Strategic CHRO
“Ask Yourself, What Can I Uniquely Bring To This Business? What Am I Passionate About?”
Strategic CHRO
Louise Prashad, chief HR officer of Diageo, shares her key leadership lessons and speaks on future skills for CHROs with Adam Bryant of The ExCo Group and World 50 Group in this “Passing the Baton” series.
Q. What are the X-factor skills that CHROs of the future will need to succeed in these roles?
A. One is being able to curate an employee experience that really drives the most engaged, highest-performing employees. The relationship between employer and employee is evolving, with shifting expectations. And you have to understand what’s happening externally and marry that with what is unique about your organization. You want to build an employee value proposition that will help you attract, retain, and grow the talent you need to drive the performance of the business.
The second one is to be a commercially insightful CHRO who is really grounded in the business. That should be table stakes, but I’m not sure it always is. You have to have that constant curiosity and commercial instincts about where the business is heading years from now. To do that requires the skills to partner with your peers in the C-suite, the board, and external stakeholders. You have to be the eyes, ears, heart and shaper of the culture, driving that with other leaders and the broader organization, to make sure that the full people strategy lines up to the business strategy.
Q. Is the role different than what you expected in any way?
A. One thing that surprised me is that I spend quite a bit of time with investors, and investors want to speak to me. They are extremely interested in knowing that you have the long-term talent that you need. Are you putting the right capabilities into your business? How are you fostering a culture that’s going to sustain the business over time?
Q. Your role requires a tremendous amount of drive, resilience and being comfortable in the grey areas of the challenges you face. Where does that come from for you?
A. One is having people around me as I was growing up who were incredibly purpose-driven in the things they did for others. I grew up in a Jewish family, in a Jewish community, and I saw many people who were very giving of themselves. That inspired me to be somebody who really supported and enabled others.
And I saw a lot of resilience in my early life. There were many people around me who faced a lot of adversity, going back to the roots of my cultural heritage. So I grew up thinking that I have a role to play in society with others, and really digging in and giving it your all, particularly through tough times.
Having a strong team around you is key to getting through those challenges. You need people who are great at what they do and then give them space to lead. And you rely on them to be your honest brokers as well. From the outset, I’ve said to people, “Look, I’m going to learn my way into this, and you’re going to need to help me, and you’re going to need to give me feedback.” There’s always space to keep growing. I can always be better.
Q. What advice would you give someone who is stepping into a CHRO role for the first time?
A. You have to start at a high-level to really understand what is going on in your company and what is likely to happen over the next few years. Before I took on this role, I thought deeply about what this role is going to need. Ask yourself, what can I uniquely bring to this business? What am I passionate about? Where are my strengths within that? How do I bring that to bear for the business, for employees and for other stakeholders?
One of the best things I did was to spend some time shaping answers to those questions during the 60 days before I stepped into the role. It’s changed and evolved, of course, but I do read my original answers every couple of months and they are still very vibrant, even though the external conditions have changed enormously. That clarity helps maintain your confidence and your conviction even when there are changing and challenging circumstances around you.
The other advice I’d give is to keep a really sharp eye on what is happening in your business. I’ll read the media reports of the day. I’ll read all the investor summaries, including about our competitors. I’m studying the consumer trends that are going to impact us. That helps keep me relevant not just in HR but to the business overall.
Q. What do you consider the hardest part of leadership?
A. The hardest part is maintaining your own equilibrium in a role like this where you have to give a lot of yourself to the organization, to employees, and to your team. How do you keep your own oxygen mask on? How do you keep that sense of personal fulfillment? The hard part is being ready to continuously invest in yourself, so that you can bring your best to the role and the organization.