Mike Clementi
Human Resources Executive & Advisor
ChangeBridge People Solutions
Episode 259
Unlock Value: HR Must Shift to Outcome-Driven Strategies for Business Impact
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleMarch 25, 2025 · 15:17
Thesis
“HR must transition from managing processes to actively driving measurable outcomes and value creation, embracing agility and a deep understanding of business needs, especially in fast-paced, transformation-driven environments like private equity.”
Show notes
50 to 70% of organizational transformations fail. Mike Clementi's diagnosis: most organizations never get sharp enough on the "why" — the investment thesis — before the change machine starts running.
After 25+ years at Unilever and subsequent work advising startups and private equity-backed companies, Mike has developed a tightly argued case for what separates organizations that navigate change well from the ones that don't. The core shift he advocates: move HR from managing processes to focusing on outcomes. Not a semantic change — a structural one. What it means in practice: hiring for the specific result a role needs to deliver (exponential growth? turnaround? operational stability?), not a job description. Building the business case for people investments in the language of value creation, not HR metrics. Treating transformation not as a discrete project with an end date, but as the permanent condition of every organization and adapting accordingly.
Mike's PE lens is particularly valuable here. Private equity gets a bad reputation for short-termism, but his observation is more nuanced: the best PE investors actually spend heavily on the initiatives that increase company value — including long-term people strategies — precisely because they're financially incentivized to. The discipline is in being explicit about how each HR investment connects to enterprise value. That's not a PE-specific skill. Every HR leader should be able to make that case.
What you'll learn:
- Why 50-70% of organizational transformations fail — and the sharpening of business case that prevents it
- The core shift from process-managing HR to outcomes-driving HR — and what it looks like operationally
- Outcome-based hiring: how to define the job by the result needed, not the profile
- What private equity actually teaches about people investment and value creation
- How to secure long-term people strategy investment by framing it as enterprise value creation
- Why learning mindset and agility have become the foundational HR leadership competencies
This episode is in partnership with Transform. Check out their community here.
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What you'll take away
- 1HR must shift its core function from managing work and processes to focusing on business outcomes and value creation.
- 2For successful transformation, HR leaders need to sharpen the business case by deeply understanding the 'why' and the investment thesis.
- 3Adopt an outcome-focused approach to talent acquisition, hiring for the specific results a role needs to deliver (e.g., exponential growth, turnaround) rather than just a traditional job profile.
- 4Cultivate a learning mindset and agility within HR, being flexible and adaptable to new information, and willing to quickly change strategies that aren't working.
- 5To secure investment in long-term people strategies, demonstrate how these initiatives directly increase the value of the organization.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Transformation isn't a temporary event; every company, household, and person is in constant transformation, requiring acceptance and an outcome-first mindset.
- •Private equity companies, despite stereotypes, often make stronger investments in companies because their focus on value creation motivates spending where it will yield returns, rather than solely on fast turns or cost-cutting.
In Mike's words
“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 companies that value HR, value people, value society.”
This highlights the guest's extensive background in a major global corporation and his early exposure to a progressive HR-valuing culture.
“If I could share one thing that today would be shifting the HR function from managing work and processes to focusing on outcomes. And we say this at Changebridge, we exist to lift and accelerate performance.”
This is a concise articulation of the guest's core philosophy on the necessary evolution of the HR function.
“The old saying is if you're not changing, you're dying... So the first thing is just accepting that and getting really clear. I do want to shift us, and please, we need to shift to thinking about outcomes first.”
Mike emphasizes the constant nature of change and reinforces the critical importance of an outcome-driven approach in HR.
“If you were to flip this around and really only focus on the outcomes you wanted that job to do. You might work for them very differently. You would ask different questions. You would be thinking about the candidates differently.”
This offers a practical, actionable reframing of how to approach hiring by prioritizing desired business outcomes over traditional job descriptions.
“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.”
This provides a pragmatic perspective on how to advocate for HR initiatives by directly linking them to quantifiable business value, especially in a PE context.
“People and companies that are winning in this world cannot understand everything coming at them, even though we try to. So we have to have the ability to be flexible, to learn, to be agile, and to, when new information comes, adapt to it.”
This stresses the crucial importance of a learning mindset and agility for navigating the complexities of the modern business landscape.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Public companies often struggle with innovation due to work being bogged down by excessive meetings, pre-meetings, and post-meetings, rather than direct decision-making.
- •Many organizational transformations (50-70%) fail because the business case isn't sharp enough, lacking a clear 'why' and investment thesis.
- •HR functions frequently get stuck in managing processes instead of driving measurable outcomes and demonstrating direct value creation to the business.
- •Traditional talent acquisition methods often focus on job profiles rather than the specific business outcomes a hire needs to deliver, leading to suboptimal leadership choices.
- •Securing investment for long-term people strategies in value-driven environments like private equity requires explicitly demonstrating how these strategies enhance the company's overall value.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Mike Frum shares a little bit about his career journey
A Conversation With Unilever's Chief Executive
What key differences have you observed between working in public companies and private equity
Working in Public Companies vs. Private Equity Companies
How can HR leaders help organizations stay focused on performance while managing significant change
How to Manage Change & Transformation
For companies navigating transformational change, what approaches have you found most effective
Working Through Change: The Challenges of Company Transformation
Private equity companies are increasingly focusing on talent management and business outcomes
Talent Management and Business Outcomes
How do you balance long-term people strategies with fast-paced demands of transformation
Private Equity Companies' Talent Profile
Mike says learning mindset and agility are key to success in HR
Mike Crouch on Built by People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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