Gena was invited to speak at a Wall Street Journal conference about AI. And her first thought? “I’m not equipped to talk about this.”
Instead of faking it, she dove in headfirst. She met with LVMH’s tech teams. She called HR leaders across the business. She asked questions. And most importantly, she started learning.
“That WSJ event became a call to action. I thought, ‘What are we doing? What do I need to know?’ And then I just got obsessed with learning.”
The first step? Gena built an AI task force made up entirely of HR pros across different brands and generations. In their first meeting, three members used AI to synthesize the conversation. Then she used AI to synthesize that.
Now they meet monthly, and the group is growing in influence.
One of the biggest early findings: employees were afraid AI felt like cheating.
“They felt like they were doing something wrong by using it. Like it was a shortcut. So now we’re working on a marketing campaign to change that narrative.”
LVMH has an internal AI platform called Maya. It’s powerful. But usage wasn’t where it needed to be. Gena realized it wasn’t about capability—it was about confidence.
So now she’s pushing adoption across the board:
“We need to start with normalization. We want you to try it. We want you to get comfortable. It’s not about cheating. It’s about learning how to work smarter.”
Gena made it clear: AI isn’t just a tech problem. It’s a human transformation. And HR should be at the center of it.
Too many companies are building AI policies without any input from HR.
“You can’t create systems that impact people without understanding the people. HR has to help define the future of work in an AI world.”
And HR is already doing it. At LVMH, HR is among the highest users of AI tools. Why? Because the gains are immediate.
Fragmented processes, repetitive work, limited budgets—AI is solving real pain.
If there’s one message Gena wants employees to hear, it’s this:
"AI isn’t taking your job. But the person who learns how to use it might."
That’s why LVMH is investing in training programs and encouraging teams to learn in the flow of work. And it’s why HR is pushing for clarity over perfection.
“You don’t have to be behind. We’re all at the beginning. But the skills that matter now are different. AI will handle the technical. The human skills—empathy, communication, critical thinking—those are the new premium.”
Thanks for reading. See you next time!
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