The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

Jessica Zwaan, COO at Talentful and author of Built for People, brings insightful perspectives on people operations. She discusses the evolution of 'human ops' versus 'people ops', emphasizing that perfection isn't required in these frameworks. Zwaan also highlights the transformative impact of AI on HR, advocating for a balance between technology and human touch. Listeners can expect engaging tips on agile practices and how to effectively navigate team dynamics in a rapidly changing work environment.

Taylor Bradley, VP of Talent Strategy and Success at Turing, joined us on The Modern People Leader.We talked about why every HR team needs to create an AI “prompt pantry”, how Turing “AI’d” their way out of onboarding 800 employees in five days, and how to build AI workflows for HR.---- Sponsor Links:🔗 Download the State of Teams 2025 Report from Atlassian.🔗 Go book your next offsite with Marco Experiences.🔗 Request a demo of ChartHop.MPL Links:🔗 Buy your ticket for MPL Live San Francisco.🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.---- (05:43) Taylor’s Unlikely HR Origin Story: From Paramedic to People Leader(08:19) Real-Life Delivery & Skills from the Field Applied to HR(10:14) Risk Frameworks in Emergency Response Now Power HR Decisions(11:11) Segue to AI & Turing's Mission Explained in Plain Language(13:44) Explosive Growth at Turing & The AGI Boom Post-ChatGPT(16:52) The AI Education Gap in HR & Why Prompting is the New Power Skill(17:42) Building the “Prompt Pantry” and a Culture of Experimentation(20:17) Making Prompting Practical: From Docs to Voice Interfaces(24:34) Why GenAI Makes Work More Enjoyable & The Joy of Mastery(26:31) Blitzscaling at Turing: Emotions, Lessons & Focus(28:36) How Turing Built “Allen”: Async Learning in 48 Hours(31:21) Iterating with AI Voices & Learning Design at Scale(33:38) Allen’s Second Form: 52K Tickets and Agentic Support(35:17) Stephen’s AI Use Story + Clarifying What Agentic Really Means(37:22) What Agentic HR Actually Looks Like in Practice(39:48) Building Custom AI Tools for HR: Turing’s R&D Playbook(42:28) Training GPTs with Empathy: Linguistics & Feedback Loops(44:51) AI’s Disruption of the HR Job Market: An Optimist’s Take(47:01) Managing AI Agents as the New HR Org Design(50:04) What Will Finally Tip Lagging Companies Into AI Adoption---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Molly Sands, Head of the Teamwork Lab at Atlassian, leads research aimed at enhancing collaboration among teams. In this conversation, she unveils insights from Atlassian's State of Teams report, highlighting three key practices that top teams employ. Molly also discusses how remote-first teams have an edge in AI adoption and the importance of harnessing collective knowledge. She emphasizes starting small with AI solutions to empower teams and fosters a culture of experimentation while sharing her career journey and advice for people leaders.

Pat Wadors, CHRO at Intuitive, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how to find and amplify the golden nuggets of your culture, the three layers of a great employee experience, why you need to “touch the elephant”, and what kids’ stories can teach us about leadership.---- 🔗 Request a demo of ChartHop.🔗 Download the State of Teams 2025 Report from Atlassian.🔗 Buy your ticket for MPL Live San Francisco.🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.---- (05:48) Pat’s 18-Month Update: New Role, Book Launch, and Life Shift(13:55) What is Intuitive? The Da Vinci System & MedTech Innovation(18:34) How It Works: Da Vinci, AI Feedback & Remote Surgeries(21:02) Culture Work: Merging Two Cultures & The Player-Coach Model(25:20) Us vs. Them: Culture Nuance, Middleware & Global Complexity(28:51) Finding the Golden Nuggets: How to Identify Cultural Truths(31:28) Mapping Culture: From Aspirational Values to Operational Change(33:41) Origin Story & Its Role in Company Culture(35:08) Becoming an Archaeologist: Crafting a Cohesive Narrative(38:49) How to Make Culture Measurable: The CEO Buy-In(41:04) Building MPL Culture: Rigor, Humor, and Platform Principles(45:00) Touch the Elephant: Bias, Context & Emotional Intelligence(46:51) Why Pat Wrote the Book: Fables, Storytelling & Self-Awareness(51:45) Pat’s Book Picks: Mulan, Goldilocks & the Lessons Behind Them(58:16) The Bat Phone: Parenting Advice & Living Your Values---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Jessica Zwaan, a People Ops expert and author of 'Built for People,' shares her journey into the innovative world of PeopleOps as a Product. She reveals the origins of this game-changing framework and discusses how a pivotal blog post inspired her book. Jessica dives into the challenges and achievements of launching MPL Build, a collaboration aimed at enhancing team methodologies. She highlights shifts in perceptions about PeopleOps and explores the growing adoption of agile practices in the U.S., setting the stage for the future of HR.

In this installment, Shane Koller, Chief People Officer at Ancestry, shares his innovative journey of running HR like a product team. He discusses the critical connection between employee experiences and organizational goals, emphasizing how storytelling enhances engagement. Shane highlights the importance of a shareholder mindset within HR and the need for CEO alignment to transform traditional practices. He also dives into metrics for measuring success and the lessons learned from 'fail fast' moments in the HR landscape.

Michele Bousquet, Chief People Officer at Strava, shares her inspiring journey from temp worker to HR leader. She discusses the significance of authenticity and empathy in leadership, emphasizing a human-centered approach to HR. Michele advocates for simplifying HR practices and making data-driven decisions that prioritize people. She also highlights the power of community-building through Employee Resource Groups and the importance of handling tough situations with honesty and compassion.

Michael Walsh, CEO of Cariloop, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We discussed the caregiving challenges facing employees today, how companies can better support working caregivers, and the data-backed insights from Cariloop’s Top Needs Report.---- 🔗 Download Cariloop’s 2025 Employee Caregiver Top Needs Report.---- (7:20) How Michael's personal experience with caregiving sparked the idea for Cariloop(19:37) Why employers need to rethink caregiving support(27:43) Why caregiving stigma persists at work(38:46)  The top caregiving challenges right now(55:50) Making the business case for caregiver support(01:01:22) Rapid Fire Questions(01:04:13) One Word or Phrase Close---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Linda Aiello (CPO, DraftKings), Carmel Galvin (CPO, Klaviyo), and Stacey Richey (Global VP, People, Smartcat), joined us for MPL Live in Boston, Massachusetts.We talked about the current state of HR, how roles are shifting with AI, and how they’re moving beyond traditional engagement metrics.---- 🔗 Get Atlassian’s free guide to AI-powered knowledge management🔗 Request a demo of Workleap using this link and get 10% off of your first year 🔗 Request a demo of ChartHop. Let them know we sent you.---- (09:44) Guest introductions (10:49) State of HR & navigating today's challenges (16:33) How roles have shifted due to economic changes & AI (Stacey) (21:34) Balancing AI with human factors (Linda)(25:12) Advice for HR leaders starting with AI (25:54) Employee engagement realities (Linda) (30:07) Linking engagement to performance outcomes (Carmel) (32:14) Implications of productivity expectations with AI (Stacey) (35:06) Culture and embracing AI tools (Stephen) (46:26 ) Effective AI change management (Stacey) (49:41) Managing stress and resilience (Linda & Stacey) (56:23) Networking advice for job seekers (Carmel)(1:00:14) Revisiting employee engagement (Stephen) (1:04:29) Defining employee engagement (Linda, Stacey, Carmel)( 1:09:24) Employee listening & HR as a product team (Carmel) (1:12:33) Key employee engagement metrics & insights (Linda)(1:17:28) Moving beyond traditional engagement surveys (Linda & Carmel) (1:22:07) Observational methods to measure engagement (Carmel & Stacey)---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Shlomit Gruman-Navot joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about her evolution as a people leader and how Miro is making AI learning a priority for employees. ---- 🔗Join Atlassian’s webinar on March 12th and learn how AI is transforming knowledge management🔗Request a demo of ChartHop. Let them know we sent you.---- 5:00 - Her career journey: from IBM to SAP, Alpha Bank, OLX, and Miro11:32 - The shift from monoculture workplaces to truly global teams19:13 - Roadshows in Siberia, unique cultural experiences & leadership takeaways26:47 - How HR leaders can embrace AI without fear32:00 - The importance of adaptability & learning new skills in a fast-changing world42:27 - Why AI is changing work—and why HR must lead the way53:23 - What AI means for job roles, skills development & human interaction---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.