What Having a Real Seat at the Table Looked Like at Amazon

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16 Sep

What Having a Real Seat at the Table Looked Like at Amazon

What Having a Real Seat at the Table Looked Like at Amazon

Wednesday, September 16, 2026 (12:00 AM) to Thursday, December 31, 2026 (11:59 PM)
1 PDCs
Provider: My HR Extension
Course Name: What Having a Real Seat at the Table Looked Like at Amazon

Speaker: Casey Webster
Program Type: Videoconferences, webcasts, audiocasts, podcasts, eBooks, self-directed E-Learning
Registration URL: https://the-business-side-of-hr-f900f8.circle.so/home-page

Email Details

By the end of this session, participants will be able to: * Identify ways to move from tactical HR execution to strategic business partnership by increasing exposure to business priorities, operations, and decision-making. * Build stronger cross-functional relationships with business leaders, HR partners, finance, legal, communications, talent acquisition, and other stakeholders to improve collaboration and organizational outcomes. * Apply data and business storytelling to HR recommendations by asking stronger questions, identifying relevant metrics, and connecting people decisions to measurable business needs. * Evaluate opportunities to reduce tactical workload and increase strategic contribution through delegation, partnership, stretch assignments, and intentional role development. * Recognize the behaviors that strengthen HR credibility and influence, including business acumen, communication, curiosity, visibility, relationship building, and the ability to solve business problems through people.

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This educational activity is a facilitated interview and discussion focused on helping HR professionals strengthen their ability to operate as strategic business partners rather than remaining primarily focused on tactical or transactional HR responsibilities. The session features Jennie Reis, an experienced talent and HR leader who spent significant portions of her career at Target and Amazon. Drawing from her work across recruiting, HR business partnering, talent management, organizational effectiveness, executive recruiting, and consulting, Jennie shares practical examples of how HR professionals can build stronger business relationships, improve their understanding of organizational priorities, and use data and business insight to influence decisions. The discussion begins with Jennie’s career path and her transition from education into recruiting and ultimately into broader HR leadership roles. Her experience demonstrates how HR professionals can intentionally build business acumen by becoming curious about the functions they support, learning how different roles contribute to organizational performance, and seeking opportunities to understand the broader business beyond their immediate responsibilities. Participants will hear how recruiting can become a strategic function when HR professionals move beyond filling open positions and instead seek to understand the organization’s long-term talent needs. Jennie discusses the importance of learning where business gaps exist, understanding what makes employees successful, identifying future talent needs, and considering how candidates may contribute beyond the immediate position being filled. Her examples from Target illustrate how talent decisions can be connected to longer-term workforce and organizational priorities. The session also explores career development within HR. Jennie describes moving from recruiting into an HR business partner role and then into organizational effectiveness. Participants are encouraged to identify opportunities to broaden their experience, even when their organizations may not have formal career paths or large HR structures. This may include pursuing stretch assignments, participating in projects outside of a primary area of responsibility, developing relationships with other functional leaders, and seeking exposure to strategic business conversations. A significant portion of the activity focuses on Jennie’s experience at Amazon and what it meant to have a meaningful “seat at the table.” Rather than viewing strategic partnership as simply being invited to executive meetings, the conversation examines the behaviors necessary to add value once HR is included in those discussions. Jennie describes sitting directly with business teams, attending business reviews, meeting regularly with leaders, and intentionally learning how the business operated. Participants learn how attending operational and business meetings—even when the content is unfamiliar—can help HR identify talent implications, organizational risks, capability gaps, and opportunities to support business performance. The program emphasizes that strategic HR work requires strong relationships across functions. Jennie describes proactively introducing herself to key partners, including HR business partners, finance, legal, communications, and business leaders, and asking how they could work together. The session explores how these relationships can reduce functional silos and improve HR’s ability to address organizational challenges collectively. Participants will also examine how the way HR asks for information can influence collaboration. Instead of simply requesting employee data or other information from another HR function, the discussion highlights the value of explaining the business reason behind the request. For example, identifying a high-performing employee and asking what skills, experiences, or characteristics contributed to that performance can help HR develop a stronger talent profile and improve future hiring decisions. This approach strengthens relationships while also helping HR identify repeatable patterns associated with business success. The activity addresses common challenges associated with functional HR structures, including unclear ownership, poor handoffs, internal silos, and friction between functions such as talent acquisition, learning and development, benefits, and HR business partnering. The discussion reinforces that business leaders often view HR as one function and expect HR professionals to work together effectively regardless of internal organizational structure. Participants are encouraged to consider how their own HR relationships and processes either support or hinder the employee and business experience. Another key focus is helping HR professionals move out of a tactical or reactive work cycle. The discussion acknowledges that many HR professionals spend significant time responding to employee relations issues, urgent requests, and administrative responsibilities. Participants are encouraged to review where their time is currently spent and determine whether some responsibilities can be shared with internal partners, simplified, delegated, or approached differently. The session also highlights the role of managers, mentors, and trusted advisors in helping HR professionals evaluate their work from a broader perspective and identify opportunities for greater strategic contribution. The session then examines the role of data in strategic HR decision-making. Jennie explains that working in Amazon’s highly data-driven environment required her to strengthen skills that did not initially come naturally to her. Rather than beginning with sophisticated analytics tools, she relied on curiosity and questioning to determine what information would help explain a business challenge. Participants learn how HR professionals can begin with questions such as what is happening, why it may be happening, what patterns exist, what information is available, and what additional data would help clarify the issue. Jennie describes using applicant tracking systems, interview data, employee information, manual spreadsheets, and other available sources to begin building a story behind the numbers. One example involves Amazon Fashion, where leaders traditionally placed significant emphasis on prior fashion-industry experience when hiring. Jennie questioned whether candidates from other industries might possess transferable skills such as finance, communication, and strategy that could also contribute to success. Instead of simply recommending that leaders change their hiring approach, she gathered information, developed a business rationale, and proposed testing the idea with a small number of hires. This example demonstrates how HR professionals can use data, experimentation, and business storytelling to influence decisions without requiring an immediate large-scale change. Participants will consider how similar pilot approaches can be used within their own organizations to test HR recommendations, gather evidence, and build credibility. The activity also emphasizes the importance of storytelling when presenting HR recommendations. HR professionals may have strong ideas, but ideas alone may not influence leaders who are accustomed to making decisions based on financial, operational, sales, or performance data. Participants will learn how connecting HR recommendations to evidence, organizational priorities, and measurable outcomes can improve HR’s ability to gain support for initiatives and investments. Participants are also encouraged to view unsuccessful initiatives as opportunities for learning rather than simply as failures. The discussion highlights the importance of monitoring results, recognizing when an approach is not working, adjusting quickly, taking ownership, and developing alternative solutions. This reinforces the value of experimentation and continuous improvement in strategic HR work. The final portion of the activity focuses on characteristics associated with HR professionals who are recognized as strategic contributors. Jennie describes individuals who actively engage with the business, enjoy solving business problems through people, are comfortable with visibility and increased expectations, and understand how their work connects across organizational functions. Additional differentiators discussed include strong communication, leadership capability, cross-functional thinking, relationship building, and the ability to understand the broader organizational picture. Throughout the activity, participants are encouraged to reflect on their own roles and identify specific opportunities to strengthen their business acumen, relationships, data skills, and strategic contribution. The session reinforces that earning a meaningful seat at the table is not simply about gaining access to leadership discussions. It requires HR professionals to understand the business, ask relevant questions, develop credible relationships, use information effectively, and consistently connect people strategies to organizational needs and outcomes.