294 - AI Is Turning HR into Builders: Zachary Parris (AI x Talent @ Google)

Zachary Parris, who’s re-imagining talent development for the AI era at Google, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how AI is turning HR leaders into builders, why product thinking is replacing traditional HR programs, and how anyone can now create impactful tools without a technical background. ----  Sponsor Links:🔗 Book a conversation with Compete at compete.com/mpl🔗 Learn more about Wellthy at wellthy.com/mplMPL Links:🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.----  (08:39) Zach’s Career Story(13:56) The Shift into AI Product Building and Internal Tool Creation(14:29) Zach’s New Role at Google and Product-Driven HR(16:07) What People Get Wrong About Google Today(18:26) How HR Used to Operate vs. How AI Is Changing Everything(20:21) Early Skepticism Around Product-Led HR(22:00) The Breakthrough Moment: Building an AI Agent in Days(25:09) Shifting from Programs to Products in HR(25:53) New Skills Required: Problem Statements and Deep Focus Work(28:20) Example: Driving Product Adoption Through Onboarding Design(30:39) How User Research Changes in a Product-Led HR Model(32:30) Expanding Inputs: From Surveys to Real User Interaction and Feedback---- 📬 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---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.