The best business minds of our times have understood that people are critical to success. One well-known example is Jack Welch, chairman, and CEO at General Electric from 1981 to 2011, who stated that human resources are the most important function in the company.
“HR is the driving force behind what makes a winning team,” Welch said in a 2013 video. “We make the argument that the team that fields the best players wins. HR is involved in making sure we field the best players… They’re not the health and happiness, picnics, benefits team. They’re the development team, developing today’s and tomorrow’s leaders.”
A great HR leader is arguably still the most valuable person in an organization, but what has changed is the function of the CHRO role in today’s age of disruption. On top of navigating the complex challenges of the labour market, the modern CHRO has to tackle critical issues such as changing demographics, the speed of change and the corresponding role of technology while also managing workplace culture and employee engagement.
Darren has more than 10 years’ executive search and strategic consulting experience, where his work has been focused on clients in the specialty areas of Healthcare, Consumer Products, Technology and Logistics/ Manufacturing/ Distribution in Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan. Prior to joining The Bedford Consulting Group/TRANSEARCH in 2008, Darren spent time with an international search firm following an early career with a boutique healthcare-consulting firm, wherein he authored a variety of reports on emerging, minimally invasive, medical-device technologies and consulted for some of the world’s largest medical-device companies. Darren is a graduate of the University of Ottawa, where he obtained an Honours Degree in Economics.
