SHRM Board Chair Betty Thompson on Preparing for Big Changes in HR

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Betty Thompson is the Board Chair at SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) and was the Chief People Officer at Booz Allen Hamilton for 17 years. Before that, she spent 15 years as VP, Human Resources at Fannie Mae. She is a pioneer of human capital strategy and HR functions and has served on multiple boards.

On taking risks and opportunities as they come

For me, it’s always been about the journey, not the destination. I never thought about being a chief people officer, but I kept taking on opportunities and challenges as they came along. I started in HR on a whim. I was nearing the end of maternity leave from running a data center at IBM, and a friend on the HR team asked me to consider making the switch. I figured it was temporary, and I could always move on to something else, so I had nothing to lose.

You can’t wait until you’re completely comfortable or absolutely ready because you never will be.

I ended up loving it, and I worked my way up to a business partner role. I later joined Fannie Mae as head of HR where I was tasked with reorganizing its workforce, including restaffing 75% of leadership. I never thought I could take on such an overwhelming challenge, but I did it. I wanted to learn and take advantage of these opportunities. I learned the necessity of being a risk-taker. You have to be willing to be in that uncomfortable space so that you can progress. You can’t wait until you’re completely comfortable or absolutely ready because you never will be.

On how to know your business inside and out

To add value, HR should understand the company's purpose, how it makes money, and how it serves its customers or clients. Build relationships with people in the business. Show interest in their work, and they’ll be open to helping you learn. If possible, have a rotation within the company. I spent eight years doing that at IBM before getting into HR, and it helped tremendously.

Don’t stay in your lane. Be a part of the inner workings of the organization.

I also took company-provided coursework for business employees—not because I would be doing what was taught, but because it gave insight into the direction the company was taking. Don't stay in your lane. Be a part of the inner workings of the organization.

On preparing for big changes in HR

We’re seeing a pivot to inclusion as it relates to diversity. What we've been doing for the last several years has not given us the progress needed for real change. Inclusion needs to be a collective responsibility, where people don’t feel like they’re competing for the one piece of the pie available—it's a matter of making the pie big enough for everybody to have a piece.

What we've been doing the last several years has not given us the progress needed for real change.

Another change to prepare for is an AI-trained workforce. The need is growing more urgent, but organizations are struggling to meet the impending demand. Our universities aren’t capable of turning out talent at the speed and numbers we need, but we can be proactive to not fall behind. Train the workforce you have now with resources like boot camps, community colleges, and online courses. And companies can put together internal programs to train employees and prepare them for future roles. Skills-based hiring can also help here, where the focus is on what the individual can do, not the degree they have.

On HR taking the lead in AI adoption

AI will continue to impact the HR profession across administrative functions and create opportunities for value-added work. HR should pay attention to these changes, not just across our industry but the workforce in general. There’s a lot of fear around AI, but HR can take the lead to diffuse it. It will take figuring out how to prepare the rest of the workforce for AI adoption and getting employees more comfortable with the idea of using the tool in their day-to-day work.

On books every HR leader should read

“You’re Invited” by John Levy is about the science of cultivating influence. For an HR person, that's an invaluable skill. It's important to get people to listen so you can push change across an organization. The book emphasizes building relationships and the importance of those human connections, which is a major challenge that companies are facing right now with many employees working remotely. We grapple with how we’ll develop the next core of leaders without those in-person connections and modeling.

Another book I recommend is called “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez. It’s about the gender data gap that discriminates against women. I’ve had plenty of conversations over the years about poor female representation in quality-of-life studies, and this book reminded me that we still have a long way to go to make progress.

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