The HR profession is undergoing a transformation unlike anything we’ve seen before. Over the past few years, HR leaders have been on the front lines of their organizations, navigating unprecedented challenges—from the pandemic to economic disruption. Many HR professionals were promoted into leadership roles during these crises and, in most cases, were able to demonstrate their strategic value to their organizations like never before.
As a result, the perception of HR has shifted dramatically. Businesses now recognize the need for strategic, business-minded Chief People Officers (CPOs) and Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) who can drive organizational performance through effective people strategies.
While these changes bring new challenges for anyone entering the field, they also create enormous opportunities. HR is becoming more dynamic and complex, particularly as AI reshapes everything from workforce planning to the tools we use daily. Today’s HR leaders are expected to think conceptually and strategically, balancing empathy with business acumen to deliver measurable impact.
Of course, the narrative around HR burnout has raised valid concerns about the pressures faced by people leaders. Far from being a reason to shy away from the field, this highlights the importance of attracting ambitious, forward-thinking individuals to carry the discipline forward. These are the people who can embrace the challenges and opportunities HR offers. HR is an incredible space for career growth and strategic influence—a field where you can build a fulfilling and impactful leadership career.
To explore what makes HR such an exciting field right now, I sat down with Valentina Gissin, Chief People Officer at Garner Health Technology. A thought leader in the People space for over a decade, Valentina’s journey from technology lawyer to cybersecurity leader to CPO demonstrates the wide range of possibilities within HR. Her innovative, first-principles approach has shaped talent strategies at companies like Bridgewater Associates, Chewy, and Citizen. She offers a unique perspective on the qualities and skills the next generation of people leaders will need.
In our conversation, Valentina shares her insights on navigating the evolving HR landscape and why it’s one of the most fulfilling career paths you can take.
One of the best ways to highlight the dynamic nature of a career in HR is to learn from those who have not only achieved success but thrived across diverse organizations of varying sizes and industries. Can you share your journey into HR and how your career path has evolved over time?
Valentina: I was drafted into HR—but I was happily drafted! At the time, I was leading investment security at Bridgewater Associates. I realized the challenges keeping me up at night weren’t just about the security posture of the company – they were about the career journeys of my people. I was constantly thinking about how I could unlock them faster. So, when Bridgewater needed someone to shape and run the most critical talent program at the firm, my obsession with people development made me a good fit—and I stepped into the role.
Not coming from a traditional HR background has been a throughline in my career ever since. In that role, I didn’t report into HR – I reported into investment leadership. We didn’t follow an existing playbook or adopt off-the-shelf solutions. Instead, we started from scratch—what are our business goals, what talent do we need to fill them, and what does that talent need to achieve their outcomes. What we created resembled traditional talent acquisition and talent management practices in some ways – and was completely different in others. In addition, I wasn’t goaled on HR metrics. Everything I did was directly tied to business outcomes.
If you change how you set direction and you change how you measure success, you change everything in between. I was just another business leader, but I met my numbers through people strategies. As I started talking to other HR leaders, I realized how rare that mindset was. Too many were relying on existing frameworks adapted from labor relations, instead of puzzling out the right strategic, innovative approaches for their specific business.
Fortunately, that’s starting to change. The most dynamic HR leaders today approach their work as a first-principles, strategic discipline—one that’s deeply integrated with the business and focused on driving results.
The past few years have thrown a lot of challenges at HR professionals, creating a cycle of difficult decisions—but those are the decisions that can make your career. In your experience, how have expectations of HR shifted? And what do you think we’ve learned about what really makes a great people leader?
Valentina: I think the expectations for HR leaders have never been higher—but the depth of experience HR practitioners now see coming up through the ranks is like nothing we’ve seen before, and it’s forging a new generation of people strategists who are up to that challenge. The challenges HR leaders have faced in recent years—navigating the pandemic, economic uncertainty, and seismic cultural shifts—have elevated the function.
To have a lasting career in HR today, you need to be more than just an HR expert—you need to be a well-rounded business leader. That means understanding your business and its drivers, diagnosing real business problems and solving them with people and organizational development strategies. Almost every business problem comes down to a process or people problem. It also means being prepared to make really tough decisions, often with no perfect answers. The last couple of years have been a cycle of difficult choices, whether it’s workforce planning, restructuring, or rethinking organizational priorities. But these moments are also where careers are made. Appreciating those challenges and navigating a full set of contingencies is what sets great HR leaders apart.
That said, the perception of HR isn’t the same everywhere. At smaller companies, for example, CEOs don’t always think of the function as a strategic driver. Instead, HR is sometimes relegated to a service-oriented operations role, with the assumption that other business leaders are handling strategy. In my opinion, this is a missed opportunity. The most effective CPOs bring both a people-first mindset and a sharp business focus to the table, ensuring that HR isn’t just about execution but about delivering measurable impact through culture building, organizational development, and people strategies.
How do you see the rise of AI impacting the workforce, and what role do you think HR leaders should play in navigating this transformation?
Valentina: The emergence of AI isn’t just a technology challenge—it’s fundamentally a people challenge. AI represents a new kind of intelligence that must be thoughtfully integrated into the workforce alongside humans. It’s not just about implementing tools; it’s about figuring out how to incorporate a digital workforce into your human workforce in a way that is productive, as nonthreatening as possible, and well-managed from a change management perspective. This is where CHROs and CPOs are uniquely positioned to lead.
HR professionals deeply understand change management. We know how to balance mass empathy with practical execution, transforming things that initially seem intimidating—like the rise of AI—into exciting opportunities. Eventually, AI is going to drastically improve organizational efficiency and productivity, and it’s up to HR to steward the workforce through that transformation.
What’s your pitch for someone who is thinking about a career in HR or taking on a leadership role on the people side of the business?
Valentina: I believe HR is one of the most exciting and impactful career paths you can pursue today. As an HR leader, you have the opportunity to shape the future of work, drive major decisions that influence the economy, and build a career that is both financially rewarding and deeply meaningful.
What makes HR unique is the combination of skills it requires: financial acumen and business strategy paired with deep empathy and an understanding of people at scale. HR leaders are fully-formed business executives required to drive measurable results while prioritizing the human element. It’s a role that requires sharp analytical thinking, innate problem-solving abilities, and the ability to balance data-driven decisions with compassion-at-scale.
If you’re looking for a career where you can lead, make an impact, and sit at the intersection of business and people—HR is for you.