This CPO is applying happiness studies to leadership

The myth of “bouncing back” needs to die.

After studying happiness & wellbeing for 2+ years, here’s what Shlomit has learned:

We don’t just recover from challenges - we transform through them. It’s called anti-fragility.

Think about it:

• Getting fired leads to discovering your true passion
• A failed project teaches invaluable lessons
• Team conflicts create stronger relationships

This isn’t just resilience (bouncing back). It’s about emerging stronger.

The science backs this up - it’s called post-traumatic growth. We don’t just survive difficulties, we evolve through them.

Stop trying to “bounce back” to who you were. Focus on becoming who you could be.

Why reframing challenges is a leadership superpower

Your negative emotions are actually valuable data points

Get curious about your emotional response:

• Why did you get triggered?
• What past experiences shaped this reaction?
• What can this teach you about your blindspots?

Shlomit says that we’re operating in negative capacity as leaders. Constant context switching, endless decisions, competing priorities…

But our triggered moments are opportunities for growth. They’re data signals telling us something important about:

1. Our leadership gaps
2. Team dynamics
3. Organizational friction points

Next time you feel that surge of frustration or defensiveness:

• Pause - Get curious about the emotion
• Ask “what’s this trying to teach me?”
• Look for patterns

We’re wired to focus on negatives (its how we survived as a species). But reframing these moments from “problems” to “data” helps us grow.

HR can’t ignore AI—Shlomit explains why

Truth: AI isn’t coming. It’s HERE.

90% of employee questions are standard & repetitive:

• “What’s our parental leave policy?”
• “How do I request PTO?”
• “Where do I find the benefits guide?”

Why are we still routing these to humans?

Smart companies are using AI agents to handle these baseline inquiries, freeing up HR teams for the human stuff that actually matters - coaching, strategy, culture.

Key insight: We’re not in a knowledge management era anymore. We’re in a content management era. AI helps us organize, synthesize & deliver info at scale.

Think about it - 5 years ago, employees had to:

1. Submit a ticket
2. Wait for human response
3. Hope that person wasn’t OOO
4. Get a response days later

Now? Instant answers, 24/7.

People leaders: Your job isn’t to resist AI. It’s to champion it. Show your org how to use it responsibly & effectively.

The industrial revolution took 200 years. The AI revolution will happen in 5.

Miro is making AI learning a priority for employees

Shlomit’s observation from leading global teams: emerging markets adopt new tech faster than mature markets.

Why? Less legacy infrastructure = fewer barriers to innovation.

When she worked in Russia 10 years ago, their digital banking was lightyears ahead of US/UK. Moving to Netherlands was actually a tech downgrade in many ways.

This pattern is playing out again with AI adoption. Here’s what she’s seeing:

• Emerging markets: “Let’s try it!”
• Mature markets: “Let’s study it…”

As people leaders, we cant wait for perfect adoption plans. The tech is moving too fast.

Instead:

1. Create learning opportunities NOW (workshops, conferences, etc)
2. Show practical daily use cases
3. Encourage experimentation
4. Build psychological safety around “trying and failing”

The goal isn’t perfect execution. Its building muscle memory for continuous adaptation.

Your team will thank you when the next wave hits.

Advice for someone starting in HR today

"Be as open minded as you can."

One thing they'd steal from another company

"If there's a company out there that's best-in-class at building human connections, I'd steal their recipe."

Go listen to the full episode: YouTube | Spotify | Apple​
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See you next week!