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The Business Athletes: How HR Leaders Bring AI to Life Without the Hype
About this episode
Transcript
About this episode
In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Thomas Kunjappu sits down with Shari Chernack, Chief People Officer at Isaacson Miller and an ICF-certified executive coach, to unpack what it now takes for HR to operate as true business athletes in the age of AI. Drawing on experience across Fortune 100, PE, and VC-backed environments, Shari talks about how the CHRO role has shifted from administrative support to strategic leadership and why HR leaders can’t afford to stay on the sidelines as AI reshapes every workflow, capability, and expectation inside the organization.
Shari breaks down how performance management and learning have become HR’s most powerful levers for driving AI adoption, why some moments in the employee journey should stay high-touch even as automation grows, and how pilots, redeployment, and risk matrices help organizations adopt AI without unintentionally damaging culture, talent, or trust.
Topics Discussed:
Why the CHRO role has evolved from administration to strategy and now to business athlete expectations
The skill gaps CHROs themselves say they wish they had closed earlier in their careers
Why HR must be involved in AI strategy from the start, not brought in at the end to “execute” decisions
How performance management can accelerate responsible AI adoption through goals, impact, and clarity
How learning teams can use AI tools to design faster, gather insight quicker, and build real-time capability
When automation makes sense and when high-touch human support still matters in employee moments
The risks of replacing people too quickly and the value of thoughtful redeployment
What pilots reveal about organizational readiness, culture fit, and technology maturity
How “garbage in, garbage out” applies to HR processes, documentation, and data hygiene
Why non-linear change with AI requires experimentation, transparency, and shared learning across teams
If you’re responsible for guiding your organization through AI adoption. Whether in HR, people operations, or the broader business, this episode gives you concrete examples, decision lenses, and practical ways to shape work without falling into hype or fear.
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About the guest
Shari Chernack
Shari Chernack is the Chief People Officer at Isaacson, Miller, bringing over 20 years of experience at the intersection of people, strategy, and transformation. Throughout her career, she has held leadership positions in both corporate and consulting environments, previously serving as a consultant at Mercer, where she led client engagements focused on HR, organizational, and workforce transformation. Her experience spans Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, private equity and venture capital portfolio companies, and founder-owned businesses. Shari is passionate about driving meaningful change, championing a people-first culture, leveraging data-driven insights to inform strategic decision-making, and creating people and talent programs that enable business objectives, drive high performance, and empower employees to maximize their impact.
Shari holds a BA in History from Yale University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and an ICF-certified executive coach. She also volunteers as a venture mentor with the Venture Mentoring Team and provides coaching and advisory guidance to executives, founders, and teams as the principal of Palimpsest Advisory and Coaching.
Shari Chernack is the Chief People Officer at Isaacson, Miller, bringing over 20 years of experience at the intersection of people, strategy, and transformation. Throughout her career, she has held leadership positions in both corporate and consulting environments, previously serving as a consultant at Mercer, where she led client engagements focused on HR, organizational, and workforce transformation. Her experience spans Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, private equity and venture capital portfolio companies, and founder-owned businesses. Shari is passionate about driving meaningful change, championing a people-first culture, leveraging data-driven insights to inform strategic decision-making, and creating people and talent programs that enable business objectives, drive high performance, and empower employees to maximize their impact.
Shari holds a BA in History from Yale University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and an ICF-certified executive coach. She also volunteers as a venture mentor with the Venture Mentoring Team and provides coaching and advisory guidance to executives, founders, and teams as the principal of Palimpsest Advisory and Coaching.
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The leading podcast for the future of HR
The leading podcast for the future of HR
The future of HR is being shaped by real operators doing the work.
If you’ve led change, navigated challenges, or learned valuable lessons in people operations, we’d love to hear your perspective.
Apply below to be considered as a guest on the show.
The future of HR is being shaped by real operators doing the work.
If you’ve led change, navigated challenges, or learned valuable lessons in people operations, we’d love to hear your perspective.
Apply below to be considered as a guest on the show.