238 - The Art of Business Partnering: Lenke Taylor (Chief People Officer, Personio)

Lenke Taylor joined us on The Modern People Leader to talk about her path from engineering to HR, and what it means to be a true business partner. We discussed how HR can lead alongside CEOs and CFOs, building high-impact teams, and how working in Europe has shaped her leadership approach. ----  Sponsor Links: 🔗 Get in contact with the Career Sandwich team. 🔗 Request a demo of ChartHop. MPL Links: 🔗 Buy your ticket for MPL Live New York. 🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build. ----  (04:37) Lenke’s career journey: From chemical engineer to people leader (10:42) What is Personio and how Lenke ended up there (12:17) What business partnering really means in HR (14:37) How AI is changing the way we work (19:05) HR’s evolving role in an AI-transformed workplace (22:46) The CEO–CFO–CPO trio: Strategic collaboration in practice (27:45) Stage-specific HR: Lessons from Google, BuzzFeed, and Personio (30:46) Hiring for growth-stage companies vs. enterprise environments (33:29) Which HR practices are universal, and which should be tailored (36:17) The perks of being in HR at an HR tech company (38:24) Working in Europe vs. the US: Major leadership and HR differences (44:20) Cultural contrasts between US and European leadership styles (47:33) What’s top of mind for HR leaders in Europe today (48:54) Rapid-fire questions: Advice, superpower nickname, strategy to steal (52:06) Guest recommendation: Katarina Berg (CHRO at On, formerly Spotify) (53:04) One-word close: Business is people strategy ----  📬 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