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I’m a Co-founder and CEO of HR Leaders, a digital media platform preparing HR…
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Christopher Rainey shared thisEvery HR team I've spoken to in the last year says the same thing: We have the data. We just can't get anyone to act on it. - Dashboards full of numbers. - Reports nobody reads past slide three. - Insights that are technically correct but land on a leadership team's desk and die there. It's not that the data is wrong. It's that nobody has translated it into something a business leader can feel in their own decisions. That's the gap. Not data. Translation. I sat down with Poonam Sirigidi, Senior Director, People Insights & Performance Management at Pfizer - and she described something I haven't heard anyone else articulate this clearly. At Pfizer, they stopped treating insights, performance, and listening as three separate systems. They brought them together. One picture. One language. One set of decisions. And what came out of that changed how they lead: → Reporting became strategy - the team stopped describing what happened and started shaping what happens next → High performer personas got built from data, not gut feel - patterns across thousands of data points no single manager could hold in their head → Managers became co-designers - not handed a new system, but involved in building it from the start → AI fluency became embedded in work - not a training programme people forget by Thursday, but something woven into how decisions actually get made → Listening moved from annual to continuous- real-time signal replacing quarterly reports that arrive too late to matter But the part that stayed with me was simpler than any of that. Poonam said the hardest part was never the data. It was getting managers to trust it enough to change what they do on a Monday morning. That's where most HR teams get stuck. Not in the building. In the believing. Because a dashboard nobody trusts is just decoration. And an insight nobody acts on is just noise. What would change in your organisation if every people decision was backed by data that leaders actually believed in?How Pfizer Is Using AI to Turn People Data Into Better DecisionsHow Pfizer Is Using AI to Turn People Data Into Better Decisions
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Christopher Rainey shared thisYour culture is already being measured every day. Just not by HR. Every time someone stops what they're doing to recognise a colleague -publicly, genuinely, in the moment - they're telling you something. Not just that someone did good work. They're showing you who actually creates impact. Which teams trust each other enough to say it out loud. Where collaboration is real and where it's just a word on a slide. Most companies collect that and call it a nice thing. But I sat down with KeyAnna Schmiedl, Chief Human Experience Officer at Workhuman, and she made me see it completely differently. KeyAnna reframed something I hadn't thought about this way before: Recognition is not just appreciation. It is a real-time map of how work actually gets done. → Who creates impact that never shows up in a performance review → Which teams have culture that compounds and which ones are quietly eroding → Where skills are emerging before anyone updates a job description → What patterns exist across thousands of moments that no single manager could ever see Now layer AI on top of that. Suddenly you're not waiting for the annual survey to tell you what already broke six months ago. You're seeing it as it happens. You're moving from fixing problems to scaling what's already working. That shift - from lagging indicators to live signal - is what separates companies that react from companies that steer. The question most HR teams haven't asked yet: what would change if you could see your culture in real time, not just measure it once a year?Why Recognition Is the Most Powerful AI Use Case in HRWhy Recognition Is the Most Powerful AI Use Case in HR
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Christopher Rainey shared thisI watched this short video this week that I haven't stopped thinking about. Two workers, one wall. The new guy is swinging at it from every angle. - Full energy. - Full effort. - The wall barely moves. Then an older worker walks in. - Looks at the wall for a second. - Hits it in one specific spot. -The whole thing comes down in one piece. That's the part I keep coming back to. Because I've worked with people like that. The ones who have been somewhere long enough to know exactly where the cracks are. Which meeting actually matters. Which customer you don't keep waiting. Which junior on the team is about to burn out and hasn't said it yet. They don't always say much in the big presentations. They rarely ask for recognition. They just know where to hit. And somehow, those are often the people we forget to notice. We celebrate the new hire. We announce the big promotion. We build whole campaigns around fresh talent and fresh thinking. Meanwhile the person who has quietly been holding things together for eight years gets a 2% raise and an email about the new office plants. I'm not saying new hires don't matter. They do. But experience is a kind of knowledge you cannot rush, cannot buy in, cannot download from a course. It's built slowly, in small moments, by people who kept showing up. And those people deserve to be seen. Not just thanked in a Slack message. Not just mentioned at the team all-hands. Paid for it. Promoted for it. Trusted with the decisions that only someone who has watched the wall fall a hundred times knows how to make. The new guy swings hard. The experienced one knows where to hit. Both matter. But only one of them is usually underpaid. Who is that person in your company? The one everyone relies on, but nobody talks about?
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Christopher Rainey shared thisMost companies are bolting AI onto the workforce they already have. The leaders pulling ahead are doing the opposite. I sat down with Charles Bucher - Chief Digital Workforce Officer at EY, a role that didn't exist three years ago and now sits at the centre of how one of the world's largest professional services firms is being rebuilt. Charles is clear about what most leaders are still missing: AI is not an incremental change. It is a full redesign moment. → The org chart was built for a workforce that no longer exists → Role definitions assume work happens in human-only teams → Performance models reward individual output in a world moving toward human-AI collaboration → Wellbeing strategies haven't caught up to what AI is doing to motivation and sense of accomplishment The line that stayed with me: "You can't redesign work without redesigning what it means to contribute." That's the part most transformations miss. Companies deploy the tools, then act surprised when engagement drops, ownership blurs, and the best people start asking what their work is actually for. The organisations getting this right are not the ones with the most AI. They are the ones rebuilding the workforce model around it - deliberately, with their people in the room. Where is the gap widest in your organisation right now - the technology, the operating model, or the human side of the redesign?How to Balance Human and Digital Work in the AI EraHow to Balance Human and Digital Work in the AI Era
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Christopher Rainey shared thisMost companies are adding AI to talent acquisition and wondering why nothing is getting faster. The answer is uncomfortable. AI doesn't fix a broken operating model. It exposes it. I sat down with Blair Bennett, SVP Global Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo - someone running hiring at a scale where every inefficiency costs real money. She didn't start with tools. She rebuilt the model first. → Strategy, enablement, and execution were separated so teams could actually move at different speeds → Recruiters were brought into the build, not handed the rollout → Talent intelligence became a forward-looking function, not a reporting one → Candidate experience shifted from process to personalization The line that stayed with me: "Start with the problem, not the solution." Most leaders are still doing the opposite. They pick the AI tool, then look for problems it can solve. Blair flipped it - and that's why PepsiCo's transformation is compounding while others are stalling at the pilot stage. The hardest part isn't the technology. It's admitting your operating model was built for a world that no longer exists. Which part of your TA function would break first if you doubled hiring volume tomorrow - the strategy, the enablement, or the execution?How Talent Acquisition Is Being Completely Reinvented in 2026How Talent Acquisition Is Being Completely Reinvented in 2026
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Christopher Rainey shared thisAI is not just changing work. It is exposing everything that is slowing it down. Leading the Rise, Episode 4 is live. This time, I sat down with Andrea Illes, VP Business HR | Global Head of People at Nokia. This conversation hits on something most organisations are feeling but not addressing directly. AI is accelerating everything. But most companies are still operating with slow, bureaucratic processes built for a different era. Andrea breaks down what this really means for HR, leadership, and how work gets done. We get into: - Why AI is forcing organisations to rethink outdated processes - How HR must shift from administration to impact - What leaders must do to build trust and clarity around AI - How AI is enabling employees to take control of their careers - Why the human element must stay in control, no matter how advanced AI becomes This is a conversation about speed, simplicity, and what it really takes to modernise how organisations operate. 👇 Read the newsletter belowHow Nokia Is Using AI to Redesign Work and CareersHow Nokia Is Using AI to Redesign Work and Careers
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Christopher Rainey shared thisWhat if culture isn’t the real issue? What if the real problem is what your people experience every day: At Workhuman Forum London 2026, one truth will define the day: The companies that win in the AI era will not be the most automated. They will be the most human. 🎟️ Grab your FREE ticket for Workhuman Forum London below 👇 https://lnkd.in/e9Fv4Dfk We'll discuss: 🤝 Trust is no longer a soft concept, it is the foundation of adaptive leadership 🏆 Recognition is no longer a nice-to-have, it is how strategy shows up in daily behaviour 🧠 Psychological safety is no longer optional, it is what unlocks performance, candour, and smart risk-taking 📊 People data is no longer just retrospective, it can now reveal culture in real time 🚀 The CHRO is no longer supporting the business, they are helping build the operating model for what comes next 🏢 And culture? It is no longer built through slogans on walls. It is built through the everyday behaviours leaders reward, reinforce, and model. Do not get left behind. On May 20 in London, senior HR leaders from across the UK and Europe will come together to explore what it really takes to build trust, recognition, and resilience in an AI-first world. And the best part? You can join for free. Watch leading voices like Rachel Botsman, Eric Mosley, Susan David, Ph.D., and senior HR executives from leading organisations unpack what great leadership and culture look like now. More details, the full agenda, and your FREE ticket are below 👇Workhuman Forum London 2026: May 20, Live at the London Hilton Park LaneWorkhuman Forum London 2026: May 20, Live at the London Hilton Park Lane
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Christopher Rainey reposted thisChristopher Rainey reposted thisIn our latest HR Leaders panel with world class HR executives, we explored how leading organisations are moving beyond static job architectures and redesigning workforce strategy around skills, mobility, and job-readiness. Here’s what they challenged: 1️⃣ Why traditional job structures are becoming a blocker to agility. 2️⃣ The deeper shift required to move from roles and titles to real workforce capability. 3️⃣ How skills data is changing what leaders can actually see and act on. 4️⃣ Why internal mobility is becoming a faster answer than external hiring. 5️⃣ What it takes to turn employability into a real business advantage. ⬇️ Watch the full panel for FREE belowHow to Move from Static Job Architectures to Skills-First Workforce DesignHow to Move from Static Job Architectures to Skills-First Workforce Design
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Christopher Rainey shared thisYou've been playing by rules that were never designed for you to win. And the worst part? You probably still believe most of them. 1/ Hard work alone gets you promoted. 2/ Annual reviews are objective. 3/ Loyalty is rewarded. 4/ Your company genuinely cares about your wellbeing. We absorbed these as facts. Early. Deep. And most of us never stopped to question them - because questioning them is uncomfortable. It means admitting the game wasn't fair. That some of what you sacrificed wasn't worth it. But here's what I've learned after years of talking to the best HR and people leaders in the world: The ones who thrive aren't the most loyal. They're not the hardest working. They're not even the most talented. They're the ones who figured out how things actually work - and stopped pretending otherwise. Open door policies are mostly theatre. Office mandates are about control, not collaboration. The best candidate doesn't always get the job. Feedback isn't always as welcome as the poster on the wall suggests. None of this means work is broken beyond repair. It means awareness is the real career advantage. Once you see the myths clearly, you stop chasing the wrong things. You start building visibility, not just effort. Relationships, not just results. Leverage, not just loyalty. The workplace doesn't have to be a trap. But it will be - if you keep playing by rules that were never written in your favour. Which one of these took you the longest to unlearn? Share your story below ⬇️
Christopher Rainey replied to a comment
23h
Matt Elk Poonam crushed it on this one!
Christopher Rainey replied to a comment
23h
Keith Anderson Starting small and building credibility is the unlock Keith. Most data initiatives fail because they launched at enterprise scale before anyone in the room trusted the output.
Christopher Rainey replied to a comment
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Paola Arias Love this Paola. Having a team that pushes you to think differently about your own tools is the kind of partnership that actually moves the needle.
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Christopher Rainey liked thisEvery HR team I've spoken to in the last year says the same thing: We have the data. We just can't get anyone to act on it. - Dashboards full of numbers. - Reports nobody reads past slide three. - Insights that are technically correct but land on a leadership team's desk and die there. It's not that the data is wrong. It's that nobody has translated it into something a business leader can feel in their own decisions. That's the gap. Not data. Translation. I sat down with Poonam Sirigidi, Senior Director, People Insights & Performance Management at Pfizer - and she described something I haven't heard anyone else articulate this clearly. At Pfizer, they stopped treating insights, performance, and listening as three separate systems. They brought them together. One picture. One language. One set of decisions. And what came out of that changed how they lead: → Reporting became strategy - the team stopped describing what happened and started shaping what happens next → High performer personas got built from data, not gut feel - patterns across thousands of data points no single manager could hold in their head → Managers became co-designers - not handed a new system, but involved in building it from the start → AI fluency became embedded in work - not a training programme people forget by Thursday, but something woven into how decisions actually get made → Listening moved from annual to continuous- real-time signal replacing quarterly reports that arrive too late to matter But the part that stayed with me was simpler than any of that. Poonam said the hardest part was never the data. It was getting managers to trust it enough to change what they do on a Monday morning. That's where most HR teams get stuck. Not in the building. In the believing. Because a dashboard nobody trusts is just decoration. And an insight nobody acts on is just noise. What would change in your organisation if every people decision was backed by data that leaders actually believed in?How Pfizer Is Using AI to Turn People Data Into Better DecisionsHow Pfizer Is Using AI to Turn People Data Into Better Decisions
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Christopher Rainey liked thisChristopher Rainey liked thisDigital workers are already inside the enterprise. Here's how HR can shape that shift (before someone else does): The question isn't whether agentic AI belongs in the workforce. It's who gets to define how it's built, governed, and scaled. And if HR doesn't claim that seat, Finance and IT will, on very different terms. Here's what that looks like in practice 👇 1/ If Finance owns it first → it becomes a cost story. → Headcount efficiency. Budget lever. Nothing about capacity, skills, or human impact. 2/ If IT owns it first → it becomes an architecture story. → Absorbed into existing systems. Deployed without ever asking what work should actually look like. 3/ If HR owns it with them → it becomes a workforce story. → Skills, capacity, governance, and human potential all move in the same direction. 4/ The blocker isn't ambition. It's visibility. → Legacy HR systems were built to record work, not understand it. → You can't govern what you can't see. 5/ The ones pulling ahead aren't deploying faster. They're aligning earlier. → CPO and CIO in the same room. Shared decision rights. One operating model for humans and digital workers. Here's the part most leaders are underestimating: Agentic AI isn't a technology rollout. It's a workforce redesign. And the window to shape it, before it gets shaped for you, is closing faster than HR is moving. If execution capacity doubles but judgment and leadership don't scale with it, you don't have a more productive organization. You have a more fragile one. That's exactly what we're unpacking in this LIVE panel, in partnership with Eightfold AI. 🎙 How HR Leaders Can Shape the Future Workforce in the Age of Digital Workers Join these world-class panelists: → Karolin Krüger-Bhatia, Global Head of Core Skills Learning, Sanofi → Marie Lardet, SVP HR, The Adecco Group → Tim Young, SVP HR Operations, Pearson → Carmen Valdés, VP Corporate HR, Wolters Kluwer → Rebecca Warren, Director, Talent-Centered Transformation, Eightfold AI → Christopher Rainey, CEO & Co-Founder, HR Leaders 📅 LIVE | April 23rd, 2026 EMEA: 4 PM BST / 5 PM CEST AMERICAS: 8 AM Pacific / 11 AM Eastern 📍 100% virtual, anywhere in the world 🎟 Free to join Save your seat (only 7 left) 👇 🔗https://lnkd.in/eYt4PQR4
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