Stop Measuring Culture. Start Changing It. How AI Makes the Difference | Omar Shbaro

The Shame Loop Keeping Smart People Stuck | Burnout, Executive Function & Breaking Free ft. Frankie Berkoben

Burnout isn't a motivation problem. It's not a willpower problem. And if you're one of the smartest people in the room — it might be happening to you precisely because of how good you are. Executive coach Frankie Berkoben has spent years inside Google, Airbnb, and the most demanding startup environments in Silicon Valley. She works with engineers, founders, and product leaders who are genuinely brilliant — and burning out faster than anyone around them. In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast, Frankie and host Ivan Palomino unpack the hidden loop that traps high performers: the shame cycle that shuts down executive function, destroys focus, and makes everything harder the more you try to fix it. This isn't a conversation about meditation apps or morning routines. It's about understanding why your brain works the way it does — and designing your life around that reality instead of fighting it. What you'll learn: The gap between your potential and your output doesn't mean something is wrong with you. It means there's a mismatch between your responsibilities and your capacity — and shame is making it worse. When high-potential people feel that gap, shame kicks in. And shame doesn't push you to perform better: it suppresses executive function, the exact cognitive system you need for planning, focus, follow-through, and emotional regulation. The harder you push, the more capacity you lose. Frankie introduces her framework of 7 types of bandwidth — creative, emotional, mental, physical, sensory, social, and values — and explains how to stop running on empty by going where your energy actually is, not where you think it should be. She also breaks down why nonlinear thinkers (roughly 25% of the workforce) are disproportionately at risk, and why interest-based motivation — often dismissed as laziness — is neurological, not a character flaw. Ivan brings his own experience as a late-stage founder who hit burnout twice, once in corporate and once raising capital, and the conversation goes deep on what actually changes when you stop trying to fit a broken system and start designing for how you're wired. Key topics covered: — Is overwhelm the real problem, or a symptom of something deeper? — The capacity-responsibility gap and why it compounds over time — How shame physically suppresses executive function (the neuroscience) — Hustle culture, Elon Musk, and who's really picking up the slack — Why peak performance is statistically impossible to maintain — and why expecting it makes things worse — Tony Hsieh, intrinsic motivation, and the danger of building without a personal "why" — The 7 types of bandwidth and how to use them daily — Three things you can do when a situation feels like a complete mismatch — Why design thinking applied to yourself is more powerful than any productivity system — What to do TODAY if you're sitting at your desk feeling overwhelmed and stuck About Frankie Berkoben: Frankie Berkoben is a San Francisco-based executive coach specializing in gifted, ADHD, and nonlinear-thinking professionals in tech. She coaches engineers, product leaders, and founders at companies including Google and Airbnb, helping them close the gap between potential and sustainable high performance. She is known for combining design thinking with deep self-knowledge to help clients build systems that work for their actual brain — not an idealized version of it. Connect with Frankie: LinkedIn: Frankie Berkoben [https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankieberkoben/] Website: frankieberkoben.com [http://frankieberkoben.com] About Growth Hacking Culture: The Growth Hacking Culture Podcast explores the human side of high performance — the mindset, habits, and systems behind founders and leaders who build at the highest level without destroying themselves in the process. The GHC Podcast has been selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 100 Thought-Provoking Podcasts https://podcast.feedspot.com/thought_provoking_podcasts/?feed_id=8181374&_src=f2_featured_email#h8181374 [https://podcast.feedspot.com/thought_provoking_podcasts/?feed_id=8181374&_src=f2_featured_email#h8181374]   Hosted by Ivan Palomino.

How to Become a High-Impact CHRO: Mindset, Habits & Career Moves That Actually Work | Tom Emery

Most HR leaders never make it to Chief People Officer — and those who do often struggle to create real impact once they get there. The difference isn't technical expertise. It's mindset, habits, and knowing exactly which career moves accelerate your path to the top. In this episode of Growth Hacking Culture, Ivan Palomino sits down with Tom Emery, founder of Hex and author of People People: Reach Your Potential as a Chief People Officer. Tom spent over 20 years in HR leadership across financial services and wealth management before building a coaching practice dedicated to helping HR leaders and Chief People Officers lead with genuine impact. Whether you're an HR business partner aiming for the C-suite, a first-time CPO finding your footing, or a seasoned CHRO looking to sharpen your edge — this conversation is packed with honest, practical insight you won't find in a textbook. In this episode, you'll learn: * Why your functional HR expertise might be holding you back from the C-suite * The daily habits and mindset routines of truly impactful CHROs and Chief People Officers * How to get your CEO to listen to you — and earn a real seat at the table * The "observation + question" mirror technique for influencing without triggering defensiveness * How to manage your emotional triggers before they manage you * Why the best HR leaders embrace discomfort — and how to start practicing this today * The career moves and experiences that separate future CHROs from those who plateau * Tom's one piece of advice for every ambitious HR leader: stop taking it so seriously About Tom Emery Tom Emery is the founder of Hex, an executive coaching and leadership development consultancy, and the author of People People, a practical guide for current and aspiring Chief People Officers. With over two decades in HR leadership — including as CPO at a City of London wealth management firm — Tom now works with HR leaders and executive teams to build the mindset and skills that drive real organizational change. 🔗 Free copy of People People (UK only): https://www.hex-development.com/book-request/ [https://www.hex-development.com/book-request/] 🔗 Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-emery-b8809818/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-emery-b8809818/] 📘 Buy People People on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/People-Reach-potential-Chief-Officer/dp/1788607414 [https://www.amazon.co.uk/People-Reach-potential-Chief-Officer/dp/1788607414]   About Growth Hacking Culture Growth Hacking Culture is the podcast for HR leaders, people professionals, and executives who believe culture is the ultimate competitive advantage. Every episode brings you honest conversations with practitioners and thinkers who are changing how organizations treat their people — and what that means for business results. 🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and never miss an episode. 📘 Ivan Palomino's new book (French version) is now available: Périmé?: La science de rester indispensable quand le marché préfère le neuf →  https://www.ivanpalomino.net/perime-livre-ivan-palomino [https://www.ivanpalomino.net/perime-livre-ivan-palomino]

How HR Leaders Can Actually Use AI to Kill Admin Work (2026) with John Sansoucie

AI use in HR climbed to 43% in 2026, yet most HR leaders still spend the majority of their day on spreadsheets, manual reconciliations, and transactional work that adds zero strategic value. In this episode of the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast, John Sansoucie, CEO of Cognet, shares a practical roadmap for HR leaders who want to implement AI in HR, eliminate admin overload, and finally operate as a strategic function inside their organization. If you are searching for real HR technology strategy advice that goes beyond vendor demos and buzzwords, this conversation delivers exactly that. John has spent years helping small and mid-market organizations build AI-powered HR functions that reduce costs, improve hiring quality, and free up time for culture and people development.   What you will learn in this episode: Why HR is lagging behind finance and other functions in AI adoption in 2026 and what to do about it. How to use AI automation tools to eliminate transactional HR tasks like benefits reconciliation, payroll checks, and compliance tracking. What predictive hiring with AI actually looks like and how to use it to reduce costly unwanted turnover. The biggest risks of implementing AI in HR including data security, overpromising vendors, and failed rollouts. How to evaluate AI tools for HR professionals without technical expertise. Practical first steps for HR leaders with no background in technology who want to start today. John Sansoucie is the CEO of Cognet, an HR outsourcing and AI solutions company helping organizations turn AI into measurable business results. He brings 35 years of experience across HR outsourcing, finance, and operations. 🔗 Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-sansoucie-033b20/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-sansoucie-033b20/] 🌐 Cognet: https://www.cognethro.com/ [https://www.cognethro.com/]    Subscribe to the Growth Hacking Culture Podcast [https://podcast.ivanpalomino.net/] for weekly conversations on AI in the workplace, HR leadership, and the future of work. #AIinHR #HRAutomation #HRLeadership #HRTechnology #FutureOfWork #HumanResourcesStrategy #AItools #HRtech #PeopleAnalytics #HRDigitalTransformation

HR Leaders Will Soon Manage Humans and Agents. Most Aren't Ready. | Tami Rosen

The job description for HR leader just changed. Again. Not the version that added culture after COVID. Not the version that added AI literacy after ChatGPT. The version that nobody has written yet — the one where you are responsible for a workforce that is part human, part agent, and entirely your problem to lead effectively. Most HR leaders are not ready for this. Not because they lack intelligence or intention. Because the function has spent decades being handed other people's problems and called a support function for it. And you cannot build the commercial acumen, the technical fluency, and the strategic credibility required to lead in a human-machine era if you are still running nine-month performance review cycles and buying SAP modules to solve problems that didn't need a SAP module. Tami Rosen has led HR at Apple, Goldman Sachs, Atlassian, Luminar Technologies and Pagaya. She is writing a book called Superhuman Companies. Her argument is not gentle: people strategy is business strategy. And the organizations — and the HR leaders — who haven't internalized that are already behind. In this conversation with Ivan Palomino, Tami gets direct about what actually separates strategic HR from administrative HR, why the apprenticeship model is the only thing that genuinely works for AI skill development, how the Continuous Learning Cycle replaced performance reviews at Pagaya and got 100% employee participation, and what it means to lead a blended workforce before the industry has figured out the playbook. In this episode: * Why COVID was the moment HR stepped into the spotlight — and what it has to do now to stay there * The four pillars of a superhuman company that stands the test of any crisis * Why the apprenticeship model beats every AI training program ever built * How to replace the performance review with something that actually develops people * The first thing every HR leader should kill to become more strategic immediately * Why every business problem eventually becomes a people problem at scale * How to think about building vs buying in an HR tech ecosystem full of shiny objects This one is for the HR leader who knows the function needs to change and wants to understand exactly what that change looks like in practice — from someone who has already done it at some of the world's most demanding companies. Connect with Tami Rosen: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamirosen/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamirosen/] Book: Superhuman Companies — coming soon 📘 Ivan Palomino's new book (French version) is now available: Périmé?: La science de rester indispensable quand le marché préfère le neuf → https://amzn.eu/d/08VSK1OA [https://amzn.eu/d/08VSK1OA]  https://amzn.eu/d/08VSK1OA   Growth Hacking Culture is a top 5% global podcast hosted by Ivan Palomino, exploring the neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral science behind leadership and workplace performance.

Stop Measuring Culture. Start Changing It. How AI Makes the Difference | Omar Shbaro

Most HR leaders already know the survey isn't working. They know because they've seen the same deck three years in a row. They know because the workshops got scheduled and nothing changed. They know because the employees who participated last year are participating again this year with slightly less enthusiasm and exactly the same frustrations. And yet the survey gets launched again. Because it's what you do. Because the contract renews. Because nobody has been given a credible alternative. Omar Shbaro has spent years building that alternative. As CTO of VAI Solutions and creator of CultureSim, he starts from a premise that most of the industry quietly avoids: measuring culture and changing culture are two completely different jobs. And until organizations treat them that way, the cycle doesn't break. In this conversation with Ivan Palomino, Omar breaks down why traditional surveys produce culture noise instead of readable signals, how AI can finally do what no consultant or dashboard has managed to do — listen to what people actually say and translate it into specific action at three different levels of the organization — and why the most powerful shift an HR leader can make right now has nothing to do with buying better data. In this episode: * Why culture is a behavioral problem not a reporting problem — and what that changes * How AI removes the human bias that distorts most culture diagnostics * The difference between culture noise and readable signals — and why it matters for action * How CultureSim works at individual, manager and organizational level simultaneously * Why there is always a human in the loop — AI advises, it never decides * The one question every HR leader should be asking instead of launching another survey * Why imperfect action taken today beats perfect data collected next quarter This one is for the HR leader who has sat in enough culture debriefs to know something is broken — and is ready to hear what actually works instead. Connect with Omar Shbaro: LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/omarshbaro [https://linkedin.com/in/omarshbaro]  Email: omar@vaisolutions.ai [omar@vaisolutions.ai]  Website: https://vaisolutions.ai [https://vaisolutions.ai]   📘 Ivan Palomino is launching his new book in french: Expired? The Science of Staying Indispensable in a World Obsessed with New → https://www.ivanpalomino.net/perime-livre-ivan-palomino [https://www.ivanpalomino.net/perime-livre-ivan-palomino] Growth Hacking Culture is a top 5% global podcast hosted by Ivan Palomino, exploring the neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral science behind leadership and workplace performance.