Unusual Attitudes

Episode Notes Jason Gorham revolutionized HR technology in 2003 by inventing programmatic job advertising. In this episode, Gorham shares the origin story behind his original patents and reflects on why he eventually walked away from early data-aggregation models that failed to properly serve job seekers. The conversation tackles current flaws in the recruitment landscape, including pay-per-click...

Episode Notes ** What does it take to build a career that lasts, and an organization that does the same? In the latest episode of Unusual Attitudes, talent acquisition executive Jessica Aguilar traces an unlikely path from web development and text messaging to HR leadership at major organizations. She introduces the concept of "people sustainability," the idea that organizations must act...

Episode Notes ** Human Resources is dead. Long live the strategic powerhouse that understands how the bottom line moves. This episode tears down the idea of HR as a back office compliance trap and reframes it as a seat at the adult table where disruption is a requirement and curiosity is the currency. For Cora Walker, CHRO of OmniCable, the blueprint for a career started in the trenches of hospita...

Episode Notes ** The talent acquisition landscape is shifting from traditional resumes to outcome-oriented measures of success. AI offers scale for repetitive tasks like interview scheduling, but "human-in-the-loop" oversight remains critical for mitigating legal risk and organizational bias. In this episode, Travis Windling of Royal Bank of Canada explains why human-centered skills like...

Episode Notes ** Brenna Garbelman is a Director of Strategy at Phenom who initially pursued a career in marketing and advertising, but shifted to recruitment after witnessing how placing a homeless individual into a job and home could fundamentally change a life. She is a staunch advocate for the human “X factor,” believing that AI can’t replace the cultural intuition a recruiter provides. In this...

Episode Notes ** Edward Amey, CEO of Jay Nolan Community Services, shares a transformative vision for supporting the neurodiverse community by focusing on “presumed competence” and individualized care. By fostering a culture of curiosity, Amey’s team constantly explores what is possible for those they serve, ensuring that every person has the opportunity to define their own path. Technology can se...

Episode Notes ** The industrial age is sunsetting, and the era of dynamic, AI-enabled talent is here. Modern organizations must transition from static job descriptions to a future-looking model centered on the mobility of skills. Leadership is a critical factor in digital adoption, but many leaders remain change-averse due to legacy technology restrictions or outdated management styles. Join Jane...

Episode Notes ** Jeremy Bono leads Phenom’s North American account management team, a sizable business that represents most of the company’s revenue. His team partners with nearly 500 employers to extract value out of the technology. That requires understanding all aspects of the customer’s business such as revenue drivers and strategic priorities. Asking good questions is critical to salespeople’...

Episode Notes A simple fact of innovation, and all of the speed, efficiency, and automation that comes with it, is that technology will break down from time to time. Engineering is inherently human and iterative. The same principle of forgiveness should apply to technology as to people – viewing failures as a moment in time in a long journey, not a final endpoint. Mark MacDonald knows a thing or t...

Episode Notes Great leaders at any level of an organization are notable for two traits: they admit their weaknesses and hire to compensate for them. That explains why Panasonic Automotive’s CHRO, Stephen Childs, once laid bare his gaps and weaknesses in front of his team before sharing them with the entire company. “I literally became a better leader over a period of a few weeks after doing that,”...

Episode Notes ** As the scion of elected officials, Kellan White grew up in Philadelphia around the politically powerful. He would dream of the day he entered City Hall, where people would address him as “Mr. Mayor.” But that’s not how things turned out. After his dad lost a close race for mayor of Philadelphia, tragedy struck when his mother and grandfather died. Feeling lost, White walked away f...

Episode Notes Bringing one’s whole self to work means personal and professional lives mesh in a way that can sometimes get messy. Lindsay Mareau knows that all too well. She is a former senior tech leader who has guided leadership teams and global organizations in outlining people, process and technology to complement their growth and change strategy. She has been alcohol-free for more than a year...

Episode Notes Innovation runs through Electrolux’s line of home appliances. Artificial intelligence embedded in washing machines, for example, determines the right spin cycle and water consumption while maximizing cleaning efficiency. The Swedish company brings that same modern mindset to acquiring and managing talent. AI changed the way HR handles transactional work but it didn’t change Electrolu...

Episode Notes Ray Tavares’ career has largely been spent in one industry — financial services — not all that uncommon for Gen Xers. About 20 years ago, he pivoted into the HR tech domain, and has witnessed every conceivable transformation along the way. His kids jokingly accuse him of “HR-ing” them with fatherly advice. That’s because of his passion for helping others succeed. In his senior level...

Episode Notes Growing up a “Star Trek” fan, Ajay Patel marveled at boldly going where no one had gone before. It was only natural he would study astrophysics at university, but instead of building rockets and studying celestial bodies, his career pivoted to HR where he builds talent pipelines. The figure-it-out mindset of an engineer came in handy when he arrived at Straumann Group in 2020 as vice...

Episode Notes When Ed LaPerche first entered tech sales in the 1990s he witnessed the industry gradually evolve from old school mainframe computing to the client-server network model all the way through to cloud computing. Today, it’s all about artificial intelligence and agentic AI. Transformation for a sales professional means never being satisfied with the status quo. Seeking out opportunities...

Episode Notes Greg Muccio naturally followed in the career footsteps of his dad and brothers as a sales rep before realizing it wasn’t for him. He didn’t enjoy the role and admittedly wasn’t good at it – not exactly a winning formula for long-term success. Luckily he was working at a staffing company when the epiphany hit. A manager asked if he’d be interested in learning recruiting, and the rest,...

Episode Notes Most talent professionals will say they didn’t grow up actively wanting to be a recruiter. Not Hung Lee. He was fascinated by the qualities that make one candidate stand out from others with similar resumes. It just took some time for that deep interest to develop. That’s because HR would have been an unthinkable path in his teens when he actively avoided anything corporate. “Hell on...

Episode Notes There are few continents Neil Crumpton either hasn’t visited or recruited from. He even once did a search in Burkina Faso! Crumpton is a natural at navigating cultural boundaries. His career as a global recruiting executive was forged in his early 20s when he led a multinational team comprised of different cultures, languages, and perspectives. The experience taught him how to find c...

Episode Notes The first title on Stephanie Worley’s LinkedIn is “Mom.” The second title is “Vice President Talent Acquisition at Bright Horizons.” The mother of three doesn’t want her children to be just like her, nor does she want her teams to be carbon copies either. She wants them to make her a better parent and leader. Building teams with people who are different yet complementary to one anoth...

Episode Notes Tim Sackett thought he was destined to go the corporate HR route. He was running talent acquisition for a large health system when he received a call one day that would upend his career ambitions: His mother had had a heart attack. Lured back to the family-owned staffing firm where he worked earlier in his career, Sackett has experience on both sides of the TA equation. Automation is...

Episode Notes Dr. Ben Waber is the author of a New York Times bestseller on using analytics to gauge how effectively (or not) people work and collaborate. The data offers insights into building a more productive and profitable organization. Big companies often make big people decisions while flying blind. Tune into this episode of “Unusual Attitudes” to hear how little tweaks such as changing the...

Episode Notes Lavonne Monroe of Hewlett Packard Enterprise doesn’t call life’s obstacles and challenges “failures.” Rather, they are “opportunities for learning.” And she has stared down a number of them throughout her professional career to become a better leader and learner. Adapting to new lines of thinking, flexibility, and perseverance are traits that business leaders would do well to conside...

Episode Notes When people ask Jonathan Berlan, global head of talent acquisition at Brussels-based biopharmaceutical company UCB, what he does for a living, his answer is simple: he tells stories. Berlan is an avid reader who considers himself a storyteller at heart. For fun he writes restaurant reviews not to draw his audience to the restaurant but "to tell them the story of a meal I had the...

Episode Notes Antonio Howard, known as “The Rebel” for his curiosity and questioning nature, describes himself as an introverted individual with extroverted traits. His leadership style at Regions Bank is to value understanding and maximizing each team member’s unique talents. Howard emphasizes soft skills like openness to learning and friendliness over technical proficiency.  He also values the p...