The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR 270 - Escape the HR Busywork Trap: Melanie Naranjo (Chief People Officer, Ethena) & Taylor McLemore (COO, Tilt)
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
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(06:00) — The problem statement: HR buried in admin, Q4 pressure, need for practical fixes
(07:25)— Taylor on leave management as the high-stakes admin vortex and why great leave drives retention
(10:18) — Melanie on overwork vs impact: earn respect through outcomes, not hours
(14:08) — Reframing service: self-service, business-first questions, and saying “look it up” kindly
(20:32) — Horror Story 1: Mexico-beach FMLA backfire and what the law actually allows
(22:19) — Horror Story 2: CEO’s mis-sent inappropriate email and culture trust fallout
(24:56) — Horror Story 3: Walk-by performance ratings in open cubes
(27:42) — Taylor’s fix: design for simplicity in leave policies and automate approvals
(28:57) — Melanie’s fix: make time your asset; test-outs, policy bots, AI course builder
(33:47) — Q&A: “Minimum training hours” requirements and assigning only what’s legally needed
(37:04) — Feeling “behind on AI”: why most teams are weeks, not years, behind(39:07) — Q&A
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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.