Workplace Stories by RedThread Research

In this episode of Workplace Stories, Dani Johnson talks with Cher Murphy, Partner, Head of People+Talent Practice at ON Partner, founder of The Murphy Advisory, and faculty member at Pepperdine and the University of Michigan. Drawing from her deep experience in executive coaching and leadership development, Cher shares how leadership is evolving in response to rapid technological, political, and...

Most leadership development still clings to certainty, quarterly goals, strategic plans, official futures etched in stone. But what if that mindset isn’t just outdated, it’s dangerous? In this episode, Dani Johnson and Stacia Garr sit down with futurists and experience designers Lisa Kay Solomon and Jeff Rogers, two minds helping rewire how leaders think about the future, not as a distant unknown,...

Many teams don’t realize how much time their people are losing to repetitive tasks and clunky systems. From filling out HR forms to bouncing between platforms, what’s called “employee experience” often adds up to unnecessary friction. The real problem? No one’s questioning whether those steps need to exist at all. There’s an unspoken assumption that better design means more interface, more feature...

Most conversations about AI in the workplace get stuck on the surface - job loss fears, tech hype, and hand-wringing about what’s next. But in this episode, we flip the script. What if AI itself isn’t the problem? What if the real story is how organizations introduce, structure, and integrate it into the human fabric of work? Jeremy Broome, Global Head of Talent at Visa, shares how his team naviga...

HR teams have more data than ever, but many still rely on guesswork when it comes to people decisions. In this episode, we unpack the rapid growth of the people analytics tech market, which ballooned from $1.7B in 2019 to $8.1B by last summer. Hosts Dani Johnson, Stacia Garr, and Priyanka Mehrotra walk through how this market has evolved, what’s driving investment, and why the demand for better-co...

Many L&D teams still see themselves as a support function—creating learning programs, responding to training requests, and advocating for development. But in a rapidly changing business landscape, is that enough?  In this episode, Al Dea, founder of Edge of Work, challenges the traditional identity of L&D and makes the case for a more strategic role—one that positions learning as a core dr...

AI is transforming work at an unprecedented pace, but many organizations still struggle to move beyond experimentation and into real implementation. In this episode, we sit down with Steven Moran, Chief Learning Officer and Chief Partnerships Officer at Bertelsmann, to explore how one of the world’s largest media, education, and services companies is tackling this challenge head-on.  With 400 busi...

Boston Scientific is looking at workforce planning in an entirely new way. We got the rare chance to hear all about it from Brenda Kowske, their Senior Director of Talent Analytics and Workforce Planning. With 50,000 employees worldwide and a rapidly growing footprint, they’re navigating big challenges with fresh approaches. We talked with Brenda about how her team is breaking down traditional HR...

In this episode of Workplace Stories, we sit down with Heather Bussing, a California employment lawyer, to break down the recent executive orders on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I). Heather brings her sharp legal perspective, offering clarity on what these orders actually mean for businesses—especially those in the private sector—and how employers can navigate this complex landscape wi...

We sat down with Tapaswee Chandele, Senior Vice President of Global Talent Development and System Partnerships at Coca-Cola, to talk about what it really takes to help managers succeed.  She’s direct, transparent, and refreshingly honest about the challenges leaders face today—and what companies need to do to make things simpler. From setting clear expectations to measuring what matters, Tapaswee...

In 2025, the HR landscape is already transforming–quickly. With AI moving from hype to reality, workforce cultures evolving, and organizations pausing to get their data and systems in order, leaders face both big opportunities and bigger decisions.  To truly make sense of it all, we sat down with Stacey Harris, Chief Research Officer at Sapient Insights Group, whose decades of experience as both a...

Most organizations waste money on L&D technology because they don’t think like investors. We sat down with Kimberly Williams, CEO of Absorb Software, to talk about her unique perspective on learning and development technology. As someone with a private equity background, Kimberly offers a fresh take on how investment thinking can shape smarter decisions in the L&D space. Our conversation c...

Cari Bohley, Vice President of Talent Management at Peraton, talks about solving real workplace problems by focusing on skills. From finding highly specialized talent in competitive markets to helping employees see clear career paths, Cari explains how tools like AI are changing the game. She shares what it takes to turn skills into a practical solution for hiring, retention, and engagement—especi...

What happens to an organization when learning and development disappears? It’s a question more leaders are facing as L&D teams shrink or are deprioritized, even as the demand for a skilled workforce grows.  Michelle Kay, Head of Learning and Development at Albertsons, has a clear answer: the unique expertise of L&D is irreplaceable. Managing learning for over 355,000 associates across one...

We had an incredible conversation with Nick Hudgell, Global Head of People Insights at Sanofi, about the transformative power of data governance and AI in HR. Nick shared how his team has built an infrastructure that connects disparate systems, improves data quality, and uses machine learning to unlock insights that genuinely improve employee experiences.  From rethinking engagement surveys to lau...

We had an incredible conversation with Don Taylor and Eglė Vinauskaitė about their report,  AI and L&D: Intention and Reality . Their research goes deep into how AI is reshaping learning and development, from streamlining tasks like content creation to enabling strategic integration across organizations.  Don and Eglė talked about the fact that AI’s potential goes far beyond efficiency—it’s ab...

What happens when AI moves faster than the people who implement it?  Christopher Lind, executive advisor and industry expert, shares stories of organizations that got it wrong—sometimes with devastating consequences. From replacing entire teams with AI to accelerating broken processes, the conversation reveals how quickly things can unravel when technology outpaces understanding. At the same time,...

Cole Napper, FedEx’s Global Head of People Analytics, joined us to explore the real versus ideal roles of AI in HR and people analytics, focusing on practical application and real-world impact. Cole highlighted AI’s current limitations, especially the problem of “anti-productive work,” where technology demands extra effort rather than reducing it. His perspective emphasizes the need for critical t...

Could your network be the key to your career success and organizational growth? In this episode of Workplace Stories, we chat with Greg Pryor, author of the upcoming book, “The Social Capital Imperative.”  Greg explains how social capital—our connections and relationships—drives business outcomes, sparks innovation, and boosts career growth. With the pandemic reshaping work, he argues that shiftin...

What if your L&D team could shift from merely delivering training to truly driving your company’s strategic goals? In this conversation, we talk with Lisa Christensen, McKinsey’s Director of Learning and Innovation. Lisa takes a refreshingly strategic approach, asking not just how L&D can support learning but “To what end?” She shares how her focus on outcomes over output has reshaped McKi...

How do you turn a skeptical organization into a believer in the power of Learning & Development? We interviewed Mitchel MacNair, Director of Talent Development and Learning at Crown Castle to find out. Mitchel takes us on a journey from his unconventional background in nuclear engineering and the Navy to leading transformational change in L&D. He tells us how he reshaped Crown Castle’s lea...

Jeremy Shapiro, AVP of Human Resources and Workforce Analytics, and Chris Shultz, Director of HR Intelligent Automation and Gen AI at Merck join us in this forward-thinking conversation. Learn how (and why) Merck is embracing AI to streamline HR processes, support innovation, and maintain ethical considerations. This was hugely educational for us and we hope you get a glimpse into the future of HR...

Skills data can be used to raise the bar in talent acquisition, implement data-driven learning, make strategic workforce planning decisions, help employees reach career aspirations, and much more. Too many organizations are so glued to the idea of perfection that they won’t implement imperfect programs to gather skills data. Dan Weiss and Emily Hacker believe that this mindset is useless. Your ski...

Generative AI is taking the world by storm, and the realm of HR is no exception. The use of AI will change a business and it will impact teams. That’s why Angela Cheng-Cimini seeks to answer the question, “How do you make sure your teams are positively impacted by AI?”A lot of the conversation starts with mitigating the fear that surrounds AI. Angela believes one of the ways you can get people to...

Matthew Daniel—the Senior Principal for Talent Strategy and Mobility at Guild Education—believes that, in a workplace context, skills are the things we know, can do, and the ways of thinking that help us deliver on business strategy. They are rich, deep, complex, and meaningful. Matthew believes that the “Half-life” statistic that’s been perpetuated about workplace skills is garbage. In this conve...