​Go listen to the latest episode of The Modern People Leader — where we sat down with Jon Couture, Managing Director and Chief Human Resources Officer at Vanguard, to talk about how HR leaders can prepare their organizations for massive technological change without losing what makes their culture work.

If you’re navigating AI disruption, leadership development gaps, or pressure to “do more with less,” this conversation is packed with grounded, practical insights.

Here’s what stood out most from the conversation. ⬇️

“Today is the slowest pace and volume of change we will ever experience.” — Jon Couture

1. HR’s job is no longer programs — it’s enabling how work gets done

One of the most important shifts Jon described was how Vanguard has repositioned the purpose of HR. The function isn’t about policies or programs — it’s about understanding the actual work being done for clients and enabling it to happen better.

That means getting specific: task-level clarity, where work should happen, and how humans and technology work together.

💙 Make leave feel human - not chaotic

In one of our recent webinars, we talked about how leave is usually put into three buckets: compliance and pay, business continuity, and the very real human experience happening at home.

This couldn’t have hit harder for me and Stephen. We both recently became parents - and it showed how complex leave can be, even on a tiny team.

That’s exactly what Tilt is built for.

Tilt is a leave experience platform that manages all types of leave, nationwide - from FMLA and PFL to everything in between - while giving HR, managers, and employees clear visibility into what’s happening. It combines compliant leave management with a genuinely human experience.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Personalized leave plans for every employee
• Role-based visibility for HR, managers, and employees
• AI that automates admin and answers routine questions
• Compliance-backed, expert support

It turns leave from paperwork into a people-first leave experience.

👉 Learn more about Tilt​

2. You can’t map everything — so prioritize where it matters most

With ~20,000 employees, Vanguard didn’t try to document every role in detail. Instead, they focused on where task-level clarity would create the most value — and accepted 70–80% accuracy as a starting point.

Trying to get to 100% would collapse under its own weight.

Takeaway: Strategic workforce planning works when you treat it like an MVP — prioritize, test, iterate.

3. AI productivity creates a “time dividend” — if you use it intentionally

Rather than framing AI as a threat, Jon reframed it as a productivity unlock that creates time — time that can be reinvested into better training, deeper development, and stronger leadership capability.

That dividend is what enables the kind of rigorous, competency-based development most companies say they want — but never fund.

Takeaway: AI isn’t just about efficiency. It’s how you buy back time to invest in people.

📊Turn your people data into usable insight

In our MPL webinar on how HR teams are actually using AI, leaders like Jenny Molyneaux (Vercel) and Brandon Sammut (Zapier) kept highlighting the same idea: AI only matters if it makes insights usable. Teams don’t need more dashboards - they need clarity.

That’s exactly what Ask ChartHop is built for. You type a question and instantly get an answer. When we saw it at HR Tech, people were surprised by how fast it worked.Org charts, comp bands, churn risk, hiring timelines, pay equity views, headcount plans - all generated in seconds. No spreadsheets, no BI requests, no “I’ll get back to you.”

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Shareable charts and clear visuals
• Sortable lists you can act on immediately
• Access controls that protect sensitive data
• Insights leaders can use to make better decisions

It turns data into usable insight.

​👉 Try Ask ChartHop​

4. Change management isn’t about happiness — it’s about acceptance

One of the most memorable moments was Jon’s take on change management. The goal isn’t to make everyone feel good — it’s to align expectations with reality.

He shared a simple formula he uses constantly:

If expectations aren’t recalibrated, no amount of communication will close the gap.

Takeaway: Leaders need to spend more time managing expectations.

5. Leadership development must create real competence — not just content consumption

Vanguard is deliberately moving away from “learning at scale” toward competency-based leadership development. Inspired by Jon’s military background, the focus is on demonstration, practice, and proof — not just courses completed.

This shift has full backing from the senior team and board.

Takeaway: If leaders can’t demonstrate the skill, the training didn’t work.

🌐Behind Groq’s $20B Success with Nvidia

Groq’s $20B Nvidia agreement highlights the impact of specializing leadership roles instead of overloading them. Groq’s people team created an executive assistant team of both in-house and 10+ Viva EAs to support their senior leaders.

This allowed their executive leaders to operate at the fastest pace possible without their people team having to manage or think about the function internally. Groq’s people team benefitted from Viva Talent’s white-glove managed service because they handled everything (hiring, matching, training, security, etc) – the only thing their executives needed to do was delegate.

“My Viva EA is the first executive assistant I’ve ever had who is as obsessed with the details and getting things right as I am.”
Jonathan Ross, CEO, Groq

​Book a conversation if you’re thinking about how to help yourself or your leadership team maximize productivity with Viva EAs.

6. Don’t flatten managers — invest in making them effective

While many companies are cutting management layers, Vanguard is focused on manager effectiveness, not headcount reduction. The goal isn’t fewer managers — it’s better ones.

Thanks for reading. See you next time!

P.S. If you like MPL, help us grow the show by giving us a 5 star rating on Apple or Spotify. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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