The most politically dangerous role in the C-suite | Katie Burke (COO, Harvey)

In the latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Katie Burke, who recently became COO of Harvey after joining as Chief People Officer. Before Harvey, Katie spent 11 years in HR leadership at HubSpot, where she built one of tech's most distinctive cultures. In this conversation, she unpacks her marketing-minded approach to HR, why she hired deliberately from hospitality rather than corporate backgrounds, and why developing culture should be a strategic priority for any organization. In today's episode, we discuss: Why HR leaders should think like marketers The 2.5-year cultural hangover after a layoff The protein vs. sugar rule for employee feedback What it means to be the executive team’s own HR business partner What the Chief People Officer owes the board and what they don't References: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com Anique Drumright: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anique-drumright-53978a1a/ Brian Halligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianhalligan/ Carmel Galvin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmelgalvin/ eBay: https://www.ebay.com Gabe Pereyra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabepereyra Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com Jacqui Canney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquicanney Klaviyo: https://www.klaviyo.com Lorrie Norrington: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrienorrington/ Maggie Landers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggiecohenlanders/ Rippling: https://www.rippling.com ServiceNow: https://www.servicenow.com Winston Weinberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winston-weinberg/ Where to find Katie: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-burke-965767a/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/katieburkie Where to find Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:23 Why HR begins with thinking like a marketer 01:58   “Don't ask for a seat at the table. Build the table.” 02:29 Radical transparency after Hubspot’s IPO 05:14 How HubSpot’s people function drove strategy 07:01 The trickiest part of the Chief People Officer role 10:00 Be the Michael Jordan of your exec team 12:14 Why people leaders need to create “graceful exits” 16:49 The inevitable two-year layoff hangover 23:31 The workplace shouldn’t be Disneyland 26:05 “Our job is not to make you happy every day” 34:28 Being a Chief People Officer isn’t for the faint of heart 35:04 How “Berry-Gate” taught HubSpot to manage feedback 40:51 Chief People Officers should be demanding, by design 42:01 Why “frequent flyers” are a new-hire red flag 44:54 Unpacking the role of the VP of People 49:94 Which company decisions fall to the Chief People Officer? 49:11 The most common challenges of scaling a company 51:39 The differences between HubSpot and Harvey 53:17 How AI is changing the people function 1:04:28 Why Katie shares her own performance reviews 1:06:22 How to manage a disagreement with the CEO