Chad Hartzell on on Building AI Competency While Scaling a Culture-First Business

In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Jim Kanichirayil sits down with Chad Hartzell, VP of HR at Barletta Boats, to talk about what happens when an organization sees AI potential before it has a formal AI role, job description, or project plan. Chad shares how Barletta, part of the Winnebago Industries brand portfolio, approached an opportunistic AI hire by starting with values alignment, letting the candidate help shape the interview, and mapping the role to the areas where it could create the most immediate business impact. The conversation moves beyond AI as an HR-only story. Chad explains why Barletta first placed AI talent near customer experience and sales, how dealer feedback shaped the decision, and why improving service delivery can become part of a broader revenue and retention strategy. Chad also talks about building AI as an organizational competency. From ChatGPT and Copilot to data integration, predictive analytics, and workflow automation, he makes the case that HR can help people understand where AI fits, how to apply it responsibly, and how to create real bandwidth for higher-value work. Topics Discussed: Why Barletta hired AI talent before it had a formal AI job description How values alignment shaped the interview process for a nontraditional role Why the candidate led parts of the interview with Barletta's executive team How to co-create a role when the organization does not have a playbook yet Why customer experience became the first focus area for Barletta's AI work How AI can help connect warranty, service, technical, sales, and customer data Why AI strategy needs to tie back to people, innovation, differentiation, and scaling How HR can build AI competency across back-office teams like marketing, finance, HR, and IT Why repetitive tactical workflows are good starting points for automation What HR leaders can learn from early AI use cases in recruiting and operations If you are an HR leader trying to move AI from a loose idea into a practical organizational capability, this episode offers a grounded look at how to evaluate talent, build trust, and connect AI work to the business problems that matter most. Additional Resources: Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot - https://www.gocleary.ai/hr-chatbot Future Proof HR Community - https://www.gocleary.ai/cleary-community Connect with Chad Hartzell on LinkedIn -   / chadhartzell   Chapters: 00:00 Where AI efficiency begins 00:28 Hiring AI talent without a playbook 01:28 Meet Chad Hartzell 02:48 Welcome and Barletta context 05:01 From healthcare HR to manufacturing HR 08:22 Why employee experience matters in manufacturing 10:41 How culture becomes a competitive advantage 13:05 Why AI belongs in a people-first boat company 15:34 Turning AI strategy from idea to action 17:37 How to deploy talent when no role exists 20:20 Why the candidate led the interview 22:09 Building the AI playbook together 22:53 Why customer experience became the first AI focus 25:03 Future Proof HR community break 25:26 The revenue lens: retain, expand, and support customers 30:05 Why the first AI role landed outside HR 31:30 Building AI as a competency 32:59 Where AI automation should start 35:36 What Chad would do differently 39:07 Final takeaways on values, co-creation, and AI impact 41:43 Outro