Modern HR: Where Humanity Meets High Performance with Joey Walters

What does it really mean to lead with heart? What does it take to lead with empathy, intention, and impact? Can HR drive business results and create deeply human workplaces? Modern HR is not about people programs; it's about strategic business acceleration rooted in empathy and values.

In this episode of the Inspirational Leadership podcast, I speak with Joey Walters about how human-centric leadership transforms organizations from the inside out. Joey is an accomplished strategic business executive with more than 25 years of experience in Human Resources across the United States and Canada. His expertise ranges from organizational and leadership agility, talent acquisition, performance management, talent development, succession planning, employee engagement, health benefits, compensation, and mergers & acquisitions. He’s currently the VP of HR at Schneider Electric. Joey believes the true value of HR is in creating and executing a people strategy that aligns with the business, focused on engaging team members to perform at their highest level to deliver business success and growth.

Listen in to learn why inspirational leadership doesn’t come from perfection but from empathy, communication, and modeling what it means to be human. You will also learn the importance of creating psychological safety, asking the hard questions, showing up authentically, and prioritizing wellness to sustain impact.

Key Takeaways:

• The evolving role of HR: from grassroots support to strategic business driver.
• How to live company values authentically, not just display them on walls.
• The importance of having a clear and compelling vision to drive teams forward effectively.
• How to foster trust and psychological safety within teams by asking thoughtful and open-ended questions.
• How leadership is revealed during moments of uncertainty and ambiguity.
• How vulnerability in leadership builds authentic relationships and strengthens trust and transparency.

Standout Quotes:

• “When creating a vision, you have to bring your employees and your customers as part of the solution to really understand what type of culture you're trying to build.”- Joey Walters [06:24]
• “We don't know how much we can affect other people in their development, in the feedback that we give them, so be very cognizant of how you give and receive feedback.”- Joey Walters [29:48]

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𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲, 𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗧𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝗼𝗻-𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁: www.kristenharcourt.com