Buzzbytes 2025-09-11

Buzzbytes is part of JooBee’s newsletter. Think of it as the bonus track🎶: a break from the usual format with behind-the-scenes updates, reflections and the occasional fun extra.

What HR can do about revenue problems

Fresh from my Modern People Leader (MPL) podcast with Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta 🎙️ — I’ve pulled out the bite-sized takeaways you can use right away.

If you’ve ever been stuck debating solutions, drowning in to-do’s or quietly wondering where the revenue’s leaking… here’s your quick-apply toolkit (with a dose of inspiration).

🎈 Sharing good news

“Wow, this stuff really works.”

One HR leader from my STEP UP Bootcamp took a founder conversation that had been stuck in two weeks of solution debates… and resolved it in two minutes by reframing around the problem. That’s the power of alignment: fix the problem first, then talk solutions.

💡 The big idea summarised

Most HR teams at 50–500 people are drowning because of 3 traps:

• Jumping to solutions before aligning on the problem

• Trying to do everything

• Confusing activity with impact

When you feel that pull, anchor to the only 3 priorities a for-profit business has:
Build product, sell product, make revenue and profit.

Start there. Everything else ladders up “so that…” (Ulrich’s first principle still holds).

📌Micro-frameworks (save these!)

• PIC (Problem → Impact → Cause): stop debating solutions; align on the problem first.

• Amazon’s Working Backwards: write the press release for the dream outcome, then design.

• 3C’s: Clarity, Consistency, Context. Aim for those in every plan and message.

• Stop over-functioning: if you’re always the admin, the system will treat you like one.

🥷🏻 One-liners to steal this week

• Ask why until it’s uncomfortable.

• Prioritise ruthlessly (and say no cleanly).

• Add “so that” to every HR sentence.

🤭 Not sure you want to steal this one…

Two lines you’ll never see on a corporate slide — but yes, I said them:

“Same shit, different pile.”
Because whether it’s headcount growth, AI adoption or performance reviews — the traps don’t change, they just show up wearing new clothes.

“Don’t just throw shit on the wall.”
Rolling out more initiatives without diagnosing the real problem isn’t strategy. It’s… well, wall art.

File these under: brutally honest, oddly useful.

💜 BTS with JooBee: Why I wrote newsletter #46

I wrote this one in anger after hearing: “Isn’t it too much to expect HR to be commercial?” and “They just need to handle firing well.”

No. Business problems are often people problems. We influence revenue when we stop staying in our lane and start from a business lens.

📑 Newsletter #46 expanded: If revenue is off this quarter…

Do this in the next 72 hours.

1️⃣ Lock time with a revenue owner (Founder, CRO, CMO, Head of CS/Product).

Ask one question: “Where is revenue leaking?”

2️⃣ Stay out of the how. Go deeper on why until it’s uncomfortable. Common leak patterns:

• Low conversion / stalled pipeline

• Rising churn

• Slow product delivery against customer needs

• Weak expansion revenue

3️⃣ Use ‘so that’ to tie your work directly to the leak. For example:

• “Adjust CS incentives so that expansion revenue increases by Q4.”

• “Fix onboarding so that new hires hit quota in half the time.”

• “Create team rituals so that release cadence increases.”

4️⃣ Pick the smallest action with the biggest impact. Ruthless prioritisation is a leadership behaviour, not a box-ticking exercise.

5️⃣ Flip your time pyramid. Reduce ops drag (automate, streamline, delegate) so you can spend more time on levels 2 – 4 of the HR Hierarchy of Needs.

Keep the lights on → enable this year’s strategy → prepare for the future → design to scale 10× without linear cost growth.

6️⃣ Enforce the 3-chase rule. You chase leaders a maximum of 3 times for HR tasks. No deadline extensions. If it still breaks, fix the system — not your calendar.

🎧 Listen now

I unpacked all of the above (and more) on the MPL podcast with Daniel and Stephen — including the HR hierarchy of needs, the 3 traps and why partnering with CTOs made me a stronger commercial HR leader.

👩🏻‍🍳 What’s cooking

• STEP UP Bootcamp: A 5-week accelerator for HR leaders ready to step out of the HR lane and into the role of strategic growth driver. The final cohort of the year kicks off 13 Nov.

• STEP UP Boardroom: An exclusive community for HR leaders who refuse to stay in their lane and think commercially at the exec table. Join the wait list.

• STEP UP MBA for HR leaders: I’ve kept this one under wraps… but expect a Q4 drop 👀.

With love, Joobs 💛

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