UNLEASH America 2025 Preview with Jackye Clayton

In this special episode, Jackye Clayton joins Bill Banham to preview UNLEASH America 2025, an event she describes as offering key solutions to the most pressing workplace challenges.

UNLEASH AMERICA Conference & Exhibition, one of the fastest-growing HR event in the world, is a place where global HR Leaders come to do business and discover inspirational stories that change ways organizations think about HR and innovation.

Jackye's passion for improving work experiences shines through as she shares her excitement for this Las Vegas conference happening May 6-8 at Caesars Palace. "What keeps me up at night really is the state of the world of work," she explains. "We all need jobs, we're all trying to make a living, we all want to take care of our family, and so I really want it to not suck." This refreshingly honest perspective frames her anticipation for the event's three major focus areas.

First, the conference tackles AI in HR - examining both its promise and pitfalls. Jackye highlights Dr. Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, who will address algorithmic bias and preventing inequality in AI strategies. Second, human-centered leadership takes center stage, ensuring "that the technology serves humanity, not that we are serving the technology." Finally, inclusive talent strategies return to prominence with panels like "DEI at a Crossroads" featuring representatives from Alcon and the Canadian Olympic Committee. Additional highlights include a panel on redefining talent acquisition with remote work, featuring Active, Atlassian, and Toshiba.

The massive UNLEASH expo hall will showcase cutting-edge HR technologies and innovative startups that represent "the future of HR and talent acquisition." If you're attending Unleash America, Jackye invites you to connect with her there—she's eager to meet fellow HR professionals passionate about transforming the world of work. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's
most downloaded and sharedpodcasts designed for HR pros,
talent execs, tech enthusiastsand business leaders.
For hundreds more episodes andwhat's new in the world of work,
subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Jackie Clayton.
Welcome back to the HR ChatShow.
How are you today?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
You know what I'm doing?
Great, I'm in my office,couldn't be better.
Got my iced coffee.
It's going to be a great day.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Wonderful.
It's lovely to have you back onthe show.
For those folks who perhapshaven't heard our previous
conversation here, why don't youtake a minute or two and
reintroduce yourself?
Tell them what you'repassionate about, what you get
up for in the morning, what getsyou up in the morning.
Tell us more about you.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
I.
Okay, I will tell you moreabout me.
It's sometimes that can be hard.
I change my interest, change.
What keeps me up at nightreally is the state of the world
of work.
We all need jobs, we're alltrying to make a living, we all
want to take care of our family,and so I really want it to not
suck, and I think HR plays ahuge part of it, and the

(01:17):
technology to help those HRprofessionals are another big
part of it, and so I like all ofthat.
It is the HR tech ecosystem,and what I'm doing now is really
looking at these tools to tryto determine how can we find
products that are solving thereal problems that are going on

(01:38):
in AI.
That's what I think I spendmost of my time doing now.
I created a consultancy calledPeople Puzzles so that we can
find the right people in theright place with the right tools
at the right time.
So here we go.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat
Podcast.
If you enjoy the audio contentwe produce, you'll love our
articles on the HR Gazette.
Learn more at HRGazettecom.
And now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay, so here we go.
Indeed, jackie, and I just wantto add that I had the absolute
pleasure and honor of hangingout with Jackie for over about a
week in the UK, of hanging outwith Jackie for over about a
week in the UK towards the endof last year, in Liverpool, in

(02:34):
Manchester and in that, there,london, and it was wonderful to
to get to know you better,jackie, and to get to know your
husband, todd, as well.
We had some good times.
Jackie's really cool.
Everybody.
That's, that's what I want tosay.
Okay, so now we are gonna chatabout the main focus of today's
conversation, which is, uh, theunleash america, uh, which is
coming up pretty soon.

(02:55):
As we record this, you aregoing to be there as a
representative of the hl gazette.
Thank you very, very much.
I we we really appreciate thatand you're just going to take a
bit of the HL Gazette.
Thank you very very much.
We really appreciate that, andyou're just going to take a bit
of time now with me, if youdon't mind, to share what the
event's about, what makes itunique, what speakers you're

(03:15):
hoping to check out, whattechnology partners you're
hoping to see there and anythingelse you'd like to add really.
So, in terms of Unle, unleashamerica, what is it and where is
it and what, what types of folkgo along to to that event?

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Unleash America this year is really focused.
It's like the InternationalFestival of HR, right.
It positions itself as theevent that keeps me up at night
is going to be solved here atUnleash.

(04:00):
It's going to be my first time,but I am excited because I'm
glad to see AI in HR.
I know that everyone is gettinga little bit sick of that, but
we have to take a look at thepromise and pitfalls of AI, so
I'm excited about that.
They're also looking athuman-centered leadership,
trying to make sure that thetechnology serves humanity, not

(04:23):
that we are serving thetechnology.
And then we see something elsecoming back which I'm excited to
see, which is that inclusivetalent strategies.
So many organizations in theStates have been stepping away
from DEIB or EID or EDIwhichever acronym that you want

(04:46):
but I'm glad to see that Unleashis bringing that back, and so
I'm excited to be able to seethe intersections of how those
go together, namely with Dr JoyBoulamwini.
Now, that's really hard to say.
They actually are the founderof Algorithmic Justice League

(05:08):
and I don't know if you remembera couple of years ago was
slated as bringing theunderstanding of AI and the bias
there, breaking it down, whileat Google Not sure if anybody
was there during that timeframe,but really I've been following
Joy and seeing how they've beenable to look at AI and really

(05:31):
try to make sure that you're notperpetuating inequality with
your AI strategies, and so I'mreally, really excited to see Dr
Joy.
There's also a panel with somepretty fancy people at it.
It's got Active Atlassian andToshiba.
They're going to be talkingabout redefining talent

(05:51):
acquisition with remote work andhow AI plays into that, and I
think everybody needs to knowhow that part's going on.
And then there is a DEI panelthat is DEI at a crossroads.
That's really looking at how wecan do that and, interestingly
enough, the people on the panelis from Alcon and the Canadian

(06:13):
Olympic Committee, right, sothey're going to talk about how
they can have meaningful dei andit's it's really interesting,
because how are you gonna nothave dei and be part of the
olympics, right?
Like that's the whole point ofbringing everyone together and
putting all this together.
So I'm really excited about theopportunity to go out there in

(06:35):
ve.
The conference is going to beMay 6th through May 8th, and so
those are the things I'm mostexcited about.
And then, of course, it's atCaesar is a huge expo.
So I'm really excited aboutgetting over, getting the chance
to network and getting to seeall of the new tools there in

(06:56):
the expo hall.
It's always a blast to be ableto see that and the startup, all
the startups, because that'skind of cool, because that's
going to be the future of HR andtalent acquisition, so I'm
really excited to be there.

Speaker 5 (07:10):
Hi, this is Chris Buehrling, host of the People in
Performance podcast.
Each episode featuresconversations Bill Bannum and I
have with leaders andconsultants about ways they've
inspired colleagues to thrive.
Past People and PerformancePodcast guests are from such
brands as NASA, ibm, rolls-royceand McKinsey Co.

(07:33):
You can find us on your podcastPlayer of Choice.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Amazing, that's fantastic.
Thank you very much, jackie.
Anything else you want to addand say to our listeners before
we wrap up this special shortspreview episode today?

Speaker 3 (07:51):
No, but if you see me , please walk up and say hi.
I'm really excited to get tosee you and I want to connect
with as many people as possible,so I will see you there.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Excellent, and we'll add Jackie's LinkedIn profile to
the show notes so you can clickthere and connect with Jackie
and then sort out a meeting,hopefully in person at the event
.
Jackie Clayton, you're soawesome.
Thank you very much for beingmy guest today.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Thank you very much for being my guest today.
You are Thank you, remember,for what's new in the world of
work.
Subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
HRGazettecom.