91: Why Most Leaders Get HR Wrong and How To Fix It With Celeste Warren

Episode notes

What role should HR truly play inside organizations? Compliance police? Culture architects? Or trusted business partners? In this episode, Celeste Warren - Global HR and DEI leader, consultant, and author of The Truth About Equity - joins Sean to answer that question with 40 years of hard-won experience. Celeste shares her journey from leading HR and DEI at Merck to launching her own consultancy, and explains why equity is not a “nice-to-have” but a core business strategy. We dig into how HR can become a force multiplier, what inclusive leadership looks like in practice, and why today’s leaders must learn to facilitate hard conversations in an increasingly polarized world. If you’re leading people and shaping culture, this conversation gives you actionable strategies and a long-term playbook for equity that drives business results.

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