transform everyday routines into workplace magic.

Timestamps: her career journey (5:15), Bring Your Human to Work and Rituals Roadmap (8:10), why connecting with peers, managers, and colleagues is so important (15:12), matching the message to the medium (18:25), the definition of a ritual (21:17), the 3 Ps of rituals (23:10), the magic question that Erica asks every leader to better understand their company’s rituals (24:30), some of Erica’s favorite rituals that she’s seen (32:38), Erica’s go to Chipotle order (42:04), career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self (48:37), the people problem she would fix with a magic wand (49:46), and why on-sites are the new off-sites (51:40).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

60 - Mita Mallick (Co-Host of Brown Table Talk Podcast / Head of Inclusion, Equity, & Impact at Carta) Mar 22, 2022

Mita Mallick, co-host of the Brown Table Talk podcast and Head of Equity, Inclusion, & Impact at Carta, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the importance of belonging, the big disconnect between the billions of dollars being invested in DEI and a true understanding of the work that’s being done, and what to do if you’re working in a toxic environment.

Timestamps: her career journey (3:10), how Brown Table Talk started (7:56), why Mita refers to it as the great awakening and not the great resignation (11:47), how to increase the sense of belonging (13:45), the barrier in truly understanding the work that’s being done in the DEI space (17:40), is the shift to hybrid creating a new dimension to bias in the workplace? (22:37), how companies can better support managers and better protect employees (27:45), advice for the people experiencing toxic interactions at work (37:23), how to prevent toxic people from slipping through the cracks of your hiring process (39:47), the career advice Mita would give her 22-year-old self (43:58), and how we are back to 1980s levels of women in the workforce (45:16).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

59 - Tracy Hawkins (VP, Work Transformation at Twitter) on reopening Twitter’s offices & giving employees choice Mar 08, 2022

Tracy Hawkins, VP, Work Transformation at Twitter, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about giving employees the choice on how they want to work and how Twitter has zoned their offices.

Timestamps: Tracy’s journey from flight attendant to Twitter (7:07), her role as VP, Work Transformation (13:45), why we should be jealous that she gets to work there (20:33), how their real estate strategy has changed and what it might look like in the future (27:10), employee choice is huge at Twitter (32:00), how they personalize their different offices (37:45), remote work got a bad rep (46:20), the zoning of Twitter offices - focus areas, collaboration areas, and social areas (49:43), how they address world issues at work (54:43), and the career advice she’d give 22-year-old Tracy (1:01:13).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

58 - Cara Brennan Allamano (SVP, People, Udemy) & Rachel Ernst (Sr. Director, People Programs, Udemy) on Udemy’s New Normal Feb 28, 2022

Udemy’s Cara Brennan Allamano (SVP, People) and Rachel Ernst (Sr. Director, People Programs) joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Udemy’s new normal and what they’re doing to provide connection and flexibility for all employees.

Timestamps: the most pivotal moments in Cara and Rachel’s careers (4:53), the “New Normal” at Udemy (17:35), what flexibility means to Udemy (23:09), their offices are like a co-working space now (27:54), bringing Udemates on the journey to create the New Normal (29:20), learning paths related to navigating the changes at work (30:46), team working agreements at Udemy (33:44), adopting agile methodologies on your people team (37:00), the feedback processes they’ve built (39:00), they went from having 5 global offices to 900 in one day (41:20), what Cara’s hearing from the People Tech Partners community (50:20), and the career advice they would give their 22-year-old selves (57:40).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

57 - The four-day work week, working in the metaverse, and a chat about culture Feb 22, 2022

Today we talked about Belgium approving the four-day workweek, the possibility of working in the metaverse, and then we talked about culture and the themes we're seeing across different guests.

Timestamps: Belgium approves the four-day workweek (3:58), will we work in the metaverse one day (5:58), and common threads from recent guests about culture, talent attraction, and career advice (13:14).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

56 - Liz Fosslien (Co-Author of No Hard Feelings & Big Feelings) on confronting big feelings at work Feb 14, 2022

Liz Fosslien, the co-author of No Hard Feelings and Big Feelings, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her journey to becoming a best-selling author, the 7 Big Feelings that we've all been experiencing the past couple of years, and how we can begin to make peace with our emotions at work.

Timestamps: Liz’s journey to becoming a Wall Street Journal best-selling author (4:44), why everyone should be jealous that Liz gets to work at Humu (10:55), why she thinks we’re all so scared of confronting these big feelings at work (14:32), how they identified the 7 Big Feelings (20:00), which of the 7 Big Feelings resonates most with Liz (23:04), emotional granularity (28:20), two tools for making peace with your emotions (30:16), how to avoid negative thought spirals (35:35), the 1 thing Liz wants people to take away from Big Feelings (40:50), and the career advice she’d give to 22-year-old Liz (44:44).

Big Feelings is set to come out on April 26th. If you'd like to pre-order now, here's a link: Pre-Order Now

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

55 - Jessica Williams (VP of People, Refine Labs) & Megan Bowen (COO, Refine Labs) on building a culture book & becoming a talent destination Feb 07, 2022

Refine Labs’ Megan Bowen, COO, and Jessica Williams, VP of People, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about Refine Labs’ culture playbook, how they’re leveraging social media to become a talent destination, and why they’re focused on onboarding.

Timestamps: why we should be jealous that they get to work at Refine Labs (7:05), how they created their Culture Playbook (11:10), the “oh hell nah list” of behaviors at their company(15:24), the primary driver for going fully distributed (18:40), how they’ve filled 80 roles in two years and how they plan to fill 100 more this year (21:40), the journey for the typical candidate (24:50), the quality of inbound candidates vs. outbound candidates (28:50), how you can leverage social media to become a talent destination (30:10), why they’re focused on onboarding (37:23), where onboarding goes wrong for a lot of companies (43:00), and what advice they would give their younger selves (46:20).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

54 - Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, HubSpot) on removing opinions from future of work decisions Jan 31, 2022

Katie Burke, Chief People Officer at HubSpot, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about HubSpot’s award-winning culture, how they conducted 4 panels to make future of work decisions, and how they’re giving employees the ability to automatically opt into the work style that best suits them.

Timestamps: why we should be jealous that Katie gets to work at HubSpot (11:05), how HubSpot’s award-winning culture has evolved (14:40), getting business leaders on board with where the future of work actually is (17:50), how they conducted 4 panels to make decisions on the future of work (20:18), the insights that their people analytics team is driving around retention (24:53), personal connection to work as a key driver of retention (26:36), giving employees the choice of how they want to work in an automated way (29:18), tracking NPS, intent to stay, inclusion and belonging, and more (32:40), DIB and the future of work shouldn’t be talked about in isolation (39:04), lessons learned over the years as a leader (40:22), and the advice she’d give to 22-year old Katie (44:40).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

53 - “Best of Modern People Leader 2021” Part 2 Jan 26, 2022

On this very special best of 2021 mash-up, you’ll get insights from guests throughout our episodes from last year.

In Part 2 you’ll hear from the following guests:

MPL Group Chat (episode 36) on this being HR’s time to step up and how we’re entering the age of HR (0:37).
Steve Cadigan, former CHRO of LinkedIn and author (episode 38), on how workers and companies can see less of the future than ever before, and why the competitive advantage moving forward will be the ability to deal with instability (6:57).
Dom Boon, VP of Talent & Organizational Development at Liberty Latin America (episode 43), on how they identified the habits of the top 10% of their managers (16:48).
Shelby Wolpa, former VP of People Operations at InVision (episode 45), on lessons learned from scaling the people function at 4 venture-backed companies and the foundational steps for setting yourself up for success in a remote-first environment (22:23).
Darren Murph, Head of Remote at Gitlab (episode 49), shares why you need to look at the future of work as an opportunity to build something new – and how you have a permission slip to reinvent how your team looks and works (29:03).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

52 - “Best of Modern People Leader 2021” Part 1 Jan 17, 2022

On this very special best of 2021 mash-up, you’ll get insights from guests throughout the last year.

In Part 1 you’ll hear from:

Dilshan Rathnayake, Chief People Officer at Securonix (episode 7), on the importance of learning the business that you serve so that you can better serve your people as an HR leader (0:37).
Dena Upton, Chief People Officer at Drift (episode 15), breaks down what it means for her company to be going digital-first and why it’s a more equitable model (3:52).
Yemi Akisanya, Global Head of DEI at Groupon (episode 31), on why real success with DEI requires a complete culture transformation (9:25).
MPL Group Chat (episode 32) on the great resignation and what you can do to keep top talent (15:03).
David Hanrahan, CHRO at Eventbrite (episode 33), on why the traditional 9 to 5 is a relic of the past (24:54).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

51 - Jill Larsen (Chief People Officer, PTC) on the evolution of HR and where it’s going Jan 08, 2022

Jill Larsen, Chief People Officer at PTC, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how the CHRO role has changed, the evolution of HR, and some of her predictions for the future.

Timestamps: the one piece of advice that transformed her career (12:05), the worst advice she’s ever received (15:15), how the CHRO role has changed over the last 15 years and where it’s going from here (19:00), will we see more CHROs promoted to CEOs (23:50), we’re going through an HR evolution (25:34), digital transformation in HR (30:00), what does being data driven in HR look like (32:15), findings from data projects (34:42), gen z and millennial takeover (35:23), is retention still the right gauge for culture (41:50), employees having multiple jobs in the future (46:53), metrics she’s looking at on a weekly basis (51:10), and rhythms the people team has in place (53:10).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

50 - The HR Metrics to keep an eye on in 2022 Dec 29, 2021

At the end of each episode, we ask every guest which 3-4 metrics they’re keeping an eye on.

Today, we talked about the biggest themes that we identified and which of these metrics should make it onto your HR scorecard.

Timestamps: DEI metrics (3:57), peer recognition metrics (8:30), eNPS or a single engagement metric (14:38), employee engagement metrics (16:40), retention data (22:00), business metrics (23:50), using the wobble scale for 1x1 conversations (24:38), recruiting metrics (27:18), building a scorecard for HR (30:27), moving to a focus on leading indicators versus lagging indicators (31:58), why we started The Modern People Leader (33:54), and how you can help The Modern People Leader (40:09).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

Informal Communication in an all-remote environment

49 - Darren Murph (Head of Remote, GitLab) on culture being built outside of company walls Dec 17, 2021

Darren Murph, Head of Remote at GitLab, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about what a Head of Remote does, investing in document infrastructure, building culture outside of company walls, and how to shift from a fear and scarcity mindset to a mindset of opportunity.

Timestamps: What a Head of Remote does on a daily basis (6:20), change without story feels like a mandate, change with a purpose feels like vision (9:44), shifting from a fear and scarcity mindset to a mindset of opportunity (12:00), you can learn something from everyone (13:07), the two biggest challenges scaling culture fully remote (16:55), investing in document infrastructure (20:46), COVID has given every leader a permission slip to try new things (30:54), hybrid or shybrid? (32:59), providing examples for building new lifestyles around work (35:26), community impact outings are good alternatives to zoom happy hours (38:37), culture is the barometer for how well values are adhered to and reinforced (42:20), the future of work is going to be asynchronous (45:10), and have you looked at your purpose portfolio lately (51:50).

Here’s a link to GitLab’s handbook:

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

48 - Barbie Brewer (Former Chief Culture Officer at GitLab & VP Talent at Netflix) on culture being exposed by the pandemic Dec 08, 2021

Barbie Brewer, former VP of Talent at Netflix and Chief Culture Officer at GitLab, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the many shades of gray between office-first and remote-first. Then, we chatted about all things culture.

Timestamps: The best piece of career advice she has ever received (8:52), the many shades of gray between office-first and remote-first (16:40), the difference between remote-first and remote-friendly (19:05), most companies are trying to make hybrid work (22:11), keys to asynchronous work (24:10), key lessons and takeaways on culture from her time at Netflix (37:30), culture is never done (40:41), good or bad, culture was exposed by the pandemic (42:58), what leaders should do if they feel like the culture is off (45:21), and defining the behaviors underneath your values (48:38).

If you want to learn more about Barbie and the work that she’s doing, visit her website: https://barbiejane.com/contact-us

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

47 - Gen Zers in the Workforce Nov 30, 2021

By 2025 Gen Z will make up 27% of the workforce. So, today we talked about what makes them different from any other generation and what they’re expecting from employers.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

46 - Clio Knowles (Chief People Person, Virgin Hotels) on making employees feel seen Nov 20, 2021

Clio Knowles, Chief People Person at Virgin Hotels, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about technology, how they’re hiring differently, and the importance of making employees feel seen.

Timestamps: Launching hotels during COVID (12:00), why they built a custom communications platform (14:50), combatting the great resignation in the hospitality industry (16:50), focusing attention on hiring people from underserved populations (18:40), seeing employees as human beings (24:20), BAREIT sessions at Virgin Hotels (28:15), they mapped the teammate journey out and created a teammate branding toolkit (30:20), the people that have the answers are the people on the ground doing the work (34:00), and more.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

Daniel Huertaand Stephen Huerta

45 - Building a Remote-First Culture (Shelby Wolpa, People Leadership Advisor & Remote Work Expert) Nov 10, 2021

Shelby Wolpa, Founder of Shelby Wolpa Consulting, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

Shelby talked about her experience scaling the people function for 4 separate unicorn+ status companies. Then, we talked about what it takes to build a best-in-class culture in a remote-first environment.

Timestamps: learnings from scaling the people function for 4 venture-backed companies (9:19), what it was like pioneering a remote-first culture (10:55), foundational steps for setting yourself up for success in a remote-first environment (14:10), common pitfalls when going remote-first (20:12), what type of work should happen in the office (24:40), Shelby’s prediction for remote work (25:50), there’s no such thing as hybrid (30:30), the three phases of onboarding (33:45), and what’s keeping people leaders up at night (43:15).

You can find Shelby’s free guide for building a remote-first culture and her other playbooks on her website: https://www.shelbywolpaconsulting.com/

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

44 - Parental Leave (Allison Whalen, CEO @ Parentaly) Oct 29, 2021

Allison Whalen, Co-Founder and CEO at Parentaly, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

She shared what she wishes people would have told her before she became a parent and took leave. Then, we talked about what the best companies are doing for parental leave.

Timestamps: Allison’s personal struggles dealing with the career stressors of parental leave (3:55), what she wishes people would have told her before she took leave (8:20), why parental leave is front and center right now (18:20), moving past the old way of thinking about paid leave (22:16), the challenges companies face with extending leave (22:36), using parental leave to take inventory of what work matters most (28:08), and re-onboarding parents when they come back to work (31:36).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

43 - Dom Boon (VP Talent & Organizational Development, Liberty Latin America) on the 8 habits of top managers Oct 21, 2021

Dom Boon, VP Talent & Organizational Development at Liberty Latin America, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about LLA’s manager research and how they identified the 8 habits of the top 10% of their managers.

Timestamps: Navigating the pandemic across 30 different markets (15:02), how Liberty Latin America identified the top 10% of managers (17:58), 5 questions to measure managers (21:34), the 8 habits that differentiate the top 10% of managers at LLA (22:22), building talent programs from this manager research (30:15), and shifting to a human-centric style of leadership (34:42).

Check out Dom's recent post on LinkedIn where he writes about the 8 new habits of their top people managers.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

42 - Our Top 3 Moments from The Modern People Leader Oct 15, 2021

Today we reflected on the past ten months and all of the great conversations that we've had on The Modern People Leader.

At 19:00, we each give our top 3 moments from the show.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

41 - Angela Shaw (Chief People Officer, JuiceLand) Sep 30, 2021

Angela Shaw, Chief People Officer at JuiceLand, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her nontraditional path into HR, uninviting people from the party if they can’t get behind your organization's shared beliefs, and bucking industry norms when it’s the right thing to do.

Timestamps: Angela’s nontraditional path into HR (4:20), her first 30, 60, 90 days on the job as the new CPO at JuiceLand (9:10), creating shared beliefs, shared knowledge, and shared action with DEI efforts (12:05), why the fight over who should own DEI is so frustrating (15:46), bucking the industry norms when it’s the right thing to do (26:55), staying true to who you are and what you represent (33:07), and finding balance and learning how to say NO (40:00).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn: Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta

40 - Jess Galica on Women Making Bold Career Pivots Sep 24, 2021

Jess Galica, the founder of the Reclaim Your Career project, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

Over the past year, she has interviewed 100+ women that have made successful career pivots.

In this episode, she shares her findings as well as some of those stories.

Timestamps: what led to Jess’s desire to make a career pivot (4:48), what propelled her research and writing around women & career pivoting (16:08), people in our generation are mastering the art of pivoting (22:09), what's feminist guilt? (25:03), you’re the only one who needs to wake up and do your career every day (32:41), women are bearing the disproportionate brunt of the challenges the pandemic has put on people as it relates to work (39:50), and the three steps of a career pivot (50:48).

If you want to learn about Reclaim Your Career:

Follow Jess on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessgalica/
Learn from women’s stories: https://www.reclaimyourcareer.co/

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

Daniel Huertaand Stephen Huerta

39 - MPL Group Chat: Bouncing Forward in This Time of Uncertainty Sep 16, 2021

This week we had two return guests for another MPL Group Chat:

Libby Fiumara, Talent Program Manager from Expel and
Sarah Salbu Young, Talent Experience Partner at Pegasystems

We talked about how companies can bounce forward vs. focusing on the great resignation, the importance of pausing and reflecting on people who are making a positive impact on you at work, and trends heading into the last quarter of the year.

Timestamps: it feels like things are moving slowly (4:45), bouncing forward vs. focusing on the great resignation (10:49), the concept of High School and being exposed to different people, ideas, and work (13:36), doing work that gives you energy and aligns with your purpose (18:20), time off is going to become a part of employees’ Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (24:06), the importance of pausing and reflecting on people who are having a positive impact on you (29:02) and trends heading into Q4, the “People Quarter”(39:45).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

38 - Steve Cadigan (Former CHRO at LinkedIn & Author) Sep 08, 2021

Steve Cadigan, author, and former CHRO at LinkedIn, joined us on The Modern People Leader to discuss his recent book:

Workquake: Embracing the Aftershocks of COVID-19 to Create a Better Model of Working

Timestamps: Steve’s journey from graduating with no plan to becoming LinkedIn’s first CHRO (3:00), the inspiration behind his book (13:33), workers and companies can see LESS of the future than ever before (17:21), what companies can learn from Duke basketball’s Coach K and his talent strategy (23:54), organizations are hiring for intellectual curiosity (38:03), the lifespan of a new skill is shorter than it has ever been (43:03), and how Steve was conned by students into joining TikTok (56:07).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

37 - Hybrid Work & The 4-Day Workweek Aug 23, 2021

Today we talked about hybrid work and the possibility of a four-day workweek.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

36 - MPL Group Chat: The Summer of Counteroffers & Choice Aug 14, 2021

This week we had three return guests for another MPL Group Chat:

Jennifer Paxton, VP People at Smile.io,
Jaclyn Jussif, Director of Talent Acquisition at EDB, and
Adrienne Barnard, SVP, People Operations & Experience at Mainstay

We talk about the summer of counteroffers & choice, moving people ops from an administrative function to a strategic function, and an employee-driven future of work.

Timestamps: moving people ops from an administrative function to a strategic function (1:55), the summer of counteroffers & choice (8:38), focusing on key performers and high potential employees (16:55), mental wellness is top of mind for employees (21:20), will the four-day workweek be the norm in the future? (25:53), redesigning the employee journey for the future of work (28:00), collecting data is a strategic approach to making decisions (36:00), advocating for more people on the people team (38:16), HR has the data to make the decisions that will change employees’ lives (41:14), and an employee-driven future (44:33).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

Daniel Huertaand Stephen Huerta

35 - The Importance of Employer Branding (Eric Harris, CEO @ MindHandle) Aug 04, 2021

With so much change in the workplace, it’s critical that businesses are (re)defining their employee brand, leaning into a future-of-work strategy, and consistently communicating across levels of the company. In this expert session, Eric Harris, CEO of MindHandle shares best practices and tactics that will enhance your employer brand. Timestamps: the difference between employee branding & employer branding (7:03), who should own employer branding internally (12:40), why employer branding is so important (14:23), do you have a culture or an employer brand issue? (18:30), getting HR to think more like a marketing department (28:40), organizations need to talk about their WINS more often (32:08), the biggest challenge with employer branding (35:10), using your leadership team as thought leaders (39:25), and how to communicate culture & values in job postings (42:40). If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn: Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta

34 - Noreen Zobel (Chief People Officer, CrossBoundary) Jul 28, 2021

Noreen Zobel, Chief People Officer at CrossBoundary, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about the challenges of recruiting into new countries, maintaining culture as you grow, and the 16-hour diversity workshop series that they put on for their people.

Timestamps: what it’s like being a new Chief People Officer at a high-growth company (21:20), the challenges of recruiting into new countries (22:55), maintain your culture as you grow (27:09), the 16-hour diversity workshop series they put their employees through (38:35), and the biggest changes to come out of COVID when we look back in 20 years (46:53).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

33 - David Hanrahan (CHRO, Eventbrite) on the Fading Relics at Work Jul 19, 2021

David Hanrahan, CHRO at Eventbrite, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

He shared why Eventbrite is letting employees decide on whether or not they want to come back to the office, what operating in high trust mode looks like, and why the traditional workweek is outdated.

Timestamps: the origin of Eventbrite's decision to go hybrid & operating in a high trust mode (9:48), how culture is fundamentally changing (15:50), how to rethink your culture (19:46), is the 9 to 5 is a relic of the past? (29:26), work and life will continue to blend together (38:23), and the metrics David keeps a close eye on (42:00).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

32 - CPO Group Chat: Return to Office & The Great Resignation Jul 13, 2021

This week we had four return guests on for our first-ever CPO Group Chat:

Lyndsay Lord, CHRO at Team Car Care dba Jiffy Lube
Rhiana Barr, Chief People Officer at KushCo
Dilshan Ratnayake, Chief People Officer at Securonix
Kristen Barbor, VP Global HR at Groupon

We discuss their return to office strategies and the 'Great Resignation'.

Timestamps: what their return to office strategies look like (1:20), Apple taking a mandatory stance on employees coming into the office (8:18), crafting back-to-work strategies to get top talent (16:28), the big concerns about the great resignation (24:45), communicating your strategy effectively across the organization (30:15), preventing your culture from eroding in the new world of work (38:00), quick wins with total rewards strategies (40:50), and what every company should be doing to keep their best talent (58:30).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

31 - Yemi Akisanya (Global Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Groupon) on why DEI needs to be a leadership competency Jul 07, 2021

Yemi Akisanya, Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Groupon, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

This episode is filled with nuggets of gold. Yemi talks about why DEI needs to be a competency that every leader has, why your company needs to build a business case for DEI, and why you should focus on building a strategy instead of racking up a couple of quick wins.

Timestamps: defining diversity, equity, and inclusion (20:50), the question you need to answer: why DEI now? (28:35), building a business case for DEI and making it more than a moral case (30:07), executives need to build the leadership competencies related to DEI (38:24), DEI programming CANNOT be effective if the CEO doesn’t have the competency to drive it (43:23), DEI is a cultural transformation (48:27), socializing your DEI data as a corporation (51:53), building an actual DEI strategy > quick wins (53:23), and shifting DEI from programming to leadership competencies (58:50).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

30 - Christopher D. Lee (CHRO, William & Mary) Jun 30, 2021

Christopher D. Lee, CHRO at William & Mary, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

He shared how he went from a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps to being the CHRO of one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in the US.

We discussed how a leader's job is to help each employee be their very best, why boosting your employees’ confidence is important, and how to drive performance conversations by asking the right questions.

Timestamps: why HR practitioners are miseducated & the 4 elements of HR (19:00), a leaders job is to help every employee be their very best (27:36), discretionary effort = employee engagement (31:20), boosting the confidence of your people (38:27), asking the right questions to drive performance conversations (42:25), and the common objections to scrapping the performance review (57:24).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

29 - The History of Burnout & The Power of Kindness Jun 17, 2021

Today we discussed the history of burnout and the power of kindness in the workplace.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

28 - Revamping Your Employee Engagement Strategy Jun 06, 2021

Today we dove deep into employee engagement & what companies can do if they need to revamp their approach.

Timestamps: the convergence of engagement and pulse surveys (2:53), what a “cookie-cutter” employee engagement strategy looks like (4:15), how pulse surveys have evolved over the years (6:10), what a blended engagement strategy looks like (7:18), where to start when revamping your engagement strategy (9:34), setting goals for your engagement strategy (11:16), what good and bad survey design looks like (15:26), the 3 primary engagement models being used right now (21:20), big misses in engagement in 2020 (29:00)

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

27 - Kristen Barbor (VP, Global HR, Groupon) May 28, 2021

Kristen Barbor, VP, Global HR at Groupon, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We touched on a lot: how to be human on the HR side during tough times, how consensus-driven decision-making can be detrimental, and Groupon’s employee engagement strategy.

Timestamps: being human during tough times goes a long way (13:40), using creativity as a secret weapon in HR (21:08), why consensus-driven decision making can be detrimental at times (23:30), deep-dive into Groupon’s employee engagement strategy (27:20), creating task forces to drive action after employee engagement surveys (33:50), and rebuilding and reenergizing Groupon’s workforce (39:17).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

26 - Leah Pettinari (Director, People Strategy & Engagement, The Boston Beer Company) on How They're Planning to Pilot Different Work Scenarios May 20, 2021

Leah Pettinari, Director, People Strategy & Engagement at The Boston Beer Company, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how The Boston Beer Company plans to pilot different work scenarios to figure out what works best for their people.

Timestamps: how COVID has impacted connection at BBC (13:47), how they’re adapting to the new virtual world (16:00) the fundamental elements that have improved their virtual approach (19:33), the higher productivity & improved pace of work in our new normal (23:58) how they plan to maintain flexibility AND drive better connection between their people (31:39), how they're piloting different work scenarios to see what works best for them (33:00), providing incentives for people to come into the office (38:01), and the aversion to returning to what work was (40:50).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

25 - Libby Fiumara (Talent Program Manager, Expel) on Turning Performance Management Upside Down May 12, 2021

Libby Fiumara, Talent Program Manager at Expel, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how Expel is turning performance management upside down.

Timestamps: when she realized she wanted to hone in on one facet of HR (5:54), why Expel rebranded performance management to performance enablement (7:18), turning performance management upside down (11:57), training managers to be more human (14:15), using the wobble scale to navigate tough conversations (16:16) applying energy management to prevent burnout (26:55), deploying quarterly "reflect and resets" (29:09), creating a common vocabulary across the company (31:41), making HR a sounding board (35:00), hybrid vs. remote vs. in-office decisions for companies (36:16), where you should start if you’re rethinking performance management (46:44), Adam Grant’s Think Again (49:05), and wine and performance coaching (50:25)

LibeLabs Learning: Hybrid & Remote Work Playbook

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

24 - Hallie Bregman (Global Head of People Analytics, PTC) on People Analytics May 06, 2021

Hallie Bregman, Global Head of People Analytics at PTC, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

This episode is filled with nuggets of gold:

Why the future Chief People Officer will have an analytics background (8:41), how COVID has elevated people analytics (10:09), the evolution of people analytics (11:40), the nuance between reporting & analytics (14:15), using analytics to tell stories (18:27), organizing your people analytics team (20:08), applying analytics to the candidate experience (24:08), getting alignment with stakeholders on analytics initiatives (31:20), year one of PTC's analytics journey (37:03), putting together the initial roadmap for people analytics (41:37), where to start with DEI analytics (44:56), how to run a self-identification campaign for DEI (48:06), and why Hallie hates diversity dashboards (50:18).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

23 - Michelle Wax (Founder, American Happiness Project) on Happiness Apr 28, 2021

Michelle Wax, the founder of the American Happiness Project, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about her journey across the USA to learn what brings everyday Americans happiness and fulfillment and much more.

Timestamps: why Michelle started the American Happiness Project (3:34), the 500 people that she interviewed on happiness (12:18), “you’re protected on this earth until you’ve served your purpose” (15:25), biggest lessons learned along her journey (19:32), consistent themes for creating happiness (25:04), why you should make the big life shift that your family doesn’t totally understand (32:01), the YOLO economy (33:42), & self-awareness will lead to a happier workforce (49:02).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

22 - Rhiana Barr (Chief People Officer, KushCo) on Nailing the People Piece of M&A Apr 22, 2021

Rhiana Barr, Chief People Officer at KushCo, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about why HR needs to be involved early in the M&A process, how to ensure a successful cultural integration, and much more.

Timestamps: why working in a wide range of industries has been so critical to her career growth (3:38), strategic workforce planning based on legislation (10:22), the changing perception of working in the cannabis industry (17:26), why HR needs to get involved early in the M&A process (23:39), the culture diligence is the missing piece to successful mergers and acquisitions (24:41), her step-by-step process for assessing culture pre-integration (29:16), why an HR leader is running their integration management office (33:25), and creating a single culture is a journey with your people (47:16),

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

21 - The Ups & Downs of Engagement Scores in 2020/2021 Apr 16, 2021

Today we talked about the ups and downs of employee engagement scores over the past 13 months.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

20 - Adrienne Barnard (SVP, People Operations & Experience, AdmitHub) on Building Great Managers Apr 09, 2021

Adrienne Barnard, SVP People Operations & Experience at AdmitHub, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We covered all things manager-related: the secret sauce to becoming a great manager, rookie mistakes to avoid, how to run effective 1x1s, and much more.

Timestamps: the secret sauce for becoming a great manager (9:12), the biggest rookie mistakes for new managers (13:42), people ops is important & companies are starting to take notice (25:36), why most 1x1s are ineffective (28:10), putting all managers through management training (32:34), having someone look after People Ops makes a big impact (37:50), leveraging engagement surveys to measure manager effectiveness (41:17), and using micro-learning opportunities to get quick wins with manger training (47:35).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

19 - Emma Brudner (Head of People, Reggora) Apr 04, 2021

Emma Brudner, Head of People at Reggora, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about what it has been like building out Reggora's people processes from scratch, going fully distributed, and what they’re measuring on their first-ever pulse survey.

Timestamps: how Emma made the jump from being a journalist to Head of People (3:52), prioritizing people processes being put into place (13:17), why she meets with every new hire (17:23), influencing without authority in HR (19:13), building the employee handbook & ensuring the policies are equitable (21:31), how going fully distributed is fueling headcount growth (28:03), how Reggora designed their first pulse survey (32:16), recruiting for industry-specific expertise ( 39:20), and the difference between radical candor and being a jerk (40:45).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

18 - Jaclyn Jussif (Director of Talent Acquisition, EnterpriseDB) on Hiring & Onboarding Apr 01, 2021

Jaclyn Jussif, Director of Talent Acquisition at EnterpriseDB, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about hiring, onboarding, and how to create custom ramp plans for new hires.

Timestamps: biggest differences hiring internationally (12:29), using the WHO method for behavioral interviewing (16:22), calling out the elephant in the room (COVID) in interviews (22:04), front-loading information in the onboarding process (25:52), creating customized 30, 60, 90-day ramp plans (29:33), tying references to ramp plans (33:08), nudging people to connect (36:00), why the EMPLOYEE needs to drive the onboarding process (38:45), and the magnified imposter syndrome that people are feeling right now (42:56).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

17 - Gillian Godfrey (Chief People Officer, Storable) on Psychological Safety Mar 28, 2021

Gillian Godfrey, Chief People Officer at Storable, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

Gillian shared how Storable is creating Psychological Safety across the entire employee experience. We also dove into the recent work that they did with their Employee Value Proposition.

Timestamps: why Psychological Safety is front and center right now (12:31), how their leadership team is “wrapping their arms around their people” (14:46), the two new roles that Storable created to improve employee engagement (21:05), “making deposits to the trust bank” (25:37), how they’re creating psychological safety from candidate to “graduate” (28:15), now is your time in HR to step up as a leader (34:28), how Storable launched their new Employee Value Proposition (38:20), how they grew their LinkedIn page from 1,000 to 10,000 followers (45:00), and how Storable connected their EVP to a compelling story (50:37).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

16 - Building Recognition Programs for a 6,000 Person Company Mar 21, 2021

Sarah Salbu Young, Talent Experience Partner at Pegasystems, joined us on The Modern People Leader recently.

At Pegasystems, Sarah’s role is fully dedicated to building recognition programs for their 6,000 people worldwide.

We talked about “the lost art of saying thank you”, how companies can incorporate traditions and rituals to build a stronger culture, and lastly, she broke down the 3 core pillars of Recognition at Pega.

Timestamps: how Sarah made the jump from PR to the People function (2:49), Sarah's unique role & the 3 core pillars of recognition (9:39), the power of saying “thank you” (17:54), creating a culture of positivity (20:36), incorporating traditions and rituals to build a stronger culture (31:42), creating “water-cooler” like moments virtually (34:48), infusing humor into the workplace (37:09), creating unique “badge of honor” moments for big milestones that everyone can look forward to (40:11), peer-to-peer recognition and awards at Pega (43:54), and measuring the success of recognition programs (46:06).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

15 - Dena Upton (Chief People Officer, Drift) on Going Digital First Mar 14, 2021

Dena Upton, Chief People Officer at Drift, joined us on The Modern People Leader the other day. Drift is a hyper-growth startup (440 employees) that has been named to Deloitte's Fast 500 List, Forbes' AI 50 List, and Inc.'s of the Best Workplaces of 2020.

Dena shared the details around Drift's recent decision to go Digital First:

Defining Digital First, how it’s different than a hybrid approach, and why it’s a mindset shift (10:33), why the hybrid approach will start to deteriorate post-pandemic (13:38), doubling down on what’s working for your culture in a digital work environment (16:16), Monday Metrics and Friday Show & Tell (18:52), giving employees permission to make big life decisions and picking an edge (21:04), focusing on impact and outcomes over facetime (28:56), putting the finishing touches to their culture deck (30:24), the importance of storytelling and showing your work (34:39), the Drift leadership team’s commitment to their people agenda (37:01) relocation and market-based compensation (39:12), and the metrics that Dena is constantly looking at (46:00).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

14 - Lyndsay Lord (CHRO, Team Car Care, dba Jiffy Lube) Mar 11, 2021

Our guest today was Lyndsay Lord, CHRO at Team Car Care, dba Jiffy Lube, the largest Jiffy Lube franchisee in the US.

For all of the HR practitioners that work in multi-unit businesses, this episode is for you! And for everyone else, listen to Lyndsay on why working in HR for a blue-collar company is so rewarding.

What we covered: focusing on their 5,000 teammates to deliver an amazing guest experience (7:32), how role clarity can drive high engagement (9:43), building a strong data foundation on the HR side (11:51), 2021 will be the year of anticipation with their analytics (12:13), managing data for a multi-unit business (13:58), laying out a clear career path for employees (16:32), identifying high-potential teammates to promote (20:34), working in HR for white-collar vs. blue-collar companies (21:39), listening to employees to make their experience better (29:29), trainings to develop inclusive leaders (36:20), International Women’s Day shoutouts (39:49), qualities of the great leaders she’s worked with (43:30), navigating motherhood while focusing on your career (45:00), and more.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

13 - VP of People + Talent at Privy on Performance Reviews (Jennifer Paxton) Mar 08, 2021

Our guest today was Jennifer Paxton, VP of People + Talent at Privy.

We covered quite a bit: the craziest thing she's experienced in her career (0:49), why she loves her job (3:30), the monthly HR/Talent breakfast that she hosts (8:26), the employee preference for a quarterly performance review vs. the manager pushback for a less frequent cadence (13:48), how she built Privy's performance review process from scratch (18:16), how she built a competency bank & tailored competencies for different teams (19:49), the debate on whether or not to include self-assessments (31:24), how to enable managers to have professional growth conversations with their direct reports (37:21), and more.

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

12 - The Gray Area of "Anonymous" Employee Feedback Mar 04, 2021

Today we talked about the importance of anonymous feedback and the new “gray area” that has emerged: challenges companies are having taking action on employee feedback (1:32), skepticism from employees on survey anonymity (5:35), “confidential” surveys that aren’t truly anonymous (10:48), the argument for pseudo-anonymous feedback (12:56), what a world of fully-attributed surveys would look like (20:01), and how people might be able to one-day “opt-in” to attributed feedback channels (23:33).

If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn:

11 - Leveraging LinkedIn to Build Your Employer Brand Feb 23, 2021

Our guest today was Chris Walker, CEO of Refine Labs.

Chris has grown his business from 1 person to 20 in the past 16-18 months, and he plans on being at 100 by the end of 2022.

100% of their growth (on both the customer and people side) has come from the employer brand that they've been able to build on LinkedIn.

He gives a full breakdown of how they do it.

We then talk about how he vets 900+ candidates for roles (16:10), how they've built an army of employee advocates on social media (23:38), why they are a 100% remote-based company (40:17), and more.

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