Maya worked up the courage to tell her manager she was struggling. She stayed calm. She was specific. She came prepared. The response she got? 'Honestly, the issue is how you’re communicating this. People perceive you as difficult.' She walked away feeling worse than before she spoke up. This is more common than most organizations want to admit.

68% of HR departments are already using AI. 89% have restructured — or plan to — to accommodate it. The question HR leaders are wrestling with isn't whether AI will change their work. It already has. The real question is: are you letting it happen to you, or are you leading it?

Early in my career, I watched an employee walk into an HR office with a paycheck question. She walked out with a form number and a sigh. She figured it out eventually. But something shifted in how she showed up after that. I've thought about that moment hundreds of times since. It's part of why NorthStar exists.