Jennifer McClure`

Equipping people leaders to navigate change — and design the future — with boldness and purpose.

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Transformative HR Leadership: Embracing Disruption and Shaping the Future of Work

On episode 85 of the Impact Makers podcast, I’m sharing a conversation with you that I had recently with Shari Simpson – Senior Manager of Thought Leadership at Paylocity – on the HR Mixtape podcast, which she hosts.

I asked Shari if I could also share the conversation with the Impact Makers community, because I thought she asked some great questions about the challenges and opportunities that HR leaders are facing in a world where work and employee expectations have changed forever.

We discussed how technology and artificial intelligence impacts HR, as well as how HR can lead in the future of work in the areas of attracting and retaining talent, redefining employee engagement, and connecting employees with meaning and purpose in their work. We also touched on how HR leaders can build their influence, and make a significant impact in their organizations as well as the broader HR community.

I’ve linked to the episode of the HR Mixtape podcast where this conversation originally appeared below. I encourage you to connect with Shari, and to follow or subscribe to the HR Mixtape podcast so you can listen to more thought-provoking interviews, compliance tips, coffee chats, and the latest HR-related news.

Topics Discussed In Today’s Episode:

  • Current and future challenges confronting HR leaders.
  • The crucial role of HR in adopting technology impacting the workplace.
  • The influence of consumer experience on employee satisfaction and competitiveness in the labor market.
  • Defining employee engagement and strategies for positive impact.
  • The significance of a learner’s mindset for HR leaders and methods to gain beneficial insights.
  • Guidance for HR leaders on enhancing their influence and contributing to meaningful conversations in their profession, company, and industry.

LISTEN TO IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 85

Listen on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Spotify

People & Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Shari Simpson – LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram

HR Mixtape Podcast

HR Mixtape Podcast — HR Evolved: Navigating Challenges and Embracing the Future with Jennifer McClure

PCTY Talks Podcast — Creating Your Personal HR Brand with Jennifer McClure

Re:Thinking with Adam Grant — ChatGPT did NOT title this podcast (w/ Allie Miller & Ethan Mollick)

Impact Makers Podcast — Defining Return on Workforce Investment in the Future of Work with Dr. Alexander Alonso

Redefining Work Podcast with Lars Schmidt

Punk Rock HR Podcast with Laurie Ruettimann

Digital HR Leaders Podcast with David Green

Kris Dunn – The HR Capitalist

Noah Warder – LinkedIn

Tracie Sponenberg – LinkedIn

Julie Turney – LinkedIn

Subscribe to Jennifer McClure’s Impact Makers Newsletter

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Poetry, Hip Hop, and HR: Creativity and Leading in the Future of Work With Arend Boersema

Have you ever thought of poetry as a tool for revolutionizing your thought process and sparking creativity? Well, my guest on episode 84 of the Impact Makers podcast has!

Arend Boersema, is a human resources leader, hip-hop enthusiast, spoken word poet and writer, and in our conversation, he shares how we can use art forms like poetry to disrupt our thinking, and to unlock creativity in the workplace.

Having lived in various countries and cultures around the world, Arend embraces his diverse identity as a global citizen, and utilizes his passions and experience to help leaders to tap into their creativity, and to think differently about work and life. He’s a firm believer that writing poetry can be a useful activity to explore self-expression and uncover new ideas.

During the pandemic, Arend found solace in writing and capturing his experiences through spoken word poetry, and this creative expression culminated in the publication of his book, “Poetry at the Heart of Business.”

As an HR and organizational development expert, Arend incorporates spoken word poetry, hip-hop, and haikus into training classes, retreats, and summits as tools to encourage creative thinking, and to foster a sense of community among participants.

This episode is a fascinating blend of art, creativity, and leadership that you wouldn’t want to miss. I hope that it sparks something in you, and inspires you to use poetry, hip hop lyrics, or some other form of art that you may be passionate about to engage your own creativity and self-expression in your leadership journey going forward.

Topics Discussed In Today’s Episode:

  • The importance of HR in creating a positive employee experience and fostering company culture.
  • How incorporating storytelling and spoken word poetry into your work can make concepts and feelings come to life in unique ways.
  • How embracing creativity and self-expression can enhance leadership skills and help us to connect with others on a deeper level.
  • Using poetry and art as tools for personal growth, self-reflection, and making sense of the world.

LISTEN TO IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 84

Listen on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Spotify

People & Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Arend Boersema – Website, LinkedIn Profile

Book – Poetry at the Heart of Business : Spoken Word Poetry Exploring the Concept of Company Culture & Belonging by Arend Boersema

DisruptHR Philadelphia Talk – Do You Even Hear Yourself? (Leadership & Self-Reflection) | Arend Boersema

DisruptHR Philadelphia Talk – Turns Out, You Can Fix Stupid | Arend Boersema

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Redefining HR: Embracing Modern People Practices To Fuel Business Success With Lars Schmidt

photo of Lars Schmidt

Since it’s a new year, I’m already hard at work on achieving the goals that I set for myself, and my businesses in 2021. And one of my goals this year is to read 24 books.

Thankfully, I’ve got some good friends who are helping to fill my reading list with books that they’ve written, which were set for January 2021 release dates!

I spoke with my best friend Laurie Ruettimann about her new book, Betting On You, which released a couple of weeks ago in Episode 53 of the podcast, and in this episode, I’m chatting with my friend Lars Schmidt about his new book – Redefining HR – which releases worldwide on January 26, 2021.

I really enjoyed my conversation with Lars, and he has a great grasp on how leaders in all areas – not just human resources – should approach building strong and capable organizations through implementing modern people practices.

Lars Schmidt is the Founder and Principal of Amplify – a firm that helps progressive people leaders and companies navigate the future of work.

Long interested in emerging work trends, tech, and people practices, his curiosity fueled a career that has afforded him the privilege of solving complex talent challenges for some of the biggest brands in their respective fields including NPR, Ticketmaster, SpaceX, Duo Security, and Hootsuite. He’s always been drawn to HR leaders who operate at the leading edges of the field, who embrace 21st Century HR, and who are redefining people practices through their vision, experience, and approach.

Lars has long worked to accelerate the evolution of Human Resources’ capabilities and impact through efforts like co-founding the HR Open Source initiative, by contributing regular columns for Fast Company and Forbes, and also writing books, including Employer Branding for Dummies in 2017, and his latest book – Redefining HR, which will release worldwide on January 26, 2021.

Redefining HR provides a framework for leaders to build modern and world-class people teams, enabling them to create people-centric organizations that lead to long-term success.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:​​

  • Lars’ transition from recruiting leader, to employer branding expert, to HR and People Operations community leader and curator.
  • How Lars and Ambrosia Vertesi applied the Open Source concept to create a platform for HR leaders to share case studies, templates, and learnings to accelerate innovation.
  • How curation of resources, experts, and the work of others can be an important part of building credibility, and a personal brand.
  • 7 communities Lars suggests where HR and people leaders can get learning and development opportunities.
  • 5 visionary leaders in the HR and people space Lars suggests that others follow and learn from.
  • 3 skills that Lars believes modern people leaders need to master or develop in 2021 and beyond.

IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 55

(Email subscribers – click HERE to listen to the podcast.)

Key Quotes From This Episode:

“To me, one of the most significant changes in the field of HR over the last 5 years is our evolution from black box, to open source. That’s the single most important enabler of the shift from legacy HR to modern HR.” ~ Lars Schmidt

“I think, in legacy HR, your role was based upon having HR acumen. Modern HR is based on having business acumen AND HR acumen. HR acumen is table stakes. You have to understand how to do x, y, or z  depending upon what your job is, but you have to understand how that connects to the business, how that supports the business, how is that going to enable to the business to achieve its goals.” ~ Lars Schmidt

“Don’t limit yourself to HR resources and communities. Especially if you’re in a leadership role – you need to sharpen your business acumen. So whether that’s other forums – like Harvard Business Review or The Economist – or other platforms and publications that aren’t necessarily looking at things purely from an insular HR perspective, but more of a broader business perspective. You’ve got to be plugged into those other networks as well.” ~ Lars Schmidt

“Find some of the leading thinkers in the space, and absorb not just their own content, but find out who they are reading, where they are learning from, and where they’re getting their ideas from.”  ~ Lars Schmidt

“If we’re not diversifying our sources, if we’re not diversifying the perspectives and the voices that we’re taking in, our outlook is going to have deep blind spots. You do need to be intentional and deliberate about diversifying the voices that are informing our perspective on the field.” ~ Lars Schmidt

“For leaders, your value to your organization, to your employees, to your company – it’s not just the knowledge that you have, it’s the knowledge that you have access too.” ~ Lars Schmidt

People & Resources Mentioned In This episode:

Amplify Talent

Redefining HR

Book -> Redefining HR: Transforming People Teams to Drive Business Performance by Lars Schmidt

Podcast -> Redefining HR

Newsletter / Blog  -> Redefining HR

Book -> Employer Branding for Dummies by Richard Mosley and Lars Schmidt

Lars Schmidt LinkedIn

Lars Schmidt Twitter

Lars Schmidt articles on Fast Company

People Geeks – a Culture Amp community

Workhuman

HR Open Source Community

Hacking HR

DisruptHR

Google Rework 

Bersin Academy

Redefining HR Episode 37 – Reddit VP People & Culture, Katelin Holloway

Redefining HR Episode 40 – Spotify CHRO, Katarina Berg

Redefining HR Episode 28 – VaynerMedia Chief Heart Officer, Claude Silver

Erin L. Thomas, PhD – Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging and Talent Acquisition at Upwork

Connect with Jennifer:

Send her a message [https://jennifermcclure.net/contact/]

On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermcclure

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferMcClure

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_mcclure/

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferMcClureSpeaker

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Get Out of Your Head and Just Get Things Done With Julie Turney

photo of Julie Turney

The reason that the Impact Makers Podcast exists is to bring you tools, tips and resources to help you build a career that you love, and to live a life that matters, and I love introducing you to people that I believe are truly making a difference out there in the world — those who can inspire you to take action in your own life, or help you to discover paths to impact that you may not have considered possible for yourself before.

Julie Turney is one of those inspiring people, and I hope that you’ll listen to this episode, as she shares how she’s taken intentional steps to grow her career and her network, and also to increase her impact.

And she’s just getting started.

Julie describes herself as a People Champion, and she’s also a woman of many talents, who wears many different hats. She’s a mom, a Human Resources Manager, an HR Performance Coach, an HR Disrupter, a public speaker, and she’s the host of the HR Sound Off Podcast Show.

She’s also currently writing her first book – in her spare time, of course – so she’ll soon be adding published author to her collection of titles. And she’s accomplished all of these things – and more – while living on the tiny and beautiful island of Barbados.

Since I first connected with Julie a little over a year ago, I’ve been super impressed with the growth that I’ve seen in her personally and professionally as she’s continued to expand her network, and has challenged herself to say “yes” to sometimes hard and scary things – all while continuing to work full time, and during a global pandemic that has isolated her and her fellow Bajans from the rest of the world.

I believe that you’ll find inspiration in Julie’s approach to growth and creating an impact in the world, and if you can get past the first few minutes of the episode where I’m fangirling out and grilling her about Rihanna’s whereabouts on Barbados, you’ll be glad you did. 😊

Topics Discussed In This Episode:​​

  • The surprising answer to an obvious question: Is Julie friends with Rihanna?
  • What Julie loves about HR, and why she feels that now – during a global pandemic – is the most exciting time to work in the profession.
  • What breaks Julie’s heart about how others sometimes perceive HR.
  • The important role that mentors have played in Julie’s life, and why she chose to actively mentor others in order to grow her own career.
  • How Julie originally connected with DisruptHR, and her plans are to expand DisruptHR events throughout the Caribbean.
  • Julie’s advice for people who make excuses about why they are being held back from achieving their dreams.
  • The surprising online Influencer that sparked Julie to take action and become a podcaster, DisruptHR organizer, Agile trainer, and HR Coach – in addition to continuing to work in a full-time job.
  • The power of LinkedIn for making connections that can change your life.

IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 44

(Email subscribers – click HERE to listen to the podcast.)

Key Quotes From This Episode:

“If you think of how Human Resources first started to where we are now, we are not the administrative paper-pushing people that we were in days of old. We are now guiding strategy, working with the c-suite, and building business strategy. We’re developing talent, we’re helping to create awesome cultures, we’re collaborating, and we’re understanding the business in it’s full context so that we can deliver products and services that are really going to benefit the people in that space. And we’re watching people develop and grow in their roles as they go along. So, for me, that’s what I love. That’s what I’m excited about.” ~ Julie Turney

“I do believe that mentorships are a 50/50 relationship. It’s not just about the mentor giving everything. It’s also about the mentee taking in and doing the work, but then sharing as well.” ~ Julie Turney

“It’s the stuff that I’m doing now, outside of my 9 – 5 that is making me happier. I’ve discovered myself, and my self worth, and my passion for HR. It’s all of those things that have inspired me to do the things that I’m doing now, and not my 9 – 5. So, I would say, you’ve got to do the thing that makes you happy.” ~ Julie Turney

People & Resources Mentioned In This episode:

HR at Heart / Julie Turney

Julie Turney LinkedIn

Julie Turney Twitter

Julie Turney Facebook

HR Sound Off podcast

Confessions of an HR Pro: Stories of Defeat and Triumph by Julie Turney

DisruptHR Barbados

DisruptHR Caribbean

HR Summer School

Ben Eubanks

DisruptHR London

Katrina Collier

DisruptHR Cayman

Chris Bailey

Meighan Newhouse

Gary Vaynerchuk

Hacking HR

Enrique Rubio

Erich Kurschat

Tracie Sponenberg

Steve Browne

Tim Sackett 

Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes

Ryan Holtz

Connect with Jennifer:

Send her a message [https://jennifermcclure.net/contact/]

On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermcclure

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferMcClure

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_mcclure/

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferMcClureSpeaker

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Leading With a People First Approach with Steve Browne

photo of Steve Browne

Are HR leaders the only leaders in an organization who can (or should) lead with a people first approach?

My guest in today’s episode – Steve Browne – doesn’t think so!

Steve has been my friend and mentor for over 20 years now, and he’s also a constant source of encouragement, wise counsel, connections and smiles for leaders around the world through his work as an HR executive, a board member of the largest HR association in the world, his popular blog (Everyday People), and his best-selling books (HR on Purpose !! and HR Rising !!).

Topics Discussed In This Episode:​​

Steve is well-known for his high-energy and positive approach to people leadership, and in this episode, we chat about:

  • What it’s been like to be an HR leader at an organization during a global pandemic, and the key approach all leaders must take in times of crisis.
  • The importance of building meaningful relationships to be able to lead effectively.
  • The shifts that are still to come in the workplace, and what leaders should be doing now to prepare themselves and their organizations.
  • Why Steve wrote his first best-selling book HR on Purpose !! and what compelled him to write his latest book HR Rising !!
  • How telling stories helps leaders to get their ideas and messages heard.
  • Why a people-first approach is key for all types of leaders, not just those who work in human resources.
  • And so much more!

IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 40

(Email subscribers – click HERE to listen to the podcast.)

People & Resources Mentioned in this episode:

Impact Makers Episode 003 – The Heart of Human Resources with Steve Browne

Steve Browne’s blog

Steve Browne LinkedIn

Steve Browne Twitter

HR On Purpose !! Developing Deliberate People Passion by Steve Browne

HR Rising !! From Ownership to Leadership by Steve Browne

Bob Goff

Lars Schmidt

Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Tom Lichtenheld

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