In today’s issue of The Modern People Leader newsletter, we wrap up the 10 most‑listened episodes of 2025 and surface the practical lessons People leaders are actually using right now.
If you’ve ever felt like People work is full of good intentions but thin on systems, this year’s most popular conversations will feel familiar. The leaders you tuned into didn’t just analyze problems — they gave real frameworks, specific moves, and actionable ideas you can use in January.
Here’s what stood out most from the year. ⬇️
1. Engagement surveys won’t fix your problems — fix your system first
Crystal Boysen, Chief People Officer at Sprout Social, kicked off the year by questioning a core HR practice: engagement surveys. Instead of leaning harder into scores, Crystal urged teams to diagnose People Debt — the backlog of unclear roles, lagging processes, and unresolved decisions that actually drive disengagement. By meeting teams where they were and building real‑time feedback loops, Sprout shifted from measuring sentiment to acting on signals.
“We weren’t getting to the root. So we stopped measuring sentiment and started measuring our system.”
The big takeaway? If your system doesn’t let managers act on insights, scores only tell you you have a problem — they don’t help you fix it.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
2. AI only works for HR when it’s woven into workflows
Taylor Bradley, VP of Talent Strategy & Success at Turing, brought clarity to one of 2025’s biggest questions: how HR actually uses AI. His team didn’t ask AI to replace work — they redesigned work so AI could help deliver results. Example: onboarding 800 people in five days by structuring tasks, templates, and a shared prompt pantry that gave everyone a reliable starting point.
“We don’t leave AI up to chance. We operationalize it.”
This wasn’t about cool tools — it was about shared patterns that make AI predictable, scalable, and useful.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
3. Treat People Ops like a product, not a series of tickets
Jessica Zwaan gave us a repeatable blueprint for turning People Ops into a product function — starting with how the work is structured. Instead of running HR as a ticket queue, Jessica builds 6-person cross-functional squads around problems, not roles. These squads own outcomes like internal mobility or retention, not just tasks.
“You’re not just building the product — you’re also running customer support, doing implementation, and handling comms.”
She outlined four models (from sprint-based to metric-driven) and showed how tools like spider diagrams can help you map skills and build complementary teams.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
4. Compensation isn’t just math — it’s trust
Matt McFarlane and Haris Ikram tackled compensation from a systems and communication perspective. They reminded us that pay decisions don’t live in spreadsheets — they live in people’s perceptions of fairness and clarity. Transparency doesn’t mean sharing every detail; it means telling a clear, consistent story about how decisions are made.
“You don’t need to tell employees every detail. But you do need to tell them something they can believe in.”
The lesson: design comp systems that build trust and clarity, not confusion.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
5. Ship early — perfection kills momentum
In a year when teams were stretched thin, Jessica Zwaan gave us a practical antidote to “waiting until it’s ready”: start with a v1, learn quickly, and iterate. Whether you’re building onboarding, enablement tools, or new HR programs, a lightweight first version gets you feedback and traction much faster than waiting to perfect.
“Your v1 will never be your v10. But if you never ship it, you’ll never get to v2.”
Momentum beats polish — especially when People work must keep up with business change.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
6. Engagement scores are signals — not answers
At MPL Live Boston, we pushed back on the idea that a dashboard number equals understanding. Leaders shared how behavior, participation, and patterns reveal more than a single score ever could. Instead of chasing a number, ask better questions and connect data to real experiences.
“You can’t act on a number. You act on a pattern.”
Good measurement won’t automatically solve problems — but poor measurement can misdirect effort.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
7. Simplicity isn’t naive — it’s strategic
Michele Bousquet, Chief People Officer at Strava, grounded us in simplicity. In an era of frameworks and complexity, she reminded us that systems that work for humans first outperform over‑engineered structures every time.
“Sophistication doesn’t equal effectiveness.”
The most impactful People work often feels simple because it’s anchored in clear expectations, trust, and fundamentals.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
8. Belonging fuels adaptability — especially with AI
Helen Russell, Chief People Officer at HubSpot, reframed belonging as a strategic asset — not a soft add‑on. As teams adopt automation and AI, belonging becomes the soil in which adaptability grows. Belonging isn’t about comfort; it’s about safety to experiment, learn, and fail forward.
“Belonging isn’t about comfort. It’s about safety to grow.”
In fast environments, trust enables speed — not the other way around.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
9. Choose metrics that change behavior
Jessica Zwaan challenged the habit of filling dashboards with “easy” data. Strategic measurement isn’t about volume — it’s about influence. She introduced ideas like framing People impact in business terms (e.g., ELTV : CAC) to align HR metrics with core business decisions.
“If your metrics don’t change what the business does, they’re not strategic.”
When HR chooses metrics that influence conversations and decisions, it earns a stronger seat at the table.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
10. People Ops as a product isn’t a trend — it’s a framework
Jessica Zwaan walked through how her product lens on People Ops grew from necessity to a repeatable operating model. It’s not theory — it’s survival and scale.
“People Ops shouldn’t be reactive. It should be designed.”
This final insight tied back to a central theme of 2025: to make work better, we must build better systems.
➡️ Listen to the full episode or Read the full highlights
Thanks for reading. See you next time!
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