HR Leadership Key Findings
- HR creates real impact when it builds capabilities that fuel business strategy — not just managing operations.
- Embedding data and analytics into HR turns people decisions into measurable outcomes that impact customer loyalty and investor confidence.
- Companies that lead with purpose and culture consistently outperform those chasing only quarterly results, according to Dave Ulrich.
What if your HR team consistently drove measurable outcomes — not just supported operations?
This is not hypothetical. Just as finance manages capital, HR should drive talent and culture to create stakeholder impact — and the best companies are already doing it.
According to research from the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR), leading companies use data to achieve measurable outcomes — proving that analytics-backed, strategy-driven HR decisions can fuel sustainable growth and better business outcomes.
RBL Co-Founder and Leadership Expert Dave Ulrich developed an HR business partner model that has become widely embraced, championing this principle.
Widely recognized as the “father of modern HR,” Dave’s research has transformed how the world’s top companies think about leadership, culture, and people strategy.
In episode No. 84 of the DesignRush Podcast, Dave reframes HR as a driver of stakeholder-centric value — not just a support function — and shares why companies that prioritize people and purpose ultimately outperform those chasing only quarterly results.
🎧 Listen to the full episode with Dave Ulrich on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to learn how HR leaders can become architects of transformation.
Chapter Summary
- The Role of HR in Driving Stakeholder Value (04:00)
- Shifting the Focus: Moving from Employee-Centric to Stakeholder-Centric HR (10:00)
- How to Use Analytics and AI to Improve Organizational Performance (22:00)
- The Role of Organizational Capabilities (40:00)
- How Leaders Can Build Stakeholder Value for Sustainable Growth (54:00)
1. Build Capabilities, Not Just Compliance
Companies often view HR through a narrow lens: compliance, policy, support. But Dave challenges leaders to think much bigger.
"What we do in HR creates value for somebody else. It's not about what we know. It's about how what we know helps somebody else do their job better.
And when that mindset pervades, then you say, who are the stakeholders who get value from what we do?"
HR should build systems that solve real external problems — whether that’s improving customer loyalty, supporting social responsibility, or enabling innovation.
"Pick any company in the world. What's that identity? What are they known for and good at doing? That begins to be the organization level capability that we're trying to embed."
Pro tip for making strategy tangible: When defining organizational capabilities, ask: “What do we want to be known for by our customers?” Use that identity as your HR North Star.
By redefining HR’s role in terms of capability creation, organizations become more resilient, adaptive, and aligned with long-term goals.
2. Use Data and AI to Elevate HR’s Strategic Role
According to Dave, HR professionals won’t earn a seat at the table through emotion — they’ll earn it through evidence.
“Why do I pick one priority over another? Because of data, because of evidence. This is the priority that will help me deliver value to my customer, to my investor, to my community that will show up in profit over time.”
With AI tools, predictive talent models, and organizational diagnostics becoming more accessible, HR can now quantify its impact in boardroom language.
“What you’re more interested in is: did that training cause a customer to buy more product? Did it cause an investor to have more confidence? Did it build our reputation in the community?
And when the measurement is not about the activity, but about the outcome of the activity — that’s where the value gets created.”
By embedding data into culture and leadership strategies, HR leaders move from reporting on engagement to actively shaping performance.
Your Mini Checklist: Is Your HR Driving Stakeholder Value?
- Does your HR team align talent strategy with business goals?
- Are you using data to inform leadership development or hiring decisions?
- Is your culture designed intentionally to reflect your brand values?
- Are people initiatives tied to measurable business outcomes?
- Does your HR function speak the language of the boardroom, focusing on metrics like ROI and stakeholder impact?
3. Lead with Meaning, Not Just Metrics
Even the most brilliant strategy will fail if it doesn’t connect with human emotion.
Dave believes that modern leadership isn’t just about directing — it’s about creating meaning that aligns personal motivation with organizational purpose.
“The first action is the mindset. Leadership is not about what you know and do. It’s about how what you know and do helps those you lead, do their work better.”
This kind of leadership starts outside-in: understanding stakeholder expectations, translating them into purpose, and aligning every decision — from hiring to messaging — around that shared direction.
“I want to work in a company that's serious, that respects what I do, that knows what I do, that cares about what I do. And when you see that sense of caring about you, it's going to get you more engaged.”
People don’t want to be managed. They want to be inspired.
The result?
Stronger cultures, clearer direction, and long-term impact across customers, employees, investors, and communities.
Who Is Dave Ulrich
Dave Ulrich is a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, co-founder of The RBL Group, and a pioneer in HR strategy. Named the most influential HR thinker of the decade by HR Magazine, Dave has authored over 30 books, including Reinventing the Organization. His frameworks have shaped how global brands like GE, Unilever, and Microsoft design leadership, culture, and capability strategies that drive growth.
HR Drives Stakeholder Value
In a world shifting from shareholder dominance to stakeholder expectations, HR is no longer a support function — it’s the strategy engine.
“We want to do HR so that it creates value for our customer. And it shows up on the income statement.”
Leaders who build talent, culture, and leadership as organizational capabilities — and who back those systems with data — won’t just survive disruption. They’ll shape the future.
Your Quick Win? Add Outcome-Based Metrics
- Don’t just track participation — track performance.
- Measure how leadership coaching impacts engagement or productivity.
- Look at how training affects customer satisfaction or retention.
And the most powerful shift of all?
Realizing that creating meaning at work isn’t a bonus — it’s the business.
Key Lessons on People-First Leadership, At a Glance
To summarize Dave’s advice, here are your main strategy takeaways for improving your HR approach:
- HR drives long-term business value through strategy.
- Data enables HR to make impactful, measurable decisions.
- Purpose and culture outperform short-term profit focus.
- Modern leadership fuels engagement with purpose and connection.
Learn how to implement a people-first HR strategy in your organization and start driving real business impact today.
