The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerX, joined us on The Modern People Leader. 
We talked about why workplace dread is increasing in today’s environment, what Claude has learned from Gen Z employees, and how leaders can leave their “heart print” on the people they work with.
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(04:24) Claude’s Career Story: From Athlete to Chief Heart Officer
(10:54) What VaynerX Does: Modern Marketing and Creative Ecosystem
(13:13) Building a Learning Culture and Developing People Internally
(15:51) Why Workplace Dread Is Increasing in Today’s Environment
(18:16) The Importance of Self-Awareness and Emotional Control
(20:30) Supporting Teams Without Having All the Answers as a Leader
(20:56) What Claude Has Learned from Gen Z Employees
(23:06) The Challenge of Patience and Career Growth Expectations
(24:42) Why Relationships Matter More Than Ever at Work
(26:51) The Impact of COVID and Isolation on Younger Generations
(29:23) Overcoming Workplace Dread Through Action and Learning
(31:51) Paying It Forward and Supporting Others in Their Growth
(33:38) What It Means to Leave a “Heartprint” at Work
(35:17) Emotional Optimism, Bravery, and Efficiency Explained
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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.

Zachary Parris, who’s re-imagining talent development for the AI era at Google, joined us on The Modern People Leader. 
We talked about how AI is turning HR leaders into builders, why product thinking is replacing traditional HR programs, and how anyone can now create impactful tools without a technical background. 
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🔗 Book a conversation with Compete at compete.com/mpl
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(08:39) Zach’s Career Story
(13:56) The Shift into AI Product Building and Internal Tool Creation
(14:29) Zach’s New Role at Google and Product-Driven HR
(16:07) What People Get Wrong About Google Today
(18:26) How HR Used to Operate vs. How AI Is Changing Everything
(20:21) Early Skepticism Around Product-Led HR
(22:00) The Breakthrough Moment: Building an AI Agent in Days
(25:09) Shifting from Programs to Products in HR
(25:53) New Skills Required: Problem Statements and Deep Focus Work
(28:20) Example: Driving Product Adoption Through Onboarding Design
(30:39) How User Research Changes in a Product-Led HR Model
(32:30) Expanding Inputs: From Surveys to Real User Interaction and Feedback
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😊 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.

Deborah Yount, CHRO at Sutter Health, joined us on The Modern People Leader to share her journey from finance to leading HR at one of the largest healthcare systems in the U.S. We discussed how Sutter reduced turnover by nearly 40%, built a culture of leadership accountability, and scaled employee experience and development across 60,000+ employees.
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Sponsor Links:
🔗 Learn more about Tilt at hellotilt.com/mpl
🔗 Learn more about Wellthy at wellthy.com/mpl
MPL Links:
🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.
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(05:18) Deborah’s Career Journey: From Finance to CHRO
(08:15) Transition to Global Roles & Multinational Experience
(10:31) Why Healthcare: Mission-Driven Work & Impact on Lives
(11:21) Scale of Sutter Health: 60,000 Employees & Growing Network
(14:57) Mission, Patient Experience, and Workforce Impact
(16:22) Reducing Turnover from 18% to 9.8%: Key Results
(17:46) Where to Start: Leadership, Culture & Employee Listening
(19:06) Unique Challenges in Healthcare Workforce Experience
(20:55) Differences from Tech: Purpose-Driven Work in Healthcare
(22:00) “Power of One”: Bringing Thousands of Employees Together
(24:32) Biggest Levers Behind Turnover Reduction
(25:19) Fixing Early Attrition: Onboarding & Manager Enablement
(27:40) Creating Career Pathways & Employee Growth Opportunities
(28:00) Building a Development-for-All Strategy at Scale
(30:52) Embedding Career Conversations Across the Organization
(32:57) Leadership Modeling & Scaling Development Plans
(33:35) HR Tech Stack, AI Integration & Learning Platforms
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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.

Eva Majercsik (Chief People Officer) and Trevor Schulze (CIO) at Genesys joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how AI is reshaping how humans and machines work together, why CIO and CPO partnerships are more important than ever, and how to lead a human-centered AI transformation across the organization. 
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Sponsor Links:
🔗 Book a conversation with Compete at compete.com/mpl
🔗 Learn more about Tilt at hellotilt.com/mpl
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MPL Links:
🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.
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(06:37) Shift from CFO Partnerships to CIO-CPO Collaboration
(08:23) Evolution of the CHRO Role & Seat at the Table
(12:26) The Changing Nature of Work & Culture Transformation
(14:42) Why Collapsing CIO + CPO Roles is the Wrong Take
(16:51) The Power of CIO-CPO Partnership as a Force Multiplier
(17:49) How Eva & Trevor Actually Work Together Day-to-Day
(21:34) Rethinking Org Design, Bots, and Workforce Structure
(22:49) Redefining Success: KPIs, Incentives & AI Impact
(25:26) Why AI Transformation is Not One-Size-Fits-All
(26:24) From Strategy to Execution: Driving Cultural Adoption
(27:07) “AI Unlocked” & Building AI Literacy Across the Company
(29:33) Why You Shouldn’t “Boil the Ocean” with AI
(31:48) AI Hype, FOMO & Leadership Pressure
(32:06) Creating Psychological Safety & Responsible AI Adoption
(35:33) What’s Actually Realistic in the Next 2 Years of AI
(36:43) Human-Centered AI & Employees Owning Their Role Evolution
(38:35) Will Everyone Become AI Power Users?
(40:23) The Viral “AI Doomsday” Narrative vs Reality
(42:46) The Massive Reskilling Challenge Ahead
(43:34) Job Destruction vs Job Evolution & Creation
(47:12) Why Curiosity & Growth Mindset Will Define Winners
(47:54) The Most Important Skills: Curiosity, Judgment, Empathy
(49:18) Abundance Mindset: AI Creates More Opportunity
(51:15) Managing Fear, Emotional Load & AI Anxiety
(52:58) Why Every CPO Needs a Strong CIO Partnership
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📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps
💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn
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😊 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.

Amit Rapaport, Co-Founder & CEO of Compete, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about why most HR metrics don’t matter to your CEO, how to think like a CEO when looking at workforce data, and more.
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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/5-hr-rules
Sponsor Links:
🔗 Book a conversation with Compete at compete.com/mpl
MPL Links:
🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.
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(08:31) What Compete Does: AI Workforce Optimization Explained Simply
(11:17) Why Most HR Metrics Don’t Matter to CEOs
(14:47) Connecting Workforce Data to Business Outcomes and Revenue
(17:34) Hiring Inefficiencies and the Hidden Cost of Poor Talent Decisions
(18:03) Early Career Mistake: Reporting Data Without Strategic Context
(21:30) From Executor to Strategic Business Partner in HR
(22:33) Transitioning from HR Practitioner to Startup CEO
(24:59) The Reality of Entrepreneurship: Feedback, Pressure, and Growth
(27:14) Lessons from First-Time Founder Experiences and Challenges
(29:03) How HR Leaders Can Think Like Their CEO
(31:33) Aligning HR Metrics with Business Goals (Break-Even Example)
(35:29) Upskilling, AI, and Driving Business Impact Through HR
(37:24) Identifying High-Impact Employees and Productivity Signals
(39:51) How AI Transforms Workforce Analytics
(41:45) Human-in-the-Loop AI and Telling Better Data Stories
(45:02) Security, Privacy, and Handling Sensitive Workforce Data
---- 
📬 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.