HR Leaders

Constant tech shifts and viral noise are quietly exhausting your workforce and killing critical thinking.

In the latest HR Leaders Podcast episode, I spoke with Laura Maffucci, Head of HR at Globalization Partners. She explains why HR cannot rely on corporate spin, unvetted AI add-ons, or forced office returns during times of rapid change.

Most organizations do not lack technology tools. They lack transparent communication, psychological safety, and a clear process for building learning agility. And even when tools are enabled, a harder question remains:Are you actually solving an operational problem, or just adding tool overload?

5 things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. The unconventional quarterly award designed to celebrate smart operational failures
2. The quiet credibility trap behind performative return-to-office mandates
3. The hidden data flaw causing 70–80% of enterprise AI bots to give bad advice
4. The three core human traits rendering static technical skills obsolete
5. A simple peer-led initiative driving AI adoption far better than formal training

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What if the self-doubt holding you back isn't proof of failure, but evidence of growth?

In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an important conversation with Maharukh Dalal, founder of The Career Accelerator for Women by Maharukh Dalal. She explains how senior leaders can overcome imposter syndrome by closing the internal identity gap, reframing self-doubt into a signal of growth, and shifting self-perception to drive executive execution.

Drawing on two decades of corporate leadership across finance and hospitality, Dalal explains how mindset precedes execution. This conversation offers senior HR and business leaders a clear playbook for mastering the mental side of executive performance.

5 things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. The psychological gap that stops capable leaders from taking action
2. A simple two-word shift that instantly turns daily dread into agency
3. What a 1980 university experiment reveals about how people actually perceive you
4. The advice Rafael Nadal’s coach gave him during his worst slump that applies to executives
5. Why relying purely on willpower and discipline eventually fails even top performers

🙏 Thank you to our series partner, Arist

Meet the end-to-end AI agent for enablement that finds talent gaps, builds personalized interventions, and delivers learning directly in the flow of work → https://arist.com/resources/webinars/agent?utm_source=hr_leaders_podcast&utm_medium=sponsored&utm_campaign=hr_leaders_podcast_cr_june_2026

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AI could influence 90% of jobs. David Lloyd says AI literacy is still only around 38%.

That gap is where many enterprise AI strategies begin to break.

In the latest HR Leaders Podcast episode, I spoke with David Lloyd, SVP Platform Engineering & Chief AI Officer at Dayforce. He explains why HR cannot wait until the end of an AI transformation to address skills, trust and organisational change.

Most organisations do not lack AI ideas. They lack trusted data, safe environments and a clear process for deciding which ideas deserve to scale.

And even when an experiment works, a harder question remains:

Can it scale from one employee to 5,000?

5 things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Why three to six months is too long to judge an AI pilot
2. The three questions that decide whether an AI idea moves forward
3. What is really driving the rise of shadow AI
4. Why adding AI across a fragmented HR stack creates more chaos
5. How a three-person governance team can approve ideas in under five days

🙏 Thank you to our series partner, Fluide

Work is changing too fast for learning to take weeks. Learn how Fluide turns skill gaps into live adaptive learning in 3 steps and see performance move by Friday. Try FLuide now → https://fluide.ai/

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Why do enterprise skills programs always look great on paper, but break down the moment real work happens?

In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an inspiring conversation with Josh Newman, VP of Skills and Talent Readiness at ServiceNow.

He explains why organisations must shift away from perfectionist data collection and embrace good-enough skills capture paired with real-world talent readiness.

By moving training out of LMS silos and leveraging ambient data signals alongside AI simulation playgrounds, ServiceNow tracks true human capabilities in real time while keeping human judgment at the centre of workforce strategy.

5 things you'll learn from this episode:

1. Why traditional skills-based models fail and how to move past perfectionist data gathering
2. How Talent Signature captures ambient data signals from daily work to track capability growth
3. How SimStudio simulation playgrounds replace course completion certificates with real-time practice
4. The key difference between basic AI adoption and true behaviour absorption that drives business ROI
5. How building psychological safety around AI tools directly boosts employee performance and sales quota attainment

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Every company wants to become AI-native. But who is preparing the workforce for what comes next?

In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an important conversation with Bijal Shah, CEO & Board Director at Guild.

She explains why becoming AI-native is not simply a technology upgrade. It requires employers, governments and learning institutions to rethink how people gain skills, build careers and participate in the future economy.

5 things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. How organisations can make the AI-native transition without leaving their workforce behind
2. Why Bijal believes 95% of companies still need to make this leap
3. What makes workforce transformation a collective action problem
4. How critical thinking, judgement and curiosity separate useful AI from “slop”
5. Where automation creates an advantage, and where human connection must remain

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We spend all our time fixing business workflows, so why is HRs own workflow still broken?

In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an inspiring conversation with Jeffrey Schmitz, Former Chief People Officer at Zebra Technologies.

He explains how his team successfully restructured their entire HR operating model by separating daily tactical operations from long-term talent strategy. By replacing fragmented, manual support with a centralised service hub and self-service workflows, Zebra built a scalable foundation for digital transformation while keeping culture at the centre.

5 things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. The structural model shift that allowed Zebra to transition from 60 HR Business Partners down to 8
2. The simple "start at the centre" rule that turned daily support tickets into an operational data goldmine
3. The non-negotiable tech stack foundation HR teams must build before attempting to deploy AI tools
4. The single candidate trait Zebra looks for that matters far more than rare technical AI expertise
5. The culture stewardship strategy Zebra used to navigate a massive M&A carve-out and hybrid work shift

🙏 Thank you to our series partner, Arist

Meet the end-to-end AI agent for enablement that finds talent gaps, builds personalized interventions, and delivers learning directly in the flow of work → https://arist.com/resources/webinars/agent?utm_source=hr_leaders_podcast&utm_medium=sponsored&utm_campaign=hr_leaders_podcast_cr_june_2026

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HR fixes everyone else's workflows, but who fixes HR's?

In the most recent HR Leaders Podcast episode, I had an inspiring conversation with Barbara Matthews, Chief People Officer at Remote.

She explains how her team successfully operates across 85 countries without traditional office mandates or endless meetings. By replacing friction with clear asynchronous documentation, Remote maintains connection and speed at scale.

5 things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Integrating AI into performance management and HR operations
2. Building trust and culture in fully remote asynchronous teams
3. Transitioning HR from lagging reporting to predictive indicators
4. Developing leadership pillars and manager capabilities
5. Prioritizing human power skills and process mapping in tech adoption

🙏 Thank you to our series partner, 365 Talents

Download the free toolkit and get your 2026 skills strategy moving faster → https://365talents.com/en/lp/hr-skills-strategy-toolkit/?utm_source=hr_leaders&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july_2026

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Many HR teams struggle to move beyond transactional order-taking. Ty Beasley, Chief Talent Officer at RSM US LLP, shares how grounding HR in financial realities transformed his team into trusted strategic advisors.

Through the Drive Peak Performance framework, RSM redesigned performance advisor training and held partners directly accountable for the talent experience. This strategy replaces rigid office mandates with physical agility to support individual employee growth.

This episode provides a concise roadmap for connecting talent strategy directly to business growth. It shows leaders how to build a stronger HR function that drives measurable business outcomes.

🎓 In this episode, Ty discusses:

1. How leading without a title empowers junior staff to take early initiative.
2. The finance immersion that taught HR to analyze financial statements.
3. Why Drive Peak Performance serves as the firm's talent North Star.
4. How redesigning performance advisor roles improved coaching quality.
5. Why partners are directly rated on the talent experience.

🙏 Thank you to our series partner, 365 Talents

Download the free toolkit and get your 2026 skills strategy moving faster → https://365talents.com/en/lp/hr-skills-strategy-toolkit/?utm_source=hr_leaders&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july_2026

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Employee benefits can be the second-biggest people cost, yet many global organisations cannot clearly see what they offer, what they spend, or what value each provider delivers.

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, I had an inspiring conversation with Chris Bruce, CEO and Co-Founder at Origin. He explains why fragmented policies, spreadsheets, and local systems have kept benefits out of strategic business conversations.

🎓 In this episode, Chris discusses:

1. Why one of the biggest people costs remains largely invisible, leaving leadership teams unable to make informed decisions about benefits.
2. How AI changes a 12.5-year manual challenge by turning thousands of policies, handbooks, and agreements into structured data.
3. Why benefits data must live inside daily workflows if organisations want it to remain accurate after the initial review.
4. What co-creating technology with multinational employers reveals that industry expertise alone cannot uncover.
5. How benefits can become a strategic workforce lever, supporting cost control, employee experience, expansion, compliance, and retention.

🙏 Thank you to our series partner, 365 Talents

Download the free toolkit and get your 2026 skills strategy moving faster → https://365talents.com/en/lp/hr-skills-strategy-toolkit/?utm_source=hr_leaders&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july_2026

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AI is changing work faster than most people expect.

The real question isn't whether jobs will change, but whether employees and leaders are prepared to adapt. In this episode, Jacob Morgan, Best-Selling Author, Keynote Speaker and Founder of Future Of Work Leaders, explains why employee experience must evolve and what organisations can do to stay ahead.

Jacob introduces the Eight Laws of Employee Experience, showing how organisations can return to the fundamentals while adapting for an AI-driven future. He explores why leaders must balance empathy with accountability, create cultures where difficult conversations drive innovation, and invest in internal mobility rather than leaving employees uncertain about what's next.

For HR and business leaders, this conversation is a reminder that AI doesn't remove the need for great leadership, it raises the standard. Whether you're redesigning employee experience, preparing your workforce for AI, or helping people take ownership of their careers, this episode offers practical ideas for building organisations that are ready for what's next.

🎓 In this episode, Jacob discusses:

1. Why the Eight Laws of Employee Experience matter now and how they help organisations adapt to an AI-driven workplace.
2. The balance between empathy and accountability and why high-performing cultures need both to succeed.
3. Why employees must become active owners of their careers instead of waiting for organisations to shape their future.
4. How leaders should prepare their workforce for AI, from internal mobility to better workforce planning.
5. Using AI as a competitive advantage to learn faster, build new opportunities and stay ahead of change.

🙏 Thank you to our series partner, 365 Talents

Download the free toolkit and get your 2026 skills strategy moving faster → https://365talents.com/en/lp/hr-skills-strategy-toolkit/?utm_source=hr_leaders&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july_2026

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