Skills Over Experience: How Irina Novoselsky Is Reframing Leadership at Hootsuite

Irina Novoselsky presents a leadership model designed for speed, trust, and relevance. At Hootsuite, social intelligence informs decisions across marketing, customer experience, and HR. Talent decisions prioritize skills over experience, enabling internal mobility and adaptability. Leaders build credibility by listening first and showing up authentically. Culture is reinforced through action, not statements.Key Takeaways1. Skills Drive Performance: Curiosity, positivity, and data centric thinking outperform linear experience in most leadership roles.2. Internal Talent Scales Faster: Promoting from within strengthens culture and execution.3. Listening Enables Relevance: Leaders who can interpret real time signals outperform those relying on past experience.4. Employee Voices Build Trust: Advocacy outperforms paid media for credibility and retention.5. Leadership Must Be Visible: Culture is shaped by action and presence, not statements.Chapters:00:00 - From Refugee to CEO: Irina shares how her early life experience shaped her mindset around opportunity, resilience, and risk.03:32 - Hootsuite’s Evolution to Social Intelligence: Why Hootsuite moved beyond social media management into enterprise level listening and insight.05:35 - Listening as a Competitive Advantage: How early detection of sentiment creates relevance and strategic optionality for brands.08:18 - Skills Over Experience in Leadership Decisions: Irina explains why curiosity, positivity, and data driven thinking matter more than perfect resumes.11:01 - Cross Functional Leadership Moves: The reasoning behind moving a Chief People Officer into a Chief Customer Officer role.16:43 - Building Executive Presence on Social: Lessons from Irina’s own LinkedIn learning curve and why perspective outperforms promotion.20:48 - HR as a Market Facing Function: Using social listening and employee advocacy to improve hiring, engagement, and retention.29:56 - Social Media Is Now Simply Media: Why ignoring social platforms increases irrelevance rather than reducing risk.41:32 - Leading in an AI Shaped World: Why adaptable leadership and human skills remain the ultimate advantage.