HR Leaders

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Khadija Ben Hammada, Member of the Executive Board and Chief People Officer at Merck Group, to unpack how HR can lead through AI transformation without losing the human heart of the organization.
Khadija shares why leaders cannot run global organizations from an ivory tower, and why being close to employees on the ground creates the trust, safety, and pride people need to speak up. She explains how field visits, human connection, and a strong sense of global community help Merck stay united across regions, even as the world outside becomes more fragmented.
Most importantly, she breaks down how Merck is building AI capability across the business, from AI literacy for everyone, to leader upskilling, internal AI tools, hackathons, flagship use cases, and HR agents that can improve employee experience at scale. Through it all, Khadija is clear: AI should take tasks, not humanity, and HR must stay at the intersection of business, technology, and empathy.

🎓 In this episode, Khadija discusses:
How Merck is building AI literacy across employees, leaders, and top executives
Why the future of HR sits at the intersection of business, technology, and humanity
Why AI should remove low value tasks so HR can focus on human and strategic work
Why leaders must stay close to employees on the ground, not lead from headquarters
How hackathons and flagship use cases help turn AI learning into real business impact

🙏 Thank you to our series partner, Arist
Meet the end-to-end AI agent for enablement that finds talent gaps, builds personalized interventions, and delivers learning directly in the flow of work → https://arist.com/resources/webinars/agent?utm_source=hr_leaders_podcast&utm_medium=sponsored&utm_campaign=hr_leaders_podcast_cr_june_2026
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In this episode of our On The Road series, we sit down with Amy Coleman, Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer at Microsoft, to explore how leaders can scale AI transformation without losing the human connection at the center of work.
Amy reflects on stepping into the Chief People Officer role at Microsoft, the humility of becoming a beginner again, and why leaders do not need to pretend they have all the answers in moments of uncertainty. What matters is being honest, learning fast, and bringing people with you.
Her message is clear: AI and humans cannot be separated. As work changes, HR leaders have to help people understand what is shifting, what still matters, and how AI can unlock more creativity, curiosity, innovation, and human potential.

🎓 In this episode, we get into:
Why leaders need to become beginners again in the age of AI
How recognition helps people understand why their work matters
How Microsoft is thinking about human plus AI as work is reinvented
Why organizations cannot scale AI without bringing employees along
How AI can unlock creativity, curiosity, innovation, and human potential

🙏 Thank you to our partner, Workhuman
Discover how Workhuman helps organizations turn recognition into real business impact, building stronger cultures, more connected teams, and better visibility into the people driving performance.
✅ Learn more about Workhuman → https://www.workhuman.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 our On The Road series, we sit down with Laura Mattimore and Lucia Suarez from Procter & Gamble to explore how one of the world’s most iconic companies is redesigning talent for the AI era.
Laura leads global talent across P&G’s enterprise talent systems, including hiring, learning, leadership development, workforce planning, and talent strategy. Lucia leads talent development, talent management, analytics, insights, employee experience, and transformation within that broader talent agenda.
Their message is clear: AI is not just a technology shift. It is a work, culture, skills, and employee experience shift. For P&G, the opportunity is not to replace the human, but to build around human plus AI, with HR playing a central role in redesigning how work gets done.

🎓 In this episode, we get into:
How P&G is redesigning talent strategy around human plus AI
Why HR must become the architect of future jobs and work design
Why frontline plant technicians must be designed for from the beginning
How P&G is building its own talent hub to support a build-from-within culture
How AI can personalize upskilling, career paths, and employee experience at scale

🙏 Thank you to our partner, Workhuman
Discover how Workhuman helps organizations turn recognition into real business impact, building stronger cultures, more connected teams, and better visibility into the people driving performance.
✅ Learn more about Workhuman → https://www.workhuman.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 our On The Road series, we sit down with Kalifa Oliver, Ph.D. Senior Director of Technology - People Analytics at Lowe's Companies, Inc. to explore why HR needs to stop chasing AI tools and start solving the right business problems.
Kalifa now sits in technology, not HR, leading teams across engineering, product, analytics, and people data. That gives her a very different view of what HR transformation actually requires.
Her message is clear: AI is not magic. It will only be useful if HR asks better questions, understands the problem it is trying to solve, and stops adding technology on top of broken or unnecessary work.

🎓 In this episode, we get into:
Why HR’s role is not being replaced, but radically transformed
How to redesign work before adding AI on top of broken processes
Why leaders do not want more data, they want to know what to do with it
How HR can stop chasing AI tools and start with the problem it needs to solve
Why AI should be treated like a child that needs to be taught, not a fully grown adult

🙏 Thank you to our partner, Workhuman
Discover how Workhuman helps organizations turn recognition into real business impact, building stronger cultures, more connected teams, and better visibility into the people driving performance.
✅ Learn more about Workhuman → https://www.workhuman.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 our On The Road series, we sit down with KeyAnna Schmiedl, Chief Human Experience Officer at Workhuman, to explore how organizations can identify future leaders before they are already in the obvious succession pipeline.
KeyAnna shares how Workhuman’s Future Leaders technology is helping companies spot the people giving off strong leadership signals across the business, including those who may not be visible through traditional talent reviews, manager nominations, or proximity to senior leaders.
Her message is clear: the best future leaders are not always the most obvious names in the room. If HR can use better signals to see talent earlier, organizations can retain, develop, and invest in people before they walk out the door.

🎓 In this episode, we get into:
Why the most visible people are not always the best future leaders
Why managers need to become talent exporters, not talent hoarders
How proximity bias shapes who gets noticed, sponsored, and promoted
How AI can help HR spot future leaders earlier without replacing human judgment
How better talent signals can help companies retain future leaders before they leave

🙏‍ Thank you to our series partner - Workhuman
Discover how Future Leaders helps HR teams identify rising VP+ talent earlier, build stronger succession pipelines, and develop the leaders your people already follow.
✅ Learn how to spot Future Leaders with Workhuman → https://www.workhuman.com/future-leaders/?utm_source=hr-leaders&utm_medium=partner_share&utm_campaign=1213801944017821&utm_content=null&utm_term=na_events_whl-orlando_prospecting~null_hr-leaders-podcast-recordings_1x1_5.20.2026
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.