Hi friends,

Please read this, as it’s an important update on the Amplify Talent Briefing newsletter.

I’m suspending the publication of this newsletter. This will be the last one you’ll receive.

I’ll continue sharing curated resources and stories, and offering my take on trending topics on my podcast, Substack, and social channels (see below).

If you’d like to continue learning with me, please subscribe to/follow me on the channels below.

I’m including details on how I’ll use each channel below so you can opt into whatever interests you:

• Substack: I’ll use this as my primary blog to share longer-form thoughts on trends, stories, or whims about the world of work.

• LinkedIn Newsletter - This is where I share fresh episodes of LinkedIn Presents: Redefining Work each Monday.

• Amplify Talent Community - Where I spend a lot of my time connecting with members (free to join).

• LinkedIn - My primary social channel. This is where I’ll share many of the articles and resources included in these newsletters.

• YouTube - Full podcast episodes and shorts of podcast clips.

• X/Twitter - Articles, clips, and randomness.

• TikTok - Redefining Work podcast clips.

• Instagram - Podcast clips, travel, life.

I plan to migrate my blogging and writing back to the Substack page above. There won’t be a regular posting cadence, but I encourage you to subscribe there for updates if you enjoyed the “1 Big Thing” updates in these Amplify Talent Briefings.

While I won’t be publishing this weekly Briefing anymore, I do have good news for all of you who need your HR/people newsletter fix. There are a lot of great people newsletters out there!

Here are just a few that I recommend:

• Recruiting Brainfood (Hung Lee)

• Lessons (Molly Graham)

• I Hate It Here (Hebba Youssef)

• FullStack HR (Johannes Sundlo)

• Safe for Work (Jennifer Kim)

• I Care Too Much (Kim Rohrer)

• Data-Driven HR (David Green)

• HR Brew (Daily Brew)

• Granted (Adam Grant)

I greatly appreciate you giving this newsletter a place in your inbox. Thank you. 🙏🏼

Ill see you on Substack and the socials! ✌🏼

Lars

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Hi friends! I’m back from Spring Break and diving into Q2.

❶ One Big Thing

A California lawmaker has introduced a “right to disconnect” law mirroring recent similar laws passed in Europe limiting an employer’s ability to send emails outside of work hours.

While I’m all for employee rights and balance, this seems misguided for today’s world of work. We’re no longer living in industrial-era work constructs - particularly for the tech sector this law purports to protect.

Work today spans time zones and countries.

Work today synchronous and asynchronous.

Work today is about flexibility, not rigid mandates.

Work today is about empowering employees to have agency over how and when they work - including off hours if it suits them for whatever reason they choose.

If you’re a leader and want to promote balance in a way that actually helps all employees, consider a variation of the message below in your sig file…

My working hours may not be your working hours. No replies are expected until you’re working again.

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• The data on what employees think about HR’s impact on culture. [read]

• How to interview at Coinbase [read]

• How LinkedIn quietly became the talk of the content creator community [read]

• What’s the right way to let an employee go? [read]

• Want to check your salary against your colleagues? [read]

• Harnessing HR’s power in venture capital [read]

• An open-source resource to help you setup your people function [read]

• 2024 CHRO Trends [read]

🤖 AI in the World of Work

• 26 ChatGPT Prompts to Supercharge Your Training [read]

🎧 LinkedIn Presents: Redefining Work Podcast

On this episode of Redefining Work, I’m joined by Martin Mignot and Sandra Schwarzer, two pivotal figures from Index Ventures who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in scaling startups. We discuss their book, “Scaling Through Chaos,” and its accompanying TeamPlan app as well as the intersection of people, processes and startup growth.

👀 Eye Candy

Fortune 200 CHRO Appointments by Year from Zac Upchurch’s 2024 CHRO Trends Report.

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Hello, friends.

We’re back after a one-week hiatus with some exciting news and resources. Let’s dig in.

❶ One Big Thing

In the whirlwind adventure of scaling a startup, Index Ventures just dropped a lifeline for founders navigating the tumultuous waves of growth. Their latest offerings, "Scaling Through Chaos: The Founder’s Guide to Building and Leading Teams from 0 to 1,000" and the TeamPlan App, are akin to a seasoned surfer guiding you through a rogue wave. 🏄‍♂️

These tools, fueled by an exhaustive analysis of 200,000 career profiles from behemoths like Airbnb and Stripe, promise a departure from the age-old reliance on gut feeling towards a more data-driven approach to scaling. The guide and app collectively serve as a map, illuminating the path to rapid and intelligent team scaling and strategic organizational design.

I was given early access to the book and app - both are 🤯.

Scaling Through Chaos is not just another business book; it's a manifesto for modern startup growth, offering a blend of actionable insights, compelling stories, and a sprinkle of case studies.

Meanwhile, the TeamPlan app emerges as a game-changing tool for workforce planning, empowering founders with data-driven confidence to sculpt their organizations with precision. Together, they address the founder's dilemma of topics like when to hire a CFO or how to expand their tech team, based on successful models from industry giants.

As Martin Mignot of Index Ventures aptly puts it, these resources equip founders to endure and thrive amidst the chaos, harnessing it as a catalyst for transformative progress.

On Friday, Index Ventures’ Martin Mignot and Sandra Schwarzer will join me for an episode of Redefining Work to discuss key lessons and takeaways from their data set.

For startup leaders, Index Ventures' latest innovations promise a guide through the storm, offering clarity, direction, benchmarking, and frameworks.

Best of all? It’s open-source. Download for free below.

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• Involved in early-stage hiring? You might want to bookmark this. [read]

• Coinbase doubles down on talent density. [read]

• Also, how Lattice drives high performance and talent density [read]

• How to tackle the biggest threat to your team’s growth [read]

• A measured view on the future of DEI [read]

• Can a strong ESG record help companies recruit talent? [read]

🤖 AI in the World of Work

• The future of work isn’t powered by AI. It’s powered by humans enable by AI. [read]

• ChatGPT is great at many things, including inheriting bias in recruiting [read]

• The real key to your AI strategy: humans [read]

• How not to use AI in your job search. [read]

• AI as fuel for the 4-day workweek? [read]

👀 Eye Candy

A visual on increasing Chief Human Resources Officer compensation from Nick Bloom’s recent analysis.

🎧 Ear Candy

Katelin Holloway shares why more HR people should work in VC. We’ll expand on this topic on Monday’s LinkedIn Presents: Redefining Work podcast.

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Howdy, friends. You’ll notice a subtle change in today’s newsletter. The “Workplace Innovation” section has been replaced by “AI in the World of Work.” Here’s why.

The accelerating adoption of GAI in the world of work is one of the most important and future-steering shifts we’ve seen in our lifetime. It’s crucial we understand it so that we can play an active role in shaping how and where we’ll use it - and where we shouldn’t.

This new section will explore stories that help subscribers make sense of what’s changing, opportunities, risks, litigation, and practices.

Programming note: there will be no newsletter next week as I’ll be in Las Vegas attending the Transform Conference. Want to follow along? Be sure to connect and follow on: LinkedIn and Instagram.

❶ One Big Thing

How do you nail your New Year predictions? You write them in March!

For the past four years, I’ve written Fast Company pieces with my thoughts on how HR will change in the following year. I was heads down in December and missed that opportunity, but my friends at the LinkedIn Talent Blog allowed my to make it up with the piece below - 5 Ways HR Will Change in 2024.

TL;DR:

1. Gen AI goes mainstream

2. Layoffs become normalized

3. The pendulum is swinging back to employers

4. HR must overcome DEI pushback

5. HR practitioners should become more “selfish”

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• If you interview candidates, you’ll want to bookmark this [read]

• Private equity needs a new talent strategy [read]

• 7 ways to delegate better and unleash your team’s full potential [read]

• The Rising Importance of Older Workers [read]

• Interesting analysis on Cisco’s 3-year study on the impact of hybrid work [read]

• Managers can’t escape politics in the workplace in the 2024 election years [read]

🤖 AI in the World of Work

• How Microsoft’s HR team is using AI to save over 20,000 hours per year [read]

• Your organization isn’t designed to work with GAI [read]

• HR will need to reinvent itself to lead the GAI revolution [read]

• This is the year AI begins eliminating jobs, exhibit 7 [read]

• Another AI discrimination lawsuit [read]

🎧 LinkedIn Presents: Redefining Work Podcast

This week on the pod, I sat down with my friend Elise Hu, a multi-hyphenate talented journalist, author, and thought leader in the realms of media and technology. Our discussion navigates the turbulent waters of the journalism industry's evolution, the significant role of digital media, AI’s impact on beauty standards, and the critical importance of nonprofit news in upholding a well-informed society.

👀 Eye Candy

Visual of the week.

🎧 Ear Candy

If you're a leader, few things can ruin your day more than needing to fire someone. It's just plain hard to do, even when you know it's the right decision. In this insightful discussion, Ali and fellow coach Heather Jassy share advice for effectively and compassionately handling the challenging task of letting someone go from their job.

‎The Reboot Podcast: Wisdom for Work #20 - The Art of Firing Well on Apple Podcasts

‎Show The Reboot Podcast, Ep Wisdom for Work #20 - The Art of Firing Well - Feb 26, 2024

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-reboot-podcast/id918963927?i=1000647232046

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Hi friends, I'm back in the DMV for a few weeks after last week’s Sana AI event in NYC. Home for two weeks before Vegas for the Transform Conference in March.

Will you be there? Reply to this email and let me know. ✌🏼

❶ One Big Thing

Google’s Gemini shows the limitations of human interventions in AI.

If your X timeline leans heavily on users from the tech sector like mine, you'd think the recent backlash against Google will be their demise.

If you missed the hubbub, Gemini was seemingly programmed with some human interventions to be more inclusive. The result led to highly publicized questionable results, including Black nazis, a both-sided comparison between Hitler and Elon Musk, and more.

The public outcry ultimately led to Google issuing an apology and suspending the AI chatbot.

This episode had me thinking about the Microsoft Tay fiasco, only in reverse.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time.

As the generative AI locomotive gains steam, we should be having serious conversations about bias and the potential harm of generative AI, particularly on underrepresented communities.

Instead, this will likely be more fuel for the anti-DEI headwinds we see today.

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• Are tech interviews really out of control? [read]

• 2024 is the year AI begins consuming jobs, exhibit A. [read]

• 2024 is the year AI begins consuming jobs, exhibit B. [read]

• Can you add 7.5 years to your life by changing your mindset? [read]

✨ Workplace Innovation

• The future of work depends on understanding Generation Alpha [read]

• You should be playing with GPTs at Work. Here’s how. [read]

• Smile HR, you’re on camera. [read]

👀 Eye Candy

McKinsey examines the financial performance deltas of companies leading in digital and AI.

🎧 Ear Candy

If you want to gain an edge on LinkedIn, there are two people you need to hear from: LinkedIn editor-in-chief Dan Roth and senior director of engineering Tim Jurka. In this episode, we discuss the impact of LinkedIn's ongoing algorithm changes, how to adapt your content strategy, new LinkedIn features to help you gain visibility, and an interesting new feature called “suggested posts” that could help boost your best posts for years.

LinkedIn's Algorithm Changes, Explained

Listen to this episode from Problem Solvers on Spotify. If you want to gain an edge on LinkedIn, there are two people you need to hear from: LinkedIn editor-in-chief Dan Roth and senior director of engineering Tim Jurka. In this episode, we discuss the impact of LinkedIn's ongoing algorithm changes, how to adapt your content strategy, new LinkedIn features to help you gain visibility, and an interesting new feature called “suggested posts” that could help boost your best posts for years.

open.spotify.com/episode/4y9ZkbWM9KtlEKK7jfYs8m?si=8uGAYTWtTbK6uWxfhP5liw

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Kicking this newsletter off with some big news. The Redefining Work Podcast has joined the LinkedIn Podcast Network! 🎧

The LinkedIn Podcast Network is a platform where leading voices in the professional world converge. It’s home to a range of thought-provoking shows, now including Redefining Work.

This partnership marks a significant milestone in my journey to explore the ever-evolving landscape of work and careers. Learn more in this announcement post or the podcast below. ✌🏼

Announcing: Redefining Work Joins the LinkedIn Podcast Network — Amplify Talent

In this season 11 premiere episode, I walk current and new listeners through what to expect from the show, including topics, format, guests, and some new ways to connect and engage directly with our audience.

amplifytalent.com/podcast-episodes/announcing-redefining-work-joins-linkedin-podcast-network

Want these newsletters in your inbox each Wednesday? Subscribe below. 💌

❶ One Big Thing

Remember when Glassdoor was the spot employers worried about employees and candidates sharing negative reviews?

Not any more.

Over the past several months, we’ve seen a range of platforms from TikTok to X with viral posts about negative experiences, including layoffs, interviews, and early morning meetings.

This week’s viral post involves a product candidate shining a light on shady practices with unpaid interview projects.

If you’re currently asking candidates to do multiple rounds of unpaid work samples - watch this and consider the 3M views on X and LinkedIn.

Then, you might want to rethink that process.

Twitter tweet

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• Why are tech layoffs continuing? Mark Zuckerberg shares his take with Morning Brew [read]

• In the face of DEI backlash, Google is making gains… [read]

• …and Zoom? Not so much [read]

• AI chatbots are the future! Or are they? [read]

• A look at how CEOs evaluate their own success today [read]

✨ Workplace Innovation

• Case study: How EY uses AI to narrow 5 million applicants to 140,000 hires [read]

• If you do reference checks, you’ll want to bookmark this [read]

• A new way to think about 9-box talent reviews [read]

• Read this to elevate your quality of hire [read]

👀 Eye Candy

Ever wonder how FAANG+ companies make their money? Here’s a breakdown [HT to Anthony Onesto for the share]

🎧 Ear Candy

A great window into how collecting ideas and inspiration fuels growth.

‎The Next Big Idea Daily: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success on Apple Podcasts

‎Show The Next Big Idea Daily, Ep How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success - Feb 19, 2024

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-big-idea-daily/id1666681752?i=1000645842609

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

If you work in HR, people, talent, or recruiting, I have a cheat code for your career.

Take two minutes and join the new Amplify Talent Community for free below. You’ll connect and collaborate with 500+ progressive peers from 30+ countries shaping the new world of work.

❶ One Big Thing

Today is Valentine’s Day. Let’s talk about the love we’ll rarely see on a Hallmark Card - self-love.

“I wouldn’t want to be anyone else. I’d want to be me.”

Speaking of community, I want to share a recent story I’ve been thinking about over the past several weeks.

Each Wednesday in the Amplify Talent Community we host a “peer power hour” group video discussion.

The themes and conversations range from heavy topics (layoffs, bad behavior, employee deaths) to light ones (travel advice, music recommendations, parenting tips).

Every now and then, we’ll use icebreaker cards to help get to know each other better and build our connections.

Last month, there was a profound moment that I’m still thinking about.

A member of the community picked a card with the prompt, “If you could change places with anyone, who would it be?”

There was a long pause as they pondered the question. After thoughtful deliberation, their response was the following…

“I would be me.” They soon followed with, “I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself over the past year and I’m really happy with who I am. I wouldn’t trade places with anyone.”

It was such a refreshing perspective on self. I’m still thinking about it weeks later.

In this FOMO-fueled world we live in today so many of us are constantly comparing ourselves to others. The results are inevitable.

I’m not smart enough.

I’m not skinny enough.

I’m not successful enough.

I’m not wealthy enough.

I’m not…enough.

Comparison is more than the thief of joy. It’s a self-fulfilling doom spiral that erases any contentment with who you are - and how far you’ve come - professionally and personally.

Anyway, it was a healthy reminder to be kind to yourself and practice acceptance.

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• a16z’s abundance agenda goes heavy on AI. [read]

• Tesla gets “hardcore.” [read]

• Layoffs aside, the U.S. economy is cranking. [read]

• AI’s $200B question. [read]

✨ Workplace Innovation

• How to lose your “strongest candidates.” [read]

• Want your employees to embrace RTO? Start here. [read]

• With great (AI) powers comes great (AI) responsibility. [read]

• The gender gap applies to equity as well. [read]

👀 Eye Candy

Carta explores the equity pay gap in startups since 2000.

🎧 Ear Candy

Emotions are like opinions — everyone has them. Thanks to the pioneering research of today’s guest, we know that it’s possible to transform our feelings by changing how we think and talk about them. Lisa Feldman Barrett is a psychologist and neuroscientist at Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School. In this episode, Lisa and Adam bust myths about how emotions are constructed in the brain and experienced in the body. They discuss the surprising evidence that language doesn’t just describe emotions — it shapes them. And they examine how managing your emotions is easier than you may realize.

‎ReThinking: You have more control over your emotions than you think with Lisa Feldman Barrett on Apple Podcasts

‎Show ReThinking, Ep You have more control over your emotions than you think with Lisa Feldman Barrett - Jan 15, 2024

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-have-more-control-over-your-emotions-than-you-think/id1554567118?i=1000641458701

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Hello, friends. We’re officially one month into 2024. A lot happened in the past week. Trauma dumping on Elmo. Tracy Chapman’s amazing Grammy performance. Stellar U.S. jobs report numbers for January. I dig into all of it below. Let’s go.

❶ One Big Thing

Is employment dead?

It’s the provocative title of an upcoming book by Work3 cofounders Josh Drean and Deborah Perry Piscione.

In this week’s Redefining Work podcast, I sat down with Josh to break down the intersection of Web3 and work and see where it’s all going. You can listen to the full episode below.

Zooming out from the pod, I’ve been thinking more about this concept beyond Web3. What does it mean to work today? The modalities of work are evolving. Full-time, part-time, contract, guilds, outsourcing, fractional.

How we think about work is evolving, too. Employees increasingly feel expendable and have taken to social media to put their feelings, and layoff videos, on blast.

In this new world of work employees loyalties and choices will be to themselves first - and rightfully so IMO.

What does this mean for hiring?

Be honest and clear about what’s in it for employees - not just the company. Approach employment in shorter intervals in terms of ramp-up and productivity, while clearly conveying what employees will be adding to their portfolio of skills and experiences.

I don’t think employment is dead. I do think industrial-era concepts of work are in their waning days.

Why Work Tech Advisor Josh Drean Believes Employment is Dead

On this episode of Redefining Work, I’m joined by Josh Drean, work tech advisor, co-founder of the Work3 Institute and author of the upcoming book “Employment Is Dead” to discuss disruptive technologies and the future of employment models.

playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=LLPME3426729450

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• Digging into January’s strong U.S. jobs report [read]

• IBM tell employees to RTO, or else. [read]

• What happened to civility? [read]

• Elmo thinks you need therapy (and he’s probably right) [read]

✨ Workplace Innovation

• Are we entering the age of layoffs as “content”? [read]

• But can’t we just fire employees without getting shamed on TikTok? [read]

• What’s next for the future of health, wealth, and work? [read]

• Rethinking coding tests in the age of ChatGPT [read]

• Are portfolio careers the key for employees over 50? [read]

👀 Eye Candy

McKinsey explores the potential racial wealth gap created by generative AI.

🎧 Ear Candy

Maybe we can do more with less. Josh Bersin weighs in on over-hiring and Meta’s success in the wake of a 22% layoff.

Why Do Companies Hire Too Many People? And What About Meta's Earnings?

This week Meta (Facebook) announced revenue growth of 25% year over year and a headcount cut of 22%, with net income soaring to $14 billion, almost a 35% net profit. That spectacular outcome is a result of focus and a clear and rigorous process of reducing headcount. But the big story is not this company, it's the big idea that companies often over-hire. And this over-hiring results in bureaucracy, slowdown, and loss of innovation. Just as Meta has learned this, I believe every company has to learn this lesson. In today's talent-constrained global economy, it's time to run our companies with a focus on "fewer people" and "more clarity." This podcast explains. Additional Information The Myth of the Bell Curve The Dynamic Organization Research HR and HR Technology Predictions for 2024 The Four Day Work Week Arrives  

josh-bersin.castos.com/episodes/why-do-companies-hire-too-many-people-and-what-about-metas-earnings-1

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

ATTN NYC subscribers. 🍎

Want to join me for drinks and a discussion on AI’s impact on people growth on Feb 22? Excellent! Sana is hosting us and you can RSVP here.

❶ One Big Thing

Last week, I had a conversation with a CEO concerned about the fact that their brand attracted employees who were only interested in getting the company’s logo on their resume and would leave after two years. They wanted to know how to address this problem.

They didn’t realize their problem was a gift they were lucky to have.

The days of golden retirement watches are long gone.

The global average employee tenure is 4.1 years. Less in high-demand sectors like technology.

You don’t own talent. You rent.

If you focus on maximizing the impact and mutual value while you have them, however long that is, you both win.

That’s one of the reasons I love LinkedIn’s Tour of Duty model.

Being a great place to be, and to be from, is a great place to be.

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• The CHRO as Growth Executive. [read]

• Nearly 25,000 tech workers were laid off in Jan 2024. Why? [read]

• Are CEOs using RTO plans to mask poor management? [read]

• Canva is here to help job seekers [read]

• What’s going to happen with AI and Work? Futurist Amy Webb shares her take below.

✨ Workplace Innovation

• Everyone has work predictions for 2024. I’ll take Josh Bersin’s. [read]

• Passport optional. More American workers are being hired for remote roles overseas. [read]

• Spotify continues to lead the way in culture openness [read]

• Do we really need Charm School to relearn how to behave in the office? [read]

• Highlights from Microsoft’s annual Future of Work report (below)

Twitter tweet

👀 Eye Candy

Accenture shared this CEO view of top business growth drivers for the next three years. (hint: people)

🎧 Ear Candy

My pal Katelin Holloway thinks more people people need to be in VC. She’s right. She shares her thesis on the HR Heretics podcast below.

Katelin Holloway Thinks More HR People Need a VC Checkbook

Watch now | Get them front and center into check writing roles.

hrheretics.substack.com/p/katelin-holloway-thinks-more-hr-people

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Greetings from Barcelona! I’m here this week to join IESE’s Foundations of Scaling program as a Guest Lecturer. I’m leading a workshop on Mastering the Art of Recruiting at Scale. Also, eating paella. [not at the same time, probably] I’ll share that deck in the future in case you might find it helpful.

❶ One Big Thing

Looking for an HR job in tech? We can help.

I recently partnered with trueup founder Amit Tayloer to use their AI job board technology to power a new job board for HR jobs in tech companies.

Trueup uses AI to scrape job boards and compile them in a searchable format with additional information to help you assess the opportunity. You can segment by location, function, geography, seniority, company stage, and more.

Their tool embeds public company data including recent layoffs, glassdoor reviews, total employees, funding, investors, and more (example below) to enrich the company profiles. 

It’s an open-source resource so feel free to share it with anyone who might find it helpful. You can check it out below.

🗣️ Shout out to Hung Lee for helping set this up. If you’re looking for a role in recruiting, be sure to check out his Recruiting Brainfood job board.

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• The new Amplify Talent Community is officially open! Here’s why you should join us. [read]

• Three reasons Mark Cuban is right about DEI [read]

• These are the 25 fastest-growing roles in the U.S. [read]

• Stop serving up compliment sandwiches [read]

✨ Workplace Innovation

• Now THIS is a clever way to control hiring [read]

• How can HR evolve when layoffs are in a steady state? [read]

• Dropbox’s key learnings and lessons as a lab for distributed work [read]

👀 Eye Candy

David Green shared this interesting look at global perspectives on people management topics.

🎧 Ear Candy

Guild Education Chief People Officer Dean Carter sits with JP Elliott for this thoughtful conversation on living your purpose.

“Living Your Purpose” with Dean Carter, Chief People and Purpose Officer, Guild — Future of HR Podcast

“Living Your Purpose” with Dean Carter, Chief People and Purpose Officer, Guild

www.futureofhr.com/episodes/055-dean-carter

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Hey friends! It's a big week over here in Amplify land.

On Tuesday, we officially launched the new Amplify Talent Community. Learn more and join us here.

On Thursday, I’m joining over a dozen industry peers for a 24-hour podcast for charity in the morning (Redefining Work is on the 11a-12p ET slot). In the afternoon (4-4:45p ET) I’ll join a group of incredible DEI leaders to moderate a discussion on Maximizing DEI Impact for my friend Rocki Howard’s Inclusive By Design Conference (RSVP here).

Next week, I’ll be back in Barcelona joining IESE’s School of Founders as a Guest Lecturer for their Foundations of Scale program. I’ll also be joining the BCN Talent & People Meetup so if you’re in Barcelona check it out.

❶ One Big Thing

If you spend part of your time living on the internet, chances are you’ve seen the video Brittany Pietsch recorded and uploaded to TikTok of her unexpected firing from Cloudflare. She wasn’t the only one.

Is this the new norm for remote layoffs? Maybe.

I’m not going to get into the ethics of secret recordings or the shortcomings of how it was handled on the HR side. That would need to be a long read to explore all of the angles adequately.

What I do think is that HR needs to work off the assumption that these conversations will be put on blast - and plan accordingly.

📍Top Stories

• Return to office, or else. [read]

• Carta learns an important PR lesson [read]

• Examining the cost of vacancies [read]

• What if midlife is actually the peak of human experience? [read]

✨ Workplace Innovation

• IMF + GAI = [read]

• Is accountability the key to HR’s future? [read]

• Is the hype on generative AI’s impact on productivity overblown? [read]

• The year in workplace innovation [read]

👀 Eye Candy

The IMF projects the impact of AI on jobs across a range of global markets.

🎧 Ear Candy

On this episode of Punk Rock HR, join Laurie Ruettimann as she sits down with the brilliant Dr. Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, and explore the essential role of failure in our professional and personal growth.

‎Punk Rock HR: Right Kind of Failure with Amy C. Edmondson on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Punk Rock HR, Ep Right Kind of Failure with Amy C. Edmondson - Jan 8, 2024

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/right-kind-of-failure-with-amy-c-edmondson/id1360374196?i=1000640882398

The Amplify Talent Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Gm! Please allow me to reintroduce myself…well, my newsletter. Anyway…

I’m excited to re-introduce you to the Amplify Talent Briefing. A beacon for navigating the new world of work.

This new format is designed to help business leaders understand the people stories, news, trends, and analysis that are impacting their business.

Each week, we’ll spotlight work stories worth your time. Let’s dig in!

🔥 One Hot Take

This is a(nother) pivotal time for DEI. As billionaires battle on Twitter (sorry, I still can’t call it X) and budgets and teams continue contracting, the immediate future seems murky. The current shouted conversation unfolding on Twitter lacks something that I feel is crucial to this work - nuance.

A recent HR Heretics podcast (below) had me thinking about that nuance. On the surface, you may find the episode image problematic - four white-presenting leaders discussing the future of DEI. An optics issue Colleen McCreary took on directly.

You might write this discussion off entirely based on the image below. Some did. I don’t have a judgment on that choice. Frankly, as a privileged white man, I’m sure it’s easier for me to give them grace beyond the optics to try and understand the substance of this discussion.

While their demographics may shield them from the strife of underrepresented employees that this work is meant to support, I found the insights from their experience navigating executive teams and boardrooms as advocates for these practices valuable.

Colleen is right that DEIB conversations are hard and easily misconstrued. As we navigate the coming months (and a historically toxic political atmosphere that will surely see more DEI weaponization in the U.S.) that ability to navigate nuance will be tested.

PS - If it’s helpful, here’s a playlist of 14 Redefining Work episodes with DEI leaders from whom I’ve learned a lot over the years.

📍This Week’s Top Stories

• CEOs have their work cut out for them in 2024. Here are eight top priorities. [read]

• While you’re at it, here are five leadership trends to watch in 2024. There’s a lot of 🎯 here. [read]

• How not to use LinkedIn, exhibit 37. [read]

• Turmoil for the U.S. gig economy? New US labor rule may help gig workers qualify as employees. [read]

✨ Workplace Innovation

• BCG's latest read shows how generative AI is subtly yet powerfully reshaping talent strategies [read]

• At this point, we’re all pushing double digits on the number of 2024 prediction pieces we’ve read. If you work in HR, make sure this one from Spotify CHRO Katarina Berg is among them. [read]

• Wouldn’t it be cool if HR Business Partners had prebuilt GPT prompts to make their lives easier? Johannes Sundlo is generous and gave you 188 of them. [read]

• Lattice tapping that open-source vibe with this collection of 50 editable charts covering most key HR metrics [read]

• My man Hung Lee is always one step ahead of pretty much everyone. His Recruiting Brainfood empire grows again with the addition of this new AI tool that scrapes hundreds (967, atm) TA jobs from tech companies. [read]

👀 Eye Candy

McKinsey takes a look at expected industry shifts in 2024.

🎧 Ear Candy

Let’s leave crappy meetings in 2023 and take a new approach to this year. Adam Grant shows you the way in the WorkLife ep below.

‎WorkLife with Adam Grant: Why Meetings Suck and How to Fix Them on Apple Podcasts

‎Show WorkLife with Adam Grant, Ep Why Meetings Suck and How to Fix Them - Sep 25, 2023

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-meetings-suck-and-how-to-fix-them/id1346314086?i=1000629095374

🗣 Spread the Word

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Subscribe below with 1-click.

Planning on hiring a Head of People in 2024? Start here.

Few roles more directly impact the success or struggles of a business than the Head of People. Getting that hire right will propel your business forward. Get it wrong, and you’ll quickly lose ground to competitors.

This special episode of the Redefining Work podcast will help you understand the environment and market you’re recruiting in, the mindset and drivers of transformational people leaders, and how to design an interview process tailored to illuminate alignment with your company and the candidate.

Check out this detailed post and the podcast below to learn how to get this critical hire right.

This Week’s Stories

• McKinsey weighs in on how the CHRO role is evolving.

• As does BCG on the people agenda for 2024.

• Employee feedback is dead. Long live Performance Dialog.

• Coinbase has a plan for talent density.

• What Microsoft’s CoPilot users are teaching them about generative AI.

• 2023 Employee Experience, as conveyed by charts.

• 🎧 Is there such a thing as compassionate layoffs?

Visual of the Week

Culture Amp takes a macro look at global employee engagement trends across countries and industries.

Rough time to be an EX leader in Germany right now…

Thanks for reading! If you found this briefing helpful, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your network. See you next week! ✌🏼

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you making space for this newsletter in your inbox.

You can comment below to share your thoughts on this week's stories or let me know what you'd like to hear more about in future podcasts. ✌

Want to build progressive people teams?

We've got you. Let Amplify Talent power your team by helping you hire your next people leader and develop your people team.

Ready to level up as an HR/People leader? It just got a little easier.

Today through the weekend, we’re offering a Black Friday $100 USD off our Mastering HR Leadership in the New World of Work course ($400 USD with this discount for a limited time only).

This course encapsulates a blend of proven strategies, contemporary HR practices, and actionable insights from world-class Chief People Officers to help you foster a culture of innovation, inclusivity, and performance. You’ll learn the keys to empowering teams, driving organizational success, building business acumen, leading through volatile times, communicating to influence, and a range of essential topics for modern leadership.

It’s designed to help you elevate your HR leadership and business acumen and impact to align with the evolving demands of the new world of work, including downloadable templates, resources, and over 10 hours of exclusive video content.

You can purchase the course below using the discount code AMPLIFRIDAY23 at checkout.

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In other news, unless you were on an internet detox over the weekend you saw the dramatic story of OpenAI’s board firing of Sam Altman, the shit storm that was stirred over the next 72 hours. The winner is clearly Microsoft who scooped up Sam and his cofounder Greg Brockman, and likely many more soon-to-be former OpenAI employees.

X was flooded with messages like the one below from employees as a form of protest against the board. What does this mean for the future of GPTs and OpenAI? Not even ChatGPT knows.

For all our Amplify Briefing readers in the U.S. celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend, I hope you have much to be thankful for and spend the holiday with those who are important to you. Whether your birth family, friends, or chosen family - may you find happiness and joy.

This Week’s Stories

• What’s a GPT and why should you care? Q Hamirani and I broke down the implications for HR practitioners in this week’s episode of Redefining Work Presents: The Riff.

• We’ve seen all the RTO headlines the past several months, but what if the key to increasing profit lies with Hybrid? Forbes brings the receipts.

• Open Org released their Open Hiring Playbook template as an open-source resource. If you recruit, you should check it out.

• This week Josh Bersin launched what I think is the most impactful generative AI tool for individual HR practitioners on the marker - Galilieo.

• Employee Experience has been a rollercoaster in 2023. Culture Amp breaks it down in seven charts.

• Mercer goes deep on the future of the CHRO role navigating the new world of work in this report.

Visual of the Week

According to a recent report by Flex Index, 1/3 of US companies offer Full Flexibility, meaning corporate employees do not have to come into the office. That’s consistent from Q3 2023 and up two percentage points from the beginning of 2023.

Thanks for reading! If you found this briefing helpful, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your network. See you next week! ✌🏼

The Amplify Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Want more insights from the new world of work? Check out the additional Amplify channels below: 

Redefining Work Podcast | Redefining HR Book | Fast Company

Last week OpenAI released GPT’s to the public and instantly created a new class of creators.

In the week GPTs have been out we’ve already seen numerous GPTs hit the market, some curated by third parties and others shared directly by creators.

We haven’t experienced something so potentially impactful in recent memory that democratizes access to build these tools. Overall, I think it’s a great thing. But (and of course, there’s a but), we’re moving at light speed into unknown territory as the innovation is far outpacing any legal guidance around intellectual property and ownership that’s feeding these GPTs.

Should IP apply to open information in the public domain?

Should GPT creators cite their data inputs used for programming?

Will non-domain creators build GPTs that may steer users in the wrong direction?

It’s unclear, but I agree with my friend Hung Lee on thoughts he shared in his Recruiting Brainfood Facebook group that we should embrace this technology fully. Too often, HR is not in the driver’s seat on innovation. We should be leading from the front on generative AI and ensure we shape our future - not have it shaped for us.

On that note, Q Hamirani began curating HR & People GPT’s and is developing a community of HR & People GPT creators to collaborate. Learn more and join here.

I also went down a rabbit hole building my first set of GPTs over the weekend (check them out below and let me know what you think).

• 🤖 A GPT for HR teams to explore where they can use GPTs to create automation and optimize their workflows (meta!) [find it here]

• 🤖 A GPT to help you develop a people strategy that aligns with your business strategy and plan. [find it here]

• 🤖 A GPT to find HR conferences that align with your specific needs (learning goals, budgets, locations) [find it here]

To access and build these GPTs you need to be a ChatGPT Plus subscriber ($20/month). Is it worth it? Absolutely. As the newsletter suggests - Go Paid Today.

This Week’s Stories

• Pyn just open-sourced an amazing employee journey mapping tool that you should check out here.

• Looking for some future of work inspo? Forbes has you covered.

• Has the battle of the bots begun? Job seekers are now using AI bots to complete job descriptions while they sleep.

• How should CHRO’s be using ChatGPT? Johannes Sundlo has 307 ideas.

• Who’s driving the most important issues in your company? Josh Bersin thinks it’s CHROs (and I agree).

• It’s fun to sit in the podcast interviewee chair from time to time. I joined BrightHire’s Teddy Chestnut for a wide ranging conversation on all things recruiting in this episode of The Debrief.

• Ready to level up as a people leader? This new Amplify Talent course has you covered.

Visual of the Week

McKinsey takes a look at why healthcare is the next big talent gap.

Thanks for reading! If you found this briefing helpful, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your network. See you next week! ✌🏼

The Amplify Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Want more insights from the new world of work? Check out the additional Amplify channels below: 

Redefining Work Podcast | Redefining HR Book | Fast Company

Last week we saw a bit of a shitstorm in response to a CNBC article about LinkedIn’s “open to work” badges. I weighed in here with a different view of how to approach CEO’s with antiquated bias against “active” job seekers.

This Week’s Stories

• The world of generative AI is about to get very interesting on with OpenAI’s new GPT announcement. Ethan Mollick goes deeper into what this means for the creator space here.

• How should companies handle employee entitlement and activism? Silicon Valley Chief People Officers have thoughts.

• In an environment where our DEIB efforts are facing headwinds, open-source resources like this are extremely valuable.

• Ready to level up as a people leader? This new Amplify Talent course has you covered.

Visual of the Week

McKinsey takes a look at the potential effect of generative AI on collaboration and the application of expertise.

Thanks for reading! If you found this briefing helpful, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your network. See you next week! ✌🏼

The Amplify Briefing is brought to you by Amplify Talent, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Want more insights from the new world of work? Check out the additional Amplify channels below: 

Redefining Work Podcast | Redefining HR Book | Fast Company

Let’s be real for a moment. The volatile world of work today is unlike anything we’ve experienced before. Crisis after crisis. Layoffs. Uncertainty. Burnout. 

That’s why I’m excited to introduce a new course specifically designed to build your capability, business acumen, and impact as a modern people leader today.

20+ hours of video and a range of presentations, interviews, research, downloads & templates, and more you can use to elevate your impact today.

• Leading HR transformation and change

• Building executive and leadership relationships; including leadership peers, executives, CEO, and your Board.

• Rebuilding culture and engagement post-RIF

• Communicating to influence, including crisis communication and navigating societal flashpoints

• Building business acumen and aligning your talent strategy with the organizational strategy

• Embedding inclusive and equitable practices throughout your HR operating system

You'll learn from some of the top CPOs in the field I deeply admire, including Katarina Berg (Spotify), Katie Burke (Hubspot), Lynne Oldham (Stash), Pat Wadors (UKG), Colleen McCreary (Ribbit Capital), Bryan Power (Nextdoor), Loren I. Shuster (The Lego Group), and many more.

Learn more

This Week’s Stories

• RTOblox: Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki shares his justification for bringing employees back into the office.

• Does psychological safety in the workplace have limits? Well, it’s complicated.

• What should HR’s priorities be for 2024? Gartner has some thoughts.

• In these heavy times, Headspace curated some guided meditations to help manage the feelings they’re sure to conjure.

Visual of the Week

It’s been a hard year for startups as Carta shows in this visual of startup shutdowns since 2019.

Thanks for reading! If you found this briefing helpful, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your network. See you next week! ✌🏼

The Amplify Briefing is brought to you by Amplify, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Want more insights from the new world of work? Check out the additional Amplify channels below: 

Redefining Work Podcast | Redefining HR Book | Fast Company

TW: these opening thoughts include addiction, loss, and grief. If those topics will be difficult for you to read today please skip this section and go to this week’s articles below.

Eight years ago today, my brother Kai died from opioid abuse.

His death, the pain of suddenly losing the last member of my immediate family, and the grief that I still carry make me feel so helpless when those waves of sadness and loss hit.

Before Kai's death, I was blissfully naive about addiction.

I was unaware of how this silent disease ravages lives and families. I wanted to understand his pain and what drove him to this place.

As I learned more about addiction, it became clear that one of the biggest obstacles Kai and other addicts face is the stigma we place on addiction. The stigma that prevents so many from getting the help they need.

Several years ago, I decided to dedicate the anniversary of his loss to telling his story with the hopes of humanizing addiction and chipping away at the stigma that prevents so many from seeking the help they need.

I realize this is a heavy topic and will be triggering for some, so please keep that in mind when reviewing the posts.

Kai was so much more than an addict. A loving father, a son, a veteran, and an uncle who sadly never met my daughters.

I recorded the following podcast as a tribute to Kai a few years after his death. It includes stories from those who loved him that tell the bigger picture of the man he was.

It was the hardest piece of content I ever created. It's emotional and raw, so please keep that in mind if that may be triggering.

If you or someone you love is suffering from addiction, please know that you’re not alone. ❤️

This Week’s Stories

• Few people in our industry are on top of important trends like David Green. He shows you why in this breakdown of Deloitte’s new “Skills-Based Organization” report.

• What is the cost of distraction? It’s much more than you’d think.

• LinkedIn conducted a second round of layoffs this year, impacting roughly 3% of its workforce.

• With privilege comes great responsibility. Jerry Colonna demonstrates how to wield it in this Redefining Work podcast.

• In these charged times, words (and tweets) matter more than ever. A lesson Web Summit CEO Founder Paddy Cosgrove learned this week.

Visual of the Week

AI for what? Dropbox partnered with Economic Impact to explore how knowledge workers want to use AI-related tools.

Thanks for reading! If you found this briefing helpful, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your network. See you next week! ✌🏼

The Amplify Briefing is brought to you by Amplify, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Want more insights from the new world of work? Check out the additional Amplify channels below: 

Redefining Work Podcast | Redefining HR Book | Fast Company

As the world reels from another tragedy following the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, my heart goes out to all impacted. In case it’s helpful, I started an open-source LinkedIn thread where I’ll curate resources to support leaders and teams guiding their teams through this conflict.

This Week’s Stories

• Few jobs are more complex than the Chief People Office. Heidrick put together this great guide for first-time CPO’s to thrive.

• Have you ever wondered how NASA selects astronauts? Take a rare look inside one of the most selective recruiting processes in all of mankind.

• Microsoft shows how to leverage data to drive your RTO strategy.

• Canva continues its open-source leadership with this new tool for job seekers.

• The field of recruiting is in a state of flux. Susan LaMotte explores what that means for the future of the field in her latest Forbes piece.

• Is there such a thing as being too vulnerable? Jacob Morgan weighs in on this Redefining Work podcast.

Visual of the Week

So what exactly is the “right” RTO number? Well, that doesn’t exist in any universal way, but McKinsey examines the delta between current and expected projections across a range of major cities below.

Thanks for reading! If you found this briefing helpful, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your network. See you next week! ✌🏼

The Amplify Briefing is brought to you by Amplify, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Want more insights from the new world of work? Check out the additional Amplify channels below: 

Redefining Work Podcast | Redefining HR Book | Fast Company

Editorial note: there will be no Amplify Briefing newsletter next week as I’ll be in NYC for LinkedIn’s Talent Connect Summit. If you’re attending, be sure to find me and say hello! I’ll be leading workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you can’t be there live, LinkedIn has you covered with their free livestream. Learn more and register for the Americas, APAC, or EMEA show at  https://lnkd.in/gCtUpHbU.

This Week’s Stories

• Is it time for a new era of HR? Josh Bersin thinks so in this piece on systemic HR.

• Wondering what to make of the startup landscape after a tumultuous H1 2023? Carta has you covered in this in-depth H1 compensation analysis report.

• Raise your hand if your company aces performance discussions. [🦗] This collection of expert tips is for you.

• Despite the veracity of RTO in the news cycles, flexible work models are here to stay. BCG brings the receipts (i.e. data your leadership team should know).

• Move over Siri. ChatGPT is rolling out voice and picture commands.

Visual of the Week

This chart from Carta’s State of Startup Compensation illustrates monthly startup net headcount trends since January 2019.

Thanks for reading! If you found this briefing helpful, I’d appreciate you sharing it with your network. See you next week! ✌🏼

The Amplify Briefing is brought to you by Amplify, a modern talent agency that connects, develops, and empowers the next generation of transformative people leaders.

Want to build progressive people teams?

We can help you hire your next people leader and develop your people team. 

Want more insights from the new world of work? Check out the additional Amplify channels below: 

Redefining Work Podcast | Redefining HR Book | Fast Company