How do you create a career that reflects your values while staying open to unexpected opportunities? Today, we speak with Sam Simmons, Chief People and Internal Operations Officer at the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), about embracing adaptability and authenticity. Sam shares her incredible career journey, starting in higher education and pivoting into recruiting, tech, professional sports, and now the LPGA. We explore how embracing career pivots and remaining open to fortuitous opportunities can shape personal growth and career success. Find out how to foster trust and transparency in the workplace, understand the importance of employee value propositions beyond surface-level perks, and uncover how recruiters and leaders can navigate changes effectively.

Key Points From This Episode:

• The power of career pivots and how staying open to new opportunities can shape your path.

• Sam's journey from higher education to leadership roles across different industries.

• Transparency and trust in building organizational culture and fostering engagement.

• Sam's perspective on employee value propositions (EVPs) and how to develop them.

• Stay interviews and how they provide insights into retention and employee satisfaction.

• Tips for assessing organizational culture and identifying companies aligned with your values.

• Why Sam accepted the position at the LPGA and her goals for the role.

• Her approach to navigating ambiguous roles and finding clarity in the workplace.

• Steps for creating partnerships with hiring managers and setting realistic expectations.

• How lifestyle and mission play into modern recruitment and what this means for recruiters.

Quotes:

“You choose how you show up [or] rise to the occasion. Try to make the best of or something out of the circumstances that you are in and [don’t] put too much pressure on yourself to do it perfectly.” — Samantha Simmons [0:03:53]

“It is better to know what exactly you are walking into as much as possible because you know there are bunches of surprises that await you once you get into the actual role.” — Samantha Simmons [0:15:34]

“I am very introspective by nature. It helps a lot with my job and being able to maintain a cool head.” — Samantha Simmons [0:31:55]

“Ask questions [and] make sure you are clear. You are trying to make placements that endure, but the only way you get there is through a partnership.” — Samantha Simmons [0:36:17]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Samantha Simmons on LinkedIn

Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)

LHH Recruitment Solutions

In a world where workplace culture typically lives on posters and slideshows, how do you ensure it’s felt and lived every day? Joining us to explore this vital question is Frank Kellenberg, VP Global Head of Culture & Inclusion at Sandoz. With a career spanning leadership roles at Ingram Micro, Adidas, and Novartis, Frank is a culture champion and inclusion advocate with an inspiring mission: to bring humanity back to the workplace! In this episode of Talk Talent to Me, Frank shares the story of Sandoz’s cultural transformation following its spinoff from Novartis, including how the organization defined its own identity, shaped its unique values, and cultivated psychological safety to empower employees to speak up. From using employee feedback as a foundation to building a culture that drives both belonging and performance, Frank unpacks what it takes to ensure that company values aren’t just words but a way of working.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Transitioning from Novartis to Sandoz: a strategic cultural shift to forge a unique identity.

• Three questions that shaped Sandoz’s cultural evolution: what to discard, keep, and introduce.

• What it looks like to ensure that company values are more than just a poster on the wall.

• How Frank defines company culture using a three-layered housing metaphor.

• Why openness and transparency play an important role in Sandoz’s interview process.

• Difficulty attracting and retaining talent and other risks of neglecting workplace culture.

• Insight into the significance of employee feedback (including former employees).

• Psychological safety as a red flag signal for cultural issues in an organization.

• Measuring cultural success through surveys, unscripted employee feedback, and more.

• Going beyond curated narratives to uncover the true state of organizational culture.

• How leadership engagement and informal conversations foster cultural alignment.

• Frank's predictions about the growing importance of workplace culture.

Quotes:

“We integrated [Sandoz’s values and reflected them] in processes, tools, and performance management – so that, at the end, people could not just read it on a poster on the wall, ‘Here are our four values,’ but really experience it.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:08:32]

“You can have a great facade. You can have great architecture or a great house with great furniture. But if the people are not representing it, not living it, [or don’t] like to live in the house, then you have a problem. – This is how I would describe company culture.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:12:06]

“We came from a culture in which people had the feeling they [couldn’t] speak up. That was a signal for us that there was no psychological safety in the organization that people feel safe to speak up, to ask questions, to challenge the status quo.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:21:50]

“If an organization doesn’t care about [workplace culture], they will struggle.” — Frank Kellenberg [0:32:22]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Frank Kellenberg

Frank Kellenberg on LinkedIn

Sandoz

Sandoz People & Culture

LHH Recruitment Solutions

Until recently, business or occupational psychologists have been rarities who mostly get hired as contracted consultants. But now, companies are beginning to see their undeniable value, and there’s a drive toward having an in-house business psychologist in all workplaces. Today we welcome Dr. Hamira Riaz, Executive Talent & Assessment Director. Dr. Hamira begins with how she switched from clinical psychology to HR before explaining why occupational psychologists should be an in-house norm for all businesses. We unpack the skills needed to be an expert in Dr. Hamira’s field, how the psychological contract between employees and businesses has changed through the years, the constant yo-yo of power between talent and employers, and why potential is an important subject to modern employees. We also learn about our shadow selves and how it affects our work, the role of resilience in breaking through shadows, how Dr. Hamira ensures that she gets the information she needs when speaking to business leaders, and AI’s role in the future of HR.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Dr. Hamira Riaz describes her career pivot from clinical psychology to HR.

• Why in-house occupational psychologists will become a staple in most businesses.

• The skills and knowledge required to be an expert business psychologist.

• How the psychological contract between employees and businesses has evolved.

• Exploring the perpetual seesaw of power between talent and employers.

• Why potential matters, and work motivations in a post-COVID society.

• The environments in which potential is expressed and realized.

• How our shadows affect our work, and how to assess and alleviate shadows in the office.

• The role of resilience in breaking through shadows, and how to recharge your resilience.

• What Dr. Hamira is listening for when speaking to business leaders about their needs.

• Why she's very interested in how someone spent their 20s when making her valuations.

• The future of HR with AI.

Quotes:

“That psychological contract between an employee and a company has fundamentally shifted. We want different things out of work than we ever did before. Our tolerance and threshold for what's okay in terms of the boundary between our personal life and professional life has shifted, and we're never going to go back.” — @HamiraRiaz [08:00]

“The Human Potential Movement has been around for decades, since the 60s. I've never known potential as a subject to be as much in the minds of HR professionals as it is now.” — @HamiraRiaz [10:16]

“We're all deserving of these opportunities at work, and we don't need to wait for a professional in the HR function to tell us that we are talent and tell us that we have potential.” — @HamiraRiaz [14:01]

“I love the gift of time. I don't think anybody loves you more than when you give them back some time.” — @HamiraRiaz [32:11]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Dr. Hamira Riaz

Dr. Hamira Riaz on LinkedIn

Dr. Hamira Riaz on X

Lloyds Banking Group

Volvo

Martyr!

Talk Talent to Me

LHH Recruitment Solutions