Elaine Page
Chief People Officer
TaxJar
Episode 256
From Cost Center to Profit Driver: HR's Path to Strategic Business Impact
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleMarch 26, 2025 · 15:15
Thesis
“HR leaders must deeply integrate people strategy with business outcomes, especially financial performance, by developing strong business acumen and fostering proactive, solution-oriented HR partnerships that drive measurable value.”
Show notes
Elaine Page once ran a multimillion-dollar P&L. It fundamentally changed how she does HR — and she thinks every serious HR leader should do the same, or something close to it.
With a career spanning DaVita, PepsiCo, Dun & Bradstreet, Northwell Health, Stripe, and TaxJar, Elaine has developed a precise thesis about what separates good HR from transformative HR: financial fluency. Not familiarity — fluency. Understanding how the company makes money, what drives cost, where margin lives, and how every people decision ripples through the P&L. When HR leaders speak that language, people strategy stops being a "nice-to-have" and becomes a "must." Her experience as a GM — owning revenue and operations, not just supporting the people who do — gave her a vantage point that reshaped everything from how she thinks about performance management to how she evaluates HR business partner effectiveness.
Her standard for HR business partners is high and specific: not advisors, not policy consultants, but true collaborators who bring solutions aligned with business outcomes. The difference between effective and ineffective HRBPs, she argues, is the ability to add measurable value — not just to be present in the room. Her performance management philosophy is equally direct: clarity is everything, and once-a-year evaluations are an artifact of a different era. Continuous conversations, quarterly calibrations, and real-time feedback are the infrastructure of high-performing teams.
What you'll learn:
- Why running a P&L transformed Elaine's view of HR — and what she'd recommend for HR leaders who haven't done it
- How to align people strategy with financial performance to move HR from optional to essential
- The step-by-step approach to developing genuine business acumen as an HR professional
- What separates a truly effective HR business partner from a transactional one
- Why annual performance reviews are insufficient — and what continuous performance management actually looks like
- How proactively investing in difficult workplace relationships becomes a long-term career advantage
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What you'll take away
- 1HR leaders must understand the financial impact of every people decision, aligning people strategy with financial performance to move HR from a 'nice-to-have' to a 'must-have'.
- 2Performance management should be continuous and real-time, involving ongoing conversations and quarterly leadership calibrations, rather than relying solely on annual evaluations.
- 3HR professionals need to proactively develop business acumen by immersing themselves in company financials, revenue drivers, cost structures, and engaging in cross-functional collaboration, even by taking on operational projects.
- 4Great HR business partners are true collaborators who bring solutions aligned with business outcomes, understanding the business strategy and proactively contributing to company goals, moving beyond transactional support.
- 5Building strong, trusting relationships across the organization is paramount for collaboration, influence, and driving success; proactively addressing challenging relationships can be a career game-changer.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Business success is not just about profits and margins; it is fundamentally about people, and the misconception that the two are separate disconnects HR from crucial business drivers.
In Elaine's words
“everything is figureoutable.”
This quote encapsulates a resilient and problem-solving mindset essential for effective leadership in any role.
“you never should say you have a problem, and that you should always reframe things to say you have a challenge to be solved.”
It highlights a powerful psychological shift in approaching obstacles, fostering a proactive and solution-oriented culture.
“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.”
This statement articulates the core argument for HR's strategic importance and its direct link to business success.
“Clarity is everything to the team, and it's not enough to simply evaluate performance once a year.”
It emphasizes the critical need for continuous, transparent communication and feedback in performance management for sustained engagement and accountability.
“HR pros, you have to understand how your company makes money. I mean, really understand it.”
This is a direct and actionable call for HR professionals to develop deep business acumen, crucial for strategic partnership.
“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.”
This defines the critical differentiator of an effective HR business partner, focusing on measurable value and strategic alignment.
The problems this episode addresses
- •HR leaders often focus solely on the 'people side' (talent, culture, retention) without fully grasping the financial implications of their decisions, hindering strategic impact.
- •A lack of deep integration between HR initiatives and overall business objectives can make HR appear transactional or a 'nice-to-have' rather than a critical business driver.
- •Outdated annual performance review cycles fail to provide timely, actionable feedback, leading to disengaged employees and missed opportunities for course correction.
- •HR professionals sometimes operate in isolation, lacking a comprehensive understanding of business operations, revenue drivers, and financial metrics.
- •Ineffective HR business partnerships can become bottlenecks for the business when they are not proactive, solution-oriented, or deeply aligned with business needs.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Dave Zirin shares a little bit about his career journey
The Secret to Your Career Journey
Elena transitioned from HR leadership to running a P&L
Having Run a P&L
Being a GM has transformed your view of HR practices, business partnerships
GM on HR and Business Partners
Elaine says HR professionals need to develop business acumen
Six Steps to Develop Business Acumen
What do you think makes a great HR business partner and an ineffective one
What Makes a Great HR Business Partner?
Most common misconceptions HR professionals have about running a business are misconceptions
What are the most common misconceptions HR professionals have about running a business
Building strong, trusting relationships across your organization will pay off in the long run
The Power of Relationships
Elaine, thanks so much for joining us on Built by People podcast
Elaine on Being Built by People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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