Heart at Work with Trina Sunday

What can an AFL Grand Final teach us about workplace culture, performance, belonging and leadership? Quite a lot, as it turns out. I came within four minutes of watching the Fremantle Dockers win their first AFL premiership. After more than two decades of supporting Freo, a failed ticket ballot and some serious help from my network, I made it into the MCG. Then came Wharfie Time, and everything ch...

What changes when we stop treating the human side of work as the ‘soft stuff’ and start seeing it as a strategic advantage? In this episode of Heart at Work, I’m joined by Claude Silver, the world’s first Chief Heart Officer and bestselling author of Be Yourself at Work. We talk about what it really takes to put humanity at the centre of performance, and why trust, belonging, courage and genuine h...

What happens if AI removes the very work that teaches people how to become good at their jobs? I’m excited about what AI can do for HR: less admin, better access to information, more time for the work that needs judgement, empathy and humanity. But if we automate the foundational work traditionally done by early career employees, where will they gain the experience needed to become tomorrow’s expe...

What if the biggest leadership lesson from the 2026 FIFA World Cup had nothing to do with football? In this episode, I look beyond the goals, trophies and headlines to talk about what the tournament revealed about leadership, trust, culture and accountability. From governance questions surrounding FIFA, to powerful moments of humanity, respect and courage. I reflect on what these global events can...

What if HR's greatest strength isn't learning to roar, but having the courage to redesign work? For years, I've encouraged HR leaders to build commercial credibility and earn influence. But after seeing a leadership campaign centred on the phrase Hear Me Roar, I found myself asking a much bigger question. Is becoming louder really the future of our profession, or have we been chasin...

What if the biggest thing missing from HR isn't another qualification, but a space to reflect? In this episode, I share one of the biggest insights I took away from the People Unconference. What began as an event designed to bring HR leaders together became something much bigger. It challenged my own thinking about what our profession has been missing and why knowledge alone isn't enough...

What if allyship wasn't about good intentions, but about building practical skills that create real change? What does meaningful allyship look like in today's workplaces? In this episode, I sit down with Lee Chambers, founder and CEO of Male Allies UK, to talk about how we move beyond performative diversity initiatives and create genuine shared accountability. We discuss why allyship is...

What if the behaviours we label as "unprofessional" are really just challenges to outdated workplace assumptions? In this episode, I talk about one of the most accepted yet least questioned ideas in the workplace: professionalism. From tattoos and babies at interviews to executive F-bombs, workplace romances and even a lawyer appearing in court as a cat. I take a closer look at how our u...

Have workplaces become so focused on sounding intelligent that they’ve forgotten how to truly connect? In this solo episode, I talk about why over-intellectualism is quietly damaging workplace culture. From endless frameworks and performative professionalism to over-analysis and emotionally detached leadership, I challenge why many organisations are losing the human connection people need to thriv...

What if the thing sustaining great HR leaders isn’t resilience, but community? In this solo episode, I talk about why so many HR and people leaders feel emotionally isolated despite being constantly surrounded by people, meetings and professional networks. I talk about the hidden weight of people work, the science behind contribution and connection, and why genuine support systems matter more than...

What happens when someone does exactly what the system tells them to do, and the system still fails them? In this episode, I unpack Susan Fowler’s experience inside Uber and the leadership decisions that turned a report of sexual harassment into a full-scale culture and governance crisis. This is not just a conversation about one organisation. It’s a conversation about power, accountability, leade...

Are you feeling like you’re giving more at work but getting less back? Something has shifted at work. You can feel it, I can too. And in this episode, I unpack what’s really going on beneath the surface. This isn’t just burnout. It’s something deeper. A quiet change in the deal between people and organisations that no one has clearly named. I walk through what the research is saying and what it me...

When was the last time you called yourself a change maker, and meant it? I’ve just come back from time at the United Nations and on the ground in Cambodia, and it left me sitting with one question. Why are we so hesitant to call ourselves change makers, especially when our work already shapes people’s lives every day? In this episode, I share what I witnessed in Cambodia. Real people doing real wo...

What happens when the world feels unpredictable, and even showing up as yourself starts to feel risky? I’ve just come out of a week inside the United Nations, and what stayed with me wasn’t just the conversations on gender equality. It was something more personal. A moment where I questioned how safe it really is to fully show up, even in environments we assume are stable. In this episode, I talk...

What happens when progress on gender equality stops feeling guaranteed and starts feeling fragile? I’ve just stepped out of the room at CSW 70 at the United Nations, and this episode is my real-time reflection on what I saw, felt, and couldn’t ignore. This wasn’t business as usual. I take you inside the conversations shaping global gender equality, from access to justice to the growing pressure on...

Have you ever sat in a leadership meeting where everyone agrees that people come first, until the pressure hits? In this episode, I talk about the uncomfortable gap between what leaders say they value and how they actually behave when urgency, performance pressure or competing priorities take over. Because knowing what good leadership looks like is one thing. Practising it under pressure is anothe...

Are we thinking about HR all wrong? And what if the real shift isn’t capability, but philosophy? In this episode, I take you behind the curtain and talk about the thinking behind HEART Work™ . After more than two decades in HR and organisational leadership, I’ve realised something confronting. HR doesn’t have a skills gap. It has an identity gap. We’ve outgrown the old definition of our role, yet...

Are you still being seen as the compliance department with good intentions, when your organisation needs your influence? In this episode, I tackle HR’s identity crisis head on. I share why I believe HR’s biggest threat right now isn’t compliance failure, it’s irrelevance. After 25 plus years in HR leadership and consulting, I’ve seen brilliant HR professionals shrink themselves to fit outdated exp...

Have you ever felt the tension between what work is and what it could be? In this episode, I draw a line in the sand for our profession. As Reimagine HR marks six years in business, I share why this moment feels bigger than an anniversary. It’s a turning point. A renewed commitment to leading HR more boldly, more visibly, and more human-first than ever before. I introduce my Human-First Workplace...

There’s a quiet tension in HR. We’re told people are our greatest asset… right before people strategy gets pushed aside for operational urgency. So what if there’s a braver way to lead work? Heart at Work with Trina Sunday is for HR leaders and change-makers who believe people and performance can thrive side by side, and who refuse to let people become the collateral damage of ambition. Hosted by...

What if the real story of HR isn’t about HR processes at all? This episode marks a milestone. Not because it’s number 50, but because it prompted me to pause and really listen. Not just to the words, but to the patterns across every guest and every theme. It turns out, this podcast was never just about HR. It’s been about humanity, identity, grief, power, exhaustion, courage, and everything in bet...

Ever been pulled aside for a “quick chat” that blew out your whole day? In this episode of Reimagining HR, I’m pulling back the curtain on what HR really looks like in Australia. From “she’ll be right” risk management to navigating the weird mix of informality and high-stakes regulation. This one’s for the HR professionals holding it all together, often with a straight face and a cancelled lunch....

Are we outsourcing our thinking to AI, and what does that mean for leadership, decision-making and HR? What happens when HR stops telling people what to think, and starts helping them think for themselves? In this episode, I speak with critical thinking expert Bethan Winn about reclaiming our “human edge” in a tech-saturated world. We discuss cognitive sovereignty, decision confidence, and why sof...

Is your reward system really reflecting what you value most, or just what’s easiest to measure? As the year wraps, I sat down with Warren Land, Director of the Reward Practice and one of Australia's leading experts in remuneration and incentive design, to talk about what rewards are really saying in our workplaces. This conversation goes beyond the bonus to look at fairness, transparency, and...

What does fairness look like when AI is making the decisions? Artificial intelligence is changing the way we hire, develop, and lead, but who benefits when we rush to automate? In this episode, I speak with Aubrey Blanche, Director of Ethical Advisory and Strategic Partnerships at The Ethics Centre, about why AI isn’t just a tech issue, it’s a human one. We explore the messy middle of ethical lead...