HR Leaders

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast On The Road, we sit down with Khalil Smith, VP, Inclusion, Diversity, and Engagement at Akamai Technologies, to unpack what it really takes to build a performance culture where people trust each other enough to speak up, challenge ideas, and grow.
Khalil explains why culture is not what leaders say they want, but what the organization actually rewards, and why silence is often the clearest signal that trust has broken down.
He shares how leaders can build stronger cultures by creating trust, encouraging healthy disagreement, aligning systems with values, and making recognition and feedback feel honest, specific, and useful.
Most importantly, Khalil reveals why the future of culture belongs to organizations that close the gap between what they say and what they reward, creating environments where people can challenge respectfully, perform boldly, and speak up without fear.

🎓 In this episode, Khalil discusses:
How culture is shaped through awareness, behavior, community, and systems
Why recognition only works when it is grounded in honesty, specificity, and trust
ow leaders can create the conditions for employees to speak up and challenge ideas
Why healthy disagreement is essential for trust, performance, and better decision-making
Why organizations must align internal reality with the values they communicate externally
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In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast On The Road, we sit down with Peter Andrew Danzig, Senior Advisor, Foundation Culture at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, to unpack what psychological safety really means beyond the buzzword.
Peter explains why psychological safety is not a checklist, policy, or one-time initiative, but a belief system that has to be co-created, practiced, and reinforced through everyday behavior.
He shares how leaders can build safer spaces by embracing healthy friction, operationalizing empathy, and creating room for challenge, accountability, apology, repair, and growth.
Most importantly, Peter reveals why the future of culture belongs to organizations that stop treating safety as comfort, and start building environments where more people can speak honestly, move through conflict, and still feel seen, heard, and valued.

🎓 In this episode, Peter discusses:
Why psychological safety must be treated as a belief system, not a checklist
How healthy friction, challenge, and disagreement strengthen trust when handled well
How rupture and repair can help organizations move through harm, conflict, accountability, and growth
Why neuroscience, identity, stress, and life outside work all shape how people experience safety at work
Why empathy, compassion, vulnerability, and perspective-taking need to be practiced, not just understood
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In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast On The Road, we sit down with Julie A. Stone, Chief Learning Officer, Group VP at TTEC, to unpack what it really takes to bring AI into an organization without losing the human connection, trust, and coaching that actually drive performance.
Julie explains why simply training people on AI tools is not enough, and how leaders must help employees understand where, when, and how AI fits into their actual work.
She shares how TTEC is using AI to create more time for human coaching, improve guidance in the flow of work, measure coaching effectiveness, and give people safe spaces to practice, learn, and build confidence.
Most importantly, Julie reveals why the future of AI transformation belongs to leaders who start with real business problems, bring people along transparently, and redesign work in a way that helps people perform better.

🎓 In this episode, Julie discusses:
Why AI training fails when people do not understand how to apply it in real work
How TTEC is using AI to create more time for human coaching, trust, and connection
How safe practice environments can help managers and employees build confidence
Why leaders need to measure behavior change, skill development, and coaching effectiveness
Why AI transformation requires trust, transparency, experimentation, and thoughtful work redesign
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In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast On The Road, we sit down with Raúl J. Valentín, EVP & Chief Human Resources Officer at ABM Industries, live from Workhuman Live Orlando 2026, to unpack what it really takes to lead a frontline workforce through constant change, AI transformation, and rising employee expectations.
Raúl explains why the future of HR is not about choosing between people and technology, but designing systems where people and AI work together to make work faster, fairer, and more human.
He shares how ABM is building resilience across a workforce of more than 100,000 team members by focusing on fairness, recognition, manager capability, and helping employees feel seen, heard, and valued wherever they work.
Most importantly, Raúl reveals why HR leaders must stop waiting for perfect answers before taking action, and instead create safe ways to launch, learn, improve, and lead transformation in motion.

🎓 In this episode, Raúl discusses:
Why managers are the real unlock for culture, safety, learning, and workflow redesign
Why grit, resilience, and learning agility matter more than ever in the new world of work
How AI coaching can help managers build confidence and practice difficult conversations
How ABM creates fairness and opportunity across a highly distributed frontline workforce
How CHROs can balance experimentation, ROI pressure, trust, and transparency when adopting AI
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In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Blair Bennett, Senior Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo, to unpack how talent acquisition is being completely redefined in the age of AI, hyper-personalization, and constant change.
Blair explains why simply adding AI tools into outdated recruitment models doesn’t work, and how PepsiCo redesigned its entire talent acquisition operating model to move faster, stay agile, and deliver better outcomes for both the business and candidates.
She shares how the function is shifting from execution to strategy, enablement, and intelligence, embedding design thinking, talent intelligence, and co-creation with recruiters to build systems that actually scale.
Most importantly, Blair reveals why the future of talent acquisition belongs to leaders who embrace uncertainty, collaboration, and continuous iteration, replacing command-and-control leadership with a model built around problems, not predefined answers.

🎓 In this episode, Blair discusses:
Why talent intelligence and external data are critical for future hiring decisions
How hyper-personalized candidate experiences are becoming the new standard
How leaders must shift from command-and-control to collaborative problem solving
How PepsiCo restructured talent acquisition into strategy, enablement, and execution
Why adding AI to outdated recruitment models fails without redesigning the operating model
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