The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

239 - Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot): The growing trust gap at work


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Helen Russell, Chief People Officer at HubSpot, joined us on The Modern People Leader. 

We talked about how HubSpot is fostering an AI-first culture, why belonging is so important right now, and what HR leaders can do to move fast without losing their humanity.

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(04:48) Creating safe spaces for HR leaders to connect

(07:43) What HubSpot does & Helen’s role as CPO

(10:09) HubSpot's marketing leadership and AI innovation

(11:53) What HR leaders are talking about now: RTO, AI, DEI & manager overload

(14:10) Engagement, psychological safety & cultural struggle

(16:38) Why belonging is the metric that moves everything else

(18:58) The four-pillar talent strategy at HubSpot

(21:51) How cultural commitments and behavior are being realigned

(24:09) The evolution of “HEART” to “Deliver with HEART” and new commitments

(26:22) Balancing urgency with human-centered belonging

(28:23) Monday Minute & Grow DAI: Scaling safe AI experimentation

(31:21) From deflect to automate to enable – how HubSpot’s internal AI strategy evolves

(33:17) Flashback to Rivian: bottlenecks, decision-making, and now AI frameworks

(34:28) Buying vs building AI tools – from BrightHire to Tenor to Qualtrics

(36:45) Creating a “common front door” with GPT for all employee services

(39:01) Why HR teams should start building AI tools themselves

(42:47) A call for HR to step up and lead through AI transformation

(44:50) Don’t get left behind – HR’s chance to take the lead

(46:05) MCPs explained (for non-tech leaders) & the future of SaaS + LLMs

(49:38) What MCPs mean for employees as internal customers

(50:34) Why traditional SaaS may be in trouble & horizontal automation is the future

(53:09) Rapid Fire: Top leadership traits in the AI era

(53:39) The HR team of the future is deeply human

(54:29) AI strategy envy & final takeaways

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