313 - The New Power Duo: CHRO + CTO (Sunaina Lobo, Chief People Officer, Omnissa)

Sunaina Lobo, Chief People Officer at Omnissa, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about why the HR-IT partnership is becoming critical in the AI era, how Omnissa is approaching AI transformation with a small but mighty team, and what it takes to build an AI-first culture while maintaining trust and engagement. ---- Sponsor Links: 🔗Learn more about Intuit QuickBooks Payroll at QuickBooks.com/workforce MPL Links: 🔗Go sign up for MPL Build. ---- (05:56) Sunaina’s Global Journey Across Eight Countries (07:49) From Aspiring Jazz Singer to HR Leader (09:47) The Power of Sponsors Over Mentors (12:00) What Omnissa Does and Its AI-Driven Digital Work Platform (13:03) Why the HR-IT Partnership Is the New Strategic Alliance (15:39) Leading AI Transformation with HR and R&D Together (19:32) How Omnissa’s AI Leadership Team Operates (22:54) The “Small But Mighty” AI Transformation Team (24:44) Early AI Wins Across Product, Marketing, and People Teams (25:46) The Rise of Employees Who Reinvent Their Own Roles (27:40) Lessons Learned from Omnissa’s AI Transformation Journey (31:31) Building AI Fluency Across the Organization (34:24) Overcoming Fear and Building Trust Around AI Adoption (38:22) Why Thoughtful AI Rollouts Matter More Than Speed (40:44) Reimagining Performance Management with AI (43:10) Looking Ahead: Omnissa’s People Experience Strategy (45:14) Development Days, Manager Excellence & Employee Growth (46:40) Creating a Global Culture with Local Relevance (46:57) The Return of Employee Engagement and Listening Programs ---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps 💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn 😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn ---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.