Vantage Influencers Podcast

In this episode of the Vantage HR Influencers Podcast, we explore why AI literacy is becoming an essential workplace skill and how organizations can prepare employees to navigate an increasingly AI-driven work environment. Host Riha is joined by Yael Irom, Head of Talent Development and AI Leader Transformation, to discuss how HR leaders can build AI awareness, strengthen employee confidence in using AI tools, and integrate AI literacy into learning and development initiatives. Together, they examine how AI is reshaping workplace skill requirements, the importance of developing a workforce that can use AI responsibly and effectively, and how organizations can foster a culture of continuous learning, adaptability, and innovation to prepare employees for the future of work.

For decades, the traits that seem to get people promoted, decisiveness, assertiveness, competitiveness have quietly worn a "masculine" label. And the traits that get people liked, say for example empathy, patience, collaboration, got filed under "feminine," treated like a good thing to have rather than an actual leadership skill. So, we're asking a pretty uncomfortable question: does corporate leadership actually reward masculine traits more than feminine ones? And if it does, what's that costing organizations, and the people trying to lead inside them? To help us dig into this, we are joined by Elaine Palome, Regional Head of Human Resources, Americas at Axis Communications.

In this episode of the Vantage HR Influencers Podcast, Sarah Cooper Truchard, Manager, Talent and Leadership Development at CITGO, shares her perspective on why soft skills are becoming increasingly important in an AI-driven workplace. The conversation explores how AI is reshaping workplace skill requirements, why human capabilities such as communication, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking remain essential, and how HR leaders can help employees develop these skills to strengthen collaboration, leadership, and long-term career growth.

Most companies will tell you they value emotional intelligence. Far fewer can tell you what that actually looks like on a Tuesday afternoon, when someone's frustrated in a meeting, or a team is quietly burning out and nobody's said a word about it. I feel what's disappointing is that people treat emotional and social intelligence as some add-ons to culture. But realizes later, that it's not. So today in this episode, we'll try to understand what it actually takes to build that into an organization on purpose, not by accident. And to help us, we have with us Becca McKnight, Manager of the Emotional & Social Intelligence Program at Promega Corporation.

When most companies talk about employer brand, they mean the careers page, the job ads, the polished video of people laughing in a break room. But ask anyone who's actually worked somewhere, and they'll tell you the real brand is what happens after you sign the offer, how you're paid, how you're taken care of, whether the company keeps its word. So today, we're looking at employer brand from the inside out, starting with the systems that quietly shape whether people trust an organization. And to help us, we have with us Annalee Malone, Benefits and Compensation Manager at Total Safety.