Pene Barton, CEO at Crimson Global Academy, and Olivia Dyet, founder and CEO at recruitment startup Empathix, delve into why people leaders are the unsung heroes of business. They discuss the essential blend of culture and strategy that defines effective leadership. The conversation highlights the potential for more diverse CEOs emerging from people operations, emphasizes the transformative impact of AI in leadership roles, and advocates for tools that enhance productivity in today's interconnected work environment.
People leaders possess a unique blend of HR and operational skills, making them essential for executing business strategy and maintaining accountability.
The transition from traditional HR to strategic, people-centered roles emphasizes the importance of understanding organizational dynamics and customer needs for success.
AI integration is revolutionizing both personal and professional spheres, enhancing efficiency and allowing leaders to focus on strategic relationships over mundane tasks.
Deep dives
Penny Barton's Journey to CEO
Penny Barton reflects on her career aspirations, highlighting her long-held dream of becoming a CEO, which she envisioned early on at the age of 23. She shares her realization of the CEO's influence on company culture and organizational change when she worked in a people and culture role. This understanding fueled her determination to achieve this position, especially after a discouraging remark from a CEO suggesting she would never attain that goal. Ultimately, Penny's journey has led her to become the CEO of Crimson Global Academy, an online school aimed at democratizing education and providing equal access to quality learning regardless of geographical constraints.
The Impact of Crimson Global Academy
Crimson Global Academy, which Penny co-founded, emphasizes providing high-quality education to students regardless of their location. Established in early 2019 and launched in March 2020, the school adapted seamlessly to online learning from its inception, offering global access to world-class teachers. Currently, it caters to over 2,100 students from more than 65 countries, creating a diverse educational community. The initiative addresses educational disparities and fosters connections among students with varied backgrounds, preparing them for a borderless future in business.
Olivia Dyett's Path to Empathix
Olivia Dyett's career trajectory is rooted in her passion for building and understanding organizational dynamics, starting from her initial experience at Adidas to her role at the Warehouse. She discovered her enthusiasm for recruitment while navigating a complex organizational landscape that spurred her to learn about the intricacies of various entities. Recognizing a significant gap in the recruitment industry, Olivia founded Empathix, which utilizes AI to identify the top talent efficiently, enhancing the hiring process for companies with lean recruitment teams. Her venture reflects a commitment to refining recruitment practices and bridging the gap between technology and human resource management.
The Evolution of the People Profession
Both Penny and Olivia discuss the evolving role of HR and people operations in organizations, emphasizing the shift from traditional HR functions to strategic, people-centered approaches. They note the danger of confining HR roles to administrative tasks, suggesting instead that successful HR professionals must be builders who understand the organization deeply. The conversation also highlights that understanding the customer and their needs is essential in shaping effective HR practices, thus positioning HR as a vital player in organizational success. The integration of AI into the people profession is seen as a game changer, allowing HR to focus more on strategic relationships and less on mundane tasks.
Incorporating AI for Personal and Professional Growth
Both Penny and Olivia share their experiences with using AI to enhance their personal and professional efficiencies. Penny discusses how she's integrated AI into her daily life, from recipe suggestions to simplifying complex tasks, emphasizing the technology's role in managing life’s demands. Olivia highlights AI's utility in understanding educational content for her children and optimizing travel arrangements by predicting seat availability on flights. Their discussions reflect a broader trend where AI becomes a companion in daily activities, helping users unlock greater creativity and productivity in their professional environments.
People leaders are often the quietly most vital parts of a business.
Great people leaders are like a cross between HR and an executional chief operating officer - someone who takes the business strategy and breaks it down into what everyone needs to do, and then helps every manager in a business stay accountable. There are no great companies without great people policy and execution, and people leaders need to understand culture, strategy, how people tick and how to create high performance environments- all the kind of things that also make for a great CEO. So why don’t we see more CEOs coming from chief people officer backgrounds?
This episode on the pod we talk to Olivia Dyet, founder and CEO at recruitment startup Empathix and Pene Barton, CEO at Crimson Global Academy. Both these leaders came from leading people operations, and both are at the front of what great looks like in terms of AI execution and implementation both on how they work and how their teams operate. We have a great chat about how this could be a huge opportunity for more diverse leadership with so many amazing women in people and operations, how we may need to redefine what a technical leaders is in the age of AI and about the practical toolbox of AI tools everyone should be using today.
