239 - Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot): The growing trust gap at work

Helen Russell, Chief People Officer at HubSpot, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how HubSpot is fostering an AI-first culture, why belonging is so important right now, and what HR leaders can do to move fast without losing their humanity.---- Sponsor Links:🔗 Get your free 30-day Synthesia account.🔗 Get in contact with the Career Sandwich team.🔗 Request a demo of ChartHop.MPL Links:🔗 Buy your ticket for MPL Live New York.🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.---- (04:48) Creating safe spaces for HR leaders to connect(07:43) What HubSpot does & Helen’s role as CPO(10:09) HubSpot's marketing leadership and AI innovation(11:53) What HR leaders are talking about now: RTO, AI, DEI & manager overload(14:10) Engagement, psychological safety & cultural struggle(16:38) Why belonging is the metric that moves everything else(18:58) The four-pillar talent strategy at HubSpot(21:51) How cultural commitments and behavior are being realigned(24:09) The evolution of “HEART” to “Deliver with HEART” and new commitments(26:22) Balancing urgency with human-centered belonging(28:23) Monday Minute & Grow DAI: Scaling safe AI experimentation(31:21) From deflect to automate to enable – how HubSpot’s internal AI strategy evolves(33:17) Flashback to Rivian: bottlenecks, decision-making, and now AI frameworks(34:28) Buying vs building AI tools – from BrightHire to Tenor to Qualtrics(36:45) Creating a “common front door” with GPT for all employee services(39:01) Why HR teams should start building AI tools themselves(42:47) A call for HR to step up and lead through AI transformation(44:50) Don’t get left behind – HR’s chance to take the lead(46:05) MCPs explained (for non-tech leaders) & the future of SaaS + LLMs(49:38) What MCPs mean for employees as internal customers(50:34) Why traditional SaaS may be in trouble & horizontal automation is the future(53:09) Rapid Fire: Top leadership traits in the AI era(53:39) The HR team of the future is deeply human(54:29) AI strategy envy & final takeaways---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn