The Gartner Talent Angle

In response to the disruptions of the past few years, HR has taken a leadership role in the organization.  With this new decision-making authority, many HR leaders are now looking for a new and sustainable path to deliver outsized talent impact in the current environment. Brent Cassell presents Gartner’s latest research to help HR leaders achieve this vision by practicing “everyday boldness”. He explains how building stability, initiating trust and forging ahead enables HR to prepare their organizations for the future. Brent Cassell is a vice president of advisory in Gartner’s HR practice, and he has spent the past 19 years in Gartner’s HR and CIO practices. His job is to help clients find the research they need, to help them understand that research, and to coach them through the implementation of those best practices in their own organizations. Brent is the contributing editor of the HR Leaders Monthly journal. In 2022, he won Gartner’s award for Outstanding Thought Leadership for his work on Redesigning Work for the Hybrid World. Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

Women of color are one of the fastest-growing segments in the corporate workforce, yet often underrepresented in their teams, department or company. In “The First, The Few, The Only,” author and corporate inclusion leader Deepa Purushothaman offers a call to action for women of color to advocate for a new corporate environment where they feel belonging and acceptance.  On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Deepa provides a roadmap for women of color to initiate change in the workplace, and outlines how organizations can ensure all of their employees are heard, respected and valued. Deepa Purushothaman is the co-founder of nFormation which provides brave, safe, new space for professional women of color and a Women and Public Policy Program Leader in Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to this, Deepa spent more than 20 years at Deloitte and was the first Indian American woman to become a partner in the company’s history. Deepa was also Deloitte’s national Women’s Initiative leader, the firm’s renowned program to recruit, retain, and advance women. Deepa has degrees from Wellesley College, Harvard Kennedy School, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Deepa is an Aspen Fellow and speaks extensively on women and leadership. She has been featured at national conferences and in publications including Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Harvard Business Review. *This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

After working from home gained widespread adoption out of necessity, organizations must now optimize their remote work strategies for the long term. Stanford Professor Nicholas Bloom joins the Talent Angle to explain the implications of return-to-office mandates for organizations and their workforce. Drawing upon data on employee sentiment, workforce productivity and organizational performance, Bloom shares how organizations can set the right strategy for their context. He argues that, in many cases, remote work enables enough profitability to outweigh leaders’ concerns about productivity, and shares how to approach collaboration in a hybrid world. Nicholas (Nick, he/his/him) Bloom is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University. His research focuses on working from home, management practices and uncertainty. He previously worked at the UK Treasury and McKinsey & Company and the IFS. He has a BA from Cambridge, an MPhil from Oxford, and a PhD from University College London. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of the Guggenheim and Sloan Fellowships, the Frisch Medal and a National Science Foundation Career Award. He was elected to Bloomberg50 for his advice on working from home.  Caroline Walsh is a vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. She leads teams supporting clients’ build and maintain strong employee experience and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

Since the pandemic, organizations have been operating in a new environment, with altered cultural norms and without established practices. In his book, “Competing In the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest,” Keith Ferrazzi offers his vision for successful organizations of the future. Keith joins the Gartner Talent Angle to share how some organizations are embracing these new realities and to outline the leadership practices he believes will define success in this new era of work. Keith Ferrazzi is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and renowned global thought leader in the future of work and leadership. As founder and chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight and its research institute Go Forward to Work, he works with some of the world’s most prominent organizations to maximize team performance and achieve extraordinary outcomes. Formerly, he was the chief marketing officer of Deloitte and Starwood Hotels. Keith is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of “Who’s Got Your Back,” “Never Eat Alone,” and “Leading Without Authority.” His 20-year history of coaching C-suite executive teams has made him an agent of transformation and among the world’s greatest and most sought-after coaches. *This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

Author Tiffani Bova argues organizations don’t see the strong connection between customer experience and employee experience. Despite continued investments in the customer experience, organizations tend to overlook how those changes affect how employees get work done. Tiffani lays out the components of her experience model — people, process, technology and culture — for addressing employee experience challenges and growing the business. She also shares advice for how HR leaders should make the business case for employee experience to other leaders and how organizations can hold themselves accountable through metrics. Tiffani is the former global growth evangelist at Salesforce and author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, “The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth.” Her previous book “Growth IQ” was also a WSJ bestseller. Prior to working with Salesforce, she was a sales, marketing and customer service executive for startups and Fortune 500 companies. Tiffani is also a former Gartner distinguished analyst and research fellow. Caroline is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

A historic number of women left their jobs in 2021, resulting in their lowest workforce participation since 1988. Author and activist Reshma Saujani confronts the “big lie” of corporate feminism in her book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It’s Different Than You Think), and she presents a bold plan to address the systemic biases impacting working women. On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Reshma explains how the cost of inaction ⁠— for families, the economy, and women themselves ⁠— is too great to ignore. To fuel this urgency, she shares strategies to create lasting change. Reshma Saujani is a leading activist and the founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. She is the author of Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It’s Different Than You Think). Reshma has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently advocating for policies to support moms impacted by the pandemic. Reshma is also the author of the international bestseller Brave, Not Perfect, and her influential TED talk, “Teach girls, bravery not perfection,” has more than five million views globally. Reshma began her career as an attorney and Democratic organizer. In 2010, she surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. Reshma lives in New York City with her husband, Nihal, their sons, Shaan and Sai, and their bulldog, Stanley. *This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

Organizations often unknowingly send mixed signals to their employees. For example, they might encourage innovation but punish failure. Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., joins the Talent Angle to explain how organizations can structure incentives to unlock employees’ full potential. He explains how HR leaders can use incentives to nurture intrinsic motivation in employees and create habits in the workforce that support organizational performance. Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., is the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining the Rady School, Gneezy was a faculty member at the University of Chicago, Technion and Haifa. Gneezy received his Ph.D. from the Center for Economic Research in Tilburg. Gneezy was born and raised in Israel, where he learned applied game theory firsthand in the streets of Tel Aviv. Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

Author and professor Mauro Guillén joins the Talent Angle to explain how generational labels, such as “baby boomers” or “millennials,” can be counterproductive in the workplace. Guillén offers an alternative vision of a postgenerational society and advocates for a workplace in which individuals are not confined by their age. He urges HR leaders to instill a “perennial” mindset in their organizations to foster intergenerational collaboration and engage diverse talent pools. Mauro F. Guillén is one of the most original thinkers at the Wharton School, where he is a professor of management and vice dean for the MBA for Executives Program. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to methodically identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic and technological developments. He has received Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, was honored with the Aspen Institute’s Faculty Pioneer Award, and was elected to the Macro Organizational Behavior Society and the Sociological Research Association. Peter Aykens is chief of research in Gartner’s human resources practice. He is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams that address clients’ key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College; a master’s degree in international politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (now known as Aberystwyth University); and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, author and keynote speaker, Suneel Gupta explains why even some of the best ideas fail to take root. He shares how the lessons he gleaned from interviews with some of the most successful individuals in the world fueled his latest book, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance On You. Suneel shares his own experience of learning from failure, and he explains why before you can convince others, you must first convince yourself. He argues that the greatest enemy to innovation is exhaustion, and leaders must take care of their energy as much as they take care of their time and their talent.   Suneel Gupta writes and speaks about the changing world of work, and how we succeed both externally and internally. He is the bestselling author of  "Backable", which is rooted in Suneel’s journey from the "Face of Failure" for the New York Times to the "New Face of Innovation" for the New York Stock Exchange. Suneel is the founding CEO of RISE, which partnered with then first Lady Michelle Obama to deliver low-cost healthcare services to people in need. RISE was named "App of the Year" by Apple and sold in a successful exit to One Medical. Suneel later ran for U.S. Congress and now serves on faculty at Harvard University and as an emissary for Gross National Happiness between the United States and the Kingdom of Bhutan. When a reporter once asked Suneel about his purpose, his response was to “find good people, and inspire them to do what inspires them.” *This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

An inclusive workplace makes all employees feel equally involved in and supported across all areas. Fran Katsoudas, Cisco CHRO, and Michael C. Bush, Great Place to Work CEO, join the Talent Angle to share insights and lessons that help leaders build inclusive organizations. Both make the case why doing so isn’t only an altruistic act, but also has real business impact on outcomes such as revenue and market performance. They also discuss the pillars that define Cisco’s globally recognized culture of inclusion, challenges to building an inclusive culture with a dispersed workforce, emerging ways to foster trust and belonging, and which new inequities are materializing in a disruptive talent landscape.   Francine Katsoudas is executive vice president and chief people, policy and purpose officer of Cisco. In this role, Fran oversees critical functions that instill Cisco’s conscious culture, contribute to the company’s overall performance and advance Cisco’s purpose to “Power an Inclusive Future for All.” The strategic alignment of functions within Fran’s organization ensures holistic care for the well-being of Cisco’s people, establishes Cisco as a trusted and valued partner to governments and global leaders, and extends Cisco’s reach to positively impact communities everywhere. A 25-year veteran of Cisco, Fran has extensive experience leading organizational transformations, driving large scale growth, cultivating successful leaders and teams, and constructing an employee-first culture. Fran currently serves on the board of directors for Americares, Global Citizen, and ADP. Passionate about social justice, Fran is an activist and advocate for a variety of causes close to her heart, particularly women’s leadership, homeless youth and the Latino community.   Michael C. Bush is CEO of Great Place to Work. His global research and analytics firm produces the annual “Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For” list, the “World’s Best Workplaces” list, the “100 Best Workplaces for Women” list, the “Best Workplaces for Diversity” list, and dozens of other distinguished workplace rankings around the world. Driven by a love of business and an unwavering commitment to fair and equitable treatment, Michael joined Great Place to Work as CEO in 2015, bringing 30 years of experience leading and growing organizations. This includes serving as CEO of Tetra Tech Communications. Michael is a former member of President Obama’s White House Business Council and a founding board member of the private equity seed fund Fund Good Jobs, which invests in small inner-city businesses.   Daniel Dirks is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR research practice. He has been with Gartner for eight years and leads research teams in the areas of HR strategy, HR cost and budget, total rewards and performance, and working with the CEO. He has also been in the lead for our global COVID-19-related HR response task force. Prior to joining Gartner, Daniel was responsible for all global HR topics at Allianz Group, ranging from HR strategy and policies to global compensation, talent management, EVP, diversity, analytics, and global corporate responsibility. In the 1990s, Daniel led the economics department at the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. He holds a Ph.D. in business and economics from the University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany.   *This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.