In this episode, we explore three critical workplace strategy topics: how effective leaders can minimize office politics through transparency, accountability, and encouraging diverse viewpoints—strategies that seem obvious yet many workplaces still struggle to implement; Moderna's innovative approach to merging their tech and HR departments under a single "chief people and digital technology officer" role, complete with over 3,000 custom GPTs, representing a thoughtful years-long integration rather than a knee-jerk AI adoption; and the challenges of scaling a business sustainably, where the advice to build systems for 10x capacity sounds great in theory but often conflicts with the reality that HR infrastructure typically lags behind growth, creating a delicate balance between building too little too late versus over-engineering for your current stage.

Connect

Katya Laviolette on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katya-laviolette-6907b726/

Stacey Nordwall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles

• How Effective Leaders Minimize Office Politics
• Why Moderna Merged Its Tech and HR Departments
• Why Scaling a Business is the Hardest—and Most Important—Stage of Growth

This episode dives into why some CEOs are paying the price for walking back DEI, how the employer-employee relationship has fundamentally shifted, and the horrifying conditions faced by Meta’s outsourced content moderators. From strategic miscalculations to moral failures, we examine what these stories tell us about leadership, labor, and the values that shape today’s workplaces.

Connect:

With Anessa:

• On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anessafike/
• On her website: https://www.fikeandco.com/
• Her book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-revolution-of-work-fuck-the-patriarchy-and-the-workplace-it-built-anessa-fike/21206822?ean=9781961347540&next=t

With Stacey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles:

• How some corporations miscalculated the impact of abandoning DEI
• Has the Labor Market changed or have employees?
• Meta faces Ghana lawsuits over impact of extreme content on moderators

In this episode, we explore Cake’s Body’s bold $36K childcare stipend, why the job market is suddenly so brutal for college grads, and what the WEF’s new report reveals about the steep decline in employee well-being. We break down what these headlines signal about where workplaces are headed—and what HR needs to be thinking about next.

Connect:

With Anessa:

• On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anessafike/
• On her website: https://www.fikeandco.com/
• Her book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-revolution-of-work-fuck-the-patriarchy-and-the-workplace-it-built-anessa-fike/21206822?ean=9781961347540&next=t

With Stacey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/

Articles:

• Cakes Body’s $36K Child Care Credit Leads the Way in Affordable Child Care Planning for Employees
• Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market
• World Economic Forum Warns Employee Well-Being Is Declining—and Costing Businesses Trillions