The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

Hebba Youssef, Founder & Creator of I Hate it Here & Chief People Officer at Workweek, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about the work they're doing to elevate their managers to the next level, why the CEO and Chief People Officer dynamic is challenging, and whether there has been scope creep for the CPO role. ----  This episode was brought to you by Great Place to Work®. Download their latest research on Return-to-Office Mandates here. ---- 2:36 Good news stories 10:26 Your thirties 14:04 Hebba’s story 21:49 Balancing Dual Roles: CPO and Content Creator 25:42 What Hebba dislikes most about being a creator 27:30 Maturing as a company is painful 31:09 Getting managers to the next level 33:14 Friday manager trainings at Workweek 39:20 Changing the mindset of leaders to want to change 45:45 Why the CEO and Chief People Officer dynamic is difficult 48:53 Your CEO needs a professional coach and a therapist 54:24 Is the scope of the CPO role getting too big? 57:56 The piece of HR that Hebba would give away 59:11 Rapid fire questions ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn

Erin Thomas, VP, Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Upwork, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how her team is leveraging data in their DEI work, why you need high utility DEI programs, and she shared a couple examples from the last year at Upwork. ----  This episode was brought to you by Great Place to Work. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com/mpl. ---- 1:11 Good news stories 05:22 Erin’s Journey to becoming the VP of DIB at Upwork 07:32 Where DEI efforts can go wrong 14:11 The polarization of DEI 16:50 Key ingredients of DEIB work in 2024 19:09 The Importance of Data in DEI 25:10 The GlowUp community at Upwork 30:00 DIBs programs VS the DEI work that has to be deeply integrated into the business 35:04 Using AI to improve feedback quality for people of color 41:13 Exploring Generative AI in DEI 46:12 Making DEI work fun 51:31 Rapid Fire Questions 55:03 Future of Work and DEI ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn

Don Robertson, EVP & CHRO at Northwestern Mutual, discusses prioritizing company values over star performers, the future of work focusing on skills over job titles, and challenges in driving change in the workplace. He shares insights on turning HR discussions into business outcomes, the importance of managers as career coaches, and the need for CHROs to design systems based on knowledge rather than titles.

Erica Spitale discusses the importance of soft skills in the HR job market, rebranding them as 'power skills'. She emphasizes the need to measure these skills and shares her own superpower skill. Additionally, she talks about making leadership a choice, building inclusive leadership, and the concept of the work-life smoothie.

Trey Boynton, Chief Diversity & People Officer at Chief, discusses the similarities between running a community and HR work. Topics include the divestment of DEI, the importance of intentionality in community building, and the need for leaders to constantly evolve with their people. The conversation also touches on onboarding community members, the leadership crisis, and the value of leaders acknowledging what they don't know.

Sam Baber, SVP of People at Kalkomey Enterprises, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about the work his company is doing to build a high performance culture, why he’s consolidating their HR tech stack, and why it’s important to maintain the perspective that HR is just a job. ---- This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl. ---- (2:35) Good news stories (10:50) Sam’s story (17:35) Pivotal moments of his career (21:15) A career in HR is a journey and discovery of the human condition (24:21) What Kalkomey does (27:40) Developing conscious leaders (31:34) Building a performance culture (38:42) They’re working on their values (41:43) Thinking about the future generations (51:12) Consolidating the HR tech stack (56:58) Maintaining the perspective that HR is just a job (1:04:24) Rapid fire questions ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn

The PeakHR team (Morgan Williams, Catalina Colman, and Kim Rohrer) joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about what happens when three HR leaders start a business together. ---- This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl. ---- (2:18) Good news stories (11:05) The PeakHR origin story (20:00) They’ve translated their values into how they make business decisions (21:33) How they got to role clarity & shared values very fast (25:48) They work in their own zones of genius (28:32) PeakHR’s mission to elevate the next generation of HR leaders (34:12) Giving HR folks access to people from other areas of the business (35:46) Gaining influence as an HR leader (38:00) The confidence and empowerment gap (41:13) They all have very different fractional backgrounds (54:03) What the future looks like for PeakHR (59:56) Rapid fire questions ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn

Steve Cadigan, former CHRO at LinkedIn, author, and professor, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about rebuilding our relationship with technology, why every company should have an AI ethics advisory board, and where he’d start with AI if he had a blank check. ---- This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl. ---- (2:27) Good news stories (7:50) Steve is helping build talent strategies for Portugal’s government (10:45) On his time at EA (16:30) This is our moment to rebuild our relationship with technology (27:58) AI can help us identify skills and talent (31:42) Every company needs an AI ethics advisory board (38:21) Let’s go after the big things like eliminating distraction (41:37) Where he’d start with AI if given a blank slate (47:23) Rapid fire questions ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn

Dom Boon, VP of People at Liberty Latin America, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about why you should aspire to be a people leader, how their people team is impacting public policy in the markets they operate in, and how the small tweaks they’ve made to the EX have made an impact on their 10k+ employees. ---- This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl. ---- (3:11) Good news stories (10:21) What’s new with Dom since he last joined MPL on Episode 43 (12:18) What Dom loves about working at LLA (15:19) How he describes the work he does in HR to family (16:16) Why people should aspire to go into HR (17:30) Why Dom keeps coming back to MPL (19:37) Dom’s challenge for MPL  (26:20) Biggest changes to LLA’s people strategy the last 2 years (29:00) Being a purpose driven organization (30:59) Progressive People Policies at LLA (34:16) Enhancements to their employee experience (38:42) How they structure ‘tiger teams’ at LLA (40:38) Dom is proud of the changes on the parental leave front (46:58) Rapid fire questions ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn

Matt Bradburn, Founder of The People Collective, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about why the People Ops as a Product movement is picking up steam, how to pilot this approach, and the biggest pitfalls when making the change. ---- This episode was brought to you by Tilt. Learn more at hellotilt.com/mpl. ---- (2:04) Good news stories (6:36) Matt’s career journey (10:56) What The People Collective does (14:00) Why we should be jealous he gets to work at The People Collective (15:35) The possibility of humans and technology working together (19:47) The challenges we’re going to face with AI (24:15) The skills junior employees should be focusing on (29:10) The best CPOs are data-driven, great storytellers, and know how and when to use empathy (34:50) The “People Ops as a Product” movement (45:08) Piloting People Ops as a Product (46:08) How to identify areas to pilot People Ops as a Product (49:05) Biggest pitfalls when moving to People Ops as a Product (55:09) Rapid fire questions ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get key learnings & career advice from Modern People Leaders 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn