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Women’s History Month Series – In Conversation with Rachel Shaw

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HR Spotlight Interview

Rachel Shaw

Women's History Month Interview Series

In Conversation with Rachel Shaw

Joining us is Rachel Shaw, the founder of Rachel Shaw Inc. and a nationally recognized expert who has spent over two decades helping organizations turn complex compliance into operational strength.

Rachel is the visionary behind the ADA Interactive Process Hallway® protocol, a system now utilized by thousands of organizations to navigate disability accommodations with consistency, legal precision, and, most importantly, care. Today, she shares her “superpowers” for cooling off a workplace on fire, why she’s trading “culture fit” for “culture add,” and how she navigates the unique pressures of being a “fixer” in the corporate world.

Thank you for joining us, Rachel! HR has been through the wringer lately. From being the ‘bad guys’ during layoffs to the ‘fun police’ during RTO, a lot’s been happening. If you could clear the air right now, what is the one thing you wish every employee understood about your job?

Rachel Shaw:

HR is not the “fun police.” We are the stability system of the organization.

We are responsible for ensuring that decisions are made consistently, legally, and in a way that allows the organization to survive long-term. Sometimes that means saying no. Sometimes that means enforcing boundaries. The goal is not control. The goal is fairness, sustainability and clarity.

The best HR professionals care deeply about people and the organization’s mission. Our job is to hold both at the same time, even when it is uncomfortable.

We’ve heard it said that ‘Nobody plans to go into HR; they are usually dragged into it because they are good at listening.’ Is that true for you? What was the specific moment you realized, ‘Oh, I’m actually meant to do this’?

Rachel Shaw:

Not at all. An early career assessment actually told me HR was the least likely fit for me.

What I discovered over time is that HR is the perfect fit for people who can do three things well. Have hard conversations with care. See the complexity in human behavior. Stay grounded in what is right and defensible.

I am deeply mission-driven. I feel the human emotion in situations, but I am not led by it. I am led by data, process, and legal guidance while still caring about the human in front of me. That combination is what made me realize this is exactly where I am meant to be.

HR requires a weird mix of skills. You have to be part lawyer, part therapist, and part data analyst. If we stripped away the job title, what is the one ‘superpower’ you rely on most when the office is on fire?

Rachel Shaw:

Curiosity.

When something goes wrong in a workplace, most people react. I get curious. What happened. What system failed. What data are we missing. What assumption are we making.

Curiosity slows down reaction and replaces it with better decision-making. It allows me to solve the right problem, not just the loudest one.

If you could describe the current ‘mood’ of the workforce in 2026 using just one word, what would it be? Why?

Rachel Shaw:

Disconnected.

Not because people do not care, but because systems, leadership and work design have not caught up with how people actually live and work today. The opportunity in 2026 is to rebuild connections with intention.

We often talk about the ‘Glass Ceiling,’ but lately, the conversation has shifted to the ‘Glass Cliff’, where women are promoted to leadership only during times of crisis. Have you ever felt that pressure to be the ‘fixer’ in a broken system?

Rachel Shaw:

I absolutely identify as a fixer.

For women and other underrepresented groups, the standard has historically been higher. That pressure forces you to be sharper, faster and more creative. That pressure, while unfair, has also produced extraordinary leadership.

I walk into rooms assuming something can be better and that I have a role in making it better. That mindset is not ego. It is ownership.

Women in HR often get unfairly pigeonholed as the ‘office mom’ or the ‘policy police.’ How do you dismantle those stereotypes to ensure you are seen as a strategic business architect first?

Rachel Shaw:

I dismantle it by focusing on business outcomes.

HR drives profit, productivity, retention and risk management. We use data, process and structure to get there while also caring about people.

One example early in my career. HR was expected to provide food for every meeting. Instead of arguing about it, I rotated responsibility across departments. Within months, the practice disappeared because once everyone shared the labor, they realized it was not necessary.

I do not argue stereotypes. I redesign systems.

HR professionals are the ‘first responders’ of the corporate world, handling grief, layoffs, and conflict. What is your specific protocol for protecting your own peace after a day of absorbing everyone else’s stress?

Rachel Shaw:

I use what I call the pillow test.

If I can put my head down at night and not replay the day, I know I acted with integrity. If I cannot, I ask two questions. Did I do something that needs to be corrected? Or did something happen that I need to process?

Then I take action. I adjust the process, or I get support.

Replaying the past without action is not useful. Learning from it is.

Without naming names, tell us about a time you had to deliver tough news (a termination, a restructuring) that actually taught you something profound about leadership or empathy.

Rachel Shaw:

Early in my career, I realized that even when a termination decision is legally and operationally correct, the process determines whether it causes unnecessary harm.

If an employee does not understand how the decision was made, they experience it as something done to them rather than something they were part of.

That insight led me to create the Interactive Process Hallway® protocol, a system that gives employees clarity, time and information so they can understand and accept decisions, even difficult ones.

Good HR reduces trauma. Great HR reduces risk and trauma.

Have you ever felt pressure to soften your delivery or ‘be nice’ in a way that male counterparts aren’t? How do you balance empathy with the need to be firm on policy?

Rachel Shaw:

I have always been direct. I have been told I am too much, too fast, or too direct.

What I have learned is this. Employees do not need you to be soft. They need you to be honest, respectful and consistent.

People can feel when empathy is performative. What they trust is clarity delivered with care.

My success has always come from employees and unions knowing that even on their worst day, I will treat them with dignity.

The age-old tension is between ‘People’ and ‘Profits.’ Can you share a specific example where you had to fight for a budget or a benefit that didn’t have an immediate ROI, but you knew was critical for the culture?

Rachel Shaw:

This shows up most clearly in onboarding and leadership development.

I often tell leaders to think about onboarding the way colleges think about frosh orientation. When a student arrives on campus, there is an intentional experience designed to help them understand the culture, learn the rules, build relationships and feel a sense of belonging. We do that because we know it increases success, retention, and engagement.

Yet in the workplace, we bring employees in, hand them a laptop and expect them to figure it out.

If organizations invested in onboarding as a structured, multi-day experience focused on connection, clarity and culture, and paired that with leadership development that teaches supervisors how to lead humans, not just manage tasks, we would see measurable improvements in retention, productivity and engagement.

The return on investment is there. Most organizations simply do not measure it, or they do not invest long enough to see it.

We talk a lot about ‘gut feeling’ in hiring. How are you using data to challenge your own biases, or the biases of hiring managers, when it comes to promoting women and underrepresented talent?

Rachel Shaw:

“Gut Feeling” is often a placeholder for bias.

To counter that, we need structured interviews, consistent scoring and when possible, blind or partially blind early-stage processes.

Data does not eliminate bias, but it forces us to justify our decisions with evidence rather than instinct.

Statistically, women get stuck at the first step up to manager. As an HR leader, what is one systemic change you’ve implemented (or want to) that actually fixes this ‘broken rung’?

Rachel Shaw:

One of the most effective strategies I have implemented is using third-party technical interview panels in the early stages of hiring.

These panels focus strictly on capability, not personality or familiarity, and they provide a fact-based recommendation to the hiring authority. When there is a mismatch between the panel’s recommendation and the hiring manager’s preference, it creates a necessary coaching conversation. I will often ask a simple question: what is getting in your way of selecting this candidate?

In one case, a candidate who used a wheelchair was the top choice of the panel but not the hiring manager. When we talked it through, the concerns that surfaced were assumptions about travel, attendance and potential accommodation costs. We were able to walk through each concern with actual data, including the candidate’s strong attendance record, prior travel requirements, and the organization’s existing ADA-compliant infrastructure and centralized accommodation budget.

The manager was able to move from assumption to evidence, and the candidate was ultimately hired and has been successful in the role for many years.

The lesson is not that bias can be eliminated. It cannot. The lesson is that organizations can build systems that slow the decision down, surface the bias and require leaders to move from belief to data before they make hiring decisions.

What is the biggest myth about working in HR that you wish would die?

Rachel Shaw:

That HR is the heart of the organization.

We are not the heart. We are the entire cardiovascular system. We touch every part of the organization. When we are working well, everything functions. When we are not, everything feels it.

If you could ban one corporate buzzword forever, what would it be?

Rachel Shaw:

Culture fit.

What we should be talking about is culture add, how someone expands the organization’s thinking, not how closely they mirror it.

HR is often described as a thankless job—you’re the villain when things go wrong and invisible when things go right. Why do you stay? What is the specific moment that reminds you ‘This is why I do this’?

Rachel Shaw:

I stay because of the moments when someone says, ‘That was one of the hardest days of my life and you made it easier’.

That is the work. That is the responsibility. When it is done well, it changes how people experience their workplace and sometimes their lives.

HR is thankless only when it is done poorly or unsupported. When it is done well, it is one of the most meaningful roles in any organization.

“We are not the heart; we are the entire cardiovascular system.”

That perspective from Rachel Shaw perfectly encapsulates the vital, often invisible work that defines modern HR. From dismantling the “office mom” stereotype to replacing “gut feelings” with data-driven equity, Rachel’s insights remind us that the strongest systems are those built on curiosity, clarity, and dignity.

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Rachel’s journey serves as a powerful blueprint for any leader looking to redesign broken systems rather than just managing within them. A huge thank you to Rachel Shaw for her transparency and for giving us a masterclass in leading with both a steady hand and a human heart.

Rachel Shaw, founder of Rachel Shaw Inc., is a nationally recognized ADA and leave management expert and sought-after speaker known for helping organizations turn legal compliance into operational strength. With more than two decades of experience, she designs in-house systems that allow employers to manage accommodations with both legal precision and human-centered leadership. She is the creator of the ADA Interactive Process Hallway® protocol, now used by thousands of organizations to manage disability accommodation requests confidently, consistently, and with care.

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Women’s History Month Series – In Conversation with Jenn Harrold

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HR Spotlight Interview

Jenn Harrold

Women's History Month Interview Series

In Conversation with Jenn Harold

In HR Spotlight’s special Women’s History Month edition, we are sitting down with Jenn Harrold, the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at NewDay USA. With over 20 years of experience spanning technology, fintech, omni-channel retail, and logistics, Jenn has built a career translating business needs into human impact.

In this candid interview, she pulls back the curtain on the heavy emotional toll of being a corporate “first responder,” absorbing organizational stress so others can move forward. She also confronts the reality of the “glass cliff,” where women are often brought into leadership roles during crises specifically to fix broken systems. Jenn shares how she unlearned the conditioned need to “over-function” to prove her worth, transforming her approach by setting boundaries and refusing to carry fractured cultures alone.

Thank you for joining us, Jenn! HR has been through the wringer lately. From being the ‘bad guys’ during layoffs to the ‘fun police’ during RTO, a lot’s been happening. If you could clear the air right now, what is the one thing you wish every employee understood about your job?

Jenn Harrold:

I wish more people understood that HR professionals are people first.

When we orchestrate layoffs, we are not just managing spreadsheets, we are thinking about how to preserve dignity, how to communicate with clarity, and how to protect the people who are leaving and the people who are staying. We think about the ripple effects, and it takes a toll.

Sometimes we are asked to eliminate roles that belong to colleagues we’ve worked alongside for years. Sometimes we are even involved in decisions that impact our own teams. That work is heavy.

What’s rarely talked about is that we are the support system for everyone else, but we don’t always pause to process what we carry. We absorb a lot so others can move forward with steadiness.

Behind the policy and the process, we are simply human beings doing our best to balance compassion with business reality.

What boundary did you have to learn to set in your career that changed everything?

Jenn Harrold:

Early in my career, I thought being capable meant being available — all the time.

I’m a mom. A wife. A leader. I’ve carried a lot of titles. And somewhere along the way I decided I should be excellent at all of them simultaneously. I said yes quickly. I fixed things fast. I prided myself on being the person who could just get it done.

And for a while, that felt like ambition.

But if I’m honest, I was over-functioning. I wasn’t fully present anywhere. I was stretched across roles trying to prove I could carry it all — at work and at home.

I had to confront something uncomfortable: many women are conditioned to believe we have to outperform, overdeliver, and overextend just to earn and keep our seat at the table. I see it in my circles all the time.

At some point I realized that constantly being the fixer wasn’t leadership so, I started setting clearer boundaries.

At home, that meant being intentional about when I was working and when I was not. Not taking calls at dinner. Not mentally drafting responses during family time.

At work, it meant pushing back when “Can you just handle this?” became the default. My ability to GSD doesn’t mean I should absorb every urgent ask. Capability should not automatically equal responsibility.

The boundary that changed everything was this: I don’t have to prove my value by exhaustion.

When I stopped over-functioning, I didn’t lose influence. I gained clarity. And I show up stronger in every role because of it.

We’ve heard it said that ‘Nobody plans to go into HR; they are usually dragged into it because they are good at listening.’ Is that true for you? What was the specific moment you realized, ‘Oh, I’m actually meant to do this’?

Jenn Harrold:

Like many people in this field, I found my way here through proximity to people and performance. I began in the staffing agency world and eventually corporate recruiting.

The turning point came during a restructuring when I found myself leading recruiting and talent management. It was uncomfortable at first. I wrestled with imposter syndrome, the quiet voice asking, ‘do you actually belong in this seat?’

Then I led a major initiative that required aligning business strategy with talent outcomes. We weren’t just filling roles; we were shaping the future of the organization. That was the moment it clicked.

I realized I wasn’t just good at listening, I was good at translating business needs into human impact and vice versa. That’s when I knew this wasn’t accidental. It was alignment.

HR requires a weird mix of skills. You have to be part lawyer, part therapist, and part data analyst. If we stripped away the job title, what is the one ‘superpower’ you rely on most when the office is on fire?

Jenn Harrold:

Calm under pressure.

HR requires a strange but powerful blend of skills, part compliance, part therapist, part strategist, part analyst. But when things escalate, none of that matters if you can’t regulate the room.

In moments of crisis, my role is to create stability. I slow the pace emotionally, even if the decisions need to move quickly. I gather facts rapidly, assess risk, consider impact, and then move people toward clarity and action.

Panic spreads fast. If I can steady the energy, align the stakeholders, and keep the focus on solutions rather than noise, we can navigate almost anything. Rapid change and adaptation don’t intimidate me, they energize me.

If you could describe the current ‘mood’ of the workforce in 2026 using just one word, what would it be? Why?

Jenn Harrold:

Volatile — but not fragile.

The modern workforce is informed, vocal, and hyper-aware of power dynamics. Employees are recalibrating what loyalty, leadership, and work-life integration mean to them.

That creates intensity. Reactions are sharper. Decisions are faster. Transparency is demanded, not requested.

Volatility isn’t chaos — it’s compression. Everything moves faster now. Trust builds slower and it breaks quicker.

Organizations that lead with clarity and consistency will steady the room. Those that don’t will feel the swings.

We often talk about the ‘Glass Ceiling,’ but lately, the conversation has shifted to the ‘Glass Cliff’, where women are promoted to leadership only during times of crisis. Have you ever felt that pressure to be the ‘fixer’ in a broken system?

Jenn Harrold:

Absolutely.

I have a natural bias toward action. I move quickly. I assess, diagnose, and want to stabilize what feels chaotic. That instinct has served me well, especially in environments where change is constant and stakes are high.

But I’ve also learned that there’s a difference between being invited to lead transformation and being handed a mess and expected to absorb the fallout.

The “glass cliff” is real because women are often seen as emotionally intelligent, stabilizing forces. We’re brought in when morale is low, when culture is fractured, when trust has eroded. The unspoken expectation is that we will “fix” things.

What I’ve learned is this: I am willing to lead in a crisis, but I’m no longer willing to carry a broken system alone. Real change requires shared ownership. I’ll bring urgency, clarity, and solutions — but leadership is a team sport.

Being the fixer is powerful. Being the scapegoat is not.

HR professionals are the ‘first responders’ of the corporate world, handling grief, layoffs, and conflict. What is your specific protocol for protecting your own peace after a day of absorbing everyone else’s stress?

Jenn Harrold:

I compartmentalize — sometimes too well. It’s a strength and a liability.

Over time, I’ve realized that absorbing everyone else’s stress without releasing it is not sustainable. So, I’ve had to become intentional about decompression.

After an emotionally heavy day, I seek quiet. No noise. No input. I give myself space to process rather than immediately moving to the next thing. The pause matters.

Then I regulate — yoga, breath work, meditation. Movement is non-negotiable for me. I start every morning with a workout. It’s how I create resilience before the day ever asks anything of me.

Protecting your peace isn’t indulgent — it’s operationally necessary.

Without naming names, tell us about a time you had to deliver tough news (a termination, a restructuring) that actually taught you something profound about leadership or empathy.

Jenn Harrold:

I will never forget that day.

During a major restructuring, a new organizational design resulted in the elimination of a role held by a dear friend, and I had to be the one to tell her.

Professionally, I was composed. Personally, I was crushed. There is a particular kind of silence that follows news like that — the kind that stays with you long after the meeting ends.

We didn’t speak for a long time. When we eventually reconnected, something had shifted. She has since moved away, and our relationship was never the same.

Leadership is not about emotional distance. It’s about carrying responsibility even when it costs you something personally. Sometimes doing your job well doesn’t feel like winning and you have to be mature enough to hold that complexity without turning it into defensiveness.

That experience changed me. It made me softer in some ways. Stronger in others.

If you could ban one corporate buzzword forever, what would it be?

Jenn Harrold:

“Circle back.”

Not because the phrase itself is offensive — but because it’s often code for avoidance.

If something matters, address it. If a decision needs to be made, make it. If there’s conflict, have the conversation.

“Circle back” has become the polite cousin of procrastination.

HR is often described as a thankless job—you’re the villain when things go wrong and invisible when things go right. Why do you stay? What is the specific moment that reminds you ‘This is why I do this’?

Jenn Harrold:

Because in the moments that matter most, you see the impact.

It’s not in the big announcements or polished town halls. It’s in the quiet moments — when a leader grows into someone more self-aware. When a struggling employee stabilizes and finds their footing. When a difficult decision is handled with integrity instead of ego.

The moment that reminds me “this is why” is when someone says, “You told me the truth when I needed it,” or “You helped me see something I couldn’t see myself.”

HR sits at the intersection of performance and people. That tension is hard. It’s messy. It’s rarely celebrated.

When you help shape a system that both demands results and respects people — even imperfectly — that matters.

That’s why I stay.

A massive thank you to Jenn Harrold for bringing such profound clarity and empathy to HR Spotlight. Her journey proves that true leadership isn’t about absorbing every urgent ask or fixing every broken system alone; it is about creating stability, demanding shared ownership, and respecting the humans behind the performance metrics.

Jenn Harrold is the Senior VP of Human Resources at NewDay USA and an HR leader focused on talent strategy, organizational development, and growth. With 20+ years of experience spanning technology, omni-channel retail, fintech, and logistics, she partners closely with executive leadership to align people strategy with business goals and help emerging growth companies and SMBs scale through talent and culture. Jenn has a track record of leading transformative initiatives that drive engagement and performance, with deep expertise in performance management, retention, succession planning, and change management, and she is known for guiding teams through ambiguity and rapid change. A purpose-driven leader, she is committed to mentorship, community, and building high-performing teams that unlock organizational potential.

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The Accountability Reset: How to Rebuild Discipline Without Killing Morale

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The Accountability Reset: How to Rebuild Discipline Without Killing Morale

In workplaces where discipline quietly erodes—through missed deadlines, inconsistent effort, or subtle disengagement—a deeper question emerges: what if the real issue isn’t defiance, but a lack of clarity, visibility, or meaningful connection? 

On HRSpotlight, seasoned HR leaders, CEOs, founders, and culture experts reveal practical, non-punitive ways to reverse the slide without leaning on fear or heavy-handed rules. 

From using the 9-box grid to tailor performance interventions, rebuilding clarity through values-driven conversations, creating visible feedback loops and real-time metrics, recognizing positive consistency, training leaders in early, compassionate coaching, and aligning rewards with individual motivators—these voices emphasize prevention over punishment. 

They show how transparency, data, empathy, and shared purpose can transform slipping standards into self-sustaining accountability. 

Their collective experience proves that when employees understand the “why,” see the impact of their actions, and feel supported rather than policed, discipline stops being enforced and starts becoming the natural byproduct of a healthy, high-trust culture.

Read on!

Sam Cook
Content Director, MentorcliQ

We interact with HR leaders daily on different strategies to boost employee engagement (a key discipline issue).

Many in our community are repurposing the 9-box grid template to identify and address the cross-section between performance and potential.

Traditionally a succession-planning tool, it can also serve as a strategic framework to help formulate their performance improvement plan.

Let’s say you have two employees with notable disciplinary issues. When applying the 9-box grid, one has high potential and low performance, while the other has low potential and low performance. These two won’t be treated the same in their PIP; you may even decide not to use a PIP for the high performer, but take a different approach altogether.
It’s a key differentiation tool for improving discipline outcomes

9-Box Grid Tailors Discipline Interventions

Beverly Beuermann-King
CSP, Workplace Mental Health

When behaviour issues begin to increase, the solution is rarely to rely on more negative, punitive discipline.

The focus should be more on clarity, consistency, and culture. HR can start by revisiting expectations through a values-driven lens.

When employees understand what is expected and why it matters, behaviour shifts.

Reinforce those expectations through ongoing conversations, not just corrective action.

Provide leaders with the skills to address issues early, using supportive but direct language that prevents problems from escalating.

Finally, align hiring, promotion, and accountability processes with your core values; people rise—or fall—to the standards you demonstrate every day.

As I often remind the leaders that I work with: “Toxicity doesn’t take root in a culture that consistently communicates expectations and follows through. Values only matter when they shape behaviour and are lived out loud.”

Values Clarity Prevents Discipline Decline

Milos Eric
Co-Founder, OysterLink

When discipline suffers in the workplace, the role of Human Resources should go beyond simply acting as a disciplinarian and look to discover the “why” of the change in behavior.

More often than not, when discipline suffers, it is a sign of burnout, a lack of clarity around expectations, or disengagement rather than being deliberately defiant.

The critical first step is to begin a conversation, conducting listening sessions or pulse surveys to determine the root cause before hurrying to corrective action.

Once HR has an understanding of what is driving the lack of discipline, they should begin to rebuild structure through clear accountability systems and a positive reinforcement approach.

Rather than operating from a place of warnings to uphold the standards, the use of recognition programs that promote professional consistency can, over time, reset acceptable standards naturally.

Managers also need to be coached to model expected behavior, as cultural behavior emanates from a top-down approach.

At its core, restoring discipline is about restoring a sense of purpose.

When employees feel seen and supported and connect to the mission of the company, structure and accountability to that structure become the norm.

Root Cause Listening Restores Purpose

Dr. Nika White
Organizational Development, Nikawhite

An Emotional Regulation Specialist and organizational culture consultant who studies how connection impacts both well-being, human-centered workplaces, and performance.

Employee discipline improves when organizations move from control to clarity.

Most behavioral issues stem from unclear expectations, inconsistent feedback, or leaders modeling the wrong tone.

HR’s role is to reset alignment—by defining behavioral standards, reinforcing accountability through coaching rather than punishment, and training managers in emotional regulation.

When leaders respond calmly and consistently, they de-escalate tension and model self-management.

Pairing this with transparent recognition systems and early, compassionate intervention restores trust and stability.

Discipline then becomes a shared commitment to the culture, not a top-down demand.

Calm Coaching Builds Shared Accountability

James Bowdler
Founder, Prime Carers

PrimeCarers is a remote-first tech-driven company that connects families with independent at-home caregivers.

I also have experience in enterprise consulting, machine learning, and open innovation.

Discipline will erode if your system stops making good behavior visible or meaningful.

Simply showing data about who follows through and who doesn’t can be helpful.

Building feedback loops within the workflow helps your people understand how their consistency affects the team as a whole as it helps reset norms faster than formal intervention.

People respond to patterns they can see.

Visible Feedback Resets Behavior Norms

Richard Dalder
Business Development Manager, Tradervue

When discipline lapses in the workplace, it can create tension and disrupt the harmony that teams need to thrive.

HR has an important task in addressing these issues with empathy and firmness.

It starts with having honest conversations about what is expected, making sure everyone understands the shared responsibility to maintain a respectful environment.

Clear guidelines that are applied fairly help employees feel secure and respected, knowing that rules exist to protect everyone equally.

Managers should be supported to address small problems before they grow larger, showing care for both the individual and the team.

Creating safe spaces for employees to share concerns without fear promotes trust and openness.

Fair Guidelines Foster Trust Early

Ryan McEachron
CEO, ISU Insurance Services

We pushed our clients at ISU Armac to implement mandatory safety training programs—not just because it reduces workers’ comp premiums (which it does, significantly), but because it creates a culture of accountability.

When employees understand that safety violations or performance lapses directly impact their coworkers’ wellbeing and the company’s ability to stay in business, behavior shifts fast.

One manufacturing client cut incident reports by 40% in six months just by adding monthly hazard identification sessions.

The other piece nobody talks about: document everything from day one. I learned this chairing the Planning Commission—vague standards get you nowhere.

HR needs written policies with specific, measurable behaviors and consequences.
Then actually use them consistently. We’ve seen employment practices liability claims skyrocket when companies let problems slide, then suddenly crack down. That inconsistency is lawsuit fuel.

Safety Training Creates Real Accountability

Matthew Marshall
Co-Owner, Wright Home Services

I’ve scaled two home services companies, and here’s what most people miss: declining discipline is almost always a measurement problem, not an attitude problem.

At Wright Home Services, we turned this around by making performance visible in real-time through our CRM system.

We tied individual tech metrics—completion times, customer satisfaction scores, callback rates—to monthly team dashboards that everyone could see.

When one of our HVAC techs saw his first-call resolution rate was 12% below the team average, he self-corrected without a single HR conversation.

The transparency created accountability without the confrontation.

The other piece nobody talks about: reward systems break before discipline does.

We launched a referral program that paid out within 48 hours of a completed job, and suddenly our top performers had a tangible reason to maintain standards.

Poor performers became obvious by contrast, not by complaint.

HR’s real job here is making sure managers have data to point to instead of feelings to argue about.

Once you can show someone their numbers versus team numbers, discipline conversations become collaborative problem-solving, not adversarial.

The few who still don’t respond just fire themselves through their own metrics.

Real-Time Metrics Drive Self-Correction

Katherine King
Co-Founder & CEO, Dazychain

Money is the obvious reward, but if not available here are a few measures HR can implement in order to address and improve employee discipline:

– Make sure the goals and the deadlines are crystal clear. Often employees can’t articulate their job description because there is a disconnect between what they are hired and compensated for and what they are being asked to do.

– Identify what is important to individuals and teams and focus on incorporating those reward systems into milestones and goals.

A good reward is defined differently across cultures, so get leadership involved and ask individuals and teams “What does success look like this quarter/year” The answers pave the roadway to effective reward systems and ultimately behavioral change.

Personalized Rewards Shape Desired Behavior

The HR Spotlight team thanks these industry leaders for offering their expertise and experience and sharing these insights.

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Pivot vs. Path: Guidance from Business Leaders for the Recently Laid Off

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Pivot vs. Path: Guidance from Business Leaders for the Recently Laid Off

In the disorienting aftermath of a layoff—when urgency screams “apply now!” and fear whispers “settle for anything”—a quieter, wiser path often emerges: the deliberate pause that separates reaction from reinvention. 

What if this unwanted break isn’t just survival time, but a rare chance to interrogate what truly energizes you, what industries still hold promise, and which skills remain timeless? 

On HRSpotlight, accomplished founders, physicians, recruiters, coaches, and executives offer grounded, battle-tested guidance for that uncertain crossroads. 

They urge starting with honest reflection—dissecting the layoff’s cause, auditing past joys and drains, mapping transferable strengths, and testing small experiments—before committing to a frantic job hunt or hasty pivot. 

From spotting unmet needs in your field (like Dr. Seth Crapp did in pediatric radiology) to reframing the moment as purposeful redesign, these voices emphasize intention over impulse, clarity over speed, and alignment over reaction. 

Their insights remind us: the strongest comeback begins not with a resume blast, but with self-honesty and strategic breathing room.

Read on!

Laura Nguyen
Author, Career Break Compass

When you’re laid off, the instinct is to move fast: to update the résumé, apply, fix it. But first, give yourself permission to play.

Do something that brings you joy and resets your nervous system: take a long walk, cook a meal from scratch, or call a friend who makes you laugh.

Small joys restore energy before big decisions.

Then, pause and reflect. Journal what you loved and loathed about your last role. Notice where you felt proud, and where you felt small. This reflection rebuilds confidence and direction.

Next, plan. Update your résumé with impact metrics, take an online course, to learn new skills, and list the people in your network you’d like to reconnect with.

Finally, pursue with intention. Reach out to those contacts, set weekly goals for job exploration, and track your progress.

A layoff isn’t an ending. It’s a turning point toward clarity, confidence, and choice.

Play First, Reflect, Then Pursue Intentionally

Lily Shanks
CRC, My Internal Weather

As someone with personal and coaching experience around abrupt (and major) career shifts, what seems like a job “loss” could be a massive opportunity and gift to clarify and thrive in your career going forward.

Resist any fears – financial or otherwise – urging you to grab the first offer or impulsively change careers. Instead, capitalize on this time to reflect and invest attention in your future.

Consider:
– Assess what you liked and disliked about your recent job, and possibly previous jobs. What would you have changed?
– Write about your dream job/career. Imagine the most enjoyable, fulfilling scenario!
– Avoid job tunnel-vision. Yes, careers matter. So do health, relationships, hobbies, and more! How does your non-work life inform your future?

Finally, whether you plan to change careers, continue in the same field, or can’t decide, take one action to explore options aligned with your desired path.

Dream Job Vision Guides Next Move

Kim Wibbs
Lighting & Design Consultant, Residence Supply

Layoffs can feel like a hard stop, but they often mark the beginning of your most intentional chapter.

Before pivoting, take stock of what energized you most in your previous role — not just the tasks, but the impact you enjoyed making.

Sometimes the right move isn’t a full career change, but a reframed version of what you already do best.

I always recommend exploring your next step through small experiments: freelance projects, certifications, or even informational interviews.

These let you test new waters without burning bridges.

Whether you pivot or stay your course, choose a direction that aligns with your evolving strengths, not your past title.

Small Experiments Test Pivot or Stay

Dr. Seth Crapp
Founder & CEO, Specialty Focused Radiology

I got laid off during the pandemic when radiology volumes crashed by 40-50% nationwide and practices were cutting doctors across specialties.

I had just launched South Florida Radiology—terrible timing. I had to choose: find stable employment or keep building my company during the worst possible market conditions.

I stayed because I could see a specific problem nobody was solving: pediatric hospitals and community facilities had zero access to pediatric radiologists after-hours and on weekends.

Kids were waiting 12-18 hours for reads or getting misdiagnosed by general radiologists unfamiliar with pediatric imaging.

That gap was real, urgent, and I had the exact credentials to fill it.

Here’s my test: can you point to a concrete problem you’ve already solved that still needs solving at scale? Not “I’m good at marketing” but “I reduced ER wait times by 6 hours for pediatric imaging reads.”

If you’ve got receipts like that, double down even when it’s scary. If you’re reaching for vague skills, explore the pivot.

One move that saved me: I called 8-10 hospital administrators during the valley and asked what kept them up at night.

Four said “we’re sending pediatric cases to general roads and getting callbacks.

” That confirmation—that my solution matched their actual pain—gave me the conviction to ride it out.

We’re now covering 50+ hospital partnerships because I stuck with the problem I could uniquely solve.

Solve Real Problems, Double Down Boldly

Kathy Bremer
Managing Partner, Boardwalk Consulting

When someone’s been laid off, the instinct is to act fast—update the résumé, polish the LinkedIn profile, and start applying.

But before you do, take a breath and look inward. The real question isn’t what’s next?—it’s what’s right for me now?

Start by asking: What do I love doing? What drains me? What am I good at—and what truly energizes me?

You are a unique mix of strengths, experiences, and values. That combination is your competitive advantage.

As an executive recruiter and someone who’s navigated 5 career transitions, I’ve seen again and again that purpose drives clarity.

Your purpose evolves over time, and when you align your next move with your purpose—what you’re meant to do in this season of your life—you not only find work faster, you find work that fits and fulfills you.

Align Next Step with Evolving Purpose

Daniel Reynolds
Marketing Director, Dynamo LED Displays

Start with demand and strengths.

Map your wins and transferable skills to roles hiring now.

In our AV/LED world, candidates who show measurable outcomes and fluency with workflows like CMS, content ops, or Novastar/Brompton control land fast.

If your lane has momentum, stay the course while you test a pivot on the side.

Run a 30-day sprint. 5 informational chats a week, a targeted portfolio, and one small paid project to validate fit.

Add quick credentials if useful, e.g., CTS, GA4, or HubSpot.
Decide by evidence, not fear.

Track interviews, offers, and learning pace.

30-Day Sprint Validates Career Choices

Elia Guidorzi
Marketing Director, Techni Waterjet

Start with a one-page impact inventory: projects and measurable wins.

Example: cut scrap 18% and lifted uptime 7% by fixing abrasive feed.

If your results are process-agnostic (CNC, CAM, lean), a pivot to applications, automation, or technical sales are low risk.

If you have niche depth (5-axis waterjet, taper compensation, pierce strategies), double down with OEMs or integrators where that skill earns a premium.

Bridge fast with targeted certs and proof: OSHA 30, PLC basics, and CAM refreshers.

Build a simple portfolio with brief case studies and nesting reports. Ask your supplier network for leads.

Either path works if you can show gains in uptime, accuracy, and cost.

Impact Inventory Shapes Low-Risk Pivot

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Beyond the Backlash: How to Address Resistance to Unpopular HR Policies

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Beyond the Backlash: How to Address Resistance to Unpopular HR Policies

In workplaces where policies often feel imposed rather than understood, a recurring tension surfaces: employees resist certain rules not out of laziness, but because they perceive them as disconnected from their daily realities, productivity, or personal lives. 

Yet time and again, the same “problematic” policies—when reframed with transparency, data, empathy, and ownership—transform from sources of friction into drivers of trust, performance, and loyalty. 

On HRSpotlight, seasoned CEOs, founders, physicians, and HR strategists candidly share the one policy that consistently sparks the strongest pushback in their organizations, along with the practical, sometimes counter-intuitive ways they turned resistance into buy-in. 

From mandatory donor updates and 24/7 on-call rotations to cybersecurity simulations, process documentation, post-job photo requirements, return-to-office mandates, and strict cancellation fees—these leaders reveal how showing the “why” (with real numbers, stories, flexibility, or autonomy) shifts mindsets from “this is a burden” to “this protects and benefits us all.” 

Their collective experience proves that the toughest policies can become the strongest cultural assets when handled with clarity and care.

Read on!

Chase McKee RAS
Founder & CEO, Rocket Alumni Solutions

I’ve grown Rocket Alumni Solutions to $3M+ ARR, and the policy that creates the most friction is mandatory donor/stakeholder update cadences.

When we first required our team to send monthly progress reports to clients, they saw it as busywork that pulled them away from product development and sales.

The resistance crumbled when I showed them retention data.

After implementing our monthly update system–short videos, personalized emails–our donor retention rate jumped enough to secure our path to $2.4M ARR.

One school we worked with saw repeat donations rise 25% purely because contributors could see their impact in real time.

I addressed pushback by letting the team see the business math: those 20 minutes of monthly updates generated more revenue than an extra sales demo.

When your crew understands that communication isn’t overhead but a revenue driver, they stop viewing it as a chore and start treating it like the strategic advantage it actually is.

The breakthrough happened when our sales team noticed prospects asking fewer skeptical questions because our existing clients were already broadcasting updates.

That social proof cut our demo-to-close time and boosted our close rate to 30% weekly.

Now the team protects update time like it’s sacred.

Monthly Updates Drive Revenue, Not Busywork

Joseph Castranova
Founder & CEO, Resting Rainbow

I run a pet cremation company with 11 locations, and the pushback I see most is around our 24/7 availability requirement.

When we built this model after losing three family pets, I knew families needed us at 2 AM on Christmas–not business hours–but staff initially hated the unpredictability.

The turning point was letting our Tampa franchise owners, the Bakers, redesign their own rotation system.

Instead of forcing a corporate schedule, they created a local on-call structure that fit their team’s lives.

Their location now has our lowest turnover and highest Google reviews because the team felt ownership over the solution.

What worked was transparency about the stakes.

I showed everyone our turnaround data: families who reach us within 2 hours of their pet passing are 3x more likely to choose private cremation and leave positive reviews.

When your German Shepherd dies at home on a Saturday night, you’re not waiting until Monday–and neither should our response time.

Now our 24/7 policy is a recruitment advantage.

New hires see it as purpose-driven work, not punishment, because we tied the inconvenience directly to the impact: giving families dignity in their worst moment instead of making them wait with their deceased pet for days.

Local Shift Redesign Cuts Turnover Fast

Mitch Johnson
CEO, Prolink IT Services

I’ve been managing IT teams at ProLink for over 20 years, and the policy that gets the most consistent pushback is mandatory cybersecurity training and phishing simulation tests. Employees hate feeling tested or “caught” by fake phishing emails we send internally.

The resistance comes from embarrassment–nobody wants to be the person who clicked the wrong link in front of their coworkers.

When we first rolled this out, I had staff complaining it felt like a “gotcha” game rather than actual security.

One accounting team member even said she felt “set up to fail” after clicking a simulated phishing email that looked exactly like our payroll system.

I fixed this by making failures anonymous and reframing the whole thing around business survival, not individual performance.

I showed our team real breach data–we had a client lose 4 hours of productivity company-wide (that’s $5,600/minute in downtime) because one employee clicked a malicious attachment.

When people see that their click could shut down the entire business and cost everyone their job, suddenly a 10-minute training feels like cheap insurance.

The key was removing shame from the equation.

We stopped announcing who failed simulations and started celebrating when click rates dropped month-over-month as a team win.

Once it became “us versus hackers” instead of “management testing employees,” participation went from 60% to 94% in three months.

Anonymize Training, Unite Team vs Hackers

Dr. Cheryl Twu
OB-GYN, Wellness OBGYN

I’m an OBGYN running a private practice, not an HR professional, but I face constant pushback on one policy that mirrors what many employers deal with: our 24-hour cancellation requirement.

Patients hate being told they can’t cancel same-day without a fee, especially when they’re genuinely sick or dealing with childcare emergencies.

What changed everything was transparency about the real impact.

I started explaining during first visits that when someone cancels last-minute, another patient who desperately needs that slot–sometimes waiting weeks for fertility concerns or abnormal bleeding–loses out.

I share that we keep a waitlist specifically to fill those gaps, so giving us notice means we can help someone else that same day.

The resistance dropped dramatically once patients understood they weren’t just inconveniencing me, but other women in their community.

We now have about 89% compliance with our cancellation policy versus maybe 60% before. I also built in flexibility–if you’re genuinely in the ER or have a fever, we waive it with documentation, which shows we’re reasonable humans.

The lesson translates everywhere: replace “because it’s the rule” with “here’s who benefits when you follow this.”

People resist arbitrary control but will cooperate when they see themselves as part of a functioning system that serves everyone fairly.

Fees Help Patients, Compliance Soars

Doug Lindqvist
General Manager, Pinnacle Signage

I manufacture safety signage, so I see this play out differently–the pushback comes before the policy even exists.

Businesses resist implementing proper signage requirements because they see it as bureaucratic box-ticking. Then someone gets hurt in an unmarked area, and suddenly it’s urgent.

The pattern I’ve noticed across mining, construction, and agriculture clients is that resistance drops when you show them the near-miss reports from their own sites.

One distributor I work with in outback Queensland started tracking incidents in areas without proper wayfinding–turned out 60% of their “minor” workplace injuries happened in zones where employees genuinely didn’t know they needed PPE or where restricted areas began.

When site managers saw that data pulled from their own logbooks, the conversation shifted from “do we really need more signs” to “can you get these here by Thursday.”

I’ve found the fastest way to kill resistance is to do a site walk with the person pushing back and just ask questions.

“Where would a new employee think they’re allowed to go here?” or “If someone’s rushing to meet a deadline, what’s the shortcut they’d take?” When they talk through their own space, they spot the gaps themselves.

Then it’s not me selling them on compliance–it’s them solving a problem they just realized they had.

Site Walks Turn Resistance Into Solutions

Mahir Iskender
Founder, KNDR

I’ve scaled multiple organizations and the policy that consistently gets the hardest pushback is mandatory documentation of processes.

When I implemented documentation requirements at my companies, especially at Rabalon, team members saw it as bureaucratic overhead that slowed down their actual work.

I fixed this by tying it directly to their autonomy. I told the team: document your process once, and you’ll never have to answer the same question twice.

At KNDR, one of our strategists spent 90 minutes creating a donor segmentation workflow doc–within three weeks, she had freed up 6 hours per week because junior team members could self-serve instead of interrupting her.

The resistance vanished when I made it transactional: every undocumented process meant they’d be on-call for questions indefinitely.

I framed it as “document it now and own your calendar, or stay in constant interrupt mode forever.”

Once people realized documentation was buying back their time rather than consuming it, adoption went from 20% to nearly complete within a month.

Documentation Buys Back Your Calendar

Amber Pirog
Owner, Oriole Basement Waterproofing

I run a 70-year-old family waterproofing and foundation repair company in Maryland, so I’ve had to steer policy resistance across both field crews and office staff in a traditional trades business.

The biggest pushback I get is around mandatory post-job photo documentation and customer follow-up calls.

Our technicians hated it at first–they saw it as paperwork that kept them from the next job and cut into their productivity.
Guys who’d been waterproofing basements for 20+ years felt like we didn’t trust their work.

I fixed it by showing them our BBB complaint data before and after we implemented the policy.

Complaints dropped 67% in eight months, and we won our third straight Angi Super Service Award.

More importantly, I started sharing Google reviews in our weekly huddles where customers specifically praised individual techs by name–suddenly those same resistant crew members were asking me to make sure their photos looked good before sending.

The trick in a trade business is proving the policy protects their reputation, not questions it.

When my foundation crew chief saw a photo he took get printed in a case study that landed us a $40K commercial contract, he became the biggest enforcer of the documentation policy on his team.

Photos Protect Reputation, Crew Enforces

Usama Chaudhry
CEO & Founder, Primus Workforce Ltd

The remote work policy, especially when requiring employees to return to the office, often sparks the most resistance. After enjoying flexibility, many see this change as a setback to work-life balance.

To ease pushback, focus on transparency and empathy:

Communicate openly: Listen to employees’ concerns and explain the reasons behind the change.

Offer flexibility: Where possible, adopt hybrid or occasional remote work options.

Reframe the policy: Position it as a move toward collaboration and stronger team culture, not just a mandate.

Pilot first: Test the policy, gather feedback, and adjust accordingly.

The key to success is blending company needs with employee well-being, and showing that flexibility, within reason, is still part of the company culture.

Empathy + Flexibility Eases Office Return

Lynnette Zipp
VP of Strategic HR & Consultant, Clearwater Analytics

The policy employees push back on most is definitely return to office.

In a highly digital work world, employees continually argue on the value of being in the office while they are sitting behind a computer screen attending Zoom meetings.

One way I recommend that companies minimize this is by encouraging structured in-office days. For example, many companies require two to three days in the office and leave it up to the team to decide which days employees must come in.

I think this is a flawed approach and recommend structured clear guardrails for the teams, such as everyone required to be in office Tuesday – Thursday.

This maximizes the in-person time, allowing time for organic bonding, and building the human-to-human sense of belonging.

If an employee feels out on an island by themselves, find them an in-office buddy.

Time and time again, we know that personal connections strengthen the workplace bond and increase employee engagement and retention.

Fixed Office Days Build Belonging

The HR Spotlight team thanks these industry leaders for offering their expertise and experience and sharing these insights.

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Black History Month Series – In Conversation with Jim Stroud

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HR Spotlight Interview

Jim Stroud

Black History Month Interview Series

In Conversation with Jim Stroud

Today, we have the privilege of speaking with Jim Stroud. With over two decades of experience navigating the intersection of talent and technology at global powerhouses like Microsoft, Google, and Randstad, Jim has been a constant force for innovation in how organizations hire and scale. Currently the Head of Market Strategy & Industry Engagement at ProvenBase, Jim joins us to discuss the realities of AI in recruiting, the vital skill of “adaptive reinvention,” and his candid advice for the next generation of Black professionals.

Thank you for joining us, Jim. Please share with our readers your experience and what you currently do for work (and passion projects)!

Jim Stroud:

I’ve been working at the intersection of technology and talent for more than two decades, long enough to see multiple waves of disruption come and go. I started in internet recruiting in the late 1990s, when sourcing candidates online was still considered experimental. Since then, I’ve served in roles at companies such as Microsoft, Google, Siemens, MCI, Bernard Hodes Group, and Randstad Sourceright, where I was Global Head of Sourcing and Recruiting Strategy. Across those experiences, my focus has been consistent: use technology, data, and creativity to solve hiring problems that feel unsolvable.
 
Over time, my work expanded beyond sourcing into thought leadership and demand generation for HR technology companies. I’ve led marketing and brand strategy efforts, built content engines from scratch, increased inbound lead flow, and translated complex labor-market shifts into narratives executives can act on. I’ve also spent years on global stages speaking about AI in recruiting, the hidden job market, and how employer behavior is changing faster than most systems can keep up.
 
Today, I serve as Head of Market Strategy & Industry Engagement at ProvenBase. In that role, I own external narrative, industry visibility, and market engagement. I evangelize our Deep Search approach, work closely with sales and product, engage directly with talent acquisition leaders, and help shape how we position ourselves in a skills-first, AI-influenced hiring landscape. My job is to connect the dots between what’s happening in the labor market and what organizations should do next.
 
Alongside that, I continue to build and create. I publish The Recruiting Life newsletter, host The Jim Stroud Podcast, and develop career intelligence tools focused on uncovering hidden hiring signals. I’ve launched products like The Invisible Job Market Detector and Relaunched Recruiting Radar to help recruiters and job seekers alike see what traditional systems miss. I also speak internationally and experiment constantly with AI-driven workflows, content formats, and audience-building strategies.
 
At heart, I’m a translator. I study where work is going, where hiring is breaking, and where technology is overpromising or underperforming, then I turn that into practical insight. Whether I’m advising an HR tech startup, speaking at a conference, or building a new tool, the mission is the same: make the invisible visible, reduce friction in hiring, and help people navigate the future of work with clarity instead of fear.

What problem are you most excited to be working on right now?

Jim Stroud:

One problem I am genuinely excited about right now is how to leverage AI to increase brand visibility and generate qualified demand for an HR tech company. Not vanity metrics. Not surface-level automation. Real awareness that converts into meaningful conversations.
 
I’ve been deep in experimentation mode — exploring emerging AI workflows, testing what some call “vibe coding,” and pushing myself beyond simple prompt usage into systems thinking. How do we structure content so it ranks inside large language models? How do we turn expertise into scalable distribution? How do we design AI experiences that create pull instead of noise?
 
This particular initiative is still in stealth mode, but it represents a practical proving ground for everything I’ve been studying. The goal is simple: use AI not as a gimmick, but as a strategic force multiplier for narrative, visibility, and pipeline.
 
I’m looking forward to sharing more details publicly soon.

What skill has been most important to your growth so far?

Jim Stroud:

The skill that has mattered most in my growth across tech and HR is adaptive reinvention.
 
This industry does not sit still. The tools change. The platforms change. The labor market shifts. AI rewrites the rules. What worked five years ago can quietly become obsolete. My ability to continuously learn, unlearn, and rebuild has kept me relevant — and useful.
 
I have moved from early internet sourcing to social recruiting, from content marketing to demand generation, from manual research to AI-augmented intelligence. Each phase required new skills, new frameworks, and often a new identity. I have never been overly attached to how things used to work.
 
Beyond adaptability, I’ve consistently paired data with imagination. Data tells you what is happening. Imagination helps you see what could happen. The intersection of those two is where real strategy lives. AI has amplified that capability for me. It allows me to test ideas faster, surface insights sooner, and scale execution in ways that would have been impossible even a few years ago.
 
Staying curious, staying uncomfortable, and staying willing to evolve — that has been the consistent pattern in my career.

What is some advice you want to give to other young Black people in the industry or entering the space?

Jim Stroud:

First, master the craft before you chase the spotlight.
 
There is nothing more powerful than being undeniably good at what you do. Learn the tools. Learn the business model. Learn how revenue is made. Learn how decisions are really made inside organizations. Competence builds confidence. Competence also travels. When you are excellent, your options expand.
 
Second, do not wait for permission to build your own platform.
 
Your voice does not need validation to have value. Write. Publish. Record. Speak. Share your perspective. The industry often discovers people after they have already been creating consistently. Visibility compounds. Ownership compounds. Build something that is yours.
 
Third, understand the room without shrinking in it.
 
You will walk into rooms where you are underestimated. That is real. Prepare anyway. Speak clearly. Know your numbers. Bring receipts. You do not need to perform respectability. You need to deliver insight. When your thinking is sharp, the room adjusts.
 
Fourth, study technology early.
 
AI, automation, analytics — these are not side conversations. They are reshaping hiring and career mobility in real time. If you understand how technology influences power, access, and opportunity, you position yourself ahead of the curve instead of reacting to it.
 
Finally, protect your imagination.
 
Do not let the limitations of the present define what you believe is possible. I started in recruiting when the internet was still new. I have watched entire categories appear out of thin air. The future of work is still being written. There is room for you to shape it.
 
Be excellent. Be visible. Be prepared. And build something that outlives the moment.

What do you want people to understand about Black people in the industry that often gets missed?

Jim Stroud:

What I want people to understand is that Black professionals in tech and HR are not a monolith.
 
We are not a talking point. We are not a diversity statistic. We are not an ideology. We are individuals with different beliefs, different experiences, and different political and cultural views. That often gets missed.
 
Too often, conversations about Black professionals get filtered through a narrow cultural lens. The assumption is that we all think the same, vote the same, interpret the workplace the same, or prioritize the same issues. That is simply not true. Some of us are builders. Some of us are technologists. Some of us are entrepreneurs. Some of us are conservative. Some of us are progressive. Most of us are focused on doing excellent work and building stable lives.
 
Another thing that gets missed is agency.
 
Black professionals in tech and HR are not passive participants waiting to be “included.” Many of us have built platforms, companies, communities, and intellectual property from scratch. We are contributors to innovation, not just beneficiaries of access. The narrative often centers barriers. It rarely centers capability.
 
I also think it is important to emphasize standards.
 
Excellence matters. Competence matters. Preparation matters. The fastest way to earn durable respect in any industry is to be excellent at your craft. That principle transcends race. When we focus on skill, results, and value creation, we elevate the conversation beyond symbolism.
 
At the end of the day, I want people to see Black professionals the way they should see any professional: as individuals judged by the quality of their thinking, the strength of their character, and the results they produce. Not as representatives of a cultural script, but as people building meaningful work in a rapidly changing industry.




Jim Stroud is a globally recognized voice on recruiting, careers, and labor market intelligence. With more than two decades of experience spanning Microsoft, Google, and Randstad, he helps organizations and professionals navigate shifts in hiring, AI, and workforce strategy. He currently serves as Head of Market Strategy & Industry Engagement at ProvenBase and is the creator of The Recruiting Life newsletter and host of The Jim Stroud Podcast.

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