#357 The Future of HR: Navigating Disruption and AI

**Naveed Nasir Mian** (0:00)
So yeah, I think there's a two, it's a double-edged sword, right? I mean, if you take too much time to promote them, they're all gonna run away, and you will be doomed with your baby boomers. And if you do that, how are you gonna keep the rest of the organization satisfied?
Some logic and some rationale and some timing and role required before people are being promoted into more meaningful roles.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (0:25)
Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation, where we explore how people process policy and technology drive effective change. This is Dr. Darren, Chief Enterprise Architect, Educator, Author, and most importantly, your host.
On this episode, the future of HR, Navigating Disruption and AI with Naveed Nasir Mian, Executive Coach, Best Selling Author, and HR Specialist. Naveed, welcome to the show.

**Naveed Nasir Mian** (0:59)
Thank you, Darren. Thank you for the warm welcome. And I'm super stoked to have this conversation with you today.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (1:06)
Yeah, I am too.
I've been recording a lot around HR. There seems to be a big buzz around HR right now. And in the people aspect, and I think the reason why is because there's a lot going on, right? With AI and there is lots of layoffs and hiring install. There's a lot going. So before we dive into all that, because a lot of people want to hear that. But everyone that listens to my show knows, I only have superheroes on the show, and every superhero has a background story. All right, so Naveed, what's your background story?

**Naveed Nasir Mian** (1:44)
Well, if it's really superheroes, I thank you for the call, and I wish you a great rest of the day. But on a more serious note, Darren, I spent actually 20 years in this wonderful function called HR, and I did it at the country, at the region, and at the global level. And I did something which in hindsight looks like I did it extra hard for myself.
One of my top fun facts about my career is that I never repeated the industry, meaning over the course of 26 years, after which I spent the last 20 in HR, I transitioned from industry to industry to industry to industry. And that was-

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (2:24)
Oh, so very broad then.

**Naveed Nasir Mian** (2:25)
Exciting, but also a little hard because each time I felt like I'm the new kid on the block and I have to learn all about this new particular sector and industry.
So that's my professional side. And personally, I have been married to my wife for almost 20 years now. So this year we hit the 19 year and we have a 10 year old son. We moved to Dubai after living in many other countries before. So this is country number five. And yeah, this is this is kind of my short little introduction, my professional and personal speaking.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (3:03)
Oh, that is awesome. So lots of different verticals. It's almost that's actually kind of cool because when you move into a new vertical, it's like, I'm new, right? I'm a novice at this vertical. I bring all my HR expertise, but yeah, that's kind of cool because it's kind of a refresher on your.
It's a refresh of your career in some respects. That's an interesting perspective.

**Naveed Nasir Mian** (3:32)
It is Darren, but the caveat here is nobody gave me any cookie points for me getting you come out to the industry, right? They all expect you to perform right from day one.
And that's what I said, maybe probably a little harder for me to go in. But hey, I've done it already. I've retired from my corporate executive HR role, so I can now look back and yeah, I have a bit of a smile about all this.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (4:03)
That's awesome.
That is really awesome. Where are you seeing? I mean, you've been in both regional, international, and lots of different verticals. Are you seeing a major shift in HR or are you seeing a repeated pattern that we've seen before in what's going on today?

**Naveed Nasir Mian** (4:22)
I actually see both, which is an end in between that. So I do not hide the fact that every time I came into a new position, often in a new industry, the company believed they are so unique that nothing possibly from the outside world could be infused into that organizational people practices. And of course, every company is unique. I mean, I work for Roche. This is one of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies. And of course, if you were to speak to anyone from GSK or, I don't know, Novartis, they all believe that they are uniquely different, and there is merits and truth in that.