Wouldn’t you love to be inside the mind of an influential HR leader, to hear about their journey, their worries, their focus, their advice? To discover what made the most impact on them, what they’re proud of, what they failed at, and how they keep growing?
We’ve reached out to and interviewed highly esteemed professionals who have been so kind as to share their experiences and thoughts with us in order to provide insights and inspiration across the field of HR. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Introducing our very first guest: Global Head HR Insights & People Analytics at Xerox, Arun Kochhar
1. What was your journey coming up to your current HR role? Any milestone moments in your career?
My journey to HR, like many practitioners, did not take the traditional route. I got my start in sales, business development and marketing. I got into a role with HP Consulting, focusing on sales and business analytics. A major milestone in my career was making the switch from the business into HR, when I went to lead the people analytics function at AMD. I’m currently at Xerox, where I lead the HR Insights and People Analytics function globally.
2. As an HR leader, what keeps you up at night, rounding out 2018 and looking forward to the next year?
Xerox has a brand new HCM, Oracle Fusion, which in and of itself is quite exciting! Mastering the new system while delivering on our existing analytics priorities is going to be challenging, but it’s one the team is up for.
3. What are some elements of focus for your HR strategy in the coming 12 months?
Completing the shift to strategic, and then predictive analytics.
4. What advice would you give someone going into an HR leadership position for the first time?
Learn your business. Remaining continuously aligned to the needs of the business is a core part of your success as an HR leader.
5. Is there anything in your career you’re incredibly proud of?
At Xerox, building a team that is able to deliver multiple large-scale transformational analytics projects with minimal time.
6. Is there anything you failed at? Any lessons learned?
Attempting to single-handedly build out a predictive sales analytics platform! Guidance was needed from someone that had experience managing large data sets and efficiently. Once I had the guidance and support required, I was able to build out a suite of predictive tools that enabled the business.
7. Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as an HR leader? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you?
Greg Gillas. Greg mentored me through my shift from sales to people analytics – without his leadership I wouldn’t be where I am right now.
8. What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as an HR leader? any resources you’d recommend to HR colleagues?
Staying on top of the latest technological developments in the HR space and how they will more broadly impact HR and people analytics as a space. Google Scholar is a great way to stay on top of the latest papers in IO Psychology and HR.
9. When you win HR Executive of the year soon, what song do you want playing when you walk up to the stage?
We are the champions.
10. Finally, give us three words that you would use to describe the HR profession.
Strategic, Synergistic, Dynamic.
A big thank you to Arun, and stay tuned for our next HR Passion Series guest!
Rob Catalano
Rob Catalano is WorkTango’s Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer. Rob has spent the last 17 years building HR Technology companies.