The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR

260 - What we learned from MPL Live New York City

14 snips

Oct 8, 2025

Guest

Angela Crossman, an experienced people leader, Hernan Chiosso, an AI advocate in HR, and Jean-Luc Charles, a people operations expert, discuss AI's transformative role in workplaces. They explore structured conversations that clarify AI adoption and the spectrum of HR maturity regarding AI. The trio debates the pros and cons of AI as a managerial coach while emphasizing HR's vital role in change management. They also highlight community-driven approaches to overcome challenges, and how AI can serve as an innovative thinking partner rather than a definitive answer.

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ADVICE

Make People Teams Part Of AI Ownership

Partner cross-functionally: HR, legal, finance and tech must own AI together to surface risks and opportunities.
Angela Crossman urged people teams to lead enablement because they understand change management and ethics.

ADVICE

Treat AI As Change Management Work

Invest time practicing AI because many adoption barriers are change-management and ethics, not just technical.
Hernan Chiosso recommended HR lead adoption work since they handle people change and values.

ADVICE

Run Small, Quiet Pods With Prompts

Use small, quiet pods with curated prompts to create safe sharing and accelerate practical learning.
Hernan said the quiet room and generosity unlocked clearer thinking and faster progress.

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Angela Crossman, Hernan Chiosso, and Jean-Luc Charles joined us to debrief the “Yellow Pod” conversation from MPL Live NYC and what the group is actually doing with AI at work.

We covered opportunities vs blockers, “AI as coach” guardrails, why HR should own enablement, actionable next steps, and predictions for the AI-powered workplace.

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(09:40) Why structured spaces help leaders make sense of AI noise

(11:40) Untangling AI talk: personal vs professional; HR practice vs company strategy

(12:47) State of adoption: ahead of the curve vs “head in the sand”

(14:00) Panel reflections: Dropbox digital twins, Duolingo’s AI mandate, leadership buy-in spectrum

(15:43) HR’s role with tech + legal: ethics, generational views, and people experience

(16:27) “Who owns AI?”—budget, skills, and priorities across functions

(19:36) Change management over pure tech: why HR is primed to lead adoption

(21:01) Community accelerates AI: the prompt for pods (biggest blocker and opportunity)

(23:31) Why the small-group format worked: quiet room, trust, generosity

(25:08) Opportunities first: practical use cases; AI for manager coaching (pros/cons)

(27:28) Blockers: ownership, resources, risk, and vendor noise

(28:05) Quick poll: Should AI be a “coach”? Alignment with values and judgment

(29:21) Using AI as a thinking partner—not a verdict

(31:43) People team enablement: prompt patterns, values-trained GPTs, internal guardrails

(32:20) Example from MPL: iterating a “super prompt” after guest feedback

(33:50) One action to take now: targeted demos to learn real use cases

(34:42) Don’t ban—enable: intentional adoption beats resistance

(35:30) Practical rollout ideas: leadership exercises with starter prompts

(37:07) Resource tip: OpenAI Academy prompts for HR (as a baseline to build on)

(38:13) Mind-blower: executive digital twins; event improvements for Austin (Dec 11)

(39:43) Feedback: design for introverts; keep a light warm-up

(40:26) Preserve the magic: curated room + structured but flexible prompts

(41:55) Rapid-fire predictions: the AI-powered workplace

(42:29) Prediction #1: AI is both disruption and solution (reskilling at scale)

(43:48) Prediction #2: A new kind of creativity—partnering with “semi-intelligent” tools

(44:31) Prediction #3: Hiring shifts toward problem framing and critical thinking

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Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, 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.