Ep. 190. Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar: A Chief People Officer in Pandemic Times
“In order to set D & I and organizational change up for success, HR leaders must act like data analysts. You make your case with people data. Data is your currency to make business decisions.”
Jay Modlenhauer-Salazar
Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar is Chief People Officer for Minted.com. He oversees and manages Minted’s People team, which includes human resources and facilities. After several years running a research lab in Silicon Valley, he went on to lead HR in multiple industries and various scales, from hyper-growth start-up to global Fortune 500, including stints at Sun Microsystems, Taco Bell, BlackRock, Gap and Old Navy, Starbucks, and Riot Games. Prior to his corporate career, he received his Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan, with his dissertation on organizational change and diversity. Jay considers himself a closet creative and maintains a weekly writer’s group and dusty art portfolio. He is an internationally lauded game strategist with a particularly large following in the Magic the Gathering community.
In this episode, Stew and Jay talk about lessons he’s learned from decades of experience in cultivating meaningful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives; the disruptive impact of the pandemic on Minted’s business and people operations and how the senior team is responding to those challenges, especially in having to downsize and develop new revenue streams; the hurdles facing women in the gaming industry; how his experience as a self-described gaming nerd has influenced his career; and much more.
Here then is an invitation, a challenge, for you, once you’ve listened to the conversation. How has your most significant non-work passion influenced your career and how might you teach what you’ve discovered about infusing your work with that passion from another part of your life? Share your ideas, and your reactions to this episode, by writing to Stew at friedman@wharton.upenn.edu or via LinkedIn.
Listen below or on ApplePodcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify…