The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

Andy Doyle, Chief People & Agent Officer at Kantar,  joined us on The Modern People Leader. 
We talked about Kantar’s agentic HR transformation, why the future workforce will be a mix of humans and agents, and the four dimensions of AI we should be looking at when we think about who benefits from the AI gains.
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Sponsor Links:
🔗 Explore the 2026 ​Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report
🔗 Schedule a consultation with Manifest
🔗 Learn more about Tilt at hellotilt.com/mpl
MPL Links:
🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.
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(09:25) Why There Has Never Been a Better Time to Work in HR
(12:25) “What Would You Need to Believe to Take Another 50% Out?”
(14:00) Four Big HR Operating Model Changes at Kantar
(14:35) Moving From COEs to Business Capability Hubs
(15:35) Cutting the Bonus Cycle From 12 Weeks to 8 Days
(16:10) Why Kantar Took Business Partners Away From the Business
(18:00) Taking Workday Access Away From Business Partners
(20:40) Twelve Thousand People and Seventeen Thousand Agents
(22:30) Why Technology Has Become Disposable
(23:00) HR Building Agents Without the Technology Team
(26:45) Why HR Needs Clean Data and Better Foundations
(28:10) Rewriting 4,200 Policies for Agents to Read
(33:05) Why Leaders Must Build and Role Model Agents
(33:45) HR Analytics Agent That Reduced a Monthly Task From One Week to Ten Minutes
(35:10) Why Kantar’s TA Team Is Smaller, More Productive and More Engaged
(35:35) Sharing the AI Dividend Across Shareholders, Clients, Employees and Society
(39:00) Why Kantar Wants 80% From Agents and 20% From Human Judgment
(42:15) Why Everything Andy Knew About Change Has Gone Out the Window
(47:25) Rethinking the Five-Day Workweek and Vacation Time
(52:25) The Practice Andy Would Steal: Product Mindset in HR
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Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Luca Oake and Jessica Zwaan joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about building scalable L&D, why onboarding should be outcomes-focused instead of input-focused, and how AI, strong project runways, iteration, and builder mindsets can help people teams move faster.
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Sponsor Links:
🔗 Request a demo of Shapes
🔗 Learn more about Tilt at hellotilt.com/mpl
🔗 Learn more about Beqom at beqom.com/mpl
MPL Links:
🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.
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(08:05) Talentful’s Need for a More Scalable Onboarding Program
(13:35) Why L&D Needs to Focus on Outcomes, Not Inputs
(14:25) Why Learning Does Not Happen Until Behavior Changes
(14:55) How AI Changes the Role of Coaches and L&D Leaders
(16:25) Jessie on Using AI as a Tool, Not the Decision-Maker
(19:15) Why Jessie’s Upfront Brief Made the Work Faster
(20:40) Building a Smooth Runway for a Consultant
(22:00) Designing for Outcomes and Scale
(23:10) Flexible Operators and Expert Consultants as the Future of Work
(25:40) Making the Project a Talentful Priority, Not a Jessie Project
(26:45) Why Change Projects Need Strategic Seeding Across the Organization
(28:20) How AI Helped Luca Process Interviews, Transcripts and Documents
(29:00) Why Fractional Consultants Can Move Faster With AI
(30:10) Designing the Onboarding Wireframe in Less Than a Month
(35:15) The Complexity of Talentful’s Onboarding Program
(38:10) Zooming In Before Zooming Out With Stakeholders
(39:35) Building to Iterate, Not Just to Launch
(40:10) The Biggest V1 to V2 Change: Four Weeks Down to One Week
(42:20) Why MVPs Matter in People Ops
(43:15) Why HR Needs Permission to Iterate
(45:50) Why Moving Quickly Is No Longer Optional
(52:35) Why Feelings Are Data, Not Facts
(53:25) Why the Best L&D Is Building
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📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps
💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn
😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn
😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn
---- 
Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Dan Mishin, Founder & CEO of Manifest OS, joined us on The Modern People Leader. 
We talked about how Manifest is rebuilding immigration law for the AI era, why talent strategy now requires faster, more creative support for global employees, and how AI-native companies are changing management, engineering teams, vendor strategy, and the war for 10X talent.
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Sponsor Links:
🔗 Schedule a consultation with Manifest
🔗 Learn more about Beqom at beqom.com/mpl
MPL Links:
🔗Go sign up for MPL Build.
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(13:00) Charlie Munger, Incentives and the AI Economy
(14:30) The Problem With Billable Hours
(15:20) Why Legal Pricing Should Be Fixed, Transparent and Outcome-Based
(20:45) Immigration as a Talent Acquisition and Retention Lever
(21:40) Why Tech Companies Need Creative Immigration Strategy
(23:25) How AI Frees Lawyers to Focus on Strategy and Service
(25:20) Why High Output Management No Longer Fits the AI Era
(26:20) How Manifest Structures AI-Native Teams
(26:45) One AI Engineer, One Lawyer and Full Autonomy
(27:20) Using AI Agents to Orchestrate Work and Avoid Duplication
(30:00) Treating AI Agents Like Independent Employees
(31:20) Why CEOs Need Daily AI Education Time
(31:45) Hiring People Who Grew Up AI-Native
(32:10) Why Dan Does Not Want Professional Managers in Technical Roles
(36:20) Rethinking Vendor Strategy Around AI-Native Partners
(38:00) Why Executives Should Do the Grunt Work
(40:25) Revisiting Decisions in Real Time
(41:00) Why Going Back Down the Mountain Is So Hard
(42:25) The New Talent Strategy in the AI Economy
(43:40) Why A-Players Have 10X More Leverage Now
(46:40) Career Advice: HR Needs to Become HR Plus Ops Plus Product
---- 
📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps
💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn
😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn
😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn
---- 
Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Laura McGann joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about why change management no longer feels like the right term, how the ADKAR framework helps people name where they are stuck, and what leaders need to do as AI, velocity, overwhelm, and constant change reshape work.
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Sponsor Links:
🔗 Request a demo of Shapes
🔗 Learn more about Tilt at hellotilt.com/mpl
🔗 Explore the 2026 ​Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report
MPL Links:
🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.
----  
(12:25) Why “Change Management” No Longer Feels Like the Right Term
(17:35) Why Defining Success Is the Most Important Part of Change
(18:20) People-Side Metrics: Utilization, Adoption and Proficiency
(21:10) Why Change No Longer Has Clear End Dates
(22:20) No Recovery Gap and the Rise of Change Fatigue
(25:10) Naming What Is Happening Through ADKAR
(25:35) ADKAR: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement
(26:40) Using ADKAR to Name Where You Are Stuck
(29:00) Why Leaders Often Skip Awareness and Desire
(29:45) AI and the Perpetual Knowledge-to-Ability Cycle
(33:30) Why the Pace of Change Feels So Uncomfortable
(35:10) Why Leaders Need a Portfolio View of Change
(38:10) Why Leaders Should Not Be Afraid to Say “Overwhelmed”
(41:00) What Future Leaders Need to Learn About AI
(45:45) Why Leaders Need Hands on Keyboards
(46:30) AI as an Enabler of Business Strategy, Not the Strategy
(47:15) Daniel’s Suitcase Metaphor for Manager Overload
(50:00) Deciding What AI Can Do and What Must Stay Human
(52:00) Stephen on Knowing What Not to Do
(56:00) Career Advice: Learn the Business Before You Try to Change It
---- 
📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps
💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn
😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn
😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn
---- 
Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Olivia Williams joined us on The Modern People Leader. 
We talked about how Vercel shortened its performance review cycle from 11 weeks to two weeks and how they built a 15-factor flight risk tool to retain top talent.
----  
Sponsor Links:
🔗 Request a demo of Shapes
MPL Links:
🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.
----  
(12:25) Why Vercel Rethought Its Performance Review Cycle
(13:35) Realizing Vercel Was Spending Five Months a Year in Review Mode
(14:05) Why Most Employees Submitted Reviews on the Last Day Anyway
(14:40) Cutting the Review Cycle From 11 Weeks to Two Weeks
(17:35) Faster Feedback and More Relevant Review Conversations
(18:55) What the Two-Week Review Cycle Looks Like
(20:50) Treating the Review Cycle Like a Product for the Business
(22:10) PerfBot and Continuous Monthly Feedback
(22:35) Why Olivia Wants to “Kill Culture Amp”
(24:05) Monthly Slack Check-Ins With Three Simple Questions
(26:00) Hiring an HR Technologist Inside the People Org
(27:15) Stephen’s Rant: Why Traditional SaaS Tools Are Cooked
(29:45) The Importance of Play, Curiosity and Building
(30:20) Why People Teams Need AI Muscle and HR Technologists
(32:30) Olivia Demos PerfBot in Slack
(37:40) Vercel’s Employee Health Score and Attrition Risk Tool
(40:40) Using Claude to Analyze 15 Employee Risk Factors
(43:20) Thinking of HR as a Product for Employees
(46:45) Advice for People Teams With Head Trash Around AI
(49:00) Why Companies Should Bake in Time to Build
---- 
📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps
💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn
😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn
😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn
---- 
Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.