The Gartner Talent Angle (Gartner)

As a growing number of companies experiment with maintaining partial or fully remote workforces, HR teams are reevaluating the need for a traditional office environment. In this replay of a 2018 Talent Angle episode, Brian De Haaff discusses how business leaders can drive and sustain high performance from their remote workforce. De Haaff, author of Lovability, believes a remote workforce can function just as well, if not better than, the traditional office workforce.

Brian De Haaff, author of Lovability, is the founder and CEO of Aha!, one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. and the world’s #1 product roadmap software. In Lovability, Brian shares his insights from a career of founding successful technology companies and creating award-winning products. In outlining a set of principles known as “The Responsive Method”, he reveals the secret behind the phenomenal growth of Aha! and the engine that powers customer love. His two previous companies were acquired by Aruba Networks and Citrix.

Brian frequently writes and speaks on driving product and company growth, and has been featured on publications such as Berkeley Innovators, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur. He is a proud graduate of both the University of California, Berkeley and Northwestern University.

An inclusive workplace makes all employees feel equally involved in and supported across all areas. Fran Katsoudas, Cisco CHRO, and Michael C. Bush, Great Place to Work CEO, join the Talent Angle to share insights and lessons that help leaders build inclusive organizations. Both make the case why doing so isn’t only an altruistic act, but also has real business impact on outcomes such as revenue and market performance. They also discuss the pillars that define Cisco’s globally recognized culture of inclusion, challenges to building an inclusive culture with a dispersed workforce, emerging ways to foster trust and belonging, and which new inequities are materializing in a disruptive talent landscape.

Francine Katsoudas is executive vice president and chief people, policy and purpose officer of Cisco. In this role, Fran oversees critical functions that instill Cisco’s conscious culture, contribute to the company’s overall performance and advance Cisco’s purpose to “Power an Inclusive Future for All.” The strategic alignment of functions within Fran’s organization ensures holistic care for the well-being of Cisco’s people, establishes Cisco as a trusted and valued partner to governments and global leaders, and extends Cisco’s reach to positively impact communities everywhere. A 25-year veteran of Cisco, Fran has extensive experience leading organizational transformations, driving large scale growth, cultivating successful leaders and teams, and constructing an employee-first culture. Fran currently serves on the board of directors for Americares, Global Citizen, and ADP. Passionate about social justice, Fran is an activist and advocate for a variety of causes close to her heart, particularly women’s leadership, homeless youth and the Latino community.

Michael C. Bush is CEO of Great Place to Work. His global research and analytics firm produces the annual “Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For” list, the “World’s Best Workplaces” list, the “100 Best Workplaces for Women” list, the “Best Workplaces for Diversity” list, and dozens of other distinguished workplace rankings around the world. Driven by a love of business and an unwavering commitment to fair and equitable treatment, Michael joined Great Place to Work as CEO in 2015, bringing 30 years of experience leading and growing organizations. This includes serving as CEO of Tetra Tech Communications. Michael is a former member of President Obama’s White House Business Council and a founding board member of the private equity seed fund Fund Good Jobs, which invests in small inner-city businesses.

Daniel Dirks is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR research practice. He has been with Gartner for eight years and leads research teams in the areas of HR strategy, HR cost and budget, total rewards and performance, and working with the CEO. He has also been in the lead for our global COVID-19-related HR response task force. Prior to joining Gartner, Daniel was responsible for all global HR topics at Allianz Group, ranging from HR strategy and policies to global compensation, talent management, EVP, diversity, analytics, and global corporate responsibility. In the 1990s, Daniel led the economics department at the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. He holds a Ph.D. in business and economics from the University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

*This excerpt was taken from our 2018 interview. Is your organizational structure your Achille's Heel? Former VP at Yahoo and co-author of Exponential Organizations, Salim Ismail, believes that any company designed for success in the 20th century is doomed for failure in the 21st. Hear Salim discuss the lessons that business leaders can learn from the new breed of companies that are scaling 10 times faster than established organizational structures. 

Women of color are one of the fastest-growing segments in the corporate workforce, yet often underrepresented in their teams, department or company. In “The First, The Few, The Only,” author and corporate inclusion leader Deepa Purushothaman offers a call to action for women of color to advocate for a new corporate environment where they feel belonging and acceptance. 

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Deepa provides a roadmap for women of color to initiate change in the workplace, and outlines how organizations can ensure all of their employees are heard, respected and valued.

Deepa Purushothaman is the co-founder of nFormation which provides brave, safe, new space for professional women of color and a Women and Public Policy Program Leader in Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to this, Deepa spent more than 20 years at Deloitte and was the first Indian American woman to become a partner in the company’s history. Deepa was also Deloitte’s national Women’s Initiative leader, the firm’s renowned program to recruit, retain, and advance women. Deepa has degrees from Wellesley College, Harvard Kennedy School, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Deepa is an Aspen Fellow and speaks extensively on women and leadership. She has been featured at national conferences and in publications including Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Harvard Business Review.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

In 2024, expert guests joined the Gartner Talent Angle to share their advice on the trickiest apsects of leadership that are critical to success in the modern world of work: uncertainty,  conflict and failure. Nathan Furr and Susasannhah Harmon Furr detail how organizations can navigate uncertainty to drive transformation and innovation. Amy Gallo shows how leaders can effectively manage conflicts and transform them into productive dialogues within their organization. Amy Emondson offers insights on how organizations can shift their mindset toward failure and embrace it as a catalyst for growth and improvement.

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle podcast, trust expert Rachel Botsman defines trust as the currency of interaction. She argues that trust has implications for how organizations can relate to their employees and customers, especially in a virtual world. Botsman joined the podcast to discuss the changing landscape of trust and to share how leaders can put trust into action to drive better outcomes.

Rachel Botsman is a lecturer at Oxford University and an expert on trust. She is the author of “What’s Mine is Yours” and “Who Can You Trust?”. Botsman’s TED talks have been viewed more than five million times, and she hosts the podcast series “Trust Issues.”

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2021 interview.

Succession planning is an integral component of an organization's talent management strategy, but HR leaders are often unsure if they’re identifying the best-suited candidates for succession pipelines. 

Martin Gutmann, a professor at the Lucerne School of Business in Switzerland and the author of “The Unseen Leader: How History Can Help Us Rethink Leadership,” offers a solution to succession planning uncertainty by looking to leaders of the past.

Martin describes historical leaders, ranging from well-known figures to those less recognized, and examines the qualities that made them exemplary leaders in their respective eras. He explains the risks of prioritizing individuals who excel at managing crises and potentially overlooking those who preemptively mitigate issues.

Martin Gutmann is an author, speaker and scholar interested in how the past can illuminate today's most pressing challenges. He is a professor at the Lucerne School of Business, Switzerland, and the best-selling author of The Unseen Leader: How History Can Help Us Rethink Leadership. His writing and thought leadership pieces have millions through platforms and magazines, such as Forbes, Big Think, Fast Company, and Minute Hack. Martin holds a Ph.D. in history from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, an Executive MBA from IE Business School in Spain, and higher education teacher’s training from Harvard University and ETH Zurich.

Caroline Walsh is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

Organizations today are grappling with how to manage the merging of peoples’ work and personal lives. With many organizational processes and structures not fully accounting for the human impact they have on their employees’ lives, organizations are now looking for a better approach to the way we work. Peter Aykens and Sari Wilde, two leaders of the Gartner HR practice, offer a new, human-centric, approach that they argue will foster creativity and engagement among employees, ultimately delivering the best results for their organization.

Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. Peter is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth) and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

Sari J Wilde oversees peer and practitioner research in the HR practice. She holds a bachelor's degree from Barnard College, Columbia University and a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from New York University.

Caroline Walsh is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

*This Spotlight is an excerpt from our full interview in 2019.  Tune in to this episode of the Talent Angle to hear Gartner's own Jaime Roca and Sari Wilde share insights from their new book, "The Connector Manager." Learn how providing targeted feedback while connecting employees to those who are better suited to address their needs not only increases employee engagement, but triples the likelihood that they will be high performers. 

In this Talent Angle podcast, Gartner chief of HR research Brian Kropp shares challenges and opportunities that are top of mind for CHROs as 2022 approaches. He discusses how HR must adapt to a hybrid future in which leaders and managers need new skills and employees expect a more human relationship with their organizations. Kropp goes on to explain how executives must take new approaches to decision making to usher in the changes needed in this disruptive environment.

Brian Kropp is Gartner’s chief of HR research. He oversees Gartner’s research, tools, services and support for CHROs and their leadership teams. Before joining Gartner, he worked in a variety of roles, conducting different types of economic analysis to drive critical business outcomes. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s in economics from Clemson University and a doctorate in public policy and applied economics from the University of North Carolina.

Peter Aykens is a practice vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. He is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address client’s key initiatives. In prior roles at Gartner, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s in political science from St. Olaf College; a master’s degree in international politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; and a master’s and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

*This spotlight is an excerpt from our 2019 interview. New technologies are fundamentally changing how firms connect with their customers than ever before. Listen to Christian Terwiesch, co-author of Connected Strategy: Building Continuous Customer Relationships for Competitive Advantage, share four pathways to designing a connected strategy that builds continuous relationships with customers, clients and employees.

The world is changing faster and faster and the only way to thrive is to accept the inevitability of change. Blitzscaling is all about rapidly growing and scaling a business or product in the face of uncertainty. Listen to Chris Yeh discuss the techniques that digital companies like Google, Linkedin and Facebook use to scale and double in size in a short period of time. 

An active angel investor, serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author, Chris is a well-known  technology expert in Silicon Valley. He has been building Internet businesses since 1995 and has a proven record of helping startups develop their strategy around emerging technologies, business scaling, growth initiatives, and digital disruption. 

He is the General Partner at Wasabi Venture, a global venture fund, startup incubator, and consulting firm, former interim CEO of Ustream.TV, a platform service business for online videos, and VP of Marketing for PBWorks, which provides vertical collaboration solutions for companies. He has also helped grow numerous other companies, including Symphoniq Corporation, TargetFirst, and Juno Online Services and FarSight Financial Services (divisions of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P.). 

Chris is the founder and Chairman of the Harvard Business School Technology Alumni Association. He earned two Bachelor’s degrees with distinction from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. 

What anyone desires most is to be understood and respected. Chris Voss shares techniques that work in the boardroom every bit as well as across the high stakes world of hostage negotiations. Kidnappers, however ill-intentioned, are prone to the same human reasoning as the rest of us.

What if you could direct your brain? While most believe you are at the mercy of your brain, what if we actually had the ability to control it? Scott Halford, CEO of Complete Intelligence and author of Activate Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Success, discusses how we can activate “brain hacks” to refresh our brain, increase stamina and momentum, and exterminate negative feelings in order to make the best decisions in our daily work life. Begin living a life today that activates the thinking, inventing, and loving part of your brain.

A historic number of women left their jobs in 2021, resulting in their lowest workforce participation since 1988. Author and activist Reshma Saujani confronts the “big lie” of corporate feminism in her book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It’s Different Than You Think), and she presents a bold plan to address the systemic biases impacting working women. On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Reshma explains how the cost of inaction ⁠— for families, the economy, and women themselves ⁠— is too great to ignore. To fuel this urgency, she shares strategies to create lasting change.

Reshma Saujani is a leading activist and the founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. She is the author of Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It’s Different Than You Think). Reshma has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently advocating for policies to support moms impacted by the pandemic. Reshma is also the author of the international bestseller Brave, Not Perfect, and her influential TED talk, “Teach girls, bravery not perfection,” has more than five million views globally. Reshma began her career as an attorney and Democratic organizer. In 2010, she surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. Reshma lives in New York City with her husband, Nihal, their sons, Shaan and Sai, and their bulldog, Stanley.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

How do you motivate a factory worker vs. and artist? Dan Pink explores his own motivation as well as the roots of motivation of humankind in this 20 minute spotlight excerpted from our 50 minute podcast with Dan in 2016.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ceb-talent-angle-with-scott-engler/id1066056346?mt=2

From the emergence of GenerativeAI to widespread adoption of hybrid work, HR leaders are increasingly called upon to lead their organizations through uncertainty. Authors Nathan Furr and Susannah Harmon Furr join the Talent Angle to explain why uncertainty should be associated with opportunity, not anxiety. They detail how organizations can navigate uncertainty to drive transformation and innovation, and offer tools to help HR leaders develop the “uncertainty ability” in leaders and managers.

Nathan Furr is a Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, where he teaches innovation and technology strategy. Nathan earned his PhD from the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University and has written five books and over seventy articles on innovation, technology, and transformation.

Susannah Harmon Furr is a designer and art historian and founded a women's clothing line inspired by her research. She is currently creating a hope accelerator in Normandy, France to teach regenerative ecosystems and transformation for individuals and families. Nathan and Susannah are coauthors of The Upside of Uncertainty (HBR Press July 2022).

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

The power of preventative thinking is one that is underutilized by organizations and individuals alike; a shortcoming which perpetuates reactive, rather than proactive, solutions. This according to Dan Heath, author of Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen. In his book, Heath makes the case for an upstream mindset — arguing that this approach can effectively surface solutions to seemingly intractable problems by highlighting early warning indicators.

Rebels are generally seen as troublemakers whose decisions create chaos in our lives and workplaces. However, what if we saw these unconventional outlooks and rule-breaking decisions as constructive rather than destructive? Tune in to this episode to hear Francesca Gino, Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School and author of “Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life” discuss how can we challenge the status quo in both our work and personal lives to drive positive change.

How do we develop talent to prepare for an uncertain future? How can HR evolve to influence organizational strategy? Tune in to hear Ceree Eberly, former Chief People Officer at Coca-Cola and Chair of Gartner's CHRO Global Leadership Board, discuss the future of HR. 

In her book “The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It,” Jennifer Moss implores organizations to design burnout strategies that move beyond apps, wellness programs and perks. Instead, she makes the case for a systematic and preventative approach to building an anti-burnout strategy. To do so, organizations must first understand the key drivers of burnout, why conventional approaches fall short and how leaders can build cultures that prioritize workforce resilience and health.

Jennifer Moss is an award-winning journalist, author and international public speaker. She is a nationally syndicated radio columnist and writes for Harvard Business Review. Her first book, “Unlocking Happiness at Work,” received the distinguished UK Business Book of the Year Award. Jennifer has been named a Canadian Innovator of the Year, an International Female Entrepreneur of the Year, and was a recipient of the Public Service Award from the Office of President Obama.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

Today’s rapidly-changing market conditions are challenging our legacy ways of working and upending organizations that were designed for stability. Dave Ulrich, author of Reinventing the Organization, joins the Talent Angle to discuss how progressive companies are looking outward--to their networks, partners, and marketplace--to radically reinvent themselves.

Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, discusses the importance of reskilling amidst disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. He shares the skilling trends Coursera has observed as a growing number of employees have moved to virtual environments and explains why learning can be a powerful driver of employee engagement.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

There are three key changes impacting today’s labor market – a changing workforce composition, evolving attitudes towards work, and new tools and technologies to empower employees and candidates. HR leaders must understand the implications of these changes as they set talent strategies and build out capabilities for their organizations. Gad Levanon, Chief Economist of the Burning Glass Institute, joins the Talent Angle to discuss evolving dynamics in the labor market and offer practical recommendations to HR leaders. He explains how organizations must pull a variety of levers, from technology to rewards and learning programs, at the same time to gain an edge in the talent market.

Gad Levanon is Chief Economist of The Burning Glass Institute. Previously, Gad was with The Conference Board where he was founder of the Labor Market Institute and led the Help Wanted OnLine© program. His research focuses on trends in US and global labor markets, the US economy, and their impact on employers. Prior to The Conference Board, he worked at the Israeli Central Bank. He received his PhD in economics from Princeton University and holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from Tel Aviv University.

Dion Love is a vice president of research and advisory services at Gartner. He’s a labor market expert, focusing on global labor market trends and what they mean for organizations’ talent and business strategies, as well as broader social and economic issues. In his work at Gartner, Dion advises clients on key aspects of talent acquisition, including talent acquisition function planning and management, talent needs definition and internal recruiting, employment branding and recruitment marketing, and talent sourcing and selection. He has co-authored more than 12 strategic research studies at Gartner. His work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review and industry publications, as well as Gartner HR Leaders Monthly and Smarter With Gartner.

*This Spotlight was edited from out interview in 2017. Everyone knows that timing is everything. But we don't know much about timing itself. Out lives are a never-ending stream of "when" decisions: when to start a business, schedule a class, get serious about a person. In When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Dan Pink shows that timing is really a science and reveals how to best live, work and succeed through perfect timing. 

Too many leaders and organizations mistakenly base talent and business decisions on conventional wisdom—much of which damages employees individually and the workforce broadly. In his book “Nine Lies About Work: A Free Thinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World,” Ashley Goodall explores how real-world evidence contradicts universally-held workplace beliefs. Goodall discusses the truth behind the lies, providing guidance to create workplace environments that better serve the people inside them.

Technology is advancing at a breakneck speed, presenting both new opportunities and challenges for organizations. Ismat Duckson Aziz, Kemper CHRO and Chief Administrative Officer, joins the Talent Angle to discuss how CHROs can shape the technology strategy of their organization. She explains how CHROs can overcome the anxiety that comes with diving into the rapidly changing environment of technology, and assert themselves as drivers of enterprise innovation.

Ismat Duckson Aziz is the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Chief Administrative Officer of Kemper. Ismat has more than 25 years of HR experience, most recently serving at U.S. Bank as Chief Advocacy Officer. Previous roles include CHRO for Sprint, CHRO for Sam’s Club, and senior HR roles at Sears Canada and MDS Pharma Services. Ismat earned a master’s of business administration from Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada and completed her undergraduate work at the University of Toronto. Ismat holds certifications in board governance and HR internationally.

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

*This Spotlight was edited from our hour long interview from 2018. Patty McCord, author of Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, joins us to discuss her experience as Chief Talent Officer at Netflix and her fringe ideas that led to establishing the universally known, multi-billion dollar tech giant. 

In a culture obsessed with SAT scores and early success, Rich Karlgaard, Silicon Valley-based publisher and entrepreneur at Forbes media, reveals a groundbreaking exploration of late bloomers and their unique strengths that companies often overlook. 

As many organizations struggle to keep pace with technological innovations, digital transformation is a top priority. Gerald Kane, professor of information systems at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, joins the Gartner Talent Angle to explore the opportunities these digital disruptions create and to inspire HR leaders to approach digital transformation with confidence. He explains how people and processes, not just technology, are crucial to successful digital transformation, and emphasizes the need for leaders to have growth mindsets and to continually learn while building adaptability in their organizations.

Dr. Gerald C. Kane is a Professor and the C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry Chair in Business Administration at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.  He researches and teaches about how companies can understand and respond to digital disruption to undergraduate, graduate, and executive education students worldwide; and he has published over 100 papers, articles, and reports on these topics. He has written two books for MIT Press: The Technology Fallacy: How People are the Real Key to Digital Transformation and the The Transformation Myth: Leading Your Organization Through Uncertain Times.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

Is it possible for businesses to simultaneously drive social impact, innovation, and financial returns all at the same time?

More than ever, employees are making their career and purchasing decisions based on a company’s purpose and societal impact. In this episode of the Talent Angle, Wendy Woods, Senior Partner and Global Leader of BCG’s Social Impact Practice, discusses how companies that strive for Total Societal Impact can achieve positive returns in their brand, engagement, PR, and the long-term sustainability of their business models.

Succeeding as a leader requires you to create conditions that enable others to thrive and perform. But too often, leaders overly center themselves in an effort to ensure effectiveness. In her new book, Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You, Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei challenges our existing models of leadership. She proposes a different orientation—one which shifts the frame of reference from leaders to those around them.

Morning Espressos are 5-minute insights and lessons to help you build the skills researched by some of the top minds in the world.  Charles Duhigg recommends that you spend time creating your own narrative and visualizing your day.

"One of the things that we know is that the key to building mental models, to being able to sort of sharpen your focus, is to be able to tell yourself a story about what’s occurring as it occurs.

One of my favorite examples of this is a series of studies that were done with people like for instance firefighters. They found that the best firefighters are the ones who walk into a burning building. As soon as they walk in, they start telling themselves a story about what they expect to see. And so as a result, when they walk into a room that’s on fire, they tell themselves, okay, I’m walking into this room. I expect to see in that corner flames. There’s a staircase over there. I expect to see that there will be a bunch of flames on that staircase because staircases burn quickly. And then when they walk in and they looked in that room and what they don’t see is they don’t see a bunch of flames on that staircase, it sets off alarm bells in their mind, and it tells them, look, there’s something wrong with that staircase. Don’t go walk on that staircase because it doesn’t look like what you expected it to look like.

Similarly, we know that people who are most productive at work, who tend to almost have this ESP about what they should be paying attention to and what they can safely ignore, they tend to be people who tell themselves stories about what they expect to have happen during meetings or what they expect to happen in the morning versus the afternoon. This is a really important lesson which is that our brain tends to make sense of the world by finding some narrative that it can grasp onto.

The best way for us to try and determine what’s going to happen next or what I expect to happen this afternoon or what I should focus on tomorrow morning is by telling ourselves a story about it because when we tell ourselves stories, our brain has this ability to take that story and to expand upon it, to use it as a template for determining this is what’s important and this is what’s not important. Once we do that, we’ve sharpened our focus to a degree that we have the ability to decide almost within milliseconds that, oh, when someone comes in and they interrupt me during my meeting, I can safely say, no. Let’s put this off until tomorrow because I don’t have time to talk about it. But when the phone rings and it’s someone I’ve been trying to get ahold of, I should pick up that call because that fits into the story about what I’ve been telling myself about what I expect to get done today."

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2019 interview. Conflict resolution can seem like a daunting task, especially when previous attempts  have failed. In this episode of the Talent Angle, Dr. Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler, author of Optimal Outcomes: Free Yourself from Conflict at Work, at Home and in Life discusses practical approaches to both resolve and free yourself from conflict. By applying these practices, you will not only learn to observe complex situations with greater clarity, but ultimately achieve your optimal outcome.

Marissa King, professor at the Yale School of Management, makes the case for the power of professional and personal networks. In her book “Social Chemistry: Decoding Patterns of Human Connection,” she explores the different dimensions along which human connections are made, introducing three styles of network connection — expansionist, broker and convener. She offers practical tips and guidance for organizations looking to help their employees cultivate stronger professional ties.

In this Gartner Talent Angle episode, author and banker Jeff Korzenik shares insights about the second-chance talent pool—that is, reemploying candidates with criminal records. He offers practical advice on tapping into non-traditional sources of talent by  differentiating between felony types, partnering with nonprofits and reevaluating legacy talent policies and processes.

Jeff Korzenik is Chief Investment Strategist for Fifth Third Bank, one of the nation’s largest banks. He is the author of the book “Untapped Talent: How Second-Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and the Community” on the business case and best practices for hiring people with criminal records.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

Too many leaders and organizations mistakenly base talent and business decisions on conventional wisdom—much of which damages employees individually and the workforce broadly. In his book “Nine Lies About Work: A Free Thinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World,” Ashley Goodall explores how real-world evidence contradicts universally-held workplace beliefs. Goodall discusses the truth behind the lies, providing guidance to create workplace environments that better serve the people inside them.

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, author and keynote speaker, Suneel Gupta explains why even some of the best ideas fail to take root. He shares how the lessons he gleaned from interviews with some of the most successful individuals in the world fueled his latest book, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance On You. Suneel shares his own experience of learning from failure, and he explains why before you can convince others, you must first convince yourself. He argues that the greatest enemy to innovation is exhaustion, and leaders must take care of their energy as much as they take care of their time and their talent.

Suneel Gupta writes and speaks about the changing world of work, and how we succeed both externally and internally. He is the bestselling author of  "Backable", which is rooted in Suneel’s journey from the "Face of Failure" for the New York Times to the "New Face of Innovation" for the New York Stock Exchange. Suneel is the founding CEO of RISE, which partnered with then first Lady Michelle Obama to deliver low-cost healthcare services to people in need. RISE was named "App of the Year" by Apple and sold in a successful exit to One Medical. Suneel later ran for U.S. Congress and now serves on faculty at Harvard University and as an emissary for Gross National Happiness between the United States and the Kingdom of Bhutan. When a reporter once asked Suneel about his purpose, his response was to “find good people, and inspire them to do what inspires them.”

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

Mark C. Crowley joins the Gartner Talent Angle to discuss why today’s unparalleled workplace challenges prompted him to release a second edition of his book, “Lead from the Heart: Transformational Leadership for the 21st Century” more than a decade after it was first published. Backed by scientific findings on employee motivation, Crowley outlines common misconceptions about leading from the heart. And drawing on examples from his own experience, he shares practical advice for how to effectively implement this type of leadership at an organization.

Mark C. Crowley is the author of “Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century.” The second edition debuted in August 2022 as an “Amazon #1 Release,” and his book has been taught in nine American universities. Mark is a regular columnist for Fast Company Magazine and has been published in USA Today, Reuters, Forbes, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Huffington Post, Gallup & the Seattle Times. Mark spent over 20 years in the world of Financial Services. He held two national level positions at one of America’s largest financial institutions where he was named “leader of the year”. Mark proved that deeply caring about and supporting people, and thereby positively affecting employee’s hearts had a profound effect on motivating their sustained engagement, loyalty and productivity.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

It’s usually the rule breakers who turn into millionaire entrepreneurs.

Insurance sales people would make successful Navy Seals.

Nice guys don’t finish last.

These are just a few of the latest findings from behavioral science that Eric Barker, founder of the blog Barking Up The Wrong Tree, and author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller Barking Up The Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong, references to redefine success. Through extensive research and narratives, Barker provides guidance on how to both identify signature strengths, and how we can turn weaknesses into strengths by placing yourself in environments that will reward your uniqueness in order to be optimally happy, productive, and successful in your career.

Everyone knows that timing is everything. But we don’t know much about timing itself. Our lives are a never-ending stream of “when” decisions: when to start a business, schedule a class, get serious about a person. Yet we make those decisions based on intuition and guesswork.

Timing, it’s often assumed, is an art. In When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Pink shows that timing is really a science.

Drawing on a rich trove of research from psychology, biology, and economics, Pink reveals how best to live, work, and succeed. How can we use the hidden patterns of the day to build the ideal schedule? Why do certain breaks dramatically improve student test scores? How can we turn a stumbling beginning into a fresh start? Why should we avoid going to the hospital in the afternoon? Why is singing in time with other people as good for you as exercise? And what is the ideal time to quit a job, switch careers, or get married?

In When, Pink distills cutting-edge research and data on timing and synthesizes them into a fascinating, readable narrative packed with irresistible stories and practical takeaways that give readers compelling insights into how we can live richer, more engaged lives.

Women of color are one of the fastest-growing segments in the corporate workforce, yet often underrepresented in their teams, department or company. In “The First, The Few, The Only,” author and corporate inclusion leader Deepa Purushothaman offers a call to action for women of color to advocate for a new corporate environment where they feel belonging and acceptance. 

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Deepa provides a roadmap for women of color to initiate change in the workplace, and outlines how organizations can ensure all of their employees are heard, respected and valued.

Deepa Purushothaman is the co-founder of nFormation which provides brave, safe, new space for professional women of color and a Women and Public Policy Program Leader in Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to this, Deepa spent more than 20 years at Deloitte and was the first Indian American woman to become a partner in the company’s history. Deepa was also Deloitte’s national Women’s Initiative leader, the firm’s renowned program to recruit, retain, and advance women. Deepa has degrees from Wellesley College, Harvard Kennedy School, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Deepa is an Aspen Fellow and speaks extensively on women and leadership. She has been featured at national conferences and in publications including Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Harvard Business Review.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

*This 20 Minute Spotlight was edited from our one-hour interview in 2017. Is it good business to be good people? Venture capitalist Anthony Tjan, author of Good People, talks to us about the strategic advantage of hiring good people - those that are committed to continuously cultivating the values that help them and other become the fullest versions of who they are. Real value creation, Tony argues, comes form real enduring cultures that focus on people, rather than relying solely on metrics and outputs that have traditionally guided business decisions. 

Zappos made history when it announced plans to transition to a holacracy -- a management-free corporate structure. Holacracy is a new way of running an organization that removes power from a management hierarchy and distributes it across clear roles, which can then be executed autonomously, without a micromanaging boss.  Tune in as Hollie details the pitfalls, successes, and lessons learned. 

*This Spotlight was edited from out interview in 2018. How can you compete with companies that, combined, have a GDP the size of France, garner the best talent in the world, and accumulate vast amounts of data? NYU Stern professor Scott Galloway breaks down the success of The Four and distills how companies need to think differently to compete against the 800 pound gorillas of the digital age. 

What if your company had no physical office at all? Is maintaining a completely remote workforce even remotely possible?

Brian De Haaff, author of Lovability and CEO of Aha!, believes that the remote workforce can function just as well, if not better, than the traditional office workforce. He joins the Talent Angle to discuss how business leaders can drive and sustain high performance from their remote workforce.

Erin Meyer, professor at INSEAD business school, argues that long-held beliefs about culture are failing its corporate adherents. In the book, “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention,” she and her co-author —  Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings — detail the Netflix way, exploring lessons gleaned from the company’s successes and failures. For organizations looking to follow the Netflix playbook, she counsels focusing on high performance, top pay, limited rules and radical candor.

The mandate for and position of HR have evolved since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and these trends are only accelerated by continually shifting employee expectations. Lynanne Kunkel, chief HR officer (CHRO) of Vail Resorts and member of Gartner’s CHRO Global Leadership Board, shares her vision for how the HR function can strive for excellence while facing ongoing pressures in this new environment. She urges HR functions to develop capabilities like change leadership and human-centered experience design. She also discusses how HR can engage with other business leaders to become more integrated and aligned to strategic business outcomes.

Lynanne Kunkel is the CHRO for Vail Resorts. Prior to joining Vail Resorts in 2017, Lynanne served in various executive positions for Whirlpool, most recently as senior vice president of global HR. Throughout her career, she has led all aspects of HR to deliver enhanced business performance in areas that include business HR, talent acquisition, talent management, leadership development, organizational effectiveness, diversity and inclusion, and talent analytics.

Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. He is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College; a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth); and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University

Harvard Business School Professor, Tsedal Neeley, joins the Talent Angle to discuss how companies can adjust to a remote work environment due to the COVID-19 crisis. Neeley offers guidance for leaders and managers to maintain employee productivity and wellbeing amid a global pandemic.

What anyone desires most is to be understood and respected. Chris Voss shares techniques that work in the boardroom every bit as well as across the high stakes world of hostage negotiations. Kidnappers, however ill-intentioned, are prone to the same human reasoning as the rest of us.

Ram Charan, business advisor and author, introduces a new leadership thinking approach to help executives exploit shifts in their business landscapes. In the book “The Phoenix Encounter Method,” he and his co-authors — Ian Woodward, V. “Paddy” Padmanabhan and Sameer Hasija — offer a methodology to use change as a catalyst for transformation. According to Charan, leaders can adopt this new mental frame by: developing a nuanced understanding of their operating environments; pressure-testing options for legacy business and innovation; and leveraging new competencies and emerging technologies for business growth.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2021 interview.

In her book “The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It,” Jennifer Moss implores organizations to design burnout strategies that move beyond apps, wellness programs and perks. Instead, she makes the case for a systematic and preventative approach to building an anti-burnout strategy. To do so, organizations must first understand the key drivers of burnout, why conventional approaches fall short and how leaders can build cultures that prioritize workforce resilience and health.

Jennifer Moss is an award-winning journalist, author and international public speaker. She is a nationally syndicated radio columnist and writes for Harvard Business Review. Her first book, “Unlocking Happiness at Work,” received the distinguished UK Business Book of the Year Award. Jennifer has been named a Canadian Innovator of the Year, an International Female Entrepreneur of the Year, and was a recipient of the Public Service Award from the Office of President Obama.

*This Spotlight is an excerpt from our full interview in 2017. Nobody likes a jerk, but what if YOU are one? We talk with Bob Sutton, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University and author of A**hole Survival Guide: How to Deal with People that Treat You Like Dirt. 

Despite ongoing obstacles to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives – such as employee pushback – author and consultant Lily Zheng argues HR leaders should continue to drive DEI outcomes by balancing ownership with individual accountability. Lily joins the Talent Angle to offer advice from their book “Reconstructing DEI: A Practitioner’s Workbook” based on their book “DEI Deconstructed.” Lily situates the current DEI landscape within its broader history and outlines how DEI leaders can increase their impact while protecting their own wellbeing. They also dive into actionable steps for managers who want to advance DEI outcomes yet worry about saying or doing the right thing.

Lily Zheng (they/them) is a no-nonsense diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist, consultant, speaker and author who helps organizations and leaders achieve the DEI outcomes they aspire to. A dedicated practitioner and advocate named a Forbes D&I Trailblazer, 2021 DEI Influencer, and LinkedIn Top Voice on Racial Equity, Lily has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, and NPR. Their bestselling books, “DEI Deconstructed” and “Reconstructing DEI”, describe cutting-edge, accountable, and effective practices that can enable any leader to create the diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations we all deserve.

Caroline Walsh is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

Learn the key factors that allow anyone to be a power social networker. 

Work has become a collaborative endeavor accomplished less through standardized processes and formal structures than through informal networks of relationships. But harnessing the power of these seemingly invisible groups to achieve organizational goals isa murky and elusive undertaking.

Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., is the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining the Rady School, Gneezy was a faculty member at the University of Chicago, Technion and Haifa. Gneezy received his Ph.D. from the Center for Economic Research in Tilburg. Gneezy was born and raised in Israel, where he learned applied game theory firsthand in the streets of Tel Aviv.

Companies have become entangled in their own internal issues caused by invisible red tape. Tune in to this episode of the Talent Angle to hear Martin Lindstrom, author of The Ministry of Common Sense, as he provides a practical five-step approach to ridding our organizations of the bureaucratic bottlenecks and red tape that plague every office by infusing greater empathy into the workplace.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

In this Talent Angle podcast, Gartner's former chief of HR research Brian Kropp shares challenges and opportunities that are top of mind for CHROs as 2022 approaches. He discusses how HR must adapt to a hybrid future in which leaders and managers need new skills and employees expect a more human relationship with their organizations. Kropp goes on to explain how executives must take new approaches to decision making to usher in the changes needed in this disruptive environment.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2021 interview.

One of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success. His research on mindset made the cover of Harvard Business Review, his TED talk is one of the most popular of all time with over 11 million views, and his lecture airing on PBS has been seen by millions. Shawn has lectured or worked with over a third of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as the NFL, the NBA, the Pentagon and the White House.  Shawn is the author of New York Times best-selling books The Happiness Advantage (2010) and Before Happiness (2013).  He has now lectured in more than 50 countries speaking to CEOs in China, doctors in Dubai, schoolchildren in South Africa, and farmers in Zimbabwe. His Happiness Advantage training is one of the largest and most successful positive psychology corporate training program in the world.  Shawn’s research has been published in the top psychology journal for work he did at UBS in partnership with Yale University to transform how stress impacts the body, and he recently did a two-hour interview with Oprah at her house to discuss his mission to bring positive psychology to the world.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

In this episode of the Talent Angle, author and entrepreneur Christiane Lemieux argues that friction, inefficiencies that slow processes in both business model and organizational design, is hurting most organizations. In her book Frictionless: Why the Future of Everything will be Fast, Fluid, and Made Just for You, she profiles entrepreneurs and organizations that have eliminated friction to improve customer and employee experience. Lemieux also discusses how friction in our personal and professional lives prevent us from becoming more productive.

Christiane Lemieux is a serial entrepreneur, former Executive Creative Director at Wayfair, and author of three books. She operates and designs her lifestyle brand, Lemieux et Cie, and she is a frequent contributor to Architectural Digest and other design media. She is a graduate of Parsons School of Design and Queen’s University in Canada.

Marc Effron, author of 8 Steps to High Performance: Focus on What You Can Change (Ignore the Rest), joins the Talent Angle to discuss how to cut through the noise and boost workplace performance. He shares what behavioral changes and practical steps employees can take to improve performance and deliver outstanding results. 

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

In this episode of the Talent Angle, author Jonah Berger discusses his book, The Catalyst, and offers an approach to changing people’s minds. He argues that we are in an era of entrenched beliefs, so convincing others or pushing them in a direction has become ineffective. Instead, one should  identify the key factors that cause resistance and overcome them by eliminating obstacles, reducing friction, and removing roadblocks. Berger identifies the five key barriers that inhibit change and explains how to reduce them based on his research and underlying psychology behind each barrier.

While hybrid work, new technologies and evolving skills needs are changing how work gets done, what motivates employees remains constant. Author and psychologist Ron Friedman joins the Gartner Talent Angle to share how the latest findings in behavioral psychology can be applied throughout organizations. Friedman shares insights from his books “Decoding Greatness” and “The Best Place to Work” along with examples and stories from his work as founder of ignite80. He explains how HR leaders can use the method of reverse engineering to achieve success, and he details how an intentional focus on the psychological needs of employees can unlock their highest potential.

Ron Friedman is an award-winning social psychologist and the founder of ignite80, a learning and development company that teaches leaders science-based strategies for building high-performing teams. Friedman has served on the faculty of the University of Rochester, Nazareth College, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Psychology Today, Fast Company, Forbes, and CNN. Popular accounts of his research have appeared on NPR and in major newspapers, including The New York Times, Financial Times, the Globe and Mail, Washington Post, The Guardian, as well as magazines such as Men’s Health, Entrepreneur, and Success. His first book, The Best Place to Work, was named an Inc. Magazine Best Business Book of the Year. His new book, Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success, was selected by Amazon's editors as one of 2021’s best books.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

Author Caleb Gardner argues that while change has been constant for some time, organizations are still unprepared to address it. In his latest book, “No Point B: Rules for Leading Change in the New Hyper-Connected, Radically Conscious Economy,” Gardner lays out his vision for how organizations should approach change in the new environment. The founder of the consulting firm 18 Coffees joined the Gartner Talent Angle Podcast to share examples of organizations undergoing transformation, and he extols the virtues of effective communication, adaptive capability and revised assumptions.

Caleb Gardner is the co-founder of innovation consulting firm 18 Coffees and author of the new book, “No Point B: Rules for Leading Change in the New Hyper-Connected, Radically Conscious Economy.” Caleb’s career has spanned from working at Edelman and Bain & Company to running U.S. President Barack Obama’s Twitter account. Caleb’s insights about building more ethical and effective companies have been featured in publications such as NBC News, Wired, Crain’s, BBC News and Cheddar News.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

Businesses across industries and geographies are facing disruption on multiple fronts — economic turmoil, employee activism, regulatory uncertainty. In this Talent Angle podcast episode, Andrew Barnes, author of “The 4 Day Week,” argues that success in this environment calls for businesses to embrace new ways of working which are rooted in flexibility. Barnes shares his company’s journey to designing a shorter workweek for employees and urges other organizations to abandon what he views as an entrenched anachronism, the 5-day workweek.

*This interview originally published in 2020.

The hybrid world has upended traditional norms around the role of the office. Author Julia Hobsbawm joins the Talent Angle to discuss how talent leaders can apply the insights from her book “The Nowhere Office: Reinventing Work and the Workplace of the Future” to take advantage of the emerging opportunities created by hybrid ways of working . Hobsbawm argues we are in a new era of work – marked by unclear boundaries and changing attitudes – and shares advice on what organizations should do as they continue to shape the role of the office in this context. In doing so, she looks to the past at how earlier innovations in knowledge work changed offices and to the future at how physical spaces will support employees in sustained performance.

Julia Hobsbawm is an award-winning business author and futurist of work who writes the "Working Assumptions" column for Bloomberg's Workshift. The author of the acclaimed book “The Nowhere Office: Reinventing Work and the Workplace of the Future,” she was a founder of the US-led Workforce Institute, was Chair of the inaugural UK Demos Workshift Commission, and now co-hosts the popular podcast, “The Nowhere Office.” Julia is the author of six books including the award-winning The Simplicity Principle, and she was awarded an OBE in the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Honours List in 2015 for ‘Services to Business’. She regularly consults for and speaks to corporations, government and changemakers around the world.

Jessica Knight is a Vice President of Research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management, and the future of work.

Technology is advancing at a breakneck speed, presenting both new opportunities and challenges for organizations. Ismat Duckson Aziz, Kemper CHRO and Chief Administrative Officer, joins the Talent Angle to discuss how CHROs can shape the technology strategy of their organization. She explains how CHROs can overcome the anxiety that comes with diving into the rapidly changing environment of technology, and assert themselves as drivers of enterprise innovation.

Ismat Duckson Aziz is the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Chief Administrative Officer of Kemper. Ismat has more than 25 years of HR experience, most recently serving at U.S. Bank as Chief Advocacy Officer. Previous roles include CHRO for Sprint, CHRO for Sam’s Club, and senior HR roles at Sears Canada and MDS Pharma Services. Ismat earned a master’s of business administration from Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada and completed her undergraduate work at the University of Toronto. Ismat holds certifications in board governance and HR internationally.

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, author and keynote speaker, Suneel Gupta explains why even some of the best ideas fail to take root. He shares how the lessons he gleaned from interviews with some of the most successful individuals in the world fueled his latest book, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance On You. Suneel shares his own experience of learning from failure, and he explains why before you can convince others, you must first convince yourself. He argues that the greatest enemy to innovation is exhaustion, and leaders must take care of their energy as much as they take care of their time and their talent.

Suneel Gupta writes and speaks about the changing world of work, and how we succeed both externally and internally. He is the bestselling author of  "Backable", which is rooted in Suneel’s journey from the "Face of Failure" for the New York Times to the "New Face of Innovation" for the New York Stock Exchange. Suneel is the founding CEO of RISE, which partnered with then first Lady Michelle Obama to deliver low-cost healthcare services to people in need. RISE was named "App of the Year" by Apple and sold in a successful exit to One Medical. Suneel later ran for U.S. Congress and now serves on faculty at Harvard University and as an emissary for Gross National Happiness between the United States and the Kingdom of Bhutan. When a reporter once asked Suneel about his purpose, his response was to “find good people, and inspire them to do what inspires them.”

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

Humans are hardwired to add rather than subtract. Across various contexts ー whether biological, cultural or economic ー we often default towards more. Professor Leidy Klotz, author of “Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, ” argues we pay a price for the belief that more is better. In this Gartner Talent Angle interview, Klotz makes the case for the untapped potential of less, exploring subtraction as an overlooked strategy to achieve business results.

Employees and leaders frequently grapple with the challenge of insufficient time. This scarcity often serves as a legitimate rationale for incomplete tasks and unmet objectives at work, prompting employees to explore various time management strategies and tools.

Oliver Burkeman, acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller "Four Thousand Weeks" and "Meditation for Mortals," offers a contrarian viewpoint on the Talent Angle podcast. Oliver suggests that time management is inherently flawed, and introduces the concept of the "efficiency trap," where increased efficiency paradoxically leads to heightened busyness, undermining the very goal of effective time management. He points out that in recognizing this paradox employees and leaders can be liberated and enabled to more effectively prioritize tasks.

Oliver Burkeman is the New York Times and UK Sunday Times bestselling author of “Four Thousand Weeks,” about embracing limitation and finally getting round to what counts, and of the newly released “Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations” and “Make Time for What Counts.” His other books are “The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking” and “Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done”.

Caroline Walsh is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

Derek Van Bever, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Forum for Growth and Innovation at Harvard Business School, talks with CEB about how to better inform decisions about business model innovation and what it can mean for talent.

Many attempts at business model innovation fail. Derek Van Bever argues that executives need to understand how business models develop through predictable stages over time — and then apply that understanding to key decisions.

*This spotlight is an excerpt from our 2019 interview. Want to become a world-class CHRO? Roberto di Bernardini, Head of Global Human Resources and board member of CHRO Global Leadership Board, presents the global standards of the CHRO role, backed by the world’s leading experts CHROs and most distinguished CHROs.

In 2024, experts joined the Gartner Talent Angle to discuss the world of careers. Author Dorie Clark shares how HR leaders can help employees achieve meaningful career growth and long-term success at work. Author and Professor Martin Gutmann looks back through history to surface new ideas about identifying strong leaders and building effective succession pipelines.

Author Caleb Gardner argues that while change has been constant for some time, organizations are still unprepared to address it. In his latest book, “No Point B: Rules for Leading Change in the New Hyper-Connected, Radically Conscious Economy,” Gardner lays out his vision for how organizations should approach change in the new environment. The founder of the consulting firm 18 Coffees joined the Gartner Talent Angle Podcast to share examples of organizations undergoing transformation, and he extols the virtues of effective communication, adaptive capability and revised assumptions.

Caleb Gardner is the co-founder of innovation consulting firm 18 Coffees and author of the new book, “No Point B: Rules for Leading Change in the New Hyper-Connected, Radically Conscious Economy.” Caleb’s career has spanned from working at Edelman and Bain & Company to running U.S. President Barack Obama’s Twitter account. Caleb’s insights about building more ethical and effective companies have been featured in publications such as NBC News, Wired, Crain’s, BBC News and Cheddar News.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

In his book Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments, Stefan Thomke shares that bright ideas and decisive actions alone do not create innovation. Instead, innovation depends on a culture of experimentation which values the science of testing. By stripping big ideas into hypotheses to test what does and doesn’t work, organizations are better positioned to establish a competitive edge and generate strong financial returns.

Businesses across industries and geographies are facing disruption on multiple fronts — economic turmoil, employee activism, regulatory uncertainty. In this Talent Angle podcast episode, Andrew Barnes, author of “The 4 Day Week,” argues that success in this environment calls for businesses to embrace new ways of working which are rooted in flexibility. Barnes shares his company’s journey to designing a shorter workweek for employees and urges other organizations to abandon what he views as an entrenched anachronism, the 5-day workweek.

*This interview was excerpted from our one-hour interview in 2016. Derek Van Bever, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Forum for Growth and Innovation at Harvard Business School, talks with Gartner about how to better inform decisions about business model innovation and what it can mean for talent. Many attempts at business model innovation fail. Derek Van Bever argues that executives need to understand how business models develop through predictable stages over time -- and then apply that understanding to key decisions. 

*This interview is excerpted from our hour long interview with Guru in 2017. 

Reconcile how AI, analytics, and machine learning effect humans and the future of talent with Guru Sethupathy, Head of People Analytics at a Fortune 100 company and former engagement manager at McKinsey Global Institute. Guru talks to us about the value of people analytics, and how we can overcome the siloed nature of companies to use predictive and prescriptive analytics to help the business achieve its goals.

He was the former Chief Economist and Director of Product Development at Opportunity@Work, a civic enterprise based at New America. Prior to joining Opportunity@Work, Guru was an engagement manager at McKinsey, serving clients on topics related to human capital.

Before McKinsey, Guru was an assistant professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. His research agenda focused on how globalization and technology are changing labor markets, including productivity, employment, skills, wages, and inequality. Prior to becoming an economist, Guru also spent some years in the hi-tech and investment banking worlds.

Guru has a B.S. in computer science from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

Zvi Band, author of Success Is in Your Sphere, believes nothing is more powerful than relationships in your professional life. Listen to learn how to establish meaningful personal connections and deepen your relationship with people who will make a difference in your career.

Zvi Band is the co-founder of Contactually, a relationship-centric business that powers millions of relationships, and author of Success Is in Your Sphere: Leverage the Power of Relationships to Achieve Your Business Goals. Beyond his work and writing, Zvi serves as a proponent of entrepreneurship in Washington DC, founding DC Tech Meet Up and advises early-stage startups. He’s been named a Finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and is a three-time Washingtonian Tech Titan. He received his B.S. in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Maryland.

On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, author and keynote speaker, Suneel Gupta explains why even some of the best ideas fail to take root. He shares how the lessons he gleaned from interviews with some of the most successful individuals in the world fueled his latest book, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance On You. Suneel shares his own experience of learning from failure, and he explains why before you can convince others, you must first convince yourself. He argues that the greatest enemy to innovation is exhaustion, and leaders must take care of their energy as much as they take care of their time and their talent.

Suneel Gupta writes and speaks about the changing world of work, and how we succeed both externally and internally. He is the bestselling author of  "Backable", which is rooted in Suneel’s journey from the "Face of Failure" for the New York Times to the "New Face of Innovation" for the New York Stock Exchange. Suneel is the founding CEO of RISE, which partnered with then first Lady Michelle Obama to deliver low-cost healthcare services to people in need. RISE was named "App of the Year" by Apple and sold in a successful exit to One Medical. Suneel later ran for U.S. Congress and now serves on faculty at Harvard University and as an emissary for Gross National Happiness between the United States and the Kingdom of Bhutan. When a reporter once asked Suneel about his purpose, his response was to “find good people, and inspire them to do what inspires them.”

Managers work hard to provide a steady stream of continuous feedback to coach employees and help them achieve their goals. However, by taking an “Always-on” approach, managers may actually be hindering employee performance. Tune in to this episode of the Talent Angle to hear Gartner’s own Jaime Roca, Senior Vice President of Research & Advisory, and Sari Wilde, Managing Vice President of Research, share insights from their new book, “The Connector Manager”. Learn how providing targeted feedback while connecting employees to those who are better suited to address their needs not only increases employee engagement, but triples the likelihood that they will be high performers.

Mid-level managers are sandwiched between pressure from business leaders to retain employees and rising employee expectations for personalized support and communication. In this Talent Angle episode, former Kimberly-Clark CHRO and member of Gartner’s CHRO Global Leadership Board Liz Gottung encourages organizations to rethink their expectations for mid-level managers or risk losing these critical managers to burnout and fatigue. She suggests organizations use technology and rethink role design to free manager capacity for more high-impact work.

After a 35-year career with Kimberly-Clark, Lizanne (Liz) Gottung retired as senior vice president and chief HR officer in 2017. At the time, Kimberly-Clark was a $20 billion global company with nearly 45,000 employees in more than 63 countries. Under her leadership, Kimberly-Clark’s talent strategies were widely recognized for excellence and innovation in HR management, winning multiple global awards for diversity, equity and inclusion; succession and development practices; and Kimberly-Clark’s employer brand. Liz has been a member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Pacific Corporation since 2006 and is chair of the governance and corporate responsibility committee. She joined the board of Sylvamo Corporation in 2021 and chairs the management development and compensation committee. Liz works with a number of non-profit organizations in the Atlanta area, where she lives. She is also a member of Gartner’s CHRO Global Leadership Board.

Peter Aykens is Chief of Research in Gartner's Human Resources practice. Mr. Aykens is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams addressing client's key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channel, marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from St. Olaf College; a MSc.(Econ) degree in International Politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; and a MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from Brown University.

GE’s Kevin Cox and Medtronic’s Carol Surface join the Talent Angle to discuss Chapter 2 of the Model of a World-Class CHRO. As members of Gartner’s CHRO Global Leadership Board, Carol and Kevin were both involved in creating the original Model of the World-Class CHRO in 2017. They join host Peter Aykens to discuss what’s changed in the recent update. They reflect on what originally inspired them to create the model, its legacy to date, and why it was due for a revision. In breaking down Chapter 2 of the model, Carol and Kevin share what’s remained the same for the chief HR officer (CHRO) role alongside what must be added to address today’s realities.

The CHRO Global Leadership Board, convened by Gartner, is composed of CHROs from the world’s top companies with deep expertise in HR, talent management and executive leadership.

Carol Surface was recently appointed chief people officer at Apple, a role she will start in March 2023. Since 2013, she has served as executive vice president and CHRO at Medtronic, a global healthcare technology leader with 95,000-plus employees. Previously, Carol was executive vice president and CHRO at Best Buy and held a series of human resources leadership roles at PepsiCo, including chief personnel officer for PepsiCo International. In 2020, Carol was elected as Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources (NAHR). She earned a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from Central Michigan University.

Kevin Cox is the CHRO for General Electric. Kevin leads GE’s global HR organization, including talent management, leadership development, total rewards and employee relations. Prior to GE, Kevin served as the CHRO at American Express for 14 years. Previously, he spent 16 years at PepsiCo and the Pepsi Bottling Group, where he held positions leading strategy, business development, technology and HR. In 2009, Kevin was elected as Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources (NAHR). He holds a master’s degree in labor and industrial relations from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Marshall University.

Peter Aykens is chief of research in Gartner’s HR practice. He is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams addressing clients’ key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channel marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from St. Olaf College; an MSc. (Econ) degree in international politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in political science from Brown University. 

In this Gartner Talent Angle podcast, Marcela Escobari shares key metrics about job quality, economic mobility and job equity. While organizations are facing labor shortages in the short term, Escobari argues that there’s been a long-term decline in job quality. She explains how churn in low-wage jobs is expensive for organizations, but low-wage employees often lack “stepping stone” opportunities to advance their careers.

Marcela Escobari is the current Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development. At the time of this recording, she was a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development, housed in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings, where she led the Workforce of the Future initiative.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

In Super Bowl XLIX, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made a risky call with only 26 seconds remaining that lost his team the game. It has since been heralded as the dumbest play in football’s history. Was Carroll’s decision really that bad, or was it a smart move just ruined by bad luck?

Annie Duke, author of Thinking in Bets, believes that the key to long-term success is to think in bets. She joins the CEB Talent Angle to discuss how business leaders can be more like good poker players: less vulnerable to reactive emotions, knee-jerk biases, and destructive habits in decision-making.

Since the pandemic, organizations have been operating in a new environment, with altered cultural norms and without established practices. In his book, “Competing In the New World of Work: How Radical Adaptability Separates the Best from the Rest,” Keith Ferrazzi offers his vision for successful organizations of the future. Keith joins the Gartner Talent Angle to share how some organizations are embracing these new realities and to outline the leadership practices he believes will define success in this new era of work.

Keith Ferrazzi is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and renowned global thought leader in the future of work and leadership. As founder and chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight and its research institute Go Forward to Work, he works with some of the world’s most prominent organizations to maximize team performance and achieve extraordinary outcomes. Formerly, he was the chief marketing officer of Deloitte and Starwood Hotels. Keith is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of “Who’s Got Your Back,” “Never Eat Alone,” and “Leading Without Authority.” His 20-year history of coaching C-suite executive teams has made him an agent of transformation and among the world’s greatest and most sought-after coaches.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.

*This interview was excerpted from our 2019 interview. Is great leadership a myth? General Stan McChrystal, co-author of Leaders: Myth and Reality, joins the Talent Angle to debunk the many myths that surround the concept of leadership. Drawing from the examples set by history’s most renowned leaders, Stan believes the lessons we commonly draw from their lives are seldom the correct ones. Listen to this episode to learn more about how true leadership can be a catalyst for achieving higher-level outcomes.

Is your organizational structure your Achille’s Heel? Former Vice President at Yahoo, Salim Ismail, believes that any company designed for success in the 20th century is doomed for failure in the 21st.

Salim Ismail, co-author of Exponential Organizations, joins the Talent Angle to discuss the lessons that business leaders can learn from the new breed of companies that are scaling 10 times faster than established organizational structures. Exponential organizations leverage assets like community, big data, algorithms, and new technology to rethink the way traditional companies scale. Salim suggests ways by which established organizations built for scarcity can disrupt their company’s current null state and usher their business into an age of abundance. 

Generational expert Jason Dorsey discusses the implications of a growing Gen Z workforce in his book “Zconomy”, co-authored with Denise Villa, CEO of The Center for Generational Kinetics. He explains how global events influenced Gen Z’s expectations as consumers and employees, and how employers can meet those expectations. Dorsey shares his and Villa’s research on Gen Z’s preferences for onboarding, feedback, recognition and compensation.

Jason Dorsey is an author, keynote speaker, and researcher. He is president of The Center for Generational Kinetics, a generational speaking, research, and strategic consulting firm with clients from many industries. He is a three-time company founder and author of Y-Size Your Business, which details ways to improve Millennial performance.

*This spotlight contains an excerpt from our 2019 interview. Marc Effron, author of 8 Steps to High Performance: Focus on What You Can Change (Ignore the Rest), joins the Talent Angle to discuss how to cut through the noise and boost workplace performance. He shares what behavioral changes and practical steps employees can take to improve performance and deliver outstanding results.

Good managers are made, not born. Julie Zhuo, author of The Making of a Manager and Facebook’s VP of Product Design, reveals practical advice on how managers can help their teams achieve greater outcomes. Whether you’re new to the role or struggling with culture, listen to this episode of the Talent Angle to learn what to do when everyone looks to you for guidance.

*This excerpt was taken from our 2020 interview. Few of us work in roles designed to our personal specifications. In his new book Personalization at Work: How HR Can Use Job Crafting to Drive Performance, Engagement and Wellbeing , Rob Baker argues that employees thrive when allowed to craft their roles to fit their strengths. Baker provides HR leaders and professionals with tools and guidance to create workplace environments that empower employees to customize their jobs to meet their needs.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2020 interview.

Amazon’s presence in consumers’ lives is seemingly inescapable, though whether—and for how long— this hold will last is unclear. In his book, Bezonomics: How Amazon is Changing Our Lives and What the World’s Best Companies Are Learning From It, author Brian Dumaine explores just that. In doing so, he offers an insightful portrait of Jeff Bezos and the sprawling enterprise he’s built, as well as tips for businesses to compete in this digital age.

Imagine an environment where you can bring your whole self to work?

Imagine a workplace where great leaders build honest relationships with each of their employees, allowing their employees to know exactly where they stand.  

Believe it or not, hierarchy discourages honest feedback which leads to dysfunctional relationships and businesses.

Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, and Jason Rosoff, CEO of Radical Candor, teach us how to care personally and challenge directly to create a culture of honest feedback in order to love your work. Kim and Jason walk us through ways in which you can adopt the basic principles of Radical Candor to become a great leader.