In this episode, we explore three critical workplace strategy topics: how effective leaders can minimize office politics through transparency, accountability, and encouraging diverse viewpoints—strategies that seem obvious yet many workplaces still struggle to implement; Moderna's innovative approach to merging their tech and HR departments under a single "chief people and digital technology officer" role, complete with over 3,000 custom GPTs, representing a thoughtful years-long integration rather than a knee-jerk AI adoption; and the challenges of scaling a business sustainably, where the advice to build systems for 10x capacity sounds great in theory but often conflicts with the reality that HR infrastructure typically lags behind growth, creating a delicate balance between building too little too late versus over-engineering for your current stage.

Connect

Katya Laviolette on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katya-laviolette-6907b726/

Stacey Nordwall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles

• How Effective Leaders Minimize Office Politics
• Why Moderna Merged Its Tech and HR Departments
• Why Scaling a Business is the Hardest—and Most Important—Stage of Growth

This episode dives into why some CEOs are paying the price for walking back DEI, how the employer-employee relationship has fundamentally shifted, and the horrifying conditions faced by Meta’s outsourced content moderators. From strategic miscalculations to moral failures, we examine what these stories tell us about leadership, labor, and the values that shape today’s workplaces.

Connect:

With Anessa:

• On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anessafike/
• On her website: https://www.fikeandco.com/
• Her book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-revolution-of-work-fuck-the-patriarchy-and-the-workplace-it-built-anessa-fike/21206822?ean=9781961347540&next=t

With Stacey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles:

• How some corporations miscalculated the impact of abandoning DEI
• Has the Labor Market changed or have employees?
• Meta faces Ghana lawsuits over impact of extreme content on moderators

In this episode, we explore Cake’s Body’s bold $36K childcare stipend, why the job market is suddenly so brutal for college grads, and what the WEF’s new report reveals about the steep decline in employee well-being. We break down what these headlines signal about where workplaces are headed—and what HR needs to be thinking about next.

Connect:

With Anessa:

• On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anessafike/
• On her website: https://www.fikeandco.com/
• Her book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-revolution-of-work-fuck-the-patriarchy-and-the-workplace-it-built-anessa-fike/21206822?ean=9781961347540&next=t

With Stacey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles:

• Cakes Body’s $36K Child Care Credit Leads the Way in Affordable Child Care Planning for Employees
• Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market
• World Economic Forum Warns Employee Well-Being Is Declining—and Costing Businesses Trillions

This week, we're diving into three concerning workplace trends: First, employee engagement is declining sharply, with managers under 35 and female managers leading this downward slide—potentially because they're caught in middle management roles with high responsibility but little decision-making power. Meanwhile, BNY Mellon is increasing its office mandate from three to four days weekly by September 2025, again bringing up the question of if RTOs are actually solving the challenges businesses are having. Finally, tech CEOs are raising alarms about candidates using AI to fake their way through remote job interviews—with Gartner projecting that by 2028, one in four global job applicants will be using AI-generated profiles, posing serious security risks beyond simple resume fraud.

Connect:

With Lee Rubin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubinl/

With Stacey Nordwall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles:

• Employee Engagement is Dropping and Managers are leading the slide
• BNY asks employees to return to office four days a week by September
• Fake job seekers are flooding U.S. companies that are hiring for remote positions, tech CEOs say

This week, we discuss why HR professionals are naturally positioned for C-suite operations roles, examining the journey of Hinge's Angel Franklin from CPO to COO and why this transition shouldn't be considered unusual. We also dive into MongoDB's approach to hybrid work models, and fascinating research on how job ad language may inadvertently attract candidates with narcissistic tendencies and what this means for recruitment strategies.

Connect:

with Steven Huang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thestevenhuang/

or sign up for his newsletter: https://setthesetting.substack.com/

with Stacey Nordwall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles:

• Why it’s not far-fetched for HR pros to dream of being COO
• Giving employees a choice when to be in the office
• Why is your boss a narcissist? Blame the job ad that got them hired

This week, we dive into the real-world impacts of DEI rollbacks, workplace discrimination, and employee disengagement. We examine how Target faced boycotts and significant business impacts after eliminating DEI initiatives recently met with Rev. Al Sharpton to address the impacts of boycotts. We'll also explore troubling new research showing increased workplace discrimination against LGBTQ+ employees amid a record year of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Finally, we discuss the emerging concept of "quiet cracking" and what it reveals about the current state of workplace wellbeing and employee engagement.

Connect:

with Steven Huang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thestevenhuang/

or sign up for his newsletter: https://setthesetting.substack.com/

with Stacey Nordwall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles:

• Rev Al Sharpton meets with Target CEO over halting of DEI initiative
• LGBTQ+ workers report more discrimination, less happiness at work
• What is ‘quiet cracking’? Worker disengagement has a new name