The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

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

In this discussion, Gianna Driver, the CHRO of Exabeam, shares her unique journey into HR and the pivotal moments that shaped her leadership style. She dives into Exabeam's AI roadmap, recounting both the initial hurdles and the successful applications of AI in HR, such as drafting job descriptions and enhancing employee handbooks. Gianna also emphasizes the ethical considerations surrounding AI, along with the need for courage and innovation in transforming the HR landscape, and offers insights on how AI can elevate the employee experience.

Laura Putnam, CEO & Founder of Motion Infusion, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about the state of wellbeing, why managers are our greatest hope in getting workplace wellness to work, and the 3 simple actions every manager can take to promote wellbeing on their team. ---- Want to be one of the 10 founding members of MPL? Apply here. ---- (1:10) Good news stories (9:14) Laura’s journey and how that led her to found Motion Infusion (13:14) Getting every person and team in motion (15:00) Laura’s daily wellness practice (16:10) We’re creatures of culture and environment (18:09) The current state of wellbeing & the massive “knowing and doing” gap (23:28) Creating mini “blue zones” in your company (24:57) The biggest blocker to promoting wellbeing in the workplace (30:22) Managers are our greatest hope in getting workplace wellness to work (37:44) The 3 key calls action for managers (40:00) Using nudges and cues to promote wellbeing (48:46) 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

Samantha Simmons, SVP, People & Culture at Spurs Sports & Entertainment, joined us on The Modern People Leader.  We talked about how the Spurs are redefining their Employee Value Proposition, the work they're doing to move towards a more unified culture, and what the phrase "pounding the rock" means for their organization. ---- This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Get access to their Employee Journey Designer here. ---- (2:38) Good news stories (8:15) Samantha’s story (16:40) Spurs Sports & Entertainment is more than just the San Antonio Spurs (19:20) Why we should be jealous that she gets to work for the Spurs (21:25) Change management is all about prioritization, transparency, communication, and connection (23:06) Even the sports industry is having to change for it’s people (25:50) The culture of change and innovation within the Spurs organization (28:07) How Samantha prioritized the work when she joined the Spurs (29:44) Her style of play in HR (31:00) The design of their people team (33:47) Defining the employee value proposition for the Spurs (37:24) Aligning the culture of the separate entities (San Antonio Spurs, Austin Spurs, and San Antonio FC) to the overarching Spurs organization (40:50) Working towards a unified culture (43:00) What “pounding the rock” looks like at the Spurs (46:50) 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

AJ Thomas, Global People Leader, Board Member, & Award-Winning Children’s Book Author, joined us on The Modern People Leader.  She shared a framework for getting back to the basics in HR, why we need to “throw away the career path”, and the 1 lesson every adult would take away from AJ’s children’s book about teams. ---- This episode was brought to you by Pyn. Go check out Pyn’s list of 50 over 50 Women in Tech. ---- (2:08) Good news stories (7:02) AJ’s story (14:00 What pulled AJ into the HR world (18:03) AJ is a “Chaos Pilot” (22:12) Everyone is actually an HR leader  (26:40) A framework for getting back to the basics: Philosophy, Process, & Practice (31:30) “Unrecruiting” at X (37:45) AJ says we need to throw away the career path (44:54) The Four immutable laws of the spirit (50:00) AJ wrote a book for kids about teams (51:08) The 1 lesson every adult would take away from AJ’s children’s book about teams (53:30) 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