Larry Ott
SVP & CHRO
Cooper Standard
Episode 69
Beyond HR Support: Mastering Business Strategy for Unbeatable Talent & Financial Gains
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleAugust 25, 2025 · 12:25
Thesis
“HR must transcend traditional support roles by deeply understanding and integrating with core business strategy, leveraging initiatives like flexible work to drive financial performance and secure competitive advantage in talent acquisition.”
Show notes
When Cooper Standard decided to make flexible work a permanent feature rather than a post-pandemic policy, Larry Ott helped lead the business case. What surprised him — and what he's happy to tell you about — was who embraced it most enthusiastically: Baby Boomers. The employees who most career strategists assume are the resistant ones. It's a useful data point not just about flexible work, but about the danger of assumption-driven HR strategy.
Larry has 40+ years in HR across GM, Ally Financial, and the automotive sector, and his through-line is consistent: HR's value is determined by its proximity to the business, not its distance from it. The function leaders who earn real influence are the ones who understand how their organizations make money, can hold a credible conversation about financial objectives, and frame people decisions in terms of competitive outcomes — not process compliance. He's done that work, and he's clear about what it changes.
His challenge to HR leaders is direct: stop calling yourself a support function, because that framing tells everyone exactly how much leverage to give you. If HR is going to shape strategy, it has to position itself as a core business driver — and that shift starts with how the function talks about itself.
- Flexible work as a competitive advantage — what Cooper Standard learned by trusting employees with autonomy, and who surprised them most
- Embedding HR in business strategy — what it looks like when people goals align with corporate financial objectives in practice
- Business fluency as the HR leader's core credential — the conversation you need to be able to have to earn a seat at the table
- Broad early-career experience as a strategic investment — why versatility compounds over time in ways specialization doesn't
- Stop calling it a support function — the framing shift that changes how every stakeholder in the organization perceives HR's mandate
Previ is an employer network that provides private pricing for employees — saving the average employee $2,200/year on essentials like cell phone service and insurance, at no cost to the company.
What you'll take away
- 1Prioritize memorizing and deeply understanding the corporate strategy, business financials, and how the company makes/loses money over just the HR strategy.
- 2Implement a 'flexible work' approach as a competitive advantage for recruiting talent, acknowledging it as an outlier strategy in many industries.
- 3HR professionals must act as strategic business leaders, actively contributing to financial outcomes and major initiatives, rather than being perceived as administrative or 'party planning' functions.
- 4Cultivate strong business acumen, diverse analytical capabilities (both quantitative and qualitative), and seek broad experiences early in your career to avoid being typecast.
- 5Learn and speak the language of business (e.g., adjusted EBITDA, tooling costs) to gain immediate respect and credibility within the organization.
What most organizations get wrong
- •CooperStandard is an outlier in their industry by largely avoiding mandatory in-office attendance, contrasting with most competitors (including OEMs) who require 3-4 days in the office.
- •Larry was surprised by how well Baby Boomers and Gen Xers adapted to flexible work, challenging assumptions about older generations' embrace of remote setups.
- •He actively discourages his team from referring to HR as a 'support function,' asserting it is a critical part of the business that should behave accordingly.
In Larry's words
“Well, first of all, we've, we've kind of migrated toward calling it something else. We call it flexible work. And in my entire time, we've utilized a flexible work approach such that You know, 12 years ago we had people working some days at home based on geographics, life situation, et cetera, young kids at home.”
Highlights Cooper Standard's long-standing, progressive approach to work flexibility that predates the pandemic.
“What I, what I say to people is if, you know, certainly we have an HR strategy and, you know, I lead that in conjunction with my direct reports. But what I tell folks is I would much rather have you memorize the corporate strategy and what we're trying to do in the business, understand how we, we make money, how we lose money. And I would much rather have you understand that at a deep level, more so than my HR strategy...”
Emphasizes the critical importance of HR professionals understanding core business operations and financial drivers.
“I don't look for party planners. And that might sound derogatory, but there's still a lot of people out there think that, you know, when you want to have some celebration, you go to the HR person, they do it. I try not to do that. Anybody can plan a party. It's not very strategic.”
A direct and memorable statement on the need for HR to move beyond transactional tasks to strategic impact.
“When you're young in your career, don't, don't try to go deep in a particular area. Go broad. You don't want to go deep when you're 24 years old, and when you're 35, you wake up and say, you know what? I hate what I do and I've hated it for 11 years.”
Provides practical career advice for young professionals to gain diverse experiences and avoid early specialization.
“I don't like being described as a support function. I tell my people, don't refer to yourself as a support function, otherwise you will become one. You know, you're part of the business and it's a critical part of the business. Behave like you are, not, not just a support function.”
A powerful call to action for HR professionals to self-identify and operate as essential business drivers.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Recruiting top talent in competitive industries without offering attractive flexibility.
- •HR departments being relegated to administrative or 'support' roles, lacking strategic influence.
- •Lack of deep business and financial acumen among HR professionals hindering their ability to engage with other C-suite leaders.
- •Risk of poor company performance stemming from inadequate collaboration in remote or hybrid work environments.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Larry Ellison shares a little bit more about his career journey
In the Elevator With Larry Ellison
Larry Miller: CooperStandard has always utilized a flexible work approach
CooperStandard Executive Discusses Remote Work
Larry King says remote work has given COVID competitive advantage when recruiting talent
Remote Work: The Surprises of IT
How do you make sure that HR syncs with company's big picture goals
Have You Made HR a Strategic Business Partner?
Larry Kaplan went from traditional HR to a strategic partner
In the Elevator With Larry Mayer
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
Expand transcript (0 words)
Transcript is not available yet.