Built by People Leaders

Daria Rudnik
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Built by People Leaders is a podcast for HR, People, and L&D leaders at scale-ups and fast-growing companies. Host Daria Rudnik — Team Architect, Executive Leadership Coach, and former Chief People Officer — talks with the in-house HR and People leaders building the people side of scale. Each episode goes inside the real work: designing leadership development that keeps up with growth, earning trust at the executive table, and turning people strategy into measurable business impact. These are practical conversations for anyone leading a People function inside a company that's moving fast. Daria brings a global perspective from her work with clients across six continents and her years at Deloitte, leading through financial crises, war, and the pandemic. She is the author of CLICKING: A Team Building Strategy for Overloaded Leaders and co-author of The AI Revolution: Thriving Within Civilization's Next Big Disruption. If you're an HR or People leader scaling a fast-moving company, Built by People Leaders is where the people side of growth gets figured out. Want to be a guest? Applications go through the podcast page on my website — apply via the guest form or through PodMatch (both links are there). We don't take applications by email or LinkedIn message, so please use one of those two routes. https://dariarudnik.com/podcast  

  1. 2d ago

    #48 Hiring US Talent When Your HQ Is Overseas with Jolene Risch & Shira Hovav, Risch Results

    Jolene Risch founded Risch Results in 2007 after more than 25 years in the people industry, including a seven-year tenure at Ernst & Young's People Advantage practice. Shira Hovav serves as Israel Country Manager at Risch Results, based in Tel Aviv, leading the firm's US market entry practice launched in January 2026 following a December 2024 learning tour across Israel's tech ecosystem. The single biggest takeaway Jolene Risch delivers: the strongest candidate for your US role will not apply to your job posting because in a market with approximately 4.2% unemployment, high performers are already employed and not browsing LinkedIn or Indeed. The operational friction Risch and Hovav unpack affects every company—Israeli or otherwise—entering the US for the first time. Founders and People leaders instinctively replicate what worked at home: in Israel, hiring through personal networks succeeds because the community is small and everyone is a few connections away. In the US, that same approach collapses. The country is massive, compensation varies dramatically between New York and Kentucky, sales cycles run longer, and nobody has heard of your company. Before making the first US hire, Risch Results insists on three foundations: a clear definition of what success looks like at 30, 60, and 90 days; market-accurate compensation benchmarked to location and role using tools like Labor IQ; and a structured operating system—Risch's team uses EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and weekly L10 meetings—to support someone working across an 8-to-10-hour time difference with no physical office. Challenges Addressed The "Post and Pray" Method Fails When Top Performers Are Already Employed: Jolene Risch explains that with US unemployment at approximately 4.2%, the strongest candidates are not browsing job boards. Risch Results begins every search by mapping where the right person works today—at a competitor or in an adjacent industry—and designing an outreach strategy to capture their attention before making contact. Replicating Network Hiring From Smaller Markets Does Not Scale in the US: Shira Hovav identifies a pattern: Israeli companies often search for candidates through personal networks or target only brand-name universities and employers, missing the larger pool of high-performing talent that requires a structured search process to surface. The US has "so many companies most people have never heard of," and many excellent candidates work at those firms. New US Hires Face an 8-to-10-Hour Time Difference Without a Playbook: Shira Hovav flags that American culture is process-oriented, and a US hire separated from headquarters by 8 to 10 hours cannot call the founder for every decision. Jolene Risch adds that Risch Results uses EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), specifically the L10 (Level 10) weekly meeting structure, to maintain communication across time zones—and that companies must define 30/60/90-day success metrics before onboarding begins, not after the person starts. Actionable Takeaways Replace "post and pray" with active candidate mapping: Jolene Risch recommends asking two questions before opening a US search: Where does the right person work right now—at a competitor or in a related industry? And what will it take to get their attention? Risch Results' recruiting team speaks directly to candidates to learn what might prompt them to consider a change, most commonly opportunities for growth and competitive compensation, then tailors outreach accordingly. Lock in 30/60/90-day success criteria before you begin recruiting: Jolene Risch is explicit that the definition of success must be finalized before the search starts. Risch Results worked with one Israeli tech company whose search began in Dallas for one role, then shifted mid-process to a different role in a different state. The companies that navigate iteration successfully use market feedback to sharpen the role definition, then set clear expectations before day one so the new hire knows exactly what success looks like. Use EOS and L10 meetings to bridge the time-zone gap structurally: Jolene Risch's team runs on EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and holds a weekly L10 (Level 10) meeting with the entire team, including Shira Hovav in Tel Aviv, plus a separate L10 for the Israel market build. For People leaders managing a distributed international team, implementing a fixed weekly meeting cadence with structured agendas is the minimum operating requirement to keep remote US hires from feeling disconnected or directionless. Questions This Episode Answers Why won't the best US candidate apply to our LinkedIn job post? According to Jolene Risch, the strongest performers are almost always employed—US unemployment is approximately 4.2%—and a high performer at a competitor is not browsing job boards. Risch Results identifies where target candidates work today and builds a direct outreach strategy rather than waiting for inbound applications, because "post and pray" does not surface the best talent. How do we benchmark US compensation when cost of living varies so much by location? Jolene Risch notes that compensation in New York differs dramatically from compensation in Kentucky or Louisiana, and that a candidate will not leave a stable role for a package that does not cover their bills—regardless of product strength or growth opportunity. Risch Results uses Labor IQ, a US compensation database, to benchmark salaries by role, location, education level, and years of experience before finalizing any offer. What is the Chief People Officer's role when a company enters the US market? Jolene Risch describes the CPO or CHRO as "the translator"—someone who helps the founder interpret cultural differences between US and home-country professionals, identifies operational partners (payroll providers, cultural training firms, employer-of-record services), and actively supports new US hires so they do not feel stranded. Risch frames retention as equally critical as recruiting: if the US employee does not feel supported, they will leave, and the cost of that failure is high. Links & Resources Mentioned: Risch Results website Connect with Jolene Risch on LinkedIn Connect with Shira Hovav on LinkedIn

    #48 Hiring US Talent When Your HQ Is Overseas with Jolene Risch & Shira Hovav, Risch Results

  2. Oct 26

    #47 Building HR Communities That Scale: Timur Novopashin on Curated Networks for Global Talent Leaders

    Timur Novopashin founded International HR Club while working in-house as a talent acquisition leader at a large international food tech organization. The community now serves 1,800+ HR and talent professionals across Slack and Telegram, operating as a free, curated peer network for globally-distributed People teams. Timur Novopashin built the International HR Club on a core framework: human-centered, AI-powered people processes supported by verified membership, zero-toxicity moderation, and structured knowledge sharing. For CHROs and VPs of People at 100–1,500 person companies, the operational friction is immediate. A company expanding into multiple EU markets needs salary benchmarks, immigration law guidance, and location prioritization—fast. Timur Novopashin explains how International HR Club members crowdsource these answers in real time, turning community space into a practical business tool. The episode unpacks how People leaders choose between local, global, subscription-based, and niche communities, and when building your own network becomes the right move. Challenges Addressed Choosing the right HR community when you're capacity-constrained: Timur Novopashin outlines a decision framework based on four variables: location (local vs. global), monetization model (subscription vs. free/curated), learning goals (certification, case studies, peer exchange), and niche specificity (broad HR vs. function-specific like TA or Total Rewards). Justifying time spent on networking when People teams are underwater: International HR Club addresses this by creating structured spaces for actionable peer support—such as a dedicated thread where members expanding into new EU countries gather salary data, immigration requirements, and office location trade-offs from peers who have already completed the work. Implementing HR tech without tribal knowledge or internal precedent: Timur Novopashin identifies HR tech selection (ATS, HRIS) as the most frequently discussed topic across talent communities, because scaleups hit compliance and database thresholds where manual processes break and peer review becomes the fastest path to vendor shortlists and implementation lessons. Actionable Takeaways Map your community goals before joining or building: Timur Novopashin recommends a two-part audit—what you need (learning, networking, expert referrals, function-specific answers) and what you can contribute (insights, case studies, facilitation). Run this against community types: local in-person networks, global async groups, subscription learning platforms, or free curated spaces like International HR Club. Use community threads as scoping tools for cross-border expansion: When International HR Club members face multi-country growth, they open a shared conversation where peers with EU hiring experience contribute salary ranges, immigration hurdles, and prioritization logic. Timur Novopashin advises People leaders to treat these threads as living research documents that feed directly into leadership reports and budget models. Budget for community management if you build internally: Timur Novopashin emphasizes that even a single knowledge-sharing session requires full-time effort—verification, moderation, content creation, newcomer onboarding, and anti-toxicity enforcement. At scale, International HR Club relies on sponsorships and partnerships to fund quality events, proving that passion projects need resourcing models once they exceed 200–300 active members. Questions This Episode Answers How do I choose between joining multiple HR communities versus building my own? Timur Novopashin argues you do not have to choose—join several communities based on overlapping needs (local networking, global async support, subscription learning). Build your own only when you have a strategic goal (monetization, brand positioning, or a truly underserved niche) and can commit to full-time community management. International HR Club started as a side project but required partnerships and sponsorships once it scaled past 1,000 members. What are the four most common topics HR leaders actually use talent communities to solve? Timur Novopashin identifies: (1) HR tech implementation (ATS, HRIS vendor selection and peer review), (2) sourcing fractional or freelance experts (facilitators, consultants, trainers), (3) networking and peer connection (especially for professionals relocating or working remotely), and (4) function-specific troubleshooting (TA sourcing strategies, Total Rewards benchmarking, L&D program design). International HR Club sees these topics cycle daily across its Slack and Telegram channels. How do scaleup People teams justify community time when headcount is tight and priorities shift weekly? Timur Novopashin shares a live example: a company exploring EU expansion used International HR Club to crowdsource salary data, immigration requirements, and location trade-offs in a single thread—delivering a leadership-ready report without hiring consultants or running RFPs. The practical ROI comes when community becomes a research and decision-support layer, not just networking. Links & Resources Mentioned: Connect with Timur Novopashin on LinkedIn International HR Club website

    #47 Building HR Communities That Scale: Timur Novopashin on Curated Networks for Global Talent Leaders

  3. Oct 19

    #46 Hiring Your First Finance Person: Generalist vs. Specialist with Tom Hunter, Story Recruitment

    Tom Hunter founded Story Recruitment seven months ago after a decade in accounting and finance recruitment. The firm specializes in placing first finance hires and CFOs for founder-led tech, fintech, and deep tech companies across Australia—sectors that capture 80% of the country's VC capital. Hunter's core framework centers on storytelling-led hiring: candidates at this caliber join for mission and vision, not marginal salary increases. He built a network of 29,000+ finance professionals and hosts The CFO Track podcast, where he interviews Australia's top CFOs on leadership and scaling. People leaders at scaleups face a recurring friction point: founders burning 20%+ of their week on finance or recruitment decisions they shouldn't own. Hunter unpacks when to make the first finance hire (hint: it's rarely a CFO), how fractional models deliver strategic value without full-time cost, and why the 100–150 employee mark is the culture inflection point where storytelling either scales or collapses. Challenges Addressed Timing the first finance hire: Founders often wait too long or hire too senior. Tom Hunter identifies the 20% threshold—if more than a fifth of a founder's week is consumed by finance tasks, it's time to hire a financial controller, head of finance, or VP of finance, not a CFO. People scaling slower than businesses: Individuals rarely grow professionally at the same rate as a high-growth company. Hunter explains how to structure roles with clear development paths to avoid awkward "we're hiring above you" conversations when the business outpaces an individual. Culture erosion at scale: Once a company hits 100–150 employees, culture becomes difficult to rein back in if not already established. Tom Hunter discusses why storytelling and intentional culture-building before this inflection point determines long-term engagement and performance. Actionable Takeaways Apply the 20% rule to hiring decisions: If a founder spends more than 20% of their week on finance or recruitment, hire a specialist in that function. Reclaiming that time for product development or sales typically yields more value than the cost of the hire. Start with a financial controller, not a CFO: The first finance hire for most startups should be a financial controller, head of finance, or VP of finance who can build structure and handle operations. Reserve the CFO hire for Series B or C when strategic complexity justifies the seniority and cost. Invest in copywriting for internal talent teams: Great job posts and promotional content about roles, culture, and mission significantly increase application quality. Tom Hunter argues this investment saves tens of thousands in external recruitment fees by attracting candidates who buy into the story. Questions This Episode Answers When should a startup hire its first finance person instead of outsourcing to a bookkeeper? Tom Hunter recommends hiring when more than 20% of a founder's time is spent on finance tasks. The first hire is typically a financial controller or head of finance who builds structure, not a CFO. CFO hires usually come at Series B or C. How can scaleups get strategic finance input without hiring a full-time CFO? The fractional or virtual CFO (VCFO) model allows companies to access strategic expertise—capital raising, R&D tax, process design—at a fraction of full-time cost. Tom Hunter sees this especially valuable in deep tech, where commercialization may be 5–7 years out and capital efficiency is critical. At what headcount does company culture become difficult to fix if not already established? Tom Hunter identifies 100–150 employees as the inflection point. Beyond this size, multiple management layers, geographic dispersion, and diluted storytelling make culture difficult to rein back in. Intentional culture-building and storytelling before this threshold determines long-term engagement. Links & Resources Mentioned: Connect with Tom Hunter on LinkedIn

    #46 Hiring Your First Finance Person: Generalist vs. Specialist with Tom Hunter, Story Recruitment

  4. Oct 12

    #45 How to Have Mental Health Conversations That Don't Break Trust with Ralph Kellogg, CHRO

    Ralph Kellogg is Chief Human Resources Officer at Lutheran Family Services, TEDx speaker, and author of Leading While Human: Notes I Wish Someone Had Given Me. He brings 20+ years of executive leadership experience and publicly disclosed his anxiety disorder and panic disorder diagnosis in his 2022 TED talk. In this episode, Ralph Kellogg introduces the ACT model — Acknowledged, Compassionate Accountability and Transparency — a framework he created during the pandemic to equip managers with a structured approach to mental health conversations. For people leaders at 100–1,500 employee companies, this episode addresses a critical scaleup challenge: informal manager-employee relationships that worked at 50 people break down as headcount grows. Ralph Kellogg explains how to train managers to build trust before crisis moments, how to avoid the stigma trap of pulling assignments away, and why curiosity — not fixing — is the leadership discipline that scales. He also shares the operational case for relationship-building: Gallup data shows 70% of people leave organizations because of their relationship with their manager, and replacing a high performer costs more than investing in the manager's relational capacity. Challenges Addressed Managers don't know how to start mental health conversations without triggering defensiveness or stigma: Ralph Kellogg explains that the relationship must be built before the crisis moment — if the only interactions are corrective feedback, the employee will assume judgment. He outlines the ACT model (Acknowledged, Compassionate Accountability and Transparency) as a repeatable framework managers can use to check in, offer support, and follow up without making it transactional. Scaleup leaders claim they don't have time for relationship-building with their teams: Ralph Kellogg's response: "Do you have time to replace that person?" He recommends bringing in someone — an internal hire or external consultant — who is skilled at connecting with the team, so the founder or technical leader can focus on what they do best while the team still gets relational support. HR doesn't know how to train managers on mental health at scale without turning it into compliance theater: Ralph Kellogg argues that HR's job is to build trust with managers first, then equip managers to build trust with their teams. Relationships start on day one of onboarding, not in the moment of crisis. Training should focus on small, consistent behaviors — checking in, following up on commitments, staying curious — not one-time workshops. Actionable Takeaways Use the ACT model for mental health check-ins: Ralph Kellogg's framework is Acknowledged, Compassionate Accountability and Transparency. When a manager observes a change in an employee's behavior, they should frame the conversation with concern ("I see this — are you okay?"), ask how they can support rather than immediately pulling assignments away, and follow up in one to two weeks to show the conversation wasn't transactional. Build the relationship before the crisis: Ralph Kellogg emphasizes that managers must have consistent, low-stakes interactions with employees starting on day one. If the first real conversation happens during a performance issue or mental health crisis, the employee will become defensive. Trust is built through small moments — not grand gestures. Stay curious when a star employee suddenly struggles: Ralph Kellogg advises managers to resist the urge to fix or assume they know the problem. Instead, ask questions, stay open to the messiness, and recognize that high performers are multidimensional people — the traits that made them great are still there, even when something is temporarily off. Questions This Episode Answers How do I train managers to have mental health conversations without making employees feel judged? Ralph Kellogg explains that the relationship must exist before the conversation. Managers should use the ACT model (Acknowledged, Compassionate Accountability and Transparency), frame the conversation with concern rather than correction, and avoid pulling assignments away — which signals loss of confidence. Follow up in one to two weeks to show it's not a one-and-done transaction. What do I do if my startup founders say they don't have time for relationship-building with their team? Ralph Kellogg's answer: "Do you have time to replace that person?" He recommends bringing in someone — internally or as a consultant — who has the relational capacity to connect with the team. That way, founders can focus on their strengths while the team still receives support. Gallup research shows 70% of people leave because of their relationship with their manager, so investing in relational capacity is cheaper than constant turnover. How can HR scale mental health support as we grow from 100 to 500 employees? Ralph Kellogg says HR's role is to build trust with managers first, then train managers to build trust with their teams. Relationships don't start in crisis moments — they start on day one of onboarding. HR should teach managers small, repeatable behaviors: check-ins, follow-ups, staying curious in conflict, and recognizing that not every high performer wants to climb the ladder. Links & Resources Mentioned: Connect with Ralph Kellogg on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphkellogg Website: https://ralphkellogg.com/

    #45 How to Have Mental Health Conversations That Don't Break Trust with Ralph Kellogg, CHRO

  5. Oct 6

    #44 The HRBP-as-Coach Model with Jen Paxton, SVP People & Talent at Roofr

    Jen Paxton is SVP of People & Talent at Roofr, a high-growth SaaS company, where she reports directly to the CEO and owns both talent acquisition and HR — the full employee lifecycle. A three-time startup-to-acquisition People leader with more than a decade in startups, Jen has scaled companies to $50M ARR and built an HRBP coaching program at Roofr where every manager gets a dedicated HRBP as a personal coach. Her single biggest argument: HR should lead the AI transformation inside the company, not wait for it to land on their desk. For People teams at 100–1,500 person scaleups, informal communication breaks down and no one has full visibility into what every department is building. Jen explains how HR's cross-cutting position — touching every department — makes it the right function to own AI change management, communication, and cross-team visibility. Challenges Addressed Siloed HR vs. cross-cutting HR: Jen Paxton argues traditional HR stays siloed while a strategic people partner understands how each department's work affects every other, making HR the only function that cross-cuts the entire business. Duplicative AI builds: At Roofr, where every employee has Claude access, Jen identifies the core risk of two departments independently building identical tools (her example: two pricing calculators) because there is no cross-departmental visibility. AI as change management, not just tech: Jen frames AI as a "hot potato" — it upends how people do their jobs, creating change management work and potential attrition that HR is positioned to own. Actionable Takeaways Assign every manager an HRBP coach: Jen Paxton's HRBP program pairs each manager with a dedicated coach who teaches effective one-on-ones and runs live role-play for delivering difficult feedback. Build the foundation before expecting managers to grow. Replace flat "no" with options: When a manager brings a request, Jen recommends answering "this won't work, but what about X or Y." This frames HR and the manager as solving the problem together and builds trust. Monitor AI usage to surface and share high-impact builds: Jen tracks company-wide Claude token usage to find valuable AI builds, then makes them publicly visible. This drives social learning and cuts duplicative work across teams. Questions This Episode Answers What's the difference between a strategic people partner and traditional HR? Jen Paxton explains that traditional HR is siloed and admin-focused, while a strategic people partner understands the inner workings of every department and how their work flows into each other. HR is the only function that genuinely cross-cuts the whole business. Should HR own AI enablement in my company? Jen argues yes. She compares "AI enablement" roles to the "head of remote" roles that proliferated during COVID and were later absorbed back into HR, predicting AI enablement will follow the same path under L&D, manager coaching, or HR ops. HR does not need to be technical — it needs the right partnerships and cross-departmental visibility. How do I build trust as an internal coach to managers? Jen builds trust through vulnerability, genuine follow-up questions, and framing herself as tackling problems alongside the manager rather than blocking them. She treats each coaching conversation as a two-way partnership, not a question-and-answer transaction. Links & Resources Mentioned: Connect with Jen Paxton on LinkedIn

    #44 The HRBP-as-Coach Model with Jen Paxton, SVP People & Talent at Roofr

  6. Sep 28

    #43 Building HR Influence Without Asking for Permission with Johanna Flórez Restrepo, CPO at CryoHoldco Biotech

    Johanna Flórez Restrepo is LATAM Chief People Officer at CryoHoldco Biotech, one of the world's top five stem cell banks, with over 15 years leading HR and organizational transformation across 8 countries, 2 continents, and organizations of 120,000+ employees. Her single biggest argument for People leaders: stop asking for a seat at the table and build real influence, so business leaders say "I need you here with me." Johanna Flórez Restrepo teaches a three-part Influence-over-Imposition framework — listen to understand, anchor to the final objective, and match empathy to each person's level. In this episode, Johanna Flórez Restrepo unpacks the friction that hits companies scaling through rapid growth, M&A, and digital transformation: policy and compliance stop working as the primary lever with CEOs and directors, cultural change starts feeling like invisible work, and a single crisis — like a full cyber attack — can put payroll for thousands of employees at risk overnight. For People teams at high-growth companies where the leadership team can no longer oversee everything directly, her operating principles turn HR from rule enforcer into trusted business partner. Challenges Addressed Policy-first HR loses credibility: Johanna Flórez Restrepo explains that leading with rules, compliance, and normative alignment signals "rule enforcer" to CEOs and directors, not strategic partner — and loses the influence battle immediately. Invisible work during transformation: During cultural change, progress feels like nothing is happening; Johanna Flórez Restrepo reframes this marathon-like effort as preventive work that precedes visible results. Speed mismatch in digital transformation: Moving from pharma's multi-year product cycles to a digital business measured in seconds (page load, CTR, conversion) forced Johanna Flórez Restrepo to recalibrate what "urgency" means in People operations. Actionable Takeaways Listen to understand, not to respond: Stay calm, focused, and fully present in executive conversations. Senior leaders in lonely positions share their real fears only when they trust their HR partner is genuinely listening, and that trust earns proximity no title can. Prioritize door one before door ten: In a crisis with fires everywhere, discipline means opening the door that moves you closest to the result first. Enforce rest, nutrition, and boundaries for your team so people stay functional under pressure. Build a support network inside and outside the company: Inside contacts understand your context without a full briefing; outside contacts provide external perspective and prevent tunnel vision. Both protect your judgment when everything feels like a Titanic. Questions This Episode Answers How do I get taken seriously as a strategic business partner instead of a rule enforcer? Johanna Flórez Restrepo argues you build influence, not authority: know the business deeply, listen to leaders' real concerns, and stop leading with policy. When you do this, executives ask for you by name rather than granting you a seat. How should HR lead a company through a cyber attack or major operational crisis? Johanna Flórez Restrepo used three principles when a cyber attack put payroll for 5,000 people across 2 million kilometers at risk: self-awareness of your own triggers, a support network inside and outside the company, and discipline to prioritize what moves you closest to the result. Why does my culture and change management work feel invisible? Johanna Flórez Restrepo reframes this as preventive work that comes before visible work. Cultural change is a marathon — you are still moving toward the result even when progress isn't yet visible, because culture is behavior lived day by day, not policy written on paper. Links & Resources Mentioned: Connect with Johanna Flórez Restrepo on LinkedIn

    #43 Building HR Influence Without Asking for Permission with Johanna Flórez Restrepo, CPO at CryoHoldco Biotech

  7. Sep 21

    #42 Reducing Decision Errors by 30% Kylee Ingram, CEO of Wizer

    Kylee Ingram is the co-founder and CEO of Wizer, a decision intelligence platform that maps how decisions get made inside organizations. Before decision science, Kylee Ingram spent years in documentary filmmaking, television production, and six years as head of production at a startup accelerator, giving her both a human and a systems view of organizational problems. Her core concept is cognitive drift: as companies scale, decision-making narrows toward sameness because the top leadership's thinking style — 75% of Western CEOs are outcomes- or options-focused — gets replicated down through middle management, eroding the cognitive diversity that existed at founding. For a company between 100 and 1,500 employees, this drift is the quiet friction point. The informal alignment of the founding team disappears, teams clump into two or three decision archetypes each, and leaders can no longer oversee every call directly. Kylee Ingram argues the fix is not restructuring — it is designing who is in the room for each decision. Challenges Addressed Cognitive drift in scaling orgs: Kylee Ingram explains that as a scaleup grows, teams homogenize into two or three decision styles out of seven, replicating leadership's dominant style and shrinking the range of thinking applied to each decision. Three structural biases: Wizer's approach targets social bias (which voices dominate, causing groupthink), information bias (which data is overweighted or ignored), and capacity bias (teams oversimplify when cognitive load is too high). Overlooked internal talent: Wizer's data shows 40–60% of the people its recommendation engine surfaces have never previously been asked into a decision room, meaning existing talent goes unused. Actionable Takeaways Map your decision archetypes before restructuring: Identify where teams over-index — Wizer's framework covers Achiever (outcomes), Collaborator (perspectives), Analyzer (evidence), Deliverer (process), Explorer (options), Guardian (risk), and Visionary. You can pull missing styles in from other teams without changing the org chart. Design the decision room, not just the org: Shift from a permanent advisory board to pop-up decision teams matched to the decision type. One board Kylee Ingram cites found it was skewed to Analyzers and Achievers, then went one layer down for the styles it lacked. Match communication to the recipient's decision style: Kylee Ingram notes a process-driven person needs a different message than an outcomes-driven one. Rewriting messages to fit the recipient's decision profile helps them land and reduces friction. Questions This Episode Answers Why do decisions get worse as my company scales? Kylee Ingram calls it cognitive drift: leadership's dominant style spreads down through middle management, so the cognitive diversity present at founding erodes. Teams settle into two or three archetypes, narrowing the perspectives applied to each decision. How do I add cognitive diversity without a reorg? According to Kylee Ingram, you map decision profiles, find where you are over- and under-indexed, and pull people with missing styles in from other teams for specific decisions. No restructuring is required — you just need to know where the talent sits. Should I use AI to make decisions? Kylee Ingram's position is that AI supports analysis but cannot replicate deep human interrogation over time, and it homogenizes language. Use AI only where the problem it solves is clear, and keep the right humans in the room.  Links & Resources Mentioned: Connect with Kylee Ingram on LinkedIn Wizer (free decision profiles): wizer.business

    #42 Reducing Decision Errors by 30% Kylee Ingram, CEO of Wizer

  8. Sep 14

    #41 How Smartcat's VP of People Rebuilt HR Around AI Coworkers with Stacey Richey

    Stacey Richey is Global Vice President of People at Smartcat, an AI-native technology company. With over 20 years leading people operations in high-growth technology companies and an early career in private equity consulting spanning firms from $5M to $5B, Stacey built the "intelligence fabric layer" — a system that records and extracts signals from every meeting, call, Slack message, and email to identify high-leverage workflows for AI and to create one single source of truth across the organization. Most companies treat AI as a productivity tool, which produces marginal efficiency but misses the structural redesign that compounds. Stacey argues that for a 100–1,500 person scaleup, institutional knowledge trapped in individual heads gets lost every time someone leaves. Her fix is to redesign work around "jobs to be done and missions to be handled" and to make the People team the owner of that transformation. Challenges Addressed HR excluded from AI strategy: Daria cites research that roughly 95% of CEOs do not see HR as a strategic partner in AI transformation. Stacey counters that AI transformation is a business transformation that becomes a people transformation, placing the head of People at the center. Institutional knowledge loss at scale: At Smartcat, expertise was scattered across Slack, meetings, documents, and emails, and lost whenever an employee left. Stacey's intelligence fabric layer captures this knowledge so it stays inside the organization. Measuring human-plus-AI performance: Stacey warns against measuring AI only by hours saved. Smartcat instead tracks ARR per full-time employee to confirm AI raises output per person while freeing time for higher-value work. Actionable Takeaways Ask the 10–100x question with your executive team: Smartcat's leadership asked how to get 10 to 100 times results using the same resources, then mapped every gain to three levers — people, processes, and systems. Run this exercise cross-functionally to find where AI actually compounds. Record and mine your communications for high-leverage workflows: Build an intelligence fabric layer by capturing meetings, calls, Slack, and email, then extract signals to identify which workflows deliver the biggest ROI when automated. Start with one bottleneck workflow, such as sales research and deck creation. Reframe AI as coworkers, not tools: Smartcat never pairs "AI" with "tooling," using "AI coworkers" and "AI teammates" instead. Adopt this language to reduce adoption resistance and shift leaders from having all the answers to asking better questions. Questions This Episode Answers Why should HR lead AI transformation instead of IT? Stacey Richey argues AI changes how work gets done, how decisions are made, and what skills people need — all areas where the People team already has deep expertise. Since every business transformation becomes a people transformation, the head of People is positioned to lead it. How do you measure ROI on AI adoption in a scaleup? Smartcat uses ARR per full-time employee, a capital efficiency metric CFOs already track, as its North Star. Stacey pairs this quantitative measure with a qualitative check on how much higher-value work employees now do instead of busy work. How should the People function evolve over the next few years? Stacey describes four shifts: process owner to operating model architect, knowledge manager to intelligence designer, workforce planning to capability planning (mixing people, agents, and automation), and change management to continuous adaptation. Links & Resources Mentioned: Connect with Stacey Richey on LinkedIn Smartcat website: smartcat.com

    #41 How Smartcat's VP of People Rebuilt HR Around AI Coworkers with Stacey Richey
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About

Built by People Leaders is a podcast for HR, People, and L&D leaders at scale-ups and fast-growing companies. Host Daria Rudnik — Team Architect, Executive Leadership Coach, and former Chief People Officer — talks with the in-house HR and People leaders building the people side of scale. Each episode goes inside the real work: designing leadership development that keeps up with growth, earning trust at the executive table, and turning people strategy into measurable business impact. These are practical conversations for anyone leading a People function inside a company that's moving fast. Daria brings a global perspective from her work with clients across six continents and her years at Deloitte, leading through financial crises, war, and the pandemic. She is the author of CLICKING: A Team Building Strategy for Overloaded Leaders and co-author of The AI Revolution: Thriving Within Civilization's Next Big Disruption. If you're an HR or People leader scaling a fast-moving company, Built by People Leaders is where the people side of growth gets figured out. Want to be a guest? Applications go through the podcast page on my website — apply via the guest form or through PodMatch (both links are there). We don't take applications by email or LinkedIn message, so please use one of those two routes. https://dariarudnik.com/podcast  

Information

  • Creator
    Daria Rudnik
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Built by People Leaders