The AI Shift Every HR Leader Needs to Prepare for in 2026
In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Khadija Ben Hammada, Member of the Executive Board and Chief People Officer at Merck Group, to unpack how HR can lead through AI transformation without losing the human heart of the organization.
Khadija shares why leaders cannot run global organizations from an ivory tower, and why being close to employees on the ground creates the trust, safety, and pride people need to speak up. She explains how field visits, human connection, and a strong sense of global community help Merck stay united across regions, even as the world outside becomes more fragmented.
Most importantly, she breaks down how Merck is building AI capability across the business, from AI literacy for everyone, to leader upskilling, internal AI tools, hackathons, flagship use cases, and HR agents that can improve employee experience at scale. Through it all, Khadija is clear: AI should take tasks, not humanity, and HR must stay at the intersection of business, technology, and empathy.
🎓 In this episode, Khadija discusses:
How Merck is building AI literacy across employees, leaders, and top executives
Why the future of HR sits at the intersection of business, technology, and humanity
Why AI should remove low value tasks so HR can focus on human and strategic work
Why leaders must stay close to employees on the ground, not lead from headquarters
How hackathons and flagship use cases help turn AI learning into real business impact
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[00:00]->[00:22]
Never never lower your expectation or your standards and equally you can pursue high standard empathy you don't have to choose one versus the other
and as an hr function we are the guardian of empathy of integrity of value and it's not because we go after that that we
are not capable to outperform and to have high standard excellence can go with empathy
[00:38]->[00:40]
Khadija, welcome to the show.
How are you doing?
[00:40]->[00:43]
I'm very good.
Thank you so much for having me, Chris.
How are you?
[00:43]->[00:48]
I'm good.
I can't believe where the year's gone.
It's just disappeared already.
[00:48]->[00:49]
The spring is here.
[00:49]->[00:53]
I know.
How is it where you are?
Is it nice?
Or is it like London?
Nice.
[00:53]->[01:04]
Blue sky.
Really?
Not too cold.
Not too warm so just perfect oh thanks for making me feel even worse about art i'm joking we never know right it's just
[01:04]->[01:12]
like rain and clouds and a little bit of sun and you just get used to it at this point um but how how
are you how's the family how's everything
[01:13]->[01:40]
Everything is doing well.
Can't complain.
I just came back from a wonderful trip in Asia Pacific.
I was in Singapore.
I was in Japan.
It was fantastic spending time with the team on the field, visiting a production site,
energized by what I have seen over there and back here.
And I'm very happy after a long trip to also cuddle my little son who is only four years old.
So it was quite amazing.
One week without him yeah i know how that feels my daughter's seven now and i always feel like when i'm away i feel
[01:40]->[01:56]
like i feel like i feel like we miss them more than they miss us yeah my daughter's like hey how you doing uh
yeah it's fine what would you say is like one um memory from your trip that was that will stay with you
[01:57]->[02:30]
I would say the sense of community that we have built across the company.
I mean, I've been in this company for 16 years and every time I travel to a country or to a site,
I clearly and nicely see people coming together around a problem to solve, a crisis, a mission for patient and customer.
Every boundaries disappear, every hierarchy disappear.
They just come together and fix the problem.
And that's always stick with me.
And that was even stronger in Asia Pacific and in Japan.
And I love seeing that because at the end, that's what mattered.
[02:30]->[02:34]
The community coming together to bring a solution to our patients and customers.
[02:34]->[02:37]
Nice.
And if you don't mind me asking, what was the purpose of the trip?
[02:39]->[03:09]
So, you know, Asia is one of the key regions for us.
So I think it was mainly to basically stay close to the team, understand what kind of challenges they are facing, inspiring them,
giving them some guidance, but also stay close for you as a leader on what's happening in the country.
You cannot run your organization from your ivory tower.
You have to be there.
And I think being close to them, being on the field, visiting customers, visiting the sites, the production...
And the R&D, you get firsthand into what's happening over there and how you can help your team to do better.
[03:09]->[03:34]
Yeah, I think that's such an important point, right?
Like now in the age of like, you know, remote and hybrid work, etc.
There's this temptation to say, oh, we can do this on a video call.
But you can't build that trust, that connection.
And there's almost an unspoken sense of connection, like community that you can't create over a video call.
You know?
[03:34]->[03:37]
Absolutely.
And the feeling, you know.
The feeling, yes, exactly.
[03:37]->[03:38]
The feeling.
[03:38]->[04:05]
Feel that you have their back because they have our back on the field.
And they also need, we also need to show them that we are here for them.
And we are not only so far away in our headquarter in Europe from screen.
And that's how you show them that you care for them.
And when you do that, even once a year, these go, let's for months, for years, they go above and beyond.
And that's what matters the most that you show care and you show that you are close to them and that you show that you
are one of them.
[04:05]->[04:21]
Yeah.
What are some of the takeaways that you learned?
I know we didn't plan on talking about this, but I just think it's fascinating that you learned.
Every time we make these trips, we learn something about ourselves or about the organization that we perhaps maybe didn't expect.
What's something that you took away?
Maybe an insight that was shared or some feedback?
[04:22]->[04:56]
Yeah, I think what I definitely have learned, and I think the geopolitical, I would say, environment right now is accelerating that.
I see that the region are getting, let's say, more isolated.
You know, you see North America, you see Asia, Europe.
And I think teams, when they work for a global organization like ours, they work beyond that boundaries.
They want to be part of a global ecosystem.
And it's up to us to make sure that what's happening externally is not affecting the way we work within a global organization.
We are still one company, we are having the same set of values, of standards,
[04:56]->[05:12]
it doesn't matter what's happening and let's basically break those walls and make sure that we stay close to Asia,
we stay close to America, we stay close to Europe,
Because at the end, we are one organization.
And that was a good reminder that they needed that proximity and reassurance that they are part of a global ecosystem.
[05:13]->[05:18]
Yeah, I love that.
And to your point, though, you wouldn't get that by sitting in your office.
[05:19]->[05:20]
No.
[05:20]->[05:21]
You wouldn't have gotten that insight.
[05:22]->[05:53]
But you know what I like the most, Chris?
I have to say is when you are the chief people officer and you meet with people in the production in the R&D,
I keep telling them, what can I do to help you every day to have better condition,
to have the right tools and equipment to do it?
So they are very surprised that at my level, because I really want to roll my sleeves and help them.
I'm not here to basically have wonderful picture and a nice lunch and nice dinner every
I want to make sure that when I go back here in the headquarters, in my office where I'm dialing in from, I
[05:53]->[06:25]
can solve problems for them.
I can make their workplace a better place.
And the fact that they can speak up and tell me, hey,
we have a challenge with maybe the benefit or maybe with our provider or with talent acquisition,
I feel that a privilege because they feel safe.
They feel open to tell you when something is not working.
And now when I'm back here, I'm solving that because if I come back and I don't resolve it,
Of my of my trip over there and that's always what i do tell me how i can help you yeah well part of that psychological
[06:25]->[06:54]
safety that you've built is because you're present
The fact that they're like, wow, you actually made the trip to here and my voice is actually heard.
You build that trust and that trust then allows them to speak up,
to feel like they're safe and have a safe psychological environment to be able to do that.
But if you didn't do that and you just sent a survey and hope that everyone's going to do that, it
doesn't work the same way.
[06:55]->[07:25]
And you know what I also found quite interesting?
I mean, of course, it's Japan and Singapore last week, but I work in different countries.
Humans are humans.
Whenever you go, they want to be respected, valued, and considered.
And when you go and show them respect for the work they do, they are so proud,
so proud to show you what they do.
And they do so much work every single day for us, for our customer, for our patient.
And they are really proud of that.
And being there and seeing that level of pride was absolute.
[07:25]->[07:34]
I have goosebumps as I'm sharing that with you.
Seeing that level of pride, I think is absolutely exceptional.
And giving them some recognition for what they do is just normal.
[07:34]->[07:51]
Yeah.
Is this something that you have learned throughout your career?
Is this something you've always done?
Or maybe you've looked at it in the past saying, I should have done more of that, just out of curiosity.
Is this something that someone suggested you should do more?
I think I have learned that, frankly.
[07:51]->[08:25]
I think no one has told me, hey, you have to show care.
Of course, people told me stay close to the action, get close to the field.
But what I have learned is meeting people where they are,
Because at the end, you are the one putting yourself out.
You can't ask a full country or full region to adapt to yourself.
You have to understand when you visit a country to not impose your way of thinking, but to take the country lands,
to take the Japan lands or to take the French lands.
Instead of believing that your way of working is the best.
[08:26]->[08:52]
And that I have learned with my experience in different countries, in my assignment in different parts of the world,
but also because generally as a person, I always take so much energy in connecting with people.
So I want to know what drives them, what kind of joy, what's bringing them joy, etc.
And when you put yourself out, A, this warms your heart and you learn so much about yourself.
And you can do way more with people because you connect, you speak the same language.
[08:53]->[09:19]
We spoke a lot about the human, you know, the empathy, etc.
One of the big challenges, which we can't avoid, obviously, now is this leveraging AI, of course, which everyone's, you know,
moving towards right now.
But The big challenge for many searchers I'm talking to is how do we strike that right balance between leveraging technology and AI efficiency,
but then preserving the human potential and the human in the workplace?
[09:20]->[09:56]
I think this is one of probably the biggest challenge for every chief people officer, or maybe biggest opportunity.
I'm personally using AI every single day.
I'm really trying to put myself out and learn and explore, and I'm expecting the same with my function.
But the way we have basically started the journey was not to impose again or to force it.
I don't believe in any change management, I would say, strategy where you force it.
You have, I like to call it the 3C, to create comfort with change.
Show them the value, show them the success stories, show them that they can do way more faster and better with AI.
[09:57]->[10:32]
So we started like that and especially with the HR function by telling them, hey,
look at the few things that we can take out of our day to day job tasks that are not generating a lot of high
value for you.
So you can really shift
Your focus on more strategic thinking, critical thinking, use your heart, and you had even more.
And when they started to see how much productivity they can gain with that, that was absolutely spectacular for them.
And as an HR, what you like to do is to solve human challenges.
Of course, you have to manage the compensation review, you have to manage job description or the requisition process.
[10:32]->[11:05]
But if all of that
Can be done faster, better, why will you fight to keep it?
When you know you can sit around the table and have meaningful conversation with your leadership about how the future organization look like,
coaching them about how they basically need to be more vulnerable with their organization, how they can bring even more clarity.
Those are conversations that the business, the HR team love to have,
but quite often then don't have enough time because of the technicality of HR.
So we try to say, hey, all of that, we're going to help you to get rid of.
[11:05]->[11:39]
We anchor AI in talent acquisition, talent management, recruitment, so they can really focus towards that.
So I would say step by step, the early adopter jumped on it.
The change agent jumped on it.
The one that were most skeptical now are seeing the movement and, you know, success, excellence.
And I would say winning culture is contagious.
So I think The left, people who are slightly behind are catching up step by step.
And in full transparency, I'm also much more, I would say now, clear about expectation towards HR.
[11:39]->[11:47]
Now that we had enough time to explore, play, we need to be much more intentional.
And now it's really part of a clear commitment of everyone in the HR function.
[11:47]->[12:07]
So what would you say is the things that you've done that's had the biggest impact, like practically to help lead this change?
And we know this is ongoing, right?
It's not like a few weeks, a few months.
This is ever evolving.
But what are some of the practical things that you and your team have done that really moved the needle?
[12:08]->[12:39]
I think the first thing we did is the upskilling topic was everyone knew that we had to upskill,
but no one was really taking the leadership on it.
So every part of the business was, okay, we're going to upskill in R&D, we're going to upskill in commercial,
we're going to upskill in several parts.
And everyone was running in silo.
And then as an HR function, we took a step back and we built a meaningful, I would say, structural,
mechanical way to upskill everyone.
So now we have...
Basic AI for everyone.
Everyone needs to speak the same language.
[12:40]->[13:18]
Then we have AI for leaders.
And then we basically are giving them the right tool to reinvent processes within their function and their business.
And then we have AI for top leaders.
So we structure it.
That was the first thing we did as an HR function.
You might expect this to come maybe from the cio organization or from the business directly but we felt a bit the vacuum to be
very open and we took it and we came with a very very structured way to say here is our strategy on how we
upskill at merck this is not perfect but we're investing uh massively
The second thing we did is we basically created a small team coming together like a hackathon in every part of the business,
[13:18]->[13:48]
in commercial, in R&D with a specific problem statement and we gave them two weeks plus another two weeks to work on a specific
problem and they had to come with some AI solution and then when this was something meaningful and impactful,
We share it with the rest of the organization, like a marketplace.
Here's what happened in commercial in this part of the business that you can deploy here.
We call them the flagship and we share them.
So we keep following the same approach and hopefully this will get us to cascade that everywhere.
[13:49]->[14:19]
What I love about that is that it's been, firstly,
I love the fact it's being driven through HR and HR is taking the lead.
But secondly, you didn't assume what people need.
You've empowered them.
And then therefore you don't need to buy in because they're building it through the hackathons and they're collaborating and sharing it across the business.
So you kind of get like that momentum already, right?
Because they feel part of it.
My voice is heard like to your point earlier.
[14:19]->[14:48]
And then like the ability to then use maybe an agent that's built in one part of the business can be leveraged in a different
part.
Exactly.
Of the organization.
When you mentioned about those three layers of upskilling, practically, how did you do that?
I'm not asking you to name drop platforms, but what type of tools did you leverage?
Because you can say AR upskilling, but that can mean...
So many things.
[14:48]->[15:18]
We build our own chat GPT internally.
So we build it with data scientists.
So everyone is using a kind of chat GPT, but Merck way.
So you can have access to all the confidential and use all the confidential information.
So we build our own in-house solution.
Then for manager, based on which function they are, we were building a curriculum with a couple of, I will say,
external provider helping us to basically train them.
You have seen recently NVIDIA as well proposing for free, Harvard as well.
So we definitely leverage everything.
[15:18]->[15:54]
The good news is we use AI to upskill on AI.
You went to AI, say, hey, how can I upskill my organization?
What is the free course?
How can I tackle managers?
So we really use the tool to upskill on the tool, which I found fascinating.
And then the last part on the executive,
We spend more time with something very meaningful with top notch,
I would say training and with maybe company like Palantir and other to really anchor that at the highest level.
So it's still work in progress.
We have a team dedicated to that AI upskilling academy and on the constant basis, they are basically bringing new tools, new solution,
[15:54]->[16:25]
Listening to podcasts sending them to specific signing them to some training and really giving them the right tools the last thing i want
to do maybe to say on ai is we are learner and we are teacher and that's let's say the paradigm we are evolving
as we learn we are teaching and that's something you need to integrate into your into your narrative as well that you might not
have all the answer and that's okay we are here to explore to play to experiment
And then when you take that pressure out as well, when you speak so openly to your employees to say, hey,
[16:25]->[16:54]
we are learning and we are teaching at the same time.
So don't expect perfection, but we are not expecting status quo.
We are expecting movement.
And that's something we have learned with the process.
Let's keep moving.
Let's keep trying.
What we say today might be irrelevant tomorrow because a new tool or a new solution will come, but it doesn't matter.
Every single day as AI gets better, the human gets better in the upscaling.
And that's the philosophy.
It's the philosophy, but it's also the reality, right?
[16:54]->[17:25]
No one's an expert in all of these tools because it's still so new, right?
So the idea that we would have all the answers and it's changing and evolving, right?
So rapidly that there's no way of doing that.
I think what you're doing is perfect.
Creating that culture of curiosity and a culture of learning and in a safe space to do it and it's going to evolve and learning
just as much from your employees as you are from the work that you're doing in your own team.
[17:26]->[17:40]
Everyone's on this journey together.
And we're going to do some pilots that don't work and we're going to make some mistakes and we're going to pivot and that's
okay because we learn by doing, right?
[17:40]->[18:12]
And the only mistake we don't want to do is to not explore, experiment and try and that we made it also very clear.
We expect everyone to really be part of the wave
And now that's an expectation we have for everyone.
Again, I was brainstorming with other chief people officer and they were mentioning that some of them put specific commitments into the performance review
of employees.
I was exploring that, but I felt it maybe not as productive that I would expect.
[18:12]->[18:24]
You don't want to force something.
If you want sustainable change, you have to make sure that they do it
As part of their DNA, as part of the culture, as part of the behaviors, versus they do it because someone is watching them.
[18:24]->[18:54]
That was my next question.
Because if you were to do that, how are you measuring that?
Right like like like and that if because i know every company is going through ai upskilling right right now air literacy but depending
on how you're doing it like what are you measuring because if you're measuring clicks or you're measuring completions that doesn't give you an idea
of what the person's proficiency actually is whereas
[18:56]->[19:16]
An example you've already given of them sharing something that they've built during a hackathon directly linked to a business outcome does give you
that right as opposed to hey i i completed a course on ai literacy great but what does that mean or i spent two
[19:16]->[19:49]
hours on on my chat gpt or i spent two hours on cloud what does it mean you can spend two hours and just
not deliver an impact
Hackathon has helped us to build an AI agent that is helping us to identify in some part of the world specific patients with rare
disease so we can quickly access to them and give them access to our medicine, build out of this specific, I will say, flagship.
So those are the examples where AI with impact and meaning,
and that's how people will get it when it's meaningful for them and they see
[19:50]->[20:02]
The acceleration, the augmentation of impact they can have, that's how they will turn into AI
Not by telling them, hey, 20% of your time has to be on AI.
[20:02]->[20:22]
That's one of the challenges actually that many of the leaders I speak to faces is that ROI of this investment.
When you speak to the board and your CEO, et cetera, about the ROI of learning and that you've done,
is that how you're presenting it through these hackathons?
And I'm just wondering, how are you justifying this investment?
[20:23]->[21:01]
This example of identifying patients is a good one.
You don't have to think about ROI because we, A, for the patients, they have access faster to our medicine,
and that gives us opportunity to bring and increase, I would say, our, let's say, market share even more.
Another example on HR, we're building our first virtual employee platform.
Um resource agent that is supposed to answer to all the first second level question to our to our own place so they have
access to 24 7 7 in any language it's accurate today we still have short services in some country like like in the philippines
[21:01]->[21:32]
or in poland where when you have a challenge as a net as an employee you submit a ticket
The ticket is sent to one of those share service offshoring and then after a couple of hours you have an answer.
The answer might vary depending on who is taking which agent.
We have half a million tickets per year.
Imagine with that tool we will reduce by probably 90% the number of tickets because you have in your fingerprint access to that.
That is again this ROI, better employee experience, less employees needed and
[21:33]->[21:42]
Translation in a heartbeat in any single language across the world.
So I think those cases step by step are turning the few skeptical left we have.
[21:43]->[21:55]
Yeah.
How has this made you rethink about your own HR organization and what is required for you to move your organization along with this
transformation
[21:55]->[22:25]
I mean, first of all, one of my key principles is to be credible.
You can't tell the business to upskill and you're not doing it to yourself.
You can't tell the business focus on talent management and you don't focus on talent.
You can't tell the business, hey,
Provide psychological safety and you don't.
So credibility is a non-negotiable for me and for the organization.
So we are absolutely doing it.
And actually, we are quite a pioneer in the HR function because that was something also that was important to me,
[22:26]->[22:59]
not only for the credibility, but for the productivity and efficiency.
I think if we think about HR, I see basically HR remaining into the intersection of three dimensions.
The business always, it starts and always ends with the business, technology and human.
And then the question is how much we balance between the three is an opportunity to do less with the tech because the tech
can do more.
So you can really shift towards humanity and the business.
And again, as an HR, I'm sure many will agree, that's where you take the highest pride, the highest, I will say, value.
[23:00]->[23:33]
So in terms of profile for the HR function,
I will really quickly need to make sure that the entire organization or I'm building an organization that can
Interact within that triangle, business, technology, and humanity, empathy, judgment, curiosity, but that they want deliberately to be part of it.
And that's a choice that everyone will have to make, or that's something we will have to help them.
Looking at new profiles that are capable also to play and be hungry for the technology,
I'm also very fair, not everyone has that appetite, so up to us to help them.
[23:33]->[24:02]
But there will be a point of time where at some point you will need to make that a choice where you need to navigate
towards those three elements.
And in a world that is more and more fragmented, I would say having strong HR that can navigate the complexity of business context,
the speed and intensity of tech without losing the humanity,
Will become very, very difficult to get.
But in my view, the HR function is the best function to be capable to drive all of that.
[24:04]->[24:16]
What do you see as like the biggest roadblocks and challenges ahead?
Because obviously that is a big shift away from traditional HR and also the traditional HR operating models that exist today.
[24:16]->[24:48]
I think one of certainly the biggest challenge is to your previous point, what's the return of investment?
This is gonna pass and we can still do it the old way, et cetera, et cetera.
And I think we are beyond that.
It's not what if there is an alternative, there is no alternative.
This is the way to go.
And I quite often use that example also to reassure employees when they say, but AI is taking job.
I say, AI is not taking job, it's taking task.
But jobs will remain, but maybe in a different way.
[24:49]->[25:20]
In a company like ours, where science and biology and technology remain important, we will still be looking for biologists.
But biologists who can do coding will still be looking for process engineers.
But process engineers that can do automation.
So we're trying to shift.
Saying that, yes, it's taking tasks, not jobs, taking tasks and new jobs and new tasks will emerge.
And that's what we need to do in helping you to develop those new skills, new ways of working,
[25:21]->[25:25]
because biologists now will have a different way to do biologies.
And that's good for patients.
[25:25]->[25:56]
Yeah.
I think that's, and I'm seeing it with my own team, because I'm going through this entire journey with my team at the moment,
where we're building agents for tasks, to your point, not to replace them, but to make them more efficient and have more time.
Most people's work in their days are defined by a series of tasks that they complete, right?
And that is a lot of the work.
When you remove that, and this is what I'm seeing with my own team, they feel a bit lost.
Not lost, but they're like, what do I do now with this time?
[25:56]->[26:29]
And the interesting sort of conundrum is that they think that AI is going to...
There's a fear of AI replacing...
And by the way, there is a reality that there will be jobs, of course, that will be replaced by AI.
That is a reality.
But for many, it will be unlocking something new in the sense of they now have time to focus on the creativity, the curiosity,
emotional intelligence, problem solving...
Critical thinking like and what that all comes down to in many ways is the ability to ask the right questions so it's a big
[26:29]->[26:38]
shift away from tasks to focusing on problem solving and and thinking right like so that that we need to help people on that journey
[26:38]->[27:12]
but to to develop those power skills you also need time because you know to develop that that you mentioned critical thinking and asking
tough questions i mean this needs
It requires time to coach and to stay close to leader and empathy and judgment is required time.
And I think this is something we will be capable to provide to people because some of those redundant tasks will be taken over
by the technology.
But the most important in my view in what you say, Chris, is how do we install and create a culture of constant learning?
[27:13]->[27:50]
Because what we are facing right now is indeed a kind of revolution because for the first time, tech is taking over,
I would say, from a speed of adoption over the humans.
So it can be scary.
But I think the key learning is at this stage.
It will never be an ending spot.
It will always keep going and going and going.
So how do we install a culture of lifelong learning?
Whenever you believe you have achieved, I would say, maybe the ceiling, there is more coming.
So this agility, this ability to re-challenge yourself, reinvent yourself, has to be part to a certain extent of the DNA.
[27:50]->[28:22]
It's easier for some people, depending on how advanced they are in their career,
But I will say going forward, this has to be part of, this is what we expect.
This is what we want to build.
There will be always new things coming.
And our responsibility as an organization is for you to absorb that change as quickly as possible without losing the momentum of progressing as an organization.
And that takes time.
And this AI...
Transformation has really helped us to see that in an incredible way.
[28:23]->[28:44]
I think you're right.
And I like the idea.
I love what you said, by the way.
It's really important that probably don't people talk about enough is that you have to be intentional about creating the time to do that.
Like you can't just expect people just people are still trying to deliver on the day to day.
And we say you now need to upskill on AI and do all these things.
Any time to do that.
[28:44]->[29:02]
The good news is, as I say, we are learner and teacher.
And I think The more we see people embracing it the more we see new tech coming i think the more adoption we see and everything is
very contagious and i think at some point as like with electricity and all the telecoms we will get there yeah yeah we'll look
[29:02]->[29:34]
back on this and it was it would just be another stage right like we went from
Yeah, like imagine we've gone from like what billboards to radio to internet to social media to kind of like going through all of these
major transformations, right?
Now AI, like I feel like this, we say that about every one of those transformations, but I feel like this is different.
This is different.
This is different.
The internet was huge, of course, but this is a different level.
[29:38]->[29:43]
As you look ahead, before we wrap up, what are you most excited about?
[29:45]->[30:16]
So I'm excited by, I would say, keep driving, again, the agenda around people, technology, and business.
I mean, if you really, again, take a step back and think about in which business context any company are operating right now in the complexity
of the world around us with the supply chain, with the war happening around us,
More than ever, we will be looking up at leaders capable to navigate towards business, technology, and humanity.
[30:17]->[30:48]
And I think the HR function is very well positioned to help every single organization guide with clarity, support with care and courage,
and really help the organization to navigate.
You know, I work, as you know, Chris, for a company that has been around for more than 350, this year, eight years,
358 years.
Wow.
And there is something that is very clear.
When you are capable to go over more than three centuries, it's because at some point you put your values ahead of anything.
[30:48]->[31:18]
You put your customer ahead of anything, your patients and your people.
And that is for us, again, another opportunity to be very consistent in driving towards those complex, challenging time with values,
with focus on customer and patients and our teams.
And I believe that what I look forward is be capable to contribute to that with an incredible team that I have with me.
And certainly the last thing is getting so much energy from all of them.
And that is what I'm really looking forward with all of them.
[31:18]->[31:28]
Amazing.
Well, listen, before I let you go, I've got very quickly some quick fire questions.
Just some fun ones, right?
But you only have 30 seconds per question.
[31:28]->[31:53]
Okay what are your hobbies and passions outside the office so i go back in the forest with with my son i do recently
a reformer pilate and i'm really bad at it and it hurts very badly after every session but i just love it and when
i'm completely i will say
Um maybe overlap with a situation i go into the pool and i swim love it wow everyone that says they do reformer always
[31:53]->[32:00]
starts by saying i'm really bad at it so bad but i like i like it because i'm competitive so i go back and i
[32:00]->[32:05]
try to get better and i'm so bad again and again and i don't work for a week that's the that's the fun that's
[32:05]->[32:12]
part of it um if you could click your fingers and change one thing about hr today what would you change nothing i love
[32:12]->[32:13]
the way it is with it
[32:15]->[32:16]
That was an easy answer.
[32:16]->[32:24]
No, no, no.
I will seriously try to make them all a pioneer in AI.
That would be fantastic.
[32:24]->[32:30]
Love that.
How do you think that if you asked your kids and your family to describe what you do for a living,
what do you think they would say?
[32:32]->[32:39]
They would say she is making sure that our employees are happy when they come to work, that they are paid properly,
and they have nice coffee.
Okay.
[32:40]->[32:49]
I love that answer.
What is a bit more of a deeper one, but like for you personally,
what sort of the legacy you want to leave behind for your family and the kids?
[32:50]->[33:16]
For my family and for my kids, I want to leave a world in a better place in terms of values.
I want to make sure that we democratize education for everyone.
I think education should not be a privilege.
It should be accessible for anyone, despite your gender, despite in which country you are born.
And that's why AI is a fantastic way to bring knowledge.
Because I think when society are well-educated and have access to knowledge, we have less societal tension.
[33:17]->[33:23]
Yeah, I love that.
Who's the one person that's had the biggest impact on your career and why?
[33:24]->[33:57]
I would say my mother.
And she, interesting enough, she didn't have a professional career like I have right now.
In contrary, she was an employee in a canteen and she was serving food at the company canteen.
But she always, always, always taught us to be grounded, to be humble, to stay grounded,
to never forget where we are coming from and to work very hard.
To get anything that we deserve and that there is no any low job every job deserves to be done properly and to respect
[33:57]->[34:08]
anyone and that for me has been always the spine of my career and those values lesson have drove me in my career and probably
got me where i am so i owe her a lot
[34:09]->[34:14]
Oh, I love that.
Definitely instilled those values in you, right?
To stay with you your whole life.
[34:15]->[34:48]
Absolutely.
What would you say is the biggest investment that you've made in yourself?
I would say living abroad, taking a job outside of my comfort zone, you know.
When I left to the US, when I left for Asia, those have been heavy investments from a personal level as well,
from I would say an emotional level, from a professional level, you know, being so far away by yourself, but learning everything from scratch.
And honestly, they have paid off.
And massively, not only because of the career I had,
[34:48]->[34:56]
but because the way I became a better leader was thanks to those amazing meetings and
And people I have met in those incredible parts of the world.
[34:56]->[35:06]
Yeah, I love that.
And last question, what's one piece of advice you would give to the HR leaders of tomorrow that are going to be sitting in your
seat one day?
[35:08]->[35:35]
I would tell them never, never lower your expectation or your standards.
And equally, you can pursue high standards and empathy.
You don't have to choose one versus the other.
And as an HR function, we are the guardian of empathy, of integrity, of value.
And it's not because we go after that that we are not capable to outperform and to have high standards.
Excellence can go with empathy and should go with empathy.
[35:36]->[35:47]
Love it.
Well, listen, thank you, Simon.
I could talk to you forever.
I really enjoyed the conversation.
I appreciate you and all the work that you're doing.
Thank you for sharing and taking the time out.
And I wish you all the best until we next speak.
[35:47]->[36:18]
Thank you.
And thank you for what you do with your team also to amplify the voice of HR,
to also allow us to have access to incredible knowledge, best practice and sharing.
So you're definitely an AI agent, but a real one.
I really appreciate that.
And I've not seen a lot of people having a lot of passion for HR.
They quite often go with the tech topic, the business topic.
So having someone like you that is really pushing for a topic that we love, of course,
because we're in the function is also very unique.
[36:18]->[36:22]
So thank you very much on behalf of all the chief people officer in the world.
[36:22]->[36:35]
I appreciate you.
This is why we do it, right?
And HR is the business and the business is HR, right?
And at the end of the day, it's our people.
So thanks so much.
I'll see you again soon.
Khadija Ben Hammada, Member of the Executive Board and Chief People Officer at Merck Group.