Damond Fauconier
CHRO
Transportation FCU
Episode 59
The New HR Mandate: Adaptability and Curiosity in a Dynamic World
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleSeptember 8, 2025 · 12:30
Thesis
“Adaptability and continuous curiosity are paramount for HR professionals to navigate an ever-changing professional landscape, enabling them to empower employees and serve as effective organizational stewards.”
Show notes
Episode SummaryWhat does it take to lead HR with adaptability, resilience, and impact in today’s fast-changing world of work?
In this episode of Built By People, host Dave D’Angelo welcomes Damond Fauconier, Chief Human Resources Officer at a leading credit union, for an insightful conversation on his multifaceted journey through the HR field—from training and development to navigating union negotiations and executive politics. Damond shares how an unexpected layoff early in his career became a defining moment, pushing him to embrace curiosity and adopt a broader, more strategic view of HR.
Listeners will gain a behind-the-scenes look at how Damond handled complex organizational dynamics, built trust with leadership, and positioned HR as a business-critical function. He also shares his vision for empowering future people leaders—and why curiosity might be your most important leadership tool.
Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned HR pro, this episode is packed with practical wisdom on career resilience, navigating change, and leading with intention.
Key Timestamps
[00:42] – Damond’s early career path and shift from training to generalist HR
[03:50] – Career-defining moment: learning from being part of a layoff
[04:32] – Transitioning from mission-driven nonprofits to bottom-line-focused business
[06:19] – How curiosity became Damond’s key to adapting and thriving
[08:14] – Managing executive conflict and navigating board-level politics
[10:09] – The legacy Damond hopes to leave as an HR leader
[11:13] – Parting advice to the HR community: stay curious, be a steward
Takeaways
Embrace unexpected change as a chance to widen your scope and strengthen your skill set
Lead with curiosity to better understand your business and anticipate future challenges
Understand the politics of leadership and how HR can act as a bridge
Develop your own relationships across all levels—including the board
See yourself as a steward, not just a function—HR drives culture, clarity, and growth
Empower others to lead, especially people managers who shape day-to-day experiences
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What you'll take away
- 1Cultivate a mindset of constant adaptability, as career paths are rarely linear and organizational changes are inevitable.
- 2Prioritize genuine curiosity about the business, industry, and broader environment to anticipate trends and identify innovative HR solutions.
- 3In corporate settings, ensure HR initiatives clearly demonstrate their quantifiable impact on the organization's bottom line.
- 4Develop the ability to navigate complex organizational politics, even managing up to the board, to resolve high-level conflicts that impact the workforce.
- 5Strive to empower employees and managers in their professional growth and impact, viewing this as a core legacy of HR leadership.
What most organizations get wrong
In Damond's words
“I have to always be, you know, willing to maybe change things up or just to adapt.”
Highlights the foundational lesson learned from a significant career setback, emphasizing adaptability.
“I have to be not necessarily a jack of all trades, but interested in all trades, understanding. And I know HR folks always get told, yeah, you have to know the business. So definitely from that perspective, but just in general interest and just being really being curious about things.”
Emphasizes the importance of broad curiosity beyond traditional HR functions for long-term adaptability and effectiveness.
“everything I had to do was really any changes that I want to make or anything I want to implement, I need to show at least how that would impact the bottom line in terms of like the, and primarily like the cost of certain, interactions.”
Illustrates the practical business acumen required when transitioning from mission-driven to profit-driven organizations.
“I helped to empower or help guide people to empower for their own specific careers, but also generally just in terms of how they work in their professional roles.”
Defines his desired legacy as an HR leader, centered on empowering individuals and their managers.
“See yourselves as stewards always. See yourselves as, I'm here to help this organization along. I'm here to help the team along.”
Provides concise, impactful advice on the overarching mindset and responsibility HR professionals should adopt.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Navigating unexpected career trajectory changes due to organizational restructuring (RIF) and needing to pivot expertise.
- •Demonstrating the tangible business impact and ROI of HR initiatives to leadership in profit-driven companies.
- •Managing highly contentious relationships between top executives that trickle down and negatively affect organizational morale and functionality.
- •The challenge for HR professionals to expand their business acumen and curiosity beyond their functional area to maintain adaptability.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Dave: Damon shares a little bit about his career journey
Describing Your Career Journey
What are some career-defining moments in your HR career
Have You Had A Career-Defining Moment?
Being more prepared moving forward with change and being adaptable is important
Being More Prepared for Change
Damon Smith says two top executives had contentious relationship at one organization
The Challenges of Being an HR Leader
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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