As EX Labs we are always curious and interested to learn and get new insights, but also to share great stories. Listen or watch our podcast episodes on YouTube or subscribe to our podcast feed.
From metaverse to agentic AI: the HR operations reality | Davis Aguilar, Diageo
Four years of transformation at Diageo. Close to 20 billion in revenue. 350 people in HR operations across Colombia, Budapest, and Manila. And a very specific, unflinching view on what …it actually takes to move HR forward — without getting seduced by the next wave of hype.
Davis Aguilar leads HR operations and GBS at one of the world’s most recognised spirits companies — the home of Johnnie Walker, Guinness, and Captain Morgan. In this conversation, we cover a lot of ground.
What does it mean to “perform and transform” simultaneously under real cost pressure? Why is experience in HR not about delight — it’s about removing complexity and giving people time back? And what happened when I asked Davis what the next metaverse might be?
We also went deep on the question that keeps coming up across every episode of this series: what does it actually take to make AI work in HR operations? Davis’s answer involves something far less glamorous than a pilot — and more important than most organisations realise.
We’ve spoken before. That matters. Because some predictions age well. And some don’t.
Employee Experience Podcasts by EX Labs | From the Workbook of an HR Leader
Hosted by Volker Schrank | Munich Podcast StudioShow More
From metaverse to agentic AI: the HR operations reality | Davis Aguilar, Diageo
Four years of transformation at Diageo. Close to 20 billion in …
Four years of transformation at Diageo. Close to 20 billion in revenue. 350 people in HR operations across Colombia, Budapest, and Manila. And a very specific, unflinching view on what …it actually takes to move HR forward — without getting seduced by the next wave of hype.
Davis Aguilar leads HR operations and GBS at one of the world’s most recognised spirits companies — the home of Johnnie Walker, Guinness, and Captain Morgan. In this conversation, we cover a lot of ground.
What does it mean to “perform and transform” simultaneously under real cost pressure? Why is experience in HR not about delight — it’s about removing complexity and giving people time back? And what happened when I asked Davis what the next metaverse might be?
We also went deep on the question that keeps coming up across every episode of this series: what does it actually take to make AI work in HR operations? Davis’s answer involves something far less glamorous than a pilot — and more important than most organisations realise.
We’ve spoken before. That matters. Because some predictions age well. And some don’t.
Employee Experience Podcasts by EX Labs | From the Workbook of an HR Leader
Hosted by Volker Schrank | Munich Podcast StudioShow More
The real AI challenge: knowing when to trust it | Aashna Kircher
It’s not about whether AI is powerful enough. Aashna Kircher’s concern …
Not every HR tech trend has staying power – Aashna Kircher
Aashna Kircher spent 12.5 years inside Workday’s office of the CHRO — …
From the workbook of an HR Leader with Aashna
What actually had staying power in HR tech — and what was just noise? …
What actually had staying power in HR tech — and what was just noise?
Aashna Kircher spent 12.5 years inside Workday’s office of the CHRO. More than 6,000 customers served. A …front-row seat to every major HR trend of the last decade: cloud, mobile, social, gamification, people analytics, skills-based organizations, and now agentic AI. In June, she walked away to figure out what’s next.
Before she does, I asked her the questions I really wanted answered.
Which of the big trends actually stood the test of time — and which turned out to be hype? Why is data definition about to become the single biggest lever for CHROs navigating AI? And what genuinely keeps her up at night when it comes to AI, trust, and the generation now entering the workforce?
We also talked about why she left after 12.5 years. Because sometimes the most honest signal is the decision itself.
A conversation with someone who has seen it all — and is refreshingly candid about what it means.
Employee Experience Podcasts by EX Labs | From the Workbook of an HR Leader
Hosted by Volker Schrank | Munich Podcast Studio
Music by BensoundShow More
Why HR leaders need to think like a CEO | Martijn Seijsener
“Think like a CEO” sounds like generic advice. Martijn Seijsener …
What actually earns HR a seat at the table? | Martijn Seijsener
“A seat at the table” is one of those phrases HR people use …
From the workbook of an HR Leader with Martijn
Almost arrested in the UN General Assembly for protesting. From there …
Almost arrested in the UN General Assembly for protesting. From there to 18 years fixing and transforming HR and Employee Experience functions inside private-equity-owned companies — including a big Swiss …bank in the middle of being taken over by another one. And a very clear, very direct message: stop demanding a seat at the table, and start making yourself impossible not to invite. What a conversation!
Welcome to another Employee Experience Labs podcast from the Munich Podcast studio. Employee Experience Labs Podcasts are about HR Tech, Employee Experience, Shared Service and other interesting topics around HR at the workplace.
We continue our most successful season so far “From the Workbook of an HR Leader” where I am talking to experienced colleagues in our field about their daily working routine and what and how they are going about the various challenges they have to face each day.
I am a tireless believer that we can all be better if we learn from each other, but there are not many opportunities to actually do that – yes, there are conferences, but how often can you attend one in a year? Yes, there are peer-to-peer connections, but how many do you manage to keep running?
I am a firm believer that we can all do a better job if we learn from each other and so I am inviting seasoned HR experts from various fields and companies to tell us about their workday and how they go about the challenges of today.
Today I am talking to Martijn Seijsener. Martijn never actually planned to end up in HR at all — he started out chasing a career in international development, interning at the UN, until a protest at the UN General Assembly became the moment he decided that path wasn’t for him. He pivoted into human capital consulting, and for the last 18 years has been the person private-equity-owned companies call in to build, rebuild and transform their HR and Employee Experience functions from the ground up — most recently inside one of the biggest Swiss banks, right as it was being absorbed by another one.
Martijn brings a refreshingly direct, self-described “rebel” lens to Employee Experience: why most EX leaders are only fluent in one of the three languages they actually need — the human, the economics and the end-to-end ownership — and why that’s the real reason EX so often ends up as a nice little feature on top rather than a seat at the table. We went deep on cost to serve, on why HR needs to speak the language of finance to be taken seriously, and of course on AI — and why bolting AI onto a fragmented organization just scales the fragmentation faster.
But why am I telling you everything already here and now — listen for yourself: Martijn Seijsener.
Music by BensoundShow More
AI Agents are commodity – Carl Hoffmann from Ahron
#podcast #aiagents #employeeexperience #interview #hrtech
#podcast #aiagents #employeeexperience #interview #hrtech
Carl from Ahron: "HRs none tech reputation is wrong"
Start ups and AI with Carl from Ahron
What does watching World Cup games at 2am have to do with building an …
What does watching World Cup games at 2am have to do with building an AI platform? What does selling your second startup teach you that you can only really use …on your third? And why would someone tell you not to buy more AI agents — but to rip out the layer underneath them instead?
Welcome to another Employee Experience Labs podcast from the Munich Podcast studio. Employee Experience Labs Podcasts are about HR Tech, Employee Experience, Shared Service and other interesting topics around HR at the workplace.
Today’s episode is a true addition to our Start-up and AI series — and honestly, back to the classic format. After a few episodes that went in different directions, today I’m talking to a founder again, building AI-native HR technology from day one.
I had the pleasure to talk to Carl Hoffman, Co-Founder & CEO of Ahron. Carl studied at TU Munich, founded his first HR tech startup, Job Crowd, roughly 15 years ago, later founded Talentry, which he sold about four years ago, and stayed on at Clever Connect for another three years before starting Ahron about a year ago. So this is very much his third rodeo — and it shows.
We went deep on why Ahron isn’t building another out-of-the-box AI agent, but a context and control layer that sits on top of the 120-plus HR systems a typical global company already has. We talked about the partnership with Celonis for process intelligence, where AI actually belongs across talent acquisition, employee services and payroll — and Carl’s genuinely provocative take on who should really be nervous about agentic AI in HR. Spoiler: it’s not Workday, SAP or Oracle. It’s the Accentures and Genpacts of the world running shared service centers.
Music by BensoundShow More
