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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