In 2012, C2HR launched the Aspiring HR Leader Award to recognize individuals at the director level or below whose fresh perspective, inventive ideas and strong leadership skills positively impacted their organizations. In celebration of the awards 10-year milestone, we connected with the Aspiring HR Leaders from 2012 (Yvette Smetana) and 2015 (Jennifer Tracy).
When Yvette Smetana was named the inaugural Aspiring HR Leader, she was the Executive Director of HR for Comcast. Over the past 10 years, she has held a variety of HR leadership positions which have led her to her current role is as Comcast’s Senior Vice President of IS Solutions.
What surprised you most about work during the past two years?
Yvette: Perhaps not so much a surprise, but rather a very welcome by-product of the pandemic is the elevation of HR across the working world. These past two years have clearly shown the world how integral HR is to a company’s success and, quite candidly, its survival. HR as a whole has stepped up and shouldered so much of the leadership to help individuals navigate something that no one experienced before. These last two years have provided unprecedented learnings for anyone in HR. Lessons in courage, uncharted leadership, grace-under-pressure, making fast and hard calls—all earmarks of differentiated leadership. HR has been a shining beacon and we’ve grown immensely during this time. My sincere hope is that these lessons stick, and the role of HR will continue to be elevated.
What’s your personal motto?
Yvette: Say yes, more than you say no…and when you hear a no, consider if it’s a not yet.
I get that this may need some explanation—here’s why that’s my motto. Opportunities present themselves in so many different ways—they can appear big and scary and end up not being a big deal. They can just as easily appear boring or mundane and end up being truly transformative. Saying yes gives you the opportunity for experiences, for learning, for growth, for adventure. When I present something—an idea, a business case, a proposal—if I get a no, my first step is to be introspective and explore that response. Was my idea not right for the audience? For the timing? Was the content not strong enough? What could I have done differently? If I find the answers to that, then I can try again with a better product, to a different audience, with a different message. There’s growth in all of that—I say take the risk—fail fast if you have to and pivot when you need to. Of course, sometimes a no is truly that—a no. And when it is exactly that, well, then I’ve learned something there too.
My roles and career path have not been traditional by any stretch. At times, the work I’ve taken on has left people wondering ‘where is she going with that?’ I look for the learning, the experiences, the stretch and the growth. This motto has served me well. I am fulfilled in my career, and I see so much potential for where I can go next.
What professional development initiatives have you found most useful?
Yvette: Some of my most meaningful professional development and most impactful knowledge building has come from learning about the industry my company is a part of (our competitors, the market dynamics, etc.). To me, it’s equally as critical that I learn all that I can about how my company operates as it is that I have the functional expertise and acumen in my area of focus. The more I understand our strategy, how the company functions, earns revenue and makes a profit—including what considerations go into priorities and investments—the more sound I am as a Business Leader. That approach has allowed me to continue to grow and evolve my career and connect deeply with parts of the business in a way I am not sure I would have if I had solely focused on the HR space.
That said, I believe that growth and development within the HR space is critical to focus on as well—learning about workforce data—how to use it, protect it, and analyze it is critical. Also, the ability to drive strategic and successful business outcomes through a lens, or filter, of the employee experience and workforce dynamics is so important. Knowing how to leverage that analysis to make informed business decisions or to recommend sound business practices to leaders is paramount. Being able to tell a compelling vision and story steeped in data is differentiating.
In short—learn the business, get really comfortable with data and make a lasting impact by leveraging both to drive differentiated, positive, and lasting outcomes. In fact, those skills and approach have recently led me to a new position at Comcast—outside of HR and into Finance, leading the IS Solutions function. My team delivers the pricing, packaging, go-to-market and biller strategy and operations for all of the Residential, Mobile and Comcast Business SMB footprint. And while I didn’t have the technical experience for this role, what I had was the strategic, transformational, and people-focused leadership to help lead this team into the future. I got that from my time and tenure in HR.
What do you find most rewarding about your HR career?
Yvette: The most rewarding aspect of my HR career has been seeing the impact of my work on the experience of those that work at my Company. Pieces of work that I have been directly responsible and accountable for have been cited as the reason some have joined the company, the reason others have advanced in the company and also the reason others still have chosen to stay with the company. That is what leaves me feeling proud and satisfied—it’s the impact that I’ve been privileged to have made.
What is a favorite milestone or accomplishment for you?
Yvette: I had the honor of leading one of the largest and most successful implementations of HR Technology when we made the decision to move to Workday. My pride in that accomplishment is plentiful—it was huge! It was as wide as it was deep in scope, breadth and complexity. But what really made it stand out for me was the user-centricity of the work. Strategically, it was a change and transformation event even more than it was a technology rollout. That is an accomplishment I will forever be proud of and grateful for. It was made all the better because I had the good fortune of leading this work with some of the best and brightest our company has to offer. I hand-selected and was surrounded by brilliance for the full duration of the project.
It’s incredibly rewarding when the project alumni reach out to tell me how much they learned, and how much of the creativity, strategies and tactics we used then are being leveraged in their new roles. So much growth happened during that project—for me and for those on the team. It was incredibly hard work, but I could not be any prouder of the results.
In 2015, Jennifer Tracy was Senior Director of Talent Acquisition & Diversity, Bright House Networks. Today, she is Vice President of Talent Attraction and Acquisition for Charter Communications.
What is the biggest career challenge you faced? How did you manage it?
Jennifer: When I transitioned from Operations to HR, I also relocated to a new market and needed to rebuild my network and relationship capital. I actively networked and spent my days building relationships to show that I was invested in my peers businesses and then hired a team of people under me to execute the operation flawlessly to deliver our temporary staffing services at market rates but with quality talent. After building this model in one city, I replicated this model in six additional cities creating a $12 million staffing business inside of ARAMARK.
As HR evolves to keep pace with the changing dynamics of the world of work, how do you keep stay on top of trends and continue to build your knowledge?
Jennifer: I use a variety of resources to stay connected on understanding trends, I leverage Indeed and Linkedin Economists reports and webinars and monthly workforce reports in addition to the Department of Labor jobs reports and the Wall Street Journal. I also actively participate in Josh Bersin’s TA Think Tank, i4CP Talent Acquisition Group, Talent Marketing Board, WICT, C2HR and Career Xroads. Outside of that, I will attend conferences and webinars related to different topics that we are investing in to help leverage best practices.
As the industry pivoted to remote work, and hybrid work due to COVID-19, what methods did you find effective for promoting your engagement within your team?
Jennifer: My four teams don’t always get to work on projects together as they are vertically aligned, so we have a once per month team meeting where we review different projects that different teams are working on so that they all are aware of the work the other teams are doing so if any of our customers (recruiting leaders/recruiters) have questions, we can all help to ensure they get the support they need. We also use the monthly meeting to celebrate birthdays, have a book review with cross-functional teams, and virtual parties (holiday, trivia, scavenger hunt). The book review we did last year was led by a team of our top performers who then had a presentation that showcased the key learnings they got from the book.
What surprised you most about work during the past two years?
Jennifer: I would say that migrating our recruiting process to be completely virtual at the beginning of the pandemic was a surprise. Fortunately, we had a lot of recruiting technology that was easy to scale up to support the business during this time. What was amazing is that the hiring managers and candidates really learned to adapt quickly through this change.
What do you find most rewarding about your HR career?
Jennifer: No two days are ever the same which I love. Technology is constantly evolving which means that although our process may be similar, the tools to process the hiring and attract talent have changed. The amount of data in HR that is available is astounding and lays out an amazing future for anyone in HR to be able to drive and deliver results to improve the business.
What is a favorite milestone or accomplishment for you?
Jennifer: I would say that getting promoted to vice president in my current role is a favorite milestone. It took a lot of courage to relocate my family from Florida to Charlotte, North Carolina, but it was worth it because it was one of my professional goals. My personal motto helped me embrace that opportunity. My motto is: Approach everything with curiosity so that everything is a pleasant surprise.
Did a mentor or someone at your company champion you during your career progression?
Jennifer: I’ve had several mentors in my career. The first and most significant was my HR Director who recruited me into HR from my operations position at ARAMARK as he is responsible for my current trajectory in my career path. My current boss has also been a mentor for me. After we formed a connection on the C2HR Awards Committee, he championed me for a position on his team during the merger with TWC. He also championed me for my promotion to my current role.
In a time when we’re hearing a lot about burnout, what helps you maintain a work-life balance?
Jennifer: I have actually started reading more fiction again to ensure that I have a release to escape with my mind. I also walk first thing in the morning to get exercise, but also to have a clear head.
What advice do you have for today’s aspiring HR leaders?
Jennifer: If you haven’t implemented a technology solution for your company, find a way to get engaged in a project to learn how to be responsible for a tool that the enterprise uses.
If the stories of Yvette and Jennifer have inspired you, please consider nominating an Aspiring HR Leader for the 2022 award. The nomination deadline is April 30 and details are at https://c2hr.org/awards-accolades/nomination-form-aspiring-leader/.
