The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

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(06:03) Jani’s Path Into People Ops

(09:28) What Music Taught Her About Org Design

(12:55) Why Viva Went All-In on AI

(13:46) Winning the Zapier Award

(17:32) Viva’s AI Adoption Strategy

(19:31) 3 AI Competencies: Prompting, Automation, Business Acumen

(22:09) The 13-Week Manager-Led Learning Path

(23:35) Picking Use Cases and Measuring ROI

(26:46) Handling Resistance and Fear

(30:16) Explorer to Builder to Multiplier

(32:42) Viva Ambassador Program and Content GPTs

(37:29) People Ops Slack Bots: Fixie and Aura

(40:04) TA Dashboard Using Lovable

(41:45) EAs Helping Clients Adopt AI

(43:14) What They’d Change Next Time

(45:18) AI Debt and Automation Pitfalls

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🔗 Try Viva’s $950 one-month trial at execviva.com/mpl

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Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

278 - Why MPL Live Austin Felt Different Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

We recapped MPL Live Austin with attendees Cindy Lopez (Senior Director, People & Culture, Pattern Bioscience) and Marlene Arroyo (Founder, Peoplecraft).

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode278

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(09:04) Cindy background, why she attended, and what felt different about the event experience

(10:57) Marlene background, why she returned, and what she valued from 2024 to 2025

(16:14) Cindy’s take on Innovation Hall (missed Day 1, but feedback from others and Day 2 vendor conversations)

(18:05) Marlene’s take on Innovation Hall: vendor conversations shifting from “AI can” to workflow integration

(19:11) Bingo gamification: origin, how it worked, and what it enabled

(21:11) Programming integration: how Day 1 was structured alongside the Innovation Hall

(22:53) Day 1 highlights

(25:49) Day 2 highlights

(34:36) Key learnings from the week

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277 - Vanguard CHRO on Driving Change in a 20k+ Person Org: Jon Couture (CHRO, Vanguard) Jan 20, 2026

Show notes

Jon Couture, CHRO at Vanguard, joined The Modern People Leader to share how Vanguard is balancing 50 years of legacy with the next 50 years of change.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode277

Sponsor Links:

🔗 Try Viva’s $950 one-month trial at execviva.com/mpl

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(04:35) Jon Couture’s Career Story: Air Force Firefighter to CHRO

(08:16) Vanguard Culture: Stability, Performance & Long-Tenure Talent

(10:16) New CEO from Outside: Preserving Culture While Driving Change

(12:38) The Paradox of Theseus: Evolving Vanguard Without Losing Its Soul

(14:52) CHRO–CEO Alignment & Translating Strategy Into People Priorities

(20:00) Enterprise Priorities: Advice, Wealth Management & Democratization

(24:29) AI as a Productivity Engine for Clients and Crew

(26:48) Balancing 50 Years of Legacy With the Next 50 Years of Change

(27:33) Repositioning HR: Enabling How Work Gets Done

(31:48) Strategic Workforce Planning & Task-Level Work Design

(36:24) Agile HR, MVP Thinking & Avoiding Over-Documentation Traps

(39:14) Building Trust in AI Adoption & Change Management

(44:01) Satisfaction = Expectations ÷ Actuals: Managing Change Realistically

(45:50) Leadership Development at Scale: ELDP & Leadership Experience

(50:16) Rethinking Learning: From Content Consumption to Skill Mastery

(53:21) Middle Management: Investing in Effectiveness, Not Flattening

(56:00) The Time Dividend: Productivity as a Path to Better Training

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276 - How Vidyard’s CPO Built an AI Career Coach: Sarika Lamont, Chief People Officer at Vidyard Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of The Modern People Leader, Sarika Lamont, Chief People Officer at Vidyard, joins us to unpack her non-traditional journey into HR and how AI is reshaping the role of People teams.

She shared practical AI use cases from onboarding automation to AI coaching, along with the mindset shifts HR leaders must make to lead change rather than fear it.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode276

Sponsor Links:

🔗 Take Clarinet’s AI Readiness Snapshot

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(08:20) Sarika’s career origin story and non-linear path into People leadership

(15:06) Transition from traditional roles into strategic talent leadership

(27:14) AI product evolution and challenges of layering AI into existing platforms

(29:41) AI change management and leadership mindset shifts

(32:01) Grassroots AI adoption and building excitement without fear

(36:05) Fear, resistance, and why HR teams struggle with AI adoption

(43:07) HR as a strategic driver in AI transformation

(46:20) Onboarding as the first AI workflow use case

(48:50) Automation outcomes, manager enablement, and measurable impact

(52:44) Lessons learned from AI-powered onboarding transformation

(54:33) AI coaching as the next frontier in HR

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Build: The Employee Base Audit with Jessica Zwaan & Pete Fader (Incompass Labs) Jan 09, 2026

Show notes

Peter Fader and Jessica Zwaan joined The Modern People Leader to explore how customer-based audit principles can be applied to employees.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode275

Sponsor Links:

🔗 Try Viva’s $950 one-month trial at execviva.com/mpl

🔗 Try AskChartHop

🔗 Take Clarinet’s AI Readiness Snapshot

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(07:53) Marketing Concepts Crossing into HR

(11:18) Employee Lifetime Value and the Marketing–HR Crossover

(13:01) Customer-Based Audit Explained in Plain Language

(16:23) What Actually Goes Into a Customer-Based Audit

(18:07) Cross-Sectional vs. Cohort Analysis: How Customers (and Employees) Change

(21:21) Bad Revenue, Bad Customers, and Growth Tradeoffs

(23:04) The Limits of Surveys and Why Context Matters

(26:54) Cohort Analysis and Why Averages Mislead Decision-Making

(30:39) Data Challenges in HR and What You Need to Start an Employee Audit

(34:20) Translating Customer Metrics to Employee Performance

(37:42) Incentive-Compatible Peer Feedback and Performance Signal

(40:06) What an Employee-Based Audit Actually Produces

(44:25) Turning Audit Insights into Actionable HR Decisions

(47:39) What an Employee-Based Audit Book Would Cover

(49:19) The Future of Work if Employee Audits Become Standard

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274 - Kirthi Mani (Chief People Officer, CliftonLarsonAllen) on Joy Fueling Performance Jan 05, 2026

Show notes

Kirthi Mani, Chief People Officer at CLA, joins The Modern People Leader to explore why joy is a true competitive advantage and how people-first leadership drives sustainable performance.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode274

Sponsor Links:

🔗 Try Viva’s $950 one-month trial at execviva.com/mpl

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MPL Links:

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273 - Pat Lencioni on Trust, Burnout, and Finding Your Working Genius Dec 19, 2025

Show notes

Pat Lencioni, founder of The Table Group and bestselling author behind The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The 6 Types of Working Genius, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about his origin story in organizational health, how Working Genius helps leaders prevent burnout by designing teams around strengths, and how HR leaders can build trust and stay grounded as AI reshapes work.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode273

Sponsor Links:

🔗 Try Viva’s $950 one-month trial at execviva.com/mpl

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📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps

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(06:30) Pat’s origin story: why he started doing organizational health work

(15:06) What Pat has changed his mind on over time (patience vs immediate confrontation)

(16:24) Trust + “Five Dysfunctions” discussion (why absence of trust breaks everything)

(19:54) What sparked the “6 types of Working Genius” model

(24:50) Burnout comes from doing draining work too long, not just “working hard”

(29:19) The “Yeti mug vs hole in the cup” analogy (genius, competency, frustration)

(39:25) CEO burnout cycle: suffering for others vs martyrdom, and designing coverage for what you don’t have

(42:49) Using Working Genius for teams and hiring (cover gaps; hire for needed “genius,” not title)

(47:30) Pat’s take on AI: different “types” of AI + the dignity of work and the human touch

(52:53) 5–10 year outlook: job disruption, and using Working Genius to stay adaptable across industries

(54:09) Trust in an AI era: fear, headcount signals, and how leaders rebuild trust

(57:55) Leadership style + authenticity: lead from who you are, name strengths/weaknesses openly

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272 - 3 HR Leaders Demo What They’ve Built with AI (Zapier, Vercel, Workleap) Dec 12, 2025

Show notes

Brandon Sammut (Chief People and AI Transformation Officer at Zapier), Jenny Molyneaux (VP of People, Vercel), and Valerie Gobeil (Head of Talent Management, Workleap) joined us for a live session on how HR teams are actually using AI today.

We talked about how to get organizations AI-ready, avoid “AI debt,” make smarter build vs buy decisions, and we walked through live demos of AI-powered performance reviews, hiring workflows, interview coaching, engagement insights, and more.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode272

Sponsor Links:

🔗Try Viva’s $950 one-month trial at execviva.com/mpl

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MPL Links:

🔗Go sign up for MPL Build.

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(08:46) Brandon on organizational readiness: leadership, talent, and culture as the real prerequisites for AI transformation

(11:25) Brandon’s three-part impact framework for AI work: efficiency, quality, and employee experience

(12:58) Jenny introduces “AI debt” and the phases of the AI journey from initial adoption to deeper productivity gains

(14:41) Building internal AI enablers and “chief vibe coders” on the people team to help others ship and scale AI solutions

(17:22) Zooming out to AI tech stacks: build vs buy vs “bot” and how HR should think about existing tools and new platforms

(18:29) Valerie on activating AI already inside your HR stack and creating an HR data agent with a custom GPT

(23:00) Transition to demo day: exploring what is actually possible with AI in HR right now

(24:38) Valerie Demo 1: Using AI to spin up 360 performance review cycles, questions, and value-based sections in minutes

(29:31) Valerie Demo 2: AI-assisted manager reviews that aggregate self reviews, peer feedback, goals, recognition, and Slack activity

(32:16) Jenny Demo 1: Slack analytics leaderboard to gamify “working in public” and reduce DMs on the people team

(35:15) Jenny Demo 2: Interview quality coach that analyzes BrightHire transcripts and slacks structured feedback to interviewers

(37:41) Jenny Demo 3: Custom GPT in the CEO’s voice to keep outreach and employer brand messaging on tone across teams

(39:11) Brandon Demo 1: AI-powered hiring plans that generate JDs, rubrics, interview guides, and Slack hiring channels via Zapier Canvas

(48:25) Brandon Demo 2: Alumni engagement and LinkedIn recommendation agents that keep him connected to former teammates

(52:00) Valerie Demo 3: Turning engagement survey comments into themes, actions, and board-ready executive summaries

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271 - How 100-Year-Old Company (Synchrony Financial) Runs Like a Startup: DJ Casto (CHRO) Dec 05, 2025

Show notes

DJ Casto joined us on The Modern People Leader to share how Synchrony is co-designing the future of work with employees.

We talked about active listening at scale, building trust by being great not perfect, rethinking leadership for a flexible workforce, and why treating the employee experience like a product creates real business impact.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode271

Sponsor Links:

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MPL Links:

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(06:16) DJ’s Origin Story: From First-Gen College Student to CHRO at Synchrony

(11:19) What Synchrony Does: Credit Access, Health & Wellness, and Major Retail Partners

(14:12) Co-Designing the Future of Work & Adopting an MVP Mindset in HR

(18:27) Active Listening as the Operating System for People Programs

(29:10) Scaling Listening: Pulse Surveys, Roundtables, ERGs, Wellness Coaches and On-Site Therapists

(35:14) Avoiding the “Send One Email” Trap and Communicating 20 Different Ways

(38:48) Great, Not Perfect: Building Trust, Prioritizing Requests, and Saying No Openly

(44:51) Synchrony’s Hybrid “Way of Working” and Redesigning Leadership for Flexibility

(51:48) Rethinking Performance, Onboarding, and Culture Centers in a Hybrid World

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270 - Escape the HR Busywork Trap: Melanie Naranjo (Chief People Officer, Ethena) & Taylor McLemore (COO, Tilt) Dec 01, 2025

Show notes

Taylor and Melanie joined The Modern People Leader to unpack how HR teams can get out from under compliance chaos and admin overload to focus on business impact.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode270

Sponsor Links:

🔗 Try Viva’s $950 one-month trial at execviva.com/mpl.

MPL Links:

🔗 Buy your ticket for MPL Live Austin.