The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR 252 - What HR can do about revenue problems & flipping the HR pyramid: JooBee Yeow (Learngility)
JooBee Yeow joined us on The Modern People Leader to talk about why HR must stop overfunctioning and start diagnosing real business problems—especially when revenue is on the line.
We discussed how HR leaders can step out of their silo, challenge assumptions, influence revenue growth, and flip the HR pyramid to prioritize high-impact, strategic work.
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(06:23) JooBee’s Career Journey: From Systems Engineer to Strategic HR Leader
(08:34) What JooBee Learned from Partnering with CTOs over CHROs
(11:48) Stephen’s Experience Managing Engineers as a CEO
(14:07) Preferential Treatment or Strategic Blindspots in Tech-Heavy Teams
(18:08) What JooBee Is Building: Bootcamp, Community, and Mini MBA
(24:31) Why HR Gets Stuck at 50 Employees: Common Traps at Growth Stage
(29:33) Same Problems, New Labels: From Headcount to AI Adoption
(30:33) The Two Questions Every People Leader Must Ask
(32:25) Strategic Planning ≠ Strategic Thinking: Escaping Operational Loops
(34:26) The HR Hierarchy of Needs & Flipping the Pyramid
(44:46) Stop Playing Admin: Behaviors That Keep HR Operational
(47:29) Writing in Anger: The Story Behind JooBee’s “Drive Revenue” Newsletter
(50:57) What to Do When You Won’t Hit Revenue Targets This Quarter
(54:17) Where Is Revenue Leaking? 4 Common Scenarios
(56:09) Don’t Start with “How”—Diagnose First
(59:26) Tactical Advice: How to Be Curious and Find the Right People to Ask
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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