Good morning!
Ellyn Shook, who was the CHRO of Accenture and served as an HR leader for more than 36 years, is retiring. When she leveled up to CHRO in 2014, the business had 300,000 global employees, and she played a prominent role in scaling and training the workforce ever since. During her executive tenure Accenture has grown to nearly 750,000 staffers across 120 countries.
I sat down with Shook to do an exit interview and hear more about what she’s learned over such a long career in human resources. She walked me through some of the highlights, what she’s looking for in a successor, and advice she has for other HR professionals. But what struck me most was her wide-lens perspective on the industry, and the changes she’s seen during her time at the top.
Shook says she’s witnessed three massive shifts. The first is the transition of HR workers from being considered administrators, to now being looked upon as workforce experts. The second is a new reliance on using data and analytics, rather than just going with your gut. And the third is the current responsibility for HR departments to reimagine the idea of what work is or should be.
“CHROs should be leading across the C-suite and really reinventing work, therefore preparing your workforce for change,” Shook told Fortune. “CHROs broadly repositioned themselves during COVID, and now are well positioned to play this large-scale transformation role across the business.”
What does the future hold for HR? Shook doesn’t have a crystal ball, but she says that preparing managers should be a major focus for all CHROs. And she emphasizes that the most significant leadership trait of our time is “compassion,” emphasizing a theme we’ve heard over and over again: Listening is key.
“It's not just being empathetic, it's being compassionate, taking action on that,” she says. “HR leaders also have to have very sophisticated listening frameworks that allow you to constantly be in touch with the pulse of the people, what's on their mind, and what's in their heart.”
You can read my entire interview with Shook here.
Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com
Azure Gilman
azure.gilman@fortune.com
