The Future of HR: Why Being CPO Is Just the Hardest with Hebba Youssef

At Work with The Ready

Since last fall, we’ve spoken/joked/laughed/cried with hundreds of HR leaders and change makers about the Future of HR and the industry’s evolutionary tipping point. And despite spending time with many inspiring CPOs and CHROs, there’s none quite like Hebba Youssef. Along with being Workweek’s Chief People Officer, she’s also the author of “I Hate It Here”, a no holds barred newsletter unpacking HR’s thorniest problems and putting into words what everyone’s thinking but too afraid to say. Plus, her GIF game? Unparalleled.

This week, on episode 6 of our miniseries, Rodney Evans sits down with Hebba to talk about how “I Hate It Here” came to be, how a role often tasked with putting out one fire after another can stay focused on strategy, and why being CPO is the hardest and loneliest job in any organization.

Learn more about Hebba Youssef:

• On LinkedIn
• Subscribe to the “I Hate It Here” newsletter and listen to her podcast.
• Join the Safe Space community.

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s something that you love that is kind of embarrassing?

04:20 Origins of “I Hate It Here”

09:36 What resonates the most in the “I Hate It Here” community?

10:32 Sources of burnout in HR

15:58 Balancing strategy with the day-to-day as CPO

21:23 HR’s martyrdom complex

23:48 Isolation and loneliness in HR

30:25 The CEO-CPO relationship

34:52 HR as the organization’s doctor

40:09 Hebba’s top HR mission to solve

46:03 Wrap up: Leave us a review!