Patty McCord

As our world becomes increasingly dynamic and connected, the classically standard ways in which we work have simply become irrelevant in today’s workforce. Many companies are struggling not only to understand and accept this certainty, but more importantly to identify the key catalysts behind this transformation. Patty McCord explores how demographics, technology and consumer transparency have already changed the way we work, explains why the idea of a “permanent employee” is no longer a realistic prospect, and encourages audiences to look to the future. In this innovative, informative and forward-thinking presentation, McCord emboldens audiences to embrace change and provides critical insight for companies that want to be ahead of the game as the future of work continues to advance.

No one in recent history has disrupted the grounds of human resources quite like Patty McCord. In this presentation, McCord engages audiences by delving into the compelling and innovative ideas that made her Netflix slide deck on company culture go viral. She shares thoughts on how to rethink terms like “fired” and “quit” in order to understand the realities of changing jobs in a way that honors service and teaches people to manage their own careers. Her belief is that by thinking like inventors, saying no to “best practices” and aligning what people do to the business and the customers, companies can take the policing out of policy to make work more productive and meaningful.

As the head of Diversity Programs at Sun Microsystems in the early 90’s, Patty McCord held many talks, programs, initiatives and celebrations to promote equality and diversity. Today, gains towards increased diversity and equality in our society have been startlingly lacking. In this presentation, McCord challenges the audience to change their way of thinking about these issues. Sharing data is a start, but there is hard work ahead to achieve real transformation. First, if equal pay is an issue at your company—fix it. Without a correction to current conditions, we are guaranteed to see the same problems lag forever. McCord acknowledges that the three most female-centric departments in companies are Marketing, Human Resources and Finance. She calls on women in leadership positions to ask—how come we haven’t yet fixed equal pay? We OWN it!