D'Mar Phillips

▶0:00HostWelcome to the Built by People podcast, where we share the stories and insights of the world's top HR leaders. Join us as we dive deep into the minds of HR executives, uncovering their strategies, challenges, and triumphs in shaping today's workforce. I'm excited to welcome Damar to the Built By People Podcast. Damar, thank you so much for joining us. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you could share a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:48GuestAbsolutely. And thanks for having me. So I feel pretty fortunate over the last 20-plus years to work for some pretty impressive companies. When I graduated from college, I had a bachelor's in accounting and business administration, and I went into a tech field because it was associated with accounting, but not actual CPA type work. Very quickly discovered that I love people more so than technology at that time. After I left there, I went to work at Walmart, which Walmart being the number one retailer for several years. $455 billion company at that time gave me a lot of opportunity. Over my 10-year career there, I was able to dive into several different areas from some work on the accounting side, just to make sure that was not what I wanted to do. A lot on the people side, which is where the passion for people took hold. Over that 10-year career period, I was able to promote 5 different times. Things like employment compliance related work or the Office of Diversity was one of the areas I was able to work in. Even some relocation. So I was a supplier manager for a corporate relocation program, but really fell in love with people, right? And so all of that, Walmart provided me with the foundation that if you are good at communicating what your core values are as an organization, and you find other people who love the same types of things that you do, then you're gonna make that community within that workforce extremely vibrant and one that was diverse. And so I appreciate that time. After I left Walmart, I did some other things as well. So my career has spanned everything from automotive to manufacturing to distribution, even glass manufacturing. I've been on both sides of the automotive industry from the manufacturer that puts the Mercedes-Benz together, to the dealership side for people who sell the car to the end user, the consumer, and everything in between. And so my career has been varied. I haven't taken always the straightest path to progression. I've taken some lateral moves in my career to be able to just get more breadth of the things that I'm doing and more knowledge base. I've also very— proponent of continuous lifelong learning. I've gone to school multiple times to further my education, to give me more generalized view of the world and the way things operate. I have a master's degree in business administration, one in human resource management, but also a master's in law, which allows me to understand contracts, rules and regulations a whole lot more, especially since I'm now the vice president of people and culture here at RS Americas. I think it allows me to be able to see things from the 30,000-foot view, but also deep dive into the grassroots aspects as well.

▶3:51HostDamari, you mentioned transitioning from accounting to HR. What was the moment that made you realize your true passion was working with people?

▶3:59GuestRealizing that in order to be a successful accountant, you'd have to spend 80 hours a week behind a desk. I think that was the realization. Of course, I've been graduated from college for a number of years. I won't share my age here. At that time, there was the Big 8 accounting firms that went down to the Big 4, who now I think is the Big 3. And so over that period of time, it was a traditional view of productivity, right? And so if I don't see you at your desk, if you're not working really hard there that I visually see you, then we didn't tie success to that individual and the promotion, right? So. The people who were very successful, the role models in the industry, they were putting in 80 to 100 billable hours per week. They didn't have a life. And I like to have fun. I like to laugh. I love comedy. And so the profession and my personality just was not a match. Um, I'll say the light bulb truly happened when I was able to obtain work at Walmart. And I just saw how excellence could be when you have a wonderful people function. Doesn't mean all decisions are gonna be perfect. As the head of HR, I understand at times the business has to make a decision that impacts people, but it's the how you go about doing that. But I think that was the moment that came full circle for me was when I realized, hey, in order for me to be who I am and true to my values, it's not gonna be doing book sheets and spreadsheets and bookkeeping. On behalf of another client.

▶5:36HostDeMar, how has your diverse educational background influenced your approach to people leadership? I know you've got a degree in accounting, an MBA, a law degree, HR management. Talk to me about how that's influenced how you approach things.

▶5:50GuestI think it's, for me, what it has allowed me to do is see that there's more things that impact someone's, whether it's their job or their career or just their livelihood., and I've learned different skill sets to say, hey, there's more than one path to be able to achieve your career objectives. It may take you longer. Some people might be a straight shot, but as long as you're able to continuously learn and demonstrate the ability to be flexible, to be adaptable to change, to dive into some of those areas that are, are not strengths for others, but you can make it a strength for you, as long as you have what I call that back pocket skill that is able to, whether you can simplify complex issues and communicate them in an extremely comprehensive way, but that is able to be communicated in layman's terms to the other person, then that skillset has a value. And as long as you're able to drive value with any organization, I think you're able to find a career that you're gonna fall in love with. And so for me, it allowed me to broaden my horizons, to think outside the box, to understand that I could be successful in many different things. It's just finding my passion. And I think once a person finds their passion, then they find their purpose.

▶7:08HostDeVar, last time we spoke, you talked about learning not to hold others to your own standards of excellence. Can you share more about this evolution in your leadership style and what it taught you?

▶7:19GuestYeah, it, it, it was, right? Because I think oftentimes when you're younger in your career, and you get that first managerial job, you tend to think that people operate the same way as you do, and you don't realize that, guess what, they have a sick parent at the house, they have a child that needs diapers, they have all these other stresses within their life. And because you are able to adapt to changes in your environment and not bring that into the office, it doesn't mean that other people don't have things that they consider more important to them than that job, right? And so what it allowed me to do by freeing myself is, you know what, I can help you get where you want to be as long as we're communicating and as long as you tell me how you want to get there, right? I can support you, I can prop you up, I can do so many different things, but if I hold you to my standards. Standard for me that works for Damara Phillips, that's not being fair to you. And so if I'm not being fair to you and I judge you based off of my own expectations, then I'm short-sighting the conversation and it's an unrealistic expectation. And so as long as leader and employee or manager and subordinate, however you wanna classify it, as long as that communication is two-dimensional and goes both ways, then fairness can happen and then you both can get the best out of each other. But it comes from realizing that the person on the other end is not me. I don't have a twin in this world. And so my expectations of me is very different than your expectations of you. And good enough might be just good enough for you, although I expect greatness here, right? And so if I hold you to my standard, I'm gonna treat you unfairly.

▶9:13HostDeMar, in your experience leading through COVID, you mentioned being one of the few leaders who stayed on site. How did this decision impact your perspective on authentic leadership?

▶9:24GuestIt's to practice what you preach, right? I felt like it was important for me to be on site because I had to be there to help keep people safe, uh, and to demonstrate that leadership hasn't vacated the building. There were 2 vice presidents within the business who stayed on site. Me from the people aspect, which represented our corporate arm of things, and the VP of operations who was there to help guide the operational daily responsibilities. And so by making that decision, and get it, everyone else went home. CEO, CFO, sales leaders. Everyone else went remote fully. Fear was real, but because I educated myself on COVID, educated myself because I had to educate the organization, I was aware of the symptoms and aware of the things that we needed to do to keep ourselves safe. And it helped me to be able to real time make decisions because new information was constantly coming in. And so by being the person that they saw every day, I was able to understand their needs. I was able to provide monetary incentives to help motivate people. I was able to implement safety procedures that needed to change. Instead of, if masks, I was the enforcement arm. So if masks weren't being used, hey, pull it up. You know, I would walk around, you see my mask, I'm demonstrating how to wear it. Pull that up, right? I get that it's hot. I get that you have all these excuses, but if you're sick, who's gonna take care of your family? I had a closer relationship with the employee base and coming from my position to them, they respected me. They understood I had their best interest in heart, and so I was able to help support them, whereas someone who did not have as close a relationship with them wouldn't have had that same credibility.

▶11:23HostDamar, you've spoken about psychological safety and mental health in the workplace. How do you see this evolving in the future of HR?

▶11:32GuestIt definitely has changed over the last 5 years even. You talk about mental health seminars, we talk about neurodiversity topics, uh, that people are different. And I feel like it's making people who have something different about them feel more comfortable. Being who they are, recognizing that their difference is a strength, not a weakness. And so within the HR function, the people function, we've had to evolve and adapt to changes. We had to educate ourselves on what these signs and symptoms are. And we also had to change policy because we realized that the workforce itself is changing and the expectations of tomorrow are very different than even they are today. And so by being an adaptable, flexible person, we say we want differences, we say we want diversity, but do we really? And I think that's the question that we have to answer as people professionals, irrespective of race and gender and sexual orientation. We have people who learn differently within the workplace. Are we treating them fairly? We have people who are on the autism spectrum. Are, are we doing enough to challenge ourselves as an organization to be able to truly meet our employee where they're at in order to get the most out of them? And so I embrace differences. One example I would share is if I have to make a tough decision, I want that person that we've labeled negative, who is the contrarian in the group. To sit in the room. Let's talk about it. This is what we're trying to do. Why do I want that person in there? Because if there's a flaw in the plan, they're gonna see it. And if I can convince that person that we're doing the right things for the right reason and they buy it, that means I'll be able to sell it wholesale to the organization. Because the most negative person has said, I cannot find anything wrong with this plan. We typically don't look at it that way though. We all, we like having people in the room who agree with us, but the true growth comes from that friction, that constructive friction that can be created by creation of ideas. And I think that's the challenge that we have to ask ourselves is, are we truly open to hearing a different opinion or do we only want people who's gonna say yes to us? In my opinion, I need the person that's gonna hold me accountable.

▶14:07HostDamar, what parting advice would you like to share with our audience?

▶14:10GuestOne, thanks for the opportunity. Two, I think life is always a constant journey, and your evolution into the person that you are going to become doesn't stop when you reach a certain level or a certain title. You're always gonna be a learner until you leave this world, right? And keep yourself humble, keep yourself open to new ideas. Listening is a value that we don't use as often as we should. Listen to learn, not listen to respond. Listen to hear, not listen to be able to provide someone with some feedback. That is the biggest lesson that I would learn. Over my career, I have adapted my style for the first 90 days at any organization. I've done Listen, look, learn. And it's been with me for the last several organizations that I've gone through. And the reason I do that is, one, you already hired me, so I don't have to prove anything to you. You've already hired me, right? So it's no longer an interview. I'm in the seat. In order for me to make the changes that's gonna be most impactful to the organization, I need to hear from you. I need to listen to the employee base. I need to understand where there are areas of opportunity for us to work together and partner together, or things that need to be changed, how effective I'm gonna be doing in driving those changes. I need to look at the processes or the practices that we have to be able to collectively evaluate that. And then I need the ability to apply that. An invisible timeline that's over the first 100 days to be able to listen, look, and learn, and then apply that. And then once you're outside that 100 days, then you should have enough rapport built up within the organization to be able to get the champions that you need to help support you with your ideas, and then get about the work of making those changes that is gonna be lasting within the organization. And so best advice I can give for people, whether you start a new role or have been at the organization for 100 years going through a change, listen, look, and learn. Apply your lessons over time. You've earned the role. Be successful in it.

▶16:32HostDeMar, thanks so much for joining us on the Built By People podcast. It was a pleasure to have you involved.

▶16:37GuestThank you so much.