Tina Gupta
SVP, Head of Talent Management
New York Life Insurance
Episode 90
HR's New Mandate: Driving Talent Transformation with AI & Soft Skills
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJuly 28, 2025 · 12:09
Thesis
“HR is at a critical juncture, empowered by AI and constant change, to proactively drive talent transformation by focusing on data-informed practices, fostering adaptable workforces, and elevating 'softer skills' as indispensable capabilities for future success.”
Show notes
New York Life has been around for 180 years. Its CEO recently sent a company-wide memo with one directive: go from 12,000 employees to 12,000 innovators. The talent leader responsible for making that happen is Tina Gupta — and she's not waiting for the rest of the organization to catch up to HR.
As SVP and Head of Talent Management, Tina co-leads the company's "Ignite AI" work stream, overseeing the rollout of ChatGPT and Copilot to every employee, the deployment of Eightfold AI as a career hub, and a custom internal GPT that her team built to help leaders write better performance reviews. That last one alone is a signal of how she thinks: don't talk about making HR processes easier, build the tool that actually does it and hand it to managers.
Her bigger argument is about where HR sits right now: at the forefront of organizational change, not behind it. Change is no longer episodic — it's the permanent condition. Which means the skills HR used to treat as "soft" — adaptability, learning agility, resilience — are the most critical capabilities to hire and develop for the next decade. Her advice to HR professionals: lean in heavily, find ways to be indispensable, and be a lifelong learner. This is HR's moment.
- How New York Life deployed AI to all 12,000 employees — and what the CEO's "12,000 innovators" mandate means in practice
- The custom GPT Tina's team built to transform performance review writing for managers
- How Eightfold AI is powering a data-informed career hub for internal talent mobility
- Why "softer skills" like adaptability and learning agility are now no-regrets hiring criteria
- How a 180-year-old company balances legacy culture with the pace of innovation
This episode is brought to you by Previ — an employer network that saves employees thousands on the necessities they already pay for, at no cost to the company.
What you'll take away
- 1Proactively adopt AI tools across the organization, as New York Life has done with ChatGPT and Copilot for all employees, emphasizing a '12,000 innovators' mindset.
- 2Leverage AI to streamline historically cumbersome HR processes, such as performance management (e.g., custom GPT for writing reviews) and engagement survey analysis.
- 3Prioritize building a robust, data-informed talent strategy by consolidating diverse employee data points, focusing on current skills, past experiences, and future aspirations to inform internal growth and external hiring.
- 4Balance maintaining a strong legacy culture with driving innovation by showcasing early wins, implementing structured change management practices, and celebrating employees' adoption of new skills like AI.
- 5Recognize that 'softer skills' like adaptability, resilience, and learning agility are becoming 'no regrets' capabilities, essential for navigating continuous change in the next 2-3 years.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Challenges the traditional view of change as episodic, stating 'change is no longer a point in time, it's no longer episodic, it's happening all the time.'
- •Argues that 'softer skills' are now more critical than ever, shifting from being less teachable to becoming 'no regrets things' that organizations must prioritize in hiring and development.
- •Positions HR as being 'in the driving seat' and 'at the forefront of innovation and change,' rather than a support function, urging HR professionals to lean in and make themselves indispensable.
In Tina's words
“my passion was not necessarily about bringing people into a company. It was really about how we help people grow, develop, and become and perform at their best when they're in a role.”
This quote highlights her shift from talent acquisition to a focus on internal employee development and growth.
“we're leaning in really proactively to AI. We have ChatGPT and Copilot for every single employee. We are really, really pushing the use. In fact, our CEO recently sent a memo about becoming, you know, from 12,000 employees to 12,000 innovators.”
This showcases a strong, top-down commitment to AI adoption and innovation across the entire organization.
“One of the leaders in my team built a GPT, which is really to help our leaders use— not everyone was going into ChatGPT to help write their reviews anyway, but this was the— I front-loaded with all of our insights, the way that we talk about performance, our models., and helping our leaders to write their media performance reviews.”
This provides a concrete, innovative example of how AI is being used to solve a common HR pain point.
“my passion is really about having data-informed talent practices. So using data with everything that we do, and when we think about some of the decisions we make about hiring or promotion, or do we retain who's leaving, when we think about investments in learning, all of those areas.”
This emphasizes the foundational role of data in all strategic talent decisions, a core principle of modern HR.
“change is no longer a point in time, it's no longer episodic, it's happening all the time. So, learning about resilience and adaptability and some of those skills that were less, you know, teachable in a traditional sense.”
This reframes the nature of change in the modern workforce and highlights the increasing importance of continuous adaptability.
“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 in really heavily, be a lifelong learner.”
This serves as a powerful call to action for HR professionals to embrace their strategic role in driving organizational success amidst rapid transformation.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Cumbersome and time-consuming performance management processes that require significant effort from leaders.
- •Difficulty in quickly analyzing large datasets from engagement surveys to extract meaningful insights.
- •Disruption in the insurance industry driven by evolving customer needs for speed and access, and agents desiring seamless 'Amazon-effect' systems.
- •Lack of consistent and detailed employee data across the organization to inform strategic workforce planning and career development.
- •Challenge for established organizations to maintain a strong legacy culture while simultaneously fostering new perspectives and driving innovation and change.
- •The need for employees and leaders to develop new skills quickly, especially in the face of AI, when traditional learning approaches may be insufficient.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
You work as the head of talent management at New York Life
WSJD Live: The Journey of Talent Management
New York Life is investing in AI to prepare its workforce for future challenges
How New York Life Is Preparing Its Talent for the Future
Tina, can you share some specific examples of how you're integrating AI into talent management processes
Examples of How Talent Management is Integrating AI
New York Life is using data to help manage its workforce and forecast future needs
New York Life's Talent Planning
What do organizations and individuals need to develop within the workforce over the next years
What Do You Need to Develop in the Next 5 to 10 Years
Tina: This is a real moment for HR. We are in the driving seat
In the Elevator With Tina Flannery
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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