HRchat Podcast
Listen to the HRchat podcast by HR Gazette to get insights and tips from HR leaders, influencers and tech experts. Topics include HR Tech, AI, Leadership, Talent, Recruitment, Employee Engagement, Recognition, Wellness, DEI, and Company Culture.
Hosted by Bill Banham and other HR enthusiasts, the HRchat show publishes interviews with influencers, leaders, analysts, and those in the HR trenches 2-4 times each week. Shows are typically 15 to 30 minutes.
Past guests are from organizations including ADP, SAP, Ceridian, IBM, UPS, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Simon Sinek Inc, NASA, SHRM, Government of Canada, Hacking HR, Ultimate Software, McLean & Company, Microsoft, Shopify, DisruptHR, Talent Board, Virgin Pulse, Salesforce, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Coca-Cola Beverages Company.
Podcast Music Credit"Funky One"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Want to be featured on the show? Learn more here and contact publisher@hr-gazette.com
HRchat Podcast
Ethical Leaders with Brian Peckrill
Can HR professionals really be the cornerstone of ethical corporate culture? Join us in this episode of the HRchat Show, where we sit down with Brian Peckrill, Executive Director at the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund. Brian shares his unique perspective on how HR can drive ethical leadership and organizational excellence.
Recorded during SHRM24, Brian also highlights Johnny C. Taylor's recent insights on the future of HR, the integration of AI, and the importance of workplace civility.
Don't miss our discussion about the Ethical Leader of the Year Award, the qualities that define exemplary leaders, and the significant role HR plays in embedding these values within organizations. This is a must-listen for anyone passionate about the future of work and ethical business practices!
We do our best to ensure editorial objectivity. The views and ideas shared by our guests and sponsors are entirely independent of The HR Gazette, HRchat Podcast and Iceni Media Inc.
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The HRchat show has had 100,000s of downloads and is frequently listed as one of the most popular global podcasts for HR pros, Talent execs and leaders. It is ranked in the top ten in the world based on traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness. The podcast is also ranked as the Best Canadian HR Podcast by FeedSpot and one of the top 10% most popular shows by Listen Score.
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Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros, talent execs, tech enthusiasts and business leaders. For hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom.
Speaker 2:Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Show. Hey, this is your host today, bill Bannum. Corporate leaders are facing many challenges that previous generations of business leaders never had to deal with. Hr pros are crucial to instilling ethical practices within the corporate culture, making them vital partners on the path to organizational excellence. Today's returning guest is on a mission to help showcase some of the best leaders those who approach challenges with ethical frameworks to unlock solutions. I'm joined on the show by Brian Peckrell, executive Director at the William G McGowan Charitable Fund. Brian, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome you back to the HR Chat Show today. How are you doing?
Speaker 4:I'm doing great, Bill. It's always a real pleasure to join you and I'm excited to be on the HR Chat Podcast here at SHRM24.
Speaker 2:We're doing this in person, so this is the third time that you've been on the show, but the first time that I've got to do this in person.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4:It's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Now then, why don't you start by telling our listeners a bit more about the William G McGowan Charitable Fund?
Speaker 4:Absolutely. The William G McGowan Charitable Fund is a family philanthropy located here in Chicago, where SHRM24 is going on currently as we speak. We have a dual focus at the fund. The first is disrupting cycles of poverty through effective grant making in areas of education, health access, healthy foods, shelter and training towards a living wage. The second is promoting ethical leadership in business. Really, that second pillar connects so well with the first because what we realized is that societies can't flourish, Philanthropy can't be effective without successful ethical leaders. We're in our 31st year and we're very proud of the work we've been doing.
Speaker 2:And so you and I are sitting here, live from Sherm. I'm having a great time so far. What have been some of your highlights?
Speaker 4:It's been a fantastic conference 26,000 people. It's incredible to see that many people in one place and always. The energy of a SHRM event is like none other. It's really fun being here. I would say one of my highlights was Johnny Taylor's remarks yesterday. He was speaking about three core components of HR moving forward, unlocking human potential. Grappling with the future of AI he was saying AI plus HI equals ROI and, last but not least, civility in the workplace moving forward, and that was a really thought-provoking conversation I enjoyed quite a bit.
Speaker 2:Shameless plug listeners. Check out my recent interview with Jim Link, chro of SHRM, where we speak specifically around civility. Okay, so why is SHRM a great partner for you guys?
Speaker 4:SHRM has always had an incredible focus on ethical leadership, and absolutely the truth is is that Human resources are the creators of culture in our organization. Without HR managers, organizations can't integrate the principles of ethical leadership that are needed to really help a business safeguard itself and flourish. So, while executive leadership sometimes seems like it's separated from HR, they're intimately connected and I think that it really comes together at an event like this.
Speaker 3:Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat Podcast. If you enjoy the audio content we produce, you'll love our articles on the HR Gazette. Learn more at hrgazettecom. And now back to the show.
Speaker 2:Earlier today, you were up on the main stage for the announcement and the presentation of the third Ethical Leader of the Year Award. The award recognizes a Fortune 500 CEO who exemplifies outstanding ethical leadership. We'll talk about who that is in just a moment. Don't give the game away just yet. First off, what are some of those traits of exemplary leaders?
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. I'll actually cite our McGowan Fellows Program. We have a business leadership initiative that we lead in partnership with 10 MBA programs across the country and through that program we try to instill principles of ethical leadership in our fellows through coaching, through a significantly challenging experience and leadership training as well. Those principles are accountability, character, integrity, empathy, self-awareness, courage and resilience. And when I think of an ethical leader, I think of somebody who exhibits those traits, somebody who does what they say, who exhibits great integrity, someone who's self-aware of how their leadership is coming across to their stakeholders, to their customers, to their staff, to society at large, somebody who is accountable for their actions and empathetic to how their business decisions affect others. So core to, I think, ethical leadership in the highest ranks is exhibiting those virtues.
Speaker 2:Okay, Okay, Thank you, so no more waiting listeners. The winner was Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe's Brian. Why was he a worthy recipient?
Speaker 4:Marvin Ellison was a fantastic candidate and when our selection committee met, it was a clear-cut choice. We knew that it was going to be Marvin from the moment we began to speak, and I really believe that Marvin captures a lot of the principles that I just described. Since joining Lowe's C-suite in 2019, marvin has invested $50 million in training 50,000 individuals in the skills trades unlocking human potential, addressing the skills gap. He's dedicated $100 million in Lowe's Hometown Initiative, an initiative to revitalize community spaces across all of America, with a focus on rural America. Lowe's is really a leader in rural America as a corporate organization. I think they're a fantastic organization in that regard.
Speaker 4:During the pandemic, lowe's dedicated $1.1 billion to frontline assistance to organizations so that they keep going at this time of challenges. Lowe's has been nurturing diverse talent in the C-suite. Since joining, they've become one of the most diverse executive leadership teams in the Fortune 500. They went from having zero people of color to being 60% people of color, 10% women to 40% women, and they've done that without sacrificing business. Their stock price has gone from $85 to $220. Their market cap has doubled, $67 billion to $130 billion. So I really believe he's a deserving winner. So he's doing a good job, you'd say, I would say he's doing a great job.
Speaker 5:Once in a while, an event series is born that shakes things up, it makes you think differently and it leaves you inspired. That event is Disrupt HR. The format is 14 speakers, 5 minutes each and slides rotate every 15 seconds. If you're an HR professional, a CEO, a technologist or a community leader and you've got something to say about talent, culture or technology, disrupt is the place. It's coming soon to a city near you. Learn more at DisruptHRco.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we're recording this interview on I think it's June real world challenges. Can you share some key principles and strategies for embedding ethics into leadership training programs?
Speaker 4:I would say that there are core practices that you can do to integrate those practices into leadership programs. The three core elements I would say is you need to know your values. You first have to predefine what those values are so that you can teach and train towards them. The second is you have to create experiences and engagements that challenge the respective individual, the leader. It brings them outside their comfort zone and helps them reflect on their current leadership practice and how they can improve. And, last but not least, you need to have coaching. Individuals have to be coached towards what they want to be and how they want to achieve it, and they have to integrate within that coaching the smallest steps that they can take to practice those values, whether it's empathy, accountability or self-awareness. For me, those are the three core elements to designing a leadership program in a complex and uncertain world okay, there we go, listeners.
Speaker 2:If you weren't able to attend that session, you just picked it up all there, so you're good. Um, one of the two pillars of sherb 24 is civility. Brian, how should yeah, you've been an employee, you've been on the leadership side how should civility show up in the workplace and how can leaders help to foster a welcoming, safe and inclusive work environment? Absolutely.
Speaker 4:Well, I think it begins in HR. As we were saying earlier, hr is the creators of culture, and if we want to have a strong, positive culture where people want to work and where people can be productive in their work, they have to have civility. And really it starts with a leader who is demonstrating those values that we were talking about earlier self-awareness, empathy and making sure that they trickle down throughout all elements of the organization. And those are the core steps, I believe, to creating an organization that practices civility. And today, in the world we live, this is really important. If we want to have successful organizations, a successful society, it's going to start with civility.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that takes us to the end of this particular conversation. Before we wrap up, how can our folks connect with you and also learn more about the William G McGowan?
Speaker 4:Charitable Fund. Absolutely, they should visit our webpage, williamgmcgowanfundorg. There they can learn more about the Ethical Leader of the Year Award, our fellows program and all of our fantastic work.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I'd also encourage folks to check out the two previous conversations that we've had, absolutely, where they can learn even more about you. But for today, that just leaves me to say Brian, thanks very much for coming back on the show.
Speaker 1:Bill, it's always a pleasure. Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work? Subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom.
