Episode 93: Leading By Lifting Others with Chief People Officer, Tami Rosen

How would you feel if you knew your manager had your back? What if they lifted you up and shined a light on your accomplishments? What if they were willing to do whatever it takes to give everyone a level playing field?

Servant leadership is all about leading by lifting others. Our guest today is Tami Rosen and she is that kind of leader. She believes that leaders don’t go far if they leave others behind. Throughout her career, Tami has fought for the underdog and paved the way for others to get ahead, inspiring them to do more, learn more and become more.

In this episode, Tami shares her perspective on leadership, contribution and impact. Tami is currently the Chief People Officer at Atlassian where she is responsible for the attraction, engagement, development, and experience of Atlassian’s most important asset –its people. Prior to Atlassian, Tami has held leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, Apple, and has served as the first Chief People Officer for both Quora and Luminar Technologies. Tami brings an agile philosophy to all aspects of people operations.

 

Highlights:

[03:03] Tami’s journey

[07:17] Risk-reward analysis

[09:30] Seeking out feedback

[13:23] Overcoming limiting beliefs

[16:44] Tami’s superpower

[19:43] Diversity and inclusion

[24:20] Making the decision to change industries

[30:01] Asking for help

[33:33] Accelerating success in the digital age

[35:19] Becoming a change agent for others

[37:41] Tami’s final words of advice

 

Quotes:

“It is just as important for others to share feedback when they see someone who is high performing as it is to be asking for the feedback.”– Tami Rosen

“Building your network and relationships isn’t about the work you are doing in the moment, it’s about how you carry that forward and keep that relationship going.” – Tami Rosen

“Asking for help allows others to know where they can use their superpowers to help you.” – Tami Rosen

“Failure is an opportunity to learn and get back up and do something better and different.” – Tami Rosen

“Drive the change you want to see. See what the future should be and make sure that you can help make that change happen.” – Tami Rosen

“When you see somebody struggling, give them the support, because it's always more powerful in twos than it is by yourself.” – Tami Rosen

 

About Tami Rosen:

Tami Rosen is a senior HR executive passionate about enabling people to perform at their best. Through leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, Apple as well as start ups like Quora and Luminar Technologies, she brought an agile philosophy to all aspects of people operations for up to 15,000 global employees, becoming known for strengths in four key areas: HR Transformation, Employer Branding, Diversity and Inclusion, Leadership Development and Culture Education. Throughout her career, she earned distinction as a relationship builder, thought leader, connector of people, and trusted advisor to executive teams. 

Tami launched her corporate career at Goldman Sachs, where she spent 16+ years advancing from technical recruiter and generalist to heading human resources for three of the firm’s largest divisions:

Technology, The Federation (back-office operations), and Investment Management.

In global and regional roles, she provided the leadership to transform HR into a strategic business asset and instill excellence into talent management programs and processes. She advocated for and engaged employees through initiatives that embraced the inclusion and growth of female, LGBT, and diverse populations, including Wall Street’s first Ally program. She developed leaders and rising-stars, and set technical and business employees on career roadmaps designed to bring out their full potential.  

Recruited to Apple Inc. as Human Resources Senior Director for two technical divisions, Tami used people analytics to shape talent recruitment, development and management programs designed to attract and retain the best performers in a competitive job marketplace. Her leadership facilitated the smooth integration of several large acquisitions, including Beats by Dre. Her success resulted in a rare invitation to join Apple University as a faculty member. Tami created and conducted development programs for executives and managers that focused on building innovative cultures and engaging employees. She also led research on employee attrition factors at suppliers in Asia. 

Tami also served as the first Chief People Officer, Luminar Technologies, advising the executive team on strategic planning and organizational structure to ensure business viability. She established the HR infrastructure including compensation strategy and developed an empowering corporate culture.  Prior to Luminar, she was the first Vice President of People and Internal Communications at Quora where she made talent and culture a keystone of business strategy and provided executive leadership coaching. 

She is currently the Chief People officer at Atlassian where she is responsible for the attraction, engagement, development, and experience of Atlassian’s most important asset – its people. She has been instrumental in developing the future of work called TEAM Anywhere and has shepherded the company through the recent pandemic.

Tami currently resides in Los Altos with her husband (Marc), two children (Emma and Justin), two cats (Ava and Max) and her husky (Alani). She is passionate about philanthropy, coaching/mentoring, democracy/equality and working with STEM programs. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Binghamton University in Law and Society.

 

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tami-rosen-388714b/ Read Tami’s blog on Employee driven crisis response plan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tami.rosen

Twitter: @tamibrosen