Jessica Swank, Chief People Officer at Box, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about building an "org brain", preparing managers to lead teams of humans plus agents, avoiding agent sprawl and tech debt, and why every people leader needs to start experimenting with AI personally to stay ahead.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode269

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(09:24) The GenAI Shift and What It Means To Become an AI-First Company

(11:07) Box’s Three Pillars for AI in People and Communities: Optimize, Elevate, Amplify

(13:25) Rethinking Roles, Skills, and Job Architecture in an AI-Driven World

(16:17) Who Leads the AI Transformation: HR, IT, or a Cross-Functional AI Council

(20:32) People Strategy in an AI-First World: Talent, Skills, and Leadership Expectations

(23:55) Hackathons, AI Certification, and Box’s Step-by-Step AI People Roadmap

(32:44) Leading Hybrid Human Plus Agent Teams and Rethinking Manager Responsibilities

(37:20) Coaching, Feedback, and Performance Expectations for AI Agents

(38:36) OKRs for Agents, Agent Sprawl, and Governance of Digital Employees

(42:29) Tech Debt, Agentic Debt, and How People Teams Decide What To Build, Buy, or Wait On

(47:47) The People Team Tech Stack: Build, Buy, Borrow, Bot in Practice at Box

(49:10) Practical Advice for HR Leaders Just Starting Their AI Journey

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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.

In it for the long haul

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