184 - From Job Titles to Skills—A Vision for Future HR Leaders: Don Robertson (EVP & CHRO, Northwestern Mutual)

Don Robertson, EVP & CHRO at Northwestern Mutual, joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about prioritizing company values over star performers, why the future of work is more about skills and less about job titles, and the real reason change takes so long in the workplace.

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This episode was brought to you by Great Place to Work. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com/mpl.

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(0:55) Good news stories

(5:05) Don’s story: Shifting from finance to HR

(9:07) Turning HR discussions with your CEO into business outcome discussions

(12:07) How working in sales has helped him as a people leader

(14:04) Northwestern Mutual

(19:40) Managers need to become career coaches and guides

(22:33) You can’t town hall your way to change

(23:46) Incentivizing managers to develop the next generation of talent

(27:55) Holding managers accountable

(34:03) How Northwestern Mutual thinks about moving people around to different teams throughout the company

(39:20) CHROs will need to help design a system that’s less about your title and more about what you know

(43:20) Change is needed but there's no incentive for those involved in the system to change

(46:20) Rapid fire questions

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