041: Don Robertson - Take More Risks on Talent

Don Robertson is the Chief HR Officer for Northwestern Mutual. Previously Don was the Chief People Officer of Apttus. Before Apttus Don was the CHRO for Sutherland Global Services. Before Sutherland he was SVP of HR for HP Enterprise Services. ES had $22 billion annual revenue and 110,000 employees. Don partnered to deliver people strategies that helped shape the organization.Don was with HP for 14+ years. Prior to the ES role, Don was SVP for Technology and Operations, an organization with over 50,000 spanning IT, Real Estate, Sales Op's, Shared Services and Security. In this role Don oversaw more than 200 HR professionals.Previously, Don was the VP of HR for APJ (living in Singapore). Don was tasked with building a best-in-class HR focused on developing the most talented and committed workforce in the region with over 120,000 employees. Don led a team of over 600 HR professionals. He was a member of the APJ Senior Team and led the APJ HR Council.Don’s experience at HP ranges from Sales Mgt, to HR Program Management to Sales Development and Marketing. As Sr. Director of HR Transformation, Don was responsible for the transformation strategy for the company’s HR population. He was instrumental in defining and executing major HR policies that included people development and talent management initiatives. Prior to this, Don was Director of Sales Development for where he created and globally sponsored the Sales Excellence program to drive major sales transformation across the company.He is also an experienced and successful entrepreneur, having launched several companies and IPO efforts. He has held senior positions in Sales, Finance and Operations with GE Capital, Deloitte, SRI and Clorox, prior to joining HP.Don holds a BS in Business Administration (Marketing and Accounting) from California State University, Fresno. He is also a member of the Craig School of Business Board . Don is based in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and 2 boys. On This Episode:Find out how Don’s background in financials gave him a foundational understanding of business.Discover the ways HR can gain credibility within companies.Don explain’s how to maintain connectivity with your team during the “new normal.”Key Takeaways:You won’t be good at acquiring new talent if you don’t know what the business is trying to accomplish.Don’t just tell your team what to do, tell them why.Leaders must be authentic, be empathetic, be humble, and be cautiously optimistic.Tweetable Quotes:“The more we have tangible experience to Draw from, the quicker our ability to ramp, the quicker our ability to react, the quicker we’re able to use the more advanced part of our brain as opposed to the rudimentary part.”“The more you can demonstrate to your people that you care about their career more than you’re own, the more they’re going to help you and believe in you.”Don Robertson:https://www.linkedin.com/in/don-robertson-9b8104Denis Gianoutsos:[email protected]