Kristin Harrison, MBA

I attribute my success to two things: credibility and balance. Throughout my career I have worked to create environments where executives feel safe enough to think out loud without judgment and where employees feel genuinely heard. That dual trust is rare in HR and it does not happen by accident. It requires consistency, courage, and a willingness to have difficult conversations on behalf of both sides of the organization.

I also credit my commitment to continuous growth. I returned to school later in life while balancing work and family, earning my undergraduate degree and MBA in 2015. That decision reminded me that growth is always available to those willing to pursue it — and it made me a better advisor to the leaders and employees I serve.

The best career advice I ever received came from Kathy Murphy, my first HR manager, who saw potential in me before I saw it in myself. She told me to learn your boss first — understand how they process information, why they hired you, and what problem you are there to solve. Then learn the business. Everything else follows from those two things. I have carried that advice for more than 30 years and it has never been wrong. It shaped how I approach every new client engagement and every leadership relationship I build.

My advice is simple: if you were invited into the room, you belong there. I have sat in rooms full of brilliant people and felt completely out of my depth. I stayed quiet because I was afraid of looking uninformed. What I know now is that discomfort is not a signal that you do not belong — it is a signal that you are exactly where you need to be.

Surround yourself with people who challenge and inspire you. Seek out the rooms that make you uncomfortable. And remember this: if you are the smartest person in the room, find a different room. Growth lives at the edge of what you already know.

The conversation everyone in HR is having right now is about artificial intelligence — and I think it is being framed the wrong way. The risk is not that AI will replace HR professionals. The real risk is that business leaders will believe it can.

Here is the problem. A business owner can type a people issue into an AI system. But do they know exactly what to type? Probably not — and not because they are not intelligent, but because running a business is not the same as navigating people. The emotional intelligence, organizational awareness, and contextual judgment required to identify the real issue beneath the surface is not something a prompt can replicate.

AI is a powerful tool, and I use it in my own practice. But the human connection — the ability to sit with a leader in a difficult moment and help them find the right path — is irreplaceable. That is where HR professionals must lean in, not step back.

The values most important to me are honesty, loyalty, and the courage to say what needs to be said — even when it is not what someone wants to hear.

Throughout my career I have advised executives against counter-offering employees who have resigned. Time and again I have watched the same pattern play out — the counter-offer is made, the employee accepts, and within six months they are gone anyway. That is not a theory. That is 30 years of watching it happen firsthand across multiple organizations and industries.

On one occasion a CEO I worked with made the counter-offer against my counsel. The employee accepted and resigned again almost exactly six months later. The CEO turned to me and asked if I wanted to say "I told you so." My answer was no. He had listened to my guidance, weighed it against his own judgment, and made the decision he believed was right at the time. That is his right as a leader. My job was to give him honest counsel — not to make the decision for him.

That moment has stayed with me. When I sit across from a CEO today and tell them that a counter-offer will likely buy them six months at best, I am not guessing. I am speaking from experience accumulated across decades of being in those rooms, having those conversations, and watching good leaders make decisions driven by fear rather than strategy.

The most valuable thing I can offer any leader is not agreement. It is honesty grounded in real experience — because that is what genuine partnership looks like.