Handling Complaints: Protein vs. Sugar

In the latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Katie Burke, who recently became COO of Harvey after joining as Chief People Officer. Before Harvey, Katie spent 11 years in HR leadership at HubSpot, where she built one of tech's most distinctive cultures. In this conversation, she unpacks her marketing-minded approach to HR, why she hired deliberately from hospitality rather than corporate backgrounds, and why developing culture should be a strategic priority for any organization.

In today's episode, we discuss:

• Why HR leaders should think like marketers
• The 2.5-year cultural hangover after a layoff
• The protein vs. sugar rule for employee feedback
• What it means to be the executive team’s own HR business partner
• What the Chief People Officer owes the board and what they don't

References:

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com
• Anique Drumright: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anique-drumright-53978a1a/
• Brian Halligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianhalligan/
• Carmel Galvin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmelgalvin/
• eBay: https://www.ebay.com
• Gabe Pereyra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabepereyra
• Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai
• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com
• Jacqui Canney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquicanney
• Klaviyo: https://www.klaviyo.com
• Lorrie Norrington: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrienorrington/
• Maggie Landers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggiecohenlanders/
• Rippling: https://www.rippling.com
• ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com
• Winston Weinberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winston-weinberg/

Where to find Katie:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-burke-965767a/
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/katieburkie

Where to find Brett:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/
• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

Where to find First Round Capital:

• Website: https://firstround.com/
• First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
• This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:23 Why HR begins with thinking like a marketer

01:58   “Don't ask for a seat at the table. Build the table.”

02:29 Radical transparency after Hubspot’s IPO

05:14 How HubSpot’s people function drove strategy

07:01 The trickiest part of the Chief People Officer role

10:00 Be the Michael Jordan of your exec team

12:14 Why people leaders need to create “graceful exits”

16:49 The inevitable two-year layoff hangover

23:31 The workplace shouldn’t be Disneyland

26:05 “Our job is not to make you happy every day”

34:28 Being a Chief People Officer isn’t for the faint of heart

35:04 How “Berry-Gate” taught HubSpot to manage feedback

40:51 Chief People Officers should be demanding, by design

42:01 Why “frequent flyers” are a new-hire red flag

44:54 Unpacking the role of the VP of People

49:94 Which company decisions fall to the Chief People Officer?

49:11 The most common challenges of scaling a company

51:39 The differences between HubSpot and Harvey

53:17 How AI is changing the people function

1:04:28 Why Katie shares her own performance reviews

1:06:22 How to manage a disagreement with the CEO