Amit Neev

▶0:00IntroOne of the advantages and disadvantages is that you almost know everything, but you cannot always share with everyone.

▶0:13HostAll right. Welcome to the Built by People podcast, Amit. We're super excited to have you on. So just by way of introduction, Amit started his career in compensation and benefits at Converse and then moved to Adama, where he led the global compensation and benefits before stepping into his current role. He's now Head of HR, North America, Adama USA. Bridging a global organization with its North American team. Did I get everything right there, Amit?

▶0:44GuestPerfect. Thank you very

▶0:45HostYeah, no problem. So, and to kind of kick it off, I'm going to actually ask you to not be humble because you've seen a ton of growth in your career. So talk me through that. How did you get to where you are today?

▶1:02GuestMuch. Uh, oh, great question. so I like to say that I wasn't born in HR. My first job was actually a financial analyst, but I wanted to do something that involves people, but also involves some analytical work and legal background. I have also a legal background education, and I found a job as a comp manager in Converse at the time. This is what brought me into HR. For many years, I did comp and ben roles, including with my current company. And if you ask me at the time if I want to do something else in HR, I would say no, definitely no. Just give me numbers and spreadsheets and I'll be happy. But at some point I realized that HR is many things. And so Based on my curiosity, but also based on the fact that there was an opportunity at the time with Adama, there was this role here in North America. And I jumped into the deeper end of the pool and I moved here from, from Adama's headquarters. And I started this new role, which again, the role itself evolved over the years. Uh, but it first of all exposed me to other areas of HR that I didn't do before. Um, so it was a pretty steep learning curve, also learning a lot of new, uh, rules, regulations, compliance matters and things like that. and also the world around me changed. So leadership teams changed, uh, uh, organizational structure changed. So, um, it was, it was a journey that still continues. Um, but yeah, this is very high level. How I got from being a financial analyst to leading the HR function for North America at Adama.

▶2:57HostYeah. So what, what did you do well that helped leadership give you that, that trust and, and faith that you would step into this role and do well?

▶3:07GuestSo first of all, I think that generally speaking in HR, doesn't really matter which part of HR, You need to understand and speak the language of the business you're working in. I think that every HR person should learn at least the basics on, for example, how to read a P&L report and be a true business partner. Again, even if you're not an HR business partner, but just a compensation person or learning or development person, if you understand the business and if you speak the language of the business, you You get a seat at the table, but as all, it's also easier for you to understand why decisions are being made the way that they are and how to navigate business challenges and where you can add value. This is a, I would say a general advice. Personally, I think it's very, it's critical to establish trust with whoever you work with, whether it's the employees you support, the managers you support, leadership teams you support. And show credibility and that you are, I would say, a trusted business partner.

▶4:23HostYeah, I love that. So kind of in a more broader sense, what's one piece of advice you'd give someone— excuse me— transitioning into an HR leadership role today?

▶4:34GuestSo again, I think one of the most important things is just understand the business in general. But also some practical things. I mentioned reading the P&L, but understand how the business generates revenue and profit at the end of the day, how all the parts come together and how the business operates as a business. So that's one, because I think without it, it's harder, it will be harder to get into leadership roles. Then, first of all, I think, and I tell it also to our employees from a personal development perspective, don't wait or expect for the opportunity to come. You need to work for it. So you need to be curious, you need to be agile, you need to be adaptable. I think in my own personal example, moving to another country, different sets of rules, different HR, if you will. I think it's obviously that was a, still is to some extent an adventure, but if you want to make big jumps, again, not everyone would move to another country and not always you have that opportunity, but But my point is that you need to work on, you need to want to make progress, to develop yourself. And even if there isn't an opportunity in the short term, always, you know, take the time to learn something, enhance your skills, your knowledge, your capabilities. So when the next role is available, you'll be a good, potentially a good fit for that. And again, just on, you know, at the personal level, make sure, going back to what I said earlier, make sure, especially in HR, that you establish the trust. You position yourself as a good business partner. So both employees and managers can feel free to reach out to you and discuss any challenges and issues.

▶6:51HostI love that. I, I feel like most people have that misunderstanding, like HR is just the fun police or whatever, but. They don't realize that you are in on conversations with all the managers, all the executives. And so you have a really good insight of the needs of the business. So I love that advice of just be kind of be aware of your surroundings and know where you can contribute or where other people can, and you can leverage the employees to help fulfill those needs. So I love that.

▶7:29GuestYeah. Yeah. I think, I think to, to your point, I think one of the advantages and disadvantages is that you almost know everything, but you cannot always share with everyone. So a lot of people come to talk to you about an issue with their manager or a business challenge or a personal problem, and you need to, I would say delicately and in a very sensitive way, you need to somehow combine those conversations without violating the trust and make sure that you direct people in the right direction. So,

▶8:09HostSo, and I wanted to ask you, how many, uh, employees do you have there in the US and then globally?

▶8:18GuestSo we, my, the, the, the units under my responsibility altogether have close to 250 employees. We at Daimler globally, we have 7,200 employees and we're part of a larger group, Syngenta Group, that altogether has 45,000 employees.

▶8:36HostSo how do you take that kind of global culture and then make it work for a US team, right? You, and where have you had pushback a little bit as well? Yeah.

▶8:49GuestYeah, yeah, that's an interesting question. So first of all, I would say I'm lucky enough to have worked both in global headquarters and also here in the business. So I would say I speak both languages. So because I think a lot of my work is translating why global headquarters is requesting X or Y or doing X or Y, but also translating back to global headquarters why the business is pushing back on this or why the business is requiring that. From a cultural perspective, one thing that surprised me, positively surprised me a little bit is that culture is, and again, this is in the context of Panama, that culture is stronger than geography. When I moved here, I felt from day one, from minute one, very much at home because everything from a cultural perspective felt very familiar. So I won't say there wasn't a lot of adjustment. Yes, there are some things that are different, so sometimes you need to explain. Also, our culture globally, but also here in the US, is more, is very informal, and I know for some employees here in the US, it may be a little bit more challenging. Some prefer the structure and the rules for everything, but some thrive in our non-formal culture, so sometimes you need to help people understand, hey, that's fine if someone is, you know, more relaxed, even if leadership is more relaxed on the afternoon, Friday afternoon, or we're having a very loud Christmas party in the office, that's totally fine. We work hard, but we also, we play hard and we appreciate both the hard work and the fun. Sometimes you just need to remind people of that, but again, I saw this culture in several locations, again, headquarters and here. So from that perspective, my job was pretty easy.

▶10:58HostI love that. And I do think culture starts long before the employee's actually on board. It starts in hiring. What advice would you give other HR people when it, when it comes to hiring the right person?

▶11:11GuestYeah, so it's a question that we, we thought, think about, uh, quite often, uh, because obviously you need the, uh, person who's a good fit for the job from a technical perspective or from a skills perspective, but you wanna make sure that that person is a good fit also from a cultural perspective. So, my, my advice, and again, based on, on what we've seen in the past, is try to, for example, try to include someone who is not, part of the hiring team. As part of the interview, someone who can, who doesn't have, I would say, a horse in the race and can interview the person and see, you know, maybe again, reflect a little bit the current culture, but also understand from the candidate what are their expectations and based through a more free conversation, which is less focused on the job itself to see if the person will be a good fit. By the way, it goes both ways. The candidate, we encourage candidates to ask us a lot of questions, not only about the job itself, but also on the culture to see if it's a good fit for them. And we're trying to, we created with the help of the global headquarters, we created like a, it's called a people promise, which essentially reflects our, the main elements of our culture. So it will be easier for both us and the candidates to understand what they're getting into.

▶12:38HostYeah, I love that. if we shadowed you for a week, where would you be spending the most of, most of your time currently?

▶12:48GuestUm, yeah, it really depends on the week. Uh, it depends what— if we have, a global process like performance management or comp cycle that is running, then obviously most of the attention and the time is spent on that. In between can be not necessarily global things, but more local regional projects, but I would say on a usual average week, HR includes a lot of administrative work, but also more strategic work. So literally on one day, one hour, you can deal with, I don't know, updating employees' information in our system, but also thinking about the future structure of the sales organization. And this can all happen within 1 hour. So again, this is, this is, this will be a typical day, a typical week. It really depends on, on the timing of the year and what processes are running. But yeah, you can do a lot of administrative stuff all the way to very strategic, I would say critical business processes and, and

▶13:59HostYeah, it seems like a lot of times HR is very reactionary and I get that. That's, that's part of the job. There's a lot of people managing and when people are unpredictable, so can your schedule be. But how can you be more proactive and, and be on more of the offense, do you think?

▶14:16GuestDiscussions. So yeah, it is true that sometimes the day-to-day or the operational day-to-day wins over the more, you know, project or strategic stuff. I think it's important, you know, once you establish the business and the team KPIs at the beginning of the year, I think it's important to look at them from time to time and make sure that you're still on track. And yeah, sometimes there's no other choice. You need to be reactive because an employee has an issue, a manager has a, situation or there's another scenario you need to take care of. But usually over time you get into a cadence and you have more or less a calendar of either projects or timing of things you would like to do. You just need to remind yourself from time to time, hey, make sure that there's still, you know, there's still goals that you want to meet or a few processes or a few projects that you want to handle. yeah, sometimes, um, I would say at least in, in my job, it's a matter of daily prioritization. So sometimes the more important, the more, strategic stuff will be postponed a day or two. Uh, and sometimes it will get priority. Um, but again, it's, it's you, I think a good HR person, any professional should be able to balance between the very short-term tactical things and the more strategic ones.

▶15:43HostYeah, I love it. All right. If you could have— leave one piece of advice for our community, something you wish you would have known earlier in your career. But what would that be?

▶15:54GuestSo, you know, for HR people, as I mentioned before, I came from the Kampenband world, numbers, spreadsheets. And for years I thought that, don't even talk to me about, I don't know, performance management and learning and development. Succession planning and things like that. Give me the numbers and I'll do that. But then when I had this opportunity and I was exposed to the other areas of HR, it was a whole new world. So my advice to HR professionals, if you're a specialist doing something specific, whether it's talent acquisition or comp and ben or anything like that, Make sure to take the time to learn about other areas in HR. Who knows, you might like them. And but for sure, it will open a few opportunities for you. It will make your job more interesting and more diverse. So yeah, my advice would be keep an open mind. And again, I wish I've done it before. Not that I'm regretting my comp and ben years, and I still deal with comp and ben. As part of my job, but yeah, it's just, and at the end of the day also helps you understand the added value that HR brings to the organization.

▶17:24HostYeah. And, and because your kind of unique background coming into this role, how do you feel like people can utilize technology better to free up more time to spend more time on the people and not on unnecessary tasks that you can use

▶17:42GuestSo, so maybe if we did, if we had that conversation 3, 4, 5 years ago, it wouldn't, would not have been brought up, but AI, of course. so, um, I'm, um, I'm, uh, I would say I'm, uh, I'm, I, I really like AI again. I think, um, I, I, I won't get into the question whether AI would replace us one day or not. I think that today or still currently, it's very important to have a human in the loop or in the process. And I use AI, yeah, for the, I would say the regular things like summarizing an email or presentation. I would say that's almost the obvious, but I use AI a lot of times as a sounding board and as a thinking engine. I would throw a few ideas and then start a conversation with AI. And I've seen more than once that it actually showed me perspectives that I didn't think about. So I think if you combine, to your question, if you combine the productivity, I would say tools that AI gives us, summarizing and creating and all that fun stuff, and you combine it with the more analytical thinking, information gathering that AI can do for you. Then you're able to use your time more efficiently and effectively. And again, I have plenty of examples of presentations, not just the creation of the presentation itself that saves obviously a lot of time, but the content for the presentation that again, together going through a thinking process or brainstorming process with AI, I think the result was much better and was delivered much faster.

▶19:30HostNo, completely agree. I had a leader once that, that's how he would just create presentations for everything, even if there, it wasn't necessary because that's how he would brainstorm a lot cleaner and, and he would get everything done, but and now you can kind of do that and do that brainstorming with AI and you can get to conclusions a lot Well, no, I mean, this has been an awesome conversation. Obviously you're professional in all that you do. So thank you so much for giving us a little wisdom here. We're super excited to, I'm personally excited to get this podcast episode out so others can learn from it.

▶20:09GuestIt was great. My pleasure.