'My ultimate HR advice' - from 100 CHROs & people leaders

Dannii Portsmouth, Chief People Officer | PepsiCo

If your leaders can't lead without HR, you've built dependency, not capability. HR's success shouldn't be measured by how often we're invited into the room. It should be measured by what happens when we're not there. Every coaching conversation, talent review, and organisational change should leave leaders more capable than before. That's the shift our profession needs: from solving today's people problems to building tomorrow's leaders. The best HR teams make leadership stronger.

Dannii’s Album: Loom, Imagine Dragons

Raj Vermes, Chief Culture, Inclusion & EX Officer | Sanofi

As AI reshapes work, the organisations that succeed will be the ones creating the best conditions for talent to thrive. Technology will be increasingly accessible, but human capabilities like creativity, curiosity, collaboration, empathy, and innovation will be differentiators. HR's role evolves from managing people processes, policies, and practices to architecting environments where people and technology work seamlessly together. The future belongs to those who intentionally unlock the potential of individuals through inclusion, growth, psychological safety, and opportunity.

Raj’s Album: Moondance, Van Morrison

Ewen MacPherson, Group Chief People Officer | Havas UK

To talk about HR’s strategic value, I think of the organisation like a game of chess, and HR’s role as the queen. All pieces on a chessboard are restricted to their individual patterns of movement, but the queen can pretty much move wherever and however she likes. No other discipline or role can move as freely through an organisation in the way HR can, and we need to leverage this ability much more than most HR folks do. It helps to enhance thinking, makes connections in different and better ways, and unlocks powerful insights.

Ewen’s Album: Echolalia, Something for Kate

Sharon Doherty, Chief People & Places Officer | Lloyds Banking Group

Don't see investing in the next generation of talent as a cost, see it as one of the most important investments you'll ever make. When economic pressure, skills shortages, and rapid technological change dominate the agenda, it's easy to focus only on immediate priorities. But that's exactly when investment in future talent matters most. AI and technology will continue to reshape work, yet the need for talented, adaptable people remains constant. We must continue creating opportunities through apprenticeships, graduate programmes, reskilling, and non-traditional routes into employment.

Sharon’s Album: 1000 Forms of Fear, Sia

Alix Bolton, Chief People Officer | Smollan

Stop trying to make HR more complicated! The biggest impact often comes from removing complexity, not adding programmes. If your managers need a guidebook to lead, or employees need a flowchart to get something done, you've probably designed the process for HR rather than the business. Great people functions create clarity... clear expectations, simple decisions, and consistent experiences. Technology matters, data matters, and AI will continue to reshape our profession, but simplicity will remain a competitive advantage. The organisations that move fastest whilst creating value will be those that make it easier for people to do great work.

Alix’s Album: Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

Katie Roland, Chief Human Resources Officer | KCSA Communications

Being clear is kind. It has shaped how I lead and how I feel about this job. Once I looked at hard conversations as kindnesses, they became much easier to have. When an employee isn't performing, be clear. Set the expectations, name where they're falling short, and define a path forward. When a company is managing something hard, tell employees what's happening and what's next, even if the ‘next’ is still being figured out.

Katie’s Album: The Bridgerton Soundtrack, Various

Hannah Gore, Head of People | QS

Learning should be designed as part of the organisation’s core infrastructure, not treated as an add-on. Transformation is most successful when people understand where the organisation is going, feel confident in their ability to contribute, and can see a genuine connection between their development and future opportunities. People leaders have a responsibility to make capability intentional, visible and accessible, rather than something shaped by location, sponsorship, or informal networks. When learning is embedded into performance, careers, leadership, and workforce planning, it gives people the confidence to grow, opens doors more fairly, and strengthens the organisation’s ability to evolve.

Hannah’s Album: Onka’s Big Moka, Toploader

Macaire Montini, VP of People & Culture, Americas | HiBob

Think of your role in HR as an orchestra conductor. In the rush to adopt AI, leaders often demand a symphony without giving employees the time or training to master their new instruments. AI should enhance human capability, not overwhelm it. Our vital role as conductors is to advocate for our people, creating the space, training, and time for them to learn their craft so we can transform technological chaos into true organisational harmony.

Macaire’s Album: Born This Way, Lady Gaga

Vicky Walker, Chief People Officer | Westfield Health

Stop treating high performance and compassion as a trade-off. Most HR strategies still frame them as opposite ends of a dial: turn up accountability and empathy has to give way, or vice versa. We've built our whole leadership approach on the opposite idea, because they're not in tension at all. The most commercially driven, decisive leaders are also the most psychologically safe to work for, because people do their best work when they trust the person asking things of them.

Vicky’s Album: Come Away with Me, Norah Jones

Jeanette Wheeler, Chief People Officer | MHR

The most important mindset shift I've worked with the leadership team to implement across the business is purpose-led leadership. It makes sure we're drawing in top talent, keeps them committed through disruption, and empowers people to stay high performing. Retaining people now means businesses need a strong purpose in place. Something that aligns everyone around a shared long-term agenda, ensuring the business can endure and thrive. That's where we've seen the most value being driven at MHR.

Jeanette’s Album: London 0 Hull 4, The Housemartins

Hendrix Timu, Head of Learning & Development | JPMorgan

Always start by framing the problem that you’re trying to solve, before jumping into the solution. We don’t have time or money to invest in the wrong things anymore. Also, think about your team's value proposition in the age of AI.

Hendrix’s Album: Teen Dream, Beach House

Niki Coppard, Chief People Officer | Medivet

You're never just an HR professional; you're a business leader, and that changes everything. Instead of spending time on people plans and processes, spend your energy focused on asking, 'What's the value-creating outcome for our people? For the business? For the customer?’ Pace matters. Every week is 2% of your year, so don't bank all your value on a plan landing in one or two years. Take progress over perfection, apply the 80:20 rule, and create value this week.

Niki’s Album: This One's for You, Luke Combs

Rickey Carroll, Senior Director of People Analytics | Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits

Corporate politics? Yuck… unless you shift your mindset! Organisational politics and silos are only notional obstacles. Viewed more positively, these terms merely represent relationship and stakeholder management opportunities. If you want your talent to be seen and your initiatives supported, you simply need to proactively invite others in. Whether requesting feedback, input, support, or collaboration, by inviting others into your process, projects, successes, and (yes) failures, you will inherently display positive vulnerability, humility, and a willingness to partner. Those you invite in will respond in kind.

Rickey’s Album: The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers, Punch Brothers

Lucy Graley, Chief People Officer | The Royal Parks

Don’t assume every people problem needs an HR solution. Often, the real issue is how work has been designed: unclear priorities, unnecessary processes, conflicting expectations, or decisions being made in the wrong place. Before introducing another policy or initiative, get curious about what is actually getting in people’s way. Simplifying the work itself can do far more for performance, wellbeing, and culture than adding another layer of HR activity.

Lucy’s Album: Sunday 8PM, Faithless

Becky Whorton, HR Director | Weetabix Food Company

Never underestimate the link between people and performance. When colleagues understand what is expected of them, feel supported to grow, and know their contribution matters, they are far more likely to do their best work. That means investing in clear goals, strong leadership, career development, recognition, and an inclusive culture where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. At Weetabix, our Brilliant People strategy brings these elements together, helping our people build skills and feel genuinely valued. When our people thrive, our business thrives too.

Becky’s Album: Hot Fuss, The Killers

Adeife Onwuzulike, Global Director of Culture, Engagement & Inclusion | Euromonitor International

The longer I work in HR, the less I believe our role is to have all the answers. In work and in life, we often navigate situations with only part of the picture. Employees, leaders, and organisations can live through the same moment and come away with very different truths, each shaped by their own priorities, pressures, and realities. My advice is simple: stay curious for longer. Seek understanding before judgement. Most challenges don't stem from bad intentions, but from the complexity of balancing different expectations. Curiosity, empathy, and perspective help us connect more meaningfully with one another.

Adeife’s Album: Child of God, Forrest Frank

Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, EVP & Chief People Officer | Alaska Airlines

I’ve had AI as part of my daily work since 2012, having spent much of my career at IBM and Microsoft. Today, as Chief People Officer at Alaska Airlines, Microsoft CoWork is truly transformational. It helps me synthesise complex information, prepare for meetings, and create presentations and content that reflect my voice and context. The result is work that is more insightful, visually compelling, and efficient, freeing up time for the strategic conversations that drive alignment, accelerate decisions, and unlock business momentum when it matters most.

Lindsay-Rae’s Album: The Definitive Collection, Lionel Richie

Michael Kienle, Global VP of Talent Acquisition | L'Oréal

There are a lot of skills that you need to master to be a good HR professional. But there is one that, strangely, nobody ever talks about: proximity to people and a deep understanding of who they really are, beyond their CVs, performance evaluations, etc. HR is first and foremost about human connection, and if you're more interested in numbers and processes, you should probably change jobs.

Michael’s Album: Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman

Jason Williams, Chief People Officer | Thomson Reuters

Know your business. What’s important to your end customers? Where are your growth opportunities? And how do you make money? Bringing this commercial approach has been my top advice to HR professionals for years. In the AI era, however, it has gone from important to imperative. The pace of change today makes conventional HR practices less relevant. Instead, commercial thinking helps to inform decisions when the path is unclear. If you understand your customers and your business, then your talent needs and priorities should come into focus.

Jason’s Album: Chris Cornell (Deluxe Edition), Chris Cornell

Mike Reilly, Chief People & Operations Officer | Wyndham Hotels

Show up as an enterprise architect, not an HR technician. Anchor every HR conversation in growth, margin, and portfolio outcomes, not just people programmes and policies. Before any initiative, ask: What P&L (profit and loss) or guest‑experience problem am I solving? How will this change affect work, roles, and decision rights? Which business metrics will move if we get it right? When HR leaders connect talent, structure, and leadership choices to tangible business results, they start being treated as architects of enterprise value.

Mike’s Album: Human After All, Daft Punk

Steve Collinson, Chief Human Resources Officer | Zurich UK

The best HR professionals are students of the business. Understand your customers, competitors, commercial model, and strategic challenges. The more fluent you are in how the organisation creates value (and who for!), the more relevant your people solutions become. Speak the language of the business, and HR starts being recognised as a partner on the pitch.

Steve’s Album: 1989, Taylor Swift

Mathew James Dutton, Chief People Officer | SpaceNK

HR’s greatest competitive advantage is proximity. The closer you are to your people and your leaders, the greater your ability to influence culture, shape decisions, and anticipate change. Relationships create the trust that allows you to challenge constructively, coach through difficult moments, and balance commercial ambition with fairness. Technical expertise earns credibility, but trusted relationships determine whether that expertise is sought, heard, and acted upon. Invest as much time in understanding the business and building authentic connections as you do in mastering employment law or HR practice. That’s where strategic influence is created.

Mathew’s Album: …But Seriously, Phil Collins

Meghna Punhani, Chief People Officer | Eightfold.ai

Don’t wait for a seat at the table. Pull up a chair. As organisations rethink how people and technology work together, HR has an opportunity to redesign work, develop new capabilities, and ensure technology serves people, not the other way around. If HR isn’t leading those conversations, work will be redesigned without people at the centre. This is our moment to lead from the front.

Meghna’s Album Recommendation: Dil Se (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), A.R. Rahman

Julie Woosey, Chief People Officer | The Growth Company

People analytics is the game-changer, especially if you want to have gravitas and impact at board level. Build the ability to link to business priorities and influence strategic decision-making. ‘Why is the turnover rate a problem? It’s low at 6%!’ – ‘Because this is stifling our ability to bring creative talent into the organisation and provide progression opportunities for our outstanding performers, so we will lose these people to our competitors, impacting our ability to innovate & grow.’ Drive a conversation about the right balance of turnover, in the right areas, and what interventions might be put into place to support this.

Julie’s Album: Faith, George Michael

Liudmila Glasunova, Chief Human Resources Officer | SOFTSWISS

Understand the business you're in. HR doesn't operate in a separate universe. People leaders need to know how the company makes money, what drives growth, where the pressure points are, and what stage of development the organisation is at, because a rapidly scaling company's HR needs can differ greatly from those of a mature organisation. And make sure you're using data to understand the real problem, rather than simply validating the solution you already have in mind. Sometimes, the most useful insight is that the problem you thought you had isn't the problem at all.

Liudmila’s Album: In Rainbows, Radiohead

Brad Williams, VP of Strategic Workforce Planning | Northwestern Mutual

Develop the same change agility in yourselves that you help build in others. HR is often at its best when guiding leaders and employees through uncertainty, but we don’t always give ourselves the same grace, curiosity, or adaptability when change affects us directly. Some of the most meaningful growth in my career has come from learning to view change not as something to endure, but as something to engage with. The future of HR will belong to professionals who can navigate ambiguity, stay grounded in purpose, and approach change with energy rather than resistance.

Brad’s Album: Before These Crowded Streets, Dave Matthews Band

Sally Neale, Chief People Officer | ArvatoConnect

I don't believe having all the answers makes you a good leader. In my opinion, expertise matters less than the ability to navigate disagreement and help teams find their way forward. Too many workplace tensions blow up because people have stopped trusting themselves to have honest conversations, jumping straight to formal process instead of just talking it out. HR has a huge role to play in rebuilding that muscle.

Sally’s Album: Sign 'O' the Times, Prince

Lyndsey Denning, Chief People Officer | Reconomy

Barack Obama put it well: “Just learn how to get stuff done.” Simple, but it’s often what separates good intentions from meaningful progress. I’ve been told this is what sets me apart - not having every answer but saying ‘Leave it with me’ and delivering. HR is brilliant at diagnosing problems, but the leaders who earn trust are the ones who execute.

Lyndsey’s Album: A/B, KALEO

Jo Mountney, Director of People, Culture & Inclusion | The Motor Neurone Disease Association

The greatest growth happens just outside your comfort zone. Throughout my career, the moments that have challenged me most have also taught me the most, whether that's leading transformation, making difficult decisions, or taking on a role that felt just beyond my experience. I'd encourage every HR professional to say yes to opportunities that stretch them. Growth rarely comes from playing it safe. It comes from embracing uncertainty, learning quickly, and having the confidence to keep moving forward.

Jo’s Album: ÷, Ed Sheeran

Neil Morrison, Group HR & Communications Director | Severn Trent Water

Credibility, influence, and trust are earned through every interaction you have every day. Understand the commercial reality, solve real problems, challenge constructively, and do what you say you'll do. Own a positive, future-focused agenda, not just the here and now. Listen more than you speak, bring insight rather than process, and always put the organisation's interests ahead of your own. You get a seat at the table when people want you in the room because of the contribution you make, not because of your belief you should be there.

Neil’s Album: Disintegration, The Cure

Jim White, Chief Culture Officer | Ignite Medical Resorts

From an HR perspective, I’ve focused on leading through empathy. I try to always focus on the work that’s done. I remember and recognise that my employees are human, and coach collaboratively when my team may be having a bad day. Always outline the expectation, which hopefully leads to a clear result.

Jim’s Album: The Essential Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson

Chris Kim, Chief People Officer | Cision

My biggest advice to people leaders is to develop commercial and P&L sensitivity. Understand how the business makes money, where it spends, and the pressures it is operating under. That means treating company resources as carefully as you would your own and considering the financial impact of every recommendation. It doesn’t mean investing less in people but being clear about where that investment will make the greatest difference. People leaders are most effective when they can balance employee needs with commercial reality and help the business make thoughtful, sustainable decisions.

Chris’ Album: And You Are Me, Uncle Lucius

Martin Cerullo, Chief People Officer | Pleo

Having hired and developed HR professionals across different regions, industries, and company stages, I really believe we need to ensure the HR career path has at least one, if not multiple, stops outside the HR function. Whether this is P&L ownership in a consulting firm or meaningful assignments in other departments within the company, like finance, tech, or frontline operations, I’ve seen how these experiences strengthen an HR professional’s T-shaped profile – specifically commerciality, influencing, communication, and data analysis and interpretation. I’d encourage HR professionals to seek these opportunities and CHROs to implement intentional programmes with cross-functional exposure.

Martin’s Album: Disintegration, The Cure

Ceri Connolly, Culture, Leadership & Talent Director | Lloyds Banking Group

One of our most popular benefits is Flex Summer. It’s built around a simple idea: people value flexibility most when life is fullest. During the summer months, we relax our office attendance requirements and give colleagues extra freedom to make the most of longer sunny days in a location that works best for them. It's a small change that has become a highly valued part of our colleague experience because it recognises that work and life don't look the same all year round. This type of symbolic recognition of colleagues’ life moments drives strong engagement and creates active brand advocates with no real cost to a business. 

Ceri’s Album: Elisabeth, Zach Bryan

Faye Longhurst, Regional People Lead Europe | Canva

When we asked our team what they needed to feel confident with AI, the answer was simple: time to learn, experiment, fail, and try again. That’s why we introduced AI Discovery Week last year – a week of learning where our global team pause normal day-to-day work to focus entirely on AI training. Learning something new is slow at first, and squeezed learning tends to produce rushed, mediocre work. We’ve paused the whole company for a week twice now. And while a week is not feasible for many, even a few hours of dedicated time still beats months of encouragement.

Faye’s Album: The Way I Am, Luke Combs

Heidi Manna, EVP & Chief People Officer | Jazz Pharmaceuticals

View flexibility as a business strategy. Our flexible work model, Jazz Remix, balances business needs with trust, transparency, and team autonomy. By putting decisions about ways of working in teams' hands, we've seen employees create rhythms that strengthen both performance and culture.

Heidi’s Album: Kind of Blue, Miles Davis

Christine Park, Chief People & AI Transformation Officer | Branch.io

Approach AI transformation with intentionality. First, spend 80% of your effort on the foundation – your data, policies, content, knowledge management, governance, and logic – and 20% on AI activation. No one wants to do the underbelly of the iceberg, but without it, you cannot accelerate. Then, take the simplest HR workflow, the most repetitive, annoying thing, and automate that first. Let people experiment, make a mess, and experience one small win. That is when they start to feel limitless. Finally, do not look at AI as cost-cutting. It is an amplifier.

Christine’s Album: Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa

Michael Adamson, Chief People Officer | UST

Make talent enablement a core part of your AI strategy rather than an afterthought. Organisations will only become truly AI-native if their people have the skills, confidence, and opportunities to apply AI effectively. At UST, we’re putting this into practice through our partnership with Anthropic, including plans to certify 20,000 associates worldwide on Claude, from architects to engineers, equipping them to build and innovate at an enterprise scale. This builds on initiatives such as AccelerateUS, which combines practical training and mentorship to widen access to AI and digital skills.

Michael’s Album: Dandelion, Ella Langley

Karen Lough, Director of People | Ciphr

Build a values-led behavioural framework and take it with you everywhere. Early on in my career, I created my first one – translating our organisational values into observable behaviours at every level. It became the linchpin of everything we did culturally, in performance management, leadership development, recruitment, and onboarding. It gave managers something they'd never had, a genuine blueprint for what good looks like, so performance conversations became grounded in shared language rather than opinion. I've built or refined a version in every role.

Karen’s Album: Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette

Gabrielle Johnson, Group Head of Talent Acquisition | TFG Brands

Commit to removing barriers to work. Before you audit your candidate pool for diversity, audit your job descriptions and hiring journeys for barriers. So many inclusion efforts stall because the barriers were built into the posting itself – inflated experience thresholds, unnecessary degree requirements, vague ‘culture fit’ language. I now ask of every requirement and experience: does this predict success, or does it just predict privilege? Separate the genuine must-haves from nice-to-haves. Real inclusion means fixing the system, not expecting candidates to work around it.

Gabrielle’s Album: Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves

Erin McAuley, Chief People Officer | Springline Advisory

Don’t leave culture to chance. Every organisation has one, whether intentionally shaped or accidentally created. The strongest values are both present and aspirational. At Springline, our employees created our values, capturing what was already true and who we wanted to become together. HR’s role isn’t to control, brand, or own culture. Think of yourself as a culture coach: help people pull forward the best of the organisation, create the conditions to strengthen it, and build shared ownership for what comes next. We co-create culture every day.

Erin’s Album: Drops of Jupiter, Train

Matt Castillo, Director of Employee Listening | Ascension

Autonomy is an effective way to improve both the employee experience and business outcomes. In a previous role, listening surveys revealed that most employees would trade one company-paid holiday per year for the flexibility to choose when to take the remaining ones. We acted on this feedback and moved from fixed to floating holidays, which saved money and improved employee engagement and retention.

Matt’s Album: The Rainbow Goblins, Masayoshi Takanaka

Catherine Duffy, Chief People & Sustainability Officer | Costain

An individual’s technical ability is only half the equation. Our hiring managers look for four essential behaviours to drive performance and culture. The first is collaboration. Infrastructure is delivered through teams, so we look for people who work effectively with others towards a common goal. We also encourage curiosity, so our people ask questions and challenge how things are done. We also champion courage and the ability to contribute ideas, both from a safety perspective but also to drive innovation. Finally, care. We want people who are considerate, compassionate, and committed to supporting colleagues and clients.

Catherine’s Album: Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

Gillian McKenna, Chief People Officer | Generation

Recognise that career development and promotion are not the same thing. At Generation, as a relatively flat, fully remote global organisation, there is an emphasis on building skills, broadening experience, and taking on stretch opportunities, rather than simply moving to the next title. Organisations that take this approach tend to develop more engaged, adaptable, and resilient workforces.

Gillian’s Album: Deep Focus Music Spotify Playlist, Brainy

Angela Cheng-Cimini, Chief Human Resources Officer | The Chronicle of Philanthropy

An employee had lost her father. He lived in India, and she worked in Massachusetts. The travel alone would have consumed the seven-day bereavement period. In response, I abolished the fixed time period and allowed her to partner with her manager to determine the amount of leave that was reasonable. Grief affects each of us differently. A one-size-fits-all funeral leave policy cannot adequately support an employee through such a personal time. This experience changed my approach to employee handbooks. Now, they are as thin as my legal team will allow. The rest is forgiveness and common sense.

Angela’s Album: Piano Man, Billy Joel

Catty Bennet Sattler, Chief Human Resources Officer | UNHCR

I believe strongly in shared leadership: the leader’s role is not to have all the answers, but to create the conditions for the best answers to emerge. Set a clear direction, then deliberately draw on different voices, expertise, and perspectives, and give people real ownership to lead. Collective intelligence will almost always beat individual brilliance. For me, leadership is ultimately about bringing out the best thinking in the room, then having the clarity and courage to turn it into action.

Catty’s Album: Red (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift

Heather Gupta, SVP of People & Culture | BritBox

Values are everything. If you don't know what you stand for as a leader, or your organisation doesn't have a clear set of values that genuinely drive behaviour and decision-making, culture quickly becomes rudderless. Take the time to understand what sits at the very core of who you are and what motivates you. Then make sure your organisation's values are lived every day, not just written on a wall. Finally, look for alignment between the two. When people can bring their authentic selves to work in an organisation whose values they genuinely believe in, that's when people, culture, and performance really thrive.

Heather’s Album: Hunky Dory, David Bowie

Rebekah Martin, SVP of HR | AstraZeneca

Better decisions come from bringing in the right voices at the right time, instead of always calling on the same people. When we recognise that people who bring different perspectives and experience to the table can be game changers, teams are more likely to challenge assumptions and spot what others may have missed. That's how we avoid groupthink and achieve better outcomes.

Rebekah’s Album: Love Dealer, Lack of Afro

John Townsley, Chief Human Resources Officer | Trajus

At a previous employer, we needed a game-changing action plan to change the culture. We focused on aligning daily leadership behaviour with our stated core values, focusing specifically on what leaders would reward and tolerate.

Our leadership team chose to implement a culture change from the book by Patrick Lencioni, The Ideal Team Player. We operationalised the three virtues: Humble, Hungry, and Smart. The transition required embedding these specific traits into our daily operations.

John's Album: The Cars, The Cars

Henry Watson, Chief People Officer | ONS

I have always believed that the HR function should be the best place to work in any organisation. Whether it's line management, workplace culture, or managing poor performance, we should lead by example in the behaviours we ask of others. Credibility comes less from excellent policies, systems, or processes than it does from demonstrating them in practice, day in, day out. One of my team often talks about "bringing the weather" – the idea that every interaction shapes the working environment around us. HR professionals are uniquely well-placed to set the tone, build trust, and create positive cultures through their everyday actions.

Henry’s Album: If You’re Feeling Sinister, Belle and Sebastian

Lindsay Bridges, Global Head of HR | DHL Supply Chain 

Think of careers as climbing frames, not ladders. Some of my most valuable career experiences came from lateral moves, moving from operations into HR, between different HR specialisms, or across countries. Not every move came with a promotion, but each gave me new experiences, perspectives and skills. Create cultures where people feel encouraged to move sideways and try something different. Colleagues should feel positive about building their careers through experiences, and not just job titles. Sometimes moving sideways is exactly what someone needs to move forward.

Lindsay’s Album: Reckless, Bryan Adams

Mannie Neville, Director of People (Cobham) | Chelsea Football Club

Ask yourself why you are there and what matters most. In our training ground environment, players and teams are the focus of every decision and every interaction. By placing them at the heart of our people strategy, we create a clear sense of purpose while enabling our people to thrive and perform at their best, connected by a shared commitment to high performance and results.

Mannie’s Album: Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, Sam Cooke

Veronica Calderon, Chief Belonging & University Relations Officer | DeVry University

Culture is not what we say. It’s what people experience. Leaders must stop treating culture as an HR initiative and start leading it as a business strategy, bringing the mission to life by putting people first. People want to feel trusted, valued, and connected to purpose. Belonging is about creating an environment where everyone can contribute at their best. When people thrive, performance follows. HR has the opportunity to build the foundation where culture, leadership, and business success become inseparable.

Veronica’s Album: DtMF, Bad Bunny

Sophie Mackenzie, People & Talent Director | Ebury

Think about how easily we move money or goods across borders – why shouldn't talent work the same way? We have over 50 nationalities in 30 markets, so diversity is literally what powers Ebury. But you can't get high performance without a strong foundation of psychological safety. When people feel comfortable being who they really are, the walls between teams fall away. It’s about building a workplace where genuine friendships grow, and everyone feels like they’re home.

Sophie’s Album: Surf, Roddy Frame

Vanessa Ribreau, Chief People Officer | Safe Software

In my last role, we embraced a freedom and responsibility approach, based on the Netflix Culture: raising the bar on accountability and expectations, treating people like adults, and giving them real autonomy in return. It's a trade: clarity and trust from us, ownership and judgment from them. We saw people move faster, take more initiative, and report being happier at work. It's a shift I believe in and one I'm bringing to Safe Software, replacing control as the default lever with clarity plus trust.

Vanessa’s Album: Greatest, Bee Gees

Amy Nordness, Chief People Officer | iManage

Embrace a growth mindset approach to AI adoption that keeps your people at the centre. This shifts the conversation from ‘Let AI do it all’ or ‘Ignore AI entirely’ to ‘We're developing these capabilities together.’ I see this grounded in three pillars: AI fluency fuels confident collaboration and innovation; critical thinking & accountability empower decision-makers to evaluate every outcome; adaptability & learning velocity enable experimentation without perfection paralysis. A mindset that normalises mistakes as learning opportunities, and invests in upskilling rather than replacing, is your competitive advantage.

Amy’s Album: Fearless (Taylor's Version), Taylor Swift

Kirstie Loveridge, Chief People Officer | AEG International

Involve your HR team in shaping how AI is used, rather than imposing it on them. We have invested in dedicated AI training for our People & Culture team and collaborated to identify where the technology could make the biggest difference. For example, we receive an average of 250 routine staff queries every week, so our first development is a SharePoint chatbot to handle these, freeing up our team to focus on more strategic and developmental work. Ultimately, HR needs to lead on how the department uses AI, or risk being left behind as investment and attention move elsewhere.

Kirstie’s Album: Purple Rain, Prince

Joe Shahmoradian, Director of Talent Acquisition EMEA | Morningstar

Treat AI adoption as work redesign rather than technology deployment. Automating individual tasks can create pockets of efficiency, but meaningful transformation comes from reconsidering workflows, where human judgement adds the most value, and how the time released by AI will be reinvested. Organisations will benefit most when they connect technology, process, skills, and accountability to achieve meaningful business outcomes, rather than implementing disconnected tools that deliver only isolated productivity gains. Map end-to-end workflows, identify the outcomes that matter, then implement AI where it can remove friction, while retaining clear and responsible human ownership of important decisions.

Joe’s Album: Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers

Charles Rue, Global Head of Talent Acquisition | S&P Global

Stop treating hiring, development, mobility, and workforce planning as separate processes. Too often, organisations collect valuable talent data during recruitment and then leave it behind once someone joins. The future belongs to HR teams that build connected talent ecosystems, where skills, assessments, career aspirations, and performance signals flow across the entire employee lifecycle. AI will make many HR processes faster, but the bigger opportunity is turning fragmented data into better talent decisions. The goal is converting better visibility into capability, potential, and opportunity so people can grow and organisations can adapt faster.

Charles’ Album: Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

Vera Solomatina, Chief Human Resources Officer | inDrive

Grow the system, not the headcount. When a business scales, the instinct is to add people, but more people make a company slower. The real job of HR at scale is to design how workflows, how decisions get made, and how the model holds together – so the company can double without doubling its problems. Start from the goal and the business model, then build the smallest, simplest structure that gets you there.

Vera’s Album: Absolution, Muse

Amber Fraser, People Operations Lead | Octopus Money

I try to regularly review how much of my time is split between 'HR for HR', meaning all the administrative critical things that need to get done such as payrolls, and 'HR for the business' such as architecting performance, and other high-visibility and high-impact changes.

If there's too much of the first part, either I'm not being efficient enough, or the function isn't having the right impact. HR for HR can feel quite thankless sometimes, so it helps to regularly review my time to make sure the function is having a tangible, visible impact.

Amber’s Album: Una Mattina, Ludovico Einaudi

Nuria Munoz, Head of Talent Acquisition | Munich Re

Don't wait for your hiring managers to tell you what they need. By the time they do, you're already behind. Use your workforce data to predict what's coming and build your talent pipelines ahead of that demand. There's no such thing as 'traditional' workforce planning anymore. It needs to be predictive. Reactive recruitment is always costly. A proactive approach is far more effective, and it only works if candidate experience is at the core of your strategy.

Nuria’s Album: Dónde Están los Ladrones?, Shakira

Rebecca Port, Chief People Officer | Okta

When HR leaders think about AI, the conversation too often gets stuck on tools and software. The real value comes from looking at how work actually gets done. It requires the willingness to rethink roles, responsibilities, and workflows around what AI can genuinely enable. Before implementing any AI initiative, leaders should ask two fundamental questions: Does this actually improve the employee experience? And is it cost-effective? There’s a strong temptation to automate simply because we can, but just because something can be automated, it doesn't necessarily mean it should.

Rebecca’s Album: Smokey’s Soultown, Various

Michelle Kilroy, Chief People Officer | The Weather Company

Make the why just as visible as the what. Transparency is about helping employees understand the thinking behind decisions, not just communicating the outcome. When leaders provide context, explain the factors that shaped a decision and connect it back to the organisation’s mission, employees are better equipped to move forward with confidence. As I often say, when people understand the why, they don’t just comply; they commit. That shared understanding builds trust and helps organisations navigate change with greater resilience. 

Michelle’s Album: Rites of Passage, The Indigo Girls

Claire Canty, HR Director | Weetabix Food Company

Communication can make or break a change. It’s not enough to simply announce what is happening and expect everyone to come on the journey. People take in information differently, and some will need more context or reassurance than others. That’s why communication needs to be clear, accessible, and shaped around the people receiving it. It should also create space for honest questions and different perspectives. When people feel they have been listened to, rather than spoken at, they are much more likely to trust the process. That sense of inclusion can make a real difference to engagement and the success of the change.

Claire’s Album: Hamilton: An American Musical, The Original Broadway Cast

Michael Vavakis, Chief People, Transformation & ESG Officer | Ricoh EMEA

Involve people earlier than feels comfortable. Too often, organisations spend months designing change before speaking to the people it will affect most. In my experience, the best ideas, the most valuable insights, and the strongest advocates are often found much closer to the front line. When people are invited to contribute, rather than simply being asked to adopt change, engagement grows, decision-making improves, and outcomes are better.

Michael’s Album: Confessions II, Madonna