HR Leaders

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:
Why traditional skills-based models fail and how to move past perfectionist data gathering
How Talent Signature captures ambient data signals from daily work to track capability growth
How SimStudio simulation playgrounds replace course completion certificates with real-time practice
The key difference between basic AI adoption and true behaviour absorption that drives business ROI
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:
How organisations can make the AI-native transition without leaving their workforce behind
Why Bijal believes 95% of companies still need to make this leap
What makes workforce transformation a collective action problem
How critical thinking, judgement and curiosity separate useful AI from “slop”
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:
The structural model shift that allowed Zebra to transition from 60 HR Business Partners down to 8
The simple "start at the centre" rule that turned daily support tickets into an operational data goldmine
The non-negotiable tech stack foundation HR teams must build before attempting to deploy AI tools
The single candidate trait Zebra looks for that matters far more than rare technical AI expertise
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:
Integrating AI into performance management and HR operations
Building trust and culture in fully remote asynchronous teams
Transitioning HR from lagging reporting to predictive indicators
Developing leadership pillars and manager capabilities
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:
How leading without a title empowers junior staff to take early initiative.
The finance immersion that taught HR to analyze financial statements.
Why Drive Peak Performance serves as the firm's talent North Star.
How redesigning performance advisor roles improved coaching quality.
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
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.