Adding to the challenge for Kathleen Hogan is that she had never worked in HR until January 2015. But the long-time Microsoft executive, who CEO Satya Nadella recruited, sees herself as part of the “modern HR.”
HR’s role is “being a partner in helping the business think about talent, and how we can change the trajectory of the business,” Hogan says. Hogan sought the help of an HR newbie like herself when she asked Joe Whittinghill to join her team.
Whittinghill left Microsoft’s mergers and acquisitions team to lead talent management for HR. “The most important role HR is playing right now is our overall culture-change effort,” he says. “Everyone is focused on how do we continue to evolve the culture in the direction…that Satya is asking us to go to.”