What CEOs and boards really want

The CHRO role has become increasingly complex since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, with CEOs and boards calling on their HR executives to not only strategically lead in a variety of new areas—from back-to-the-office mandates to employee mental health crises—but also to have a solid understanding of the business itself, advises former CHRO and Google HR expert Laszlo Bock.

Bock, a member of the National HR Academy, who received the title Human Resources Director HR Director of the Year 2010, today he is Faculty Co-Director of the Berkeley Transformative CHRO Leadership Program. Often sees today’s HR leaders thrown into the deep end; In his view, the understanding of the business required goes far beyond mere knowledge of a company’s products and services.

HR directors and candidates for such demanding positions need to know much more, says Bock, co-founder and former CEO of Humu, a company that provides HR technology solutions based on incentive theory and is now owned by Perceptyx.

“It’s not that (CHRO candidates) don’t understand that we make gadgets,” he says. “They just don’t understand why we’re willing to pay $1.3 billion to buy a company but not $1.4 billion.” For example, a CHRO might be perfectly able to forecast cash flows at certain discounted interest rates in an acquisition and understand that high federal interest rates could raise the discount rate. That means lower cash flows and may mean you can’t afford to pay more in a deal.

“The ability to understand this kind of thing is rare among CHROs,” Bock says. He I recently sat down with Human Resources Director share his insights on today’s CHROs and how current HR leaders can become attractive CHRO candidates when CEOs and boards or directors are hiring. To start, he suggests that Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) candidates develop skills that extend beyond HR functions.

Instead of the typical HR career path, Bock advises that you consider a temporary job in finance, operations or legal to sharpen your business skills.

Either way, opportunities are popping up for top HR leaders, recruiting firm Korn Ferry notes in a report. The results reveal that the average CHRO turnover is 3.7 years, compared with 4.9 years for the C-suite as a whole.

Learn more from HR leaders who will be speaking at the upcoming HR Technology Conference & Exposition, September 24-26 in Las Vegas. To name just two, Northwestern Mutual CHRO Don Robertson will discuss “Harmony in HR: Striking the Right Balance Between Data & Human Experience,” and Katie Carter, SVP Global HR Evolution at Hyatt, will join a panel on “Program Management: The Dynamic True North for Transformation.” Learn more and register now.