foHRsight: HR, Leadership & the Future of Work

Your relationship with your boss may be one of the most consequential relationships in your working life. Yet most of us are expected to figure out how to navigate it on our own. What happens when your boss avoids decisions? Micromanages everything? Makes a call you strongly disagree with? Or simply works in a way that clashes with yours? In this episode of foHRsight, Naomi Titleman Colla speaks with Mohit Misra about managing up as a skill, and why employees have more agency in the relationship than they may realize. Mohit introduces six common boss archetypes and his Triple M framework for understanding who you are working with, mapping your own needs against theirs, and making an intentional move rather than relying on assumptions. They also explore how to challenge a boss constructively, what to do when respect begins to erode, and why understanding the pressures your leader is facing can completely change the conversation. They also look at what AI is doing to the traditional boss-employee power dynamic. When employees and leaders increasingly have access to the same information and tools, hierarchy alone creates less value. Transparency, judgment and honest conversation become even more important. And for HR leaders in particular, Mohit leaves us with a challenge: are we coaching everyone else to embrace ambiguity while quietly expecting perfection from ourselves? Resources Referenced Mohit Misra: mohitmisra.com Coaching Under 3 Minutes : store.pothi.com Mohit Misra on LinkedIn About Our Guest Mohit Misra is a leadership advisor, coach and author with two decades of experience in senior talent roles at organizations including Novartis, Chemours and Bank of America. He works with CHROs and senior leaders on turning leadership strategy into action and is the author of Coaching Under Three Minutes and the forthcoming Managing Up . Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Organizations are investing heavily in AI. Licenses are being purchased, usage is being tracked and employees are being encouraged to experiment. But has the work itself actually changed? In this episode of foHRsight, Mark Edgar speaks with leadership advisor and author Tom Mawhinney about the gap between adopting AI and genuinely redesigning work around what the technology makes possible. Tom argues that the biggest opportunity is not simply to automate existing tasks or reduce headcount. It is to reconsider how roles are structured when AI can take on more of the analysis and production, while humans focus more deliberately on judgment, context and prioritization. That shift raises an important question for HR. If entry-level work has traditionally been where people develop many of those capabilities through experience, how do organizations build them when some of that work disappears? Mark and Tom explore why HR can play a critical role in answering that question, how to make the financial case for redesign rather than reduction, and why organizations do not need to transform every job at once. Starting with a few roles, testing what works and proving the value may be enough to begin. Because having AI available across the organization is one thing. Building an organization that works differently because of it is another. About Our Guest Tom Mawhinney is a leadership advisor, author and keynote speaker whose work sits at the intersection of leadership, strategy and technology. Drawing on three decades as an executive, board member, founder and advisor, he helps organizations rethink how those three areas need to evolve together as the conditions around work change. Resources Mentioned Tom Mawhinney: tommawhinney.io Tom Mawhinney Tom Mawhinney on LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com LinkedIn Tom Mawhinney’s books: tommawhinney.io Tom Mawhinney So... Now What? Recognizing Four Organizational States in an AI-Driven World : goodreads.com Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

HR leaders are being asked to help their organizations adapt to AI at extraordinary speed. But what happens when the technology is changing faster than the systems, leadership models and assumptions underneath the way we work? The opportunity is bigger than adopting better tools. In this episode of foHRsight, Naomi Titleman Colla speaks with returning guest Gary Bolles about what it takes to navigate continuous change without losing the humans at the centre of it. They explore why traditional command-and-control leadership is increasingly at odds with the kind of adaptive organizations we need, why leaders may need to trade having the answers for asking better questions, and how changing expectations around purpose and motivation are reshaping work. Gary also introduces the idea of “synchronous rewards,” a more flexible approach to aligning what organizations need with what individual workers value at different points in their lives. And as AI makes greater personalization possible, he offers an important caution for HR: technology can help us scale human systems, but it can just as easily make them less human if we stop applying judgment, context and care. For HR leaders navigating both the promise and pressure of AI, this conversation offers a useful reframing: the goal is not to automate the old rules of work. It is to build better ones. About Our Guest Gary Bolles is the author of The Next Rules of Work and Chair for the Future of Work at Singularity University. With decades of experience spanning Silicon Valley, technology, learning and the future of work, he brings a systems-level perspective to how leaders and organizations can navigate exponential change while keeping people at the centre. Resources Mentioned Gary Bolles: https://www.gbolles.com/ The Next Rules of Work : https://www.gbolles.com/ Possible Futures Podcast: https://www.su.org/possible-futures Singularity University: https://www.su.org/ Nell Watson: https://www.nellwatson.com/ TR2050: https://www.tr2050.com/ Gary Bolles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbolles/ Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Your organization is investing in AI. People are experimenting, training is happening, productivity tools are everywhere. But is any of it actually making work better? That’s the question at the centre of this episode of foHRsight , as Mark Edgar speaks with Dessalen “Dess” Wood about moving beyond AI activity and toward meaningful AI enablement. Dess argues that the first phase of workplace AI was inevitably messy: organizations were handed transformative technology without a clear playbook for what transformation was supposed to look like. Now, the opportunity is to become much more disciplined. If AI saves someone five hours a week, what should happen in those five hours? Which capabilities does everyone genuinely need? Who actually needs to become a builder? And which parts of HR work should be automated because nobody particularly values the human delivery, versus the moments where human presence is precisely what makes the experience valuable? The conversation offers a practical framework for thinking about AI fluency at different levels, why learning should be grounded in the tools and experiences employees actually encounter, and why HR does not need to turn every employee into an AI expert. Most importantly, it challenges People leaders to get much clearer about the work only humans can add meaningful value to, so they can stop defending work that simply keeps the lights on. About Our Guest Dessalen “Dess” Wood is a global Chief People Officer at Syntax, where she has played a key role in advancing AI enablement across the organization. After spending much of her career in retail and service environments before moving into technology, she brings a cross-industry perspective on what actually drives human performance, learning and organizational change. Resources Referenced Syntax — the global technology company where Dess is Chief People Officer and where much of the AI enablement work discussed in the episode is taking place. syntax.com Reclaim the Plot: How Leaders Rewrite the Story When AI Rewrites Work by Dr. Kelly Monahan — Mark references Kelly Monahan and her recent work while asking whether AI is actually making organizations better. Reclaim the Plot Cognitive dissonance — the behavioural concept Dess references when explaining why action can precede attitude change, particularly around mandatory AI learning and adoption. Learn more about cognitive dissonance Dessalyn Wood on LinkedIn — Dess specifically invites listeners to connect with her there at the end of the episode. Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

NOTE: We will be welcoming Dr. Gleb to our community for an interactive webinar November 25th. To go deeper on this episode and take the opportunity to connect with Dr. Gleb live, register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/HfJOZAaIRI6DBXc84CSCSA. Hope to see you there! Most AI adoption strategies start with tools, training and governance. But what happens when the real barrier isn’t knowing how to use AI? Employees may be wondering whether the technology will eventually replace them. Experienced professionals may feel that work they spent years learning to do can suddenly be generated in seconds. Others are already using AI successfully but are reluctant to admit it because they worry it will make them look lazy, less capable or as though they have somehow cheated. Those aren’t technology problems. They’re human ones. In this episode of foHRsight , Naomi Titleman is joined by behavioural scientist Dr. Gleb Tsipursky to explore what leaders often miss when trying to drive AI adoption at work. They unpack three very different forms of resistance: fear and anxiety about job security, threats to professional identity, and the social stigma that can keep productive AI use hidden. Gleb shares practical ways leaders can respond, including starting with the work employees actively want off their plates, modelling AI use openly, creating opportunities to share what is working, and giving people genuine space to experiment. The conversation also looks at the growing problem of AI-generated “work slop,” why critical thinking becomes more important rather than less important in an AI-enabled workplace, and how psychological safety needs to be paired with accountability and human review. For HR leaders navigating AI adoption, the challenge is no longer simply choosing the right technology. It is creating an environment where people can learn how to use it without feeling that doing so puts their job, identity or credibility at risk. About Our Guest Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is a behavioural scientist, seven-time bestselling author and author of The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results . His work focuses on how leaders and organizations make better decisions and adapt to changes in the future of work, drawing on extensive research and consulting with organizations navigating AI adoption. Resources Referenced The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results — Dr. Gleb Tsipursky’s latest book. Georgetown University Press Free book sample + AI adoption resources — disasteravoidanceexperts.com/aibook MIT research on GenAI ROI — referenced in the discussion about the majority of AI pilots failing to show ROI. MIT Project NANDA Harvard Business Review on AI “workslop” — referenced in the discussion about poor-quality AI output creating more work for colleagues. Read the article Amy Edmondson on psychological safety — referenced in the conversation about balancing experimentation with accountability. Amy Edmondson Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

AI is moving quickly into HR, but the most important question may not be how much work it can automate. It may be what HR chooses to do with the capacity it creates. In this episode of foHRsight , Mark Edgar speaks with Franco Girimonte about what the next phase of AI means for HR operating models, skills, workforce planning and the role HR needs to play in enterprise AI strategy. Franco shares research from The Hackett Group estimating that by 2030, 43% to 49% of HR roles or activities could be automated. But rather than seeing that solely as a headcount story, many HR leaders see an opportunity to redirect capacity toward work that has historically been under-resourced: strategic workforce planning, deeper business partnership, better insights and helping employees and leaders adapt to AI. The conversation also explores why HR and IT increasingly need to lead AI transformation together, why standardized processes matter before organizations can capture the benefits of automation, and how HR roles may shift from producing work to orchestrating work across people and AI agents. For HR leaders feeling both excited and overwhelmed by AI, this episode offers a useful place to start: not with every possible tool, but with the work your organization needs HR to be capable of next. About Our Guest Franco Girimonte is a Principal at The Hackett Group, where he works within HR transformation and brings extensive experience across HR consulting, organization design, operating models, research and benchmarking. His perspective combines hands-on transformation work with a broad view of how organizations across North America and Europe are adapting their HR functions for the future. Resources Referenced The Hackett Group — thehackettgroup.com 2026 HR Key Issues Study: Building the Agentic HR Organization — View the research AI World Class Human Resources — View the research Microsoft Copilot — copilot.microsoft.com Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

AI is making hiring faster. But is it actually helping organizations make better decisions about people? Candidates are using AI to write, tailor and scale applications. Employers are using it to screen, evaluate and increasingly interact with those candidates. The result can quickly become an arms race where both sides automate more, trust each other less, and lose sight of what hiring is supposed to uncover in the first place. In this episode of foHRsight, Naomi Titleman Colla speaks with Jeremy Schifeling about what HR leaders should be paying attention to as AI reshapes recruitment, early-career work and the talent pipeline. At the centre of the conversation is a simple question: does AI move us closer to people, or further away from them? They explore why candidates may be using AI differently than employers assume, where automation genuinely creates room for better human connection, why transparency in the hiring process matters, and what organizations risk when short-term efficiency removes the entry-level opportunities that develop future leaders. They also consider a bigger shift underway in how organizations assess talent. As technical tasks become easier to automate, qualities like initiative, relationship-building, judgment, creativity and the ability to use AI to accomplish meaningful work may become increasingly valuable signals. For HR and talent leaders, the opportunity isn't simply to add more AI to an old hiring process. It's to question whether the process itself is still measuring what matters. About Our Guest Jeremy Schifeling is a former LinkedIn executive, early OpenAI partner and author of three number-one Amazon bestselling career books. Through his work with job seekers, students, career changers and working professionals, he brings a ground-level view of how AI is changing the experience of getting hired and what those changes mean for employers and the future talent pipeline. Resources Referenced Unbreakable by Jeremy Schifeling: https://www.thejobinsiders.com/unbreakable Fortune: “Robots Screening Robots: Inside the AI Arms Race Reshaping Hiring”: https://www.fortune.com/2026/06/01/robots-screening-robots-inside-the-ai-arms-race-reshaping-hiring/ Stanford Digital Economy Lab: “Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence”: https://digitaleconomy.stanford.edu/publication/canaries-in-the-coal-mine-six-facts-about-the-recent-employment-effects-of-artificial-intelligence/ future foHRward: “Rethinking Entry-Level Work in the Age of AI”: https://www.futurefohrward.com/subscribe Jeremy Schifeling on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schifeling CNBC: “The No. 1 AI Mistake Job Seekers Make”: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/18/dont-use-chatgpt-to-write-your-resume.html Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Most organizations would say they care about their people. The harder question is whether their people can actually feel it. When work is moving quickly and leaders are navigating pressure, change and new technology, it is easy for care to become something organizations talk about rather than something employees experience. But culture is built in the everyday proof points: the questions leaders ask, the clarity they provide, how they respond when someone is struggling, and whether people feel seen in the first place. In this episode of foHRsight , Mark Edgar speaks with Justin Ricklefs about why caring can be a genuine competitive advantage and what it takes to turn that idea into action. Justin shares a practical framework built around curiosity, compassion, clarity and consistency, including why empathy without action only goes so far, why leaders need to ask better questions, and why the strongest culture signals are often much simpler than we think. The conversation is a useful reminder that you cannot market your way to a healthy culture. Your people experience the organization from the inside, and the stories they tell about that experience become part of the business itself. About Our Guest Justin Ricklefs is the founder of strategic brand agency Guild Collective and the author of Give a Damn . His work explores how care, storytelling and human connection shape stronger organizations, brands and leadership cultures. Links from the Episode Justin Ricklefs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinricklefs Guild Collective: https://guildcollective.com/ Give a Damn: The Catalyst for Caring Companies: https://thegiveadamnbook.com/ Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Your turnover numbers might look reassuring. That doesn’t necessarily mean your people want to stay. The current labour market has created what PayScale calls a “job-hugging” era : employees are changing jobs less frequently, but economic uncertainty, slow hiring and anxiety about AI may be keeping people in roles they are no longer particularly happy in. As Amy Stewart puts it, some employees are holding onto their jobs “like you’re hugging a cactus.” That creates a difficult challenge for HR. Low attrition can look like stability while masking disengagement, pay frustration and employees quietly preparing themselves for their next opportunity. In this episode of foHRsight , Naomi talks with PayScale’s Ruth Thomas and Amy Stewart about what the latest compensation and flight-risk data tells us about where organizations may be vulnerable. They explore why new hires can sometimes out-earn longer-tenured employees, why perceived pay fairness can matter as much as actual market competitiveness, and why pay transparency makes it increasingly important for organizations to explain not just what people are paid, but why . The conversation also looks at some less obvious signs of flight risk, from employees seeking bigger titles to acquiring certifications and new skills, and why this slower labour market may actually be the right moment to examine job architecture, internal equity and where your retention dollars will matter most. For HR leaders, the takeaway is simple: don’t wait for resignations to tell you where the risk is. About Our Guests Ruth Thomas is PayScale’s Chief Compensation Strategist and SVP of Marketing, with decades of experience studying compensation, labour-market trends and the evolution of rewards strategy. Her perspective helps connect today’s pay pressures with the broader changes reshaping how organizations attract and retain talent. Amy Stewart is a manager on PayScale’s content and research team and one of the lead authors of its 2026 Flight Risk Report. Her work draws on PayScale’s proprietary compensation data to identify where organizations may be most exposed to attrition and pay-related retention risk. Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram If you are looking for more foHRsight, sign up for our monthly foHRsight newsletter. It’s free and includes access to our quarterly white paper. This quarter’s white paper is about Rethinking Entry-Level work in the Age of AI, produced with Dr. Miranda Rodak from Indiana University’s Kelley school of business - an important topic for HR, Leadership and parents, students and society as a whole! https://www.futurefohrward.com/subscribe On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

What if someone can look successful on paper and still be operating almost entirely in survival mode? For HR leaders, that distinction matters. Organizations are moving faster, employees are carrying more, technology keeps accelerating the pace, and HR is often asked to respond with another program, initiative or tool. But what if thriving at work depends on something more fundamental? In this episode of foHRsight , Naomi Titleman Colla speaks with Jon Rosemberg about the difference between success and thriving , and why agency, meaning and connection are essential to moving out of survival mode. Jon explores what happens to our decision-making when our nervous systems are overloaded, how emotions can become useful information rather than something to suppress, and why slowing down can actually help us respond more effectively when everything feels urgent. They also unpack Jon’s AIR framework: Awareness, Inquiry and Reframing , a practical way to create distance from difficult situations, challenge the stories we’re telling ourselves and see more possibilities before deciding what to do next. For HR leaders, the conversation ultimately lands somewhere deceptively simple: people need to feel seen, heard and valued. If work has become increasingly transactional, meaningful human connection may be one of the most important conditions HR and leaders can create for people to thrive. About Our Guest Jon Rosenberg is a former operations executive turned advisor, the founding partner of Anthr and author of A Guide to Thriving . His work with founders and CEOs focuses on widening the frame around difficult decisions and helping people reclaim agency, making his perspective particularly relevant for leaders navigating pressure, uncertainty and change. Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram If you are looking for more foHRsight, sign up for our monthly foHRsight newsletter. It’s free and includes access to our quarterly white paper. This quarter’s white paper is about Rethinking Entry-Level work in the Age of AI, produced with Dr. Miranda Rodak from Indiana University’s Kelley school of business - an important topic for HR, Leadership and parents, students and society as a whole! https://www.futurefohrward.com/subscribe Support the show On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Boards are making decisions about AI, transformation, succession, culture and growth. But how often does the person with the deepest understanding of the workforce have a seat at the table? In this episode of foHRsight, Naomi is joined by former CHROs Suzan Morno-Wade and Harriet Harty to explore why HR leaders remain significantly underrepresented on corporate boards, and why that gap matters more as organizations navigate increasingly complex workforce decisions. The conversation challenges some persistent assumptions about what CHROs bring to the boardroom. Strong HR leaders aren't simply experts in people programs. They understand organizational performance, leadership capability, succession, culture and enterprise risk. They know how to influence without owning the decision, ask discerning questions and connect talent decisions back to business strategy. And as AI reshapes work, that perspective becomes even more important. Technology decisions are also workforce decisions. Suzan and Harriet make the case for HR leaders to position those conversations in the language of strategy, risk, opportunity, financial analysis and measurable business outcomes. For CHROs who see board service in their future, there's also a practical message: don't wait until you leave the operating role to start preparing. Building board experience, relationships and a board-ready profile takes time. About Our guests Suzan Morno-Wade is a former CHRO of Xerox whose career has spanned finance, human resources and enterprise leadership. Today, she advises organizations, serves on boards and supports greater representation in the C-suite and boardroom. Harriet Harty has held multiple executive HR roles, most recently serving as Chief Administrative Officer at ADT. She now works across advisory, board and executive coaching roles, bringing extensive experience in business transformation, talent and leadership. Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Your organization probably has more good ideas than you realize. The challenge is what happens next. Employees learn quickly whether an unconventional suggestion is genuinely welcome, whether failure will be treated as information or incompetence, and whether leadership is open to an outcome it did not already choose. When those answers are unclear, people protect themselves. They offer safer ideas, wait for direction or stop speaking up entirely. In this episode, Naomi Titleman Colla speaks with Fiona Stevenson about the human dynamics that cause innovation to stall. They explore why fear of taking action can be stronger than the fear of doing nothing, how leaders unintentionally become more rigid when the stakes are high, and why psychological safety must be built into the work rather than treated as a separate culture exercise. Fiona also shares a practical process for moving from a clearly defined problem to human insight, inspiration, ideas, iteration and implementation. For HR leaders, the conversation offers a clear challenge: examine whether your performance measures, reward systems and everyday leadership behaviours actually support the experimentation your organization says it wants. Guest Resources Website: fionastevenson.com Open State (with co-founder Alyssa Kerbel) : openstate.ca — bringing nervous system regulation, music, and movement into the creative process Kindness at Work: kindnessatwork.com — inaugural Workplace Kindness Awards ceremony in New York City during Kindness Week (November); nominations now open LinkedIn: Connect with Fiona Stevenson About Our Guest Fiona Stevenson is CEO and founding partner of the Idea Suite, where she helps organizations turn human insight into commercially viable ideas. With a background in psychology, more than a decade at Procter & Gamble and experience leading hundreds of innovation projects around the world, she brings a deeply human and practical perspective to how ideas move through organizations. Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

When pressure becomes constant, resilience can start to look a lot like suffering in silence. Employees are told to adapt, stay positive and keep moving, while the conditions driving burnout often remain untouched. For HR leaders, the challenge is not simply helping people manage stress. It is creating workplaces where people can stay clear, connected and capable even when the demands are high. In this episode, Naomi Titleman Colla speaks with Jay Abbasi about why resilience is not built by asking people to push harder. They explore how safety, focus and meaningful connection shape performance, why people struggle to access their best thinking when they feel threatened, and what emotionally intelligent leadership looks like in practice. The conversation also offers a practical challenge for leaders: notice what is driving your own behaviour before attempting to understand someone else’s. From regulating before reacting to sharing vulnerability without becoming the victim of the situation, this episode offers grounded ways to lead more effectively under pressure. About Our Guest Jay Abbasi is a global keynote and TEDx speaker, coach and former Tesla leader who helps professionals perform under pressure without burning out. After leading national training programs for more than 1,000 Tesla employees, he has coached leaders at organizations including Google, Amazon, TikTok and Wells Fargo. Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Most organizations aren't struggling with AI because of the technology. They're struggling because people don't change as quickly as the tools do. As leaders race to implement AI, many are relying on change management approaches that were designed for a slower, more predictable world. But when change is constant, communication plans and training sessions aren't enough. Real transformation happens when leaders understand how people actually adopt new ways of working. In this episode, Naomi sits down with organizational change expert and author Paul Gibbons to explore why traditional change management needs an update for the age of AI. Together, they unpack why leadership modelling matters more than ever, how HR can navigate the "double bind" of transforming itself while helping the rest of the organization evolve, and why behavioural science—not technology—is the missing ingredient in successful AI adoption. Whether you're leading an AI initiative, supporting organizational change, or simply trying to help your people adapt to a rapidly changing workplace, this conversation offers a thoughtful, practical perspective on leading transformation with both confidence and humanity. About Paul Gibbons Paul Gibbons is a consultant, speaker, and author focused on change, culture, and AI adoption. He is the creator of the Adaptive Adoption Framework and has authored nine books, including Adopting AI , written for leaders who need a practical strategy. He was ranked among the top five culture change thinkers globally by Global Gurus. Find Paul: Website: Paul Gibbons Advisory Slack community: Think Bigger Think Better Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Every generation of HR leaders faces a transformation that changes how the profession works. Today, it's AI. The pressure to move quickly can make it feel like everything is changing overnight. But beneath the new technology, the core of great HR remains remarkably consistent: earning trust, exercising sound judgment, navigating difficult conversations, and helping leaders make better decisions. In this conversation, retired CHRO Karen Trenton reflects on a career that spanned enormous shifts in technology, leadership and organizational change. She shares what she's most proud of, the career decisions she would make differently, why community matters more than ever, and why emotional intelligence—not technical expertise—is still what separates exceptional HR leaders. If you've been wondering what skills will matter most in the next decade of HR, this episode offers a thoughtful perspective from someone who's led through decades of transformation. About Our Guest Karen Trenton is a retired Chief Human Resources Officer with executive leadership experience across Coca-Cola and Sherritt International. Having led HR through periods of rapid organizational growth, global expansion and technological change, she brings a grounded perspective on leadership, judgment and the enduring human side of HR. Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Most teams don't have a collaboration problem because they lack talented people. They have a collaboration problem because they've never really talked about how they work together. We invest in Slack, Teams, Miro, Notion and countless other tools designed to make collaboration easier. But more tools haven't necessarily made teams better at collaborating. In some cases, they've simply created the illusion that collaboration is happening. In this episode of foHRsight, Naomi sits down with Alison Coward to explore why great teamwork rarely happens by accident and what it means to intentionally design the way people work together. They discuss why talented people don't automatically create high-performing teams, why workshops so often fail to create lasting change, and why small, consistent shifts in how teams communicate, align and make decisions can be far more powerful than sweeping culture initiatives. For HR leaders, there's an important challenge here: stop treating collaboration as something that should happen naturally. Start creating the conditions for it. About Our guest Alison Coward is a team culture strategist, workshop facilitator, trainer, and keynote speaker based in London. As founder of Bracket, she partners with ambitious, forward-thinking companies to help them build high-performing team cultures. Her book, Workshop Culture , lays out a practical framework for taking the energy and effectiveness of great workshops and embedding them into how teams work every day. Connect with Alison Website & newsletter: bracketcreative.co.uk | bracketcreative.co.uk/newsletter LinkedIn: Alison Coward Book: Workshop Culture — available wherever books are sold Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

We spend so much time helping people perform that we often forget to help them recover. Today's employees are balancing demanding workloads alongside constant notifications, endless comparison, economic uncertainty and personal pressures that don't disappear when the workday begins. By the time someone reaches a breaking point, the signs have often been there for much longer. In this episode, Mark Edgar sits down with life and wellness coach Ashish Singh to explore what it really means to build resilience before it's needed. Together, they unpack why calm isn't something we discover after everything settles down, but something we cultivate in the middle of everyday life. Ashish shares the deeply personal experience that led him from corporate life into coaching after a serious injury forced him to confront anxiety, uncertainty and his own internal dialogue. That journey became the foundation for his work helping others reconnect with what he calls "the steadiness within." Throughout the conversation, they explore why we can only truly control our thoughts and our actions, how social media has amplified stress through constant comparison, why mindfulness doesn't have to mean lengthy meditation sessions, and what practical tools can help people reset throughout an ordinary workday. For HR leaders, this conversation offers an important shift in perspective. Rather than waiting until employees are overwhelmed, organizations have an opportunity to normalize simple wellbeing practices that support people every day. Creating healthier workplaces isn't only about responding well during difficult moments. It's about making steadiness part of how work happens in the first place. Resources Website: thecalmmind.co Instagram: singashish3 LinkedIn: Available (handle mentioned in conversation) About Our Guest Ashish Singh is a life and wellness coach, author and founder of The Calm Mind . Drawing from his own experience navigating anxiety, injury and major life transitions, he helps individuals and organizations develop practical tools for building emotional resilience, mindfulness and lasting inner steadiness. Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

We often think resilience is something we discover in the hardest moments. But what if it's actually something we build long before we need it? As work becomes more complex, change accelerates, and cognitive demands continue to rise, many leaders find themselves relying on the same habits that helped them succeed in the past—only to realize they no longer have the capacity they once did. The challenge isn't a lack of capability. It's that resilience is too often treated as an individual trait instead of something we can intentionally strengthen. In this episode of foHRsight, Naomi Titleman Colla sits down with leadership psychologist and executive coach Dr. Marie-Hélène (MH) Pelletier to explore why resilience isn't about pushing harder or simply "bouncing back." Instead, it's a strategic practice that can be developed by individuals, teams, and organizations alike. Together, they discuss why high performers often underestimate the demands they're carrying, how cognitive patterns quietly erode decision-making, why resilience should be treated as leadership infrastructure rather than a wellness initiative, and the practical habits leaders can build today to protect their performance before they reach their breaking point. Whether you're leading an HR function, supporting organizational change, or simply feeling the weight of today's pace of work, this conversation offers a practical and refreshingly human approach to sustaining performance without sacrificing wellbeing. About Our Guest Dr. Marie-Hélène (MH) Pelletier is a leadership psychologist, executive coach, keynote speaker, and author of The Resilience Plan: A Strategic Approach to Optimizing Your Work Performance and Mental Health . With more than 20 years of experience working with leaders across industries, she helps organizations build resilience as a strategic capability that strengthens decision-making, leadership, and long-term performance. Connect with MH: Website & book: theresilienceplan.com LinkedIn: search Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier Link for free resources: https://drmarie-helene.com/free-resources-sign-up/ Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

For many leaders, retirement isn't about leaving work. It's about leaving behind an identity. After decades of building careers, leading teams, and carrying enormous responsibility, the biggest question isn't "What's next?" It's "Who am I without the title?" In this episode of foHRsight , Naomi Titleman Colla sits down with Zabeen Hirji , former Chief Human Resources Officer at RBC, to explore what she calls the Purposeful Third Act —a new way of thinking about life after executive leadership. Together, they unpack the emotional transition that comes with stepping away from a long career, why purpose is something we rediscover rather than reinvent, and how organizations are missing an opportunity to better engage experienced leaders. They also discuss the growing importance of intergenerational workplaces, lifelong learning, and why judgment, wisdom, and human connection will become even more valuable in the age of AI. Whether retirement feels years away or is already on the horizon, this conversation is a thoughtful reminder that your greatest contribution may not be behind you—it may simply take a different shape. About Our Guest Zabeen Hirji is a founder, retirement disruptor, executive advisor, and board director. She served as CHRO at Royal Bank of Canada and is now the driving force behind the Purposeful Third Act movement, which helps senior leaders navigate life and work after corporate careers with intention and impact. 🔗 LinkedIn: Zabeen Hirji (follow + subscribe to her newsletter) 🌐 Website: zabeenhirji.com (resources, role models, and P3A tools) Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show

Learning and development has spent decades creating courses, launching platforms, and chasing the next technology trend. But what if the problem isn't the technology at all? As AI reshapes how people access information, many traditional assumptions about workplace learning are being challenged. Employees no longer need to sit through generic training to find answers. They expect learning to be personalized, contextual, and available exactly when they need it. In this episode, Lori Niles-Hofmann joins Naomi Titleman Colla to explore why L&D is facing an existential moment, what organizations are getting wrong about skills development, and how AI could fundamentally change the way learning happens at work. Together, they discuss the shift from course creation to intelligent learning ecosystems, why skills management should be treated with the same precision as a supply chain, and how HR leaders can move from order-taking to strategic enablement. If you're responsible for developing people in an environment where business priorities, technology, and skills requirements are changing faster than ever, this conversation offers a practical and thought-provoking look at what comes next. Resources & References Mentioned 📘 The Eight Levers of EdTech Transformation by Lori Niles-Hofmann 🌐 8Levers: 8levers.com (note: the "8" is the number, not a "B"!) 🇨🇦 Valence — AI coaching platform, featuring Nadia 🇨🇦 Disco.co — community learning platform (also used by foHRsight+) 📊 Red Thread Research — State of EdTech presentation by Dani Johnson (Learning Technologies, London) 🔬 LearnLM / DeepMind research on human + AI learning outcomes About Our Guest Lori Niles-Hofmann is an EdTech strategist, consultant, and author of The Eight Levers of EdTech Transformation . With a career spanning global LMS implementations, instructional design, and organizational learning strategy, Lori brings a rare combination of technical fluency and business acumen to the L&D space. She is the founder of 8Levers and a frequent speaker and writer on the intersection of AI, skills, and workplace learning. Connect with Lori LinkedIn: search Lori Niles-Hofmann Website: 8levers.com Stay Connected with foHRsight To sign up for our monthly newsletter, foHRsight, click HERE Follow us on LinkedIn: Mark Edgar Naomi Titleman Colla future foHRward Follow us on Instagram On November 12th future foHRward will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary and 200th podcast episode in person in Toronto and you’re invited! More information and registration can be found at this link . Hope to see you there! Support the show