Hi Reader, One of the most important lessons I learned as a Chief People Officer: it's not enough to know your function. You know how to deliver engagement programs. You know how to develop people, what the key recruiting metrics are, all of it. But the most important thing — the thing that shapes a career — is understanding how your function is driving business results. And this isn't only an HR problem. The same goes for IT, admin, marketing — any function. Some get there. Some don't. Today...

Hi Reader, This week, a company asked me to help them build an AI policy. And they kind of expected me to ask them about the tools they use, the rules they apply, and how they can check whether people are actually following those rules. All reasonable questions. But I didn't start with any of them. The first three I asked were: How do your people feel about AI? How do you keep it from getting in the way of their judgment? And how do you plan to work with it, day to day? Here’s why. A policy...

Hi Reader, Yesterday I sat with the leadership team of a nonprofit. They were building their first AI governance structure. They already have tools in place. A bit here, a bit there. And then came the question I keep hearing in different forms: “We probably want more governance around all of this. But how do we even start? What’s the starting point for something that’s changing faster than we can keep up with?” It’s a fair question. And the answer tends to surprise people. You don’t start...