The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

Heidi Hauver (Chief People Officer, TrackTik) joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about the process she followed for finding her CPO role, going beyond “Data 101”, and the parallels between leadership and parenting. Timestamps:   (1:20) Good news stories (7:08) Getting her degree while working her way up to the director level (13:00) Thinking outside of the box with recruiting (16:30) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at TrackTik (18:00) How Heidi thought about her “dream role” when looking for her next job (19:47) How she fuels her growth at this stage of her career (23:14) Her mentors and how she found them (28:00) Heidi’s “lean in circle” (30:18) How Heidi identifies where to invest in her development (34:08) Heidi’s process for landing her Chief People Officer role at TrackTik (40:17) Sussing out the culture of the company you’re interviewing for (46:00) Going beyond “Data 101” (50:10) What her people experience team dashboard looks like (51:50) Victories, Insights, & Puzzles (58:12) The parallels between parenting and leadership (1:05:56) Rapid fire questions Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Merary Soto-Saunders (Global Head of DEI, CVC Partners) and Ciara Lakhani (Chief People Officer, Dashlane) joined us on The Modern People Leader for a group chat. We talked about the skills they look for when hiring, embedding DEI into everything that we do, and why the future of work is more transparent. Timestamps:   (1:52) Good news stories (5:22) Acknowledging that we’re going through stressful times (11:02) On working in HR for a big company versus a small company (16:03) How recruiting for HR roles has changed (23:22) The skills they look for when hiring for their people teams (32:38) Moving beyond employee experience to people sustainability (33:52) Embedding DEI into everything that we do (38:18) Hybrid work (39:50) The future of work/living is more transparent (48:24) Reliable ways of looking at how we can influence inclusion (50:40) What excites Ciara about 2023 Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Jennifer Christie (Chief People Officer, DocuSign) joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about the personalization of the HR function, how they keep their people team of 250 employees moving in the same direction, and the spirit of their future of work strategy. Timestamps:   (1:20) Good news stories (4:14) Her career journey: government service, executive search @ American Express, Head of People @ Twitter, CPO @ Bolt, & now CPO @ DocuSign (7:54) How big their people team is (9:53) Why we should be jealous she gets to work at DocuSign (10:55) The personalization of the HR function (14:58) Creating a safe space for employees (20:30) More companies focusing on growing responsibly (22:55) Making room for more focus time (29:30) How their people team of 250 people is structured (31:00) The cadence the people team has in place to keep everyone rowing in the same direction (33:36) ‘The DocuSign Leadership Group’ is thinking through what the future of work looks like for them (35:47) The spirit that DocuSign is trying to achieve with their future of work strategy (39:06) Focusing on the how of work instead of the where of work (40:17) Where she thinks we’ll see some serious advancements in the world of work (42:30) AI in HR (46:56) What is annoying & inspiring people about coming into the office at DocuSign (49:30) Focusing on the employee experience in the same way you focus on the customer experience (51:53) Her definition of a Modern People Leader (52:50) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Bernard Coleman (Chief Diversity & Engagement Officer, Gusto) joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about his journey from politics to HR, how Gusto’s Employee Engagement team is structured, and common manager missteps. Timestamps: (4:01) Bernard’s journey from politics into HR (7:16) Learnings from politics that he’s been able to apply to HR (11:18) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at Gusto (14:00) Why Gusto integrated Engagement & Diversity (16:38) How the Diversity & Engagement team is structured at Gusto (20:59) How they’re tracking engagement (24:48) How Gusto are tracking the membership and efficacy of their ERGs (29:30) Gusto’s intersectional content calendar (31:48) Where companies should start with ERGs (34:30) Mentorship programs (36:55) Advice to people of color on networking (42:18) Underestimation is a huge misstep managers are making (44:42) Providing direction as a manager (47:01) His definition of a Modern People Leader (48:24) The career advice he’d give his 22-year-old self (49:36) Shout outs to the Gusto team Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Today we shook things up and interviewed each other.  We talked about the openness of the HR community, what it has been like interviewing some of the top HR leaders, the biggest challenges of starting a podcast, what MPL looks like in three years, and more. Timestamps: (4:50) Stephen’s biggest learnings since starting the podcast (7:00) The world of work is fractured right now (10:20) There is no set playbook for doing a podcast (11:43) The most unexpected thing that’s come out of doing the podcast for Stephen (15:40) How open the HR community has been (17:13) What The Modern People Leader looks like in three years (19:40) Being more than just a podcast for the HR community (20:30) Stephen’s number one fan (23:25) The most challenging part of growing Modern People Leader (28:00) Daniel’s biggest area of growth since starting the podcast & finding his own genius (32:00) What it has been like for Daniel interviewing some of the top HR leaders (35:30) Advice to anyone looking to start a podcast (38:39) Optimizing for the feelings we have at the end of an episode (42:17) Daniel’s number one fan Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Tony Buffum (VP, HR Client Strategy, Upwork) joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about the biggest misconceptions that employers have about freelance talent, why the rise of freelance talent isn’t a trend, and how Fortune 100 companies are integrating independent talent into their talent strategy. Timestamps: (5:23) Tony’s journey and unique role at Upwork (13:57) Why we should be jealous of his job at Upwork (19:16) The rise in independent talent (21:05) 39% of the US workforce performed freelance work last year (23:36) The biggest misconceptions about doing freelance work (25:25) The biggest misconceptions that employers have about freelance talent (31:02) Why the rise of freelance work is not a trend (33:44) Tony’s advice to people selecting freelance talent for the first time (37:00) The customer service mindset of freelance workers (39:52) Benefits of tapping into global talent (45:15) Fortune 100 companies are integrating freelance talent into their talent strategy (49:24) Thinking about work differently (53:00) His definition of a Modern People Leader (53:55) The advice he’d give to his 22-year-old self (55:30) What he’d fix in HR with a magic wand Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Brandon Sammut, Chief People Officer at Zapier, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about Zapier’s secondment program, how they build awareness of different talent pathways, and how to build bridges with your CEO. Timestamps: (4:58) Wanting to find better ways of mapping people’s capabilities to opportunities that help them realize their potential (13:28) Why we should be jealous Brandon gets to work at Zapier (15:30) Zapier’s secondment program (18:10) Their cultural instinct to redeploy talent & being a bootstrapped company (21:20) How Zapier has redeployed their TA team (24:25) Progress over perfection (26:55) Advice Brandon would give to HR leaders trying to get their internal mobility programs started (30:26) The talent pathways they’ve built at Zapier (35:00) ‘Career Pathways’ at Zapier (36:46) How they build awareness of their talent pathways (39:25) Having a CEO that understands the importance of these programs (42:26) Bridge building with your CEO (47:04) Transparency without context is sometimes unhelpful (49:21) Brandon’s definition of a Modern People Leader (49:55) The career advice he’d give his 22-year-old self (51:03) Shoutouts to the Zapier team Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Today we shared our biggest learnings from MPL guests in January and February. Timestamps: (6:57) Mindi Cox on moving from employee engagement to employee fulfillment (14:00) Having boomerangs is a sign of a healthy culture (16:20) Drawing more diverse voices into the VC world (17:52) The disconnect between the people who build HR tech and HR (22:46) Tapping ERGs to help solve business problems (28:10) Building a network of teams (31:06) The pathological organization and why people don’t leave (36:30) Moving to a curated workplace Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Rich Jacquet, Chief People Officer at Coursera, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how he always wanted to be in HR, dedicated learning days at Coursera, their internal leadership academy, AI in HR, and more. Timestamps: (5:53) Rich went to school wanting to be an HR person (13:28) The course he took on the history of the Ukraine region (17:35) Creating skills rubrics internally at Coursera (20:32) Dedicated learning days & their two global weeks of rest (23:57) The most in-demand jobs right now (27:55) Using AI to coach leaders (32:08) Driving alignment and effectiveness across their People Team of 75 people (34:40) Their leadership academy (37:30) The year of the manager at Coursera (39:55) Helping people build personal connections at work (42:50) Getting a heartbeat of what’s going on at your company (48:17) How Rich defines a Modern People Leader (49:50) The career advice he’d give his 22-year-old self Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader

Christine Song, Chief People Officer at Knix, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about her experience in HR across eight different industries, her first three months as Knix’s new Chief People Officer, and the importance of doing the ground zero work before moving into the strategic work. Timestamps: (9:37) Why we should be jealous that she gets to work at Knix (12:39) The advice she recently gave to soon to be graduates (16:56) The one skill that has served her well as an HR leader that’s worked in 8 different industries (21:58) Knix’s ‘Aerial Tours’ discussing the hard things (26:33) The mistake Founder CEOs often make: hiring one person to do both HR and talent acquisition (31:21) Doing the ground zero work will help you succeed in the strategy work further down the line (35:22) How to know when your direct report is ready for that promotion (39:45) What her first 3 months have looked like as the new Chief People Officer (44:44) Creating an environment for the People Team that allows for more risks (50:20) Her definition of a Modern People Leader (50:50) The career advice she’d give her 22-year-old self Come hang out with us at Transform. Get $200 off your ticket here: https://transform.us/modern-people-leader/ Subscribe to the MPL Weekly Digest: https://forms.gle/qdt6YaWULfoEHb6n8 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-modern-people-leader