What The HR!
Business & Finance
About
What the HR! is hosted by TCSHRM board member, Mike Thul & Jessie Novey. The podcast provides insights, strategies, and anecdotes that explore how to build better businesses through modern people practices and approaches. Topics covered include Organizational Development, Employee Engagement, Listening Strategies, Succession Planning, Performance Management, Company Culture, Transformation, Talent and Leadership.
Episodes
- Episode 118: From Performance to Purpose: What Alignment Really Means
Laura King, an executive recruiter with decades of experience, shares insights from over 30,000 career conversations, suggesting that performance gaps often stem from the surrounding organizational systems rather than individual shortcomin…
- Episode 117: The Human Advantage: Leading Through Wellbeing
Nikki Peters, CEO of Studio 9 to 5, shares insights on workplace wellness, employee health, energy, and performance. The discussion covers how organizations can support these areas to improve engagement, resilience, and workplace culture.
- Episode 116: Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Every Conversation – Even in an AI World
Amy Jacobson, an emotional intelligence specialist and author, discusses her work in EI programs and books focused on increasing performance and navigating difficult conversations. She shares insights on applying emotional intelligence in…
- Episode 115: Nobody Likes a Bad Manager - Not Even Your Money
This episode of What The HR! features Jeffery Robinson, Senior Program Director at Build Wealth MN, and Eric Howell, Senior Innovation & Expansion Director at Build Wealth MN. They discuss Build Wealth MN
- Episode 114: Human-Centered Hiring in an AI World
Paul DeBettignies, a Minnesota-based recruiter, joins hosts Jay Olson and Lena Scullard to discuss approaches to human-centered hiring within the context of current technological advancements.
- Episode 113: Finding the Courage to Speak Up, Stand Out, and Shine
A 6-time award-winning keynote speaker Meredith Breitstein tours the world encouraging leaders to step into their destiny, walk through fear, and SHINE by finding their courage. She specializes in helping teams, and her audiences speak up,…
- Episode 112: The Habits of Future-Ready Leaders: Talent, AI, and What Actually Matters
Rick Rittmaster is a Leadership and Talent Development expert who leads the Leadership Solutions practice at Strategic Talent Partners and is a Co-Founder at Groveland Leadership. With over a decade of experience partnering with CEOs and s…
- Episode 111: Unlocking Human Potential: Neuroscience, Coaching, and AI for Better Leaders
Heather Polivka helps leaders create workplaces where people thrive, great talent stays, and businesses grow. Whether clients are responding to a changing talent market, fueling high growth, or navigating accelerated change, Heather guides…
- Episode 110: Getting a Handle on Handbooks
Lena Scullard and Becky Lauseng welcomed employment attorney Kate Bischoff to discuss employee handbooks, which she defined as documents setting expectations and guidance distinct from tactical policy manuals. Kate advised that HR should d…
- Episode 109: Great Leaders Make Sure Monday Morning Doesn't Suck
Eric Harkins is the President and Founder of GKG Search & Outplacement, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm that helps organizations Get, Keep & Grow talent. He is also an Amazon #1 best-selling author of: Great Leaders Make Sure Monday Mo…
- Episode 108: A Deep Dive into MN Paid Leave
Tiffany McDaniel, an Absence Consultant at Brown and Brown, explained the new Minnesota paid leave program, which takes effect on January 1st. Tiffany explained that employees are eligible for up to 20 weeks of paid time off with job and b…
- Episode 107: Know Yourself, Know Your People: Preventing Burnout at Work
Becky Lauseng and Jay Olson introduced Keynote Speaker, Janice Litvin, who defined burnout as chronic, unmanaged work leading to complete mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion, impacting organizational productivity and employee retent…
- Episode 106: The Perfect Game Day
In this episode, we talk with J.P. Paul, Vice President of Stadium Operations for the Minnesota Vikings, now in his 23rd season with the team. J.P. has been instrumental in creating world-class game day experiences for fans, leading initia…
- Episode 105: Meet Our New Cohosts: Jay and Lena!
Becky Lauseng introduced Jay Olson and Lena Scullard as the new co-hosts for the "What the HR podcast," with both new co-hosts expressing enthusiasm for joining and engaging with the TCSHRM community. Jay Olson and Lena Scullard shared the…
- Episode 104: Energy: Emotions in Action
Kristen Brown is a Certified Speaking Professional, bestselling author, and interactive and funny keynote speaker and trainer who helps organizations unlock high-impact leadership, team engagement, and performance by harnessing the power o…
- Episode 103: Future Ready Leadership
Dr. Rosie Ward is a fierce advocate for humanity who is sought-after to help rehumanize workplaces that free, fuel and inspire people to bring their best selves to work – and home – each day. She serves as CEO and Founder of Salveo Partner…
- Episode 102: Return to People
John Christensen is an award-winning filmmaker, author, and the CEO of ChartHouse Learning, the company behind the globally recognized FISH! Philosophy. In 1998, during a visit to Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market, he was inspired by the fi…
- Episode 101: Transparency in Leadership & Culture
Mark Smith is a seasoned global talent leader with over 20 years of experience in Talent Acquisition, Leadership Development, and Talent Management. Currently serving as Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at Medtronic, a leading m…
- Episode 100: Farewell to Mike and Jessie
We’ve made it to 100 episodes of What the HR! — and we’re marking the moment with a special farewell to our original hosts, Jessie Novey and Mike Thul. Since 2019, they’ve brought thoughtful conversations, expert insights, and plenty of pe…
- Episode 99: 2025 Employee Experience Trends Report
Dr. Benjamin Granger is Chief Workplace Psychologist and Head of EX Advisory Services. He has over a decade of experience building Experience Management (XM) programs across the globe and leads EX thought leadership and research initiative…
- Episode 98: Loneliness in HR
With over 15 years of experience in human resource strategy, organizational effectiveness, and talent development, Bethany Kurbis helps leaders and organizations reach their potential and accomplish their unique missions. As an experienced…
- Episode 97: Imposter Syndrome
Teresa Sande is the CEO and Founder of Mirror Mirror Strategies, an organizational strategy & talent development consultancy focused on cultivating effective, inclusive leaders and high-performing organizations. With 25 years of experience…
- Episode 96: Does Your Candidate Experience Match the Employee Experience?
Jay is a Talent Acquisition and HR leader with over 20 years of experience. He is passionate about driving success through collaboration and communication, and he is always looking for ways to improve the way things are done. Believing in…
- Episode 95: Revolutionizing How We Live and Work
Leah Pitzenberger is a psychologist by training, but spent almost a decade in various HR roles at Target Corporation, before focusing her career on start-ups and scale-ups in innovative, high-growth industries as their CHRO, including time…
- Episode 94: Pay Transparency
Sharona is a global HR consultant with expertise in global total rewards. Her specialties are compensation, benefits, HR operations, HRIS, performance management, and global mobility. Her experience spans a variety of industries including…
- Episode 93: Exploring the employee-owned (ESOP) model
Since 1992, Nancy has led the Human Resources team for Room & Board, a 100% employee-owned (ESOP) business with more than 1,000 staff members and annual revenues in excess of $600 million. Nancy also serves on the Board of Directors for th…
- Episode 92: The Importance of Being Coachable
Kevin serves as an Executive Leadership Fellow at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. He teaches applied leadership in several graduate courses. His current research topics include leadership coachability, executive…
- Episode 91: Feedback Reimagined
Peter Berridge is an accomplished coach, facilitator, and author who utilizes the sciences of Positive Psychology and executive coaching to help leaders, teams, and organizations be more engaged and effective. Pete became a certified coach…
- Episode 90: AI, Civility and the Future of Work
Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM. Recently named one of the “Most Influential People Shaping Public Policy” in our nation’s Capital by the Washingtonian Magazine, Mr. Taylor’s career spans more than 2…
- Episode 89: Valuing Employee Time through Flexible Benefits
Rob Whalen is the Co-Founder and CEO of PTO, Inc. where he started the company with Todd Lucas from his house in Woodinville. He is a serial entrepreneur with a BA in accounting from Seattle University and has over 30 years selling and dev…
- Episode 88: Developing People Through Their Strengths
A talent executive with Fortune 30 experience, Kelly has real-world expertise in all facets of HR including global organizational performance, leadership development, executive/C-Suite talent succession, recruitment, HR technology, and org…
- Episode 87: Employee Happiness Trends 2024
Ty Davidson joins the podcast to discuss the results of Kudoboards “2024 Employee Happiness Trends in the U.S. Based on insights from nearly 600 professionals across Fortune 500 companies, this comprehensive analysis uncovers the transform…
- Episode 86: Driving Performance Through a Human Centered Strategy
Angela is the founder of Lift Bridge Strategy, a boutique consultancy focused on more personal and human-centered approaches to helping companies grow. Angela is known for building innovative teams to focus on people during periods of high…
- Episode 85: How HR Can Leverage AI
Leigha Jansen joins the pod to discuss all things AI in HR! Tune in to learn how to best leverage AI in the workplace and what needs to be done to govern it. Leigha Jansen, EdD, CPACC, is the director of educational technology at Continued…
- Episode 84: 100 Conversations in 100 Days
When Casey joined his new company, he made a goal to have 100 conversations in 100 days. Tune in to this episode to learn about his journey and what came out of it. Guest: Casey Sarver, Vice President Human Resources @ Knutson Construction…
- Episode 83: Results Only Workplace
Jody Thompson is the Founding Principal of CultureRx®, headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. Thompson is an engaging domestic and international keynote presenter on the future workplace and has been featured on the covers of BusinessWeek, Work…
- Episode 82: HR Professionals Burnout Too!
Employee burnout has been a hot topic, but what about those responsible for tackling that issue? HR professionals have gone through a lot the past 4 years. Erica Reed joins the show to discuss the reality of HR burnout, and how we tackle t…
- Episode 81: 2024 Employee Experience Trends Report
Dr. Ben Granger joins the pod to discuss Qualtrics' 2024 Employee Experience Trends Report. Dr. Benjamin Granger is Chief Workplace Psychologist and Head of EX Advisory Services. He has over a decade of experience building Experience Manag…
- Episode 80: Non-Linear Career Paths
Kristina Fusella joins the podcast to discuss the benefits of non-linear career paths. Kristina Jiali Fusella is a purpose-driven, transformational commercial leader with deep expertise in market access, brand marketing, commercial strateg…
- Episode 79: Organizational Effectiveness and Optimizing Skills
Martin Low is the Founder and CEO at On Plane Consulting. He has over 20 years of HR experience at companies like Amazon.com, McKesson, Blue Apron, Cummins, Lear and LABSCO. While at these companies he has implemented programs to improve e…
- Episode 78: Tools Women and Allies Need to Breakthrough
Angel G. Henry is the President of AngelSpeaking , Inc., an Agile Mindset Trainer, an IT Adjunct Instructor, and an author. With over 20 years of IT experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, she is a recognized thought leade…
- Episode 77: Workplace Philanthropy w/ Percent Pledge
Percent Pledge's CEO Joel Pollick joins the show to discuss Percent Pledge and Workplace Philanthropy. They recently released a report outlining all of their findings from 16,000 surveys. In this episode we discuss what employers need to o…
- Episode 76: What Motivates Gen Z to Learn
Gen Z workers bring high expectations to their workplaces, including how they’re trained. Research has shown that Gen Z values career-advancing learning and development opportunities, expecting companies to invest significantly in professi…
- Episode 75: Leadership Development w/Summer Davies
Summer Davies is an award-winning leadership development expert focused on cultivated thriving work environments where people feel equipped, capable, valued, and connected. It has been my privilege to coach, teach, and study leaders around…
- Episode 74: Compliance Update - Cannabis, Pay History, Parental Leave & More!
Kevin Mosher joins the show to give us a compliance update on multiple new pieces of legislature. See below for time stamps and topics. 2:00 - Affirmative Action in Higher Education: Federal 8:30 - Parental Leave Update: Minnesota 11:10 -…
- Episode 73: What the HR! Won the SHRM Pinnacle Award!
What the HR! recently won the SHRM Pinnacle award! In this episode we have TCSHRM Past President Becky Lauseng interview us to get a behind the scenes look into the creation of the podcast. Tune in to hear our story from the beginning, and…
- Episode 72: The Benefits of Having Fun in the Workplace
Samantha Lomow joins the show to talk about the benefits of having fun in the workplace. Throughout her 25+ year career across toys, entertainment, fashion and retail industries, Samantha has led multi-billion-dollar brand portfolios at pr…
- Episode 71: Onsite Child Care with Hormel Foods
Angie Bissen joins us to discuss Hormel Foods decision to build a 5 million dollar onsite child care center to support their employees and the community. Angie led this project from start to finish and brings a wealth of knowledge and plen…
- Episode 70: Next Great Step: Career Coaching For College Students
Beth Hendler-Grunt is a dynamic leader, adviser, and facilitator who has extensive experience consulting from start-ups to Fortune 500 firms. She has proven success with guiding firms, sales teams and individuals to achieve their sales per…
- Episode 69: HR and Marketing Should Join Hands
Kerry-Ann is a financial services marketer, currently leading the marketing function at JMMB (Financial) Group, which has operations across the Caribbean, with headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, where she’s currently based. A firm believer…