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240 - Why HR should own the workflows & not just the workforce: Thomas Forstner, VP of People and Talent at Juro
Description
Thomas Forstner, VP of People and Talent at Juro, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about building an AI-native company, why HR should own workflows not just the workforce, and how people teams must evolve from playbook followers to visionary architects of the modern org.
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(06:32) Thomas’ origin story: from psychology to global work experiences
(09:52) How he ended up at Juro and grew with the company
(11:03) What Juro does and how it’s changing legal and HR workflows
(13:05) The state of HR today and the growing gap in AI adoption
(14:33) Why giving ChatGPT access will soon be like giving email
(16:22) The emerging core AI tech stack every team needs
(18:27) How Juro is enabling AI experimentation across teams
(20:33) Their “how to AI” rituals, lab reports, and internal AI philosophy
(23:40) Why making their AI principles public is a competitive advantage
(25:15) Why IT now reports to People at Juro: owning the workflows
(26:57) What “WorkTech” means and the rise of the Chief Work Officer
(29:12) How AI tools reshaped Stephen’s view on HR and product
(32:18) HR as the company OS: When it’s good, everything flows
(34:23) Parallel thinking: Sales teams, onboarding, and internal design
(37:02) Should you rebuild your HR tech stack? Custom vs. off-the-shelf
(39:47) The power of documentation and training AI agents
(41:13) Building internal tools with low/no-code: Just try things
(43:30) Automating personalized rejection emails with custom GPTs
(44:47) Is PeopleOps as a Product evolving into something new?
(47:48) People leaders as shape shifters, AI engineers, and CSMs
(50:09) Stop chasing playbooks—start building your own operating model
(51:17) Setting a clear vision: Juro’s “Company OS” and annual rewrites
(54:41) Rapid fire questions: advice, favorite resources, and dream strategies
(58:42) What Thomas would steal from Dropbox
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