How HR Leaders Change the World
Explore how the work of HR Leaders is creating positive social change, contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals - goals which the world's companies are increasingly understanding the urgency of achieving, and investing in the action required. If you'd like clear, actionable ideas for how you can use the power of your role to effect change in your company, you're in the right place. I'm the founder of social enterprise Uplifting People, we provide services to HR Leaders, and through this work I realised that HR professionals and social entrepreneurs are working in the same areas, albeit in different ways. ...
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Episode 261: Marc Burrows, Group CPO at KPMG UK & Switzerland on Why HR Needs a Galaxy, Not a North Star
<p> Marc Burrows believes no single North Star can guide organisations into the future of work. With the work, the workplace and the workers all changing at once, he explains why the strength and agility to adjust direction matters more than fixing on one version of the future. </p> <p> Marc shares why AI is raising the value of the qualities companies have always hired for, from judgment and curiosity to creativity and problem solving. He also explains why KPMG is taking the environmental impact of AI seriously, as part of its ethical AI framework. </p> <p> As the first in...
Episode 260: Syed Ali Abbas, VP People at HelloFresh on HR's Multiplier Effect
<p> Recorded live at Unleash in Paris, Syed Ali Abbas believes HR's greatest impact comes from a multiplier effect: enabling others to act on a bigger scale than any one person could. He shares how that thinking has shaped his career, from mobilising HR peers early on, to bringing together governments, education and business. </p> <p> Discussing AI Transformation at HelloFresh, Abbas explains how colleagues had a full year to build their AI skills at their own pace, starting with a private self-assessment that only they could see. The result was change without the overwhelm, employee communication and success without p...
Episode 259: Gina Vargiu, Chief People Officer at SAP on Why HR Must Co-Create the AI Era
<p> Recorded live at Unleash, Gina shares why she sees AI as a human transformation story, and a huge opportunity for HR to redesign roles, teams and organisations. She explains the new skills HR needs to lead it, from workforce intelligence to business acumen, and why keeping purpose at work matters more than ever. </p> <p> Gina shares how SAP has shifted from credential-based to skills-based selection and development, giving 112,000 colleagues access to a skills taxonomy that opens up career opportunities. She's open about what was hardest, and explains why global job architecture, an artefact of the industrial age, must b...
Episode 258: Coleen Highfield, Chief People Officer at Foxtons on Why HR Must Be Unapologetically Brave
<p > Coleen Highfield believes commercial success and people thriving at work go hand in hand. She shares how she has brought company cultures together after acquisitions, providing practical examples such as a six-week programme to help new colleagues feel part of the organisation, and pricing benefits harmonisation into the transaction, so everyone is on a level playing field.</p> <p > As a single mum, Coleen speaks personally about talented women forced to pull back on their careers after having children. She introduces her upcoming book, Survive and Thrive for Working Mums, and describes the impact of a workplace children's holiday...
Episode 257: Lisa Dodman, Chief People Officer at Optima Health on Thinking Commercially, Beyond the Rule Book
<p > Lisa Dodman shows how HR adds the most value to the business when it thinks commercially and steps beyond the rule book.</p> <p > Drawing on her time leading the people strategy at a global software business, she reflects on how listening, psychological safety and a clear communication strategy took its Glassdoor rating from 3.4 to 4.1 in a year.</p> <p > Lisa provides examples of how AI can take away HR's administrative work, freeing people teams to focus on workforce planning, commercial results and ensuring social value is not treated as a box-ticking exercise.</p> <p > Her call to action...
Episode 256: Ewen MacPherson, Havas UK and Christelle Beneteau, Ferring Pharmaceuticals: Meet CPOs on stage at How HR Leaders Change the World – Live!
<p > Ewen and Christelle share examples of how their commercial leadership also creates value for society. Both speakers at How HR Leaders Change the World - Live! this year, in this special episode we bring together moments from their podcast episodes as we share what to expect on the day.</p> <p > Following the top of the agenda topics, from designing organisations where AI and humans make each other better to what will separate the best employers in 2027, hear examples of Ewen and Christelle's work and come and join them, as well as CPO alumni of this podcast, and 150 of...
Gian Power OBE, Founder and CEO of TLC Lions on Why Human Workplaces Outperform
<p > Gian Power OBE demonstrates how business benefits from being more human, and shares two stories to illustrate. In one, US pharmaceutical leadership become a changed team after an afternoon sharing their stories; in the other, a sceptical CEO watched a L&D strategy grow from a single person sharing a story, to transform customer experience in every store around the world. </p> <p > Fresh from boardroom conversations in New York, Gian explains what human means now that AI is on every board agenda, and why human workplaces outperform. He sets out the 4Cs framework that TLC Lions sees drive performance, and shares a sim...
Episode 254: Jennie Barker, Chief People Officer at Rightmove on Why Performance Starts with People, Not Process
<p > Jennie Barker challenges the idea that better performance comes from better processes. She explains why clarity, accountability, meaningful work and great leadership matter more than forms and rating scales, and how good performance management can also be an equity intervention.</p> <p > Jennie shares how Rightmove is helping people navigate AI, from creating space for honest conversations about anxiety and job security to giving teams the training and freedom to experiment. She explores why psychological safety matters when the future of work feels uncertain, and why people need to feel they can work alongside AI rather than having AI...
Episode 253: HR's Opportunity to Fix the Meritocracy Myth – Rachel Cox, Global CPO at Maintel
<p > What happens when we assume the best talent will naturally rise to the top? For Rachel, the idea of meritocracy misses a crucial point: people do not start from the same place.</p> <p > Across 25 years in HR, Rachel has challenged the systems and assumptions that can limit access to opportunity and in this episode explores why access needs to start earlier. Rachel also shares a powerful example of employing someone with a spent conviction.</p> <p > Rachel discusses her views on AI and future talent, the impacts of technology performing some of the tasks that once gave young...
Episode 252: Talent Is Everywhere, Opportunity Isn't – Neil Morrison, Group HR and Communications Director at Severn Trent PLC
<p > Episode 252: Talent Is Everywhere, Opportunity Isn't – Neil Morrison, Group HR and Communications Director at Severn Trent PLC </p> <p > Neil believes that doing right by your business and by your community are not competing priorities. At Severn Trent, he's spent almost a decade putting social mobility at the heart of the organisation, and explains how the commercial case for this work is just as strong as the social one. </p> <p > Neil challenges assumptions surrounding AI and the future of work. He questions who will benefit as technology changes the jobs market, and discusses whether businesses are being honest about the social cost o...
