What is Hard People Problems?
Hard People Problems is a deep dive into the toughest problems in HR, delivered free every two months. But where did it come from, and what kind of problems are Hard People Problems?
Hard: A start-up is an unfolding series of problems that only further multiplies with success. The volume of problems is difficult, as can be the mismatch in skills to solve them, but in this newsletter, I mean a certain kind of problem.
People: Rather than just a rebrand for HR, I’m referring to the broader agenda of the organization’s ‘People’ topics. These are as much the people priorities of engineering managers as they are the HR leads. They are equally important to CEOs how People shape Product and Distribution as CHROs, in seeing how people factors drive or undermine business success.
Problems: Here's a running list of relevant Hard People Problems I hear from HR leaders and founders. I’d love to hear what problems you think are most important to solve!
How to create business impact with HR functions?
How to make remote work fast and engaging?
How to include and align diverse personal and political preferences?
How do we build leadership capacity during rapid growth?
How to redesign lean People teams for an AI empowered world?
How to avoid turning our rocketship into a bureaucracy?
Where did it come from?
I spent ten years in Silicon Valley, living on the verge of success and collapse that is endemic here. I was lucky to see some of the hottest start-ups of their era, to go through an acquisition, to try leading change in big tech, and to get consumed in the fire of a high-growth executive role. In my second Head of People role, I helped Miro capitalize on the distributed collaboration boom and 10x our org size in three years, as revenue expanded significantly faster. I’ve since taken time consulting on the sidelines to reflect on my many mistakes, appreciate what worked well, and be a father to my toddler.
And there were many mistakes! Leading the People function in high-growth start-ups is exceptionally hard. Acquistion dynamics, social change, remote working, and war were shocking events to lead through. But equally demanding were the daily challenges of the very abnormal context of hypergrowth. Before my time in tech, I took a master’s year to reflect on the first half of my career and plan new experiments. I see writing Hard People Problems as a learning capture for my decade in scale-ups. I want to take time away from the infinite meeting calendar to tackle the hardest problems I saw and to share the knowledge I wish I had back then. I hope you’ll join the journey and help make some ideas better.
Here’s my LinkedIn if you want to connect or know more about my career arc.
