Jelena Djordjevic is the Chief People Officer at Thumbtack. During the early months of the 2020 Global Pandemic, Thumbtack made the decision to go virtual first, and subsequently and iteratively implemented a people strategy that enabled its thousands of employees to work effectively in a whole new way. Three years later, Thumbtack remains virtual first, and under Djordevic’s leadership has taken a strategic and intentional approach to aligning their people strategy with their business strategy to drive results, for both the business and their people.

During our conversation, Djordjevic shared her own philosophy as a Chief People Officer about how she strategically thinks about the role of the HR function in enabling business strategy. Jelena also shared some of the programs and policies that are a part of their people strategy for a virtual-first organizations, how she and her team use data to drive strategy and programs, and how she and Thumbtack thing about critical levers of a virtual first organization, such as fostering connection, in-person experiences, and the role of their managers.

Links:

• Jelena’s Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jzdjordjevic/
• https://blog.thumbtack.com/two-years-in-our-virtual-first-model-is-here-to-stay-and-its-only-getting-better-18d33c443d80
• https://blog.thumbtack.com/new-report-finds-employees-perform-their-best-when-working-virtually-and-senior-leaders-agree-59eee67c8aac

Note: This is a special episode from our conversations with talent development leaders at the ATD ‘24 Conference in New Orleans back in May 2024. 

Terence Morley is the VP of Global Talent Development at NBC Universal. Under his leadership, Terence and his talent and learning team have launched a number of key talent development initiatives to help employees develop, grow and manage their careers across the diverse business lines within NBC Universal ranging from theme park to news and media employees. 

During our conversation, Terence spoke about the importance of helping employees learn the critical skills for managing their careers, the benefits of this approach, and how he and his team are bringing this to life through their Talent Lab Program. Terence also shared some highlights from other leadership development programs for managers at NBC Universal and his own thoughts and perspective on how to create a better world of work.

• Terence's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terence-morley-cptd-5554243/

Mitch Joel is a Keynote Speaker, Author, Entrepreneur and Host of the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast. Through his podcast and keynote speaking, Mitch regularly speaks with entrepreneurs, leaders, founders and executives about the workplace, and has diverse and keen insights into the world of work. During our conversation, Mitch spoke about his own observations from his many conversations on key topics in the workplace ranging from changing employee expectations, organizational culture and the value of connection. Mitch also spoke about the expectations around remote and hybrid, the importance of continuous learning, and the opportunities for employees who embrace a squiggly career in today’s world of work.

Links

• Mitch’s Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchjoel/
• Mitch’s Podcast: https://www.sixpixels.com/category/podcast/

Note: This is a live episode recorded from the Association For Talent Development (ATD) International Conference and Expo in New Orleans.

Kimberly Currier is the Global Vice President of Learning at AECOM.  As a Global Leader of Learning, Kimberly has a large responsibility in shaping the talent and learning strategy at AECOM.

In this conversation live from ATD '24 in New Orleans, Kimberly shared her thoughts trends on what she is following as a talent development leader, as well as her thoughts on relevant skills for talent development leaders to stay ahead in today's changing world of work.

Paul Young is the Chief Financial Officer at Liberty Bank. Established in 1825, Liberty Bank is the largest and oldest independent mutual bank in the United States. 
In this conversation, Paul shared how he and his colleagues at Liberty Bank began investing in apprenticeship programs in order to develop and retain talent inside the finance organization. 

Paul also spoke about the opportunities and business benefits that he was able to deliver as a result of investing in their workforce through apprenticeship programs, his ideas and aspirations for future plans for developing talent, and his advice for how talent and hr professionals can partner with their peers in the finance function to better invest and retain talent to drive business results. 

Links

• Paul’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pyoungcpa/
• News article: https://www.aicpa-cima.com/news/article/aicpa-and-us-department-of-labor-sign-inaugural-employers-to-apprenticeship

Tiffany Poeppelman is a Director of Career Development at LinkedIn. Fresh off presenting at her talk at ATD’ 24 titled “Talent Development in the Age of AI,” Tiffany spoke to us about some of the trends and data from the 2024 Annual Work Trend Index  around AI, career development and learning. 

During the conversation, Tiffany also shared insights and observations about the gap between AI interest and implementation, and the need for upskilling employees, as well as some examples of how companies including Kraft-Heinz and NBC Universal are learning about AI through experimentation. Tiffany also shared her own thoughts as a talent development leader about how to elevate the Talent and learning profession.

Links:

• Tiffany’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tpoeppelman/
• LinkedIn AI Upskilling Framework and access to 50 Free LinkedIn AI Courses (Until 7/8/2024): https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/learning-and-development/new-framework-for-ai-upskilling?trk=eow 

Nathan Manuel is a Workplace Strategy Leader and Co-Founder  of PM2 Consulting, a Workplace Strategy Consulting firm. After leading workplace strategy at a number of organizations including most recently at PagerDuty, Nathan has a keen sense on the designing forward thinking and intentional workplace experiences for employees and organizations. 

During this conversation, Nathan spoke about how organizations can effectively use office spaces to foster productivity, trust, and culture in a flexible and evolving work environment

Nathan also spoke about the need for leaders to focus on outcomes rather than actions and to create an equitable and inclusive work environment, as well as his ideas for how leaders can intentionally design better workplaces for their people.

Links

• Nathan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanmanuel/
• PM2 Consulting: https://pm2consultants.com/
• 5 Questions To Optimize Your Workplace Real Estate: https://pm2consultants.squarespace.com/5-questions-to-optimize-your-workplace-0524

Sue Cantrell is the Vice President for Products and Strategy at Deloitte, and a Lead Author of the 2024 Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report. Each year, Sue and her colleagues at Deloitte conduct research into what’s new and next to help their clients stay at the forefront of how the world of work is changing, and what it means for evolving human capital and talent strategies.

During our conversation, Sue spoke about the theme of work in a boundaryless world, and shared some insights around key trends in the report including the importance of prioritizing human and business outcomes, the role of microcultures, and redefining productivity. Sue also spoke about the role of imagination, curiosity, and creativity, and her ideas for what leaders can do to create a better workplace for their people.

Links:

• 2024 Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends.html
• Susan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanmcantrell/

Ashley Goodall is former HR executive at Cisco and Deloitte, and the author of The Problem With Change. While Ashley believes that change is important for any organization that wishes to thrive over the long term, Ashley also believes that we must be more measured and skeptical about change, and more cognizant about the impact that change has, on people and focus more on promoting stability.

During our conversation, Ashley spoke about the common traps we fall into when we think and talk about change today, and the overlooked impacts change has on people and organizations, especially as it relates to their ability to not just survive, but thrive. Ashley also shared a healthier and more balanced approach to change, why he thinks it's important to see humans for their individual strengths and, and how managers and leaders can promote stability and workplaces where their people can contribute and flourish.

• Web: https://ashleygoodall.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleygoodall/
• Book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ashley-goodall/the-problem-with-change/9780316560276/

Sara Dionne is the VP of Learning and Development at Comcast. In an organization with over 80,000 employees with diverse backgrounds, skills, and roles, learning plays a critical role in enabling employees to effectively do their jobs today as well as position themselves for success in growing the business in the future.

During our conversation, Sara spoke about her team’s efforts to develop a comprehensive and tailored learning strategy that prioritizes personalization and experiential learning to help make employees successful.  Sara also spoke about how Comcast is thinking about skills, and how they are using skills within the organization's efforts for employee learning and development.

Sara also spoke about how she, as a learning leader, works with her partners in the process of rolling out programs related to skills and learning to different parts of the organization, as well as how leaders should and can embrace building a culture of continuous learning and growth.

Links

• Sara’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-dionne-73998b4/
• LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2024: https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report