Talk Talent To Me · 2026-05-22 · 36 min
Donovan shares how he deliberately hires business leaders into HR, why TA and retention must operate as a single strategy, and how he's making the case to Millennial and Gen Z employees that staying at one company for a full career can be the best financial decision they make. If you lead a team or manage talent at any level, this episode is full of frameworks you can apply immediately. Key takeaways Hire business leaders into HR: Top field leaders and MBAs with no HR background can elevate an HRBP team faster than traditional hiring. Business credibility is teachable on the HR side; leadership instincts are harder to develop from scratch. TA and retention are one strategy: Filling the top of the funnel while losing people out the back is a losing game. Breaking down silos between TA, L&D, and rewards is what closes the gap. Teamship over hierarchy: Donovan replaced a siloed COE structure with peer accountability across the full HR team. The result is a function that operates as one unit rather than five separate groups reporting up.
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