294 - AI Is Turning HR into Builders: Zachary Parris (AI x Talent @ Google)

Katarina Berg, Chief People Officer at On, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about her journey from Spotify to On, why performance growth is more powerful than performance management, and how people, leadership, curiosity, learning, and AI will shape the next era of work. ---- Sponsor Links: 🔗 Request a demo of Shapes 🔗 Learn more about SixFifty MPL Links: 🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build. ---- (08:15) Succession Planning and Practicing What You Preach (10:15) Working With Daniel Ek and Stretching Her Thinking (11:00) Pressure Testing HR Truths at Spotify (11:45) When People Grow, the Company Grows (13:05) Finding a Culture You Can Feel When You Step In (13:35) On’s Entrepreneurial Spirit and Swiss Engineering Mindset (18:30) Performance Development Versus Performance Management (19:15) The Four Ps: People, Product, Planet and Profitability (20:45) How Performance Management Can Demotivate People (21:15) Autonomy, Competence, Purpose and Benevolence (22:10) Why Performance Growth Works Better Than Performance Management (23:00) Proud People Perform (23:40) Giving People a Clear North Star and a Mental Paddock (24:30) Why Growth Is a Business Strategy, Not an HR Program (25:10) Why Downsizing L&D Misses the Point (28:00) Upskilling, Cross-Skilling and Off-Skilling (29:15) Why Learning Is an Investment, Not a Cost (29:45) The Human Skills Technology Cannot Replace (32:20) The Importance of Leadership in a Paradigm Shift (34:00) Mercenaries, Missionaries and Why Both Systems Can Work (39:15) Why HR Needs Business Acumen, Not Just HR Acumen (41:15) The People Team Hackathon and Building Agents (43:10) Focusing on Learnings Instead of Blame (50:15) Applying New Technology to Old Ways of Working (51:15) Why AI Will Change Everything, But Not Overnight ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn ---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Vanessa Okwuraiwe, Head of Inclusion & Accessibility, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how inclusion work has moved deeper into the business, why purpose matters at Edward Jones, and how human judgment, client trust, accessibility, and AI are shaping the future of financial services. ---- Sponsor Links: 🔗 Schedule a consultation with Manifest 🔗 Request a demo of Shapes 🔗 Explore the 2026 ​Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report MPL Links: 🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build. ---- (14:15) Why Inclusion Is More Integrated Into the Business Now (15:10) Moving Inclusion From Standalone Programs Into Policy, Process and Systems (16:25) Building Inclusion Into Leadership Development and Behavior Models (17:35) Why Inclusion Should Never Be Fashionable (18:15) Business Resource Groups as Business Influencers (19:35) Vanessa’s Day-to-Day Work Across Advocacy, Cultural Acumen and AI (20:15) Building Human Judgment Into AI and Client Experiences (20:45) Looking at the Client Opportunity Across Generations (24:00) Why Younger Generations Expect More Inclusive Companies (26:35) Digital-First Expectations and the Future of Branch Experiences (29:30) Serving Five Generations of Clients (30:05) Why AI Makes Information a Commodity, But Trust Still Matters (33:15) Big P Purpose: Positive Impact With Clients, Colleagues and Communities (34:10) Little P Purpose: Everyday Ways People Activate Purpose (37:35) How Edward Jones Develops Leaders Around Respectful Debate and Inclusion (40:20) Vanessa’s Personal Purpose (41:35) Giving Feedback With Kindness and Dignity (43:30) Using AI for Efficiency While Preserving Human Judgment (44:20) Why Human Connection and Trust Still Matter Most ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn ---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more

Andy Doyle, Chief People & Agent Officer at Kantar, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about Kantar’s agentic HR transformation, why the future workforce will be a mix of humans and agents, and the four dimensions of AI we should be looking at when we think about who benefits from the AI gains. ---- Sponsor Links: 🔗 Explore the 2026 ​Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report 🔗 Schedule a consultation with Manifest 🔗 Learn more about Tilt at hellotilt.com/mpl MPL Links: 🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build. ---- (09:25) Why There Has Never Been a Better Time to Work in HR (12:25) “What Would You Need to Believe to Take Another 50% Out?” (14:00) Four Big HR Operating Model Changes at Kantar (14:35) Moving From COEs to Business Capability Hubs (15:35) Cutting the Bonus Cycle From 12 Weeks to 8 Days (16:10) Why Kantar Took Business Partners Away From the Business (18:00) Taking Workday Access Away From Business Partners (20:40) Twelve Thousand People and Seventeen Thousand Agents (22:30) Why Technology Has Become Disposable (23:00) HR Building Agents Without the Technology Team (26:45) Why HR Needs Clean Data and Better Foundations (28:10) Rewriting 4,200 Policies for Agents to Read (33:05) Why Leaders Must Build and Role Model Agents (33:45) HR Analytics Agent That Reduced a Monthly Task From One Week to Ten Minutes (35:10) Why Kantar’s TA Team Is Smaller, More Productive and More Engaged (35:35) Sharing the AI Dividend Across Shareholders, Clients, Employees and Society (39:00) Why Kantar Wants 80% From Agents and 20% From Human Judgment (42:15) Why Everything Andy Knew About Change Has Gone Out the Window (47:25) Rethinking the Five-Day Workweek and Vacation Time (52:25) The Practice Andy Would Steal: Product Mindset in HR ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn ---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Luca Oake and Jessica Zwaan joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about building scalable L&D, why onboarding should be outcomes-focused instead of input-focused, and how AI, strong project runways, iteration, and builder mindsets can help people teams move faster. ---- Sponsor Links: 🔗 Request a demo of Shapes 🔗 Learn more about Tilt at hellotilt.com/mpl 🔗 Learn more about Beqom at beqom.com/mpl MPL Links: 🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build. ---- (08:05) Talentful’s Need for a More Scalable Onboarding Program (13:35) Why L&D Needs to Focus on Outcomes, Not Inputs (14:25) Why Learning Does Not Happen Until Behavior Changes (14:55) How AI Changes the Role of Coaches and L&D Leaders (16:25) Jessie on Using AI as a Tool, Not the Decision-Maker (19:15) Why Jessie’s Upfront Brief Made the Work Faster (20:40) Building a Smooth Runway for a Consultant (22:00) Designing for Outcomes and Scale (23:10) Flexible Operators and Expert Consultants as the Future of Work (25:40) Making the Project a Talentful Priority, Not a Jessie Project (26:45) Why Change Projects Need Strategic Seeding Across the Organization (28:20) How AI Helped Luca Process Interviews, Transcripts and Documents (29:00) Why Fractional Consultants Can Move Faster With AI (30:10) Designing the Onboarding Wireframe in Less Than a Month (35:15) The Complexity of Talentful’s Onboarding Program (38:10) Zooming In Before Zooming Out With Stakeholders (39:35) Building to Iterate, Not Just to Launch (40:10) The Biggest V1 to V2 Change: Four Weeks Down to One Week (42:20) Why MVPs Matter in People Ops (43:15) Why HR Needs Permission to Iterate (45:50) Why Moving Quickly Is No Longer Optional (52:35) Why Feelings Are Data, Not Facts (53:25) Why the Best L&D Is Building ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn ---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.

Dan Mishin, Founder & CEO of Manifest OS, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how Manifest is rebuilding immigration law for the AI era, why talent strategy now requires faster, more creative support for global employees, and how AI-native companies are changing management, engineering teams, vendor strategy, and the war for 10X talent. ---- Sponsor Links: 🔗 Schedule a consultation with Manifest 🔗 Learn more about Beqom at beqom.com/mpl MPL Links: 🔗Go sign up for MPL Build. ---- (13:00) Charlie Munger, Incentives and the AI Economy (14:30) The Problem With Billable Hours (15:20) Why Legal Pricing Should Be Fixed, Transparent and Outcome-Based (20:45) Immigration as a Talent Acquisition and Retention Lever (21:40) Why Tech Companies Need Creative Immigration Strategy (23:25) How AI Frees Lawyers to Focus on Strategy and Service (25:20) Why High Output Management No Longer Fits the AI Era (26:20) How Manifest Structures AI-Native Teams (26:45) One AI Engineer, One Lawyer and Full Autonomy (27:20) Using AI Agents to Orchestrate Work and Avoid Duplication (30:00) Treating AI Agents Like Independent Employees (31:20) Why CEOs Need Daily AI Education Time (31:45) Hiring People Who Grew Up AI-Native (32:10) Why Dan Does Not Want Professional Managers in Technical Roles (36:20) Rethinking Vendor Strategy Around AI-Native Partners (38:00) Why Executives Should Do the Grunt Work (40:25) Revisiting Decisions in Real Time (41:00) Why Going Back Down the Mountain Is So Hard (42:25) The New Talent Strategy in the AI Economy (43:40) Why A-Players Have 10X More Leverage Now (46:40) Career Advice: HR Needs to Become HR Plus Ops Plus Product ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn ---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.