Melissa Leneis
Chief Human Resources Officer
Quaker Houghton
Episode 30
Unlock Peak Performance: Inclusion & Belonging Are Your Business Growth Engines
Current chapter: Built by People Podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleOctober 9, 2025 · 7:34
Thesis
“When organizations foster genuine inclusion and a deep sense of belonging, employees are empowered to perform at their highest level, driving both individual growth and business success. Growth arises from fearlessly embracing the unknown with purpose and resilience.”
Show notes
A Disney HR leader gave a talk at a conference. Melissa Leneis was in the audience, heard something that clicked, and went home to redesign her career around it. Two decades later, she's the CHRO at Quaker Houghton — and the through-line from that moment to now is a conviction that inclusion isn't a compliance exercise or a DEI initiative. It's a performance driver. When people feel like they genuinely belong, they perform differently. That's not soft. That's organizational design.
Her career spans defense, technology, and specialty chemicals — industries that don't typically overlap in their people challenges. What she's learned moving across them is that transformation is only as durable as the leadership capability underneath it. You can design the most sophisticated human capital strategy in the world and watch it stall if the managers responsible for executing it don't have the psychological safety to lead through change. Leadership upskilling isn't a nice-to-have; it's the delivery mechanism for everything else.
The benefits work she's most proud of — expanding global family planning benefits and parental leave — reflects that same conviction: that the way a company treats people at their most vulnerable moments defines what it actually believes about its values, not just what it says. Her parting advice to future HR leaders is as simple as it is enduring: lead with purpose, stay human.
What you'll learn:
- Why inclusion drives performance — not just representation — and what that distinction requires of HR leaders
- How Melissa expanded global family planning benefits and parental leave — and why it matters beyond optics
- The leadership upskilling imperative: why psychological safety is the prerequisite for any transformation strategy
- What "following the work" looks like when reshaping HR to align with business evolution
- How to design human capital strategy around the employee's lived experience, not just the organizational chart
- What a career spanning defense, technology, and specialty chemicals teaches about building HR from scratch
Built by People is presented by Previ — the free tool that helps HR teams boost internal communication engagement.
What you'll take away
- 1Inclusion and belonging are critical performance drivers, directly impacting retention and engagement, rather than just being 'nice-to-haves.'
- 2Successful HR leaders must 'follow the work,' actively engaging with the business to reshape HR functions and align human capital strategy with evolving organizational needs.
- 3Effective leadership upskilling, grounded in psychological safety and inclusive leadership, is essential to guide employees through transformation and ensure strategy adoption.
- 4Designing a human capital strategy requires thinking beyond mere systems; it must consider the lived experience of employees and how it makes them feel.
- 5Authentic leadership, continuous learning, and staying true to one's values are crucial for personal and professional growth, enabling both individuals and organizations to thrive.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Inclusion extends beyond representation metrics; its true impact comes from making people feel safe, valued, and fully able to contribute, transforming it into a clear performance differentiator.
- •Kindness and business results are not mutually exclusive but deeply connected. Embedding inclusion ensures that a compassionate approach directly drives organizational success.
- •Organizational transformation is not solely a top-down initiative but rather an iterative process that 'happens one conversation at a time,' emphasizing the importance of consistent communication and individual coaching.
In Melissa's words
“When people feel a sense of community and can show up as their genuine selves, they do their best work. Inclusion, belonging, and wellbeing came central to how I defined talent investment.”
This quote encapsulates her core philosophy regarding the holistic value of inclusion and belonging in the workplace.
“Inclusion isn't just about representation. It's about helping people feel safe, valued, and able to contribute fully.”
Melissa redefines inclusion beyond metrics, emphasizing its emotional and psychological impact on individual contribution.
“When people don't have to spend energy pretending to fit in, they do better work.”
This highlights the hidden energy drain of non-inclusive environments and the productivity gains from authentic belonging.
“Transformation, I found, happens one conversation at a time.”
She underscores the iterative and human-centric nature of organizational change, contrasting it with large-scale initiatives.
“I hope my legacy is that I made both organizations and people better, that I built HR foundations that live on, respected by the business and able to evolve, that people felt heard, welcomed, and given the opportunity to perform at the highest levels, that inclusion wasn't an initiative, it was embedded, and that kindness and results weren't mutually exclusive. They were connected.”
This comprehensive statement outlines her vision for impactful HR leadership, integrating human values with business outcomes.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Employees' primary concern is covering monthly expenses, highlighting a need for financial wellbeing support.
- •Leaders struggle to effectively lead through transformation, requiring significant upskilling and consistent support.
- •HR functions can become transactional, failing to proactively solve problems or earn credibility within the business.
- •Ensuring inclusion is genuinely embedded as a performance driver, rather than remaining a superficial initiative.
- •The challenge of maintaining personal values and energy while navigating demanding executive roles and complex organizational shifts.
In this episode
Built by People Podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
You're a two-time public company CHRO with experience across multiple industries
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Alyssa realized just how much impact inclusion-based work can have
Can You Tell Us About A Career-Defining Moment
A consistent challenge is ensuring leaders can lead through transformation
What's the Challenge You're facing in Your Career?
What's a legacy you hope to leave as an HR leader and why
A Legacy for HR Leaders
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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