In talking with Nancy Long, Chief HR Officer at Hitatchi Data Systems, One of FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For recently, not only did I get goose bumps, but found myself going on a journey with her. Think global amusement park meets data solutions. Wow, her inspiration is contagious and exhilarating. Yet I also found it quite humble in that she has an earnest commitment to people as the base ingredient for her success in the people business.
As a foodie, I approach conversations thinking about the ‘secret sauce’. What she shared with me was that over her career her secret ingredient is/are: PEOPLE. People are paramount for this tireless leader in the PEOPLE business who truly embodies this guiding principle. Wow! She is onto something to create recipes using PEOPLE in every dish. She has talent at the forefront of the portfolio in her strategies and how she leads organizations who create winning cultures. Nancy shared, “our leadership throughout HDS at all levels has done an amazing job rallying, supporting and motivating our people. We have won several pieces of recognition, locally and globally. Last year we won “most clued in leadership team in Silicon Valley” which was a HUGE accolade for us!“
So how ‘secret’ is this ingredient I asked myself? Well, after searching Google , I found over 12,590,000,000 results and over 6,839 results when searching Harvard Business Review . The concept of people isn’t a secret. It’s the ‘art’ of creating the winning cultures that seem to be difficult to realize. Nancy is like many great collaborative artists, she shares her masterpieces, she invites us to learn from her and receive sustenance we yearn for in the workplace.
In summary, I believe we can all learn from this extraordinary leader to embody the PEOPLE business in every sense of the word. We must build people talent acquisition strategies that are created by the people, for the people and with the people. We must use the P ingredient in all our creations, whether they are pastries, pipelines or partnerships. Indeed this thrilling ride is something you can experience. All it requires is laser focus on PEOPLE.
