The Human Element | CHRO & HR Leadership Podcast

Barb Bidan | CHRO & AI in Human Resources Expert
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AI is reshaping leadership, strategy, and the very role of HR. In each episode, the host Barb Bidan explores how AI drives innovation and leadership in HR with actionable insights for the future of work. Sponsor Wisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit https://www.wisq.com

  1. 4d ago

    How Illumio got its whole people team using AI

    Summary What actually changes when AI arrives in HR, and what stays exactly the same? In this episode of The Human Element, host Barb Bidan talks with L. David Kingsley, Chief People Officer at Illumio, whose career began implementing PeopleSoft from CD-ROMs at Accenture before leading people functions at MuleSoft, Alteryx, Intercom, and Salesforce. David explains why there has never been a time of no change, why 300,000 years of human brain development did not shift in the last nine months, and how he got his entire people team to adopt AI by making everyone build and name their own agent (meet LL Coolpay). He shares the workforce planning win that took HRBPs from a blank page to 70 percent of a solution, draws the line between what a chatbot should handle and what a human must, and names the half-solved problem of AI work nobody owns: if it took five minutes to produce, it should not take 30 minutes to read. A conversation for CHROs and people leaders who want to move fast with AI without losing the human element. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and introduction 02:45 There has never been a time of no change 07:45 The human brain has not changed in 300,000 years 09:45 What stays human and what gets automated 11:45 Name your agent: how Illumio's people team started with AI 14:45 Workforce planning at 70 percent before the first meeting 17:45 The five minute deliverable problem 22:30 Define success before you start 26:30 What vendors are underestimating about adoption 28:45 What HR looks like in five years 33:45 Lightning round and fill your own cup Takeaways -There has never been a time of no change. HR has lived through mainframes, the internet, cloud, and every ERP migration, and this AI wave is faster but not fundamentally different. -Human beings have not changed in the last nine months. Automate the transactional moments, like a shipment status, and protect the human moments, like a maternity leave conversation. -Make AI adoption personal and fun. Illumio's people team each built and named their own agent, which forced clear scopes and made it obvious the tools work for the people, not the other way around. -If it took five minutes to produce and 30 minutes to read, you are being disrespectful to your audience. Use AI to start, QA, and accelerate the work, but own every word you publish. -Define success before you start. Spending 20 minutes of the hour on what success looks like makes the other 40 valuable, and it keeps you from ending up in Dubuque when you were headed to Chicago. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ldavidkingsley/ Website: https://www.illumio.com SponsorWisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit  https://www.wisq.com

    How Illumio got its whole people team using AI

  2. Sep 8

    Why Sweetwater treats AI like an Iron Man suit, not a replacement

    Summary How does a company whose entire business model is built on human relationships decide what to do with AI? In this episode of The Human Element, host Barb Bidan sits down with Jeff Ostermann, Chief People and Culture Officer at Sweetwater, the largest online musical instrument and audio equipment retailer in the US. Jeff shares how Sweetwater drew an uncompromising line around the human element before adopting AI, why they treat technology like an Iron Man suit that gives their 600 sales engineers superpowers, why every customer keeps one dedicated relationship with zero handoffs, and how the company's five imperatives extend the definition of customer to candidates and colleagues. A conversation for HR leaders deciding what stays human as AI reshapes the workplace. Chapters 00:00 Introducing Jeff Ostermann and the Sweetwater story 02:30 From finance to people leadership 05:15 Art and science: bringing data into HR 07:05 The founding story behind 600 sales engineers 08:55 Treating AI like an Iron Man suit 10:30 Where AI fits into the customer relationship 14:15 One relationship, zero handoffs 17:35 Everybody is our customer: AI inside HR 20:45 Balancing optimization with culture 24:30 Lightning round: AI tools and human decisions Takeaways -AI should work like an Iron Man suit: wrap it around your people to give them superpowers, but keep a human in the middle steering every decision with heart. -Every handoff you add to a process is a new place for cracks to form; one trusted expert relationship builds more loyalty than a chain of specialists. -Everybody is your customer, including the candidates you recruit and the colleagues down the hall, so the care you promise externally has to show up internally too. -Use AI to clear away routine questions and administrative work so your HR team can focus on the situations that truly require a human touch. -Some decisions should never be automated: a human must own the final hiring call and be prepared to develop and coach the person they bring onto the team. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffostermann/ Website: https://www.sweetwater.com SponsorWisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit  https://www.wisq.com

    Why Sweetwater treats AI like an Iron Man suit, not a replacement

  3. Sep 1

    Data and Humanity Were Never in Tension

    SummaryHow do you build a culture with both high psychological safety and high accountability? In this episode of The Human Element, host Barb Bidan talks with Maura Stevenson, Chief Human Resources Officer at MedVet, about her 20-year case that data and humanity were never in tension. Maura built Starbucks' people analytics function from scratch in 2004, connected people data to restaurant performance at Wendy's, and now leads HR for 3,500 team members across MedVet's 45 veterinary hospitals. She explains why the data people and the OD people are twins separated at birth, how a simple grid resolves the "too much psychological safety" debate, why clear is kind and nice is just conflict avoidance, and how ambient listening AI is saving MedVet's ER doctors up to two hours of charting a day. A conversation for CHROs and HR leaders who want technology and data to make their organizations more human, not less. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and introduction 02:45 Building Partner Insights at Starbucks in 2004 05:15 Turn the page: simple data storytelling 07:45 The data people and the OD people 10:45 AI and qualitative data at scale 17:15 Caring and accountability belong together 19:45 The psychological safety and accountability grid 21:45 Clear is kind 24:45 Systems that give caregivers time back 29:15 Lightning round Takeaways -People analytics and organizational development are the same discipline. Both follow a research path to understand human behavior individually and at scale. -You cannot have too much psychological safety, but high safety with no accountability creates a culture of complacency. -Clear is kind. Nice avoids conflict, while kindness pairs psychological safety with honest feedback and accountability. -Data does not have to be fancy to be powerful. Simple storytelling that illuminates what leaders sense but cannot prove is what drives action. -AI earns its place when it gives people time back, like ambient listening software saving MedVet's ER doctors up to two hours of charting a day. Connect with the GuestLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maurastevenson/Website: https://www.medvet.com SponsorWisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit  https://www.wisq.com

    Data and Humanity Were Never in Tension

  4. Aug 27

    AI Readiness Is a Culture Problem Before It's a Skill Problem

    Summary What does it actually take to make a workforce AI ready? In this episode of The Human Element, host Barb Bidan sits down with Miki Virtue, VP of Human Resources, to unpack why AI readiness is a culture problem before it is a skill problem (Miki's views and opinions are not associated with the company she works for, this episode represents herself alone). Miki shares why AI rewards curiosity and punishes certainty, why a workforce trained to never be wrong is a culture gap rather than a skill gap, what prompt fluency is and why it mirrors great interviewing, how she uses AI to make workforce data predictive, and the one-decision-at-a-time playbook any HR leader can start on Monday morning. For HR leaders, CHROs, and people teams navigating AI adoption. Chapters 00:00 Introducing Miki Virtue 02:40 You can't teach someone to be curious 04:35 Leading workforce strategy for AI adoption 05:30 Why AI punishes the comfortable with wrong 08:00 Making workforce data predictive with AI 10:15 Prompt fluency, the missing HR skill 11:50 Stop naming the gap, start closing it 16:10 Data literacy plus intellectual courage 18:55 Same problem, different costume across industries 23:10 Lightning round and final word Takeaways -AI rewards curiosity and punishes certainty. The first thing to assess in AI readiness is not tools or skills but whether people are curious enough to question confident answers. -A workforce trained for 20 years that being wrong is a career risk has a culture gap, not a skill gap. Psychological safety, rich feedback, and honest coaching come before any upskilling program. -Prompt fluency, knowing how to push back on an AI's output and ask better questions, is the same skill as great interviewing, and almost nobody in HR is developing it deliberately. -Stop naming the gap and start closing it. Pick one weekly decision, ask what data would make you less wrong, and repeat. Monday morning is permission. -Your gut is a hypothesis and data is how you test it. Data literacy plus the intellectual courage to say "I was wrong" is what lets HR walk into the CFO's office with a number instead of a feeling. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miki-v/ SponsorWisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit  https://www.wisq.com

    AI Readiness Is a Culture Problem Before It's a Skill Problem

  5. Aug 25

    Where the Hard Line Sits Between AI and Human Judgment

    SummaryWhere exactly should the line sit between AI and human judgment? Emilie Schmitz, Chief Human Resources Officer at Ryze Claim Solutions, joins host Barb Bidan to answer that question inside a business built entirely on judgment calls. Ryze handles claims across auto, trucking, construction, and catastrophe response, and it holds one hard line: AI can support documentation, data gathering, and communication, but it never makes a decision, in claims or in HR. Emilie shares the training module her team built with an intentional AI mistake inside to keep critical thinking alive, the compensation analysis that consolidated sixty five job titles with AI building the structure and humans placing the people, and the light bulb moment when Claude reproduced her hand-built turnover analysis in minutes. A practical conversation for HR leaders deciding what stays human in an AI-forward organization. Chapters00:00 Introduction and meet Emilie Schmitz02:40 Change management as the career through line05:00 Supporting adjusters on roofs and on the road07:40 One voice for a desk, field, and 1099 workforce09:35 The hard line: AI never makes the decision11:15 Sixty five job titles and the comp analysis13:45 The turnover spreadsheet light bulb moment17:55 The training module with a mistake built in20:45 AI readiness, fear, and testing the waters24:45 Lightning round: payroll, trust, and empathy Takeaways -AI is encouraged for documentation, information gathering, and communication at Ryze, but decisions in claims and HR are always made by a human -An intentional AI mistake built into Ryze's training module teaches employees that AI wants to please and must be double-checked with critical thinking -AI built Ryze's job level structure and compa ratio research, but placing each employee in a level took hour-long conversations with every manager -Automating administrative work, like cutting health bill reconciliation from four hours to four minutes, frees small HR teams to focus on developing people -Leaders rolling out change should remember that not everyone shares their enthusiasm, and over-communicating in multiple formats is the safest default Connect with the GuestLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilie-schmitz/Website: https://www.ryzeclaims.com SponsorWisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit  https://www.wisq.com

    Where the Hard Line Sits Between AI and Human Judgment

  6. Aug 18

    The Two Monday-Morning Conversations That Make HR Matter

    Summary What if the biggest thing holding HR back is the profession itself? In this episode of The Human Element, host Barb Bidan sits down with David Alsop, Chief Human Resources Officer at Ultradent Products and co-author of Making HR Matter, to talk about building HR that actually drives the business. David shares how 13 years in sales at Kraft Heinz shaped his business first approach to people strategy, why every company starts with "irrelevant HR" and how to grow past it, the fallacy of best practices, how Ultradent tucks in behind the "lawsuit generation" of AI while still building remarkable tools, and the two conversations any HR leader can start on Monday morning to finally make HR matter. For HR leaders, CHROs, and CEOs who want people strategy to converge with business strategy. Chapters 00:00 Introducing David Alsop 01:58 From selling Kraft products to leading HR 03:09 Betting on Ultradent and owning the strategy 05:17 Why he wrote Making HR Matter 06:45 Partnering with AI instead of fearing it 09:00 Why HR gets stuck at the startup floor 13:30 The skills gap: listening over indoctrination 18:55 AI readiness and the lawsuit generation 23:45 The Monday morning playbook 27:05 Lightning round: brain science, compliance, and convergence Takeaways -Start every HR decision with the business. Understand the strategy and how people drive it before building a single program. -The startup basics of HR (legal terminations, policies, benefits, parties) are the floor, not the house. Plant seeds over time to grow the function into strategic relevance. -HR is a listening function, not an academic one. What leaders, employees, and the culture actually need beats what the textbook says. -Best practices are what the herd is doing. Adapt them to your culture, validate them with data, or skip them entirely rather than following the herd off a cliff. -Relevance starts with two conversations: ask leaders to educate you on the business and its gaps, and ask HR's biggest internal critic to mentor you. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidalsop/Website: https://www.ultradent.com SponsorWisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit  https://www.wisq.com

    The Two Monday-Morning Conversations That Make HR Matter

  7. Aug 11

    If You Can Write a Job Description, You Can Build an AI Agent

    SummaryWhat if the skill set for building AI agents is one HR has had all along? Kyle Roed, CHRO at CPM Holdings, joins host Barb Bidan to make the case that agentic AI is an HR function, not an IT project. Kyle shares the hackathon moment that convinced him instructing an AI agent is the same discipline as writing a job description, why "AI is the next email" and the tech-belongs-to-IT argument falls apart, and the two path playbook he uses at a global manufacturer: AI-generated SOPs that multiply team capacity, and a role-redesign question asked at every backfill. He also breaks down how to build an AI governance team with one senior champion and one deliberately recruited naysayer. For CHROs and senior HR leaders who want to lead the future of work instead of watching it happen. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and meet Kyle Roed 02:45 From IT and bartending to HR leadership 04:45 Why HR must know the business 06:55 The hackathon light bulb: AI as an HR function 09:00 AI is the next email 11:45 Disrupting HR and the HR renaissance 14:00 Compliance without fear 17:05 The two path playbook: SOPs and backfills 20:00 One champion, one naysayer: AI governance 27:15 Lightning round: the compliance GPT Takeaways -Building an AI agent is the same discipline as writing a job description, which is why agentic AI belongs in HR's domain -AI is the next email: everyone will use it, so IT should advise on capability and safety while the business defines what needs to get done -Start with work bottlenecks, like AI-generated SOPs that free people from documentation and multiply what existing teams deliver -Treat every backfill as a chance to redesign the role by asking what aspects of it AI could take on before rehiring -AI governance works best with one senior champion and one deliberately recruited naysayer who keeps the committee honest Connect with the GuestLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-roed/Website: https://onecpm.com SponsorWisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit  https://www.wisq.com

    If You Can Write a Job Description, You Can Build an AI Agent

  8. Jul 14

    The More AI Evolves, the More Your Humanity Matters

    Summary What happens when a compliance-minded HR veteran who has seen the inside of more than 50 companies takes on workforce planning for an almost entirely frontline, cross-border workforce right as AI rewrites the rules? In this episode of The Human Element, host Barb Bidan sits down with Dawn Stastny, Chief Human Resources Officer at BelPak, the packaging company formed when Coregistics, Proven Partners Group, and Belvika combined into one organization with more than two dozen facilities across the US and Canada. Dawn shares why she refuses to call them soft skills, how AI screening unlocked a pool of candidates her recruiters could never reach, the governance guardrails she applies to every AI decision, and why she has a calendar reminder set for the middle management crisis she predicts in 2031. This conversation is for HR and people leaders navigating AI adoption with frontline and deskless teams. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:30 From consultant to operator at BelPak 05:45 There's nothing soft about humanity skills 07:30 Merging three legacy companies into One BelPak 11:15 AI recruiting and the third shift problem 15:30 AI governance and compliance guardrails 18:30 Give the time back to your people 24:00 The 2031 middle management crisis 28:30 Developing talent through community partnerships 32:00 Lightning round and final advice Takeaways -Humanity skills like empathy, judgment, and discernment become more valuable as AI advances, not less. -AI screening lets recruiting reach candidates the traditional process never could, like third shift mechanics, while removing unintentional bias from the first pass. -AI gives you information; humans are still responsible for verifying it and making the final decision. -Entry level jobs cut by AI in 2026 and 2027 could create a middle management shortage by 2031, so leaders need to protect their pipeline now. -Instead of consuming talent, develop it: community college partnerships can build the skilled workforce you cannot hire off the market. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-stastny-sphr-shrm-scp-/ Website: https://belpak.com SponsorWisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit  https://www.wisq.com

    The More AI Evolves, the More Your Humanity Matters
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AI is reshaping leadership, strategy, and the very role of HR. In each episode, the host Barb Bidan explores how AI drives innovation and leadership in HR with actionable insights for the future of work. Sponsor Wisq is the AI platform for HR. We built Harper, the world's first AI HR teammate — designed to handle the judgment-heavy work that has historically consumed HR teams: job changes, performance concerns, leaves of absence, onboarding, and employee relations issues. Where HCM bolt-ons and chatbots deflect the easiest questions, Harper resolves full cases, end-to-end. The result is an HR function with the capacity and strategic bandwidth to focus on the work that moves the business. Companies get Harper live in weeks, not quarters, with implementation support built on deep HR domain expertise. Wisq serves HR leaders at leading companies across industries, helping them raise the bar on employee experience and expand what their teams are capable of. For more information, visit https://www.wisq.com

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