Building a culture of creativity, candor, and courage with Gena Smith

What does it actually take to walk into an iconic American brand as a new CHRO and build culture, values, and an HR strategy from scratch?In this episode of the Skilled Podcast by ‪Growthspace, Omer Glass and Samantha Thomas sit down with Gena Smith, CHRO of J.Crew, to talk about what she learned in 14 years at LVMH, why values mean nothing without accountability, and how she's thinking about AI adoption in a creativity-first organization.Gena shares her honest take on the difference between companies that talk about values and companies that actually live them — and what it takes to make that shift stick across every level of the business.What you'll learn:Why employee experience has to come before customer experienceHow to define values concretely enough that people can actually be held accountable to themThe three pillars of successful AI adoption: mindset, skills, and tools — in that orderWhy "just start" is the most important message any leader can give their team right now What the paradox of AI really means for human skills and leadershipWhether you're a CHRO navigating transformation, an L&D leader trying to embed values into development programs, or a people leader figuring out how to bring your team along on the AI journey — this conversation is for you.