Guest Alexis Kearns, Chief People Officer at GHX, shares her approach to OKRs and performance management, the hard conversations, team OKRs and effective managers, and the CEO-CHRO partnership. She starts with first principles to authentically elevate performance, with healthy respect for the worthy but difficult work of managing people and teams.
Alexis Kearns is a people-first transformation leader and Chief People Officer at GHX, where she unlocks high performance across 1,000+ employees by aligning HR strategy with business velocity.
With 20+ years in executive HR, she excels at mergers, cultural integrations, and leadership development—shifting GHX from individual goals to team OKRs that foster cross-functional wins, tough conversations, and manager elevation.
From Arthur Andersen integrations to SVP at ReedGroup, she builds competitive edges through talent intelligence, proactive planning, and CEO-CHRO partnerships that prioritize outcomes over outputs.
Deidre Paknad has founded and led three tech startups, acquired companies and been acquired, and led a high-growth business as an executive at IBM for several years; this affords her a unique perspective on using both speed and scale to drive growth. In her role as CEO at WorkBoard, she works with senior leadership teams at some of the world’s largest companies to clarify, align, and drive strategic priorities with greater speed and agility. She is a frequent speaker on Outcome Mindset™ and tapping into ambition.
Deidre has over a dozen patents and has twice been inducted into the Smithsonian Institution for innovation. Goldman Sachs named her one of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs of 2019. Deidre hosts The OKR Podcast, which focuses on accelerating outcomes and fostering an outcomes culture.