HR Grapevine 2015 Speakers - Kerry Dryburgh, VP, HR Corporate Business Activities & Functions, BP

Kerry Dryburgh, VP, HR Corporate Business Activities & Functions, BP, will be speaking at this year’s HR Can Change the World conference. She talks to HR Grapevine about her motivations and inspirations…

What have been the highlights in your career journey that have enabled you to sit where you are today?
There have been many including the opportunity to work at BP. I’ve had a number of roles in the five years that I’ve been here, so there’s been a lot of change! It’s given me invaluable experience of different parts of the business from shipping to trading commodities and I’ve enjoyed the chance to make a difference and drive change. Having the opportunity to build a global career has been another highlight for me, in particular, working in Asia was a true learning curve, one which I still value today.

What motivates you and drives you?
Change is my motivator, the challenge of building something new or turning it around.  The excitement of really moving a team or business forward for the better and in the process re-energising people is what I strive for.

How do you know when you’ve done a good job, what gives you satisfaction?
For me, satisfaction comes from interaction with great people and seeing tangible impacts of HR adding commercial value to the business. I feel reward from having a conversation or discussion where you can see the progress and impact that was made as a result. Over the longer term, being able to see the way in which my team delivers value to the business is why I love my job, be that through cost savings, impacting strategy or building capability.

Who inspires you?
Many people inspire me but at the moment I would say Marissa Mayer. I’m reading the book about how she turned Yahoo around. I think as a senior woman in the organisation, coming into a challenging environment and turning it around gives me a huge sense of inspiration.

Why does BP matter to you?
It’s the values and behaviours we have as a company, there’s not shadow of a doubt that’s the reason why I work for BP. I’ve worked for three companies in my career and BP is definitely the one that lives our values and behaviours - and as an HR leader that’s very important to me.

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