C-Suite Strategy

C-Suite Collaboration

Share Your Voice

How do you build trust, alignment, and share wins with leaders in the C-suite? Learn from others, share your own stories, and ask for direct advice on partnership at the top.
Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

The #1 question Chief People Officers ask me

When I talk to chief people officers or HR leaders about to become chief people officers, they often ask me this: “What is my role on the executive team, and how do I expand my influence?” I decided to get HiBob CPO Nirit Peled-Muntz’s take. As usual, her wisdom speaks for itself. How have you found your footing in your exec team? Anything you would add to Nirit’s perspective?
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Lisa Lie
Lisa Lie
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategy

Quick tip: Write your email updates like a leader

One of the fastest ways for P&C to build credibility with the C-suite isn’t more data or longer updates. It’s how you communicate. Most people write in the order they think. Leaders read in the order decisions are made. So try this instead: Start with the outcome: What decision are you asking for? What do you want to happen? Name the issue: Briefly. In plain language. Framed around business impact, not HR activity/needs. State the next step: What you recommend and what happens if nothing changes. That’s it. When you lead with the outcome and anchor it to the business goals, your updates get read faster, your judgement is trusted more, and you’re pulled into better conversations earlier. Influence at this level isn’t about saying more. It’s about saying the right thing, in the right order.
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

What are you carrying into 2026 that you need to set down?

Most HR leaders I know are running on fumes right now. They’ve spent the year: Advocating for culture while navigating egos and politics Building systems while everyone else focused on outputs Holding tension that no one else wanted to name Being the person who cares... while proving they're strategic It's exhausting. And it all happens behind-the-scenes. One of the most powerful shifts I saw in the HR leaders I coach this year was learning to ask: "What's mine to carry?" So before you close out 2025, consider asking yourself: What am I carrying that isn't actually mine? Maybe it's: Responsibility for dynamics you can influence but don't control The belief that if you don't fix it, no one will Pressure to make everyone happy In 2026… You get to lead with clarity AND protect your energy. You get to care deeply AND set boundaries. You get to be strategic AND fully human. You don't have to choose. What are you leaving behind in 2025?
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

The busiest week of the year is when boundaries matter most

It's mid-December. Your calendar is packed with holiday parties, performance reviews, and "quick sync" requests that aren't quick at all. And if you're like most HR leaders, you're probably thinking: "I'll set boundaries in January." But here's what I learned coaching CPOs this year: The pattern you run during chaos is the pattern you'll default to all year long. If you're over-functioning now, you're teaching your organization what to expect from you in 2026. Boundaries aren't walls. They're clarity. They define what you're responsible for and what you're not. And the most respectful thing you can do (for yourself and for others) is get clear on them. Three micro-boundaries to try this week: Block one afternoon for thinking/reflection and treat it like a board meeting. No one gets that time but you. Create a "what I own" vs. "what I support" list for the requests coming at you. Not everything urgent is yours. Say this out loud once: "I can't take that on right now, but here's when I can revisit it." Practice the pause. The chaos of December doesn't have to set the tone for your 2026. You can lead powerfully AND protect your energy. They're not mutually exclusive. If you downloaded the CPO guide, Chapter 9 goes deeper on this. If you haven't yet, grab it here: https://community.hibob.com/c-suite-strategy/discussions/post/this-ebook-is-for-every-hr-leader-who-s-ever-felt-misunderstood-tMKQIlYL1PBfHFQ What's a boundary you're committing to before the year ends?
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

This eBook is for every HR leader who's ever felt misunderstood, overextended, or undervalued.

HR leaders today are navigating tensions and dynamics that no one talks about. I spent 100+ hours coaching 5 Chief People Officers from 5 different companies in 2025, and the same themes kept coming up. So I decided to write a guide based on these raw, real conversations about power, purpose, and pressure in the top HR seat. This eBook covers four themes. Each chapter stands alone. Start wherever you need it most: Strategy - How to shift from “fixer” to “architect” Executive Team Dynamics - The invisible coaching work you're already doing and how to speak up without diluting your message Culture - Why culture is a reflection of “what leadership tolerates” and what to do about toxic top performers everyone protects Emotional Labor - The weight you're carrying, the boundaries you need, and why caring better (not less) is the answer This is for every HR leader who's ever felt misunderstood, overextended, or undervalued. And if you know a CPO who needs to hear this, please share it with them, too. After you read it, come back and tell me: What chapter hit home? What are you taking into 2026?
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

The Hardest 30 Seconds of Every Coaching Session

I ask my clients to share one thing they’re grateful for. And almost every time, I’m met with silence. These are brilliant CEOs, CPOs, and CHROs. People who can dissect complex org structures, navigate board dynamics, and make million-dollar decisions without blinking. But when I ask about gratitude, they struggle. One CEO told me last month, "Adam, this is honestly the hardest part of our sessions." I don’t think this is because my clients don't have good things happening, but because their minds are so consumed with business problems that pausing to see what IS working feels foreign. We’re wired to spot problems. Scan for risks. See the fire before anyone smells smoke. This is literally what makes leaders successful. But here's the thing—when problem-spotting becomes your only lens, it becomes your culture. Your team starts scanning for what's wrong because that's what gets attention. What gets rewarded. What feels safe to share. And slowly, the entire culture tilts toward the negative. Gratitude isn't fluff. It's neuroscience. It activates your brain's dopamine pathways—the same ones tied to motivation and decision-making. Leaders who practice it are rated more trustworthy and approachable, which builds the psychological safety that drives innovation. The fix isn't complicated. But it requires intention. Try this experiment in your next 1:1: Start with: "Tell me something that's going well." Not as a throwaway warm-up question. As a genuine curiosity about what's working. Watch what happens when your team realizes you notice the good, not just the gaps. My question for you: What's one thing going well in your organization right now that you haven't acknowledged yet? Drop it in the comments. Let's practice this together.
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Nirit Peled-Muntz
Nirit Peled-Muntz
Bobber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

Hi, I'm Nirit Peled-Muntz.

Looking forward to chatting with you more at In Good Company!
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

Can we all agree on something? HR leadership is lonely.

No one else really gets it. Not your executive team. Not your board. Not your spouse. Not your friends. None of them feel the weight you feel. The weight of secrets. The painful, confidential information you carry. Stories of mental health crises, harassment, and even crime. The weight of being the first to the CPO role, with no proven playbooks or frameworks to lean on. The weight of the role itself being new, compared to long-established executive titles like COO and CFO. The weight of the duality of being in executive-level conversations about layoffs and reorgs, and then immediately stepping into leading your own team. The weight of leading a cross-organizational function, where your role touches every single department and team. And what do we do? We hold it. We carry it. Alone. What if we changed that? What if we got honest about what this really feels like? So let’s be real with each other. Let’s discuss: What would you tell your executive team if you could be completely honest about what this role feels like? Who in your network has become your unofficial sounding board, and how did you find them? What assumption do people make about HR leadership that you wish you could correct?
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CHRO Leadership & Strategy

Share Your Voice

Discuss board dynamics, shifting from tactical to strategic HR, and what it’s really like to be the people leader at the executive table. War stories and strategy welcome.
Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

You're not interviewing the company. You're interviewing the CEO who can burn your reputation down.

Every HR leader I know does the same thing when they're looking at a new role. They study the scope. They research the company. They check the funding, the growth stage, the Glassdoor reviews. And they treat the CEO as a footnote. A nice conversation at the end of the process. A vibe check. Most often, the CPO tells me they had a "great dinner" and he was really nice. Great. That's the mistake. I once took a role where the scope was exactly what I wanted. The company looked right on paper. And I left, because the CEO was the entire problem and no job description was ever going to save me from that. Here's what HR leaders forget. We don't get to do our jobs at arm's length from the person at the top. Chief People Officers are the closest function to the CEO's worst instincts. We execute the layoffs they decide on. We deliver the PIPs they want. We manage the exits they order. We're the ones in the room when they make the call, and we're the ones whose name is on it when it goes badly. Ever heard of "disagree and commit?" That happens a lot as a leader, but the CPO really gets burned for it because they also represent the employees, not just the company. Remember, CEO doesn't just set your working conditions. They spend your credibility. Look at how this profession gets talked about. Every few months a founder or VC publishes a hot take about how HR is broken, bloated, or unnecessary. Harry Stebbings did it. Got a lot of engagement. And the irony is that half the time the thing they're blaming HR for was a CEO decision HR was told to carry out. The CEO sets the strategy, HR executes it, and when it lands badly, HR is the one left holding the reputational bill. We get blamed for the very things we didn't decide. That's the dynamic you're walking into when you pick a CEO. When they make a call that violates everything you stand for and you're the one who has to deliver it, the market doesn't blame the CEO. It blames you. You become the HR leader who ran the brutal layoff, who tolerated the toxic founder, who looked the other way. The CEO keeps raising. You wear it. So when you're evaluating your next role, the order is backwards. The CEO is not the last question. The CEO is the first one. Ask yourself whether you actually respect how this person makes decisions. Whether their values survive contact with pressure. Whether they'll own the hard calls publicly or quietly let you take the hit. Whether you'd be proud to have your name attached to theirs when things get ugly, because they will get ugly. A great scope under a CEO you don't trust is a trap. A modest scope under a CEO whose judgment you'd stake your name on is a career. So before you sign, ask yourself the real question. If this CEO makes the worst decision of their tenure, are you willing to have your name on it? What's the one CEO red flag you ignored that you'd never ignore again?
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Mita Mallick
Mita Mallick
·Posted in C-Suite Strategy

Get a Complimentary Copy of “The Devil Emails at Midnight”

On Thursday, March 19th at 2:00 PM ET, HiBob and achieve Engagement are hosting a fireside chat, giving away 200 complimentary copies of my latest book: The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn from Bad Bosses Want a copy? It’s easy: 1️⃣ Register for and attend the webcast 2️⃣ Leave a comment, question, emoji, or share a “bad boss” story in the comments section of this post That’s it, you’re guaranteed a free copy while supplies last! I’ll also be jumping back into the comments afterward to respond to questions and continue the conversation. Note: This giveaway is open to U.S. residents. If you’re outside the U.S. and would really like a copy, let us know, I’ll do my best to arrange a digital version.
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

HR and Finance Have Always Had a Fragmented Relationship

Only 2% of companies have a unified HR + Finance dashboard. Let that sink in. The two functions that control headcount, compensation, cash flow, runway, hiring velocity, and operating leverage… are rarely looking at the same source of truth. And then we wonder why we miss forecasts. The Hidden Disconnect In most companies, here’s what I’ve seen. HR is tracking headcount in one system Finance is modeling compensation in another Recruiting has its own pipeline view Department leaders are working off spreadsheets The CEO is looking at a board deck that’s already outdated Everyone is “data driven” but no one is aligned. Where This Breaks Down When HR and Finance aren’t unified, here’s what that looks like: Hiring plans don’t match cash reality Compensation changes don’t hit the forecast in time Backfills quietly expand payroll Sales capacity modeling is disconnected from hiring velocity Offer approvals become political instead of analytical The result? Surprises. And none of them are good. HR and Finance are operating in a silo but managing the biggest expense of the company - payroll. What a Unified Dashboard Actually Shows This isn’t about vanity metrics but rather, a real HR + Finance view which includes transparency on critical things like: Headcount plan vs actual by department Fully loaded cost per employee Compensation bands vs current distribution Hiring velocity vs revenue growth Burn impact per new hire Offer pipeline tied to cash runway Attrition risk mapped to financial exposure These aren’t “nice to haves.” These are operating disciplines and I know every HR and Finance leader has sat down to manage these things together. But it takes up so much time because both teams are viewing different dashboards. I spent hours, days, weeks and sometimes months (yes, months) to create and update spreadsheets to keep HR and Finance somewhat aligned, but it consisted of a lot of manual work and endless meetings between myself and the CFO. Ugh. Who is also running two parallel realities? Take this quick interactive survey to see where you stand as an HR leader when it comes to this fragmented relationship: https://www.hibob.com/hr-finance-interactive-survey/ .
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Jessica Zwaan
Jessica Zwaan
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

What moved me from People Ops to COO...

The skill that moved me from CHRO to COO wasn't people strategy. It wasn't my stakeholder management, my engagement scores, or my ability to run a very good offsite. And I want to share more of that kind of content here... It was commercial fluency. Specifically: learning to unify HR and Finance data in a way that let me speak the language of revenue impact instead of "culture" and "best practice." The thing I kept coming back to when I was feeling myself wanting to grow as a CPO was the gap between a great People leader and a great Operator isn't empathy, it isn't even strategy... it's whether you can walk into a board meeting and talk about trade-offs in terms your board really, truly cares about. New HiBob data makes for uncomfortable reading. Only 2% of organisations have unified visibility across people and finance data. Which probably explains why 68% say lack of timely data contributes to bad outcomes at least half the time, 65% can't ensure fair pay decisions without a combined view of people and budget, and 63% are working from inconsistent metrics across teams. That's not a tools problem. That's a positioning problem. If your People team can't connect its work to commercial outcomes, it will always be defending HR best practice instead of proposing commercial solutions that happen to involve people. The COO path from People Ops is genuinely viable... more so now than five years ago. But the entry ticket isn't an MBA. It's being able to show the board that headcount is 60% of spend, that your team manages the company's largest investment, and that you have the data to prove it's working (or flag clearly when it isn't). I'd love to hear from the community about how I can share more about these skills so that we can all benefit, whether we want to move to a C-suite role, or just contribute further than our current remit...
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

Most people have no idea what it's like to sit in the Chief People Officer seat

I spent 100+ hours coaching five different chief people officers last year. The same patterns kept showing up. Drop a comment below if this resonated, and/or if you'd like a copy of my 2026 leadership guide for HR leaders!
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

How to Clarify Your Personal Leadership Philosophy for 2026

A personal leadership philosophy isn't a manifesto you write once and frame on the wall. It's more like a compass you keep recalibrating when things get messy. A personal leadership philosophy won't make the hard decisions disappear. But it will make them clearer. You'll spend less time second-guessing yourself at 2 a.m., wondering if you made the right call. It answers two questions you probably ask yourself more than you'd like: How do I make decisions when there's no clear answer? Who do I want to be while I'm making them? Here's how to build one, followed by questions designed to help you get to your real answer; not the version you think will sound good on LinkedIn. What to include in your personal leadership philosophy Think in layers, not bullets. Each layer helps you when you're facing a different kind of pressure. 1. Your why (what drives you) Not your mission statement. The actual reason you keep doing this work. This is your fuel source when everything else runs dry. What problem in the workplace bothers you so much that you can't not try to fix it? What keeps you working on something even when no one's watching or thanking you? 2. Your view of people This shows up in every decision you make, whether you say it out loud or not. Do you believe people want to do good work? When someone's not performing, is it usually a skill problem, a clarity problem, or something else? Where's the line between giving someone grace and holding them accountable? 3. Your role as a leader What you see as your actual job once you strip away the org chart. Are you here to build systems? Protect culture? Translate between executives and employees? What's not your job anymore, even if you're still really good at it? 4. Your non-negotiables The things you won't compromise on, even under pressure. These are the rules you want decided before you're in the moment and everyone's looking at you for an answer. What boundaries matter most to you—around time, integrity, how people are treated? What lines won't you cross, even if your CEO asks you to? 5. Your decision-making filters How you choose when the data's incomplete and people are depending on you. What do you prioritize when two important things are in conflict? What questions do you ask yourself before saying yes or no? How do you catch yourself when your ego or fear is making the decision instead of your values? 6. Your relationship to power This matters especially for HR leaders. You have more influence than you think, and how you use it shows up everywhere. How do you use your influence to help people who don't have any? How do you tell the truth to executives when it's uncomfortable? How do you stay honest about what's happening without becoming the person who shields leadership from reality? 7. Your commitment to growth Both yours and the people around you. If your philosophy doesn't have room for you to change, it'll stop working. How do you expect yourself to keep growing? What do you want people to experience when they work with you? What do you want to be better at five years from now that you're not good at today? Want to dive deeper? Comment ✍🏼✍🏼 below and I’ll send you companion journaling prompts!
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Tali Sachs
Tali Sachs
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

What happens when leaders admit they got it wrong

What if the real mark of leadership isn’t getting it right but owning it when you don’t? This CNBC piece on Satya Nadella is a timely reminder that even the most respected leaders misstep. That’s not the failure. The failure is pretending it didn’t happen. Trust isn’t built through perfection. It’s built through accountability and through leaders who can pause, acknowledge the impact of their decisions, and rebuild connection with honesty and empathy. Because when leaders model humility, something powerful happens: People feel safer speaking up Teams recover faster from friction Organizations become more human, not just more efficient The companies that thrive won’t be the ones that never make mistakes. They’ll be the ones brave enough to repair them. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/11/microsoft-ceo-nadella-says-company-must-rebuild-trust-with-employees.html
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

100+ hours into coaching Chief People Officers this year, I kept hearing the same struggles.

I coached five Chief People Officers leading HR in high-growth, high-pressure environments in 2025. The same patterns kept surfacing: "When things go well, the team gets credit. When things go wrong, it's HR’s fault." “I’m not just leading people. I’m quietly coaching every other exec.” “I feel like I have to say something brilliant every time I open my mouth in leadership team meetings. Like I need to prove I deserve to be in the room.” What struck me wasn’t just how complex the CPO role is, but how misunderstood it is. And how lonely it can feel. That's why I'm excited to share that my new eBook, "What You Deserve to Know as a CPO: Your 2026 Leadership Guide," launches Monday here in the community. This eBook unpacks the emotional labor of HR leadership nobody budgets for, as well as insights on strategy, executive team influence, and culture systems. What’s one word or phrase that summarizes your 2025 as a People Leader?
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

"Sometimes we don't have time for research. We need to trust our gut and fight for what we know is right."

This quote, from HiBob's CPO Nirit Peled-Muntz, hits differently in 2025. AI is reshaping work daily. Geopolitical tensions shift business priorities overnight. And the traditional "gather data, analyze, plan" approach? Increasingly obsolete. Nirit's journey mirrors this shift: "I had Excel on my development plan for 3 years because it was growing faster than I was!" Now imagine planning workforce strategy when AI capabilities evolve faster than your planning cycles. The new HR reality: You need data fluency AND the courage to act on incomplete information. The evolution: → Data collection (table stakes) → Data interpretation (yesterday's edge) → Strategic agility (today's superpower) The #1 skill to develop: Scenario forecasting—building multiple futures instead of betting on one. Just because your data suggests something today doesn't mean you should commit long-term. Stay ready to pivot. The balance: Use data to build your case Trust instinct when speed matters Have conviction when presenting bold ideas How are you approaching strategic planning when the future feels more uncertain than ever? What's working? What isn’t?
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

Leading through layoffs taught me more about leadership than any book or podcast ever could

If you've had to lead these conversations too, you know. You can’t fake empathy when someone’s losing their job. You can’t hide behind formal language. And you definitely can’t pretend it’s not hard. People don’t forget how you show up during their hardest moments. And for me, showing up meant: Looking them in the eye. Not rushing the conversation. Answering the 'why me?' question even though it was uncomfortable If you're in the middle of this right now, what do you need? How can I support you? If you’ve led through a layoff, what's one thing you did that preserved people’s dignity? I think we need to share these practices more openly.
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Aligning People & Business Goals

Share Your Voice

If you’ve wrangled with aligning talent priorities to business outcomes, you’re in the right place. Share metrics, frameworks, and plain-English examples of HR’s impact on real business goals.
Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

The AI layoff wave is here. Let's stop pretending HR is driving the car.

We've been here before. In 2020, HR teams were handed lists and told to execute (remember the panic that the pandemic caused?). The reasons were real. The world had genuinely stopped. Most of us did what we had to do. We built the decks, ran the calls, wrote the talking points, and showed up on Zoom to deliver news that wrecked people's lives. Ugh, I still have PTSD. Now it's happening again. Except this time the reason isn't a pandemic. It's a pitch deck. AI transformation. Skills displacement. Workforce recalibration. The language has gotten cleaner, but the result is the same: people are losing their jobs, and HR is the one holding the script. According to LHH research, 87% of HR leaders say their organization has already conducted or is planning layoffs in the next 12 months. That is not a workforce trend. That is a strategy. Here's what I think gets lost in the conversation: HR leaders don't make the call. I've sat in those rooms. The CEO has the highest accountability and is accountable to the board. The execs debate, push back, ask hard questions, and eventually align. Then everyone moves forward together. That's how it works. HR doesn't decide the company is restructuring around AI, but HR is often the face of it, and the profession takes the credibility hit either way. What bothers me more than the layoffs themselves is the gap between the story being told externally and what's actually happening. In fact, according to LHH, "while 77% of HR leaders say they offer targeted redeployment and mobility programs, only 19% of employees say they experience or recognize them. "That's not a communication problem. That's a credibility problem. AI is a legitimate reason to restructure. Roles are genuinely changing. Some of this is real. But when companies use AI as the clean, no-fault rationale for cuts that are also about margins, over-hiring hangovers, and investor pressure, the people in those roles know it. They're not naive. And HR, again, ends up defending a narrative it didn't write. The COVID comparison is worth sitting with. Back then, there was a shared enemy...something external and visible. This time the "enemy" is a technology that the same company is also celebrating in its all-hands and earnings calls. That contradiction is hard to explain to someone whose job just disappeared to fund it. I'm not arguing against transformation. I'm arguing for honesty inside the room, before the script gets written. HR leaders who have a seat at the table need to use it. Not to block decisions, but to pressure-test the narrative before it goes out. Because once it does, they own it and you are the internal comms leader. HR leaders: when the AI restructuring conversation happens at your company, how much involvement do you have with the CEO on execution and messaging?
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Nirit Peled-Muntz
Nirit Peled-Muntz
Bobber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

HR and Finance Don't Need Alignment — They Need a Shared Language

I remember sitting in yet another planning conversation with Finance and thinking: We're talking about the same workforce, but somehow not about the same reality. We didn't disagree. We just planned in parallel. HR came with context around people, capability, and growth. Finance came with costs, forecasts, and constraints. Both perspectives were valid — but they didn't always meet in the middle. The fundamental shift came when we made an efficient decision: Bob would be our single source of truth for workforce data. Not just headcount and cost, but skills, tenure, performance, hiring plans, and future demand. One language. One picture. One place to plan from. That decision came with real responsibility on the HR side — and I felt it immediately. If the business plans are from Bob, then HR must fully own the accuracy, discipline, and quality of that data. There are no “HR numbers” and "finance numbers" anymore — just the numbers. But something else happened, too. Once Finance and HR were looking at the same data, in the same system, speaking the same language, the energy in the room changed. We spent less time explaining and defending, and much more time thinking together. That's when workforce and HDC planning really leveled up — from reactive discussions to forward-looking, scenario-based planning that reflected both business reality and people impact. The core question shifted: From "Can we afford this?” to "Is this the right investment for where the business is going?”" When we plan together, decisions get better. Trade-offs become clearer. Leaders gain confidence because they can finally see both the financial and human impacts — in a single view. The truth is, HR and Finance have too many dependencies to operate separately. Treating the workforce as a shared planning space, not a negotiation table, has been one of the most impactful shifts we've made — for the business and for the relationship. What I'd suggest to HR leaders: Agree on one source of truth — and truly commit to it Treat data accuracy as leadership work, not admin Build the partnership around planning, not approvals When HR and Finance truly plan together, organizations don't just move faster — they move smarter.
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategy

How do you know when it's time to systematize culture vs. let it develop organically?

When Nirit Peled-Muntz joined HiBob, the CEO wanted to work on company values immediately. Her response: "I don't think it's the right time. The culture is still vivid and alive." He took her advice. They waited. They grew. Then, when the time was right (during hypergrowth), they did it properly: With a cross-functional "detective squad" that collected insights from the entire organization. The result? A soft launch where people started using the values language the very next day. No posters on walls, no forced adoption campaigns. Sometimes the best leadership strategy is knowing when to say “no.” When was a time you pushed back on a request from your manager because the timing wasn’t right? How has your organization gone about memorializing values?
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Toby Hough
Toby Hough
Bobber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

Podcast Alert! Redefining culture and performance as your company scales

I was delighted to sit down with David Green last month as part of his Digital Leaders Podcast. In our discussion we explore: 🔎 Why definitions of high performance need to evolve as businesses grow 🔎 Why traditional change management is no longer fit for purpose - and what should replace it 🔎 How to build mental health and employee wellbeing into the foundation of performance 🔎 What career paths and leadership may look like when people are managing both humans and AI systems 🔎 How AI and agentic AI is shifting how companies approach team and individual performance 🎧 Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-to-redefine-culture-and-performance-as-your/id1459322652?i=1000729197917 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/04qvSlrzeW59GDW5YlTE3q 📚 Read the transcript: https://www.myhrfuture.com/digital-hr-leaders-podcast/how-to-redefine-culture-and-performance-as-your-company-scales
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

How to hit a "home run" in your next exec meeting

I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times: HR executives come up with an innovative solution to a business problem. They get excited about it. They pitch that innovative solution in the executive team meeting. And it all comes to a screeching halt. It’s painful watching HR leaders get blocked from doing the best parts of their job: The creative initiatives The topics they could write books about The strategic actions that make them most proud of their work I’ve been there as a Chief People Officer. But I’ve also been on the other side of the table. As a founder of fast growing tech start-ups for over a decade. So I built a simple template on how to hit a home run in an executive meeting, including a real-world example from a coaching client. TLDR; before you even walk into the room, ask yourself these questions: Have I articulated the problem in a concise executive summary? Do I have data to back up the challenge or the expected impact? Can I clearly state the full scope of the problem and the proposed solution? Am I ready to defend my idea? What’s the best “home run” you’ve hit with your executive team? What factors contributed to your success? Here's the link to download this slide deck to use on your own!
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Jessica Zwaan
Jessica Zwaan
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

Stop Burying the Lede: Why Your 2025 Business Cases Need a Rethink

So here is something that took me embarrassingly long to figure out as I transitioned from People Ops IC to a more strategic role: how to write a business case that actually lands. For years, I wrote business cases the way I thought they should be written. Lots of context. Thoughtful explanations of the problem. A careful build-up to the recommendation. The way that I now go about writing business cases is using BLUF—Bottom Line Up Front. The concept is simple: lead with impact, not context. Not: "We're proposing to modernise our performance management infrastructure through next-generation tools." Instead: "Switching from X Platform to Y Platform will save us £127,000 annually whilst reducing manager admin time by 40%—roughly 2,400 hours we can redirect toward revenue-generating activities." But what should be in the BLUF? Well, business cases fall into three categories, and they're not created equal. 1. Generate Revenue or Growth "This initiative will help us close more deals / enter new markets / increase customer lifetime value." These business cases almost sell themselves. If you can credibly demonstrate that spending £X will generate £Y in new revenue, you're speaking the language every commercial leader understands. 2. Save Money "This change will reduce costs by £X annually." Depending on your stage of company and goals, these can be slightly harder to get approved than revenue generation, but still compelling. You're stopping money from leaving the business. That's a clear, quantifiable benefit. 3. Save Time "This tool will save managers 5 hours per week." Here's the uncomfortable question I learned to ask: What will they do with those 5 hours? Time savings only matter if you can connect them to revenue or cost reduction. Will those reclaimed hours lead to more deals closed? Faster product development? Reduced need for additional headcount? Measurable improvements in retention? If you can draw that line, brilliant—you've actually made a cost-saving argument. But "save time" on its own isn't enough. The Formula That Works Opening paragraph: The commercial outcome. Lead with the number that matters. "By implementing X, we will [save/generate] £[amount] annually through [specific mechanism]." Second section: How this works. What changes? What's the implementation path? Third section: What you need. Resources, timeline, key stakeholders. Supporting evidence: Everything else goes in an appendix. Are you writing any business cases going into 2025? What are you struggling to communicate to your CFO/Executive Team?
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Adam Weber
Adam Weber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in C-Suite Strategies Content

The Most Overlooked Tension in Leadership & Culture

There's a tension every organization feels between “High Care” and “High Performance.” Skew too far to "care" and you get: Ruinous empathy Toxic positivity Long-tenured low performers A "family" culture that avoids difficult conversations Skew too far to "performance" and you get: Cutthroat behavior Burnout and attrition Internal politics and posturing No loyalty to the mission Culture erosion in the name of results The best cultures thrive in this tension. In cultures of high care and high performance, employees feel safe enough to speak up. Managers feel confident enough to tell the truth. Even tough exits are handled with care — and no one's surprised. You know you're in healthy tension when: High employee engagement scores meet improving performance metrics Low regrettable attrition but movement for poor performers High psychological safety AND clear goal achievement Managers can have hard conversations AND employees feel respected What high care + high performance can look like in practice: Weekly 1-on-1s with agenda ownership shared between manager and employee Performance conversations are separated from comp conversations Exit interviews that actually influence policy changes PIPs that are genuine development tools, not just paper trails Most organizations don't start here. Moving from low care/high pressure OR high care/low standards requires intentional system design and manager capability building. What's one practice your team uses to balance high care with high standards?
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