Colleen McCreary, a seasoned Chief People Officer (Zynga, Credit Karma, EA, Twilio) -turned-venture capitalist at Ribbit Capital, sits down with Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church. This insider conversation covers tactical advice for navigating Mergers and Acquisitions (she’s been through multiple), layoffs, recruiting top talent, and transitioning from an HR leader into the world of the board room. Before the interview, Nolan and Kelli also discuss the recent negative press for Carta's CEO Henry Ward, and offer listeners a behind the scenes understanding of executive departures and settlement packages. If you’re looking for HR software that drives performance, check out Lattice https://www.lattice.com/hrheretics
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SPONSORS: Lattice | Continuum
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RECOMMENDED PODCAST:
Every week investor and writer of the popular newsletter The Diff, Byrne Hobart, and co-host Erik Torenberg discuss today’s major inflection points in technology, business, and markets – and help listeners build a diversified portfolio of trends and ideas for the future. Subscribe to “The Riff” with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/theriff
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KEEP UP WITH COLLEEN, NOLAN, + KELLI ON LINKEDIN
Colleen:https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenmccrearychiefpplofficer/
Nolan:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-church/
Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellidragovich/
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LINKS:
- Ribbit Capital: https://ribbitcap.com/
- Henry Ward’s blog post about negative press: https://henrysward.medium.com/what-i-tell-employees-about-negative-press-7c134e7a601c
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Episode Preview
(01:43) The Carta story: executive terminations and lawsuits
(05:15) Rolling Layoffs
(13:45) Setting expectations after a layoff event
(17:49) Sponsors: Lattice | Continuum
(19:23) Employee accountability and RTO debate
(21:00) CHRO/CPO’s responsibility to be the voice for the company
(26:20) Moral challenges and breaking up with a CEO - infamous Zynga story
(31:28) Colleen’s experience being an advisor for Silicon Valley, the HBO series
(34:25) Recruiting lessons from Silicon Valley
(36:20) Colleen’s tactical lessons from multiple M&As
(43:30) Most important ‘gotchas’ to watch out for in M&A process
(47:08) Transitioning from HR to VC
(50:40) Being a long date in the interview process to create opportunities
(53:15) Navigating the choice between CPO at a big company, COO, and VC
(55:40) Colleen’s best hire(s): Mike Vernal and his crew
(58:28) Colleen’s best interview question
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HR Heretics is brought to you by Turpentine www.turpentine.co
Producer: Natalie Toren
Production: Graham Bessellieu, Michelle Poreh
For inquiries about guests or sponsoring the podcast, email Natalie@turpentine.co

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hrheretics.substack.com

Colleen McCreary on Layoffs, M&A, and Recruiting the Best Talent

“HR Heretics” | How CPOs, CHROs, Founders, and Boards Build High Performing Companies