Game Changers – Workforce

March 16, 2020June 29, 2023

Q&A with Rachel Druckenmiller: From intern to entrepreneur

Rachel Druckenmiller, founder and chief executive officer of Unmuted, started her HR and leadership journey long before receiving the Game Changer award in 2019. In this Q&A, Druckenmiller tells Workforce what she has learned along the way, and gives advice regarding how to keep pushing forward in the face of change.

Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?

Rachel Druckenmiller: I’ve learned how to discover and use my strengths. I have pursued learning and development opportunities every year, whether it’s reading a book, attending a conference or training, taking an assessment, or learning from teachers, coaches and mentors. I’ve pursued what my dad calls “interest-driven work.” I became a health coach in the midst of dealing with my own health challenges. I went back to school to study my field more intensely and earned a master’s degree in health science in my late 20s. I have completed trainings and certifications in the area of workplace culture, well-being and professional speaking. I’ve worked with mindset, performance, improv, writing and vocal coaches who have helped me show up more fully and boldly.

Just over a year ago, I started to more intentionally pursue training that would ultimately give me the confidence to start my own business as a professional speaker and trainer. I’m grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had to grow and learn and will continue to pursue growth by challenging myself and immersing myself in new ways of thinking.

WF: How has your career changed?

Druckenmiller: I started at a small company as an intern in 2003 and transitioned to full-time in 2007. It was there that I had the freedom to become an intrapreneur, someone who has many of the traits of an entrepreneur but does so within a company and with a stable paycheck and benefits. I started primarily as a consultant working for an employee benefits consulting firm. I’ve morphed into a thought leader in the field of well-being and a speaker who is focused on humanizing the workplace. Last year, I made the decision to follow in my parents’ entrepreneurial footsteps and launch my own company as a speaker and trainer. I’ve never felt more fulfilled or free. It’s been wonderful.

WF: What are some of the changes you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?

Druckenmiller: I’ve been encouraged to see the trends toward humanizing the workplace and putting people first. For a while, it seemed that policies, procedures and perks were what mattered most, but much of that was surface-focused. HR was tasked with “fixing” workplace culture, but we’ve now come to realize that it’s not just HR’s responsibility, it’s everyone’s responsibility to shape the culture of their organization. HR recognizes that having a great culture goes beyond the perks like ping pong tables and rock-climbing walls and is really more about how we can make people feel seen, heard and valued.

I’m seeing more of a focus on creating memorable and meaningful experiences from employees throughout the employee life cycle. Whether they’re using scavenger hunts as part of the onboarding or team building process or incorporating more pulse surveys to gather ongoing feedback, there is more intentionality than ever before. HR is committed to fostering connection, especially among dispersed workforces. Using video conferencing technology allows remote workers to feel more connected and to see their colleagues.

I’m seeing HR become more integrated into the strategic discussions within their organization instead of being viewed as “the people police” in their own little silo. They’re being incorporated into more learning and development conversations and strategies, as companies embrace more customized, micro-learning approaches. They’re often the ones bringing attention to the importance of upskilling in the area of emotional intelligence, something that is lacking among many leaders today. The strategies progressive HR leaders are putting in place are helping organizations brand themselves as best places to work and employers of choice.

In the field of well-being, which has been an increasingly important aspect of HR strategy, there has been a shift. The focus is on the value of investment and genuinely caring for people’s well-being instead of just focusing on the immediate financial return on investment. I’m grateful to see that shift. I’m also encouraged that HR and other business leaders are embracing a whole person approach to well-being, one that incorporates financial, career, social-emotional, community and physical health components. The increasing focus on mental health, humanized parental leave policies, flexible work schedules and sabbaticals is exciting. It’s been a long time coming for us to truly put people first and to make decisions that will benefit all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Employees expect employers to care, and HR realizes that and sees the need to respond.

WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?

Rachel Druckenmiller, founder and CEO of Unmuted

Druckenmiller: Keep showing up. Sometimes we show up and don’t know that anyone is noticing what we’re doing, whether that’s speaking up in a meeting, creating and sharing content or coming up with new ideas. We don’t always see the immediate impact of our contributions, but the key is to be consistent. Keep showing up, even when you don’t feel like it.

Trust yourself and trust the timing of your life. You have committed to years of training and development and honing your skills. You have an important message to share, and if you keep sharing it from a genuine place sharing with the intention of serving others versus serving your ego, it will pay off. Everything will unfold in its proper time. What is meant for you will not miss you.

You will gain confidence as you continue to do your work. Do the inner work, do the relational work, be open to feedback and be open to changing what’s not working. Doing the hard work builds strength and will help you sustain yourself when things are hard.

Spend more time with those you love. Work is important and it will always be there. There is always more work that you can do. But we can’t replace the moments we miss with the people we love. Go on weekend getaways with your husband and your friends. Have more lunches or dinners with your parents. If you are successful at work but depleted at home, then you are not going to be happy. Invest in relationships.

Ask for help when you need it. You’re not a burden. You’re not weak. You’re not going to be seen as incompetent. You are a human being who has limitations. Open up to people and share your struggles. Let other people help you and support you. Whether it’s seeing a therapist or asking for more support at work or at home, speak up for what you need.

WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?

Druckenmiller: Focus on the good in people. So often, HR professionals can become jaded because they’re often dealing with all of the dysfunctional aspects of a workplace. Remembering why we are in this space — to serve and support people and to create workplaces where people can thrive — can encourage us to keep going and to keep showing up.

Reach out to your peers when you’re struggling or need input or insight. You are not a burden and you deserve as much support as anyone else. You are a helper and giver by nature, but if you constantly pour out from your cup and don’t fill it back up, you won’t be good for yourself or for other people.

WF: What are some things that you value most about your career?

Druckenmiller: I have a platform that gives me the ability to use my voice to speak up, speak out and spark transformation at work that carries over to our lives at home. As a speaker and trainer, I’m finding that my messages around humanizing the workplace, igniting intentional leadership and unmuting our voices are resonating with people in all levels of leadership. It’s an exciting time to be in a field that celebrates and elevates the human side of work. As one of the founding members of the Baltimore Chapter of HackingHR and as a member of the online community Humans First, I’m encouraged to see all the good that is happening around the world as HR and well-being continue to evolve.

March 11, 2020June 29, 2023

Q&A with Nate Thompson: Reinventing the HR game

Nate Thompson, vice president of strategy and innovation at OppenheimerFunds, said that in order to be successful in the HR industry, letting go of traditional approaches and learning how to adapt to change is a must. In this Q&A, Thompson reflects back on his journey through HR while highlighting his accomplishments and the most important lessons that he’s learned along the way.

Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?

Nate Thompson: The biggest theme in my career has been reinvention. I pay close attention to disruptive trends, external and internal, and try to stay ahead of the game. This approach naturally helps me expand beyond a single function or discipline, such as HR. By bridging multiple disciplines — in my case tech, HR and transformation work — I dramatically increase my value as the organization inevitably changes. In my view, ultralearning and versatility are essential in a world that is changing faster than ever before. Whatever you are working on now is going to change dramatically very soon, so we all have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

WF: How has your career changed?

Thompson: Over 20 years ago, I started my career in technology and loved it, but quickly figured out that tech is highly perishable and technologists routinely hit a glass ceiling if they don’t build strong soft skills. That realization led me to leave one of the top tech companies in the country, Qualcomm, to voraciously pursue a suite of skills that are essential to being a strong leader today. After spending a decade in HR and learning and development work, I was uniquely prepared to take that work back into technology, most recently strategy and innovation. It really doesn’t matter how good you are at your specialty if you don’t understand the disruptive forces changing your industry and can’t see or influence the bigger picture. This is why I created and speak on a model called the well-rounded professional to help people evolve beyond being a one-trick pony. Again, when the world and industry are in a state of non-linear change, you can’t take a traditional approach and hope to survive as a professional or as an organization.

WF: What are some of the changes you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?

Thompson: To put it bluntly, traditional HR and traditional learning and development are dead. Today, we need a dynamic, digital and data-driven HR that is deeply aware of the disruptive trends, rapidly experimenting, learning and stepping up to be a strategic thought leader in organizations. This is scary, hard and requires a lot of courage. This is about helping to co-create a new shared strategic narrative, driving the future of work, culture transformation, experimentation, innovation, enabling alignment, engagement and empowerment, reinventing talent programs to enable autonomy, mastery and purpose, moving to real-time immersive cohort-based learning and ultralearning in future skills. That’s why some business leaders don’t want to work with HR and create backdoors. Future leaders in HR are humble enough to release the old idea of control and establish a growth mindset of dynamic strategic partnership with their various business partners. Future leaders in HR are humble enough to release the old idea of control and establish a growth mindset of dynamic strategic partnerships with their various business partners.

Nate Thompson, vice president of strategy and innovation at OppenheimerFunds

WF: What do you foresee in the future of HR?

Thompson: HR is fighting irrelevance and the path forward has to be a fundamental transformation. This will be deeply inclusive of the future of work and the new technologies reshaping all industries. Technology is amazing and powerful, the most powerful organizations in the world are technology companies. In fact, almost every company is becoming a tech company because tech is the backbone and universal language of business. The most valuable resource in the world is data. But let me be clear, this is not about the shiny penny of technology. People are still the heart and soul of our world, communities and organizations. Culture is still the operating system of our companies and culture is the output of leadership behaviors. This is still deeply about people, leadership and culture transformation. HR has a remarkable opportunity to step out of the shadows, lead this transformation, help their organizations surf the waves of disruption and thrive in the future.

WF: What are some things that you value most about your career?

Thompson: Making a powerful difference in people’s lives. That’s what matters most. Inspiring people and helping them to achieve their potential while co-creating transformation — especially now. Leaders and employees are scared. The future is uncertain. What is next for me? What is next for us? What does it mean to be human now in an increasingly digital and automated world? We are wrestling with huge challenges and the future is undefined. While it is scary, this new era is such a gift. I openly admit that I don’t have all the answers, but I know that if I deeply care about people and create a space where we can authentically and transparently talk about what’s happening, we can come to a shared understanding and vision of the future, lock arms and navigate this new frontier together.

WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?

Thompson: Nate, people are going to say you are crazy, just know you are years ahead of where everything is heading. Go fast and be courageous because when the third decade in the 21st century hits, it will be glaringly obvious how far behind most are and how vital these years will have been in defining your approach to fundamental transformation.

WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?

Thompson: HR leaders and professionals are good people trying to do good things, but the traditional approach has fallen too far behind. It’s time for a reckoning and revolution. There is no time to waste, this conversation of reinventing the function should dominate the HR conversation for the next five years. Let go of old HR dogmas, cut the old waste and irrelevant programs now, look outside for new ideas and spend your time reinventing in alignment with the disruption reshaping your industry and business. If your current HR leaders can’t lead that, you need to hire some inspiring leaders who can — and they might not come from HR.

March 6, 2020June 29, 2023

Q&A with Dan Schawbel: How his career and the HR industry has changed

In this Q&A, Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence and New York Times bestselling author, discusses the changes that have occurred throughout his career and the HR industry, as well as what innovations are to come in the near future.

Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?

Dan Schawbel: Every experience I’ve had and every person I’ve met has helped shaped my career path since I started over a decade ago. In my early career, I wanted to try everything and today I’m focused on what I’m best at and the audience I can add the most value to. Growth has given me clarity in my career.

WF: How has your career changed?

Schawbel: In the first phase of my career, I helped individuals build their online personal brands, then I transitioned to focusing on managing a multi-generational workforce. Now, I’ve transitioned to topics like the future of work and being human in the age of technology. Throughout each phase of my career, my goal has been to advise companies while being a champion of the worker. By serving both audiences, I can make a bigger impact.

WF: What are some of the changes or trends you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?

Schawbel: The biggest HR trends over the past few years are the rise of employee activism, the use of artificial intelligence, the skills gap, the mental health, and loneliness crisis, internal mobility sustainability and the emphasis on the employee experience.

Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence.

WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?

Schawbel: The biggest advice I would have told myself is that change is already happening, even if it’s not universally seen and felt. The workplace trends we talk about are already happening and in order to prepare for the future, we have to adapt in the present.

WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?

Schawbel: I’ve learned that almost everyone in HR has an unorthodox background, which makes sense because you can’t major in HR in undergraduate college. This means that all HR professionals have a unique lens that allows them to add value to workplace programs.

WF: What are some things that you value most about your career?

Schawbel: I had two choices of career paths to pursue when I was focused on personal branding; marketing or HR. I chose HR because I wanted to help people achieve career success and I saw HR as the path to doing so. My theory is that if we improve the workplace, we improve a person’s entire life since one-third of our lives are spent working.

WF: What do you foresee in the future of HR?

Schawbel: Based on my research, it appears that HR departments will be consolidated in the future. HR administrative roles will eventually be removed from the economy, while the more strategic roles will maintain as long as professionals build the right alliances in their companies. If you’re in HR and you feel like you’re working “like a robot,” you will more than likely be replaced by a robot. Think about getting experience outside of HR to protect your future within the industry.

November 8, 2019June 29, 2023

A Page From My Working Mom Diaries

Stefanie Coleman, Workforce Game Changer 2019.

These are interesting times for a professional woman in her 30s.

For many, more than a decade has been invested in a career. Rungs on the ladder climbed, reputations established. Big responsibilities in tow … heck, some of us run departments, even companies!

And that is awesome — after all, the #futureisfemale. It is also the decade where women in big cities like New York and London most commonly start having children [1a] [1b].

Gender aside, it is my opinion that jobs get more rewarding with age. The more time you spend in the workforce, the more experiences you have.

In time (assuming these experiences are relevant), they will pave the way to enhanced responsibilities, usually coupled with better role titles, bigger teams to manage, and more generous compensation. Sure, the pressure is higher, but in the eyes of an emerging executive, the benefits of climbing the corporate ladder outweigh that burden.

But this poses an interesting challenge for professional women who want children.

Imagine this. After more than a decade of hard work, a woman in her mid-30s is breaking into leadership ranks. Established and credentialed in her field, she is scaling the corporate ladder — her eye on the prize, the next promotion in sight. But she knows she wants to birth children, and that window won’t stay open forever. So that is what she does, and while she will always cherish that decision, she wonders if it will hurt her career.

It shouldn’t. But for some women it does, particularly when the right support is not in place. And this is my reason for this blog post.

I don’t suppose to have all the answers — and as a mother of two currently on maternity leave, I’m still working this out for myself. But I do have some thoughts. And, if my thoughts help even one more mother assimilate back to work when it suits her, then I’ll take it.

I took interest in this topic in 2015 when I discovered my first child was on her way. I was 32 and living with my husband in New York City. Eyeing up promotion and facing the most challenging client engagement of my career, the discovery of my pregnancy was both thrilling and terrifying.

Among the excitement were the moments when I realised the “work hard, play hard” mentality that served me through my 20s was no longer an option. After all, a pregnant woman needs her sleep. The realisation was perplexing — I needed to reframe my attitude toward work and its role in my life, and I didn’t know where to start.

I’ve made a lot of progress since then. Two babies later, I am often asked how to juggle life as both a mother and a professional. It’s the impossible question as there is no simple, let alone right answer. Alas, I attempt:

It takes a village.This African proverb is profound. For me, that village is my husband, nanny, in-laws and sister. Put simply, I could not do my job without them. A working mother must identify her villagers — they must be strong and reliable, trusted to look after the most precious of possessions. They must be thanked and appreciated, for this group is the most important coalition for a working mother’s success.
We’re in this together. There are many allies to working mothers — both men and women. But other moms in particular truly get it. We must support one another. A colleague told me she thought of asking me for a change of clothes since her baby ruined her outfit in transit to an important meeting. I wish she’d have asked — I’d have moved mountains to help. Another colleague jumped on a plane to cover for me at a moment’s notice when I was too pregnant to travel across the U.S. for a meeting. Her words when I thanked her: “We must help each other out.” I knew exactly what she meant.
Find a supportive employer. I am lucky since my firm is consistently ranked a top company for working mothers [2]. A firm that takes diversity and inclusion seriously is more likely to support a working mother’s integration than one that does not. Look for flexible work policies and family friendly benefits, as well as a leadership culture that promotes wellness and work life balance.
Divide domestic duties. As articulated by Annabel Crabb in her quarterly essay on Men At Work [3], many working mothers continue to take on the lion’s share of domestic duties in the home. In fact, research from Manchester University and the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Essex University in the U.K. has shown that working mothers with two kids score consistently higher on chronic stress indicators, such as blood pressure and hormones, as compared to the general population [4]. In order to transition back to work in a way that is sustainable and healthy, we need to see more balance in the way domestic duties are divided between family members in the home.
Set boundaries and get to work. Working mothers are expert multi-taskers, whether it’s fixing the kids’ breakfast while taking a conference call or squeezing in a doctor’s appointment between meetings, one thing is for certain and that is that working mothers have very little time. This means that what time we do have reserved for work must be used wisely. For me this has meant less procrastination. If something needs to be done, it needs to be tackled fast. It also means that there is only time for the critical items. As a fellow working mother once coached me, “You can drop the rubber balls but not the crystal one.” Identifying what really matters at work is important, and de-prioritizing the rest is a necessary action for a working mother (even if it doesn’t feel natural).

This article might feel stereotypical to some. Of course, there are women who do not want children, and there are fathers who are primary caretakers. And, obviously, women give birth to or adopt children at all ages, not just in their 30s. I’m not ignorant to that. Take my thoughts for what they are worth. As one working mother to another (or, the partner, child or colleague of a working mother), I hope these thoughts help our working mothers transition back to work with grace. After all, we’re all in this together.

P.S., This post is dedicated to my own working mother, Dr. Cathy Allen, and inspiring friends: Liz Kreuger, Caroline Gatenby, Courtney Nolan, Joanna Bates, Sarah McGrath, Emma Fletcher and Dr. Patricia Davidson. Also, the countless working mothers at PwC who inspire me every day — there are too many to name, but they know who they are.

July 31, 2019June 29, 2023

A Blog to Change the Game

Hey, Game Changers!

Yeah, I’m talking to you, Pritika Padhi (Game Changers Class of 2019), and you, Jason Hite (Class of ’16) and you too, Monica Sauls (Class of ’13) and Tiffani Murray, who was among the 11 recipients in our inaugural class of Game Changers in 2011.

We are launching a blog specifically dedicated to you, for you and by you! It will be a community blog that all Game Changers can post to. And it can be on any topic under the people management umbrella.

We now head into a decade of Game Changers, our awards program recognizing workforce management professionals under 40 who are pushing the field forward with innovative people-management practices.

For the first time in the program’s history, our judges selected 40 Game Changers in 2019. While the majority works in the United States, numerous winners also span the globe, from Nigeria to Norway to Bahrain, as well as several winners from across India.

The thread that ties this year’s winners with all past recipients is that their efforts engage employees and help their respective companies succeed.

And while Game Changers is a 40-under-40 program, our first couple of classes are pushing 50 years old now. Crazy to think how time flies.

No matter what year you were named, consider your area of game-changing expertise as a starting point. Think broadly about how HR affects the workplace, and how the workplace affects HR. What is unique to HR practices in your geographical area? Are there news issues affecting HR? Are there big-picture workplace issues you’d like to address? These are all topics to blog about.

Now, we have lost touch with a number of our past winners. Job changes, shifting from one content management system to another, lost Excel docs(who uses Excel anymore right? All about Google docs in 2019!). Whatever the reason we want to reconnect and maintain you as a Workforce thought leader.

We want to ask you, our vast audience, to help. If you have a colleague who was recognized as a Game Changer please let them and us know! Our contact information is below.

You Game Changers can blog up to once a week if you’d like, or as often as time allows, or even never. It’s just that as young, up and coming thought leaders in your field, this is an opportunity to engage and enlighten our readership (and do a bit of personal brand-building, as well!). As of right now we’re planning to title the blog simply “The Game Changers.”

international HR Game Changers Pritika Padhi and Dharshana Ramachandran, India — Pritika Padhi, left, and Dharshana Ramachandran, 2019 Workforce Game Changers.

The parameters are simple. Word count is between 450 and 850 words (if you have an amazing idea worth more words, just ask; we’re pretty lenient); no outright promotion of a company or product; write in a persuasive, op-ed style (first person is fine if you’d like); and have fun with it! Blogs are supposed to be engaging and spur discussion, so engage and spur some discussion!

When you file your blog, please send it to me, Rick Bell (rbell@humancapitalmedia.com), and my Workforce colleague Andie Burjek (aburjek@humancapitalmedia.com). In the email subject line please use: Game Changer blog post: (your name) and a 4-6 word descriptor of the content (i.e., mentoring can be beneficial to recruiting). Andie or I will edit and post as quickly as we can.

Oh, and please include tagline similar to this: Jennifer Benz leads Segal Benz, a national leader in HR and employee benefits communications. She was honored as one of Workforce’s Game Changers in 2013. Contact her at jbenz@segalbenz.com or follow her on Twitter at @jenbenz. Yes indeed, our esteemed “Benefits Beat” columnist is a member of the Class of 2013.

And by all means, we ask that you please share it on all of your social media channels once it posts.

We are planning to launch the blog the week of Aug. 10. Feel free to contribute in the next couple of weeks so we have a well of content going into the launch.

Any questions, comments or thoughts just drop a note to Andie and me.

Thanks, good luck and happy blogging!

— Rick Bell and Andie Burjek

June 20, 2019June 29, 2023

Workforce Names Its Class of 2019 Game Changers

A strong international contingent leads the Class of 2019 Workforce Game Changers.

This marks the ninth year of the Game Changers, an awards program designed to recognize those in workforce management under 40 years old who are pushing the field forward with innovative people-management practices.

2016 Game Changer: Kathryn Minshew

Children are often told that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. It’s a lovely idea that is meant to encourage kids to dream big and try new things. But when the time comes to realize those dreams, the tools to discover and realize a satisfying career aren’t always available.

At least that was Kathryn Minshew’s experience.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree in political science and French from Duke University, Minshew began working as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. But when she began contemplating the next steps in her career path, she struggled to find a resource to guide her.

“I began having these conversations among small groups of close friends, and we came to the realization that there needed to be a resource that addressed millennial needs in particular,” Minshew said. “This group wants and needs something different from the career experience than in years past.”

That frustration led to inspiration and the eventual creation of The Muse, an online career resource that offers a behind-the-scenes look at job opportunities with hundreds of companies, expert career advice and access to personalized career help. Unlike traditional career sites, The Muse creates photo and video profiles of companies that provide in-depth insight into a company’s culture and mission.

“Job hunting is like dating,” Minshew said. “I’m not romantically compatible with every person in the world. In the same way, a single applicant is not compatible with every company. These photos and videos are meant to provide insight into how an applicant will fit in at a company. It’s about more than the ability to perform a job task.”

This focus on culture has made the site wildly popular with millennials, who value culture highly when making career decisions. The company has helped over 50 million people in their job searches and career planning. While that number and the company’s subsequent success is impressive, Minshew, 30, said she is more concerned with the individual lives her efforts are changing.

“Being satisfied with your career path is such a huge part of a person’s life,” Minshew said. “Career is paramount to how people see themselves. I see the job search as a human problem, so it’s exciting to build tools to help people find satisfaction in their lives.”

Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

July 22, 2016June 29, 2023

2016 Game Changer: Jason Hite

In many ways, HR is all about politics: balancing expectations, delicately handling a conflict between two parties and knowing when to say the right thing at the right time. Jason Hite knows politics and human resources.

Hite, 37, has an impressive professional track record for a person of any age. Currently the vice president of Xcelerate Solutions, a government counseling organization, he previously worked in the HR department of the U.S. House of Representatives for about 10 years. He started as an HR generalist and worked his way up to director and eventually chief human resources officer. He also served as a key confidant for three successive chief administrative officers at the House.

“One aspect that is hard to balance in the CHRO role, which Jason does extremely well, is the balance between the needs of the organization and that of the employee,” said Tim Blodgett, deputy sergeant of arms at the U.S. House of Representatives, in his recommendation letter. “While in the perfect world those two interests should align, in a practical sense they can be at odds with each other. Jason was able to act effectively on both fronts.”

Hite, whom Blodgett described as the “definition of a consummate professional,” showed impressive HR expertise in the government. Just like he balanced the needs of the individual and the organization, he also was always skilled at balancing his own types of projects. He understood the importance of working in the group setting with stakeholders and at the same time working autonomously on individual initiatives.

One of his many accomplishments was to help the deputy chief administration officer turn around the struggling payroll and benefits team — a problem that needed a speedy resolution.

“Jason worked tirelessly to stabilize the organization and once again proved his value,” said Ali Qureshi, vice president of consulting services at Xcelerate Solutions and former colleague of Hite at the House, in his nomination letter. “His project management skills were put to the test, and Jason led the turnaround, earning the respect of his peers, management and stakeholders on Capitol Hill.”

After Qureshi left the government position to work for Xcelerate Solutions, Hite eventually joined as well. At the government counseling organization, he first made his mark by using his personable approach and analytical acumen to obtain important certifications at a quick and impressive rate.

“I can confidently say,” Qureshi said, “that we have the best human resources executive in the industry.”

Andie Burjek is a Workforce associate editor. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

July 22, 2016June 29, 2023

2016 Game Changer: Jay Caldwell

Jay Caldwell’s hard work and innovative mind earned him two promotions in only 18 months at ADP. In that time, he supported the move to a pay-for-performance culture, which came from his work in creating ADP’s performance management philosophy, strategy and framework. Other projects include creating a strategic workforce planning discipline; developing a change management strategy and training; a real-time feedback tool and conducting webinars.

Leaders took note. According to Jill Altana, ADP vice president of global talent and development, the CEO of the 55,000-person company noticed Caldwell’s contributions.

“In my entire 30-year career, I have never come across a more talented individual,” she wrote in his application. She added that his innovative thinking, thought leadership and collaboration skills make this 34-year-old a true game changer.

Lauren Dixon is a Workforce associate editor. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

August 3, 2014July 31, 2018

Meet the Game Changers 2014

Human resources is considered a cautious sector by practitioners and outsiders alike. But there are those people in the industry dedicated to pushing it forward with innovative people-management practices. Here at Workforce, we call those innovators Game Changers.

Workforce’s editorial staff selected the 30 winners of the fourth-annual awards program based on professional accomplishments and other achievements. They are a diverse group representing some of the best HR practitioners and strategists under 40 years old.

This year’s class hails from arguably the most diverse and unique set of trades and backgrounds in the four years of Game Changers. Each year the Workforce editorial team has identified a trend that characterizes the group of award winners. Last year’s group seemed to be full of practitioners focused on employee development.

This year, however, there is no clear trend to identify, no definitive stamp. Instead, like the practice itself, our winners cut a broad swath across HR. This international group of HR talent is making its mark in benefits, rewards and recognition, employee communications and a variety of HR practices. They come from a variety of industries such as technology, auto manufacturing, social services, academia and the federal government.

That these individuals are able to effect change in a field often criticized as being adverse to risk-taking truly makes them Game Changers.

Congratulations to each winner.

MEET THE GAME CHANGERS 2014

Doreen Allison	Eric Barger	Luca Bonmassar	Elijah Bradshaw	Andi Campbell
Nathan Christensen	Andrea Dropkin	Taro Fukuyama	Tanvi Gautam	Keith Henderson
Michael Housman	April Kassen	Keagan Kerr	Sarah Lecuna	Kristin Lewis
Todd Maycunich	Lisa Mitchell-Kastner	Nate Randall	Claudia Riccomagno	Talia Shaull
Max Simkoff	Jamie Trabbic	Tushar Trivedi	Brent Wagner	Danielle Weinblatt

GAME CHANGERS 2014: THEY ALSO HAVE GAME:

Yiorgos Boudouris, Craig Bryant, Sebastian Rodriguez, Cara Silletto and Beth Silvers