HHH_Lehua Stonebraker
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Hiring Happy Hour, where we celebrate the human side of hiring. I'm your host, Nicole Hammond, and together we'll pull back the curtain on people shaping the future of work, the innovators, the dreamers, the change makers behind today's hiring experience. These are the real stories behind the dashboards.
From leaders transforming talent acquisition to the everyday moments that remind us why we love hiring in the first place, to connect people with purpose, hiring happy hours. Brought to you by SmartRecruiters, an SAP company, the AI powered software for super human hiring, helping organizations hire faster, smarter, and we're human.
Nicole Hammond: All right everyone. Welcome to another episode of Hiring Happy Hour. Um, we have a special series going on where we are interviewing our executive leadership and I am very excited for today's guest. Uh, she is. Just someone that brings a spark to your [00:01:00] life. She builds high performing teams and creates employee experiences that make people feel valued and empowered, and that is no understatement.
She truly does this. She aligns people's strategy with business goals and mentors teams to deliver real impact. We've seen it here. She has been recognized as one of TA techs. A hundred most influential talent acquisition thought leaders. Yes, she is Senior Vice President of SmartRecruiters Lehua, stone Breaker.
Welcome, Lehua.
Lehua Stonebraker: Thank you so much for having me. It feels a little bit weird to hear all of those things, but thank you for the really nice introduction.
Nicole Hammond: I mean, if I had to write my own intro, I would just say one of the most authentic and sweet caring leaders we have in this organization. So. I'm so happy to have you here Lehua, uh, and hear a different perspective, uh, on the hiring Happy Hour podcast. So I think you're gonna bring a lot of valuable information from a different perspective that some may not expect, uh, in your [00:02:00] role. So we will just dive right into it
Lehua Stonebraker: Let's go.
Nicole Hammond: Feel like I lead, lead, lead, lead. And then I just need to just get to it. So,
Lehua Stonebraker: Let's get into it. Let's do it.
Nicole Hammond: get into it. Lehua, share with us your hiring happy hour.
Lehua Stonebraker: It is fun to have reflected and I think just this moment in time where we're at as a company at SmartRecruiters and our acquisition through with SAP, uh, allowed for me to reflect back to a similar moment, but on the other side of the fence. So I actually spent, uh, around four years at Dayforce and during my time there I was leading, uh, the talent acquisition team and then eventually led the talent acquisition operations focus.
And in my last 18 months, I got to really be. Thrown into all sorts of crazy moments because we acquired eight different companies in a period of 18 months. And every acquisition was different in terms of market entry and purpose and goal and culture. And so, uh, just so many different learning moments that not only I [00:03:00] survived, but I think was really great learnings for where we're at today.
Nicole Hammond: I love that you threw, threw in there. I survive. But yeah, eight acquisitions in 18 months. That is, uh, quite a company strategy.
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah, it was, it was, You know, and again, I think that there's an appreciation for M&A where it is not necessarily a playbook that you just follow a checklist. Now, there are certain things that come with every single moment of integration, right? Where you gotta think about the systems and how do they talk to one another?
And you gotta think about aligning sort of the commercial aspects of a business. And you've gotta think about policies and procedures, like all of those things. But as it relates to approaching an acquisition and. What matters for why that purchase happened? Sometimes it's to go into a new market.
Sometimes it's because you have customers that you want to acquire. Maybe it's, Complimenting or replacing something that doesn't exist in, a technology or in a software space. So there was so much learning through that, but I think, being [00:04:00] able to be a part of that journey and being able to kind of take literal moments of we did it.
That didn't work, let's try and apply it in a different way, at scale was, really something I'm super proud of.
Nicole Hammond: That's incredible. I mean, hearing from you around M&A and the different reasons, right? Some for the people, some for the organization and the technology, others for a number of different reasons. Um, my experience with M&A is from Deloitte and the. Different than yours is more was the planning side, right?
All right, here's the approach. Here's our recommendations based on what you're looking to achieve. Here's a strategy we would provide to you, and then they would go and execute. So being in the seats of going through that execution, are some tips that you can share with our guests that are either listening or watching that are possibly planning for some sort of acquisition or on the other side of that merger?
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: To be prepared for.
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah, I think it's a really great question. So I'll kind of [00:05:00] take it in sort of the ask the acquiring company, and then I'll be one from, from our side in terms of what we're experiencing today in the acquiring side. I, I will say that. Just to be forthright, I was not necessarily part of a corp dev or an M&A function, so I oftentimes heard about this decision has been made, or I was able to be, be under an NDA sort of early enough, but not necessarily planning for.
So you're almost like you're in this sort of weird moment where decisions are being made. You understand very quickly what the decision is, understand the objective to get there, and then you just have to go and you have to execute. So there's a little bit more reaction I think, as we were going through.
Through. And again, as I mentioned, the the reason for the acquisitions were very different in nature, the types of businesses, right? Where one, one in particular was very, I would say manual. There wasn't a lot of, uh, digital footprint. It was, uh, a lot of building a lot of the infrastructure that you needed in order to acquire that company.
And others were much more advanced and they were in markets. Like, uh, [00:06:00] entering a PJ where I had never really had a lot of experience and exposure, but then there's different regulations that come along with that. Uh, so my point being, I think that there is a, uh, an appetite and understanding that even though you are the company that's making this decision to purchase, there's still a lot for you to also learn.
So this sort of seek to understand being curious. You know, uh, understanding the company and why they do certain things. I think there's learning moments. Uh, and you oftentimes find, and I think this on both sides, there is natural friction that comes from change management. I think that there's also just natural apprehension when you're going through a learning curve and oftentimes people wanna race to the other side and, and get to the place where they know something.
And so the uncomfortable sort of middle is where actually the most, most growth and the most learning happens. So I think being able to. Be curious, uh, understand and I think approach things from positive intent. We know that not every personality is going to get along, but at the end [00:07:00] of the day, how can we understand what we're trying to achieve together?
And then how do we get there? I think that sort of open-mindedness has also translated really well to the other side here in SmartRecruiters where now we are kind of. Uh, I, I love the sentiment that somebody had shared with me the other day. They're, You know, we're about a 500 person company at SmartRecruiters going into 110,000 person organization at SAP Nemo in a big, big wide ocean.
Right? And so you're trying to understand like. Why do they do things that way? We've never approached it that way, but not always approaching it. Like change doesn't always equal good versus bad. Right versus wrong. There could be a lot of of reasons and moments for understanding that I think, again, allows for you to maybe share this is contextually and historically why we are doing things, and we'd love for you to kind of appreciate that.
So then we can then advance the conversation forward. So those are some of the, I have more, but, but those are the what immediately comes to mind.
Nicole Hammond: Yeah, right now we're Dory. We just keep swimming with Nemo. But
Lehua Stonebraker: Just keep swimming.
Nicole Hammond: love that. [00:08:00] Just keep swimming. Um, back to the Dayforce days and looking at that acquisition, I think you hit on a really. Important topic that not many that sit in those kind of corp dev M&A roles. Intuitively may have is that empathy and that listening and that curiosity of always learning, right?
They think they know what they're doing, they've done it before. It isn't necessarily rinse and repeat, but we are going to execute. So as you talk about kind of that curiosity, can you share some of the, some of the things that you learned that, or an aha moment from, from that M&A that was something that you assumed would be one way and end in another way, but was a learning moment.
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah, I think in general. We are all expected to be treated as adults, experts in our field. Uh, You know, we, we, the, the idea that we all get to sit around a table and be part of the discussion, I think that, that those, those are things that can be true and also [00:09:00] aspirational. There are times that there are.
Business decisions that are made or reasons that we may not be privy to. And so sometimes it can feel a little bit uncomfortable to kind of navigate through when you don't necessarily have all the information and you may not be able to have all the information. Right. And so I think being able to, uh, the biggest lesson for me has always been.
Speak the truth as much as you can because if you give the right context and you help people understand again, where you're trying to end up at, even if it's not the full picture, but at least in general, where are you trying to navigate? Change management doesn't feel so scary because it's not something happening to you.
You're being along, brought along with it. Um, so I think just the, the element of transparency, authenticity, and helping people, like, trusting them that they're, sometimes it's information that they may not like, that may not agree with, but then they can manage accordingly and then they can [00:10:00] help others do the same.
And that's where you start to see sort of change management and transformation in a way that moves people in the right direction.
Nicole Hammond: And, You know, I love my change management. Yes. Yes. I, I, I think assurance comes to mind when I think about going through this. So now let's flip to us on this side being acquired. You were part of the early stages preparing for this. Um, tell us a little more about this journey.
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah, it's actually been really, uh, I would say. I'm very lucky with who I've been able to get partnered with in terms of helping to answer my questions or helping me understand why we're doing things. Uh, allowing me to challenge and say, I don't necessarily agree that that's a priority right now, but here's why I feel that way.
And they're also listening. So, so the things that I would say I appreciate, I'm, I'm feeling reciprocated, which is wonderful. Um. The other part to the journey is just helping carry forward our DNA. We are a company that I think prides ourselves [00:11:00] a lot, not just on the values that we state, but how we live those every day.
Uh, we actually just came out of our company kickoff and we're looking at some sentiment survey and looking at how people feel inspired about the work ahead, even if that work ahead. Is a big question mark. Uh, still feeling confident in the leadership that they have. So those are the things that sitting in a role of, You know, HR or in a people and culture sort of function, you care, care about because You know that at some moment that DNA is starting to, probably going to morph into something even better.
You hope, right? Uh, the other thing that I really think is great is the openness for us to participate where we can, to start to network, start to meet other people, start to shadow again, removing that mystery of what's happening because you actually get to interact with people directly. And it isn't such a, I would say, sort of a walled off experience where you can only interact with people assigned to a specific project.
And so I think that that's one nugget that I would share [00:12:00] even with others. Just take advantage of what's available to you. Relationships are everything, whether You know it now, uh, maybe later. It's a, a relationship you can leverage and I think that's been a, a blessing for us.
Nicole Hammond: I love that piece of advice and You know, again, being on this side now of an M&A, I think personally what I've experienced is not what I thought I would experience, right? Everyone has been so friendly and sometimes with an acquisition they don't keep. The entire organization. We were very fortunate to have it where all of SmartRecruiters was welcomed into the SAP ecosystem, which I don't think is a norm, uh, but has been so wonderful because you would then think there's a healthy competition, but it's actually more of a collaboration.
Lehua Stonebraker: Right.
Nicole Hammond: And I love seeing that. And it's funny, you are probably the thousandth person that's told me network is key. And to be Nemo in that big, big ocean of SAP, are so many opportunities and people to meet.
Lehua Stonebraker: I love that. You're exactly right. It is, it is [00:13:00] a relationship, not just business bus, business to business, but I think that you find that everywhere you go, right? We're in, we're talking about hiring and talent acquisition, and how many times have you heard, it's not what You know, but who You know in order to get in front of the right hiring manager or in order to get the right reference or to uh, potentially mentor with somebody to gain the right sort of.
Skills or that visibility. So I think that that's incredibly important. I think the other thing that has really been a benefit and success for us is seeing very quickly and early that our values actually have alignment. So SmartRecruiters, we changed and announced our evolution of values.
Last year we moved from as one right. Together, we will win. But when you look at the growth culture behaviors at SAP. As one is quite literally how they define success, And so it's easy. So you talk about collaboration, it's easy for us to point to that because again, it's a shared DNA, which I think makes that, sort of experience that much easier for you to sort of start to integrate.
Nicole Hammond: Yes, and, and I will say, right, it's not all [00:14:00] rainbows and unicorns as I like to refer to
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: There's also things that are hard and our other value is just grit, right? And just digging deep and continuing to solve the biggest problems. And probably say that daily with how much is going on, but what can you share?
That's something. That hasn't been as easy or something you didn't expect to be as hard as it is with this acquisition.
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah, I'm gonna speak more broadly and not necessarily just to the work that we're doing within hr, but oftentimes when I hear the moments of friction, it's either, the pace at which SmartRecruiters is used to working nimble, agile. We're decisive. We don't have. Layers of hierarchy or layers of process and procedure.
We may not necessarily, we're not a publicly traded organization, which comes with a whole different level of regulation expectations, both for self, but also for the expectations of the customers within SAP. And so I think being able to recognize that the pace is not necessarily [00:15:00] going to match, but also I think going back to the comment earlier around learning, we've been able to demonstrate when you have singular focus.
When you're able to ruthlessly prioritize, you're actually able to remove blockers and actually see progress forward. And so what I've actually seen in terms of a positive way is adopting some of the practices or even some of the approaches that we have to goal setting. And that allows for us to see some acceleration, which has been really beautiful.
So again, there's I think, an understanding and an appreciation for them that maybe it's not always the only way that we've done it, it's let's learn from each other and find a better path.
Nicole Hammond: Yes, and I remember at our last offsite, the way for us to share that learning with others was simply to ask the question why.
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah.
Nicole Hammond: do you do the things you do, the way you do them? And sometimes to your point, it is publicly traded company. It is a rule and it's a regulation. We must abide by these steps, fine and dandy.
But majority of the time I would say it's because they've, how [00:16:00] it's been done for so
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: And so to your point, I think it's a perfect opportunity to. Bring innovation, bring acceleration where it can be used.
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: Seen that as well. And those are the moments where you feel like you're making an impact and making a difference that you hold onto to get you to that next milestone.
So
Lehua Stonebraker: That's right.
Nicole Hammond: Impactful with the power of why
I The power of why. Yeah.
The
Lehua Stonebraker: Or even, or even the five why's You heard a why and you got an answer, but that wasn't deep enough. Let's just keep going. Let's figure it out. Let's get to the bottom of it and then figure out where we wanna go. Right. I think also asking that question of. What are you trying to achieve?
I had a really great conversation around some, uh, diversity inclusion and belonging programs yesterday, and I had asked the question like, how do you measure success and why is that important to you from a business standpoint? And I think it, it helps to sort of connect the dots or allow people to just stop and be like, that's really thoughtful.
I don't know. I don't, I haven't thought about it. And, and that wasn't necessarily the case yesterday, but I think asking those [00:17:00] kinds of questions is not meant to be challenging. It's helping to understand Right.
Nicole Hammond: Yes. Agreed. Agreed. And I think to your point, back to value. The SAP culture does see a lot of smart people. Quotations. There are no pun intended coming from this acquisition and using them, but using them in a way that is, again, collaborative for impact and gain for the organization to get further right?
We, surprisingly enough, are moving very fast within the SAP ecosystem. With all that we are trying to achieve. Integration of technology, integration of. People, processes, et cetera. And so with that, you have to have a fair amount of collaboration, but quick decision and um, it's not always easy. But at the same time, I think we've done a lot in a short amount of time.
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah, I was, I mentioned our company kickoff sentiment, uh, review. That was only a [00:18:00] month ago, Nicole. We, we were, we were all together a month ago. I mean, our, our months are now becoming dog years where you just feel like seven months have passed when it's only just one. Poof. We're there, so.
Nicole Hammond: and I felt that way before this acquisition, that was dog years. 'cause we did so much in a short amount of time. Now we're just amplifying it. We're getting closer to the speed of light, I swear.
Lehua Stonebraker: That's right. That's right. That's what we're working for.
Nicole Hammond: Oh yeah, it's crazy how much has happened. So who, as we talk about this and we talk about our audience, and now you've heard from one side of an acquisition to the other side, uh, I feel very lucky.
I look at other acquisitions that happened around us, like the Workday Paradox. Not a lot of people from Paradox got to keep their job, whether they love that or not. Uh, and having two similar types of companies. In the ecosystem making two similar acquisitions, but choosing two totally [00:19:00] different paths. What do you predict for us with SAP as far as cultures and organization and like predictability of what you feel it
Lehua Stonebraker: Hmm.
Nicole Hammond: In six months, 12 months, or the speed of light months
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah. Okay. So this is crystal ball. This is not guarantee or actual things that have been made decide, uh, truthfully. You know, we were so lucky to have included some of our corp dev HR colleagues at our company kickoff, where they not only got to hear what is the vision, what are the key messages from the executive leadership team, what are those singular sort of ruthlessly prioritized goals that we're going to ensure that we not only do, but we do so exceptionally well, that it just continues to drive impact and move that that needle forward.
But they got to feel. Our environment. I talk about like sort of like that culture and that DNA and I really respect that they took a moment to actually speak to s Martians all around the business and really just use it as a moment to [00:20:00] actively listen. I think listening has been sort of the theme of our session today.
Nicole Hammond: Much,
Lehua Stonebraker: Uh, they actively listen and I'm excited to hear back sort of their analysis because I think, again, SAP. A huge organization, and again, very process and rigor driven, but they're also very heart forward. And I think that there is an openness for them to say, oh, you do some things certain way. Maybe there's a way for us to carry that forward or to evolve it so it's not just.
Shut the doors. Integration has happened and now you're just, everything that we do and know at SAP think that there is an opportunity for us to kind of see some of that, what did we call it? Bleeding green into, blue, right? And becoming a little bit more teal, I think that that's what I anticipate happening.
I think that there's going to be. Again, whether it's the way that we drive our, goal setting and performance, whether it's the way that we carry ourselves in terms of, displaying our values, the way that we recognize one another, I think we're gonna start to see moments of those sort of, happen [00:21:00] within SAP.
And the other part is I think that there's a whole world, we talk about sort of this panoramic view, a startup where you've got very limited visibility in terms of what you can do from your career or your mobility. Now you're in such a large organization that your path can really be anywhere. So I think it's exciting for me to think about where people are today and where that's going to translate for them.
And I'm just, so, I would say sort of like proud to watch that journey sort of unfold.
Nicole Hammond: Yeah, the words that come. Mind when you were talking are hope and opportunity because I,
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: Agree with you. I, again, didn't expect with an acquisition that they would be so open to our innovation or the way we do things. Um, and I really like that. And I think they see it as an opportunity. Right.
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: It may be easier for them to propose change now during this time versus a stagnant time where they just wanna make a change.
Lehua Stonebraker: Right.
Nicole Hammond: So I think on both sides, we're seeing a lot of opportunity, a lot of hope, and [00:22:00] everyone from SAP has reached out and said, Hey, I wanna work with you. What can I do? What can I learn? Um, and to your point, it all comes back to just this spirit of collaboration and, and growing together. So thank you. I think this is very powerful. I think anyone that's going through a merger and acquisition, feel free to reach out. Uh, there is a lot to learn, but I think it's more just the simple steps you prepare yourself to take that really help you to embrace the change.
Lehua Stonebraker: That's right.
Nicole Hammond: Fair?
Lehua Stonebraker: I would say that's fair. My word of the year, I told my team when we did our, our, our sort of year wrap up before the holiday, uh, hit, was open-mindedness. You know, even though I've been on, on, You know, the other side, and I generally think I do, uh. Accept change. Well, that doesn't always mean that it always feels comfortable or I, I, I, I'm super like rainbows and unicorns, to use your phrase earlier.
So being open-minded I think has been really something that helps sort of ground me and also grounds me to say, what am I [00:23:00] grateful for? Because there's not everything that's gonna be in my control. Uh, and some of it I just have to continue to adapt to. Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: Alright, we, I'm just gonna talk to Lehua anytime. I need a reminder, friendly reminder. Lehua, please. Um, or a song to wrap. That's another story for another day, but we, we might get to it. Uh, we're gonna switch gears and know, I'm not gonna make you rap here, uh, but I would love to hear. What makes the authentic so sweet and supportive? Lehua lehua, right? What is your happy hour outside of work? Uh, whether it's personal, whether it's just related to a hobby. Share with us more.
Lehua Stonebraker: So. This is getting a little bit philosophical, but, and I, and I won't go too, too far off of, uh, the rails of the question, but my husband and I are a little bit unique in our journey. Uh, he started in sort of corporate America. 2008 crash happened. I had been moved a recruiter [00:24:00] that had moved into be an HR business partner, and my first job was to lay off.
Uh, more than 60% of our company did that. And then they said, thank you, but no thank you. Now you have, uh, your exit papers and we had a newborn at the time. And so what do most people do in those sort of thrashing moments? They probably hunker down and they're like, hold onto what feels stable and secure.
And we didn't, my husband quit his job. We sold our home that we thought we were gonna raise our children in. He went back to school to get a totally different degree. We moved out of state. And so point being.
Nicole Hammond: Wow.
Lehua Stonebraker: Things that make me happy are the things oftentimes I say that change, I, I, I feel like I embrace change.
Well, I think I also embrace risk. Well, we have done sort of a life reset, uh, more than once and it doesn't come with a lot of challenge or a lot of question and doubt. But I feel really, really content with where we're at as a family. So. Fast forward. I told you it was a little philosophical and off track.
I just love spending time with them. [00:25:00] My, I've got three boys. Uh, one is out of the house. Being a, a fantastic adult. Human, uh, two are still with us. Hopefully, uh, I can hold onto 'em for as long as possible. We love spending time with our dogs at home. Uh, we're oftentimes at a baseball. Diamond or a hockey rink.
Uh, so oftentimes I'm either at my desk in the car or watching somebody play something. And then just for me time, I do really, really just enjoy some of the, the more usual reading, cooking, uh, just being able to be content in the moment. So thank you for the question.
Nicole Hammond: Aw, it, I, it brings me joy to hear your answer. And I love the lead in because it, it does make more sense, right?
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: Through big life changes or embrace risk, you kind of, um, have a new found appreciation for those, what I would call Kodak moments, um, with your family. And those are the small moments that people wouldn't think are a big deal, but are the ones you remember,
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah.[00:26:00]
Nicole Hammond: I, I'm with you. I'm with you, the three kids in shuttling to sports is the way that, the way I spend my afternoons as well. And lately, because we're leaving on a trip, um, I've been having my 6-year-old son dance with me in the kitchen and he's like, mom, mom. But he embraces it and, and, and that I love because it just speaks to the child that he is
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: Loves the love, but doesn't want anyone to see it.
Lehua Stonebraker: I was gonna say, are you recording these so you can look back on these fun memories, but maybe, maybe you need to ask his consent to do that?
Nicole Hammond: I mean? I haven't thought about setting up the camera, but I might do
Lehua Stonebraker: You should. You should. It'd be fun to look back on. Yeah.
Nicole Hammond: It'd be so cute to look back on. Yeah, no, those memories. I do record videos sometimes on Sundays, just talking wise words or moments that I want them to remember of me being a proud mom or something that they did with their
Lehua Stonebraker: Oh, I love that.
Nicole Hammond: Yeah. The latest was yesterday,
Lehua Stonebraker: I.
Nicole Hammond: So I have a, a six, [00:27:00] eight, and 10-year-old, and my 8-year-old is. Really starting to learn how to read. And so we had two, um, diaries of a wimpy kid
Lehua Stonebraker: Oh yeah. Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: my 10-year-old and my 8-year-old were in bed. I go, you go reading while my 6-year-old is on the shoulder of my 8-year-old listening to the story and I, my husband and I were like, how do we do this every night?
Right? Like, this is incredible.
Lehua Stonebraker: like, did we just start a book club? A family book club? Is this happening?
Nicole Hammond: uh, yeah. Nick was like, I will buy two books of everything if this is what's gonna happen. And I was like, I
Lehua Stonebraker: Dream.
Nicole Hammond: To save your life. Oh, such a dream. So I, those little Kodak moments are, are what we live for. I love that. I
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole Hammond: All right. You ready for this or that?
Lehua Stonebraker: Let's do it. Yes.
Nicole Hammond: Okay. You can elaborate. You can say, and this is a choose your own adventure.
Lehua Stonebraker: Okay.
Nicole Hammond: Off script. We are here for it. This is
Lehua Stonebraker: Okay.
Nicole Hammond: To hear more from you. Alright, [00:28:00] first one, resume or LinkedIn profile.
Lehua Stonebraker: LinkedIn profile
Nicole Hammond: Second one, AI screening or recruiter screening.
Lehua Stonebraker: AI screening.
Nicole Hammond: Find me or find you.
Lehua Stonebraker: Hmm. Find you.
Nicole Hammond: Okay. Career path or whatever comes my way.
Lehua Stonebraker: A hundred percent, whatever comes my way, I think my, my risk story, You know, whatever happens, I'll just make the best of it.
Nicole Hammond: isn't a psychology test, but if I had to bet what some people would say, I think I'd get 80% on average. Um, culture first or performance first.
Lehua Stonebraker: I think the culture first, because if you've got that right. Then you've got the foundation for a strong way for you to see the performance follow. Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: I remember back, I'm gonna elaborate on this one too, when you were sharing some of the questions that SAP had and [00:29:00] we have, um, unlimited PTO, and they were like, how does that work?
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: Actually, funny enough, people don't take enough ironically, but that we are all very hard workers, so it balances itself out. I think that is a perfect example of where culture leads to performance.
Lehua Stonebraker: I love that. Yeah. And actually my, my brain also went to, uh, our OKR framework. I'm like, okay, yep, yep. Foundational. Yeah, let's do that.
Nicole Hammond: Yes, yes. Agreed. Let's
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah.
Nicole Hammond: A plan. planning, uh, or automation or personalization.
Lehua Stonebraker: Personally, personalization.
Nicole Hammond: Reward or recognition?
Lehua Stonebraker: Ooh, and this can't be an, and
Nicole Hammond: Sure it can. You
Lehua Stonebraker: think it, I think it's an and or I would say it's an and or because it depends. So going back to the personalization, it depends on what matters for that individual and having the opportunity for you to curate, [00:30:00] uh, a program or an experience that will, will speak to that person.
Nicole Hammond: Agreed. It's funny, it kind of relates to love languages. I was talking with Kyle Laguna about this
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah.
Nicole Hammond: My love language is service, so I am reward. And I was like, it's so interesting because it, it indirectly correlates,
Lehua Stonebraker: Right. No, it's true. It's very true.
Nicole Hammond: it's so funny. manager or fun job.
Lehua Stonebraker: Hmm. A good manager can make it a fun job.
Nicole Hammond: True story. True story.
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: Day work week or work remote.
Lehua Stonebraker: Work remote because I think not everybody needs to be confined to days or times. Oftentimes I think you see people's best self when they have the freedom and the empowerment. Now again, it's job specific. There's some that, that just doesn't allow for that. But for the most part, uh, being able to allow for them to make the choice on how they work when they work their best, you're gonna oftentimes see the best out of them.
Nicole Hammond: agreed. Agreed.
Lehua Stonebraker: Mm-hmm.
Nicole Hammond: Or ocean?
Lehua Stonebraker: Oh [00:31:00] gosh. I'm an, I'm an both so, uh, Hawaiian, uh, in terms of my background, right. Uh, did not live in Hawaii for very long, but spends spend a lot of time there. Also lived in Colorado, so both have a piece of my heart. Yes, yes.
Nicole Hammond: you can have both. You can have
Lehua Stonebraker: Okay. Thank you.
Nicole Hammond: next one. Wine, beer, or spirit.
Lehua Stonebraker: Oh gosh. Nicole, I don't know if You know this about me, but it happens to be whatever I'm in the mood for. I like I, I like them all. I don't have a favorite. It just happens to be what I'm in the mood for.
Nicole Hammond: I kind of suspected Lua. I kind of suspected. I'm with you. I'm with you. Go with the flow. Right? I
Lehua Stonebraker: Yeah.
Nicole Hammond: Kind of a sub cursor to whatever comes my way, right?
Lehua Stonebraker: It happens to be with the weather, your mood, what you're eating, who you're with. Yeah. Just go with the flow. Yep. Yep.
Nicole Hammond: Love it. Love it. Aw, thank you. Lehua. Tell people where they can find you.
Lehua Stonebraker: I am on LinkedIn. Uh, you can also find me, gosh, where else can you find me? I think that's it. I'm kind of, I'm kind of a [00:32:00] weirdo. I'm not really on a lot of socials. Uh, you can email me at any time and I dunno if we provide that information when you send this out, but I'm happy to, to do that. But please, I, I do welcome, uh, the conversation, whether it's a question, a need, I would love to engage with people.
Send me a dm, send me an email. Would love to just build my own network as well.
Nicole Hammond: And it's true. I've had people I've asked to connect with her and she has been so polite to open the doors and say Absolutely. So, um, the honest, uh, truthful, supportive lehua, you for being here. Really, really enjoyed this first part of this series with our executive leadership. Everyone listening, I hope you enjoyed and I hope you got something out of that.
And whether you're on either side of, of that acquisition or it's something that your company's strategically planning, um, just remember to be a good listener and empathize and truly be curious and ask why as many times as you need.
Lehua Stonebraker: [00:33:00] That's right. Thank you so much for having me, Nicole. This was so fun.
Nicole Hammond: Thank you. All right. Have a good one. Everyone.
And that wraps another episode of Hiring Happy Hour. Thanks for tuning in and for believing like we do that hiring isn't just about filling jobs. It's about the impact we make. To catch more stories and show notes, visit hiring happy hour.com. This episode was brought to you by SmartRecruiters, an SAP company, an AI powered platform for superhuman hiring.
Until next time, stay curious, stay kind, and keep humanizing hiring. Cheers.