Jill Larsen
Chief People Officer
Synopsys Inc
Episode 263
HR's New Era: Strategic Operators Drive Outcomes with AI Pragmatism
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleMarch 24, 2025 · 17:50
Thesis
“HR leaders must embrace disruption and act as data-driven, strategic operators with a P&L mindset to drive business outcomes, especially by pragmatically leveraging technology like AI and focusing on cultural integration during significant organizational changes.”
Show notes
Synopsys is navigating one of the largest tech acquisitions in history. Jill Larsen, as CPO, is doing it while simultaneously managing a 40-year-old HR infrastructure that was never designed for the speed or scale the business now demands. She has strong opinions about how to handle both.
On M&A: the standard HR playbook is to absorb and standardize. Jill's approach is different. When integrating a major acquisition, she worked to incorporate elements of the acquired company's values and identity into the combined entity — so those employees could see their fingerprints in the new organization, not just feel absorbed by it. It's a retention and engagement decision, not just a cultural nicety. On leadership transitions more broadly, her framework is equally deliberate: overcommunicate, be explicitly respectful of what's changing, and anchor the organization in what will stay the same. People can handle change when they're not surprised by it.
Her AI perspective is notably unromantic. Yes, AI will reshape HR. But it requires serious compute infrastructure, high-quality data foundations, and significant capital. The organizations that will actually benefit are the ones doing the foundational work first — understanding their data, identifying high-impact applications, and making hard trade-offs. Her P&L owner framing is perhaps her sharpest contribution: "I have the largest P&L. I'm responsible for the impact of that." When you lead from that perspective, every people investment has a business case, and every conversation with the C-suite starts from shared ground.
What you'll learn:
- How to navigate CEO and founder succession in a way that minimizes employee uncertainty
- M&A cultural integration: why incorporating the acquired company's values into the new entity drives retention
- The honest prerequisites for AI adoption in HR — data infrastructure, compute costs, and trade-offs
- A product-thinking approach to modernizing legacy HR systems in large established organizations
- Why HR leaders should think of themselves as P&L owners — and what changes when they do
- Lessons from IPO preparation and public board experience on aligning HR strategy with business outcomes
This episode is in partnership with Transform. Check out their community here.
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What you'll take away
- 1During leadership transitions, prioritize respect, transparent overcommunication, and reinforcement of core values and culture to provide stability and address employee uncertainty.
- 2When facing significant mergers, actively work to incorporate elements of the acquired company's values into the combined entity and adopt a pragmatic, phased approach to HR systems and processes to ensure smooth cultural integration and minimize disruption.
- 3For effective AI adoption in HR, leaders must first educate their teams on what AI is, understand existing data infrastructure, and identify high-impact, experience-enhancing applications while being realistic about costs and trade-offs.
- 4Modernizing established organizations requires a 'product approach' driven by listening to employee experiences and workarounds, involving key stakeholders in decision-making, and securing quick wins to build momentum and facilitate change management.
- 5HR leaders should cultivate a P&L owner's mindset, understanding the fiscal impact of people investments and speaking the language of business strategy to elevate credibility and drive strategic outcomes.
What most organizations get wrong
- •AI is expensive. It requires a lot of compute... you just have to understand some of those implications as much as we all want to adopt it. You just also have to understand that if you don't have some of the infrastructure to do it, you just have to make trade-offs.
In Jill's words
“I think the biggest thing is that a lot of times there's a lot of emotion tied to these successions... I think that people feel uncertainty. And so I think one of the best ways you can handle it is to be incredibly respectful about how you do it.”
This highlights the often-overlooked emotional component of leadership transitions and stresses the importance of a respectful, human-centric approach.
“We decided to actually incorporate some of the themes and the values of the company we are acquiring potentially... so that those employees can see themselves in our company and see their fingerprints on it.”
This quote showcases a proactive and inclusive strategy for cultural integration during M&A, ensuring the acquired entity's identity is valued and visible.
“I think one of the things that's really important with AI is actually knowing what it is. And what I find a lot of times is that people seem to be afraid of what they don't know.”
This emphasizes the critical need for foundational education on AI within HR to demystify it and overcome apprehension, paving the way for effective adoption.
“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... it then allows you to speak in a language that takes the HR title off of it.”
This powerfully reframes the HR role, advocating for a strong business and financial understanding to enhance credibility and strategic influence with executive stakeholders.
“I think the biggest thing for me is really embrace the disruption... But be part of the drive of what the next evolution of the people function is going to be.”
This serves as a rallying cry for HR leaders to proactively shape the future of their function, rather than passively reacting to ongoing industry shifts.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Employee uncertainty and emotional distress during founder/CEO successions can undermine stability and require careful communication.
- •Integrating diverse company cultures during large-scale tech acquisitions poses significant challenges, requiring deliberate strategies to ensure new employees feel valued and represented.
- •Outdated HR policies, processes, and technology in established global companies (e.g., 40-year-old organizations) lead to inefficiencies, workarounds (e.g., separate spreadsheets for comp planning), and a need for comprehensive HR transformation.
- •Implementing AI in HR is hampered by a lack of foundational data, unreliable data sources, and insufficient infrastructure, making it difficult to achieve impact despite excitement about the technology.
- •The high cost and compute requirements of AI tools can be a significant budget constraint for HR departments, necessitating strategic trade-offs and pragmatic adoption.
- •Traditional performance management tools and processes are often data-intensive and writing-heavy, consuming excessive manager time rather than fostering meaningful employee conversations.
- •Change management is a critical barrier to successful HR transformation, with a perennial shortage of HR team capacity to drive adoption and overcome resistance.
- •A lack of deep expertise in compensation design among many CHROs makes it difficult to strategically manage one of the largest P&L drivers and a key focus area for investors.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
You've had a number of public company chief people officer roles
A Chief People Officer's Career Journey
Joe DeJuice has been through several CEO transitions in his career
How to Navigate a CEO Transition
Synopsys is currently undertaking one of the largest tech acquisitions ever
How To Merger an Acquisition With Synopsys
How do you see AI and technology reshaping the future of HR
WSJD Live: The Future of HR AI
What are the critical elements of successfully modernizing established organizations while preserving core strengths
The Process of Business Transformation
You've taken companies through IPOs and also have served on public boards
Having served on a public board and a private board
Jill, what parting advice would you like to provide to our community
Jill Knows Best in HR: The Disruption
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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