Valentina Gissin
Chief People Officer
Curana Health
Episode 23
Unlearn HR Best Practices: Drive Business Impact with First Principles
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features interviews with world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleDecember 8, 2025 · 13:08
Thesis
“Effective HR leadership stems from a first-principles approach, focusing on solving core business problems with people and process solutions, rather than adhering to traditional HR metrics or pre-designed frameworks. True influence in executive roles comes from driving alignment through interrogation and proactive problem-solving.”
Show notes
Valentina Gissin came to HR through law school, a stint in screenwriting, and seven years at Bridgewater — one of the most demanding and idiosyncratic organizations in the world. That path produced someone with an unusual mental model for the function: she doesn't think in HR frameworks, she thinks in business problems. And her advice to HR professionals reflects that directly: "Stop asking for a seat at the table. Go solve the problems that give you one."
At Curana Health — a company providing healthcare services in post-acute and senior living settings — Valentina is navigating one of the more complex HR environments in any industry. The workforce is deeply heterogeneous: physicians who are fiercely independent and motivated by patient outcomes, clinical staff managing acute stress, and administrative teams with entirely different incentive structures. Building a unified culture across that complexity requires something more sophisticated than a single set of values. She's developed an approach of "umbrella values" with differentiated cultural tenets for specific groups — because pretending everyone responds to the same messages isn't culture-building, it's wishful thinking.
Her sharpest insight is about the difference between "influence" and "interrogation" as leadership tools. She doesn't try to influence executives toward her position. She asks questions until everyone in the room understands the problem well enough to align on the solution. It's a more patient approach — and, she argues, a more effective one.
What you'll learn:
- Why Valentina says "stop asking for a seat at the table" — and what earns one instead
- The "umbrella values + differentiated tenets" framework for building culture across heterogeneous workforces
- How to understand what motivates physicians and clinical workers — and why it matters for retention
- Why she uses "interrogation" instead of "influence" as an executive leadership tool
- How exit interviews, reintroduced thoughtfully, surface insights that surveys miss
- What Bridgewater taught her about first-principles thinking applied to HR
Built by People is presented by Previ — the free tool that helps HR teams boost internal communication engagement.
What you'll take away
- 1Approach HR problems from first principles, focusing on root causes and business outcomes rather than generic solutions or vanity metrics.
- 2As an executive, prioritize driving alignment through questioning and understanding over using influence to persuade decisions.
- 3Earn a 'seat at the table' by proactively identifying and solving real business problems with people and process solutions, demonstrating tangible impact.
- 4Build culture in diverse organizations by establishing umbrella foundational values, then differentiating cultural tenets and leadership principles for specific groups.
- 5Reintroduce traditional tools like exit interviews to gain honest, rich data that might not surface in engagement surveys or listening sessions.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Challenges the notion of replicating HR 'best practices,' advocating instead for root cause analysis and first-principles design measured by business outcomes.
- •Argues that 'influence' is not a useful C-suite skill, suggesting that leaders should instead 'interrogate' problems to drive true alignment.
- •Advises HR leaders to 'stop asking for a seat at the table' and instead proactively solve business problems to earn their place.
In Valentina's words
“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 outcomes.”
This quote encapsulates her core philosophy on how HR should operate, emphasizing business impact over traditional HR practices.
“The amount of noise hitting providers from every which direction is only increasing. And so clarity and simplicity for them is incredibly important.”
This points to a critical challenge in healthcare HR: reducing distractions for clinical staff to allow them to focus on patient care.
“Bias for action on the healthcare frontline could be very dangerous. We actually wanna bias for conservatism. And so we're going to most likely create that umbrella set of cultural tenets.”
This illustrates the nuance required in building culture across diverse roles, recognizing that a value like 'bias for action' isn't universally positive in all contexts.
“I no longer seek to influence. I don't think that influence is actually a useful skill when you are in the C-suite, because what you're doing is talking people into things that you should be getting alignment on. So instead of influence, I interrogate.”
This offers a powerful contrarian perspective on C-suite communication and decision-making, advocating for genuine alignment over persuasion.
“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 process root cause... and solve it.”
This provides direct, actionable advice for HR leaders looking to elevate their strategic impact and earn recognition through proactive problem-solving.
The problems this episode addresses
- •The healthcare economy and ecosystem are complex and challenging ('FUBAR').
- •Healthcare providers face burnout, staffing shortages, complex regulations, and emotionally demanding work.
- •Difficulty in understanding and motivating frontline staff, and their connection to the company's mission.
- •Increasing 'noise' and distractions for clinical providers, hindering their ability to stay in their 'genius zone'.
- •Challenges in building a unified culture across clinically and administratively diverse employee populations.
- •Engagement surveys and listening sessions sometimes fail to yield genuinely rich or honest insights.
- •HR leaders often feel the need to 'ask for permission' or a 'seat at the table' instead of proactively impacting business problems.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features interviews with world's top HR leaders
Built by People: Valentina
Valentina Altina shares a little bit about her career journey
Carvana Health CEO on His Career Journey
Valentina: We're building culture across clinical and non-clinical teams
Building a unified culture across clinical, administrative, and financial teams
Carana Health reintroduced the good old-fashioned exit interview
Carana Health's Impact on Culture and Recruitment
How has your philosophy on leadership evolved as you've stepped into chief people officer role
In the Elevator With Chief People Officer
Beltina offers advice to rising HR leaders on how to become business leaders
Building a People-centric Company
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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