Beth Ley
Sr. Director Global Rewards
Auctane
Episode 117
The 'Grass' Theory of Leadership: How HR Builds Unshakeable, Mission-Driven Teams
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJuly 8, 2025 · 13:01
Thesis
“HR leaders should prioritize meaningful work with mission-aligned companies and great people, while acting as a foundational support for their teams. Strategic, data-driven decision-making, coupled with humility and decisive action, is crucial for navigating challenges and maximizing impact within resource constraints.”
Show notes
Beth Ley's "secret sauce" in HR is straightforward: she makes decisions. In March 2020, while most organizations were paralyzed, she was rapidly gathering data and acting. That bias toward decisive movement — combined with enough humility to pivot when the decision was wrong — has defined 17 years of a career that ran from a food co-op in Austin to Global Rewards at a logistics tech company with operations across multiple countries.
Her approach to leadership is built around what she calls the "inverted org chart" model. She's not at the top of her team — she's at the bottom. Her job is to be the grass: the foundation at which her team grows, finds stability, and has what they need. Her measure of success isn't her own output, it's how well her team is doing in life and in career. Her take on personal brand flows from the same place: "What you do is never going to be as important as who you were when you were doing it."
Her most tactical insight is on budget strategy: "You build what you budget." HR leaders who don't have deep relationships with finance leaders and don't plan through budget cycles find themselves trying to build programs with whatever's left. Beth built Auctane's wellness program from a US-centric structure into a genuinely global one without adding budget — but only because she'd built the relationships and done the planning before the ask.
- How Beth's "gather information and act" approach worked during the pandemic — and what it taught her about decision-making under chaos
- The inverted org chart philosophy: leading from the bottom as foundation, not from the top as authority
- Why personal brand matters in HR — and what "who you were while doing it" actually means
- "You build what you budget" — the finance relationship strategy that unlocks global program expansion
- How to delegate in a way that actually develops people, not just offloads work
This episode is brought to you by Previ — an employer network that saves employees thousands on the necessities they already pay for, at no cost to the company.
What you'll take away
- 1Delegate wisely by considering team members' strengths and providing adequate time and resources for growth, rather than simply passing off tasks.
- 2Cultivate a strong, authentic personal brand online to communicate your mission and values, which can pre-sell your leadership style to new team members.
- 3Adopt an 'inverted org chart' mentality, viewing yourself as the foundation (the 'grass') that supports and enables your team's growth and stability.
- 4Prioritize building strong relationships with finance leaders and leverage budgeting season to strategically plan and secure resources for HR initiatives, understanding that 'you build what you budget'.
- 5In times of chaos, gather information quickly and act decisively, while remaining humble enough to pivot and admit when a decision was wrong.
What most organizations get wrong
- •"What you do is never going to be as important as who you were when you were doing it." (Challenges the conventional focus on task accomplishment over character and team contribution.)
- •"Don't chase title and money. Like, those things, when you work hard and you're authentic, they come." (Contrasts with the typical career advice to directly pursue promotions and higher salaries.)
In Beth's words
“What you do is never going to be as important as who you were when you were doing it.”
This quote emphasizes the importance of character and team contribution over job duties.
“So many people during that time were paralyzed. I was like, I'm just going to gather as much information as I can and I'm going to act. And kind of that ability to think quick, act fast has really helped me throughout my career.”
This highlights the importance of decisive action and agility in crisis situations.
“I am creating a career so that I can be the grass. I'm the bottom. I am the foundation at which my team grows and has stability and has a healthy foundation.”
This powerful metaphor illustrates her philosophy of servant leadership and team enablement.
“You build what you budget, and having really great relationships with your finance leaders is incredibly important in HR.”
This quote stresses the strategic link between HR initiatives and financial planning.
“When you delegate to your team members, delegate wisely, delegate for their strengths, and delegate with time and resources. Giving someone something that's impossible to do in the amount of time that you have or with the resource constraints you have, that's not delegating for growth, that's passing the buck.”
This provides actionable advice on effective and supportive delegation for team growth.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Navigating rapid, data-driven yet human-centric HR decisions during times of extreme ambiguity and chaos (e.g., pandemic store closures).
- •Extending global programs (like wellness) to a diverse international workforce without increasing budget or negatively impacting existing employees.
- •The challenge of fostering meaningful team growth when delegation is poorly executed (i.e., 'passing the buck' without adequate resources or consideration for strengths).
- •HR leaders struggling to build an authentic personal brand that clearly communicates their values and leadership style to new hires.
- •The risk of HR initiatives being underfunded or unplanned due to a lack of strong relationships with finance and failing to 'budget what you build'.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
I'm in my 17th year as an HR professional
How an HR Professional Went From Startup to Octane
Beth says she faced a challenge balancing data-driven decision-making
The Challenge of Data-
Just like a company needs a clear mission and vision, we need people as people
Beth, Can You Elevate Your Personal Brand
Beth says her leadership style has evolved over her 17-year career
Beth Barton on Her Leadership Style
Beth uses total rewards to maximize impact with limited resources
Beyond Total Rewards: How to Maximize Impact in HR
Bets, what advice would you like to share with our community
Built by People: Advice for Happy Professionals
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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