Punk Rock HR · 2026-06-01 · 35 min
The CEO is pumped. The engineers are burnt out. And HR is the last to know. Gemma Versace is Chief Client Officer at X-Team, and her company's research on AI talent strategy should be required reading for every HR leader. The confidence gap between executives and the people actually doing the work is wide, and the organizations that ignore it are losing their best people. If you work in HR and you've ever felt like AI strategy happens around you instead of with you, this conversation is for you. In this episode, you'll hear: The gap between executive confidence and practitioner reality on AI talent What that disconnect looks like inside a real organization Why HR reports the lowest AI confidence of any function Why job description clarity predicts AI maturity more than budget The difference between naming governance as a problem and fixing it Why most organizations can't prove AI ROI to finance Why long-term embedded partners outperform short-term contractors
312: Blowing Up the HR Playbook with Lisa Sterling81 / 100
311: The Business Case for Caring with David Barrett
310: Fixing a Broken Benefits System with Rae Shanahan
308: Leading Into the Unknown with Tameka Vasquez
307: The Engineer Who Won't Use AI with Andrew Norcross