Executive Leadership

“I love those words, they didn't choose you and you didn't choose them. They just resonate so clearly, and I've had this conversation a lot with my colleagues over the last 6 months or so. To actually call that out.”

“When you are a leader, you're on a pedestal and people look to you. And what do you want people to see. And I think that we all need to look in a mirror, especially leaders. What is it? Why are you a leader and what are...”

“I think if you're new to the executive role, what I would tell you is, It's about the people. And so that emotional intelligence piece, as smart as you may be, as good of a strategic mind as you may have, without that EQ...”

“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...”

“Having the underpinnings of business in this role, I think, is my secret weapon. Maybe not so secret.”

“I don't think doing what's best for people and doing what's best for businesses has to be mutually exclusive.”

“I've done every element of this job at greater scale than you'll need it. The only thing I haven't done is officially taken that, that top job in the standalone role.”

“And so many HR leaders don't know how to operate that way. And so I, I'm trying to help other HR leaders. Understand what being really deeply connected to the business looks like, what being strategic really means.”

“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 corporat...”

“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 bu...”

“We were not asking for a seat at the table any longer. We were handing out roadmaps.”

“Influence isn't about polish, it's about saying the hard things sometimes when others won't in a kind way, in a way that they can understand.”

“When HR leads with subtitles, we risk seen as an outsider, but when we speak in the native language of the business, we're not just in the room, we're, we're part of the plot.”

“HR isn't a mirror, we are a compass.”

“I always say that the chief people officer, we're not the CEO of happiness, we're not the CEO of culture, like, the whole leadership team owns that.”

“We coined the singularity of the head of HR or CHRO role is that a CHRO is in many cases a business partner to the executive team, maybe coaching team members through certain things, maybe even occasionally needing to ma...”

“CHROs and chief people officers are privy to some of the most sensitive information in the company and are not necessarily able able to share it. If I'm doing an investigation, I'm not able to, or I really shouldn't talk...”

“I believe that culture culture should be talked about with equal weighting to financial results. And I think that time is coming when we're gonna be doing that pretty regularly.”

“HR is really a strategic function now. It's no longer a back-office function. So, you know, understanding the business, understanding enough HR, and putting the power of those two together makes it really fun.”

“Don't be seen as a barrier, seen as an elevator. Do it with poise. Do it with professionalism, and you will succeed.”

“resist the urge to go into action mode on day 1, week 1. I would even say within your first few months, if you can, of course, have your quick wins. But I think it's really important to be able to spend time understandin...”

“Learn the business. We are strategic HR partners, and that's only possible if we truly understand what our business is about. What are our revenue streams? What's our product and our offerings? How is it different than o...”

“get aligned with your CFO, get aligned with your CEO, get a place at the table. And that's a transformative step from somebody who's an HR generalist to them becoming an HRO or a CHRO.”

“drops in engagement lead to drops in productivity, which lead to drops in business attainment, right? And ARR attainment and revenue, revenue growth, all that stuff, right? But that's not what a CEO hears.”

“Every piece that you move has a ripple effect. And if you're not thinking about all the different pieces, then you're not thinking like a true business leader, and that's what you need to do to partner effectively with a...”

“credibility isn't really handed to you with a title.”

“Founders want partners who think like operators, people who can remove friction, help the business move faster. And when they see you're solving business problems, not just managing people, That's when the trust starts t...”

“You're not just driving HR, but you're really shaping the business alongside the leadership team. So, you need to be both strategic and scrappy.”

“The first step for me is shut up and listen. What is the business trying to do? Learning, being curious, making sure that you're grounded and understanding that.”

“I think the biggest lesson across all those industries, people are people. Leadership and relationships are always going to be the anchor point. There's titles, org chart differences, but humans, you know, are humans. An...”

“the job of the chief people officer in any consumer business is to make the inside match the outside.”

“you have to speak the language of the business, not just the language of HR.”

“The only way a pilot can fly a plane is if they understand exactly how a plane flies. And so if we as HR leaders aren't deeply understanding how our businesses make money and differentiate, we're not going to be able to...”

“wherever there are employees is my lane because I am the people officer.”

“Be joyful in earning the right to lead other people. You know, this is a fabulous vocation. Leadership, a wonderful privilege that you earn through interactions and being able to activate the willingness of others to all...”

“I said, I've never done HR. They thought it was the same thing as what I was doing as a consultant. And so I learned HR from the top. And so I, but I, my sweet spot now has been helping companies kind of transition from...”

“without the CEO and senior leaders, it's not going to work. It can't be an HR program. It has to be a business initiative led by the CEO and then partnered with people.”

“The idea of being lonely at the top is a real thing. People that work for you don't always tell you everything that you should know, or they don't want to embarrass you or challenge you or whatever, don't give you the fe...”

“I hope I never hear seat at the table again in my career. We're still talking about it and every function has been in that position. No one hands it to you. You've gotta earn it.”

“I think gone are the days where HR is kind of this back office function pushing paper, and we really have been front and center in the conversation on how you build a lasting, sustainable company at scale.”

“I left that meeting and I thought we should be doing better by people and we should be acting in a professional way and solving problems instead of causing more turmoil.”

“The most important thing that I can tell anybody who's in an HR role is to make sure that you inherently know what your company does, both forwards and backwards.”

“The most important and humbling thing for an HR person is to know that It's okay to not have all the answers, and it's okay to not know how to answer something in the beginning.”

“HR sometimes is the secret team that sits in a corner and whispers around with everything that's happening. But what we really need to know is that we're a strong voice. We are experts at what we do, and it's okay to off...”

“understand and know your value. What we do as HR professionals is so needed and it is needed and it has been needed for years upon end.”

“Ultimately what we're tasked with is bridging people strategy with business strategy. And to do that, it really requires understanding the business model, regardless of what sector that is.”

“We have to make a commitment to ourselves as HR leaders and professionals to not get jaded, to not be jaded, to think up, to assume up, to envision what we think the HR function or the people function should look like an...”

“I am of no service or benefit to anyone if I don't truly understand what we're expected to deliver on, in our case with clients.”

“You need to make a seat for yourself at that table.”

“The most important thing for a people team is understand the business.”

“Once you lose credibility in the people function, there's really nothing much to be done.”

“What we need to do is we need to talk about impact. So why would you even do a Ninebox? Why would you even do talent identification? Why would you do performance reviews? How does this help the business win?”

“My team does the work. I'm just there to coach and cheerlead and get them what they need to get the job done.”

“I personally feel like the COVID-19 pandemic was a real inflection point for this role in particular.”

“Chief people officers can't get constrained to being the answer on people questions and then quiet on questions that are not people-related.”

“You cannot underestimate the amount of visibility and attention that those roles get. Both for the family member as far as where they're moving in the organization, as well as the person that follows behind them.”

“that board is— I think sometimes we think, well, gee, there are all these executives, A-players, you know, great resumes, they're going to function as a high-performing team. That's not necessarily the case.”

“be an advocate and a guardian for the people, and you'll be an advocate and a guardian for the business, right? You take care of one, it takes care of the other.”

“I think it's a role that requires balance between relationships and the connections that you build and the— just the interpersonal capital that you develop and making sure that everything that you do in leading your team...”

“as a, you know, still recovering people pleaser, is just being willing to say no and have a backbone in human resources, taking a stand.”

“I would say that's the biggest lesson is connecting with the executive leadership team, the CEO, the CFO, Chief Administration Officer, whoever it may be, and really getting them to buy into the value of benefits, the va...”

“But developing the rapport with the CFO, building that trust, that, that is something that is extremely important so that you can collaborate and come up with something that, that is going to make the employees happy, wi...”

“I really believe that in order for a company to succeed, the people need to be in a good place. In order for the people to be in a good place, the company has to be successful, and they have to contribute to that in a wa...”

“It would be to learn more about finance. I think that's an area where I always feel like I have more to learn... We manage as HR the biggest investment that most companies make, which is their payroll. And so we really n...”

“I have built this company into an 8-figure business 5 times on the Inc. 5000 list, and I've never really worked on average more than 25 hours a week.”

“Our goals are around growth and new industries and building into some new positions and things like that. My goals personally are really more specifically geared towards the intersection of what I am good at, what I like...”

“To much of our management and leaders are challenged with How am I getting more done with less? And we're losing how critical those relationships are.”

“all of them have had kind of a similar theme where HR was central, not just kind of as a support function, but a key driver in transformation and value creation. And long-term success.”

“I just truly believe that the biggest flex in life isn't about your titles or your accolades. It really is about how many people you positively impact along the way.”

“I always describe myself as a people nerd, and I think that that has very much been the through line going back to when I was a kid in school.”

“The pitfall is just don't lose the heart. If you can get the head and the feet right, our role in HR leaders and our role in not only in our companies, but in the markets in the world in which we operate is to recognize...”

“I really do want to make HR a strategic partner with the organization. And I can do that here because, you know, it's a respected function within the organization. But if it loses that respect, it sort of keeps me up at...”

“I was not interested in being an HR lady. I was interested in leading as a chief people officer, which was a conversation that needed a lot of unpacking and education.”

“Your job is not to be a HR leader. Your job is to be a leader. And one of the most powerful things that we can do is facilitate clarity and facilitate the removal of assumptions so that we can drive outcomes, whether it'...”

“And it was about talent in general. It wasn't give me an update on this role. It was, hey, I'm looking at my organizational sprint plan, 2 or 3 weeks from, or 2 or 3 sprints from now, we're actually going to need X, Y, a...”

“I firmly believe in this people sciences becoming more of the foundation of the corporate world.”

“The best HR leaders lead with humility. I think service and clarity. We're perfectly imperfect humans. We are not above any of it. We're just like everybody else.”

“Culture is business strategy. It's not a side project.”

“why don't we ask her? Let it be her choice.”

“being bold, taking risks, leaning into difficult and situations that you've never faced into.”

“Look, I think my two biggest pieces of advice are to be bold as a leader, be ready to step in and find places that you can provide value, whether that's purely in an HR space or even if it steps outside the boundaries of...”

“So my learning was sometimes you delve deep and you've got to learn how to toggle up and down in an organization to truly deliver value.”

“I honestly, I would say people might forget the details, but they'll remember if you were honest, if you listened, and if they felt respected. Hard talks, yield high returns.”

“I treated my personal brand like a leadership legacy. What I do, what do I want people to say when I'm in the room or when I'm not in the room? What do I want people to say about me?”

“I'm passionate about the power of HR to be a business strategy driver, not just about support”

“people are at the core of business success.”

“HR leaders should be culture architects. Everything we design from onboarding to performance to recognition should start with the question, does this reinforce the culture we want to build?”

“Using a fact-based approach to how each of the functions are performing and how that particular leader is performing is your best strategy. Not being afraid of a hard conversation, not worrying about whether you will fin...”

“It's not just about HR or people operations having a seat at the table. It's what people operations brings to the table that is such a game changer.”

“Questions are our best tool. Ask 5 questions before you even begin to make a statement. And then learn how to echo back what you hear from the business and support that need.”

“For me, it's people first. I have worked with and studied people for most of my life. This may be anecdotal, but I have noticed when I prioritize my relationships, it comes back to me tenfold. So really making sure that...”

“The business has to continue running. And sometimes that compassion can take over and cost the business aspects of actions. On the flip side, if you don't exercise that compassion, you're losing on the aspect of the peop...”

“Our top talent was rated as better at listening me, which is not always the case. I started my career on Wall Street, and I'm not sure back in the day some of your best producers would have been the best listeners, right...”

“I think HR is hard, but HR is fun. And I think the key is to have a point of view coming into an organization, but not to be calcified in that point of view.”

“HR should be viewed as a business accelerator and not as a cost center.”

“I work backwards to start linking how the HR function directly impacts those [top business] metrics.”

“I think at the end of the day, it's about listening, seeing what they don't see, and building what they don't know they need.”

“And being a leader first is defining reality, right? That's our role. And so what is really going to change from being a 130-plus-year-old company, private, to a new public company?”

“Well, my parting advice would always be to surround yourself with great experts and to surround yourself with teams that are committed to your mission and that you're all aligned in a connected way around where you're go...”

“if you do what you think is best for them and the company, you rarely lose. In the old days, you may have had a playbook, a black and white, and today that's not the case. You have to think through every situation. Uniqu...”

“I think as a business person first and an HR person second.”

“So I literally would schedule time on my calendar every week to just go walk the floor because otherwise we get, we all get so inundated with meetings that it's really easy for that just to take, hey, I'll someday get to...”

“Go learn your business. And what I mean by that is understand, so at a 30,000-foot level, understand the ecosystem in which your business and your business leaders are operating within.”

“we are here to be a resource for humans”

“There could be a lot of feedback about things people would like to see, but at the end of the day, we have to be business people with a foundation in talent, organization, and culture.”

“But the magic happens when you can pair what specific strategy is going to get the business the key outcomes they're looking for.”

“people are the mission, right? I don't care how critical a mission or objective is, you can't accomplish it without the people. You know, if you don't take care of your people, the mission fails.”

“Don't be afraid to hire people smarter than you and surround yourself with people that fill in your gaps. Because as a whole, a collective whole, you're going to be a much stronger team.”

“But I was always influenced by people that seemed to effortlessly influence other people. And I realized as a young adult very quickly that really that's a key signal of leadership. And you do adapt styles.”

“I'm not the traditional need-the-seat-at-the-table kind of HR professional, I like to be at the table, and I have been for several years. I think it's what you do once you're at the table that really drives the point hom...”

“I think our job as leaders is to learn, right? I think we should seek to learn versus seek to lead, because when we seek to learn, you're showing that you believe that other people can contribute to your ecosystem.”

“I think the role of chief HR officer, chief people officer is all about that. There's not one playbook. Obviously, there's functional areas of expertise, but I think the role is truly about understanding where your busin...”

“First and foremost, it's understanding where the business is and where it's going. It's being part of the business strategy dialogue, being connected to commercial leaders and all the aspects of the operation so you can...”

“Strategy's about trade-offs. It's about the things you choose to do and the things you choose not to do. So every year, my leadership team and then our department, we have no more than 4 major goals, focus areas.”

“My career journey, the way I describe my career is in 3 parts or 3 acts.”

“If I can't tie an initiative to one of the 5 points of value, then it's probably something we may not want to embark on.”

“If there is a CEO that says no to that, to me, that's almost a flag in itself. To me, there's actually mutual benefit in us exploring some really difficult conversations before we even start working together.”

“people think of HR as like policy or like the police, but it's really about people. It's really about performance and it's really about purpose.”

“I always knew I wanted to return to entertainment, so eventually I found my way to UTA, the talent agency, and 8 years later, it has been the most challenging and rewarding role of my career.”

“HR professionals do really have the power to change lives, but you have to be willing to do the work to make that impact.”

“I describe myself as a general manager who just happens to work in the people space.”

“At the end of the day, it's not about just doing HR stuff for HR stuff's sake. It's about what are the things that are going to drive the business.”

“I do consider myself a non-traditional HR leader, even though most of my career has been in HR, I do consider myself a non-traditional leader. I've always been more of a business person first that happens to focus on the...”

“We operate not only as subject matter experts in our own area, but there's like a meta function. For the people team. And that meta function is really to be the steward of the transformation efforts.”

“Any leader that can figure out the balance between positional and personal power will be a successful leader.”

“everything is figureoutable.”

“you never should say you have a problem, and that you should always reframe things to say you have a challenge to be solved.”

“When you align people strategy with financial performance, it moves beyond this nice-to-have thing to say and into something that's just a must.”

“A great HR business partner is a true collaborator. Right? They don't just provide advice and support. They bring solutions that are aligned with business outcomes.”

“I think about myself as a P&L owner. Like, why— I have the largest P&L. I'm responsible for the impact of that, as are my leaders. And so when you take that lens and then you actually understand all the fiscal elements.....”

“I don't really believe you can be a successful HR executive if you're just simply baking the cakes.”

“Remember, first and foremost, our job is to be great business people, to actually help these organizations succeed. And using our creative talents that we bring to the table with HR is super important, but our lens has t...”

“There's a big difference between HR being driven for the business and being driven by the business.”

“I tend to approach HR as a driver of that business outcome, and how do we align the people function as not just the people function, but really the driver of how we're going to achieve the business strategy.”

“In hypergrowth companies and situations, you just can't wait for perfect data. There's no time for that analysis paralysis. You just have to use all your resources and piece it together to find that other 90%.”

“When our function is HR, we have to operate like a business function, not just a support team.”

“The most important data set that I use every day, it's not retention rates. It's not employee engagement. It's the P&L.”

“I think of leadership as an approach to one's life, not a position you hold.”

“I do think that those of us that are privileged and blessed to lead others I hold us to a higher standard because who we are can either cast a ray of sunshine or a dark cloud over the people that we're accountable for or...”

“this is the job I never knew I wanted, and I absolutely love.”

“A big first step for me was aligning with our leadership team because I really needed to understand the goals, the vision, and the priorities for HR at AVI, which was formed in part by a lot of extensive discussions to g...”

“I've always said we're humans first and we're employees second.”

“To thine own self be true. And I don't think that saying to thine own self be true in today's day and age should be a selfish thing. I think it's about... know your values, know what matters to you. Know who you are as a...”

“I believe that it's really in a PE setting, when you have a PE sponsor, you really have to be business-focused, very agile, and able to make decisions to create value rapidly.”

“I don't think private equity is for everybody. It's not, not everyone likes it. It has some risk, and most of the time executives have a job with an expiration date, right?”

“I have been sort of brought up and trained to make decisions based on business need, not HR theory or how it should work.”

“Nabil, you've advocated in the past for HR professionals to move beyond having a seat at the table to setting the table. Can you elaborate on what this mindset shift means and why it's important?”

“I'm curious to get your perspective on how HR professionals can effectively position themselves to automatically be included in those strategic business decisions among those other C-suite level folks.”

“There is really one key strategy, proving HR drives business outcomes. I always speak the language of business. I make sure HR initiatives are tied to ROI and the organization's priorities.”

“Everyone everywhere has a what is in it for me, the WIFM lens. Success might look different depending on where you are, who you are. But the desire for it is very universal.”

“If I'm going to go panic, I'm going to do it away from my computer and my monitor and my team. But I know now I never, I can't present the panic.”

“HR is a function that we get beat up, we get recognized, we're beloved, we're ignored and hated, and all the things at the same time.”

“People drive business success, so whatever you do to help your people, make them feel valued, supported, is the best way to create the best business results. This is absolutely not a nice-to-have. Everybody has to do tha...”

“I often say to people, don't take a role unless you know who your stakeholders are.”

“What I like to say is that it's been an interesting mix of having the opportunity to be a very strategic leader, worked with very talented business leaders and a very talented global HR team. To navigate the role of bein...”

“I think frankly, I've seen them as opportunities versus challenges.”

“Seth recognized and felt that that was important to have that role at the executive table.. And he gave me the opportunity to step into that role, which was incredibly exciting for me. Daunting too, because I didn't come...”

“I think folks in our seats on the HR leadership side have to constantly be thinking ahead. It's— no one's going to come to us. There's never been anyone in my tenure that's knocked on my door and said, hey, tell me about...”

“My career journey did not start in HR or people and culture. My career journey started in sales. It took me into operations through leading channel, and then I've been focused on people and culture or effectiveness in so...”

“The partnership and the relationship between the CEO and the people leader is critical. And in order for real success, I think, to be accomplished from an employee-first perspective, you need that alignment between the t...”

“I am head over heels, a very traditional HR person. After a brief stint in hospitality, I went back to school for a master's degree in HR, thinking it was very black and white and rule following. About 10 years ago, I mo...”

“We're a powerhouse of a value-add at a fraction of the time and a fraction of the cost.”

“You have 4 things you need to do for me. And if you can do those 4 things, you can do your HR job. Know the people, know the business, never let me get surprised. And by the way, you have to be able to run this plant.”

“Don't change your title to try and change the perception of your function. Don't change your title to business partner or anything like that to try and change the impression of your— of the function in your group, becaus...”

“Every program we talk— every program that we talk about, I ensure that I create that line of sight back to a business objective.”

“I mean, there is one of the things that creates credibility, but also, you know, trust is the gap between what you say and what you do.”

“And I basically said to him, you, you and I are gonna be best friends because in order to build a talent strategy, in order for me to build the HR functional strategy, I need to understand what the business strategy is.”

“A, demonstrate learning agility. Two, these are two factors that I think if you're curious about the business, if you're curious about individuals, and you think from a commercial mindset, all of those I think are recipe...”

“What happens is, I think all of us, and usually the people team is the most understaffed department within the organization, don't make this a nice to have. I think this needs to be at the forefront.”

“Look, what you're missing is control. You're driven by somebody else's agenda... you need to find a way to actually make decisions yourself, even if it means that you just pretend to make decisions.”

“HR folks are business leaders first, and then of course they specialize maybe in HR.”

“The best descriptor for me is a windy path, not a clear road or clear career progression.”

“You don't wanna be an HR persona. You wanna be yourself and really try your best to understand the business.”

“I wish I had known that nobody has it all figured out, and we're all doing our best every day to just make smart decisions, show up as competent and confident as we can, even if inside we don't feel like that necessarily...”

“Leadership manifests itself in one-to-one conversations.”

“I'm a strong believer of high-performing teams, and sometimes as a leader you, you might feel like you're alone or you're stuck. And I think as you look at your direct team and as you look at your co-team...how can you p...”

“I mean, I think every executive executive needs to be hands-on and roll up their sleeves and get involved in things that are not necessarily quote-unquote, you know, strategic. So, things like when you're in HR, you alwa...”

“This type of work as the integrity holder, the truth-sayer, the truth-setter, and the business leader for our business, this role is not for the faint of heart.”

“HR is a revenue function, believe it or not. And the way to have people understand that they're a revenue function is by attaching your goals, the design of your team towards outcomes for the business.”

“I fell in love with human resources about 2 decades ago. I started my craft 20 years ago... I love— I wake up. And just to think about things that I can solve in human resources. I really love what I do.”

“My advice would be slow down enough to be intentional. I'm going to repeat that. I love to repeat things so that it lands with people. Slow down enough to be intentional.”

“I think it comes down to clearly defined business objectives. So not improving things just for the sake of doing so, but rather ensuring that it aligns with the business strategy.”

“It's probably centering around just thinking more like a business leader. I think this is naturally, or maybe not naturally, but intentionally kind of shifting over time where we are not kind of separating out the people...”

“My advice would be to double down your knowledge of AI and to be part of the leading leadership team that's going to lead how we think about AI into the future, whether that be within the broader workforce or within your...”

“The more senior you become in the organization, the less about you it becomes. And the more you become a servant to the people, the organization, the mission.”

“Don't design the things that you know have worked somewhere else. Solve problems from root causes and design from first principles. And don't measure yourself based on vanity metrics. Measure yourself based on business o...”

“Stop asking for a seat at the table. Stop asking for permission to touch the business problems and the innards of business processes and organizational development. Find a real business problem that has a people or proce...”

“And making sure that HR is well aligned with those 3 executives has been a huge benefit because they can sort of carry the water for us, right? They can ask all the questions or say, hey, I'm also being inundated with th...”

“I would say, and I'm probably beating the same drum of many other HR professionals, but really be a business partner first. You need to learn the business well. You need to be able to speak the business language fluently...”

“If we show up consistently as credible and resilient partners who shape strategy, not just execute it, HR and rewards won't be asking for a seat at the table. We'll be designing the top table itself.”

“My career has always been centered around helping people build.”

“I loved the fact that as I was sitting in the room, I'm seeing all these things happen and people running around with their hair on fire and realizing, you know, this isn't the end of the world. This is not life and deat...”

“And I think, I think a lot of it, just having that intestinal fortitude and courage to say the world's not going to end. We'll figure it out.”

“But the ability to humbly understand the business around you, understand the room is smarter than the individual sometimes... And then make a decision, be decisive, and then accept the consequences of that decision.”

“I believe that I pursued it without letting up. Like I was not going to back down from saying this is the right way and I will be a district of staff and. Keep all our team members safe.”

“It's about first principles, which is breaking everything down to the most simple and fundamental form and then working your way back up from, from that standpoint.”

“If I'm not learning, I'm not leading, right? Learning is the new leading in my point of view.”

“is it about leaving a legacy or stewarding a position, a role, so it's better, you've left it in a better state than what you received it in?”

“When you start a business, the worst thing you can do is go slow... But when you're a lot of times on a corporate role, ... the safest thing you can do is go slow.”

“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 certai...”

“See yourselves as stewards always. See yourselves as, I'm here to help this organization along. I'm here to help the team along.”

“I would love for my legacy to be to always bring the person into those technologies. Technology conversations and to be, you know, thought of as, as sort of someone who was always sort of empathetic to that perspective o...”

“everything in life is about people.”

“I would say don't chase your pets. Chase your passions. I feel sometimes we get dazzled by the new shiny ball that comes into, into view, and we kind of sometimes lose sight of what's really important to our organization...”

“I don't even have Slack notifications enabled on my phone. He told me to do that. So if your CEO tells you to do it, that's what you do, right?”

“Some advisement would be making sure that you, I say, ruthlessly prioritize that what you are working on within the constructs of those deals, that that, you know, the focused energies that you have are really on the lev...”

“I also would say know when to say, I don't know. I'd said that a lot during the process. I don't know. We're going to have to be resourceful. We're going to get the best resources. I'm going to go find the information.”

“this is a real moment for HR. We are in the driving seat and really at the forefront of innovation and change. And I think the companies need us in ways they haven't Advice to everybody is find ways to be relevant, lean...”

“I would say always be curious and willing to learn because to be able to participate in some of the financial conversations or understand your personas or the needs of your different organizations, you're going to have t...”

“Our CEO also made a commitment to increase transparency in how we communicate. He continues to facilitate a monthly company-wide meeting where he reviews our financial and production metrics. And shares his vision and ou...”

“One thing that I've learned as I've worked in HR is that it's important to be comfortable in your own skin. And what I mean by that is that in any other department or role you may have had in the past, it was okay to bec...”

“if we don't have executive buy-in, that can be a failure point.”

“how do I show that the HR function is a strategic partner to our business? Because we're bringing these things forward and ready to go to tackle them and make sure that we're placing the organization in a good place for...”

“I think that it's really important to stay very open to other perspectives. I think what I've tried to do is have a good foundation myself, but have people around me who I can learn from. Also being very open, I would sa...”

“I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the network of people that I have encountered, that I've worked with, that have believed in me and that have been willing to take my call.”

“So based on what I learned, I advised business leaders what skills are most critical, and then in turn, where we should prioritize our talent searches. So through that, I demonstrated how to be proactive, business-driven...”

“It is all— it all cannot be done without starting with the foundations of not being the most HR expert in the world, but truly intimately understanding the business and the people.”

“Be bold. Be that change. Either follow the change that others have made or be that shaper and uplift others. If you don't, why be here?”

“It's about getting really curious, and getting really curious is about asking really good questions.”

“The real thing is the mantra of building the plane while flying it is what I really hold on to. And the reason that's important to me is because that there's an understanding there that everything doesn't have to be perf...”

“If as HR you don't adapt to this and you don't understand, you can bring any kind and you can define any kind of HR strategy, you will miss your initial target. So be close to the business.”

“If you don't understand people, you don't understand business.”

“I think it's important as you progress throughout your career, whether it's at your jobs or whether it's in an HR community or local chapter, it's important to have good people around you. When you have a strong team, wh...”

“I do ask for a seat at the table. So I want to know what's going on within the organization more than just, oh, what positions do you need? I'd like to be proactive in whatever is being done.”

“People will walk through fire for you if they believe you genuinely care and that you show up in key moments.”

“It's the only factor that we have 100% control over as leaders is the culture that we foster.”

“making sure that you're part of the conversation, building relationships with leaders outside of your HR line, and also making sure that you're not afraid to put yourself out there. If you have a thought, you have an ide...”

“I self-describe sometimes as a people person that was raised in the business. Because I actually didn't get into HR and people until about 2016. Before that, I was kind of on the program management and finance side of th...”

“First, the first thing you need to have is a seat at the table in order to influence and do that.”

“You've gotta be a business person first and foremost, and an HR leader second.”

“I like to think of myself as an HR professional with a business operating background.”

“Don't wait for permission to start leading. Maybe that's more specific. Just pay more attention.”

“We don't manufacture widgets at 1Password. We are a people-led business... I think if you understand the business and then you're able to make those connections and connect the dots from the HR perspective, really able t...”

“Ultimately, our role in HR is to create values for shareholders by building a high-performance organization. So essentially create values— value for your employees, to serve the customer, and ultimately create value for...”

“Much less focused on compliance. We all know what we've got to do, and we, you generally stick that. That's one of those basics in our sport. But the need though is for a higher level of strategic alignment.”

“personal values I think is extremely important. And as a leader, a number of years ago, I did an exercise where I said, Donovan, what are your personal values?”

“we also have to think like the operators and we have to drive results through talent, culture, and organizational capability.”

“HR needs to know the business better than anyone at the table. We've been finally invited to the table, but we need to understand that business better than anyone.”

“I believe that some people, especially in our world, in the HR world, forget that influence is a muscle that you continue to have to develop. And if you want to continue to be considered as a very strong business partner...”

“Integrity governs what we do, first of all, with our employees, but also with our clients, partners, colleagues.”

“HR builds credibility and influence in knowing the business. If you just know HR stuff, people are less likely to listen. But when you can know and talk the business strategy, and you can connect the talent and the peopl...”

“Organizations are transforming. And my parting advice is HR, step outside the box of HR and see yourselves having that influence into your business strategies in a powerful way. But understanding what the business strate...”

“HR is really the bridge between business goals and employee protections, right?”

“don't be afraid to be the person in the room who speaks up, who asks the question and seeks to know why.”

“It'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 and to demonstrate that leadership hasn't vacated the building.”

“First, find those opportunities to lean in to solve business problems. When you get busy, our nature is, ooh, I should think that's not my job, that's not in my lane, that's somebody else's concern. And I guarantee you t...”

“What I would say is the best skill that you can develop actually as an HR professional is to network yourself with other professionals that are either at or above your level.”

“Be curious. Be curious about the business. You don't need to ask permission to talk with folks and learn about what they do and how the business works.”

“How can you grow my business if you don't know my business?”

“No organization has ever achieved strategic supremacy. No organization has ever obtained world-class status or created disruptive innovation without the sophistication of a highly sophisticated HR department.”

“Every morning when you get up in the morning, you look in the mirror, you have to ask yourself, is today today? ... Is today the day you quit? Because the HR professional always have to have that in mind.”

“First of all, I'd say it's getting out of your own way.”

“HR is never just about people. It's about how people drive business. It's a mix of strategy, psychology, finance, and sometimes even crisis management with a little bit of talk therapy thrown in.”

“I believe strongly that HR executives, chief HR officers need to make the CFO their BFS.”

“How is what we are doing and how is what I'm going to do driving the overall engagement and development of the employee population and prospering the employee? And then conversely, how is it actually impacting the bottom...”

“The more time you spend with the business, sitting with the business as opposed to with HR and being in the field... the more that you will not only develop credibility, but you will also develop a strong understanding o...”

“Keeping your eye on the long term and staying focused on what it is you're trying to do and what it is you're trying to accomplish, but along the way, taking the time to stop to look back and to celebrate and recognize t...”

“Yeah. So my career journey is fairly typical in some ways. I joined Unilever and worked there for, in progressing roles for 25+ years... I just had just a privilege to work with one of the most progressive thinking compa...”

“I think the question for us is not the long-term people strategies. It's showing that those long-term people strategies are going to increase the value of the home.”

“I bucked the trend in HR, which I like to think that's what it is because I got so much advice through my career that you need to specialize... And I never did that. So I am a generalist.”

“We prioritize wellness because it's our birthright as a citizen of humanity. We don't do wellness so that we can work harder or work better, and that may end up happening... but it's not the true answer to why.”

“Many leaders especially know how to manage people, not work. So they would think that if they saw somebody sitting at their desk and they could watch them and just observe them or knew where they were physically, it mean...”

“One of the things that I spend a lot of time doing is thinking about our people strategy and how I align that with our business strategy.”

“I would encourage leaders out there to not only invest in the growth and scaling of the business, but the growth and scaling of your department. And so to think inclusively about the business as it relates to the HR func...”

“The best HR leaders are deeply embedded in their businesses. They understand the business strategy, they understand what their leaders are going after, and can really be a true partner and come out with the right kind of...”

“HR owns a seat at the table when HR becomes part of the business and speaks the business. When we are just payroll or benefit or the policy wonks in the room, I think that's when we lose our seat.”

“the HR function needs to be less political. It is right now largely a political function. And functions that don't deal with revenue, don't deal with technology or products, and don't have a lot of empirical basis tends...”

“I think we need to fix the trust issue between management and employees. If we don't, we'll see a resurgence of unions, especially within democratic nations.”

“you can't be good in this role if you don't understand all the other levers of how the business works.”

“For HR people, the key thing is to be a business person first. Know your financials cold. Understand how to read the financial statements and how any programs that you're running will affect the financials.”

“Well, I think the importance is it's very important to have both. So I like to start actually with a question and then go to the data and then confirm it or let additional questions arise by having the human element ther...”

“I look at it as a business and we are part of the business. We help the business function better, hopefully. We're a cost center.”

“But the harder roles or the harder decisions really are the soft ones.”

“Successful HR cannot operate in a silo. I think people have a misconception of what HR is sometimes, and I think just due to the innate nature of, of the way things go, it's our job as HR professionals for folks to see o...”

“I'm a true firm believer that HR professionals have to move beyond that compliance-based focused work and become strategic advisors, business partners, and have that business mindset first.”

“Our CEO actually has a statement that is, if you take care of the employees, they'll take care of the customer and the company.”

“So my advice is know your population, know your programs and policy, become educated yourself, understand the financials and how it all ties together for your organization, and make sure that you're talking to your busin...”

“One of the things that you learn is once the round is out of the tube, you don't go back. You can't see it. And so many of us spend our times second-guessing our decisions... Learn from it, move on.”

“I'm saying embrace change. It's going to happen anyway. If you're going to have it happen, don't let it happen to you.”

“I think it's really important to invest in employee wellness and benefits... it demonstrates a company's core values when you take care of the people. You're, you know, walking the walk, not just talking the talk.”

“I think we are the heartbeat of a company where we have the ability to transform an organization more than almost any other team in a company.”

“Partnering with teams in the field, whether that's your, you know, your distribution centers or your hospitals. For me, it's my hospitals. And then two, engaging my PSDs through lunch and learns, training sessions, and o...”

“we are in the function of HR, but we are business people. So we need to think and talk to the business in terms of business need.”

“The power of hearing from senior leaders is game-changing, right? Because there is a perception of senior leaders, you have to be you know, always in check and not necessarily show vulnerability, but there's so much powe...”

“One of the things I encourage people who want to, you know, up and coming CHROs, and to be honest, current CHROs, if you're not out there seeing the customer, go see the customer with a salesperson.”

“And so having a network of support of other HR leaders, other business leaders outside of your company becomes really important. A place to go and go, have any of you seen this or have any of you dealt with that?”

“It's important for all HR professionals to really look at themselves as business professionals that specialize in human resources.”

“You are the key to the lock.”

“You can't fake a genuine focus on culture. You just can't fake it. People can read through that. They're smart.”

“Thankfully, here at ThriveWorks, our CEO and our CFO see the correlation between employee well-being and company performance. So as long as I can continue to prove the ROI for some of the initiatives that we want to impl...”

“Certainly you have to be flexible... having flexibility, or as I like to think about, freedom in a framework. I think as an HR leader, you have to have a framework for how you do what you do, when you do it, et cetera, b...”

“I usually start by saying that, you know, I had about 20 years of experience. My first 13 years had been in a very large company... And that was all about scale, how to build organizations with lots of robust processes a...”

“So do less, but do well. So, you know, some of the things which are on these lines that work for me, and I'm pretty sure these are like fundamentals, and if people do these, follow these principles, I think, yeah, they'l...”

“Probably the most pivotal experience of my career was when I was hired into Apple to help to create the special project group, the one that was responsible for the iPod, a bunch of accessories, but ultimately the iPhone,...”

“I think today in heading into the future, I think that we have to look at ourselves, right, in HR leadership as strategic members of the business organization. Our impact is not necessarily limited to hiring and, you kno...”

“I'm not the typical HR guy. So, and because I don't have this like a typical HR career, so I, I have been working in several different industries, uh, different kind of business and, but also different kind of functions.”

“I think good advice would be we have two ears and one mouth. So it's an old proverb that we need to listen much more, need to pay attention to details and anticipate.”

“If you are not investing in training right now, your employees are not learning. And if you're not growing, you're dying.”

“I would like the community, all of us, to take on more risk. We're not a control function.”

“And communication is super key to making sure that great ideas are not only funneled down to the, to the ranks, all the way to the frontline folks, but also with the same passion, the same understanding, the same, again,...”

“I thoroughly believe one of the greatest things that HR does is it solves problems for people so that they can actually focus on the work they were hired to do.”

“What could be overhyped is perks over purpose. I think employees want financial security, they want growth, they want belonging.”

“I actually fell into human resources, and I do mean that literally fell into human resources.”

“Human resources is a strategic partner. We have to make room for ourselves at the various tables in order to ensure that we're able to deliver for our internal and external customers and demonstrate the value that our te...”

“I really deliberately and intentionally chose to use my voice. I disagreed with the penalty that was being imposed after the outcome of an investigation. I actually thought it was way too light for what had actually happ...”

“balance and know when to be a disruptor and when to be a diplomat. And I think knowing those two things and having both skills, seeing when there's an opportunity to disrupt something, whether it be because of technology...”

“I do anthropology every day, every day in this job.”

“I think first and foremost is make besties with your finance people because if you don't understand how you make money, it's really difficult to support the team because where the money goes, the energy flows.”

“I'd say kick the ribs.”

“Eventually found my way to agency recruiting, did that for close to a decade before finding my way out west in tech. And since then, I have been kind of straddling the line between recruiting and people and eventually to...”

“I feel very fortunate that I've always known that HR is my jam. I've been in it since high school.”

“balancing the people side of HR with the business impact isn't an either/or. So, done well, I think they're deeply connected.”

“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...”

“I'm helping leaders just connect those dots. So that we're not putting a Band-Aid on one thing and then ripping the Band-Aid off somewhere else, that we're really being thoughtful and holistic.”

“Most of the time in my career, it's been in a tough environment that I had to inspire great leadership. And sometimes being in the trenches together can do that.”

“My career journey is— it did not start in HR, it started in marketing... essentially you're marketing to your employees.”

“Employee wellbeing is not a perk. It's a strategy for performance and sustainability.”

“And so, you know, my thought would be if you can, if you can release that presumption of control, you can become more adaptable and more effective at dealing with the inevitable waves that you're going to be experiencing...”

“To be effective, you have to understand the business, even from the business side, from financial acumen to operations. Because if you don't understand what the employee or the business leaders are doing, you can't be an...”

“I've learned to keep an open mind in problem solving and not anchoring to what I've seen work in the past. And I really found that this made all the difference in coming up with the best possible recruitment solution for...”

“One thing I've learned is when you get human resources people together, everybody has a different opinion. And someone asked a question and all 5 of us had a different take on it.”

“I call myself a bit of an accidental HR person... I really maintained first and foremost a strong interest in business, whatever the focus of that business was, growing it, helping to cultivate it. I happen to be doing t...”

“I've really been led by where technology is going to best change consumer behavior, and that's always motivated me throughout my career.”

“I think the biggest thing now for HR leaders today is to lead with empathy, but backed by data.”

“You've gotta know the business. You have to learn what drives your company's flywheel deeply. So when you connect with business leaders, it's not just an opportunity to learn more about the people priorities and how peop...”

“As the world gets inevitably more and more chaotic, your people will search for stability and more clarity at work, which isn't something we can ever guarantee, but it is definitely a reality of the year that is happenin...”

“HR isn't just about policies and administrative work... but it was about that aspect of solving business problems through people.”

“The most important thing... is just that trust and credibility that you're building with your leaders. So first, again, understanding the business so that you truly can speak the language of the business.”

“Coming to the table with solutions, not problems, like I just mentioned on my last, you know, last answer. I think building relationships and truly understanding what motivates not only those that you're working with, wh...”

“I would say always stay curious and don't shy away from bringing your unique background into your work. Whether it's engineering, finance, or another field, those skills can add tremendous value to HR. Also, use data, se...”

“The biggest thing is that idea of changing from reactive to proactive. That's ultimately where any HR leader, any leader, any person in an organization is going to have the biggest effect.”

“I think my advice as somebody who's been in HR for 37 years is not to talk about HR... nearly every conversation I have throughout the day, particularly with business leaders, is about the business.”

“So I would say that one of the most important things that, that you can do as an HR professional is to— I call it standing your ground.”

“Definitely not working in a silo and It's very easy to do that in HR, no matter what team you're on, especially in total rewards.”

“The adage of like HR stands for Hardly Recognized kind of went out the window. It was like, wow, like this happened. All this work that I was so in the trench just doing the thing that I hadn't taken the time to turn aro...”

“Always finish the back of the drawer... The back of the drawer is as important as the front, even though no one's going to see it. You as the artist, as the carpenter, as an employer, as an HR leader, will know that you...”

“We need to stop looking at people as problems to solve. We need to look at people really as, or really steward them as potentials to unlock. Talent does not ever follow a template. I always say this, it follows the truth...”

“I think that it's really important for all of our people leaders to have this growth mindset that we're not necessarily in this bucket of quote unquote HR, which traditionally has had compliance and really have that grow...”

“I would probably describe it now that I look back at it decades later as opportunistic and adaptable.”

“Do the classics well and consistently, but always have an open mind and be benchmarking what's going on around you.”

“to be a changemaker is to always feel like you're pushing water uphill. Status quos and old mindsets and processes and programs that don't work anymore are really hard to change. So just be mindful that you're signing up...”

“I started out in compliance. So I was a compliance attorney for several years, ultimately becoming the chief compliance officer for Tesla. And then during that time, I was promoted, voluntold, volunteered to lead people.”

“Aligning the people and the business strategy. You know, this is one of the areas that I'm the most passionate about.”

“The best way to have a conversation with a business leader about the training you're going to do for her or his business is to talk about the business outcomes. You start there. You don't start with the training and, oh,...”

“I realized numbers are numbers, but people are much more fun, and I want to focus on the people function.”

“For me, the biggest challenge was converting from kind of that individual contributor being the expert in the room to taking a step back and saying, how do I give this person the opportunity to shine? So, So understandin...”

“I'm going to quote Thanos from The Avengers here. It's all about balance, right? You have to be able to walk that line and understand when to use a velvet glove and an iron fist.”

“But the fact that you feel something is a good thing. And if you ever feel like you get to a point in your career where you feel nothing, then you've become a monster. Then you should stop.”

“between having the objectives and key result clarity and using a realm of guiding principles to help us have a decision-making framework, we at least can, you know, pause for a moment, think about, you know, the impact o...”

“I'm not afraid to say the hard thing in a meeting, and sometimes that's gotten me in trouble. I had a first job where I would just be like, just tell them to do that. And I got called abrasive, but I was just being very...”