HR Leaders

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Sarah Stary, Vice President Global Head of People and Organisation and Internal Communications at Swisslog Healthcare.
Sarah breaks down what it really takes to lead transformation in a complex global business. She explains why standardizing the basics, especially onboarding and recruiting, became a high-impact priority, how her team built global consistency with local nuance, and why too many leaders still get distracted by innovation before fixing the fundamentals.
Sarah also shares a more important leadership lesson.
Do not rush to prove your value in the first 90 days.
Instead, she argues that credibility is built by listening, traveling, understanding culture, and making changes that fit the business you are actually in, not the one you just left.
The conversation also explores clear communication, trust-building, team autonomy, shared services, AI adoption, and culture integration inside the broader KUKA group.

🎓 In this episode, Sarah discusses:
Why new HR leaders lose credibility when they move too fast before understanding culture
How clear communication, in-person trust-building, and local dialogue accelerated buy-in for change
How to balance global process consistency with local market realities, customs, and business needs
Why standardizing onboarding and recruiting created outsized impact across a fragmented global organization
How Swisslog Healthcare is thinking about shared services, AI adoption, product capability building, and values integration with KUKA

🙏‍ Thank you to our series partner - atlas copilot
Meet the AI-native adaptive learning platform that builds the course, teaches the skill, and proves the impact, while work is happening, not weeks later → https://www.atlascopilot.com/
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In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Frederic Patitucci, Chief People & Culture Officer at Philip Morris International, to unpack how one of the world’s largest organizations is transforming both its business model and its workforce capabilities at the same time.
Frederic explains how PMI’s bold shift toward a smoke-free future forced the company to rethink its operating model, moving from a single-product cigarette business to a complex multi-category innovation company spanning consumer technology, healthcare, and new consumer experiences.
He shares how this transformation required new skills, new operating structures, and a completely redefined company culture, including codifying the PMI DNA and embedding it directly into hiring, performance management, leadership development, and everyday decision-making.
Most importantly, Frederic reveals why the future of HR lies in managing skills instead of jobs, preparing employees for the skills that are rising, and helping people avoid career dead ends before disruption makes those roles obsolete.

🎓 In this episode, Frederic discusses:
Why managing skills is becoming more important than managing jobs
How organizations can prepare employees for future skills before disruption hits
Why culture had to be codified to integrate thousands of new leaders joining the organization
How PMI embedded its cultural values directly into hiring, performance, and leadership systems
How PMI is transforming from a traditional cigarette company into a smoke-free innovation company
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Andre Heinz, Chief People and Culture Officer at Celonis, to unpack what HR leadership really looks like inside a company scaling at rocket speed.
Andre explains why growth has no mercy in fast scaling organizations, and why HR must constantly think two to three years ahead while still managing the intense operational demands of today. He shares how Celonis went from 800 to over 3,500 employees, and what it takes to build systems, culture, and talent strategies that actually scale with that kind of speed.
Most importantly, he breaks down why HR must act as the guardian of organizational health, protecting the cultural DNA of the company while ensuring talent quality, operational efficiency, and leadership maturity keep pace with the speed of growth.

🎓 In this episode, Andre discusses:
Why HR must act as the guardian of organizational health
What it takes to scale systems without losing startup agility
How to maintain a high talent bar during hypergrowth hiring
Why fast scaling companies must think two to three years ahead
How Celonis scaled from 800 to 3,500 employees without losing its culture

🙏‍ Thank you to our series partner - atlas copilot
Meet the AI-native adaptive learning platform that builds the course, teaches the skill, and proves the impact, while work is happening, not weeks later → https://www.atlascopilot.com/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Carlo Steenvoorden, EVP HR People Services, Analytics & HR AI at KPN, to unpack how a 100+ year old telecom company is moving from legacy HR systems to a fully conversational AI powered employee experience.
Carlo explains why KPN made a bold decision to declare that the future of HR interactions is conversational, with systems pushed to the back end and one intelligent interface in front. He shares how reducing human led HR queries from €15–20 per case to cents per prompt unlocked both massive efficiency gains and a better employee experience.
Most importantly, he breaks down the real transformation behind the technology, from rebuilding HR team capabilities, to adopting product thinking, to deciding where AI belongs and where humans must stay firmly in the loop.

🎓 In this episode, Carlo discusses:
Why in-house AI development accelerated transformation
How hyper personalized learning replaces one size fits all training
How HR query costs dropped from €15–20 to cents per interaction
Why 25–35% of the HR team had to be renewed to move fast enough
How KPN shifted from legacy HR screens to a single conversational interface

🙏‍ Thank you to our series partner - atlas copilot
Meet the AI-native adaptive learning platform that builds the course, teaches the skill, and proves the impact, while work is happening, not weeks later → https://www.atlascopilot.com/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Ilja Bitterling, VP Skills Intelligence & Performance Management at Deutsche Telekom, to unpack how large organizations can finally make skills data usable, trusted, and decision ready.
Ilja explains why skills intelligence is not about inventories, but about creating a shared language that connects workforce decisions, performance outcomes, and future readiness. He breaks down how Deutsche Telekom moves from fragmented skill signals to clear, comparable insights leaders can actually act on.
Most importantly, he shares why performance management and skills cannot live apart anymore, and how organizations that connect them move faster, allocate talent better, and avoid betting the future on outdated role assumptions.

🎓 In this episode, Ilja discusses:
Why fragmented skill data slows workforce readiness
What it takes to make skills credible at enterprise scale
How shared skill language improves mobility and planning
Why skills intelligence must support decisions, not documentation
How Deutsche Telekom connects skills and performance, not just roles

🙏‍ Thank you to our series partner - atlas copilot
Meet the AI-native adaptive learning platform that builds the course, teaches the skill, and proves the impact, while work is happening, not weeks later → https://www.atlascopilot.com/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.