The Human Side of Human Resources: Creating Authentic Connection with Rhonda Morris

Rhonda Morris (0:00)

I always share a belief that I have with the leaders in the class, and I will tell them, you are the person, your direct reports go home and talk to their partner, their kids, their friends about, and you control what they say about you. Is it good or is it bad? And in your hands, with these people, you can be a confidence builder or a confidence destroyer. That's a pretty powerful position to be in.

Michael Gervais (0:28)

Welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. This is the second installment in a series of conversations we've been having with global leaders in human resources. They are at the forefront of helping define modern leadership and what it takes to attract and retain and build the next generation of leaders. From the shift to and from hybrid work to the integration of emerging technologies like AI. These conversations highlight the leadership capabilities that will help teams thrive in the modern workplace. Today's guest is Rhonda Morris, the former Chief Human Resources Officer at Chevron. Rhonda is a powerhouse. She is sharp and competitive and deeply committed to helping others perform at their best.

Rhonda Morris (1:18)

I think leaders now have to have a deeper understanding of people than they've ever had before.

Michael Gervais (1:26)

And everyone who knows Rhonda knows that she leads authentically. That's how she's broken barriers.

Rhonda Morris (1:32)

I have been on many leadership teams where I was a double only, the only woman, the only person of color. And it's really hard to explain what that feels like unless you're in that situation.

Michael Gervais (1:46)

So with that, let's jump into this week's conversation with Rhonda Morris. Okay, Rhonda.

Rhonda Morris (1:59)

Okay.

Michael Gervais (2:00)

What is important for me to know to understand you?

Rhonda Morris (2:05)

I think it's important for you to know the role sports plays in my life. And right now, I am a deeply brokenhearted sports fan.

Michael Gervais (2:15)

So you've grown up with sports. Like you, is this something that your whole life, you've been into sports?

Rhonda Morris (2:21)

Yes, I have. And in some ways, I think, the relationship I have with sports has actually helped me be successful in my professional career. Because when I was growing up and I grew up in Oakland, California, in a blue collar neighborhood, and I grew up at a time when children didn't have play dates. You went outside and you played with whoever was outside until your mother started screaming for you to come to the house and eat dinner. And all the kids in my neighborhood were boys, all of them. So there were no girls my age. I have an older sister, the older kids who were girls were my sister's age. And this was a time where the older kids didn't really play with the younger kids. So I was forced to play with boys. And in my job now, I'm still playing largely with boys.

Michael Gervais (3:09)

Yeah. What do you think is an advantage that that would have given you? And I think this is a two part question, the advantage of sport in general, your relationship with it, and that's either playing or supporting. And then the second part of the question is, what do you think the relationship with competing with boys at a young age, how that might have helped or not helped?

Rhonda Morris (3:32)

Oh, it helped tremendously. So number one, I learned, so I'm very competitive. I like winning. And I learned when I was very young that in order, I want to be picked first. Remember when kids split up and they pick who's going to be on the team? I was never picked last because I'm so competitive.

And I learned that in order to be picked first, I had to be better than all of them. And I was. And when they realized I was going to help them win, they didn't care that I was a girl. They cared that I would help them win.

Michael Gervais (4:05)

Okay. Where did that come from? I have no idea. Mom, dad, cousins, uncles. Is there a family geist or is there a family ethos that had supported them?

Rhonda Morris (4:16)

Not really. My parents, and this is, I think, maybe a little bit unusual. My parents are strong believers in education. My father passed away. I come from a family of educators. My grandmother was a principal at a school in Louisiana. She would tell all of her grandkids, you're going to college. So I grew up never thinking going to college was an option because it was drilled into us, you're going to college. But the drive to be the smartest person in my class, I don't really know where that came from because I made a decision when I was 10 I was running track, I played basketball, and I gave up both of them because the time I was spending at practice was interfering with the time I had to study. And so I decided I had to make a trade-off in my training.