In this episode of We’re not recording, Roxanne Petraeus and Melanie Naranjo explore why HR leaders deserve a permanent seat in the boardroom. With guest Katelin Holloway (Founding Partner at 776, former Reddit HR exec), the conversation unpacks how people strategy drives business outcomes, why culture clarity matters more than perks, and how HR’s influence expands when leaders move beyond compliance into performance.

From the myth of “People Ops rebrands” to the real lessons of the Netflix culture deck, Katelin makes the case for why HR leaders can’t just track payroll—they should be shaping company strategy. And she explains how that boardroom perspective inspired her pivot into investing, where she’s backing the next generation of founders and making the case for funding women.

Roxanne Petraeus and Melanie Naranjo sit down with Kelli Dragovich, four-time CPO and co-creator of HR Heretics, for a candid conversation about today’s toughest workplace challenges.

They unpack:

Why traditional benefits often backfire (and what actually matters most to employees).

The rise in hostility between workers and leaders—from viral CEO takedowns to candidate feedback.

How LinkedIn can turn into a battleground (even over treadmill desks).

Why younger generations won’t tolerate toxic workplaces—no matter the paycheck.

From plain-speak communication to the “ultimate benefit” of working with great people, this episode gets real about how companies and employees can find common ground in a tense environment.

Layoffs announced to the wrong people. A CEO’s very personal voicemail sent company-wide. Salary spreadsheets dropped in Slack for all to see. Roxanne Petraeus and Melanie Naranjo react to LinkedIn’s juiciest workplace horror stories — the kind you can’t unhear.

Roxanne and Melanie go down the rabbit hole of AI Agent Mode—yes, the one that can take your compliance training for you. What starts as a conversation about fake receipts turns into a bigger question: when tech makes it easier to cheat, do more people cheat? They swap McKinsey expense horror stories, debate Netflix vs. Army-style trust models, and wonder if the real fix isn’t more controls, but better culture. Plus, a detour into teenage fanfiction ethics and why sometimes the “solution” in compliance is just having the uncomfortable conversation.

When Ethena announced it would start including “AI fluency” in performance reviews, half the managers pushed back—hard. Roxanne Petraeus and Melanie Naranjo, joined by Ashley Herd of Manager Method, unpack why leadership thought AI adoption was on track while managers felt blindsided.

They dig into the disconnect between CEOs, managers, and employees, the psychology behind AI resistance, and how to bridge the gap with specifics, motivation, and real-world wins. Whether you’re in HR, management, or just AI-curious, this candid conversation is packed with lessons on change management in the age of AI.

In this spicy episode, Roxanne and Melanie sit down with Heather Doshay, Partner and Head of Talent at SignalFire, to unpack the most chaotic headlines in hiring today. Should you really fire all your middle managers? Is Gen Z being unfairly iced out—or just caught in an economic squeeze? And how close did one company come to hiring a North Korean spy? From AI deepfakes to communication breakdowns, Heather brings real talk, real stories, and real solutions. If you’re hiring—or hoping to get hired—you’ll want to listen closely.

No buzzwords. No “AI will change everything” monologues. Just three people—Roxanne, Melanie, and Emily—talking about the actual AI tools they use to save time (and sanity). Emily Mabie from Zapier shares how she automated Slack reminders, built 56 bots (casually), and uses GPTs to make workflows smoother—not weirder. Melanie admits where she’s still stuck. Roxanne finds out that even she might need a bot or two. If you’ve ever thought, I should be automating this, this episode is your starting line.

Roxanne and Melanie sit down with Gina des Cognets to unpack why feedback can feel like a landmine—and what to do when it is. They get into fear on leadership teams, the curse of perfectionism, how to spot when the bar is set too high (or too low), and what happens when psychological safety isn't what you think it is. Also: red-yellow-green performance flags, agency vs. victim mindset.

This isn’t the episode we wanted to record, but the Coldplay CEO-CPO news took over our feeds—and apparently everyone else's too. So here we are. Roxanne and Melanie talk about why these kinds of stories hit a nerve, how power and gender dynamics show up at work, and what makes this moment feel especially complicated. Not a takedown, not a think piece—just two people trying to process something uncomfortable, out loud.

In this episode, Roxanne chats with Christina Luconi — former Chief People Officer at Rapid7 and current startup whisperer — about entitlement in the workplace, what authenticity actually looks like, and why being liked is overrated when you’re trying to build real culture. Christina shares war stories from decades in tech, including the infamous “mom called me” moment, her journey toward radical openness, and what people leaders get wrong about influence and impact.