Episode 4: HR's Identity Crisis: Are We Business Leaders or Not?

Episode 4: HR's Identity Crisis: Are We Business Leaders or Not?

In this episode of Breaking Views, Theresa Fesinstine and Anthony Onesto explore the intersection of HR, business strategy, and the evolving role of human capital. The conversation begins with reflections from the Troop HR Retreat, highlighting the importance of connection, intentional design, and creating space for meaningful dialogue beyond traditional conference formats. From there, the discussion expands into a broader critique of today’s HR landscape. They examine the gap between HR-focused content and true business fluency, questioning whether current conferences and conversations are adequately preparing HR leaders to operate as strategic business partners. The episode also dives into topics like resilience, leadership mindset, and the need for more rigorous, standardized ways to measure human capital’s impact on business outcomes. Throughout, the conversation challenges assumptions, surfaces tensions, and pushes toward a more integrated view of HR as a core driver of organizational success. A wide-ranging, candid discussion that connects what’s happening in the world of work to what’s needed next.

Episode 3: Fired by Text, Hired by AI

Theresa and Anthony unpack why every HR conversation right now seems to be either 100% AI or nothing, and what that leaves out. They dig into the wave of AI-justified layoffs at Snap, Oracle, Block, and Allbirds, the Gen Z backlash showing up as employees refuse to train their own replacements, and where the unions are in all of it. Theresa makes the case for a workforce that's part W2, part 1099, part agent, and what that means for benefits, loyalty, and accountability. Anthony shares the AI layoff tracker he vibe-coded for himself and asks whether employees are starting to keep receipts on the companies doing this. They close with a pivot for next time: shifting the lens from who's getting it wrong to who's getting it right.

Episode 2: AI Security, Layoffs, and the HR Leader's Dilemma

Theresa and Anthony take on a full news cycle of AI security breaches, the wave of layoffs tied to AI bets at Disney, Amazon, and Block, and the pressure HR leaders are facing from every direction. They talk about what it means when companies announce layoffs in the name of AI and then quietly start rehiring, whether employees are "keeping receipts" on employer behavior, and why the people function has to grow its own AI fluency to lead through this moment. Plus a detour into Disney's knockout video, Danny Meyer's employee-first playbook, and why intentional culture still separates the companies that scale from the ones that stall.

Episode 1: The Break Out!

Theresa Fesinstine and Anthony Onesto kick off their new podcast the only way that makes sense: by pulling a headline straight from LinkedIn and ripping into it. The conversation starts with the class action lawsuit filed against EightfoldAI in California, alleging the company scraped social media and public data to build candidate profiles without consent. But instead of piling onto the fear cycle, Theresa and Anthony dig into what's actually worth paying attention to and what's just noise. They unpack the media hype machine around AI, the predictable rotation of panic topics (safety, environment, water usage), and why HR leaders keep getting caught between "adopt everything" pressure from the C-suite and "trust nothing" instincts from a career spent managing risk. The real thread running through this episode: HR's relationship with permission. Why are so many CHROs still asking IT if they can have the tools they need instead of directing what their function requires? Anthony shares the story of being Workday's 61st customer because he refused to wait for approval, and Theresa breaks down the difference between requesting technology and presenting a business case with ROI expectations attached. It's a distinction that changes the entire dynamic. They also get into the parallels between AI hype and every previous tech wave (dot-com, mobile, social), why lawsuits can actually be a good thing for the industry, and how tools like Gemini and ChatGPT's Pulse feature are shaping how they stay sharp day to day.