The Modern People Leader

Boston HR leaders, you’ve been with us since day one—and we see you. 🙌 One fun fact, Boston has become one of the top 3 cities for The Modern People Leader followership, and it’s no surprise. The bench of incredible people leaders here runs deep. Shoutout to some of the legends who’ve been part of our journey: Katie Burke Dena Upton Allison Mairena (Sproul) Jennifer Paxton (her/hers) Adrienne Barnard Tracie Sponenberg Jess Galica Kristy Lilas Hallie Bregman, PhD Jaclyn Jussif Emma Brudner Sarah Salbu Young Libby Fiumara Kingston ...and so many more I’m probably missing. Boston, you’ve been in it with us from the start. That’s why we couldn’t be more excited to bring the next MPL Live to Boston on March 6th in the South Station area. Stay tuned for a 🔥 speaker lineup announcement in the new year. (Spoiler: it’s going to be good.) For all the Boston MPL day ones ready to lock it in: early bird tickets are live🔒 See comments below #boston #hrleader #chiefpeopleofficer #chro #hr #bostonhrcouncil #mpl

How to Spot (and Keep) Your Top Talent According to the power law principle, only 10-20% of employees drive the majority of an organization’s success. Jessica (Jess) Johannson, CHRO at Canada Goose, shared how her team uncovered hidden star performers. The challenge? Traditional performance reviews often miss these critical contributors, leaving them undervalued and at risk of leaving. Enter Organizational Network Analysis (ONA). ONA digs deeper by asking questions like: • Who do you turn to for advice? • Who’s making an outstanding impact? The results were revealing. At Canada Goose, ONA showed that top performers were often rated as just “meets expectations” in traditional reviews. Without this insight, these stars might have gone unrecognized. Now, with ONA insights, Canada Goose ensures these key contributors get the recognition and development opportunities they deserve. As Jess put it: "It’s hugely rewarding to finally give appreciation where it’s due." How does your organization ensure its top talent doesn’t slip through the cracks? 👀 ____ 🔔 Get more insights like this delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up for our weekly newsletter in the comments.

HR Knows the Problems. Why Aren’t We Solving Them? Burnout in HR isn’t a mystery—it’s a crisis. Fourth-quarter medical leaves. Mass exits from the profession. An overwhelming sense of “we’re not okay.” Colin H. Mincy doesn’t mince words: “We know the problems. They are lingering, well-dialogued, clear problems. We’re just not dealing with them.” What’s Really Holding HR Back? • The Same Names, The Same Stories: Ask any cross-functional group: Who derails progress? Who creates toxic environments? You’ll hear the same names. • Clarity & Fairness Are Missing: Promotions depend on managers, not merit. Decision-making lacks transparency. These aren’t new issues—they’re just unresolved. • Harm vs. Healing: HR tries to heal organizations while leaders perpetuate harm. “We’re fixing one thing and waiting for the next shoe to drop.” What keeps Colin up at night isn’t identifying the problems—it’s the paralysis around fixing them. He calls out the all-or-nothing mindset: “If 90% of an idea works but 10% doesn’t feel right, nothing happens. We need to reject that. We can’t move forward when solutions are picked apart to the point of stagnation.” Colin’s challenge to the profession: • Hold people accountable—not just for microaggressions and DEI infractions, but for failing to contribute to solutions. • Stop navel-gazing and start naming the real issues, because only then can we claim the path forward. Link to the full episode in the comments.

Beating Burnout, Building Better Teams: Colin H. Mincy's Approach Transformation isn’t a moment—it’s a mindset. For Colin Mincy, this shift began before his latest role, ensuring he brought the best of himself, not the rest of himself, to his team. Here’s how he does it: 1️⃣ Prioritization Over Panic The Sunday Scaries? Gone. Every Sunday, Colin practices “Do it, Defer it, Delegate it, Delete it.” A simple system. Big impact. Anxiety fades, clarity sharpens, and the week begins without dread. 2️⃣ Strategy, From the Ground Up People and culture aren’t checkboxes—they’re the foundation. Colin’s team designs strategies collaboratively, ensuring talent, engagement, and DEI initiatives align with organizational goals and staff needs. No top-down mandates. 3️⃣ Feedback Loops That Build Trust In the absence of facts, narratives emerge. Colin keeps ears to the ground by creating safe spaces for continuous feedback. Listening isn’t enough—it’s about using insights to inform decisions and building evangelists for the work. Failure? It’s part of the journey. Colin embraces it to grow stronger, ensuring his team thrives, not just survives. How do you create space for transformation in your work? Link to the full episode in the comments.

Why DEIB Is the Key to Making Octillions Octillions. That’s a number with 37 zeros—a scale of abundance almost impossible to imagine. But Michael C. Bush, CEO at Great Place To Work US, believes it’s within reach, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) is the key to unlocking it. The future of AI and humanity’s potential isn’t about scarcity—it’s about abundance for all. Bush envisions a world where everyone has access to clean water, a sustainable environment, and equal opportunities. By expanding the pie to include everyone, we don’t just grow—it becomes infinite. The problem? Too many companies cling to outdated thinking. They miss out on top talent by failing to embrace diversity. As Bush explains, “Talent has been equally distributed throughout human beings.” If your team isn’t diverse, you’re not just missing representation—you’re leaving the best talent on the table. His point is crystal clear: clinging to exclusivity doesn’t just cost billions—it could cost you octillions. Bush drives this home with a sports analogy: the Boston Red Sox waited over a decade after Jackie Robinson to integrate their team—and kept losing until they embraced diversity. “Stupidity will make someone lose,” he said. The choice is yours: Would you rather hoard billions or create a world where everyone thrives—and octillions are on the table? For Bush, the path is simple: embrace DEIB. Success isn’t about taking the biggest slice of the pie; it’s about making the pie infinitely large and ensuring everyone has a seat at the table. ____ 🔔 Get insights like these from MPL episodes delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for our weekly newsletter in the comments.

Starting. Stopping. Starting again. Colin H. Mincy has mastered the cycle—and finally, broken it. For him, the secret wasn’t perfection. It was progress. Colin says he built momentum, one brushstroke at a time. He compares his journey to a Bob Ross painting: “The canvas at the end looks nothing like the beginning. You just put a little paint on at a time until the picture becomes clear.” This time, he approached change differently: • Small Wins: No more tackling everything at once. • Accountability: Support and self-honesty kept him on track. • Momentum: “Like a cement truck uphill—start slow, but keep moving. Backsliding only makes it harder to get back.” The Result? Transformation • Lost 68 pounds • Rested and recharged • 15,000 steps a day • More energy, more laughter And the impact? “Even when I was struggling, my work was good. But now? It’s the best it’s ever been.” The Takeaway: Hope is not a strategy. Change demands a plan—phases, steps, and patience. For Colin, this approach delivered something deeper: “For the first time, I have clarity—personally and professionally. And that’s changed everything.” What’s your first brushstroke? Link to the full episode in the comments.

To celebrate hosting our next MPL Live in Boston, here are 5 all-time moments from Boston HR leaders on The Modern People Leader. 👇 1️⃣ Katie Burke – Why you shouldn’t wait for perfection to embrace new technology. 2️⃣ Kristy Lilas - How to evaluate and refine your processes to improve DEIB. 3️⃣ Dena Upton – Her value framework for choosing the right people leader role. 4️⃣ Jennifer Paxton – Why the classic “sh*t sandwich” approach to feedback just doesn’t work. 5️⃣ Adrienne Barnard – The reminder we all need: It’s okay to be the boss. Want the full breakdown? Read the full article below. 

Career advice from 5 HR leaders ⬇️ ____ 1. Failures are growth accelerants "There are no wrong turns in a career journey—failures are really growth accelerants. You learn far more from making mistakes or falling on your face than you do from stumbling into good luck. As you grow as a leader and are asked to give advice, you’ll often find yourself telling stories about your shortcomings or failures, not your easy wins or successes. Plus, it just makes for better storytelling. Those are always the best stories." - Melanie Rosenwasser, Chief People Officer, Dropbox 2. Connect with people in different industries "This might not be as relevant today because of the internet, but I remember feeling like I didn’t know what was possible. I just knew I was creative and didn’t want to sit at a desk like my mom. Growing up, my understanding of jobs was limited to what I saw in my family or the typical roles like teacher, doctor, lawyer, police officer, or nurse. The advice I’d give is to connect with people in different industries and roles—people doing things you might not even know exist. With social media, it’s so much easier now to explore and learn what’s out there." - Michelle Kay, VP, Head of Learning & Development at Albertsons Companies 3. Embrace the moment "I’d tell her to be present. I’ve always focused on what’s next, but right now, I’m more present than I’ve ever been, and I wish I’d done that sooner. I was excited about what I was doing and what it could lead to, but I wonder—if I’d embraced the moment more, what else might I have gained?" - Jenna Eichberg, Chief People Officer, AlertMedia 4. Whether you're going slow or fast, trust the pace you're at "Reflecting on the concepts of slow and fast we discussed earlier, I would tell 22-year-old Ness: Trust the pace you're at in each phase. If it's going slow, trust that. If it's going fast, trust that. And trust that you have the tenacity to make the next right step." - Vanessa Monsequeira - चित्रलेखा, VP of People at Gorilla 5. Don't be afraid to reach out to the people you admire "Have confidence in yourself and don’t have any regrets. Try different things, don’t be afraid, and keep learning. It might seem scary, but it reminds me of the person who reached out to me on LinkedIn. She wasn’t afraid to ask executives from all over the country, and everyone said yes. We often think people will say no, but if they’re good people, they won’t." - Jeffrey Schmitz, Chief People Officer, Zebra Technologies ____ 🔔 Get more insights like this delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up for our weekly newsletter in the comments. #HR #CHRO #ChiefPeopleOfficer #HRAdvice #CareerAdvice

Honestly, I don’t know how we tapped into the Boston People Leader community—but it’s clear you’re our people. Boston ranks as a top 3 city for MPL followership 😮. We owe so much to the incredible HR leaders in Boston who’ve been with us from the start. Shoutout to MPL legends like: • Katie Burke • Dena Upton • Allison Mairena (Sproul) • Jennifer Paxton (her/hers) • Adrienne Barnard • Tracie Sponenberg • Jess Galica • Kristy Lilas • Hallie Bregman, PhD • Jaclyn Jussif • Emma Brudner • Sarah Salbu Young • Libby Fiumara Kingston ...and so many more. (I’m probably missing folks—Boston’s people leader bench runs DEEP.) That’s why we’re pumped to bring the next MPL Live to Boston on March 6th. (Also, selfishly, I’ve never been to Boston) Stay tuned: we’ll announce the speaker lineup in the new year. (Spoiler: It’s gonna be good.) For all the day-one MPL listeners in Boston planning to be there either way: grab your early bird tickets now → https://lnkd.in/dRgbyPT6

Leadership, Brené Brown notes, is like "every day is leg day." When she joined us on the podcast earlier this year, she said it’s tough, constant work requiring focus and resilience. "I have three to ten brutally difficult conversations a day as a leader," she shared. The real obstacle to courageous leadership isn’t fear but the armor we use to protect ourselves from it. In "Dare to Lead", Brené distinguishes between daring and armored leadership, urging us to keep the armor off, name the fear, and make decisions aligned with our values. She emphasizes the importance of looking for system failures over personal failures. "Staying curious and not defensive, showing up to get it right, not to be right," she said, are crucial aspects of daring leadership. It’s hard work but essential for true leadership. ♻ Repost to your network. 🎧 Link to the full MPL episode with Brené in the comments.