Iain Roberts, Global Head of Employee Experience at Airbnb, discusses experimenting in HR in 2025, the design-thinking reshaping organizational structures, and why CEO Brian Chesky’s ‘Founder Mode’ is much misinterpreted. Iain covers innovative approach to flexible work, cross-functional alignment, and treating employee programs as evolving products requiring continuous refinement.
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LINK/S:
Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/
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REFERENCE/S:
NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang says that IT will ‘become the HR of AI agents’:
https://fortune.com/2025/01/09/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huangt-take-over-hr-ai-agents/
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KEEP UP WITH IAIN, NOLAN + KELLI ON LINKEDIN
Iain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsiain/
Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellidragovich/Nolan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-church/
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Intro
(00:13) From Designer to HR Leader: Iain's Journey
(01:15) "Everything Needs to Be Designed" Philosophy
(03:09) Designing Systems of People and Structures
(04:47) Bringing Design Thinking to HR at Airbnb
(08:03) Airbnb's One Roadmap Approach: 7,000 People, One Focus
(07:21) Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Culture & Innovation
(10:26) Tactically Transforming an HR Team with Design Thinking
(11:47) Treating HR as Products and Services
(13:14) The Future of HR Product Management
(14:36) Sponsor: Metaview
(16:30) Founder Mode: Misinterpretations and Brian Chesky's Approach
(23:00) Airbnb's Shift to a Single Product Roadmap
(26:54) Design-Led Culture and Attention to Detail at Airbnb
(28:48) Prototyping & Iterating with Human Experiences: Challenges
(30:50) Airbnb's Gathering Strategy and Flexible Work Philosophy
(33:48) Airbnb's Contrarian Stance on Remote Work (Live & Work Anywhere)
(39:45) Wrap
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